catherine burns reports.nt line of the government's latest stage in the fight against coronavirus, staying at home. officials are clear — anyone with a temperature or a new and persistent cough needs to self—isolate for a week. and persistent cough needs to self-isolate for a week. this is such a big move because it is asking people to stay at home. some will have coronavirus, probably a minority at the moment. some will have the common cold. some may have something else. but this is the type of measure we need to make which is why it is quite a big change, in order to try to reduce the speed of transmission. here is why that is so important. this is what the peak number of cases could look like without these new steps. instead, the idea is to spread the cases out, to help the nhs cope better. the government is planning for a reasonable worst—case scenario, where 80% of us get infected. they think and hope that the real level will be lower. but if it got to that point, the health service would come under extr

catherine burns reports. government's latest stage in the fight against coronavirus, staying at home. officials are clear — anyone with a temperature or a new and persistent cough needs to self—isolate for a week. this is such a big move because it is asking people to stay at home. some will have coronavirus, probably a minority at the moment. some will have the common cold. some may have something else. but this is the type of measure we need to make which is why it is quite a big change, in order to try to reduce the speed of transmission. here is why that is so important. this is what the peak number of cases could look like without these new steps. instead, the idea is to spread the cases out, to help the nhs cope better. the government is planning for a reasonable worst—case scenario, where 80% of us get infected. they think and hope that the real level will be lower. but if it got to that point, the health service would come under extreme pressure. at the worst—case scenario, the nhs would not cope with

here's catherine burns again on which sources of information we should and shouldn't trust.edia and run away with them. i keep getting my family send me links to things that are just totally bonkers and not true. wherever you are, there are certain sources you know you can trust. you want to look to your government, for example public health england. nhs, they are always updating the facts on this. the who is doing a conference every day. you can make sure as well on social media, companies have agreed to stop promoting this official content to make sure you look out for that kind of thing. thanks catherine. there is much more information, both on public health advice and on the nature of the story and the outbreak via the bbc news website. you can download the bbc news app to your smartphone as well. we will be back here at the usual time tomorrow, but next, it's time for sport today. good evening. liverpool are reaching the quarterfinals of the champions league. weather has been plenty of drama. the match has gone into extra time. his first half header. that going to extra

catherine burns reports. government's latest stage in the fight against coronavirus, staying at home. officials are clear — anyone with a temperature or a new and persistent cough needs to self—isolate for a week. this is such a big move because it is asking people to stay at home. some will have coronavirus, probably a minority at the moment. some will have the common cold. some may have something else. but this is the type of measure we need to make which is why it is quite a big change, in order to try to reduce the speed of transmission. here is why that is so important. this is what the peak number of cases could look like without these new steps. instead, the idea is to spread the cases out, to help the nhs cope better. the government is planning for a reasonable worst—case scenario, where 80% of us get infected. they think and hope that the real level will be lower. but if it got to that point, the health service would come under extreme pressure. at the worst—case scenario, the nhs would not cope with

our health correspondent catherine burns has been taking a look and givingome answers. on what is beinge to create a vaccine for it? when is that likely to be available to the general public? catherin sorry to say this, but don't expect a vaccine anytime soon. lwe aking at a year to 18 months. scientists around the world are working on this and some are doing trials on animals. the next stage would be human testing. but even if that goes perfectly, once they have got the vaccine, they have got to mask-produceat it, and ill take time what you will find is that they will pri gitize certaups first -- for example, health workers. >> i wouldike to know what effect the virus is having on people with asthma and in particular childrenh asthma. ththerine: we are dealing respiratory infection. take your inhaler as you are. prescribed to make sure you have one in case you have some kind of flareup. if you thinkmaoronavirus is ng her asthma worse, get in touch with health professionals. you mentioned children. there is positive news -- they don't tend to be too highly affected by th

how to protect yourself, to what's being done to try and tackle it. 0ur health correspondent, catherine burnsand when's that likely to be available to the general public? sorry to say this, but don't expect a vaccine any time soon. we're looking at maybe a year to 18 months. scientists around the world are working on this and some of them have reached a stage where they're doing trials on animals. the next stage, after that, would be human testing. but even if that all goes perfectly, once they've got a vaccine, they've got to mass produce it and that will take time. so what you might find is that they will prioritise certain groups first, for example, health workers. i'd like to know what effect the virus is having on people with asthma, and in particular on children with asthma? so, we're dealing with a respiratory infection here, which can, of course, make asthma symptoms worse. there is some advice on how to manage this, though. first of all, always make sure you're taking your preventer inhaler as you've been prescribed to do. make sure, as well, that you have your blue reliever inhaler

our health correspondent, catherine burns, has more details. to be available to the general public? sorry to say this, but don't expect a vaccine any time soon. we're looking at maybe a year to 18 months. scientists around the world are working on this and some of them have reached a stage where they are doing trials on animals. the next stage, after that, would be human testing. but even if that all goes perfectly, once they've got a vaccine, they've got to mass produce it and that will take time. so what you might find is that they will prioritise certain groups first, for example, health workers. i'd like to know what effect the virus is having on people with asthma, and in particular on children with asthma? so, we're dealing with a respiratory infection here, which can, of course, make asthma symptoms worse. there is some advice on how to manage this, though. first of all, always make sure you're taking your preventer inhaler as you've been prescribed to do. make sure, as well, that you have your blue reliever inhaler with you in case you

answer your questions, and ours, we havejob —— doctorjake dunning and our health correspondent catherine burnsed. speed of the spread is quite something. countries are ramping up their response, their restrictions, social distancing, self isolation. jakeis social distancing, self isolation. jake is that the right approach? the world health organization has already said this is a public health emergency of international concern and recently said it is characterised as a pandemic. itjust means it is in many countries around the world. this is a serious situation. countries need to focus on the efforts to try and slow down the spread, limit the spread of infection. i want to put on our screen a graph that has gone viral in recent days because it is a good visual illustration of what the strategy is for government. there is a spike on the left—hand side that will happen if no restrictions are in place and the government is trying to flatten that line, the yellow line, because the horizontal line that goes across this green is the key one and that is whether health systems have the capacity to cope