positive for coronavirus and are self—isolating. it comes after one of his closest aides, hope hicks, also tested positive for covid—19. we'll have the latest on how global markets have reacted diagnosis has up ended the presidential election a month before polling day, it has sparked concerns about how far the disease has spread within the administration. i am live in washington where the president is quarantining, his doctor says he is well at this time.

hello and welcome to bbc news. president trump and his wife melania have gone into quarantine in the white house, after testing positive for covid—19. mr trump, who's often downplayed the virus and seldom uses a mask, said they would get through it together. the white house doctor said mr trump was doing well and would carry out his duties without disruption. let's take a look at the events just before president trump tested positive. on tuesday the first debate between president trump and joe biden took place. his special advisor hope hicks — who has also tested positive — traveled with the campaign. on wednesday, the trump campaign flew to a rally in minnesota. again, hope hicks travelled with president trump. she falls ill and quarantines on the return journey. on thursday, hope hicks tests

positive for coronavirus just as president trump travels to newjersey for another fundraiser. donald trump then takes a test along with wife melania. then, earlier today, president trump takes to twitter to announce that he and melania have tested positive. it is not clear if they are showing symptoms. an election rally in florida tonight has been cancelled. it remains to be seen how many more in trump's entourage will become infected. but vice president mike pence, who would take over running the government if trump becomes too ill , has tested negative for the virus. he and trump will work from separate residences as a precaution. during the next hour, we'll be looking at what all this means for next month's election, the latest medical guidance and reaction from around the world. first though, let's go to washington and get the latest from colleague, laura trevelyn who is there for us. laura... give us a sense of the reaction to

this bombshell piece of news. well, lucy, official washington is scrambling this morning, literally everybody in the president's orbit is being tested. the vice—president has tested negative this morning, the treasury secretary has tested negative this morning, the moderator of that debate in cleveland, chris wallace on tuesday night, he is getting a test. former vice—presidentjoe biden, the president's rival, for the white house, he is going to get a test this morning, so, it really is such a chaotic picture here, right now, and former vice—presidentjoe biden has tweeted this morning saying jill andi has tweeted this morning saying jill and i send our thoughts to president trump and the first lady for a swift recovery, will continue to pray for the health and safety of the couple. so responses are coming in, people are wishing the president the very best. but it is an extraordinary

term to what was already a chaotic presidential race, that the president, who has down played the virus, now has it himself. his physician tweeted in the middle of the night that the president and the first lady were well at this time, though he didn't say whether they we re though he didn't say whether they were developing symptoms and the president would be able to carry out his duties, but now the without is going to face on thes of questions about time line, about whether when the president flew to that fund—raiser in newjersey yesterday, when he knew that hope hicks had symptoms or had indeed tested positive at that moment, and because this white house does not have the best reputation for telling the truth, it will be crucial that the information is accurate and in real time, and devoid of spin. president trump and the first lady test positive for the coronavirus and are now in quarantine at the white house. this is one of those daysin white house. this is one of those days in our business you wake up one way, you go to bed one way and you

wa ke way, you go to bed one way and you wake up and the world has totally changed. does not seem real but it is. a bombshell like no other, a month before the presidential election, donald trump and his wife, the first lady, have tested positive for coronavirus. it followed the news that one of his closest advisers hope hicks has the disease. she experienced symptoms of covid—i9 while accompanying the president at a rally. she was quarantined on the plane back to washington. washington.erly in the week she travelled to cleveland in ohio for the debate. she was seen arriving with the team not wearing a mask. last night mr trump told fox news he found it difficult to maintain social distancing. it is very hard, when you are with soldiers, airman, the marines and with the police officer, i am with them so much, it is very hard to say stay back, its

a tough situation. the president confirmed his diagnosis in a tweet. tweet. tonight we tested positive for covid—i9. we will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. we will get through this, together. the first lady later tweeted, that they we re first lady later tweeted, that they were both feeling good. the president's doctor said mr trump and his wife were both well at this time and planned to remain at home within the white house during their co nvalesce the white house during their convalesce sense, the white house during their co nvalesce sense, rest the white house during their convalesce sense, rest assured i expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering. we have done a good job. it will disappear, it is like a miracle it will disappear. so far we have lost nobody to coronavirus in the us. you are going to have to take that off please. from the start the president played down the seriousness of the virus and is being criticised for

opening up america too soon. at this weeks's debate mr trump was pressed on his relucks than to embrace wearing face masks. i wear mask, i don't wear masks like him, he could be speaking 2 unhundred feet away and he shows the biggest masks i have seen. he is now confin fined to the white house for an indefinite period. he has cancelled a rally scheduled for tonight in florida. the coronavirus has long been the central issue in the electoral campaign with the democrats accusing him of failing to alert the nation to the severity of the disease, and for ignoring the advice of his medical experts. the virus has killed more than 200,000 american, and multiple states are experiencing a surge in cases. for months mr trump has been belittling joe biden for isolating himself at home in his basement and for wearing a mask during his public appearances.

the us vice—president mike pence who would take over from donald trump if he became too ill, has tweeted his love and prayer tos the president, and his wife. wejoin millions across and his wife. we join millions across america, praying for theirfull we join millions across america, praying for their full and swift recovery. election law in the us means the country will go to the polls on november 3rd but what happens between now and then is far from clear. they talk about the october surprise in american politics, but this is uncharted territory. can you take us through the implication if he gets sick? well, if he were to become sick, and unable to discharge his duties, then, under the american constitution and the 25th amendment, the vice—president would assume the duties of the president and mike pence did test negative this morning andi pence did test negative this morning and i am sure he will continue to have tests, to make sure that he is

indeed negative, so at the moment, we do not know whether the president has developed any symptoms. all we know is his physician has said he is well at this time. but hope hicks his very close aide who worked for him at the trump organisation, was by his side at the 2016 campaign and returned earlier this year, we know that she felt ill on wednesday, when she was with the president. they went to minnesota for a rally. she felt sick, she came back, she tested, so, is she the source? we don't know, there are so many questions. right now what is critical for the white house questions. right now what is criticalfor the white house is questions. right now what is critical for the white house is to give accurate real time information andi give accurate real time information and i would expect there will be some kind of briefing today, on the president's condition. because he himself has done so much to down play the virus, the fact that he has it, people will want to know that

the information about his condition is accurate, because so much is hanging on this. we have had a tweet from joe biden, let us have a look at this. we can only presume that joe biden and his team are being tested today. will they resume campaigning, do you think? will that happen virtually? well it is such a good yes, so remember, thatjoe biden, who has made the president's handling of coronavirus, he has made this election a referendum on the way the president has handled this, with seven million americans infected, more than 200,000 dead. joe biden himself has been running very much a virtual campaign really until the last ten days, but now he himself is due to be tested this morning, he was supposed to campaign in michigan but will he? even if he received a negative test this

morning i would think his medical advisers will wanted him to have several more because he wassen that debate stage on tuesday night with the presidentf debate stage on tuesday night with the president f where although the two men were more than six feet apart, they didn't shake hands, they weren't wearing masks, that debate was full of spluttering, and the president will have had to have had a negative coronavirus test on monday, at least, ahead of the debate. i was at that debate and i had to have one as well to be allowed in, but was he infection during the debate this that is a —— thatis during the debate this that is a —— that is a question we don't know the a nswer that is a question we don't know the answer to. that is why washington is scrambling, everybody being tested. experts are saying president trump is ata experts are saying president trump is at a higher risk. medical experts say president trump is at a higher risk from covid—19 because of his age, gender and weight. he's 7a, which makes him five times more likely to need hospital treatment than someone in their 20s.

and at 17 and a half stone, he's also categorised as clinically obese, and therefore more vulnerable to the disease. here's our health correspondent, catherine burns. president trump has had an interesting relationship with precautions like face coverings. here he is in may touring a mask factory, but not wearing one. byjuly, a change of heart, tweeting that many people say it is patriotic to wear a face mask when you cannot socially distance. but still, watch him getting irritated with a mask wearing reporter last month. you are going to have to take that off, please. you can take it off. how many feet are you away? i will speak a lot louder. if you don't take it off, you are very muffled, so if you take it off it would be easier. i would speak a lot louder, is that better? it is better, yeah. now this letter from the president's doctor confirming that donald and melania trump tested positive and saying we are both well at this time. we know the president is tested routinely so it's likely that this has been

cut early on. small numbers of people are asymptomatically totally but they will have a very good prognosis. i think we will know more in a week how the disease has played out. many with this virus get just mild symptoms. if they do get sick they tend to be ill for about 5—7 days and then either start to recover or become more seriously ill and may need hospital care. coronavirus is more of a risk the older you get. people aged 611—74 in america are five times more likely to need hospital care and 90 times more likely to die than someone in their 20s. ok, you have a tea here? the president is 7a, mail and medically obese. male and medically obese. these factors will put him in a higher risk bracket but he's also reasonably active with regular games of golf and it's one thing to see

a pattern across an entire age group, you cannot really apply that risk to one individual person. the closest i can give you is since he has a one in 25 chance of being seriously unwell, you have to put that in context. he has a chance of pulling through this which i really hope he does. one way of looking at this is that if someone gets covid—19 it's about doubling their risk of dying that year. so by far, most people with the health profile of the president would recover. i'm joined now by dr saskia popescu, an infectious disease epidemiologist and infection prevention specialist in phoenix, arizona. she's usually based in arizona but she joins us from atlanta where she is today atlanta where she is today. at that debate and i had to have one as well to be allowed in, but was he infection during the debate this thatis infection during the debate this that is a —— that is a question we don't know the answer to. that is

why washington is scrambling, everybody being tested. experts are saying president trump is at a higher risk. when potentially do you think president trump could have contracted coronavirus? well that is the question at hand right now, you will be seeing a out of contact tracing, to see who acquired it from who, so i think we are looking 48—hours back from when someone tests positive or symptoms began, thatis tests positive or symptoms began, that is what they will be doing. from when are they conte contagious about 48 hours before they test positive, that is why we go that 48—hours, the two days back to make sure we have a wide net to not miss anybody. your thoughts that hope hicks got that positive test on thursday morning, to you believe that president trump should have that president trump should have that time have self—isolated?” think that probably would have been a wise decision, knowing that they have continued close contact especially on air force one where people are working round each other in many cases without masks, we would instruct most people to

quarantine 14 days. the fact he travelled to new jersey quarantine 14 days. the fact he travelled to newjersey could have in fact put everybody at that fund—raiser at risk? in fact put everybody at that fund-raiser at risk? i hope not. it depends on when she became infectious and their interactions during that time frame. so the hope is that is not the case but we will needing to do a lot more investigation. is there any kind of treatment the president could be receiving right now?|j treatment the president could be receiving right now? i think it is a little too soon to say, for most people it is supportive care if they are not experiencing any symptoms andi are not experiencing any symptoms and i think we all hope he doesn't acquire anything like that, because, we wa nt acquire anything like that, because, we want him to recover safely and quickly, but, at this point, you know, we don't know, especially since he is not... do we know for sure he did take hydroxycolour quinn. i think he has spokeman the past he has, it is possible. but given the fact we are not seeing it

is effective in this situation i don't think it would be recommended. are you concerned about how the next steps could be politicised?” are you concerned about how the next steps could be politicised? i think right now, there is a lot of tension in the united states, round covid, but this is, you know, we are very short time frame out from an election so it is hard to see this isn't going to be politicised but i think more than ever it emphasises the importance of mask wearing, distancing and investing in public health efforts. thank you for joining us. let us talk to matthew ben nit, a vetera n let us talk to matthew ben nit, a veteran democrat strategist from washington. what do you think the plan is now in the biden camp?” don't think they have onings frankly, this happened 1am eastern time andi frankly, this happened 1am eastern time and i am certain that they are still scrambling to figure out what they should do. they have to find out if the vice—president and his family and staff are sick. we don't know if they were exposed. the trump

family declined to wear a masker, and the president wasn't wearing one. what do you think the feeling will be if a member of the biden tea m will be if a member of the biden team tests positive because of the debate on tuesday night? well, there will be intense anger. the president and his entourage and his family had been unbelievably irresponsible about covid from the beginning, at the debate the president mocked the vice—president for wearing his mask so often, so there will be significant anger what the campaign does about it is hard to know but they will be very upset. how would you advice them going forward, there may in fact be and rightly so a lot of sympathy for the trumps rights 110w of sympathy for the trumps rights now and what they are going through, as you have just said there is this criticism of how irresponsibly the family has behaved? right, and i

think what you say in britain when the prime minister got sick, was a real rally round the flag, and his popularity went up at least for a time, that could happen here, obviously, johnson was very sick, he was on a ventilator and so far president trump and the first lady are not. if that happens though, there is a real possibility that sympathy for them could increase. whether that impacts the election or not is much less clear though, because americans know how trump has treated this virus from the beginning, andi treated this virus from the beginning, and i don't think that evenif beginning, and i don't think that even if there is personal sympathy for his physical plight that that will translate into political support. and will there be a temptation now for the biden team to decide to do all of their campaigning virtually? yes, i think perhaps more than temptation, there may be a necessity for that at lois for a may be a necessity for that at lois fora time, if may be a necessity for that at lois for a time, if they have to quarantine, depending on their level of exposure, but i think, as a precaution, they will at least

campaign virtually for the time being. they were doing that... what effect do you think that has? there are many who say that it is so effect to be out there meeting people and, you know, giving your message at rallies and various meetings? in normal split kalt times thatis meetings? in normal split kalt times that is true and campaigning spend enormous amounts of money and effort of those event bus this is not normal at all and it is not clear that the president's in—person events were helping him. many thought the opposite because they seemed irresponsible whereas biden seemed irresponsible whereas biden seemed like he was taking the pandemic seriously. that is the central issue, i think that was working for him and will probably continue to. so in your mind going forward , continue to. so in your mind going forward, this is pretty much the only election issue, coronavirus and the pandemic and the impact it will have on the economy? every time we declare that we are wrong of course, we thought that was the case before,

and then, justice ginsburg died, and this seems likely to dominate for the next month. good to get your thought, thank you forjoining us. back to washington, gary o'donoghue is outside the white house. what do we know about what is going on inside the white house right now? well, we can only speculate, because there is nothing official coming out from inside the white house at the moment. some of those reporters inside have been speculating that potentially there may be some sort of address potentially by the president. some have suggesting there are mild symptoms, knob of this officially confirmed at all at the moment, but clearly there will bea the moment, but clearly there will be a plan being drawn up to test all those people that came into contact not just with those people that came into contact notjust with hope hicks but the president as well, that will be a lot of people in the last few days,

and of course trying to put systems in place, lucy, to continue to run the country, if the president is having to isolate from everyone else. you know, he has to see people, he has to get briefings, he has to sign things, he has to do all that, in order to keep the executive branch running, so those thing also be looked at as well, and on top of that what to do about the campaign itself, they have already cancelled a trip to florida taste, if they follow their own cdc guidelines they will have to isolate for ten days to two weeks, which takes us beyond the next presidential debate, so there are so many questions now, about the election, about the running of the government, and of course, all that kind of uncertainty is an incredibly destabilising moment for the united states, this is, this is a

vulnerable time for the united states, particularly in terms of national security, and the agencies that look after that in this country, will be all too well aware that this country's enemy also know that this country's enemy also know that america is vulnerable at the moment. gary, obviously the systems that were in place to protect the president's health have failed, if the only preventative measure inside the only preventative measure inside the white house was this daily test, is that something that will have to change, not just in is that something that will have to change, notjust in the white house, but right across washington? well, you would think so, but i am not convinced it will, and for this reason. the whole business of wearing masks, social distancing, of not having gatherings has become so politicised it is very difficult for the president and for the republican party more generally to sort of walk

that one back, having staked quite a lot on that, saying things are getting better, opening up the country, those kind of issues to do a volte face is going to be tricky i think, so for political reasons, i don't see that changing, i think they will say they can contain this and as long as the president remains well, he can carry on doing hisjob. thank you forjoining us gary. more international reaction for you now. i have been speaking to our correspondents in berlin, also our correspondents in berlin, also our correspondent in our russian service, a spokesman has said they wish president trump speedy recovery, that was short but important. damian in berlin? yes, similar here, angela merkel‘s spokesperson has said also that angela merkel wishes donald trump and melania trump all the best, but of course the whole of germany is

watching this, because the us is crucial for the financial, economic and political wellbeing for germany, donald trump is a dirye sieve character here, he is seen as swooned who has undermined the international order so the real thing in germany, the debate today is very much what this means for the, whether it means it might increase the likelihood ofjoe biden winning, the reality is donald trump is not popular and most germans really wa nt is not popular and most germans really want joe is not popular and most germans really wantjoe biden to win, because they see that as the way forward , because they see that as the way forward, for a restoration really of the multilateral order on which germany relies. giving us a sense of some of the international reaction, well wishes are pouring in from leaders all over the world on social media, to president president trump and his wife, telling them to get better soon on the whole. stay with us, here on bbc world new, we have continuing coverage from round the world, to this news that president

trump, and his wife have tested positive for coronavirus. they are now self—isolating inside the white house. stay with us. so far we have seen the worst of the weather in the southern uk. the wind and rain will develop more widely and rain will develop more widely and it is the rain that will be biggest issue, flooding is expecting transport disruption likely and there will be strong winds at times too. earlier today we have had the strongest winds round storm alex, named by the french met service, gusts of over 100mph in the north—west of france, through the channel, channel islands, 60 or 70mph. as the storm weakens the winds will ease down, by this evening lighter winds on the eastern side of the channel. gusting gale force at times in south—west england, perhaps the channel island and we still have that rain round as well i is only moving slowly northward so still dry this evening in scotland and northern ireland and these are temperatures by then. the

rain may start to ease off overnight, in wales and the south—west, still going to be windy here mind you, but wetter weather continuing in the south—east, develops further north and the wind will push the rain into the eastern side of scotland. western scotland, northern ireland, largely dry, some clearer skies and it will turn chilly overnight, there could be early sunshine here tomorrow. but on the whole it is cloud and rain on the whole it is cloud and rain on the way tomorrow, that rain pushes its way westwards, developing more widely across england, wales and into scotland. gales still in the south—west, sunshine perhaps in the afternoon in the south—east as the rain starts to clearly the. that will give temperatures a boost but under the cloud and rain temperatures are typically a chilly 13 degree, that rain will be heavy in place, in wales with and the west country, we have an amber rain warning from the met office, could be more than two inches of rain over the high ground, leading to flooding. another area of concern the north east of scotland. a lot of rain to come here, leading to

flooding, and all that rain coming in off the north sea. round an area loaf pressure, that is drifting right over the centre of the country by sunday, and that will dominate our weather, it means the strongest of the winds will be round the edges, together with this rain which should move away, not far away from northern ireland, pushing into wales and the south—west. in the middle of the country lighter wind, some sunshine but heavy showers and again it is 13 degrees, and more showers early next week.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump and the first lady in quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus. the couple will self—isolate in the white house for ten days. their diagnosis comes after one of mr trump's closest aides — hope hicks — also tested positive. well, obviously i think we all want to send our best wishes to the president and first lady. i've done that this morning, as can imagine. and i'm sure that they'll both stage a very strong recovery. the first minister of scotland calls on one of her mps to stand down, after she travelled by train despite knowing she had coronavirus

this is not a minor breach of the rules. it's not an inadvertent breach of the rules. it's a really flagrant and dangerous breach of the rules. eu commission president ursula von der leyen — calls for post—brexit trade talks to "intensify" ahead of a call with borisjohnson on saturday. two billionaire brothers from lancashire win a takeover battle for the supermarket giant asda. news is coming in on the latest coronavirus figures for northern ireland and they show a very sharp rise indeed for northern ireland. so, 934 new cases of covid—19 on friday in northern ireland. that is more than double the previous record daily total, which was registered a couple of days ago. so 934 new cases

of covid—19 in northern ireland, more than double the previous record, and the seven day number four coronavirus cases per 100,000 population has shot up to 139.4. so that's up from 69.5 a week ago. so pretty much a doubling there in the number of coronavirus cases just in northern ireland. we hope to have other figures from the rest of the united kingdom a bit later on this afternoon. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, has called on one of her mps to stand down from parliament after she took a train from london to glasgow despite knowing she had coronavirus. margaret ferrier has apologised for breaking covid rules, and has been suspended from the snp group at westminster. nicola sturgeon said the mp's actions were indefensible. here's our political correspondent, nick eardley. margaret ferrier with

nicola sturgeon last year. when she won back rutherglen for the snp. after travelling from london to glasgow, despite testing positive for coronavirus, she has been suspended from the snp group at westminster and is under intense pressure to resign completely from parliament. her actions were reckless, dangerous and completely indefensible. i feel very angry on behalf of all of you. i have also spoken to her directly and made crystal clear to her, that i think she should now resign as an mp. i would like to start by paying tribute to all nhs key workers... this is ms ferrier in parliament on monday. her decision to attend has caused outrage. on saturday she had shown symptoms and had taken a coronavirus test. at that point, she should have isolated. on monday she felt better and travelled to london. however, after speaking

in parliament, she received a positive test result. at that point, by law, she should have isolated but travelled back to scotland on tuesday morning by train. it is not if, it is when, margaret ferrier must stand down and resign as a member of parliament. she has no ability now to deliver the message from both governments. ms ferrier is coming under considerable pressure to quit parliament, notjust from her political opponents, from many inside the snp. that would trigger a by—election in her seat rutherglen. it is not clear when that will take place during the pandemic. crucially, the snp cannot force her to stand down and as things stand, the decision is hers alone. the snp are also facing questions about who knew what and when. the party says it became aware of ms ferrier‘s positive test on wednesday, but not that she had travelled after showing symptoms and after getting a positive

result until thursday. one person in parliament has been told to self—isolate as a close contact. unions have said parliament should take no action. unions have said parliament should take more action. how could somebody put us at risk? we cannot allow for that. the fact is, we advise people what to do, how to behave if you show symptoms, please stay away. if you need a test, go and get a test, but whatever you do, don't come into the house of commons. ms ferrier has not made any public comment since her apology last night and, for now, remains an mp. we have been getting reaction from people living in margaret ferrier‘s constituency, which is rutherglen and hamilton west. i am very sad and very disappointed. i love margaret ferrier. i was gutted when she lost this seat to ged killen. i was very much in support of her winning it back. and ijust am really sad that it's

come to this and all our hard work is potentially undermined by this. i don't know what's in her thoughts. why she needed to do it. was it an emergency? i don't know why some people are taking risks. i don't know, i can't go into her head. well, i think she moaned about that other guy, that dominic cummings, and he was in his car. she came up on the public transport. i think it's a bit rich. you know, we're all doing our bit and i don't see why she's not. my wife works at the hospital as a nurse and she is dealing with covid patients, and i think it's a bit hypocritical for people who tell us what to do when people like my wife and the stress levels that they are going through dealing with these people, do you know what i mean? some of the views on margaret ferrierfrom her some of the views on margaret ferrier from her constituency of rutherglen and hamilton west. an official survey of coronavirus infections in england has found some evidence

that the steep rise in cases last month may be starting to level off, though it's too soon to be sure. the office for national statistics says nearly 8,500 people are contracting covid—19 every day. the latest data on the r number — which shows how many poeple one infected person can go on to infect — shows it is now at 1.3 — 1.6 which is up from 1.2 — 1.5 last week. the data comes as restrictions in more areas of northern england come into force tomorrow. anna collinson reports. it has been a week of confusion for many. one in four people in the uk are now living under some form of extra coronavirus restrictions. but the picture varies depending where you are. and from tomorrow new strict measures will be introduced in middlesbrough, hartlepool, warrington and liverpool. while it means further upheaval for struggling businesses, some health officials wanted them to go further. we are seeing the impact on our hospital system already. we know the number of hospital admissions due to coronavirus has

increased tenfold since the start of the month. frankly i am worried this hasn't quite gone far enough. but to be fair this isn'tjust about rules, this is about people doing the right thing. it is estimated 1 in 500 people in homes across england had the coronavirus at the end of september. the figure is the same as last week but the office for national statistics said it is too early to say infections are falling. new data from public health england suggests infection rates are highest in the north west and yorkshire. the government says it is constantly monitoring the situation. we want to strike a sensible and pragmatic balance between controlling the virus and making sure that other things that matter to all of us including protecting livelihoods, education and mental health and our broader way of life can be maintained. so what are the latest rules for the uk? in wales 2.3 million people are currently banned from meeting with other households indoors. they are also not allowed to leave the affected areas without good reason.

in northern ireland and scotland you cannot meet in someone's home if you don't live with them. new restrictions on businesses are coming in for derry and strabane. in england there are measures in much of the north and midlands. residents cannot mix outside their household in a house or garden. the welsh government has also announced those living in lockdown areas will be allowed to form a bubble with another household and meet them indoors. the idea is indeed to ease some of that sense of loneliness, isolation, not being able to talk to anyone else. there is more than one form of harm from coronavirus and a sense of mental well—being is an important thing that we can make a difference to through this change. it is claimed a three—tier system of local lockdown measures would simplify an increasingly complicated situation, with different levels indicating the severity of infections. an announcement is expected next week. anna collinson, bbc news. drew cockton owns fragrance

and lifestyle business owen drew england — they are based in merseyside. merseyside is facing new restrictions as from first thing tomorrow morning. thank you for joining us. how are those restrictions going to affect you and your business? we normally have private shopping evenings or host small events in our boutique this time of year when we invite people in to sample the fragrances and purchase early christmas presents so obviously that's going to be com pletely obviously that's going to be completely prohibited under the new guidelines so it is very worrying for us. you make candles, oils and so on, kind of luxury goods, you would classify them as. so how vulnerable do you feel to the general economic chaos that coronavirus has brought to the whole country? i don't really know. there is evidence to suggest that recession proof luxury businesses are recession proof luxury businesses a re often recession proof luxury businesses are often rather recession proof and no matter what happens people will

find that little bit of money to treat themselves. but then there is also evidence to show that it's one of the first things people will cut from their household budget. bills will come before scented candles and perfumes. how have you coped so far in the months that we have had coronavirus and the various restrictions we have had in the last few months? we did very well at the start of lockdown. people were trapped at home with disposable income so we sold a lot of care packages and luxury bath oils and candles and that kind of thing where people wanted to make their home feel like a century. but once the restau ra nts a nd bars feel like a century. but once the restaurants and bars opened up and people were allowed to go on holiday we noticed our turnover quite dramatically cut so we just don't know what to expect next, really. merseyside is one of the areas, liverpool especially, where the r number has been going up, the transmission rate. does that surprise you? no, it doesn't, really. the scenes in the city

centre in liverpool last weekend where people crowded onto the street at ten o'clock when the bars are closed to drink alcohol in the street really made me feel furious asa street really made me feel furious as a business owner trying to make ends meet. people just as a business owner trying to make ends meet. peoplejust have as a business owner trying to make ends meet. people just have an absolute flagrant disregard for the regulations that are put in place for our own safety. so, no, it doesn't surprise me. you don't think it is the fault of the government with that ten bm curfew? you think it is the fault of the people who are violating that? yes, i don't think it's easy to criticise the government, but they are of course, for want of a better term, making it up for want of a better term, making it up as they go along because this is unprecedented and we don't know, they don't know what will work and what will not, but obviously congregating in the streets because we are not allowed to drink in bars is really selfish and reckless. we are not allowed to drink in bars is really selfish and recklesslj is really selfish and reckless.” think you had one incident where somebody walked into your shop without a mask and said they had coronavirus. yes, exactly. who would

dream of doing that? the member of staff that dealt with him was off work for about three days with anxiety as a result of it. we have very clear signage on the doors asking people to wear masks and not enter if they have coronavirus symptoms. but some people are just having quite a selfish approach to this whole pandemic, unfortunately. looking ahead, this obviously impacts every business in the country in different ways. are you optimistic or pessimistic for the future? i think the government support so far has been really great for small businesses. but i'm extremely worried about what 2021 is going to hold. i guess i'd like to see, if possible, cut the rate of vat for independent retail businesses. i think that would be really helpful to help us get back on our feet. we will see if the chancellor listening. drew cockton, owner of owen drew, thank you for

being with us. dozens of postmasters have been told that the post office will not contest appeals against their convictions for fraud — in the wake of a scandal involving its horizon computer system, which saw cash disappear from local branches and postmasters prosecuted. the post office has apologised for what it called ‘historical failings‘, and is now reviewing 900 prosecutions that may have relied on horizon evidence. our legal correspondent clive coleman reports. i am delighted to inform you that they are not contesting your appeal. delightfulformer sub postmistress jo hamilton, whose life was turned upside down after she was accused by the post office of taking £36,000 from the village shop she ran in hampshire. today the post office said it would not contest her appeal against conviction. in 1999 the post office introduced a computer system called horizon to manage local post office finances. over the following 15 years,

hundreds of postmasters and postmistresses were prosecuted after the system showed cash shortfalls at their branches. they were held responsible for the missing money because they supposedly had sole control of their horizon accounts, but they denied any wrongdoing. many were fired, went bankrupt, or even sent to prison. a bbc panorama investigation revealed managers knew problems with horizon could make money disappear. the criminal cases review commission reviewed 47 appeals referred 47 appeals against conviction to the court of appeal and crown court. dozens of postmasters and postmistresses have been told now that the post office will not contest their appeals. oh, it isjust amazing, honestly. 12 years, we have been fighting for this. to have it in black and white that they will not contest it, it is an enormous moment in my life. i cannot believe, and i still

don't understand why they pursued us like they did. all they had to do was sort it out, and then when they convicted us theyjust kept going. it is now all but certain the convictions will be quashed. last year the post office paid out £58 million to settle a civil court case brought by 550 postmasters. during the trial, the post office admitted remote access to horizon without the postmasters‘ knowledge was possible. in what's a major public scandal, more convictions could be challenged as the post office is now reviewing 900 prosecutions that may have relied on horizon evidence. sport now, and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here's katherine downes. good afternoon. we are starting with the enormous story that has broken in australia over night. one of the

biggest names in rugby league, sam burgess, is under police investigation in australia over allegations of domestic violence and illegal drug use. rugby league officials are also looking into claims that the south sydney rabbitohs — the club he played for, and then coached — covered up the incidents for burgess. our sports news correspondent is laura scott has more. this was front page of the australian and following the investigation they made allegations of domestic violence and drug use. there was a strong denial issued to the newspaper by sam burgess's lawyers but this is clearly a major story because he took on cult status in australia. he was a star of rugby league. but many here will also remember his short lived foray into by remember his short lived foray into rugby union ahead of the 2015 world cup. there have been several statements today following that story in the australian. new south wales police say they are investigating various allegations. the national rugby league said that

their integrity unit is conducting an investigation as a priority. they said that this was new information to them but that if these allegations are true they warned that they would take the strongest possible action. and then the south sydney rabbitohs were burgess played and then became assistant coach said the allegations were very concerning, they said there was no place in our society for violence, harassment or abuse against women. burgess, who as i said, denies the allegations has stood down from his roles as both a television pundit for fox sports and as assistant coach while these investigations continue. sports news correspondent laura scott there. breaking news from the scottish premiership — kilmarnock‘s match against motherwell tonight has been called off after the entire killie squad were told to self—isolate for a fortnight. it's after six players tested positive for coronavirus. there's also doubt over kilmarnock‘s next two games, which also fall within the self—isolation period. we will keep you updated on that.

the europa league group stage draw has been made this morning, so the five british clubs now know their fate. the eyecatching tie is for celtic, who come up against the seven times european champions ac milan. lille and sparta prague are also in that group. let's ta ke let's take a look at the other groups featuring arsenal, tottenham, rangers and leicester. they are the other four british teams in the draw. the group stages get under way on 22nd october. and you can peruse the full list on the bbc sport website. to the french open tennis where play has been suspended on some courts due to bad weather. andy murray's conquerer, stan wawrinka, one of those in action against hugo gaston. it's 1—1 all and 2—2 in the third there. in the women's draw, top seed simona halep is into the last 16 after thrashing american teenager amanda anisimova injust 54 minutes. 6—0, 6—1 the score. third seed elina svitolina is also through.

scottish open golf also carrying on this afternoon. you can watch that on the bbc sport website but that's all the support for now. great stuff, thanks, see you later. borisjohnson will hold talks tomorrow with the european commission president, ursula von der leyen, as the two sides seek a breakthrough in post—brexit trade negotiations. formal negotiations end today, and there's still no agreement in sight. catherine barnard is professor of eu law at the university of cambridge and senior fellow at the think tank uk in a changing europe. thank you forjoining us. how do you see this? is it still possible to get a deal? a busy time is very much running out. time is running out but yes, it is still possible to get a deal. borisjohnson says he needs to have something by the 15th of october, the european council meeting. michel barnier, the eu negotiator, says 30th of october.

and of course, that would be sensible if you were going to have a timely order to trade deal based brexit because any trade deal is going to have to be agreed by the european parliament and by the council of ministers, and possibly, if it is very broad, the national regional parliaments too and all of that takes time. but the key date is 3ist that takes time. but the key date is 31st of december. if there is no trade deal before the 31st of december the uk leaves with no trade deal and start trading with the eu purely on wto terms. germany's chancellor angela merkel has just been saying she remains optimistic. but what do you see now is the main sticking points, with potentially, as you say, just a few weeks to go? state aid, or subsidies, as you say, just a few weeks to go? state aid, orsubsidies, as as you say, just a few weeks to go? state aid, or subsidies, as the british government calls it. so what can be done? the eu is saying essentially the uk cannot have zero zero trade agreement, which means zero trade agreement, which means zero tariffs and zero quotas. we cannot have that sort of access

u nless we cannot have that sort of access unless we sign up to eu rules on state aids. what the eu is worried about is that german car manufacturers, french car manufacturers, french car manufacturers have got to comply with eu state aid rules but the british car manufacturers could get lots of subsidies. and of course, then british cars would have access to eu market and they would be subsidised. the eu doesn't want that, and so they say you the uk have got to respect eu state aid rules, the uk says, oh, no we don't, we are a sovereign nation and we wa nt to we are a sovereign nation and we want to do our own thing, even if that means giving some subsidies. do you think there is a lot of bad blood that was caused by the internal market bill and the whole idea that boris johnson internal market bill and the whole idea that borisjohnson is prepared to override the eu withdrawal agreement, in other words, to break international law? how much has that poison relations in these very important moments? it has certainly not helped things at all, for the simple reason that the eu wants to

know that any trade deal it negotiates with the uk will actually be respected by the uk, so what we would expect to see if there is a successful trade deal negotiated is some pretty tough provisions in it on what is called dispute resolution, ie, if things go wrong, if the uk does not comply, or if the eu doesn't comply, so the eu was shaken by what the uk did, the eu recognised some of it was being done for the purposes of domestic politics. but the very fact that the eu launched enforcement proceedings against the uk yesterday was a way of them expressing their formal displeasure. great to talk to you as ever, catherine barnard, professor of eu law at cambridge university. many thanks. it didn't take long after president trump's tweet

confirming that he and melania trump had both tested positive for covid—19 for the conspiracy theories to get going. ranging from claims that the president is faking the diagnosis to get out of debates, or to detract from talk over his tax bill. marianna spring is the bbc‘s disinformation and social media reporter — shejoins me now. the latest news on this comes from the ap news agency, quoting a white house official saying president trump is experiencing mild symptoms of coronavirus after that positive test. that is from ap saying that he is experiencing mild symptoms. but we are hearing after this news broke all sorts of conspiracy theories, as i mentioned. social media has been awash with claims that trump's positive coronavirus test result, conspiracy theories and disinformation, some of which is fairly believable, other claims that are totally outlandish. honestly with the us election approaching the has been lots of talk about the timing of this with conspiracy theories suggesting trump is

pretending to have tested positive because he doesn't want to take part in the next debate. there is no evidence to substantiate those claims. because there has been lots of confusion and panic we have also seen claims about planes, there was a suggestion that a doomsday plane had been sent as a show of strength half an hour before trump announced that he had tested positive, and various images of black path‘s were shown on social media. but actually that plane has blown the same flight path 19 times there in the past month and it is just a coincidence that i happen to fly then. these planes are capable of launching nuclear missiles and things like that. obviously on the background of president from having promoted a number of misleading and false claims about coronavirus there has also been lots of criticism online about his track record with regard to the pandemic. that has also meant there has been false claims about what he has and hasn't said. for insta nce what he has and hasn't said. for instance a number of tweets and facebook posts suggest he claimed the virus was a hoax. that's one of the virus was a hoax. that's one of the things that he hasn't said but is going very viral. he would call

that fake news. exactly. and on the slightly more bizarre end of the spectrum you have a conspiracy theorist who supports the president, for example those who believe this unfounded conspiracy theory that president trump is waging a secret war against satanic paedophiles, they claim he is pretending he has coronavirus a can full the deep state because they don't believe the pandemic exists at all, so some kind of plot to full everyone who doesn't like him, again, no evidence for that qanon conspiracy theory. my goodness, i think you need to stop reading some of this stuff actually, marianna spring. how do you spot the disinformation and pull apart what is true and not true in the explosion of social media coverage on something like this? whenever there is a big breaking news event we see disinformation on social media andi we see disinformation on social media and i think this one is an especially fertile time for conspiracy theories because it is on this political backdrop of the election, because trump has been accused of spreading disinformation himself, and so it isjust accused of spreading disinformation himself, and so it is just always really important when you ask

rolling on your social media feeds today or in the days to come to interrogate the source, to think about how a post makes you feel, if you react quite stronglyjust pause before sharing it and think about bias because a lot of people are capitalising on this moment to criticise the president, some rightly so, but others with false claims and conspiracy theories that are untrue. so really think about why a post was shared. marianna, good to talk to you, marianna spring, our social media reporter, many thanks indeed. how do you react when you see a weather forecast from darren bett? you canjudge weather forecast from darren bett? you can judge for yourself because it's coming up now. hello again. the winds are easing a bit through the channel, as storm alex weakens. it's the rain that will be more of a concern, i think, as we head into the weekend. lighter winds by this evening in the eastern side of the channel, still gusting gale force in the south—west of england, perhaps the channel islands, and that rain area is moving very slowly northwards. it may well ease off in wales and the south—west of england, although it's still windy here, but wetter weather more widely

across the rest of england, and developing in eastern scotland. western scotland, northern ireland, clearer skies, a bit chilly. perhaps soem early sunshine tomorrow, but on the whole it's cloud and rain on the way on saturday, as that rain pushes its way westwards across england and wales, develops wetter weather more widely in scotland. gales in the south—west, some sunshine after the rain in the south—east of england, but otherwise it is a chilly 13 underneath all that wet weather, and there will be some heavy rain around as well. numerous amber rain warnings from the met office, threatening soem flooding in the west country, wales and also in the north—east of scotland.

this is bbc world news. our top stories. president trump and his wife melania test positive for coronavirus and are self—isolating. we are praying for the president and the first lady that they will have a speedy recovery. i spoke with the vice—president this morning, we are taking this obviously very seriously and we will do everything we can to keep everyone safe. iam i am live in washington, as the white house says the president is experiencing mild symptoms of coronavirus p experiencing mild symptoms of coronavirus p us markets fall on the news with the dowjones index down more than 1% at the start of trading. president trump's democrat challengerjoe biden offers his condolences — saying he and his wife will pray for the health and safety

of the president and his family. the diagnosis has upended the presidential election a month before polling day. it's also sparked concerns about how far the disease has spread within the administration. hello, and welcome to bbc news. president donald trump is experiencing "mild symptoms" of covid—19 after revealing that heand his wife had tested positive, a white house official said onfriday according to the associated press and the new york times. mrtrump is mr trump is seldom seen using a mask say they would get through it together. a white house official has just said that mr trump is experiencing mild symptoms of covid—19. two people familiar with his condition told the new york times they were cold like symptoms. let's take a look at

the events just before president trump tested positive. on tuesday, the first debate between president trump and joe biden took place. his special advisor hope hicks — who has also tested positive — traveled with the campaign. on wednesday, the trump campaign flew to a rally in minnesota. again, hope hicks travelled with president trump. she falls ill and quarantine's on the return journey. on thursday, hope hicks tests positive for coronavirus just as president trump travels to newjersey for another fundraiser. donald trump then takes a test along with wife melania. then, earlier today, president trump takes to twitter to announce that he and melania have tested positive. an election rally in florida tonight has been cancelled. it remains to be seen how many more in trump's entourage will become infected. but vice president mike pence, who would take over running the government if trump becomes too ill, has tested negative for the virus. he and trump will work from separate residences as a precaution. during the next hour, we'll be looking at what all this means for next month's election,

the latest medical guidance and reaction from around the world. first though, let's go to washington and get the latest from colleague, laura trevelyn who is there for us. do we to any more from the white house other than this report that the president is experiencing mild symptoms? no, lucy, the last official world was from the president's physician in the middle of the night, who said the president is well at this time, but now we have the associated press and the new york times reporting that a white house official has said the president is experiencing mild flu—like symptom, we don't know any more than that, we do know that also in the middle of the might the white house published the president's schedule and at 12.15 today he is due to address seniors about coronavirus. we know from our collea g u es coronavirus. we know from our colleagues cbs news they are reporting that white house officials are trying to figure out ways of the

president engaging with the public, because of course they want to strike a reassuring tone, the health of the us president is a matter of national security, but it is a stunning development, lucy, the president who down played the virus now has it himself at a time when his opponent for the race, joe biden has tried to make the president's handing of coronavirus a referendum. so my colleague has this report. breaking news. president trump and the first lady test positive for the coronavirus and are in quarantine in the white house. this is one of those days, you go to bed one way and you wake up and the world has totally changed. it doesn't seem real, but it is. a bombshell like no other — a month before the presidential election, donald trump and his wife melania, the first lady, have tested positive for coronavirus. it followed news that one of his closest advisers, hope hicks, has the disease. she experienced symptoms of covid—19

while accompanying the president at a rally in minnesota. she was quarantined on the presidential plane back to washington. earlier in the week, she'd travelled to cleveland in ohio with mr trump for the presidential debate. she was seen arriving with his team, not wearing a mask. last night, mr trump told fox news he found it difficult to maintain social distancing. it is very hard when you are with soldiers, airmen and marines and police officers, i am with them so much, when they come over it is hard to say, "stay back, stay back." it is a tough situation, it is a terrible thing. the president confirmed his diagnosis in a tweet. "tonight, @flotus and i tested positive for covid—19. we will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. we will get through this together." the first lady later tweeted that they were both feeling good. the president's doctor said both

were well at this time and "plan to remain at home within the white house during their convalescence. "rest assured, i expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering." we have it so well under control. we really have done a very good job. it is going to disappear one day, it is like a miracle, it will disappear. so far, we have lost nobody to coronavirus in the united states. from the start, the president consistently played down the seriousness of the virus and has been criticised for opening up america too soon. at the debate, president trump was pressed on his reluctance to fully embrace the wearing of face masks. i wear masks when needed. when needed, i wear masks. i don't wear masks like him, every time you see him, he has got a mask. you could be speaking 200 feet away from him and he shows up with the biggest mask i've ever seen. mr trump is now confined to the white house for an indefinite period, and has cancelled a rally scheduled for tonight in florida.

the coronavrius has long been the central issue in the presidential election campaign, with the democrats accusing mr trump of failing to alert the nation of the severity of the disease and for ignoring the advice of his medical experts. the virus has killed more than 200,000 americans, and multiple states are experiencing a surge in cases. for months, mr trump has been belittling joe biden for isolating himself at home in his basement and for wearing a mask during his public appearances. the us vice president, mike pence, who would take over from donald trump if he became too ill to carry out his duties, has tweeted his "love and prayers" to the president and his wife. "we join millions across america, praying for theirfull and swift recovery. " election law in the us means the country will go to the polls on november the 3rd, but what happens between now and then is far from clear. they talk about the october surprise in american politics, but this is uncharted territory. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles.

us politicians are sending their very good wishes to the president at this difficult time, his rivalfor the presidency, joe biden has said ina the presidency, joe biden has said in a tweet, jill and i send our thoughts to president trump and first lady melania trump for a swift recovery. we will continue to pray for the health and safety of the president and his family, joe biden himself was due to campaign in michigan this morning, he is going to be having a coronavirus test, we learn, before anything else happens. the us secretary of state mike pompeo responded during a visit to the croatian capital. we are praying for the president and the first lady that they have will a speedy recovery. i will speak up a bit. i

spoke with the vice—president's office this morning as well, we are taking this obviously very seriously and we will do everything we can to keep everyone safe. do you know if you are positive ? keep everyone safe. do you know if you are positive? i am negative. as of 20 minutes ago, 30 minutes ago. do you plan on travelling this weekend? we will evaluate that, whether it is appropriate to travel. isaid whether it is appropriate to travel. i said it, whether it is appropriate to travel. isaid it, tomorrow whether it is appropriate to travel. i said it, tomorrow is saturday, and then off to asia on sunday. i think it is more dangerous where i am standing than anything else. i am planning to head the asia on sunday, we will try and figure out what the medical team says p all official washington scrambling to get tested this morning, the us vice—president is negative, the treasury secretary is negative, we are told that baron trump, the president's teenage son is negative. imagine how stressful for him to

have both parents test positive and quarantining, a very difficult moment for a teenage boy. now, while most politicians are sending their good wishes to the president, there was a spikier note sounded by the speaker of the house of representatives kennel cray nancy pelosi, she said while this was tragic and sad, that the president had contracted coronavirus, she said it is also something that was a brazen invitation for something like this to happen, because the president was always going into crowds unmasked. so already, the president's disdain to —— disdain for social distancing, wearing masks in public is being noted by opponents with 32 days until the election. while you have been speaking we have had news through, this will happen all the time now, that amy coney barrett has tested negative, there was a tight time line, how could that be affected now? well, it is not necessarily

affected, especially if she has tested negative, if she were to test positive that would be another thing. i don't expect that schedule will necessarily be affected, unless any of temperatures principles in the senate have become infected with coronavirus, like the chairman of thejudiciary coronavirus, like the chairman of the judiciary committee for example, where he were he to become infected that would be an issue, the president sees this as a huge achievement, the fact she would be his third supreme courtjustice confirmed. so with the election 32 days away, with him unable for the next two weeks to campaign in person, it is all the more important, i would think that the senate stick to that schedule, we haven't heard anything from the senate leader mitch mcconnell but i imagine that will go ahead. as for the rest of the campaign how does joe biden respond now? he having a test this morning, does he campaign or wait to have a few more negative tests before he goes on the road? so many questions right now. tests before he goes on the road? so many questions right nowm tests before he goes on the road? so many questions right now. it depends

of course on the president's health laura but i wonder in all the years he has been covering donald trump, what do you think he will do, will he reset his message or will he double down on the narrative that he has been playing with so far about not wearing masks that it is similar to an ordinary flu, those messages that, would be more difficult for him to sell now? well, it is fascinate, as you say, all depends on how seriously he becomes ill, if he becomes ill. at the moment we are told he is experiencing mild symptoms, which is a leaf o course because the health of the president isa because the health of the president is a matter of national security. but where his condition to worsen and he is 74 years old. he is overweight, then he potentially is greatly at risk, but equally already you have republican strategists saying if the president can overcome this, get well soon, it will show to the american people that they don't need to be knocked sideways by

coronavirus and will confirm his narrative that the us needs to get back on its feet and open up, and not be overly cautious, but on the other hand if he becomes ill, then, this really cuts against that narrative, so, so much at this moment really, really fluid but we know at 12.15 today the president was due to hold a call with seniors about coronavirus, of all things and the white house now we are told are considering appropriate ways for the president toen gauge today so watch this space. thank you so much. news he has coronavirus sent stock markets falling. wall street opens down with the dowjones falling 1%. let us take you to michelle. what is happening there? lucy, since we have been speaking, the markets have recovered somewhat, but there is no doubt that this is added to the nerves on wall street. going into

this us election, already investors we re this us election, already investors were concerned about what the outcome of the election would mean for the economy, they had clear ideas at the start of this year how they thought it would go, but like eve ryo ne they thought it would go, but like everyone around the world the pandemic has up ended what they thought would happen, and this really just feeds into that thought would happen, and this reallyjust feeds into that kind of uncertainty. the unknown. october for the market and especially in an election year is a time of sort of volatility on the markets, this year, potentially unlike any other. what do thejob year, potentially unlike any other. what do the job figures show today michelle? we've seen this huge rebound, so initially you had that shock from the pandemic, when it first sort of hit american shores, and you saw this massive wave ofjob losses, then there was a rebound in may andjune, losses, then there was a rebound in may and june, you may recall that 4.8 millionjobs were may and june, you may recall that 4.8 million jobs were added injune. today we learned only 661,000 were added. that is less than half than

we re added. that is less than half than were added in the month oft august. all of this points to the idea that the reo coventry in the labour market is slowing down, if not stalling. this is more bad news for a president who at the start of this year was going to campaign on his performance and his handling of the economy, now this is more bad news, and if you look back, to sort of modern us presidents, typically they get punished at the polls when the economy is not doing so well. it is ha rd to economy is not doing so well. it is hard to tell though, in this unpredictable year whether or not that will be the case. where is congress at in terms of agreeing a stimulus? well, mine, one thing when you look at the job numbers which we re you look at the job numbers which were disappointing is will it add pressure on them to get another, a third stimulus bill down? the previous two rounds helped that rebound that i was talking about, but the effects of that are beginning to fade, so there is going to be building pressure on law

makers to get something done. the democrats and the republicans remain far apart. the white house has been negotiating with the democrats to see if something can be done. meanwhile, you had house democrats vote on their plan just last night, and there are economists here, there was one group from goldman sachs who put out a note saying when you see the democrats vote on their own bill, which has a hiring price tag than the one proposed by the white house, it does reduce the chances that anyone will happen before the election. —— anything. that anyone will happen before the election. -- anything. for many ordinary americans it is hard to to put food on the table and pay the rent? yes, there is 222 million -- 22 million americans lost theirjobs at the early stages of this pandemic. as it drags on and on, we are learning that more of those job losses are are learning that more of those job losses a re not are learning that more of those job losses are not temporary but they are becoming permanent. that is going to sort of lead to longer term

damage, and what economists refer to as sort of more people falling out of the labour force entirely. that is something that the head of america central bank is very worried about. you have to sort of think of it in terms of the lines at my local food bank when i am driving round the neighbourhood, they are growing long every week, as this goes on it is becoming harderfor people to long every week, as this goes on it is becoming harder for people to get by, and that is something i think they are hoping that these numbers will remind law makers of the reality on the ground for many americans. michelle, thank you for joining us from new york. the top headlines here. temperature president trump and his wife have tested positive for coronavirus and are self—isolating. mrtrump is said coronavirus and are self—isolating. mr trump is said to have mild symptoms. news that the president and his wife are in quarantine, we will keep you up—to—date with

let's speak now to julia manchester, political reporter at the hill. we all woke up this morning in the middle of the night, us time, to this new, and i think washington, the entire at least the political community, in the city and those who cover politics, we were all awoken by the news. it is not that surprising, given that president trump has gone against a lot of public health guidelines when it comes to the coronavirus, whether it is holding large rallies, not always wearing a mask. it is not surprising in that sense, however it is, you know, it is monumental given that this is the leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world, has now tested positive, he is in a high risk category, 74 years old and medically obese, so we don't know how that will impact him. this is 30

days out from one of the biggest elections in recent memory, where president trump will run for re—election, so there is a lot of uncertainty frankly, right now, because we don't know how this virus will hit. as many in the uk understand, boris johnson, the will hit. as many in the uk understand, borisjohnson, the prime minister, tested positive earlier this year, he was exhibiting symptoms and took a turn for the worst, and ended up in intensive care, wejust don't worst, and ended up in intensive care, we just don't know if that will be the case for president trump. julia, people are asking about president trump's movement. the fact hope hicks got a positive test on thursday morning, president trump went to newjersey and people saying, look, he should are been in quarantine? absolutely. he is getting quite a bit of criticism for that. on top of that, we are seeing that. on top of that, we are seeing that some of those major campaign officials round him or at least one officials round him or at least one of them, has tested positive for the

virus, she has been travelling as well there is lots of criticism about the president's movements and how transparent the white house was with those movements, and we are hearing there are questions as to whether the trump campaign reached out to the bede campaign ahead of time to let them know there was this diagnosis, we want to o you a heads up diagnosis, we want to o you a heads up because joe biden diagnosis, we want to o you a heads up becausejoe biden is 77, also in a high risk category. we know that vice—president nominee kamala harris has tested positive. vice—president pence has tested negative. there must be concern about the covid procedure at the white house now, that the only measure it seem, only preventative measure was daily testing. absolutely, we are seeing reports that white house employees, those who work in the residence, when you look at the white house, on the news, or media, you only get a

small glimpse of it. it is very much a large organisation with hundreds of people, staff working there, and there is reportedly some concern among those staff, and i am sure concern among members of the white house press corpses who are cautious and careful when it comes to social distancing, but lots of concern in washington today. —— corps. distancing, but lots of concern in washington today. -- corps. medical experts say president trump is at a higher risk as julia experts say president trump is at a higher risk asjulia mentioned because of his age, gender and weight. he is 74. that makes him five times more likely to need hospital treatment than someone in their 20s. at 17—and—a—half stone he is characterised as clinically obese, therefore more vulnerable to the disease. here is our health correspondent. this is the material that traps the particulate... president trump has had an interesting relationship with precautions like face coverings. here he is in may touring a mask factory, but not wearing one. byjuly, a change of heart,

tweeting that many people say it's patriotic to wear a face mask when you cannot socially distance. but still, watch him getting irritated with a mask—wearing reporter last month. you are going to have to take that off, please. you can take it off. how many feet are you away? i will speak a lot louder. if you don't take it off, you are very muffled, so if you take it off it would be easier. i'll speak a lot louder, is that better? it is better, yeah. now this letter from the president's doctor confirming that donald and melania trump tested positive and saying we are both well at this time. we know the president is tested routinely so it's likely that this has been cut early on. small people are asymptomatically totally and they would have a very good prognosis. i think we will know more in a week's time exactly how the disease has played out. many with this virus get just mild symptoms.

if they do get sick they tend to be ill for about 5—7 days and then either start to recover or become more seriously ill and may need hospital care. coronavirus is more of a risk the older you get. people aged 64—74 in america are five times more likely to need hospital care and 90 times more likely to die than someone in their 20s. ok, you have a tee here? the president is 74, male and medically obese. all these factors would put him in a higher risk bracket but he's also reasonably active, with regular games of golf, and it's one thing to see a pattern across an entire age group, you cannot really apply that risk to one individual person. the closest i can give you since he has a one in 25 chance of being quite seriously unwell, you have to put that in context.

in context, he has a 24 in 25 chance of pulling through this which i really hope he does. one way of looking at this is that if someone gets covid—19 it about doubles their risk of dying that year. so by far, most people with the health profile of the president would recover. the moderator of the debate chris wallace has said the trump entourage took their masks off at the start in contravention of safety regulations. the trump family came any am told wearing masks but took them off when they sat down, that actually violated the rules of the cleveland clinic in charge of all the safety issues, inside the hall. safety person, a health person from the

clinic came up to the first family when they were seated and off offered them masks and they were waved away, and people in the hall noticed that they weren't wearing masks and everybody else was wearing a masks. masks.ing news to bring you, the us senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said the senate can proceed with the confirmation of us supreme court nominee amy coney barrett, despite concerns, in the past 220 minutes or so we have heard that she has tested negative for coronavirus. mitch mcconnell saying we can move forward. our biggest enemy is the coronavirus, keeping everybody healthy to do theirjob. to remind you we know that trump is experiencing mild symptoms of coen but several member of his family his son and daughter have all tested

negative but president trump himself experiencing mild similar somme toms. stay with us for continuing coverage. —— symptoms. we have seen the worst of the weather in the southern parts of uk burke over the weekend the wind and rain will develop and the rain will be the biggest issue. transport disruption likely and strong winds at times, earlier today we have had the strongest winds round storm alex, named by the french met service, gusts of over 100mph. 60 or 70 in the channel island. as the storm weakens the winds will ease down as well. much lighter across the eastern side of the channel. gusting gale force at times in south—west england, perhaps the channel islands and we still have that rain round as well. it is only moving slowly northward, so still dry this evening in scotland and northern ireland, and these are the temperatures by then. now the rain

may start to ease off overnight, in wales and the south—west, still going to be windy here mind you but wetter weather continues in the south—east, develops further north and the rain will be pushed into scotland. it will turn chilly overnight, there could be early sunshine here tomorrow. on the whole, it is cloud and rain on the way tomorrow, that rain pushes its way tomorrow, that rain pushes its way westwards, developing more widely across england, wales and scotland, gales still in the south—west of england, sunshine perhaps in the afternoon in the south—east as the rain starts to clear through, that will give temperatures a boost but underneath the cloud and rain temperatures are typically a chilly 13 degree, that rain will be heavy in places as well. particularly in wales, and the west country, we have an amber rain warning from the met office, could be more than two inches of rain over the high ground, leading to flooding. another area of concern, the north east of scotland, again, a lot of rain to come here, leading to

some flooding and all that rain coming in off the north sea. around an area loaf pressure, that is drifting right over the centre of the country by sunday and that will dominate the weather. it means the strongest of the wind will be round the edges, together with this rain, which should move away from northern scotland, pushing back in to south wales, the south—west of england. in the middle of the country we have lighter wind, sunshine, but heavy showers and again 13 degrees and more showers early next week.

hello this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines: president trump and the first lady in quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus. the couple are now in quarantine at the white house. their diagnosis comes after one of mr trump's closest aides — hope hicks — also tested positive. well, obviously i think we all want to send our best wishes to the president and first lady. i've done that this morning, as can imagine. and i'm sure that they'll both stage a very strong recovery. the first minister of scotland calls on one of her mps to stand down, after she travelled by train despite knowing she had coronavirus. this is not a minor breach of the rules. it's not an inadvertent breach of the rules. it's a really flagrant and dangerous breach of the rules. two billionaire brothers from lancashire win a takeover battle for the supermarket giant asda.

so, as we were just hearing in the headlines... the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, has called on one of her mps to stand down from parliament after she took a train from london to glasgow despite knowing she had coronavirus. margaret ferrier has apologised for breaking covid rules, and has been suspended from the snp group at westminster. nicola sturgeon said the mp's actions were indefensible. here's our political correspondent, nick eardley. margaret ferrier with nicola sturgeon last year. when she won back rutherglen for the snp. after travelling from london to glasgow, despite testing positive for coronavirus, she has been suspended from the snp group at westminster and is under intense pressure to resign completely from parliament. her actions were reckless, dangerous and completely indefensible. i feel very angry on behalf of all of you. i have also spoken to her directly and made crystal clear to her, that i think she should now resign as an mp.

i would like to start by paying tribute to all nhs key workers and volunteers... this is ms ferrier in parliament on monday. her decision to attend has caused outrage. on saturday she had shown symptoms and took a coronavirus test. at that point, she should have self—isolated. on monday she felt better and travelled to london. however, after speaking in parliament, she received a positive test result. at that point, by law, she should have self—isolated but travelled back to scotland on tuesday morning by train. it is not if, it is when, now. margaret ferrier must stand down and resign as a member of parliament. she has no credibility now to deliver the message from both of scotland's governments

to keep people safe. ms ferrier is coming under considerable pressure to quit parliament, not just from her political opponents, from many inside the snp. that would trigger a by—election in her seat rutherglen. it is not clear when that will take place during the pandemic. crucially, though, the snp cannot force her to stand down and as things stand, the decision is hers alone. the snp are also facing questions about who knew what and when. the party says it became aware of ms ferrier‘s positive test on wednesday, but not that she had travelled after showing symptoms and after getting a positive result until thursday. one person in parliament has been told to self—isolate as a close contact. unions have said parliament should take more action. how could somebody put us at risk? we cannot allow for that. the fact is, we advise people what to do, how to behave if you show symptoms, please stay away. if you need a test, go and get a test, but whatever you do, don't come into the house of commons. ms ferrier has not made any public comment since her apology last night and, for now, remains an mp.

there's been a mixed reaction from people living in margaret ferrier‘s constituency of rutherglen and hamilton west. i am very sad and very disappointed. i love margaret ferrier. i was gutted when she lost this seat to ged killen. i was very much in support of her winning it back. and ijust am really sad that it's come to this and all our hard work is potentially undermined by this. i don't know what's in her thoughts. why she needed to do it. was it an emergency? i don't know why some people are taking risks. i don't know, i can't go into her head. well, i think she moaned about that other guy, that dominic cummings, and he was in his car. she came up on the public transport. i think it's a bit rich. you know, we're all doing our bit and i don't see why she's not. my wife works at the hospital as a nurse and she is dealing with covid patients, and i think it's a bit hypocritical for people who tell us what to do when people like my wife

and the stress levels that they are going through dealing with these people, do you know what i mean? some of the constituents in margaret ferrier‘s constituency of rutherglen and hamilton west. an official survey of coronavirus infections in england has found some evidence that the steep rise in cases last month may be starting to level off, although it's too soon to be certain. the office for national statistics says nearly 8,500 people are contracting covid—19 every day. the latest data on the r rate — which shows how many poeple one infected person can go on to infect — shows it is now at 1.3 to 1.6 which is up from 1.2 to1.5last week. anna collinson reports. it has been a week of confusion for many. one in four people in the uk are now

living under some form of extra coronavirus restrictions. but the picture varies depending where you are. and from tomorrow new strict measures will be introduced in middlesbrough, hartlepool, warrington and liverpool. while it means further upheaval for struggling businesses, some health officials wanted them to go further. we are seeing the impact on our hospital system already. we know the number of hospital admissions due to coronavirus has increased tenfold since the start of the month. frankly, i am worried this hasn't quite gone far enough. but to be fair this isn'tjust about rules, this is about people doing the right thing. it is estimated 1 in 500 people in homes across england had the coronavirus at the end of september. the figure is the same as last week but the office for national statistics says it is too early to say infections are falling. new data from public health england suggests infection rates are highest in the north west and yorkshire. the government says it is constantly monitoring the situation. we want to strike a sensible and pragmatic balance between controlling the virus and making sure that other things that matter to all of us including

protecting livelihoods, education and mental health and our broader way of life can be maintained. so what are the latest rules for the uk? in wales 2.3 million people are currently banned from meeting with other households indoors. they are also not allowed to leave the affected areas without good reason. in northern ireland and scotland you cannot meet in someone's home if you don't live with them. new restrictions on businesses are coming in for derry and strabane. in england there are measures in much of the north and midlands. residents cannot mix outside their household in a house or garden. the welsh government has also announced those living in lockdown areas will be allowed to form a bubble with another household and meet them indoors. the idea is indeed to ease some of that sense of loneliness, isolation, not being able to talk to anyone else. there is more than one form of harm from coronavirus and a sense of mental well—being is an important thing that we can make a difference to through this change.

it is claimed a three—tier system of local lockdown measures would simplify an increasingly complicated situation, with different levels indicating the severity of infections. an announcement is expected next week. anna collinson, bbc news. northern ireland reported 934 new cases of covid—19 today, more than double the previous record daily total rate. the increase comes ahead of new restrictions for pubs, cafes, restau ra nts a nd hotels in londonderry and strabane — as you heard in that report — to try to curb the spread of covid—19. they will only be able to open for takeaway, delivery and outdoor dining. it is part of a series of measures due to come into force next week, which will last for at least a fortnight. but many businesses have criticised

the move saying it's damaging to their companies after an already challenging year. colin neill is the chief executive of hospitality ulster, the industry body for the hospitality sector in northern ireland. the hospitality sector thank the hospitality sector you forjoining us. good to have thank you forjoining us. good to have you with us. what do you think these new restrictions will do to your industry? it's another body blow to an end and we have to remember our traditional non—food pubs, or wet remember our traditional non—food pubs, orwet pubs, remember our traditional non—food pubs, or wet pubs, as they've been called, have only been open a week. they only opened last wednesday. and to shut them and the rest of the sector again, we have asked, is there evidence that we are part of there evidence that we are part of the problem? or are wejust being sacrificed because we are a co ntrolla ble sacrificed because we are a controllable risk where they can't controllable risk where they can't control house parties? but if you look at the rates, and ijust quoted them, northern ireland is reporting 934 new cases, that's double the previous record daily total. so there is a real problem in northern ireland generally. the authority should have to do something.

absolutely. and we have been supportive of the whole way through. we have called for and got... we don't have guidance, we have legislation. you must have hand sanitiser, you must be seated according to the legislation and we are working with government. but i think it's important that whatever the government does has to be targeted. because controlling us, if we have to be sacrificed to control some other uncontrollable community element, then they do have to step in with a financial package because you are wiping out an entire industry. what is the damage that has already been done to the industry, would you say, in terms of jobs and businesses? free covid we sustained 65,000 jobs and add £2 billion turnover per year, we would estimate 30% of that has gone already and the rest will go very quickly because the money is gone. there is nothing there to sustain these businesses. do you see an end to this? is this just going to keep going for months and months? that's

our biggest worry. it is that stop start. we can't do that. what we are talking about with the government is if we are high risk tell us what it is so we can try and solve it. if we are not, if you are going to close us, at least tell the public we are being closed to mitigate another risk and that we are safe in the hours we are open. is there a danger that people are just going to house parties instead, or to shops? we have seen that in other areas of the uk where people are just going to supermarkets and just buying alcohol, beer and so on. absolutely. both are first and deputy first minister have cited house parties is the problem. the new curfew here which came in on wednesday night at midnight, we have lost all this at 10:30pm, everybody out by 11pm, one hour later than england, but that's because we have a totally different culture, we are very rural, most of our customers go out late. we don't have that go for a pint and go home, we go home and have dinner and go

out. our worry is that no one will come. it is not about the crowds leaving and going to the of lessons afterwards, they will go straight to the off—licence and go home.“ afterwards, they will go straight to the off-licence and go home. if you try and get your point of view to the ministers and authorities in general? has your voice be heard at all, do you think? i have to say, we have great access, we have ministers in our executive and i talk to them regularly and we are making our case. like all legislation, normally legislation takes years to do and is scrutinised in advance and the evidence is scrutinised. what we need to do with this legislation is scrutinised it immediately after it is introduced and see if it is appropriate and proportionate. you sound pretty angry. no, passionate. ido sound pretty angry. no, passionate. i do not envy our health minister, ourcmo, i do not envy our health minister, our cmo, scientific advisor, or any of our ministers. i wouldn't have theirjob for all the tea in china. this is about passionately believe

and we have to protect as manyjobs and we have to protect as manyjobs and businesses as we can because this will end some day. but if we haven't protected what are viable businesses pre—covid, this isn't market failure, this is covid causing the failure. we don't have the resources of westminster and with that funding cut off, my fear is we arejust with that funding cut off, my fear is we are just going to be cut adrift. thank you so much for being with us, colin neill, chief executive of hospitality ulster. lets hope things are not quite as bad as you feel they are going to become but good of you to talk to us on bbc news. thank you. dozens of postmasters have been told that the post office will not contest appeals against their convictions for fraud — in the wake of a scandal involving its horizon computer system, which saw cash disappear from local branches and postmasters prosecuted. the post office has apologised for what it called ‘historical failings‘, and is now reviewing 900 prosecutions that may have relied on horizon evidence. our legal correspondent clive coleman reports.

i am delighted to inform you that they are not contesting your appeal. delightfulformer sub postmistress jo hamilton, whose life was turned upside down after she was accused by the post office of taking £36,000 from the village shop she ran in hampshire. today the post office said it would not contest her appeal against conviction. in 1999 the post office introduced a computer system called horizon to manage local post office finances. over the following 15 years, hundreds of postmasters and postmistresses were prosecuted after the system showed cash shortfalls at their branches. they were held responsible for the missing money because they supposedly had sole control of their horizon accounts, but they denied any wrongdoing. many were fired, went bankrupt, or even sent to prison. a bbc panorama investigation revealed managers knew

problems with horizon could make money disappear. the criminal cases review commission referred 47 appeals against conviction to the court of appeal and crown court. dozens of postmasters and postmistresses have been told now that the post office will not contest their appeals. oh, it isjust amazing, honestly. 12 years, we have been fighting for this. to have it in black and white that they will not contest it, it is an enormous moment in my life. i cannot believe, and i still don‘t understand why they pursued us like they did. all they had to do was sort it out, and then when they convicted us theyjust kept going. it is now all but certain the convictions will be quashed. last year the post office paid out £58 million to settle a civil court case brought by 550 postmasters.

during the trial, the post office admitted remote access to horizon without the postmasters‘ knowledge was possible. in what‘s a major public scandal, more convictions could be challenged as the post office is now reviewing 900 prosecutions that may have relied on horizon evidence. we can get the latest from the white house, chief of staff mark meadows saying president trump and melania trump are still in good spirits. let‘s get the latest from the white house. he has mild symptoms, and as we look at that the doctor will continue to provide expertise in the residence. he is in the residents now and in true fashion he is probably critiquing the way that i‘m

answering these questions, and i can tell you that a number of us will be reporting back to him on the task at hand. would you clear this up, what day and time did you find out he had tested positive and did you sit on it until the president went out to his fundraiser? actually, as we look at this i‘m not going to get into the tick—tock. i can tell you in terms of hope hicks, we discovered that right as marine 1 was taking off yesterday, we pulled some of the people that had been travelling and in close contact. the reason why it was reported out, frankly, as we had already started the contact tracing just prior to that event. as you know, last night, even in the early hours of this morning, the minute we got a confirmatory test on the

president we felt like it was important to get the news out there at that time. so that‘s why we sent out the tweet early this morning. why aren‘t you wearing a mask right now? i have obviously been tested. we are hopefully more than six feet away and if there is any concern from a guidance standpoint. we have protocols in place. early on when we first started to tackle the covid—19 battle we actually did two different things in the white house. a number of contingencies. as we looked at not only additional testing but certainly mitigating the risk for social distancing and private meetings and the like. it goes to

the broader question, even with a lot of the mitigating factors, what you have is a virus that is contagious, that certainly continues to be, regardless of whatever protocol we have, that it has the ability to affect everybody. as you know, we keep a pretty wide circle, all of you that have interacted with the president know that. even with that wide circle around the president we find that he is having to deal with this, like so many millions of other americans and people around the world have had to do. ican people around the world have had to do. i can tell you that what we are doing is focusing on the therapeutics, the vaccines, continuing to do that, and that doesn‘t change. i want to ask really quickly, the officials on the flight with the president on wednesday including

kushner, stephen miller, have they all been tested? we have tested all of our core staff and i can tell you that mr kushner, myself, a number of us have been tested and come back with negative results. and yet at the same time i fully expect that as this virus continues to go on, other people in the white house will certainly have a positive test result and we have the mitigation plan in place to make sure that the government not only continues to move forward but the work of the american people continues to move forward. so even as recent as this morning at a little after eight o‘clock the president was giving me a number of things to make sure i get done. i‘m sure i will have those

do out there have to be back to him later today. i wanted to come out and give an update to all of you to show the courtesy of giving an update. we will have future updates. i'll update. we will have future updates. i‘ll be glad to do that but any other specifics at this point would not be right. that‘s mark meadows, the white house chief of staff saying he is optimistic present from will have a speedy recovery. he said the president is suffering mild symptoms after that covid—19 positive test. but still in good spirits, said the president is very much on the job and will remain on the job. president is very much on the job and will remain on thejob. he said that both president trump and his wife, the first lady melania trump, are still in good spirits. also saying that all core white house staff including himself there,

including the chief of staff mark meadows, have been tested and the results have come back as negative. that‘s the very latest update from the white house from the chief of staff mark meadows. we have also got some updates for you on the eu — uk brexit negotiations on the trade deal with time very much running out on that. the european union‘s chief negotiator michel barnier has just said there are still three key areas where agreement needs to be found to strike a post brexit trade deal with the uk. most people think it needs to be struck in october in the next few weeks. he said that the uk and eu are still at odds over the three areas of fisheries, governance and state aid. michel barnier also saying that we will continue to maintain what he called a "calm and

respectful attitude, and we will remain united and determined until the end of these negotiations." so that‘s michel barnier, the eu‘s chief negotiator with his latest prognosis on those trade talks. the green party have called on voters to embrace a "new normal" after the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. co—leaders jonathan ba rtley and sian berry used the party‘s conference to reject cutbacks in the wake of the aftermath of the covid pandemic. if your social media is anything like mine your feed will be full of people asking, "what the hell is up with 2020?" fires in the arctic and the us, refugees in the channel from 1,000 refugees in the channel, thousands sleeping rough on our streets, a pandemic that has killed 1 million people. i was sitting at home a couple of weeks ago and i switched on extinction: the facts, the david attenborough documentary. i found the tears just rolling down my cheeks.

i think i was crying for two reasons. there‘s the obvious one. who is not moved by the countless species being lost? how? how have we let this mass destruction happen? but the second reason was the poignancy with which the attenborough programme brought home the connections between the climate and the ecological crisis, coronavirus and the way our economy and society is structured. everything is a green issue. everything is connected. and that is finally being recognised. there is no economy on a dead planet. that's what we often used to say. but this awful pandemic that we're just partway through has already made us recognise, like never before, the truly deep connections between our people, society and our planet. we have seen that it is people of colour and the working class who will suffer disproportionately from climate breakdown. people of colour and the working class who have always suffered

disproportionately from health inequality, social inequality and racism. and it's people of colour and the working class who are suffering disproportionately from coronavirus. we have gained new perspectives from this terrible crisis and new perspectives too from our government's failing attempts to forge its response to the pandemic within a prevailing economic system that just wasn't built for resilience in a crisis. one of the most telling failures is the contracting out of test and trace. this has left us injust about every area of the country without even the data on the virus's spread that we need to act and properly plan our local responses. it is heartbreaking that we were not better prepared for the second wave because the government failed. because it handed the job to a company that couldn't deliver. contracting out is what governments do when they've lost confidence in their own leadership, lost confidence in local communities, and we won't get

the virus under control without a test and trace system that works in every local area. we have been saying for months that the government needs to work with local authorities, communities and public health teams. these are the people who can deliver. the failure must now be fixed. the government needs to think in new and better ways because we have the proof, in the worst way today, that its old models aren't fit for purpose. co—leaders of the green party there. and this evening bbc parliament will have coverage of the full conference speech of adam price — plaid cymru‘s leader — which you can watch across various channels at 7pm tonight. the weather is coming up. but some sad news coming in from the world of entertainment, frank windsor, the star of hit tv shows z cars and

softly softly has died at the age of 92, according to his agent, that news just 92, according to his agent, that newsjust in. frank windsor, the actor who starred inz frank windsor, the actor who starred ianars, frank windsor, the actor who starred in z cars, softly softly and many other shows as well has died at the age of 92. much more on that coming up age of 92. much more on that coming up later this afternoon. first, the latest weather prospects for you with darren bett. hello there. so far we‘ve seen the worse of the weather across more southern parts of the uk, but over the weekend the wind and rain will develop more widely, and it‘s the rain that is going to be the biggest issue. some flooding is expected, some transport disruption likely, and there will be some strong winds at times too. now earlier today, we‘ve had the strongest winds around storm alex, named by the french met service. gusts of over 100mph in the north—west of france, through the channel, channel islands, 60 or 70mph. but as storm alex weakens, so the winds will gradually ease down as well — by this evening much lighter

winds across the eastern side of the channel, still gusting gale force at times in south—west england, perhaps the channel islands, and we still have that rain around as well. it‘s only moving very slowly northwards, so still dry this evening in scotland and northern ireland, and these are the temperatures by then. now, the rain may start to ease off overnight in wales and the south—west, still going to be very windy here, mind you, but wetter weather continues in the south—east of england, developing further north and the winds will push the rain into the eastern side of scotland. western scotland, northern ireland, largely dry, some clearer skies, and it will turn a bit chilly overnight. there could be some early sunshine here tomorrow. but on the whole, it is cloud and rain on the way tomorrow. that rain pushes its way westwards, developing more widely across england, wales and into scotland, gales still in the south—west of england, some sunshine perhaps in the afternoon in the south—east as the rain starts to clear through. that will give temperatures a boost, but underneath the cloud and rain temperatures are typically a chilly 13 degrees. that rain will be heavy in places as well, particularly across wales and the west country. we have an amber rain warning from the met office —

could be more than two inches of rain over the high ground leading to some flooding. another area of concern, the north—east of scotland, again a lot of rain to come here, leading to some flooding, and all that rain coming in off the north sea. around an area of low pressure that is drifting over the centre of the country by sunday, and that will dominate our weather. it does mean the strongest of the winds will be around the edges, together with all this rain which should move away from north—eastern scotland. still not far away from northern ireland, pushing back in to south wales, the south—west of england. in the middle of the country we have lighter winds, there will be some sunshine, but there will be some heavy showers, and again it is 13 degrees and more showers early next week.

this is bbc world news i‘m babita sharma. our top story... president trump is experiencing mild symptoms after testing positive for coronavirus: he is now self—isolating. the president and the first lady tested positive for covid—19. they remain in good spirits. the president does have mild symptoms. iam president does have mild symptoms. i am live in washington as top white house officials say the president will remain on the job, with 32 days until the election. the diagnosis come after one of his closest a ides the diagnosis come after one of his closest aides tested positive for covid—19. we will take you through every aspect of the for isry. we will take you through every aspect of the for isry. we‘ll bring you the latest

international reaction, as world leaders send messages wishing the president well. we all want to send ours best wishes to the president, and the first lady. i am sure they will both stage a very strong recovery. i am sure they will both stage a very strong recovery. we‘ll have the latest on how global markets have reacted — in the us, the dowjones fell by around 1% on opening. hello and welcome to bbc world news. president trump and his wife melania have gone into quarantine in the white house, after testing positive for covid—19. treasury secretary stephen mnuchkin has confimed that the president is now experiencing ‘mild symptoms‘. mr trump, who‘s often downplayed the virus and seldom uses a mask, said they would get through it together. let‘s take a look at the events just before president trump tested positive. on tuesday, the first debate between president trump

and joe biden took place. his special advisor hope hicks — who has also tested positive — traveled with the campaign. on wednesday, the trump campaign flew to a rally in minnesota. again, hope hicks travelled with president trump. she falls ill and quarantines on the return journey. on thursday, hope hicks tests positive for coronavirus just as president trump travels to newjersey for another fundraiser. donald trump then takes a test along with wife melania. then, earlier today, president trump takes to twitter to announce that he and melania have tested positive. an election rally in florida tonight has been cancelled. the president is said to be experiencing mild, cold—like, symptoms. vice president mike pence, who would take over running the government if trump becomes too ill, has tested negative for the virus.

he and trump will work from separate residences as a precaution. in the next hour, we‘ll be looking at this from all angles, with reaction from america and across the world. we‘ll ask what the news means for the us election campaign, and for global markets. we‘ll speak to experts on health and the us constitution. and, as with any major news event nowadays, already disinformation is beginning to spread, our specialist reporter will bring us the latest developments on that front. first though, let‘s go to washington and get the latest from colleague, early on, when we first started to tackle the covid—19 battle, we actually did two different things, and, in the white house, a number of contin genesis as we looked at

additional testing, but certainly, mitigating the risk for social distancing, and private meetings, and the like, but i think it goes to the broader question, is, even with a lot the mitigating factor, jim, what you have is a virus that is contagious, that is certainly continues to be regardless of what ever property coll we have, that it has the ability to affect everybody, as you know, the president, we keep as you know, the president, we keep a pretty wide circle, all of you who have interacted with him know that, so even with that wide circle round the president, we find that he is having to deal with this, like so many millions of other americans, and people round the world have had to do. we can cross live to our washington correspondent laura trevelyan: laura — what a massive thing for americans to digest, very unsettling and the ripple effects will be huge.

well, absolutely, for starters, everybody in the president‘s orbit who has come into close contact with matter of minutes in the last week is now frantically being tested, it is now frantically being tested, it is 32 days until the election, the president was due to campaign in florida today, of course he isn‘t. his rival, former vice—presidentjoe biden was due to campaign in michigan, he is now having a test because he was on stage in cleveland with the president, just on tuesday night, so the implications of this are absolutely staggering, the president who has shrugged off the virus, shunned social distancing, who has not liked to wear a mask in public, he now has the virus. meanwhile his election rival has tried to make this campaign into a referendum on the president‘s handling of it. so it is completely up handling of it. so it is completely up ended the race, and here is my colleague peter bowes with more p a bombshell like no other — a month before the presidential

election, donald trump and his wife melania, the first lady, have tested positive for coronavirus. it follows news that one of his closest advisers, hope hicks, has the disease. she experienced symptoms of covid while accompanying the president at a rally in minnesota. she was quarantined on the presidential plane back to washington. earlier in the week, she travelled to cleveland in ohio with mr trump for the presidential debate. she was seen arriving with his team not wearing a mask. the president confirmed his diagnosis in a tweet. the first lady later tweeted that they were both feeling good. the president‘s doctor said both were well at this time and "plan to remain at home within the white house "during their convalescence. "rest assured, i expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without

disruption while recovering." the late—night announcement has sent shock waves throughout america and the world. days after a heated debate with his democratic opponent, joe biden, mr trump is now confined to the white house for an indefinite period. he has cancelled a rally scheduled for tonight in florida. the coronavirus has long been the central issue in the presidential election campaign, with the democrats accusing mrtrump offailing to alert the nation to the severity of the disease, and for ignoring the advice of his medical experts. the virus has killed more than 200,000 americans, and multiple states are experiencing a surge in cases. for months, mr trump has been belittling joe biden for isolating himself at home in his basement and for wearing a mask during his public appearances. i don‘t wear a mask like him. every time you see him, he‘s got a mask. he could be speaking 200 feet away from me and he shows up with the biggest

mask i‘ve ever seen. the us vice president, mike pence, who would take over from donald trump if he became too ill to carry out his duties, has tweeted his love and prayers to the president and his wife. election law in the us means the country will go to the polls on november the 3rd, but what happens between now and then is far from clear. they talk about the october surprise in american politics, but this is uncharted territory. plenty of information coming through, we are hearing that mitch mcconnell, he says he has spoken to donald trump on the phone and says that the president was in good spirits, and laura, the question now is, that people want to know, how is the president doing and if he does fall seriously ill, who then is in charge of the united states? that is

right the white house trying to project confidence, reassure global markets and allies that all the well, that the president is in good spirit, he has only mild flu—like symptoms, we are told that today the white house is trying to figure out how he will engage with the public, he has an event at 1215 where he is supposed to enphage with seniors about the coronavirus, believe it or not, but there is a structure 234 place were the president to fall in and be unable to govern. the vice—president is the next in line, mike pence, we know he tested negative, so that is a reassuring sign. if both the president and the vice—president were to fall ill the speaker of the house of representative nancy pelosi would become president. she being tested. so everybody down to the secretary of state mike pompeo has been tested, his has come back negative.

there is a structure in place but there is no question that this is a crisis for the white house, with 32 days to go, the president has fallen prey to the virus he has spent so long trying to down play. indeed. thank your are very much for that. medical experts say president trump is at a higher risk from covid—19 because of his age, gender and weight. he‘s 74, which makes him more likely to need hospital treatment than someone in their 20s. and at 17 and a half stone, he‘s also categorised as clinically obese, and therefore more vulnerable to the disease. here‘s our health correspondent, catherine burns. president trump has had an interesting relationship with precautions like face coverings. here he is in may, touring a mask

factory, but not wearing one. byjuly, a change of heart, tweeting that many people say it is patriotic to wear a face mask when you cannot socially distance. but watch him getting irritated with a mask—wearing reporter last month. you‘re going to have to take that off, please. you can take it off. how many feet are you away? i'll speak a lot louder. if you don‘t take it off, you are very muffled, so if you take it off it would be a lot easier. i'lljust speak a lot louder, is that better? it is better, yeah. now this letter from the president‘s doctor confirming donald and melania trump have both tested positive but they are both well at this time. we know the president is tested routinely, so it is likely this has been caught early on. small amounts of people are totally asymptomatic and, of course, they would have a very good prognosis. i think we will know more in a week, exactly how the disease has played out.

many people with this virus just get mild symptoms. if they get sick, they tend to be ill for about five to seven days and then either start to recover, or become more seriously ill and may need hospital care. coronavirus is more of a risk the older you get. people aged 64 to 74 in america are five times more likely to need hospital care and 90 times more likely to die than someone in their 20s. the president is 74, male and medically obese. all these factors would put him in a higher risk bracket, but he is also reasonably active, with regular games of golf. it is one thing to see a pattern across an entire age group, you cannot really apply that risk to one individual person. the closest i can give you is that he has about a one in 25 chance of being quite seriously unwell. but you have to put that in context,

he has a 24 out of 25 chance of not being unwell and pulling through this, which i really hope he does. one way of looking at this is to think if someone gets covid—19 it doubles the risk of dying that year. so by far, most people with the health profile of the president would recover. catherine burns, bbc news. dr taison bell is a critical care and infectious diseases doctor, and director of the intensive care unit at the university of virginia hospital. thank you for being with us here on bbc news. firstly, what is your reaction the news regarding donald trump‘s positive test result? reaction the news regarding donald trump's positive test result? well,s it was a shock to wake up this morning, it is very unfortunate because it is destabilising for the us and the world. first we certainly hope that the president, the first lady miss hicks they all do well, but this is the first serious threat

to the health to the us president ronald reagan. we have to take the coronavirus seriously, this is a virus that has killed over 200,000 americans, over a billion across the globe. we have to remain vigilant, which means wearing masks, avoiding cramped spaces indoors, hand hygiene, we have to remain vigilant. i wonder if i can get your assessment on the rigs you testing protocol the white house implemented at start of the outbreak of the coronavirus in america, we were told the president was being tested every other day, so what does that tell you about how sufficient that is, as a combative measure to tackle covid—19? a combative measure to tackle covid-19? well, i think this demonstrates it is not sufficient, that there is no cutting corners and trying to keep the spread of this virus down. the testing regime was very vigorous, they tested the president on almost a daily basis i

believe and those that were in close contact with him. they chose not to adhere to the best practises of mask wearing, they ridiculed it publicly, they took their masks off despite having a mask mandate indoors, so you have to make sure you stick with all of the measures, all at the same time, and, doing everything that you can, possibly do. we are hearing from officials that we are being told the president is experiencing mild symptoms, this positive test result just came mild symptoms, this positive test resultjust came on thursday morning, so can you talk us through that quarantine period, and when those symptoms might develop to more than mild hour this might play out for the president? well, i think this is going to be a contact tracing investigation nightmare, because as the president of the us, he has been in contact with a lot people, they reported that he had symptoms thursday, they said they we re symptoms thursday, they said they were mild and we know from prior studies that your risk of infection

is round the highest a couple of days, two or three days before you develop symptoms, so this places us between monday or wednesday, during the presidential debates when he was in contact with a lot of different people. we also know that the chairwoman of the rnc who has tested positive on wednesday was in contact with the president last friday. so, i think, you with the president last friday. so, ithink, you know, once, the dust has settled and we have got to the bottom of this there may be a lot of people who have been potentially exposed. we will have to leave it there, we are grateful for your time. thank you forjoining us as what i know is a very busy time for you at the hospital be you are. thank you nor being with us. let‘s focus now on the economic aspect of this story. unsurprisingly, the news that the president of the united states has coronavirus sent global stockmarkets falling. wall street opened sharply down — with the dowjones falling by around 1%. we can cross live to new york and our business correspondent there, michelle fleury,

who is outside the stock exchange for us. quite the story we never really covered bike will before, the president falling ill, to a positive covid—19. tell us how the nerves are panning through the global stock market exchange today?. well i think the final weeks before voting closes, investors expected it to be fairly bumpy ride, and were predicting a lot of volatility, but this, really amps up the pressure andi this, really amps up the pressure and i think you saw that reflected in how the markets responded to the news. before the markets open there was a sharp sell off, the dough news. before the markets open there was a sharp sell off, the douthoan has clawed back some of its losses and is round half a percent at the moment. the key thing people are looking at, is what does this mean

for the presidency, what does this mean for the election, what is going to happen over the next few weeks? as sort of investors in wall street are trying to make their own assessments about that and what implications it has for example for any stimulus being passed, you are seeing them beginning to hold back a little, and that is why the markets have recovered some of the losses. how important is it, michelle, for investors to get constacked updates regarding the president‘s health during this time? -- constant. look, imeani during this time? -- constant. look, i mean i think like everyone round the country they want to know what is going on with the white house, how things are proceeding but the broader context to this is when you think back to the start of this year, wall street and investors ver much expected to see president trump campaignfor much expected to see president trump campaign for re—election on the strength of the economy. and we have just had data today showing that the recovery in the labour market is

slowing down. that sort of sharp rebound we started to see, especially in june, rebound we started to see, especially injune, has begun to run out of steam, and when you look traditionally in america, that has not been a good sign for the incumbent, in modern history you go back to president carter and george hw bush and they lost because the economy wasn‘t doing so well. we have an unemployment rate of 7.9%, that wouldn‘t bode very well for president trump. you add to that what is happening with the pandemic, and it is unclear how that will play with voters but it is something that wall street is focussed on. thank you very much michelle for that. let‘s take a look at international reaction to the news. borisjohnson has wished the president and first lady a speedy recovery. the prime minister —

who himself tested positive for coronavirus and had to go to hospital — is among a series of world leaders to have sent the couple their good wishes, as our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. donald trump‘s positive test for covid—19 may have plunged the american election into turmoil, but it also potentially has consequences for the rest of the world. a disrupted election is one thing, an incapacitated us leader would be another. one man who knows what the president is going through is borisjohnson, who caught coronavirus in march and became so ill he spent days in intensive care and later said, "it could have gone either way." as he recovered in hospital there was a lot of personal sympathy then for the prime minister. the question now is whether the president will garner similar support, or face fresh criticism for understating the threat of the coronavirus. for now, his namejoins

a growing list of global figures laid low by covid. the president of brazil, jair bolsonaro, fell ill injuly after refusing to social distance. the president of honduras and his wife tested positive injune, the president of guatemala tested positive last month. and, of course, closer to home, the prince of wales went into isolation after catching the disease in march. this morning, amid jittery financial markets, messages of support flooded in from around the world. japan‘s economy minister spoke of a major impact on the markets and said he hoped mr trump would recover as soon as possible. in a tweet, the indian prime minister, narendra modi, wished president a quick recovery and good health. chancellor merkel of germany said she hoped mr and mrs trump recover well from their corona infection. and vladimir putin, who makes visitors pass through a disinfecting tunnel before they meet him, sent mr trump a telegram saying he was certain

the president‘s vitality, good spirits and optimism would help him cope with the virus. james landale, bbc news. wouldn‘t bode very well more on the international reaction to the test results. zhaoyin feng is bbc chinese‘s washington correspondent. shejoins me now. what has been the reaction on official chinese media to this news? chinese state media kept the news report pretty brief and just stated basic facts about the testing result, but an editor of a state media, global times tweets a pretty strong reaction on twitter. he said president trump paid the price for his... to play down the pandemic and this will negatively affect his campaigns, however on chinese social

media several state media have shut off the comments about these news. it seems like beijing is keen to control the public opinion, in case it goes out of hand. why is that? well, clearly beijing wa nts to why is that? well, clearly beijing wants to state just a simple message it wants to send good wishes to the president, and first lady, it sets a, for president, and first lady, it sets a,fora president, and first lady, it sets a, for a ministry spokesperson that china hopes the president and the first lady recovers soon, and at a the same seem while there is reaction to in new, the governments wa nt to reaction to in new, the governments want to stay on this official message and not to stir up the relationship dram tickly while the bilateral relations has already in a very difficult spot for months. —— dramatically. 2020 for us—china relations has been

something, hasn‘t it. have there been any official government state m e nts been any official government statements released other than the shutting down of things they don‘t like. the official statement is pretty brief, the foreign ministry spokesperson said china hopes the president and the first lady recovers soon, and that is pretty much it. and i am wondering we talk about a lot about it, we have millions of social media users active social media users there. what is the vibe been on line, because it takes time before they are instantly shut down, have you managed to get a feel of what —— for what people are saying. you are right. the news became the top trending topic almost instantly, gaining 1.6 million views so far and some comments wished him well and pointed out the fact the virus does not discriminate. it affects powerful people as much as others, however there are some comments mocking the president, saying his

illness is a gift to china, and on china‘s national day, which happens to be yesterday, october 1st, and chinese people have given trump a nick neighbouring name, nation beater trump but they think trump is making china instead of making america great as he mismanages the us, china is given the chance to rise, and analysts think this might be bad news for china because trump has more reason to double down on his beijing for the virus and also implement more hotline policies towards china. thank you for that. i want to bring you an update. melania trump has taken to twitter to give us this update on her saying thank you for the love that you are sending our way. i have mild symptoms but overall i am feeling good. am looking forward to a speedy recovery. so that is melania trump there, taking to twitter to say she is feeling well. we have much more on this breaking news story, stay

with us here on bbc news, see you soon. hello there. so far we‘ve seen the worst of the weather across more southern parts of the uk, but over the weekend the wind and rain will develop more widely, and it‘s the rain that is going to be the biggest issue. some flooding is expected, some transport disruption likely, and there will be some strong winds at times too. now earlier today, we‘ve had the strongest winds around storm alex, named by the french met service. gusts of over 100mph in the north—west of france, through the channel, channel islands, 60 or 70mph. but as storm alex weakens, so the winds will gradually ease down as well — by this evening much lighter winds across the eastern side of the channel, still gusting gale force at times in south—west england, perhaps the channel islands, and we still have that rain around as well. it‘s only moving very slowly northwards, so still dry this evening in scotland and northern ireland, and these are the temperatures by then. now the rain may start

to ease off overnight in wales and the south—west, still going to be very windy here, mind you, but wetter weather continues in the south—east of england, developing further north and the winds will push the rain into the eastern side of scotland. western scotland, northern ireland, largely dry, some clearer skies, and it will turn a bit chilly overnight. there could be some early sunshine here tomorrow. but on the whole, it is cloud and rain on the way tomorrow. that rain pushes its way westwards, developing more widely across england, wales and into scotland, gales still in the south—west of england, some sunshine perhaps in the afternoon in the south—east as the rain starts to clear through. that will give temperatures a boost, but underneath the cloud and rain temperatures are typically a chilly 13 degrees. that rain will be heavy in places as well, particularly across wales and the west country. we have an amber rain warning from the met office — could be more than two inches of rain over the high ground leading to some flooding. another area of concern, the north east of scotland, again a lot of rain to come here, leading to some flooding, all that rain coming in off the north sea. around an area of low pressure that is drifting over the centre of the country by sunday, and that will dominate our weather. it does mean the strongest of the winds will be around the edges, together with all this

rain which should move away from north east scotland. still not far away from northern ireland, pushing back in to south wales, the south—west of england. in the middle of the country we have lighter winds, there will be some sunshine, but there will be some heavy showers, and again it is 13 degrees and more showers early next week.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump and the first lady in quarantine after testing

positive for coronavirus. the couple will self—isolate in the white house for ten days. their diagnosis comes after one of donald trump‘s closest aides — hope hicks — also tested positive. well, obviously i think we all want to send our best wishes to the president and first lady. and i‘ve done that this morning, as you can imagine. and i‘m sure that they‘ll both stage a very strong recovery. the first minister of scotland calls on one of her mps to stand down, after she travelled by train despite knowing she had coronavirus. this is not a minor breach of the rules. it's not an inadvertent breach of the rules. it's a really flagrant and dangerous breach of the rules. eu commission president ursula von der leyen — calls for post—brexit trade talks to "intensify" ahead of a call with borisjohnson on saturday.

good afternoon. we will stay with coronavirus momentarily because in the last few moments we have had new figures through, the new number of covid cases. very nearly 7000, reporting 6968 new covid cases on friday, slightly up on thursday‘s figure, very slightly up. and also in terms of deaths, we are being told there were 66 deaths within 28 days of testing positive for the virus, up from the level the day before of 59, but still lower than numbers early in the week. so those are the latest figures which have just come through to us. on the issue of coronavirus, we will talk about a bit more about the

situation with one mp. scotland‘s first minister nicola sturgeon, has called on one of her mps to stand down from parliament, after she took a train from london to glasgow despite knowing she had the virus. margaret ferrier has apologised for breaking covid rules, and has been suspended from the snp group at westminster. nicola sturgeon said the mp‘s actions were indefensible. here‘s our political correspondent, nick eardley. margaret ferrier with nicola sturgeon last year. when ms ferrier won back rutherglen for the snp. but after travelling from london to glasgow, despite testing positive for coronavirus, she has been suspended from the snp group at westminster and is under intense pressure to resign completely from parliament. her actions were reckless, dangerous and completely indefensible. i feel very angry on behalf of all of you. i have also spoken to her directly and made crystal clear to her

that i think she should now resign as an mp. i would like to start by paying tribute to all nhs key workers and volunteers... this is ms ferrier in parliament on monday. her decision to attend has caused outrage. on saturday she had shown symptoms and took a coronavirus test. at that point, she should have self—isolated. but on monday she felt better and travelled to london. however, after speaking in parliament, she received a positive test result. at that point, by law, she should have self—isolated but travelled back to scotland on tuesday morning by train. it is not if, it is when, now. margaret ferrier must stand down and resign as a member of parliament. she has no credibility now to deliver the message from both of scotland‘s governments to keep people safe. ms ferrier is coming under considerable pressure to quit parliament, not just from her political opponents, but from many inside the snp too.

that would trigger a by—election in her seat rutherglen and hamilton west seat. although it is not clear when that will take place during the pandemic. crucially, though, the snp cannot force her to stand down and as things stand, the decision is hers alone. the snp are also facing questions about who knew what and when. the party says it became aware of ms ferrier‘s positive test on wednesday, but not that she had travelled after showing symptoms and after getting a positive result until thursday. one person in parliament has been told to self—isolate as a close contact. unions have said parliament should take more action. how could somebody put us at risk? we cannot allow for that. the fact is, we advise people what to do, how to behave if you show symptoms, please stay away. if you need a test, go and get a test, but whatever you do, don‘t come into the house of commons. ms ferrier has not made any public comment since an apology

last night and, for now, remains an mp. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. margaret ferrier‘s constituency is rutherglen and hamilton west. this isa rutherglen and hamilton west. this is a flavour of what some of her constituents thought a little earlier today. i am very sad and very disappointed. i love margaret ferrier. i was gutted when she lost this seat to ged killen. i was very much in support of her winning it back. and ijust am really sad that it‘s come to this and all our hard work is potentially undermined by this. i don't know what's in her thoughts. why she needed to do it. was it an emergency? i don't know why some people are taking risks. i don't know, i can't go into her head. well, i think she moaned about that other guy, that dominic cummings, and he was in his car. she came up on the public transport. i think it's a bit rich. you know, we're all doing our bit and i don't see why she's not. my wife works at the hospital as a nurse and she is dealing with covid patients,

and i think it‘s a bit hypocritical for people who tell us what to do when people like my wife and the stress levels that they are going through dealing with these people, do you know what i mean? some of margaret ferrier‘s constituents there. commission president, ursula von der leyen, borisjohnson will hold talks tomorrow with the european commission president, ursula von der leyen, as the two sides seek a breakthrough in post—brexit trade negotiations. formal negotiations end today, and there‘s still no agreement. our political correspondent, iain watson is in westminster. what do we read into the fact that there will be this video call tomorrow? that gives at least an opportunity for the talks to continue informally even though the latest formal round has completed. what boris johnson latest formal round has completed. what borisjohnson wants to see is an agreement by october 15 when there is a big european council meeting and all the other eu leaders will be at that meeting, and then there will be enough time to sign of

any agreement between then and the end of the year when the uk leaves the transition period, when, if you like, brexit really hits home. it sounds like potentially actually to getan sounds like potentially actually to get an agreement both sides might be prepared to go beyond october 15, but in the run up to that european council meeting in just two weeks‘ time, the european commission president ursula von der leyen was saying today that she is prepared to see more dummett far more intensive discussions going on, which i think the borisjohnson video call tomorrow will be just the beginning. we shall intensify the negotiations because it is worth working hard on it. a second point on the withdrawal agreement, as it is, it can be implemented, andl agreement, as it is, it can be implemented, and i called again on everybody to really work hard to implement it. this is so important. there is certainly not a sense that the negotiations, although there are

disagreements, are in any way coming to an end and she stressed this was a question of the withdrawal agreement and the legal dispute with the united kingdom over its intention to diverge from the withdrawal agreement in relation to northern ireland, some of the things that have been agreed in northern ireland. again, she sounded very unhelpful. i don‘t think this was in any sense and attempt to ratchet up the tensions. in the last hour we have had statements from both sides of the negotiating parties, as it were, from lord frost, david frost come on the british side, and michel barnier, the long—standing chief eu negotiator. if you listen to the language being used it is quite positive, david frost said they were constructive discussions conducted ina constructive discussions conducted in a positive spirit and michel barnier says we will continue to maintaina calm barnier says we will continue to maintain a calm and respectful attitude. there is an attempt to get an agreement but let‘s come back to this, as we have heard before to be frank, the huge gaps that remain. from the uk side they are making a very clear that when it comes to

what they call subsidy policy, effectively, whether we can subsidise our own industries, whether there is a level playing field, as it‘s called, with the rest of the european union, there are still gaps there and a big gap still to be filled in the european union cosmic expectations on fisheries and what the uk is willing to concede. what is interesting is that both sides are agreeing on where they disagree. so michel barnier is saying absolutely fisheries and state aid are two of the big problems that must be solved in the coming weeks but is also adding a few others as well and saying he is also concerned about data protection, for example, the mechanism for any dispute once a trade agreement is struck. he believes that there must be more robust reassurances and guarantees from the uk side. it‘s not over until it is over but it hasn‘t been solved in this week of negotiations, the negotiations will continue informally. interesting too that michel barnier will be talking to the german chancellor angela merkel

on monday. perhaps an attempt to see if there‘s any input to bring the deadlock —— break the deadlock. agreeing where they disagree, we will take that for now! iain watson, our political correspondent at westminster. now we will talk a bit more about coronavirus. an official survey of coronavirus infections in england has found some evidence that the steep rise in cases last month may be starting to level off — although the office for national statistics says it‘s too early to be certain. its survey suggests nearly 8,500 people are contracting covid—19 every day. the latest data on the r rate, which shows how many people one infected person can go on to infect, shows it stands at between 1.3 to 1.6 — a rise on last week. our health correspondent anna collinson reports. it‘s been a week of confusion for many. one in four people in the uk are now

living under some form of extra coronavirus restrictions. but the picture varies depending where you are. and, from tomorrow, new strict measures will be introduced in middlesbrough, hartlepool, warrington and liverpool. while it means further upheaval for struggling businesses, some health officials wanted them to go further. we are seeing the impact on our hospital system already. we know the number of hospital admissions due to coronavirus has increased tenfold since the start of the month. frankly, i am worried this hasn‘t quite gone far enough. to be fair, this isn‘tjust about rules, this is about people doing the right thing. it is estimated 1 in 500 people in homes in england had coronavirus at the end of september. the figure is the same as last week but the office for national statistics says it‘s too early to say infections are falling. new data from public health england suggests infection rates are highest in the north west and yorkshire. the government says it is constantly monitoring the situation.

we want to strike a sensible and pragmatic balance between controlling the virus and making sure that other things that matter to all of us, including protecting livelihoods, education and mental health and our broader way of life, can be maintained. what are the latest rules for the uk? in wales, 2.3 million people are currently banned from meeting with other households indoors. they are also not allowed to leave the affected areas without good reason. in northern ireland and scotland, you cannot meet in someone‘s home if you don‘t live with them. new restrictions on businesses are coming in for derry and strabane. in england there are measures in much of the north and midlands. residents cannot mix outside their household in a house or garden. the welsh government has also announced those living in lockdown areas will be allowed to form a bubble with another household and meet them indoors. the idea is indeed to ease some of that sense of loneliness, isolation, not being able to talk to anybody else. there is more than one form of harm

from coronavirus and a sense of mental well—being is an important thing that we can make a difference to through this change. it‘s claimed a three—tier system of local lockdown measures would simplify an increasingly complicated situation, with different levels indicating the severity of infections. an announcement is expected next week. anna collinson, bbc news. let‘s discuss where we are right now. drjennifer rohn is a cell biologist at university college london and joins me now. good afternoon. good afternoon. what are you most keenly looking at in trying to assess just where we are in the country right now? is it the r numberwe in the country right now? is it the r number we should all be focused on? i think they r number is very important but the problem is that it is quite difficult to pin down. as you have been hearing from your correspondence, there is a lot of noise in the system, there is a

range of r that might be anywhere from 0.7 below one up to 1.5, above one and we don‘t know where we are one and we don‘t know where we are on the scale. the average slightly above one but we don‘t know what thatis above one but we don‘t know what that is and it is a hard number because it isn‘t just that is and it is a hard number because it isn‘tjust an intrinsic component of the virus that determines r, it is one of our behaviours. i‘m interested in the r number but i don‘t think we will ever have a solid grasp on it. we know how many people are infected per capita and that‘s a number that is still rising. right, so is that your key focus, then? what is it that you look at in terms of assessing whether we have made any sort of improvements at all? whether some of the restrictions coming on in some parts of the country are having an impact. it is really difficult and we have different ways of measuring, the office for national statistics has their way, which are sampling a small number of people completely randomly and we have the pillar one and two which is the more biased sample because these people have symptoms or feel they have a test —— need a test and the

test and tray system is also monitoring positivity rates. there isa monitoring positivity rates. there is a lot of noise and a lot of data. —— test and trace system. the general trend is upward and it is the wrong direction of travel. it is true we might be easing off slightly but as you mentioned it is just too soon to tell. and therefore, what would you do personally yourself at the moment? what do you feel people should be doing right now? i know thatis should be doing right now? i know that is possibly a slightly different answer depending on where you live in the country. but what would your personal focus be?” think people need to start following the guidelines. i understand the guidelines are confusing but if you distill them down so they are a sort of essence, the essences don‘t get too close to people and take care when you do, so wearing a mask, for example. i think the local lockdowns are interesting. it has been nine weeks since many towns went into local lockdown but studies have shown the infection rate continues to rise despite local lockdown. in some places locally locked down the

average is higher than the english national average, so i‘m not really sure the local lockdown is are working but i don‘t see we have a choice. we really need to try and contain the hotspots. it is so difficult because the rules are complicated, not everybody is following the rules, the borders between regions are not walled off like a prison. i mean, people can go back and forth and people do travel from place to place. so it is very complicated. i think the message i would want to see put out there is just, be careful, trying to minimise your exposure to other people, no matter how that is. if local lockdown is are not working particularly well in your estimation, is that because the virus is being transmitted within family groups, or is that because actually we tried to keep the hospitality going because we know about the economic impact if we don‘t? where is the balance? about the economic impact if we don't? where is the balance? perhaps it‘s not working because people are confused by the guidelines which are

very confusing and conflicting. perhaps it is because the local authorities were not given enough money to support people to self—isolate. if you have to go out to work to support your family it is a difficult decision. do i stay in or go and get the paycheque? the test and trace system is still com pletely test and trace system is still completely not world beating. it is early days but it doesn‘t look like it is reaching 80% of contacts which is the golden threshold we are all trying to reach. so this sort of co nflu e nce trying to reach. so this sort of confluence of factors, all of which are preventing spread from decreasing. we know that a big lockdown, if we did that again, we know it would work but nobody wants to go there. you think it would work. that‘s really interesting. is there a country that you look at that you think, in difficult circumstances, they have done it the best, they have tackled it in the most effective way? interestingly, i would say the most effective country was china. it arose they are devastated that country and they got

it under control. china is a very different sort of society. they have authoritarian rules. if you are told to stay indoors, the police will come around and knock on your door to make sure you are not breaching your quarantine. we have a looser society, we don‘t have that kind of society, we don‘t have that kind of society, and i don‘t think we could ever do what china did. if you look everywhere else in the world, everybody is struggling to control the curves. they are going up, every time you eased restrictions comes back. look it down, it goes away. this whack a mole thing we hear about, it is not easy and we still haven‘t cracked the right kind of restrictions that will do the job. aside from a total lockdown which was quite effective. but we can‘t keep that up for ever. really, really interesting. thank you very much indeed, thank you for your time, doctor macro jennifer much indeed, thank you for your time, doctor macrojennifer rohn, from university college london. thank you for your time. lets talk more about the news that president donald trump has tested positive for coronavirus.

david kass is a professor of medicine who leads the institute of cardioscience within thejohns hopkins school of medicine in baltimore — he has co—led a study into the effects of obesity on covid patients — and he told us the president‘s weight may affect that infection. the studies, and there are now quite a few of them, since we first reported on this, generally show about a doubling, so a two to threefold increase in sort of what will be relative risk, if you have a body mass index exceeding sort of in the mid 30s. between 30 and 35, maybe a little bit less than that. but that number keeps popping up from smallish to really large, now sort of multi—centre, large population studies. so it is not a trivial risk. these risks are essentially sort of additive when these analyses are done. so ageing has come out of absolutely every study that we have ever seen, from early on in china, and in europe, where obesity was not

that much of a problem, age was sort of the big risk, and i know that the trump administration and others have discussed the idea that this is just an old person‘s disease, and it was partially our observations at hopkins early on, where we were seeing much younger people who tended to be heavy. people who tended to be heavy that led to this idea that obesity would be its own risk factor, added to that. and would also help explain why we are seeing more young people get affected by the virus and not necessarily do well when they get infected by the virus, if they are obese. the fact he has symptoms already means that we are sort of in, even conservatively, about a quarter of all the people who would be just testing positive actually end up having symptoms, and mild or moderate, whatever, just symptoms. so now, in that group, you could ask what‘s the likelihood that those symptoms are going to get worse? and we know that this

syndrome has a pretty diverse presentation. some people get mild symptoms and that‘s it. symptoms that even seem to be getting better and then actually develop more serious internal organ damage, and particularly in the lungs, and so then it gets quite severe, so we really don‘t know what the course will be. the fact that he is 74, the fact that he is a male, the fact that he has obesity, particularly in his abdomen, these will all increase the risks of mild, not staying there, or potentially getting worse, for sure. there have been incidences in which people become agitated, particularly these are the people who have very severe disease, this is a pretty common observation in intensive care units. we have no idea whether it is going to get to that, severity or not. in terms of outpatients, and of symptoms and cognitive, that is not so common or not so clear.

most of the symptoms are either gastrointestinal or most common are lung, you know, the shortness of breath, and pneumonia essentially. professor david kass from jon hopkins school of medicine. we will talk more and be alive in the states after 5pm. the green party has called on voters to embrace a "new normal" after the coronavirus outbreak. co—leaders jonathan ba rtley and sian berry used the party‘s conference to reject cutbacks in the aftermath of the covid pandemic. if your social media is anything like mine your feed will be full of people asking, "what the hell is up with 2020?" fires in the arctic and the us, refugees in the channel, thousands sleeping rough on our streets, a pandemic that has killed 1 million people. i was sitting at home a couple of weeks ago and i switched on extinction: the facts, the david attenborough documentary. i found the tears just rolling down my cheeks. i think i was crying

for two reasons. there‘s the obvious one. who is not moved by the countless species being lost? how? how have we let this mass destruction happen? but the second reason was the poignancy with which the attenborough programme brought home the connections between the climate and the ecological crisis, coronavirus and the way our economy and society is structured. everything is a green issue. everything is connected. and that is finally being recognised. there is no economy on a dead planet. that's what we often used to say. but this awful pandemic that we're just partway through has already made us recognise, like never before, the truly deep connections between our people, society and our planet. we have seen that it is people of colour and the working class who will suffer disproportionately from climate breakdown. people of colour and the working class who have always suffered disproportionately from health inequality, social inequality and racism.

and it's people of colour and the working class who are suffering disproportionately from coronavirus. we have gained new perspectives from this terrible crisis and new perspectives too from our government's failing attempts to forge its response to the pandemic within a prevailing economic system that just wasn't built for resilience in a crisis. one of the most telling failures is the contracting out of test and trace. this has left us injust about every area of the country without even the data on the virus's spread that we need to act and properly plan our local responses. it is heartbreaking that we were not better prepared for the second wave because the government failed. because it handed the job to a company that couldn't deliver. contracting out is what governments do when they've lost confidence in their own leadership, lost confidence in local communities, and we won't get

the virus under control without a test and trace system that works in every local area. we have been saying for months that the government needs to work with local authorities, communities and public health teams. these are the people who can deliver. the failure must now be fixed. the government needs to think in new and better ways because we have the proof, in the worst way today, that its old models aren't fit for purpose. sian berry and jonathan bartley, co—leaders of the green party. and this evening bbc parliament will have coverage of the full conference speech of adam price — plaid cymru‘s leader — which you can watch across various channels at 7pm tonight. organisers of the london marathon have insisted the event will retain its traditional spirit despite the unique circumstances of this year‘s event. only elite competitors are being allowed to race

in central london on sunday — though thousands of others will run the distance in their own towns and villages. joe wilson reports. here‘s how the london marathon can happen. the world‘s best runners living in a secret hotel. they‘ve been tested — and protected — before race day. they can even train in the grounds of the hotel, day or night. in central london, st james‘s park is encircled. the marathon itself restricted. it all happens here. well, on sunday morning it willjust be the elite competitors here. they will do 19 laps of the park‘s perimeter road. but this marathon will meet official regulations. there won‘t be anything special to help eliud kipchoge. well, apart from his platform shoes, provided legally by his sponsors. progress, he says. the shoe is good.

we live in the 21st—century, whereby first we need to accept change, second accept development goes hand—in—hand with technology, so we need to accept technology in our hearts. move on. commentator: it's a superb performance from the kenyan. the women‘s field is headed by brigid kosgei, world record—holder and last year‘s london winner. remember how it was, how it‘s always been? thousands on the streets. well, the masses will still run, will still raise their money for charity, but distantly. virtual london marathons will be completed far and wide. will the atmosphere be the same? no. will the spirit live, and live in a unique way, and in a way that is appropriate for 2020 and the 40th race? yes, absolutely. 26 miles will pass, one way or another. the marathon‘s history dates back to 490 bc. it will take more than covid to stop it. joe wilson, bbc news.

now it‘s time for a look at the weather, with darren bett. hello again. the winds are easing a bit through the channel, as storm alex weakens. it‘s the rain that will be more of a concern, i think, as we head into the weekend. lighter winds by this evening in the eastern side of the channel, still gusting gale force in the south—west of england, perhaps the channel islands, and that rain area is moving very slowly northwards. it may well ease off in wales and the south—west, although it‘s still windy here, but wetter weather more widely across the rest of england, and developing in eastern scotland. western scotland, northern ireland, clearer skies, a bit chilly. perhaps soem early sunshine tomorrow, but on the whole it‘s cloud and rain on the way on saturday, as that rain

pushes its way westwards across england and wales, develops wetter weather more widely in scotland. gales in the south—west, some sunshine after the rain in the south—east of england, but otherwise it is a chilly 13 underneath all that wet weather, and there will be some heavy rain around as well. underneath the rain it is a chilly day, temperatures at 13 degrees, that ring will be heavy over the hills. a couple of amber rain warnings from the met office, one covering wales in the south—west of england, heavy rain over the high ground, and further north across the north—east of scotland, heavy rain here is likely to lead to some flooding.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. president trump and his wife melania have tested positive for coronavirus, he is now self—isolating. the president of the first lady tested positive for covid—19. they remain in good spirits. the president does have mild symptoms. i‘m laura trevelyan live in washington. where the president‘s positive coronavirus test has scrambled the race to the white house with just 32 days to go. the president‘s diagnosis comes after one of his closest aides — hope hicks — also tested positive for covid—19. we‘ll take you through every aspect of the story.