all of which have been resolved and are improving. parts of northern england face new coronavirus restrictions from today, including a ban on households mixing indoors borisjohnson and the president of the european commission say the uk and eu will work intensively to overcome significant gaps in their positions on a post—brexit relationship. at least eight people are missing in south—east france after a powerful storm caused what is being called the worst flooding in living memory. now on bbc news, anna holligan travels across europe to see how people are getting on their bikes and asks if the surge in cycling is the start of a much bigger change in the way we travel. from the bubonic plague to tuberculosis, pandemics have historically changed the way our cities are designed, and the coronavirus has been no different. coronavirus is a moment

in which every policymaker can make a u—turn. lockdown made our capitals quieter, greener, and we've seen wildlife blossoming like never before. it's like a paradise for me now. you can see maybe tens of thousands of bicycles everywhere. we are travelling around europe, meeting the people who are trying to implement the biggest changes in cities we've seen in decades. three months ago, here, you had a lot of cars in this path, 0k? now it's for bicycles. but this rapid shift towards pedal power has created a problem. i just went there and it was empty, you know. there were no bikes. could the pandemic see a shift to more environmentally friendly modes of transport? or will we simply return to the way we were? dutch bike lanes are

the envy of the world. it's so much part of us. it is as if we are all born with a bike. like you take a shopping bag, you take your bike. but it wasn't always this way. maatje van putten was a dutch politician. this is me and my son, 1976. "the netherlands‘ traffic is in europe the most dangerous for children." maatje was a key player in the movement that transformed dutch cities in the 1960s and ‘70s.

the start was there in the ‘70s when people got alarmed about the figures of children on the way to school. the accidents — the numbers were so high that we had to do something, and that's how it begun. here, the action groups — and this is us — "we want a car—free sunday at least once a month" — that was in the oil crisis... in 1973, maatje launched a campaign called stop the child murder. we sat together and said that this can't go on. we have to do something. and so more and more actions were taken. we were blocking roads in the rush—hour — people on their way home — drivers totally overtaken and surprised about mothers in a circle on the corner of the road, blocking it. and there you were, right at the front? maybe, yeah. me and this... maatje‘s efforts have been

immortalised as the heroine of a new children's book. here we went through the tunnel, under the water, here in the — and then, on the other side, the police was there. the amount of space by the car traffic was so enormous that that was, well, eating up the space for cyclists and also pedestrians. the whole infrastructure of the netherlands was totally focused on — on, yeah, let's say, priority of cars. bikes was not an issue. today, amsterdam has 767 kilometres of cycle lanes and more bikes than people. but even here, the pandemic is changing the way people get about. because of covid—19, it didn't feel right to go by tram any more, so it was

actually the right time to now get a bakfiets cargo bike. judith and johan hartog bought an electric cargo bike at the start of lockdown. we're not really going on a — on a vacation now, so, like a staycation, we stay in holland and we do a lot by bike now, so it's — you can put a lot of things in, you can get the bags and go out, like here in the park or maybe — and we're going to the beach by bike so it's easy for days — days off. could you have imagined having this, being this dutch mum, six months ago? no, we would never have thought. so, yeah, it's fun. it's — it's different and it's also a bit cliched, but yeah, we like it — we love it. the pandemic has been a catalyst for many people here to invest savings they wouldn't otherwise have had.

it's not only mobility anymore, you know, because it's also fun. they're singing in the bike and they have fun, you're in nature — it's a whole different way of going out. the netherlands already had world—renowned infrastructure but the coronavirus has still significantly shifted behaviour. cargo bike sales have gone up by 53% this year and the e—bike is now the most commonly sold type of bicycle. brussels, the capital of belgium. since march, it's built a0 kilometres of new cycle paths. i've been here for two weeks and then, all of a sudden, the world changed, so of course i decided that i want to, you know, take all the measures that i can to stay healthy.

when brussels went into lockd own, vesseli na foteva decided cycling was the fastest, safest way to travel, and went out to buy a bike. ijust entered the bike shop and had an image of myself, you know, buying a beautiful bike and matching with the nice helmet. but i just went there, and it was empty, you know? there were no bikes. i wanted to order one, but they said that i need to wait at least two months to get the bike. so i said, "ok. no way. i cannot wait so much because, you know, the whole summer will be gone." a friend of mine, really by accident, told me that she heard about this subscription—based service, where you can pay a monthly fee and get the bike at your home.

so i told her that that's really cool. commuters make up the majority of those who've subscribed to this particular scheme, swapfiets. the dutch company is expanding into three new cities to capitalise on a spike in demand that came with covid. when it was already official that we are living in a global pandemic, i decided that i will avoid as much as possible public transport. so this is probably the main reason to decide to have a bike. but it's notjust commuters who are switching to two wheels. cycling traffic surged in brussels during the first week of the return to school, with a 75% increase compared to last year. milan was one of the first cities to embrace cycling as a way to get its residents moving around again. this is one of italy's most polluted cities, and it's also in the heart of the region that was the epicentre of the

outbreak in europe. pepino drali is one of italy's most famous bike manufacturers. now, at 92, pepino has been building bikes for more than 80 years. and the crisis has meant an unparalleled pressure on pepino and his apprentice, alessandro... ..as the demand for their

handmade bikes has soared. but pepino isn't convinced the boost in their sales is reflected in the number of actual cyclists on the streets. are you hopeful that in the future, it will again be like it was when you were a boy?

and there are many who hope pepino is right, that the surge in cycling is just a phase. claudio severgnini is slipping back into his old routine. he's been driving passengers around milan for more than two decades. that's incredible, so you have to cross the cycle lane to go into your taxi rank here? but the roads he knows like the back of his hand are being altered and he is worried about cars being pushed out.

claudio is concerned these bike lanes through the heart of his city have appeared too fast without enough consideration for cars. no? chuckles. it's already caused a lot of conflict. transforming the roads, making room for cyclists, involves taking sections away from the drivers. and this side is also new? yes, that side is correct. the parking over side. on the pavement? oh, so now they park...? so not space. wow.

but there is an urgency in this part of italy, as everyone we meet has been touched by the pandemic.

this time has forced reflection. for some, the changes are not going far or fast enough. most of milan's new bike routes are only temporary paintjobs. environmentalists are using the current situation to push for permanent infrastructure. coronavirus is a moment in which, you know, every policymaker can make a u—turn, completely, and change their own cities. anna gerometta is an environmentalist and activist.

she believes curtailing car use and backing bikes is an investment for a healthierfuture. climate groups have warned people living in polluted cities are more at risk of contract and lung infections like covid—i9. the failure to have the courage to change now, in a situation in which you have some time to prepare the people, can be really disastrous. this is a major concern for the people gathered here tonight. they are the critical mass and they are, you know, a movement that has been going on for years. they ride every thursday night and they want to show our policymakers that citizens of milan really want a different kind of city. there are a few lanes that have been built but compared to the need and the necessity

of this city and the will of people and the wish of the population of milan to have a different mobility and way to go around, they are really a drop in the ocean. it's a matter of a completely different quality of life. if you have a city where you — your air is so polluted that you get sick and your children get sick, that is an important topic that you, as a public, policymaker, you should be addressing. the regional government has so far spent 115 million euros to stimulate cycling, but milan's urban planner told us many italians just aren't ready to get on the saddle. it's absolutely not true. probably the mentality of the politicians is too old and they are not seeing

what the people really want, and their capacity of their own population and citizens to accept large changes with a very happy heart. the french capital is spending record amounts transforming the streets to try and make cycling a viable option for everyone. it's going to be so interesting to see how this massive investment in cycling is actually changing the way people are moving around the city. it is like a revolution, you know, because before, we had a city with cars, only cars, and now we have a city with bicycles, with walking, with public transportation,

but it is good for ecology. i know we have some problems but it is a priority for the next month to solve this problem, and i'm sure we can solve this. here, it's before. now, it's a new world. 0k! the most iconic change is here on the notoriously petrol—filled rue de rivoli. sections are now completely car—free. david belliard is the deputy mayor of paris. he's a green politician who has been pushing for these measures for years. three months ago, here, you had a lot of cars in this path, 0k? now, it's for bicycles. the more you give space for bicycles, the more they use it. yeah, build and they will come, they say. yeah, look at that. it's like — it's a big traffic jam, you know? people here have been telling me how they went

into lockdown and then came out to this — a whole new world. these types of changes normally take decades. because of the pandemic, there was an urgency, which meant they happened here overnight. cycling levels after the lockdown increased by 27% compared to last year. paris is in a big transformation, a big bang of mobility, but a big bang with public space. we will organise city to allow you to take your bicycle safely and we will change rules and we will make you more bicycle path and we need to give back some space to parisians. it's a profound culture shift that's taking some adjusting. we saw cyclists being pulled overfor running red lights

and cycling with headphones on. it's clearly not clear to everyone who has the right of way. which means for some people, it's time to go back to school. speaks french. this isjoel sick. he's an instructor at maison du velo cycling school.

since the coronavirus struck, the french government has invested 20 million euros in a push to get more parisians using bikes. these classes are now free to anyone in the city who wants to learn to ride. it's like a paradise for me now. you can see maybe tens of thousands of bicycles everywhere, so it is very becoming so popular. remy dunoyer is a bike mechanic. his repair shop in downtown paris stayed open through lockdown. in response to the pandemic, the french government started contributing to the cost of bike repairs. we have a name for a new service which is out of the basement service.

with dusty bicycles, like this one, or any other one, so we have a special service for this use in which we include help from the government — they have 50 euros to help people to fix those bicycles. sometimes they are very, very rusty and hard to fix so it is cheaper for the people to reuse this one than to buy a new one. while other businesses have been shedding staff or cutting down, remy has been hiring and opening new stores through the country. it was an opportunity for us to open a new city which is in strasbourg. we open a second one in bordeaux, so two shops in bordeaux, one in paris and maybe soon a second one in paris and in strasbourg too. across europe, more than a billion euros has been spent and 2300 kilometres of bike lanes created since the pandemic began.

reduced car use has seen pollution fall by 50% in some of europe's biggest cities. but whether this covid—related trend continues depends on the scale of the continued investment and how many of us are committed to keep cycling, changing cities possibly forever. hello. strong winds and heavy rain have been features of the weather over the past few days. on friday, we felt the effects of storm alex in the south, more persistent rain and strong winds on saturday and as we look ahead to sunday, we've still got spells of heavy rain, there could be further disruption

to transport and travel, flooding expected and for some places, some strong winds around as well. the reason for all of this wet and windy weather is this slow—moving area of lower pressure, rainfall rotating around a low pressure over the next 2a hours or so. we've still got two amber rain warnings enforced from the met office, the first one in wales, the west midlands down to parts of southwest england as well. 25 to 50 mm of rain likely here, more than that of the high ground and for eastern scotland, another amber rain morning valid until sunday morning, a0 to 70 mm of rain for the high ground, certainly some areas are going to be seeing some flooding is to start the day on sunday. still some rain to come for the high ground, certainly some areas is going to be seeing some flooding is to start the day on sunday. still some rain to come to the north of scotland. it should tend to ease though, but northern ireland down to its wales, parts of an england will be seeing that rainfall. some sunnier spells, particularly for southern scotland northern england, but equally some further heavy slow—moving showers, perhaps thunderstorms, it will feel fairly cool as well.

heading into the working week and monday. still, we've got this the area of low pressure is starting to fill by the stage, so the rainfall not as persistent. it will stay quite showering and changing through much of the week ahead and plus preconditions, some drier weather of the week ahead and plus blustery conditions, some drier weather developing, especially in the south but temperatures are going to be down a notch as well. so, sunny spells and scattered showers. the showers can be quite heavy at times and persistent and parts of eastern scotland, driving in on that easterly breeze. elsewhere, there will be some drier weather around in temperatures around 13 to 15 degrees. heading on into tuesday, many of us will see a more westerly breeze developing, bringing some sunshine and some scattered showers, the odd rumble of thunder around, but the winds will not be quite as strong by the time we get to tuesday. temperatures of around 12 to 16 degrees. into the middle part of the week, looks like low pressure will be

to the south of the uk. so, the winds rotating around that in a northwesterly influence to our weather. for those northwesterly winds, be part of scotland and northern ireland, perhaps western parts of them with a wealth of the bulk of the showers through wednesday and then we eastern scotland, you've got more of a chance of staying dry by the stage of the week. but it is turning a bit cooler, so 12 to 1a degrees or so, similar day we could see for a time some more persistent rain affecting parts of scotland and plenty of showers and northern ireland as well. for the 70s, likely to stay rate with pressure in charge, but temperatures only about 11 to 1a degrees. taking a look at the jet stream heading towards the end of the coming week, it is likely towards the south of the uk, of the uk, generally and was duly influenced weather. that will bring some spells of rain at times, high pressure trying to build in from the atlantic and low—pressure sitting towards the northeast of the uk,

but looking ahead towards next weekend, jet stream could drive a little bit further south and it could drive in some slightly cooler air across the northern half of the uk by the end of the period and that could see a return to some night—time frost. but, for now, the warning is up on our website. goodbye.

hello. this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. in a few minutes we'll be joining bbc one viewers for a full round up of the day's news with kate silverton. first, donald trump has said he's "feeling well" in a tweet sent from the military hospital outside washington, where he's being treated for covid—19. however, the ap news agency says the white house chief of staff told reporters, mr trump was not yet on a "clear path to recovery" — and said he'd received oxygen on friday before he left for hospital. the president's doctor, sean conley, gave a more optimistic assessment when he spoke to reporters earlier this evening.