tonight at ten — shock in america, as donald trump tests positive for coronavirus, just a month before the presidential election. the first lady has also tested positive, and both are self—isolating at the white house. the president is said to have "mild" symptoms. he continues to be not only in good spirits but very energetic. we've talked a number of times this morning. i wear masks when needed, when needed i wear masks. i don't wear masks like him. it comes just days after the first presidential debate, where mr trump once again downplayed the need, forface masks. and his democratic rivaljoe biden has spoken for the first time, saying this serves to underline just

how seriously the american people must take the disease. there's been extensive contact tracing across the white house after the president's diagnosis. also tonight... hundreds of students at northumbria university in newcastle test positive for covid. just 10% showed any symptoms. there's three of us living here at the moment, two of us have it. the mp margaret ferrier is urged to quit for taking a train from london to scotland, knowing she had covid—19. it's been overturned. and victory for dozens of former post office workers prosecuted for stealing money, when the problem was a faulty computer system. and coming up on bbc news, sale sharks insist this weekend's premiership tie at home to worcester will go ahead, despite 16 players testing positive for covid—19.

good evening. the race for the white house has been thrown into turmoil after the revelation that donald trump and his wife, melania, have both tested positive for coronavirus. the couple are self—isolating at the white house. officials say mr trump has "mild" symptoms, but is in "good spirits". his diagnosis has stunned america, causing financial markets to dip, and raises major questions about the remainder of the election campaign. well, with the very latest, our north america editorjon sopel is at the white house for us tonight. clive, if this doesn't sound contradictory, the news that broke at 1am this morning was simultaneously astonishing and mind—boggling and not in the least bit surprising. astonishing and mind—boggling, because donald trump is the most protected man in the world. he is tested daily for the coronavirus. not at all surprising given the very lax, lackadaisical attitude towards facemasks that you

see in the white house, although palpably it was a different atmosphere today. as you know, tonight's al smith dinner... last night, in what now appears to be grim irony, the president made a speech from the white house about the pandemic. the worst was behind us, he said. and i just want to say that the end of the pandemic is in sight, a next year will be one of the greatest years in the history of our country... but then later in the evening came the bombshell statement that will reverberate around the world, the most serious health issue to affect a serving president in decades. he tweeted, "tonight the first lady and i tested positive for covid—19. "we will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. "we'll get through this together." today, the president's chief of staff gave reporters this update. the president and the first lady tested positive for covid—19. they remain in good spirits. the president does have mild symptoms. a hint of something being wrong came

earlier in the evening last night when it was announced that this woman, hope hicks, had contracted the virus. on wednesday, she was part of the inner circle to travel with the president on the cramped marine one helicopter. none of them is wearing a mask. as donald trump seemed to dance with joy at the rally in duluth, minnesota, she'd become symptomatic and was quarantined on air force one for the return journey to washington. the ripples of concern will reach everyone who's been in close contact with the president, not leastjoe biden, who shared a debate stage with him for a shouty 90 minutes on tuesday night. a debate where the president ripped into the democratic candidate for his mask—wearing. i don't wear a mask like him, every time you see him he has got a mask, he could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask i've ever seen. and it was noticeable that none of the trump entourage wore face coverings. that actually violated the rules of the cleveland clinic,

which was in charge of all the safety issues inside the hall, which were that everybody except for the president, the vice president and i were not supposed to wear masks, were supposed to wear a mask. the president has worn masks in public on less than a handful of occasions, and his ambivalence towards them is evident. can you take it off? because i cannot hear you. i'll just speak louder, sir. oh, ok, good. you want to be politically correct. i just don't want to wear one myself. it is a recommendation, they recommend it. i'm feeling good. and he's been holding rallies as though covid was in the rear—view mirror, with thousands turning up, no attempts at social distancing, few wearing masks. today, messages of support from around the world. this from borisjohnson, who's been where the president is now. obviously i think we all want to send our best wishes to the president and the first lady, and i've done that this morning, as you can imagine. and i'm sure that they will both stage a very strong recovery.

and messages of support too from political rivals. this from joe biden, who's tested negative today. sending my prayers for the health and safety of the first lady and the president of the united states after they tested positive for covid—i9. my they tested positive for covid—i9. my wife jill and i they tested positive for covid—i9. my wifejill and i pray they tested positive for covid—i9. my wife jill and i pray they will make a full recovery. it's not a matter of politics, it's a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to ta ke reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. but another leading democrat, the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, comes very close to saying to the president, serves you right. this is tragic. it's a very sad. but it also is something that, again, going into crowds unmasked and all the rest, was sort of a brazen invitation for something like this to happen. this is first and foremost a medical issue for the president and his wife, but it's upended a presidential election campaign that needed no further agitation.

with many questions begged and few answers to give at this early stage. jon sopel, bbc news, at the white house. well, with a month to go before the presidential election, what impact could donald trump's illness have at the ballot box? our north america correspondent, nick bryant, reports from michigan. the lockdown is a scam. the covid press are a scam. the coronavirus has opened up yet another fault line in an already fractured country. these militiamen part of a protest of those who see the covid restrictions as a threat to american liberty. cheering. it was packed with supporters of donald trump, most of them still not wearing masks, and began with heads bowed in prayerfor the president. if we can take five seconds just to say a prayer for the guy, if that's ok? lord, we pray for president trump, his family, for a swift recovery. i understand he's got some mild symptoms, but i think he'll probably be over them soon and it'll

be a victory for him. victory, in what way? victory in showing that there's a lot of overreaction to this covid stuff. ijust hope he pulls through it. do you think he took enough precautions? do you think you should have worn a mask? no. i think everybody, this is a free country and everybody should not be dictated to, and everybody shouldn't have to wear a mask if they don't want to. this was another covid protest, of childcare workers bemoaning the lack of financial aid. and their responses to the overnight news spoke of how in american democracy right now, there's not even an agreed—upon set of facts. i don't believe it. why don't you believe it? i think it'sjust a ploy, because he did so bad debating. he did horrible in the debates. so i think it's a ploy to get out of debating again. and if he does have it, i don't believe it. i can't even say if he does have it. ijust don't believe it.

michigan is a key battle ground state that donald trump won unexpectedly in 2016. but there aren't so many trump yard signs as there were four years ago. we've fallen flat on our face. jack spielman is a lifelong republican who supported him back then, but he's already voted forjoe biden, partly because of the president's mishandling of covid. initially denied it, called it fake news, blamed it on the democrats, blamed it on the chinese. then he transitioned and said it's going to go away like magic. then it was going to go away when the heat comes. then we just had to deal with it, and then it was we were going to have a vaccine just before the election. we can't trust anything he says with it. in a bygone political age, the nation might have rallied behind a leader suffering from a virus that had killed so many of his compatriots. but this is such a deeply divided america, and this is such a deeply divisive american president. crowd: usa, usa! even this pandemic has become an accelera nt

of political polarisation. nick bryant, bbc news, michigan. it's well known that the older you are and the heavier you are, the higher the risk of having serious complications with covid—i9. our medical editor, fergus walsh, looks at the risk to president trump's health. donald trump has several factors which raise his risk profile for coronavirus — his age, weight, and being a man. at 7a, he's often insisted how healthy he is, despite a love of burgers and hot dogs. age is the biggest risk factorfor covid—i9. in the united states, eight out of ten deaths have been among the over—65s. the risk of dying for somebody aged 65 to 7a is 90 times higher than for someone in their 20s. to put that in context, a recent international study found that once infected with coronavirus, the chances of dying were around one

in 100 at age 65, one in 25 at 75, and one in seven at 85. the president and first lady of the united states... the first lady, melania trump, is just 50, 2a years younger than donald trump, and physically fit, so her risk from covid should be low. the president is six foot three and weighs more than 17 stone, putting him in the obese category — another red flag. his medical team will be on constant guard for any change in his condition. often patients have quite mild symptoms to start with and then it's as if they drop off a cliff and suddenly it gets worse, and that can happen really within hours. i don't think they can be sure for approximately ten days. if then he really hasn't developed any worse symptoms, he seems to be controlling the virus in his throat and his nose,

then i think they will relax. i have a temperature... it was nine days after testing positive for coronavirus before boris johnson was admitted to hospital in early april. he spent three nights in intensive care and says the nhs saved his life. another leader who got covid was president bolsonaro of brazil. he had few symptoms and dismissed the virus as a measly cold. it's impossible to predict how any individual will cope with covid. many people never develop any symptoms at all. and there are treatments now which have helped improve survival rates for what can be a brutal disease. fergus walsh, bbc news. and our north america editor, jon sopel, is at the white house. november the 3rd is election day, a

little more than four weeks away. where does the president's illness leave the campaign? let me give you a bit of geography to help answer the question if i might. in front of me as the west wing of the white house, where the oval offices, where the president would normally be working, but he is in the east wing which is where the residence is and where he is now convalescing. the longer he is there, the less normal this campaign will be. we've had a bit ofan this campaign will be. we've had a bit of an update of a medical bulletin that he has been given an antibody cocktail and an infusion that was completed without incident, we are told. the president is fatigued but in good spirits and is a p pa re ntly fatigued but in good spirits and is apparently the first lady has a mild cough and headache, but otherwise not too bad. where it leaves the politics, i mean, the next presidential debate was due to take place in 12 days‘ time. that seems highly unlikely. they were a whole series of rallied the president was going to hold. they will be off. he's not going to be able to go to

those and it may be that he will do zoom call for his health improves, but there is one critical thing in all of this and it's this. donald trump wanted the last four weeks of the campaign to be about anything but covid. now that he's contracted coronavirus it is going to remain absolutely centrestage. 0k, jon sopel absolutely centrestage. 0k, jon sopel, thank you, at the white house. more than 750 students have tested positive for the coronavirus at northumbria university in newcastle. almost all of them showed no symptoms. it's the biggest outbreak so far at any university in the uk. our correspondent danny savage is in newcastle for us tonight. danny? clive, if you talk to stu d e nts danny? clive, if you talk to students in newcastle tonight, you certainly get the impression that coronavirus is rife among the community. everybody seems to know somebody who's got it. the slightly better news, though, is at the 770 northumbria students who have tested

positive, only 78 of them are showing symptoms at the moment. but you do get the feeling that there are many, many hundreds if not thousands of students in their city who are happy to stay behind closed doors at the moment, and will do for some days yet. hi, becca. hello. how are you? a student house in a student street in newcastle tonight. all the people in this terraced home have tested positive for covid and are isolating, and the neighbours have had it, too. we thought we were like some dangerous household, saying, "we've got covid, stay away". they were like, "we've already had it", you know? and you think it's probably widespread in student houses? absolutely. it's widespread completely, just also with everybody going back on like the kind of night out scene, or whatever's left of it. second year students, they've only been back in newcastle for a week, and are sure they weren't infected before they arrived. do you think the advice should have been different at the beginning of term, on reflection? i think that they definitely had a lot of time to plan, and i think some precautions aren't

quite as good as they could have been, like students coming back to the halls. they're alljust thrown back in there, and it's shot back up. i don't regret it at the moment, we're still having a good time in the household, and we're working through it quite well. there are so many students isolating that food parcels are now having to be sent out. this is now a huge operation to look after them. this week in total we'll have supported both in university accommodation and private accommodation 1,000 students. we're working with partners in the students' union and the city council to make sure that those students have supplies. this is a hall of residence for northumbria university. there are scores of cases in this one city centre hall. the university says 770 students have tested positive. back in the terraced street, this is the strangest of friday nights. how are you? we've all been, you know, a bit rough. but i think we're all on the mend now.

they've got another week of this before they can go out again. the concern is that case numbers will increase. the hope is that this is a peak and things will improve. danny savage, bbc news, newcastle. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, says she's made it "crystal clear" to the disgraced mp margaret ferrier that she should stand down from her seat. ms ferrier was suspended from the snp for travelling from scotland to london by train despite experiencing covid symptoms, and then returning back to scotland by train after testing positive. the metropolitan police is now investigating. here's our scotland editor, sarah smith. nicola sturgeon says margaret ferrier is a friend but she is not attempting to defend what she has called "a monumental, almost incomprehensible error ofjudgement". her actions were reckless, dangerous and completely indefensible and i feel very angry on behalf of all of you.

every single day i stand here and i ask you to make horrendous sacrifices as part of our collective efforts against covid. i have also spoken to her directly and made crystal clear to her i think she should resign as an mp. on saturday margaret ferrier took a test after showing symptoms of coronavirus, yet she travelled from glasgow to london by train. on monday evening she received a positive test result and then she took a train back to scotland knowing she had covid—19. it was not until wednesday she informed the snp chief whip, who told the parliamentary authorities. i cannot believe the behaviour of a member of parliament. it is with complete shock that somebody could be so reckless with the staff of the house of commons, with fellow mps and also travelling on public transport. completely reckless behaviour, totally u na cce pta ble, and i am very angry the house

has been put at risk. really very angry about this. an mp making a speech about coronavirus after having taken a test has shocked her colleagues. a dup mp who sat with her at dinner is self isolating. the real concern is that what margaret ferrier has done undermines the public health message that anyone with covid—19 symptoms has to self—isolate immediately, not even pop to the shops, let alone take a train journey. ms ferrier admits she made a mistake but people across the country might be asking if she can do it, why can't i? i think she should have known better. definitely. after all, the kids back at school know the rules and she should know the rules. i am an snp member. i am very sad about it all. very disappointed. margaret ferrier is being

investigated by police scotland and the metropolitan police. she may face a fine and could be suspended from parliament. the latest government figures show there were 6,968 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. that means the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is 6,273, and on average, 372 people were admitted to hospital every day. this number doesn't include scotland. 66 deaths were reported — that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. and that means on average in the past week, 47 deaths were announced every day, which takes the total number across the uk to 42,268. different parts of the uk have had mixed fortunes when it comes to tackling coronavirus.

luton was praised by the prime minister this week for its efforts, but is now back on an official watchlist. other councils are faring better, as our health editor hugh pym now explains. it was an area with a covid—19 problem. that's why hertsmere council in hertfordshire put out this video a month ago as part of a wide publicity campaign. and should you show any symptoms, self—isolate. and it's had the desired effect. infections have fallen, and the area's been taken off the official watchlist. the council leader told me how others had helped to get the messages out. we had 27 community leaders on a call a few weeks ago who had a reach of 4—6,000 people through e—mail lists, so it's identifying the right people to speak to and then get them to disseminate and cascade the information down. and it's certainly worked here in hertsmere, and i hope it will work elsewhere. coming off the watchlist doesn't

mean the virus threat has gone away. far from it. here in luton, they were on the official hotspots list. various community initiatives were taken, and infections fell and they came off it. but this week, luton has been put back on as an area of concern. luton‘s weekly case numbers fell back in august, but are now about six times higher than they were. some of that has been about people mixing more, people being out and about more, and what we're trying to do is encourage people to think about how many people that they meet with. lucia runs a hair salon in the town. she has strict limits on numbers and temperature checks on customers. if i'm totally honest, i feel safe in here because i have a say in how... i'm in charge of people's behaviours in here. however, when, you know, i have been out and about, because luton had been, you know, come off the danger list so to speak, with alcohol comes

the more relaxed attitude. also on the latest watchlist for england, rotherham's been added and sheffield moved to a higher level of support. cheshire west and chester and cheshire east have been added, along with barrow in furness. wakefield joins others in west yorkshire on the list. the welsh government, meanwhile, will allow people living alone in areas with tougher restrictions to meet one of the household indoors. the first minister has also called on people from areas of england with restrictions not to travel to parts of wales without extra measures. hugh pym, bbc news. some breaking news in the last couple of minutes or so. we have been hearing that president trump is 110w been hearing that president trump is now on his way to the walter reed military hospital. this is after his

diagnosis of coronavirus. our north america editor atjon sopel is there. just explain why this is happening, jon? it is a dramatic development, you may be able to of the rotor engines behind me, because marine one has just come to land on the south lawn of the white house, and we understand that it is to take the president to walter reed medical centre about 15 miles north of here in washington. it is being stressed that this is a precautionary measure, and i'm struck by the similarities by what we had a few months ago when borisjohnson was admitted to hospital, and people we re admitted to hospital, and people were saying it was a precautionary measure. the big difference i suspect is that here at the white house there is a fully equipped medical centre. there are teams of doctors and nurses who are working 24/7 to assist in any medical emergency with the president, so they clearly think they need something that they cannot provide here, and that will raise a lot of

questions about whether it is mild symptoms that the president has, or something more serious. and so eve ryo ne something more serious. and so everyone will await the next medical bulletin with interest. in the meantime, ican bulletin with interest. in the meantime, i can hear the rotor blades of marine one ready to ferry the president to hospital. this does seem to have developed incredibly quickly, because it was only last nightjust for quickly, because it was only last night just for before the quickly, because it was only last nightjust for before the president was diagnosed with covid that he was giving television interviews. yes, and so this seems to follow a more serious trajectory than what you normally expect, which is that symptoms develop, they gradually worsen over a period of days. but the white house is stressing, officials have confirmed this is what is going to happen, but they are stressing this is a precautionary measure. my question is, when you have got a fully equipped medical centre here, why do you need to go to walter reed? that maybe there is a perfectly good reason for that. at the moment, of course the white house is trying to

play this down. i think it is interesting and telling that they waited for the markets to close before making this clear that this is what they were going to do. but as we speak, the president appears to be on his way to the very famous military hospital in the north of washington. jon, thank you for that update. jon sopel, our north america editor. borisjohnson will hold talks tomorrow with the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, as the two sides seek a breakthrough in post—brexit trade negotiations. the uk and eu completed the last round of formal talks in brussels today. let's talk now to our europe editor, katya adler. katia, how significant is this meeting? well, clive, to be honest, i'm sure there are many viewers tonight who are watching us and thinking, do i really need to pay attention to this video conference call tomorrow? the last time that there was a call between ursula von der leyen and the prime minister backin

der leyen and the prime minister back injune, der leyen and the prime minister back in june, the der leyen and the prime minister back injune, the prime minister promised to put a tiger in the tank back of negotiations, and here we are with the same sticking points between the sides on each side still pointing the finger of blame at the other. on top of that, we heard today from the uk's chief negotiator david frost, a very sober account of the current state of trade negotiations. and yet, clive, tonight in brussels there is a very, very cautious sense of optimism, and we heard that expressed here early in the day by eu leaders like angela merkel who were here at a separate summit. their assumption is that these leaders wouldn't be talking at all tomorrow if there was no hope at all tomorrow if there was no hope at all in these trade negotiations. and if there is a trade deal to buy done, they will be difficult compromises to be made, and they can only be decided at those very highest of political levels. so now we have to see what actually happens in this conversation tomorrow. it will give us a sense of what to expect in the weeks to come, and i say weeks, clive, because the latest thinking here in brussels is that if

a deal is reached, it won't be until next month. 0k, katya, thank you, katya adler there. dozens of former sub—postmasters and postmistresses should now be able to clear their names, after a scandal that saw them convicted of fraud, theft and false accounting. the post office had brought the prosecutions after money started to disappear from official accounts. but the problem had been a faulty computer system. the post office now says it won't contest the majority of appeals. the scandal saw hundreds of others lost their businesses, and some went bankrupt. our business correspondent katy austin has the story. thank you. god bless. thank you, bye—bye. bye. it's been overturned. this was the moment seema heard the conviction that had turned her life upside down would likely be quashed. she became a sub—postmistress in 2005. five years later, a jury found her guilty of theft after a discrepancy was found in her accounts. she was sent to prison. i was pregnant as well that time with my second son,

and it was a pregnancy we had been waiting for so many years, i couldn't even enjoy that. the building is no longer in use, but it was here in west byfleet in surrey that seema used to be a sub—postmistress. she was just one of hundreds of sub—postmasters and postmistresses across the country who were accused by the post office of crimes including theft and false accounting after using an it system called horizon. horizon was introduced in 1999, and over the next 15 years, there were more than 900 prosecutions. but a bbc panorama investigation revealed managers new problems with horizon could make money disappear, and more than 500 sub—postmasters raised a civil action over the it system. last year the post office agreed to pay a total of £58 million to settle the dispute. cheering. the criminal cases review commission referred 47 convictions for appeal. today the post office confirmed it

won't contest the majority of them. we could see numerous hundreds of convictions overturned, or we could see a raft of civil claims come on the back of that, because of course we're talking here of clients that have gone into debt, have lost their homes, have lost their careers, have potentially been made bankrupt. the chairman of the post office said today he was sincerely sorry for historicalfailings which seriously affected some postmasters, and that there will be reforms which prevent such past events ever happening again. seema can't get back the years of hurt or her time in prison for a crime she said she didn't commit. but for dozens of those involved in a scandal that has seen many lives ruined, today there was some relief. i had a strong feeling always, whenever you are fighting for truth,

you always get justice. in this case it was delayed, but at least we got it.