this is bbc world news. i'm ben brown. our top stories: in a video message from hospital, president trump says he's doing well — but that the next few days will be crucial as he continues his treatment for coronavirus. i'm starting to feel good. you don't know — over the next period of a few days, i guess that's the real test, so we'll be seeing what happens over those next couple of days. the uk prime minister calls on the public to "act fearlessly", adding there has to be a "balance" between saving lives

and protecting the economy. what we want people to do is to behave fearlessly but with common sense, fearlessly but with common sense, fearlessly but with common sense, to follow the guidance whether national or local and get the virus down but allow this as a country to continue with our priorities. it comes after the daily number of new confirmed coronavirus cases nearly doubles from the day before — to almost 13,000. the uk government blames a technical error. and runners from all over the world are taking part in the first—ever virtual london marathon. hello and welcome to bbc news. donald trump's doctor has said

the president has made ‘substantial progress‘ since his coronavirus diagnosis — but that he's "not yet out of the woods‘. mr trump himself recorded a video message from hospital, saying that the next few days would be the real test, but that he was ‘starting to feel good‘ and would be back at work soon. there‘s still confusion, though, over exactly when the president was diagnosed with coronavirus — and whether he attended official events after receiving it. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has the latest. donald trump‘s a first full day in hospital, a day of confusion and concern over the president‘s health with mixed messages coming from his doctors and the white house. and then late in the day a tweet from the president and another video, an update from mr trump on his condition. i came here, wasn‘t feeling so well. i feel much better now. we are working hard to get me all the way back.

i have to be back. when he addressed reporters outside walter reed medical center earlier the president‘s personal physician said mr trump‘s symptoms, a mild cough, nasal congestion and fatigue, were now resolving and improving. but he was vague on whether the president had needed oxygen at any point. has he ever been on the supplemental oxygen? right now he is not on oxygen. you keep saying right now but should we read into the fact that he had been previously? yesterday and today he was not on oxygen. he has not been on it during his covid treatment? he's not on oxygen right now. it later emerged that mr trump had received oxygen at the white house before he was admitted to hospital. there was further confusion when the white house chief of staff mark meadows indicated to reporters at the hospital that the president was still not in a clear path to a full recovery. there is a consensus that the next few days will be crucial.

donald trump has been given two experimental drugs which it‘s hoped will speed up his recovery from covid—i9. i‘m starting to feel good. you don‘t know over the next period of a few days, i guess that‘s the real test. so we‘ll be seeing what happens over those next couple of days. mr trump also sought to explain his decision not to shelter at home from the virus. i had no choice because ijust didn‘t want to stay in the white house. i was given that alternative. stay in the white house, lock yourself in, don‘t ever leave, don‘t even go to the oval office, just stay upstairs and enjoy it. don‘t see people, don‘t talk to people and just be done with it. and i can‘t do that. with the president in hospital there is growing concern that more members of his inner circle are also testing positive for the virus. many of them attended what has been described as a super spreader event at the white house last weekend when mr trump named his nominee for the vacant seaton the supreme court. —— nominee for the vacant

seat on the supreme court. they include the former governor of newjersey chris christie who has checked himself into hospital with a slight fever. this is a crisis that has engulfed the trump administration less than a month before the election. donald trump‘s rival for the presidency, the democratic party candidate joe biden, has temporarily suspended some campaign activities because of the president‘s illness. but he is continuing to push for votes. this is what he had to say when asked to compare his policies to those of mr trump. i‘m in a little bit of a spot here because i don‘t want to be attacking the president and the first lady now because they now have contracted coronavirus. this isn‘t about politics. more than 200,000 americans have died from covid. 7.3 million have been infected. 30 million have lost pay cheques, hours

or theirjobs entirely. dr amitava banerjee is an epidemiologit and clinical doctor at university college london. earlier he told us about the drugs that president trump had been using. these are experimental drugs meaning we don‘t know everything we want to know and still under evaluation but remdesivir does have convincing data that it reduces the time patients have to stay in hospital. he has been saying the next few days will be vital. is that right? he is still in the early stage of infection. they will be

monitoring him over the next few days but it is encouraging that he is seen in the video to be reasonably well. as well as the acute phase we should focus on the fact that most people with coronavirus have some symptoms and be can unwell for weeks or months with the so—called long covid so it is not just the acute phase. how significant is that he received oxygen while in the white house? i‘m not sure we can speculate how significant that is. clearly he was symptomatic and unwell enough that he needed and wanted to be admitted to hospital. whether and when he needed oxygen, i‘m not sure how significant that is. what about the various factors such as gender and age. he is in his 70s. and his weight. from his last medical check he is classified

clinically as obese. how much difference does all of that make? that is what we should focus on. when somebody who is as high profile unwell again we look at how important underlying risk conditions and factors are at how severe coronavirus infection can be. so age and obesity and any underlying conditions are important and looking at how we can treat those and reduce the risk of severe infection as well. to talk more about president trump‘s diagnosis on the election is leslie vinjamuri, the director of us and the americas programme at chatham house. is leslie vinjamuri, the director of us and the americas programme at chatham house.

we have heard from joe biden saying he is loath to attack the president while he is in hospital. everybody hopes that the president and first lady and all those around them affected by the virus will come through this but it will put a downer on the campaign and has raised a tremendous amount of an sanctity not only because the president has been confirmed as having covid and gone to the hospital but because the messaging coming out of the white house has been very mixed and creating a tremendous amount of confusion about the status of the presidents health and more information overnight about his treatment. the uncertainty it is cast in part about the timing of when he was in fact infected and where he has travelled since. it is thrown up a number of questions and we have had the vice president debates coming up in a few days

on the 7th of october and they were meant to be presidential debates on 0ctober meant to be presidential debates on october 15. meant to be presidential debates on 0ctober15. i think the likelihood of those going forward are very unlikely but of course president trump has cancelled his in—person rallies for now and had won this past week. so i think the next two days will be critical in understanding where we are headed. we were talking to the former british ambassador to washington who said he thinks this will elicit a wave of sympathy for the president the could tempt the palace in the election. —— tempt —— tip the balance. it might swing things for donald trump. i don't think so. i think people will double down on the preferences they already have. people will be looking for donald trump to come through but he is

significantly behind in the polls, more than 7.5% nationally but it will come down to swing states. any other number of swing states matter tremendously, not least those in the upper midwest, the rust belt states. the message that the democrat voters are receiving now is the president who has not been completely clear about the course of his infection, has been very dismissive about the importance of wearing masks and who has been out and about and a number of people have been infected as a result, as a direct result, it looks like, from not only last saturday‘s event at the rose garden, seven people confirmed with infection when the nominee was announced for the supreme court. and the president carrying on in the fact we don‘t know if he was

already infected when he travelled to minnesota and to new jersey when he travelled for a fundraiser on friday. i think the optics of that amongst those who supportjoe biden are really troubling at a time when nearly 210 thousand americans have died from the pandemic. it is extraordinarily unequal and we are seeing the inequality of a president who is by all accounts for very good reasons being looked after very well but so many people in america sick and dying are not able to see the relatives. i really don‘t think this is going to turn supporters ofjoe biden towards the president. borisjohnson has said that britons

should act responsibly to battle the virus. speaking area he acknowledge the fatigue felt by many areas particularly of northern england coming under increased lockdown restrictions. with me is our political correspondent, nick eardley. what else has been saying? i the biggest question facing the uk with the coronavirus response at the moment is will it get worse? we have seen a rising number of positive cases but also the government really relu cta nt to cases but also the government really reluctant to put on big national measures and instead focusing on local ones in different parts of the country. i think we got a mixed message from boris johnson country. i think we got a mixed message from borisjohnson this morning. he was saying as you say that people should be fearless as long as they use their common sense but also really cautious about what the next few months

might look like. what we want people to do is to behave fearlessly but with common sense, fearlessly but with common sense, fearlessly but with common sense, to follow the guidance whether national or local and get the virus down but allow us as a country to continue with our priorities. so continue to keep kids in education, continue to keep our economy moving and as far as we possibly can. and what i hope, and believe very strongly, is that in the course of the next few weeks and months the scientific equation will change and we will start to see progress, whether it‘s on vaccines are on testing, that will enable us to ta ke are on testing, that will enable us to take a different approach. but for the moment that is the balance that people have to adopt. that is a

strategy of borisjohnson. the question is what that strategy leads towards. there has been a lot of discussion over whether there will bea discussion over whether there will be a normal christmas in the uk, even potentially this virus could get worse over the winter months. here‘s what he had to say on that. fatigue that people are experiencing, but we have to work together and follow the guidance and get the virus down whilst keeping the economy moving. that‘s the balance we are trying to strike. they are furious with me and they are furious with the government but i have got to tell you in all candour it is going to continue to be bumpy through to christmas stop and may even be bumpy beyond. but this is the only to do it. saw bumpy until christmas, that will, i think, probably raise some questions within his own party where many of

his mps are frustrated at some of the actions the government has been taking. his message to them this morning was i agree with you, he used the phrase i am a freedom loving tory but she also heard him say that he just think there is another viable option does not think. -- another viable option does not think. —— does not think there is another viable option so the next few months will be very similar to the last few months. areas in and out of increased restrictions and some seeing some quite draconian steps like being told they can‘t visit friends in the houses are good to the pub with them but that will continue well into the winter. what of the labour party been seeing? we heard from sir keir starmer claiming that boris johnson heard from sir keir starmer claiming that borisjohnson has lost control of the virus in the newspapers. i think it is starting to change. we

have seen the labour leader really going for the government on this and saying they have lost control of the virus and the need to get a grip and to come up with the new strategy. 0ne to come up with the new strategy. one of the things in particular labour party is worried about as many of the areas represented by labour politicians are in those increased local restrictions but they don‘t really seem to know how they don‘t really seem to know how they will get out of it. have a listen to what labour shadow health secretaryjohn ashworth said. listen to what labour shadow health secretary john ashworth said. we support local restrictions but people want clarity. borisjohnson did all the regional news interviews and can teen explain what the original restrictions were because they chop and change every day so we need clarity on why an area goes into restrictions and how it gets out of restrictions. the key is any area a cross out of restrictions. the key is any area across the country, the local authorities should have control of the testing and the tracing system.

the serco coal centre is simply not working. boris johnson was talking about his own experience of coronavirus, being overweight and so on, and also talking about the good wishes he‘s been sending to donald trump. there have been rumours over the health of borisjohnson at westminster for some time and he said he does not have long covid and he said he was fat when he had the disease and is working on that and one in the country could be a wake—up call to lose some weight. 0n president ron pierce optimistic. he he thinks the president has the best health care around. —— he remains optimistic. it is interesting that in the uk we are hearing from a leader who by all accounts came pretty close to death with the virus relaying his own account when talking about another world leader who is in hospital.

thank you so much, nick. the spanish capital madrid has been put back under partial lockdown because of an increase in the number of coronavirus cases. spain has the highest infection rate of any country in europe — but the re—imposition of the controls is proving controversial. damian grammaticas reports. in spain‘s capital, what every government, 10,000 new infections every day, a second wave breaking over an already battered country. so what‘s the reason for this resurgence? it seems spain may have been too hasty to lift the original lockdown that brought the first wave of the virus under control, too quick to let people back into bars and restaurants and too slow to build a system to test, identify and isolate new cases.

intensive care units are overflowing. extra icu beds again being used. the warning signals are everywhere. psychologically it‘s the worst thing. because all the people are afraid the tsunami will come again. spain, like many countries, has been trying to target infection hotspots with local controls. but it‘s not been working. like this part of madrid, home to 200,000 people who already had a fortnight restricted to essential movements only. this wave is not as bad as the height of the pandemic but one in four tests for covid—19 in madrid has been coming back

positive. in recent weeks spain like the uk brought in its own rule of six limiting gatherings to six people, told bars a nd restau ra nts to stop serving at 10pm. now the restrictions are being expanded to many other areas. translation: we all went back to work crammed on the trains, metro and buses. the infections are back because they didn‘t control it. this man advised spain on its first lockdown and says the new measures may be too little, too late. what we have seen in spain over the summer is a serious warning that we cannot relax, that there is the possibility of a serious second wave all over the world. a warning to london, to new york and other cities? right. to new york and other cities? so is this what might come to madrid‘s rescue? trials of a new rapid test for covid which costs less than $5 and takes

just 15 minutes to get a result. carlos says we needed those tests sooner. this neighbourhood has been abandoned. but until testing can be done at scale, with a health service heading towards saturation spain may stand as an example of what happens when countries let things slip out of control. hundreds of muslims are being welcomed back into saudi arabia‘s great mosque in mecca to perform the pilgrimage of umrah — after a seven month pause because of coronavirus restrictions. at first, only 6,000 saudi nationals and foreign residents will be allowed to perform the ritual, which can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to the hajj, which has specific dates according to the islamic calendar. numbers of umrah pilgrims will be increased every fortnight, until the mosque is at full capacity again. people will be required to wear face

masks and observe social distancing. at least two people have died and dozens more are missing after storm alex struck south—eastern france and northern italy — destroying bridges, blocking roads and leaving communities isolated. it‘s been described as the worst storm to hit the region for more than 60 years. mark lobel reports. catastrophic scenes for this french commune. yelling. an intense rescue effort to get out in time. roads, bridges and homes washed away. an elderly couple took refuge on the roof of this house but their home was swept down the river. translation: we tried to convince them to come out and unfortunately, we didn‘t succeed. the road manager managed to reach his hand out to the lady and tried to tell her to come out, but nothing. and in the end, the whirlwind crashed right through the house and the house floated

away, and them with it. france‘s prime minister has announced financial support and deployed the army to help these crushed communities. "the priority is to find the victims," he says, "and provide accommodation for those affected, as well as restore the means of communication for those hardest hit." in northern italy, roads and bridges were swept away too. residents rescued from their roofs. but not everyone was so lucky. a firefighter lost his life, and a man in his 30s, whose car was swept into a river. beach clubs were flooded. towns destroyed. and on italy‘s coast, it was not business as usual. this woman says she has to

laugh not to cry. this man says his food products are unsellable. and this woman says water came up to her knees, ripping down shelves. as calm follows the storm, they are left to count the cost of the clear—up. mexico‘s yucatan peninsula is being battered by tropical storm gamma. the storm made landfall this weekend. more than 30 centimetres of rain is forecast to fall over the coming days. so far it‘s not reported to have caused any injuries or major damage. a long—delayed barrier system to protect venice from high tides has been used for the first time. the network of 78 yellow barriers that guard the entrance to the venetian lagoon lifted from the sea bed as the tide, driven by strong winds

and rain, started to climb. the multi—billion dollar defence system is nine years overdue. it‘s hoped it will help the historic city avoid the devastating floods it has seen in past years. more than 40,000 people from all over the world are taking part in the first ever virtual london marathon. only the elite athletes are running together, completing the 26.2 miles around stjames‘s park in london. kenya‘s brigid kosgei has won the women‘s elite race in a triumphant two hours 18 minutes. 0ther runners are taking part wherever they are by using an app to track their progress. you‘re watching bbc news now it‘s time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes we have already seen a lot of wet weather and gloucestershire has seen over a month reign and also in aberdeenshire and hampshire and berkshire. it is all down to

the slow—moving area of low pressure with a stock weather front right over the top of the british isles bringing the rain for many of us through saturday overnight and still raining at the moment. that said, we are starting to see some improvement across eastern areas but with the met office amber warning enforce to the middle part of the day across wales, the west midlands and south—west england could see further issues building on here. as well as this persistent band of rain it will also be quite windy vertically around coastal areas. rain turning to pivot away from south—eastern scotla nd to pivot away from south—eastern scotland and we should see sunshine from northern england and parts of wales and maybe norfolk. with sunny skies also heavy showers and rainfall has been ramping up with accumulations of rain building. we have a number of flood warnings across numbers that might parts of scotla nd across numbers that might parts of scotland and england and we could see the number of warnings increase for a time once today‘s rain is factored in. tonight rain will tend

to clear away for most areas with exception of south—east england with it but continue to rain for much of the night. 0therwise clear spells and heavy showers particularfor parts of northern england and scotland. low pressure, the law that has been bringing the rain through the weekend. still in the charts through monday and tuesday and into wednesday. a particularly slow—moving area of low pressure. it means we are staying on the u nsettled means we are staying on the unsettled side but it is turning a little less grim for some of us. scotland, england and wales, brighter skies and sunshine but heavier and potentially thundery showers particular across eastern areas and outbreaks of persistent rain returned to northern ireland through the day. another shady day on tuesday but showers across england and wales could merge to bring longer spells at times. showers for northern england and scotland. temperatures continue to be low and we could see further flooding.

hello again, you‘re watching bbc news with me, ben brown. the latest headlines. in a video message from hospital, president trump says he‘s doing well — but that the next few days will be crucial as he continues his treatment for coronavirus. i‘m starting to feel good. you don‘t know — over the next period of a few days, i guess that‘s the real test, so we‘ll be seeing what happens over the next couple of days. the british prime minister calls on the public to "act without fear", adding there has to be a "balance" between saving lives

and protecting the economy. what you want people to do is to behave fearlessly but with common sense, fearlessly but with common sense, fearlessly but with common sense, to follow the guidance, whether national or local, and get the virus done but to allow us as a country to continue with our priorities. it comes after the daily number of new confirmed coronavirus cases nearly doubles from the day before — to almost 13,000. the uk government blames a technical error. now on bbc news... players, managers, officials and executives from across football discuss their experiences of racism in the sport and what must be done to tackle discrimination. a warning this programme contains details some people may find upsetting. commentator: lingard. sterling. jesse lingard. jesse lingard!