so cheltenham should be unaffected? the cheltenham festival this week?certainly the cheltenham festival should be going ahead. so, the way was clear for a quarter a million people to visit the festival over four days. the jockey club fulfilled government guidelines of the time by asking those who felt unwell to stay away and installing hand sanitisers. we had no concerns personally but i'm very pleased they are taking extra precautions with the hand washing etc. did you think twice about coming here? no, definitely not. we thought it might get called off at one point but happy it is going ahead. i think there is a difference between obviously here and the extent in china and italy, so obviously, like my mum said, if it does get worse, then we would have understood, but i think at the moment it is ok. no worries. but some did worry. journalist melanie finn was covering the festival for the irish independent. i was standing inside the race track and there is a hill when you come in and just watching thousands and thousands of people pouring in, close confi

and two major sports events held in march caused "increased suffering and death. " data shows cheltenhamns league tie with atletico madrid—led to coronavirus hotspots. hello there, thanks forjoining us this evening. the whoops, the hollers, the chanting from the galleries — an integral part of the ryder cup. that's according to world number one rory mcilroy. he believes this year's contest between europe and the usa — due to take place in september in wisconsin — will be postponed until next year. competitive golf is set to resume next month behind closed doors, but mcilroy doesn't believe the format will work for a ryder cup. the majority of the players would like to see it pushed back to 2021 so that they can play in front of the atmosphere that they want to play. they want to play in front of crowds, that is what makes the ryder cup so special. and if the players aren't on board with that, at the end of the day, the players are the ones that make the ryder cup, and if they don't want to play, there isn't a ryder cup. i see it being pushed back to 2021. honestly, i think that would be

less than three months ago, 250,000 people attended cheltenham festival and 3,000 atletico madrid fans found coronavirus hotspots in both cheltenham and liverpool shortly after they took place. obviously, i think everybody would agree in retrospect that was a bad idea because the deaths that we see and the hospitalizations that happened a few weeks later. so we see now daily deaths increasing or decreasing, this is kind of a view of the past, going back three weeks. and, yeah, i think with the outbreaks, what we know — and this is what who has been saying — the faster you can respond and get a handle on the virus, especially when it is so infectious like coronavirus is and seems to transmit so easily, the easier it is later on to actually develop policies to manage it. the department for digital, culture, media and sport sent us a statement, saying... and we have a special programme here on bbc news, sport and the pandemic, on saturday at 2.30 and 6.30. world rugby are looking at measures to help reduce the risk of coronavirus spread in the sport. research by the sport‘s medical author

there have been articles in the last few days about why did cheltenham races which where...ere... why was a football match against the spanish team in liverpool? i was stuck in america at the beginning of this and the part of florida i was in, we closed it down before britain did. florida has been a strange place because some parts of florida virtually never closed down, and some closed down very, very early andl some closed down very, very early and i felt entirely safe in the place that i was in. but we close down early because there weren't enough doctors —— there were enough doctors and enough people making noise to say shut down now. the trouble is we are seeing coronavirus from this end of the sort of optical... this end of the class. i don't think any of us could have managed to imagine at the very beginning we would have reached this stage and reach it so quickly. it is very easy now for me to say we should have had the cheltenham meeting, we should not have had that foot ball meeting, we should not have had that football match. i think it was possible that people di

it would still be exeter, cheltenham, colchester and northampton.o club gets relegated which means that stevenage bottom of the table and will still be bottom of the table under the new system would survive for another season, almost those still needing to be ratified by a football league meeting next week. why have they decided to curtail their season? they decided playing behind closed doors would be too costly, they do not have the tv deal the premier league have and rely on ticket sales so no fans in the stadium is a problem for them and a lot of clubs have furloughed their players, so they will not be able to use that scheme any more and clubs would have to pay for the testing of their players for coronavirus. stevenanage said it would cost them £145,000 and said they decided completing the season was not financially viable. meanwhile a decision to end their scottish premiership season will not be finalised until next week after a meeting of clubs, discussions were held by video conference today and early end would mean leaders, celtic are cham

explain a little bit more about these findings, because at cheltenham in particular, i think there wasbit we also saw a peak in liverpool that was great than in manchester, which was kind of strange, because of the density of the populations of the two. we also saw that in the south—west of the country, which had very little disease, there was a relative hotspot around the cheltenham area, and we also saw in south wales, a peak that was also there that you could also link to previous sporting events. we cannot prove anything to stop these are all just associations, but when you think about the various events that happened two weeks before that, which is roughly the time it would ta ke to which is roughly the time it would take to get sufficient numbers in those areas up, you can start to see a pattern and can make the inference that there must‘ve been extra cases because of those masses of people coming togetherfor top because of those masses of people coming together for top —— there must have been. the prime minister himself went to that rugby match at strychnine, very shortly before

mass gatherings, racing at cheltenham carried on. the virus is deadly. yeah, lads. achoo!to the delay phase, to try to slow rather than stop the spread of the virus, to help the nhs cope with the numbers. government advisers talked about herd immunity. this would require most of us to get the virus and recover. reduce the peak, broaden the peak, not to suppress it completely. also because most people, the vast majority of people, get a mild illness, to build up some degree of herd immunity, as well, so that more people are immune to this disease. countries that stuck with strict test—and—trace policies would have far lower death rates than the uk. but britain stopped trying to test every suspected case. only people in hospital would be tested now. there comes a point in a pandemic where that is not an appropriate intervention, and that is the point, really, where we moved — we moved into delay. the government has always denied that herd immunity was its policy. in mid—march, a report from imperial college london warned that hundreds of thousands could die, and hospitals wo

like the prime minister himself, debbie clifford in cheltenham struggled with the virus in intensivered she'd lose her life. i can't tell you how i feel about the loss of, well, friends, the four people who died on my ward the day i got well, the fact i had to mentally say goodbye to people that i potentially thought i'd never see again. the lockdown can't stop. there's been huge suffering to people's health, but also to the country's wealth, many people are worried about making ends meet. by continuing with lockdown, are you telling the public that the economy just has to wait? we mourn for every life lost, and we mourn for the economic damage as well that the country is sustaining, and the dreams that people are seeing shattered in their businesses, their anxieties about theirjobs. we totally understand that. if we're to bounce back as strongly as i think we can, that we don't have a second bout of this, a second bad spike, because that would really do the economic damage. there was a promise, though, of a plan next week, and a hint of how a new normal might look. face coverings wi

like the prime minister himself, debbie clifford in cheltenham struggled with the virus in intensivee'd lose her life. i can't tell you how i feel about the loss of, well, friends, the four people who died on my ward the day i got well, the fact i had to mentally say goodbye to people that i potentially thought i'd never see again. the lockdown can't stop. there's been huge suffering to people's health, but also to the country's wealth, many people are very, very worried about making ends meet. by continuing with lockdown, are you telling the public that the economy just has to wait? we mourn for every life lost, and we mourn for the economic damage as well that the country is sustaining, and the dreams that people are seeing shattered in their businesses, their anxieties about theirjobs. we totally understand that. if we're to bounce back as strongly as i think we can, that we don't have a second bout of this, a second bad spike, because that would really do the economic damage. there was a promise, though, of a plan next week, and a hint of how a new normal might look. face coverin

again there'll be no change to the four teams in the playoff spots, they would still be exeter, cheltenham and northampton. the other big proposal would be that no clu b gets other big proposal would be that no club gets relegated, so what that would mean is that stevenage, who are bottom of the table, would still put bottom of the table and the new system. they would survive for another season, although those still need to be ratified by the football meeting next week. why lead to, why they decided to curtail the season? they essentially decided that playing behind closed doors would simply be too costly, they don't have the bundled tv deal that the premier league have. also, a lot of clu bs premier league have. also, a lot of clubs have furloughed their players so clubs have furloughed their players so they wouldn't be able to use that scheme any more. also clubs would have to pay for their testing of their players for coronavirus. steve na g e their players for coronavirus. stevenage said today that they testing would cost them £1a0,000, so they decided that completing the season they d

.# mass gatherings, racing at cheltenham carried on. the virus is deadly. yeah, lads. achoo! few days after that first death, the strategy changed. containment was ended. the government moved to the delay phase to try to slow, rather than stop, the spread of the virus to help the nhs cope with the numbers. government advisers talked about herd immunity. this would require most of us to get the virus and recover. reduce the peak, broaden the peak, not to suppress it completely. also because most people, the vast majority of people, get a mild illness, to build up some degree of herd immunity as well so that more people are immune to this disease. countries that stuck with strict test and trace policies would have far lower death rates than the uk. but britain stopped trying to test every suspected case. only people in hospital would be tested now. there comes a point in a pandemic where that is not an appropriate intervention, and that is the point really where we moved into delay. the government has always denied that herd immunity was its policy. in mid—march, a report from

back in march racing's cheltenham festival continued in line with government advice, but some believeg should resume with crowds, but the horses are trained to be ready. joe wilson, bbc news. now, as we've been staying home over the past few weeks, wildlife have been venturing into our streets, parks and even railway stations. first there were the goats of llandudno and now there's the goose of york. the unnamed mother goose has nested on the concourse of the station and become an instant media star. danny savage has been taking a gander. york station, one of the busiest in the country outside of london. but not these days. and that has led to a new resident in a planter right by the main entrance. the staff here have called her lucy. and lucy the goosey has become a bit of a thing online. 0h, they love her. they think she's our little champion of the station. it's a shame we can't keep her. she is certainly attracting the attention of key workers passing by and mother goose has completely rearranged the flowerbed to make everything just so. i work at the station every day, i drive a

.# mass gatherings, racing at cheltenham carried on. the virus is deadly. yeah, lads. achoo!overnment moved to the delay phase to try to slow, rather than stop, the spread of the virus to help the nhs cope with the numbers. government advisers talked about herd immunity.

. >> reporter: no deaths were announced, four people had died in england when cheltenham horse racesd, the official toll was ten when really 58 died. when a lockdown slammeding publicly the to him was 359. really 847 had died in england alone. should the uk have moved faster? >> looking at the experience in some of the countries that if we had gone a bit earlier, we might be looking at slightly better results now. >> or it's likely to be next year when people can look back at all the different countries, the different things that were done. what worked, what didn't work. >> if you take different measures at different times, different people would become infected. if we had come a week earlier, probably less people would have died until now. as the disease continues to spread through the population, a different series of people will die. >> reporter: contact tracing was a problem from the start, partially dismissed and then heavily embraced. 100,000 tests per day. many grand schemes were announced, anti-body tests, apps for a volunteer army this one actually happened nearly on time, a

when cheltenham horse races critici.ed for going ahead and it. uk toll was officially 10 when really 58 died. i want to look down slams pub door shot publicly that hole was 359, but really 847 a died in england alone. should the uk have moved foster is based on the show but some early signs you she's experiencing some of the countries that if we can do to show you and we might be a few scientists results know like he speaks to reach time to take you back to different countries and wells actually want to ask if you take and different measures at different times and different people could become infected if we had coming a puppies as people would have died. >>as we as the disease continues to spread through the population differences of people who die testing a contract. tracing was a problem from the start possibly dismissed and then heavily embraced 100,000 tests per day many grand schemes were antibody test apps a volunteer army. >>but this one actually happened nearly on time will be late. it comes to help decision-making the boris johnson was

and the issue is complicated still further by ongoing questions about major sports events such as cheltenhamn. kasia, the stakes are high on this decision. and while it's the clubs that are voting, as laura was saying, the premier league will need even broader buy—in for the season to resume. i think were all going be watching out on what is said on sunday. thank you very much as always. lots of decisions to be taken. the electronic music pioneer and co—founder of the german group kraftwerk, florian shnigh—der has died aged 73. music. liked music l liked good beer, music. liked good beer, good food, etc. not only electronic, he was not a robot. they made their fame on this kind of robotic dentists either sound. the robot pop set the template for absolutely everything coming after it. did he realise just how inspirational and how much impact he was making on the music world? i think so. but at the time the synthesizer were new so it was a discovery also for everybody. but of course, it was a big inspiration for me and my band too. so when we heard the first craftwork audubon we really wanted

simply banned all large gatherings so there were no football crowds no horse racing as we had in cheltenham as we had football at liverpool all of that was closed down very early on and it's these large gatherings that are the principal mechanism of the virus spreading at the gathering and then being dispersed around the whole country as everyone goes back to there so i think i think it's critically important that as we move into lifting the lockdown we learn from what other countries have done we bring the bring in all our experts i'm delighted by the way that we have achieved the 120000 plus number of tests in a single day and i note all of the thanks that matt hank uk has given to the the people outside government has given given so much help up unless it ever has again i just interrupt and ask you about the initial plan of the government here coming back to have countries deal with this in a different way initial plan for the u.k. was herd immunity wasn't it but the government backed away from that with a trace kind of desk became quiet and they are. yes very clearly they backed away fr

when cheltenham horse races criticized for going ahead ended. the official number was 10 when really 58 had died. the -- the toll was 349 but really 847 had died. >> there are some early signs looking at experience in some other countries that if we'd gone a bit earlier we might be looking at slightly better results now. >> likely to be next year when people in the cold light of day can look back at all different countries and different things that went down, what worked and didn't work. >> if we'd taken different measures at different times, then different people would become infected. if we had come in a week earlier, then probably less people would have died up to now. but as we -- as the disease continues to spread through the population, a different series of people will die. >> testing and contact tracing was a problem from the start. partially dismissed and then heavily embraced. >> 100,000 deaths per day. >> reporter: many grand schemes were announced home sthant body tests, apps, a volunteer army. but this one actually happened. nearly

he identified covid—i9 hotspots following the cheltenham festival, and liverpool's champions league matchn separate incidents along the cornish coastline on bank holiday monday. the girl had become trapped beneath a capsized boat while the man was pulled out of the sea. despite warnings not to go into the water, volunteer and off—duty lifeguards rescued dozens of people in a spate of incidents yesterday. police said it had been "a very tough day for local emergency services." one of the story to bring you this morning. —— other. imagine coming face to face with a wild bear — that's what happened to a young boy in italy who was enjoying a picnic with his family. have a look at this. in a minute. the 12—year—old has been praised for his bravery after the potentially terrifying encounter, which happened in the dolomites mountain range in the north of the country. tim allman has the story. never have the words "don't panic" seemed more appropriate. looking back over his shoulder to see what is behind him, a young boy moves slowly, ever so slowly, down the side of this hill. ambling along in h

when cheltenham horse races criticized for going ahead and it.y 10 when really 58 died. i want to look down slams pub dole shot publicly that hole was 359, but really 847 a died in england alone. should the uk have moved foster is the only job some early she's experiencing some of the countries that if we can to be sure we might be a few scientists results know like he's phoenix th people line to take you back to different countries and you want to ask if you too can different measures at different times and different people become infected if we had coming a week of and hope is that people would have >>as we as the disease continues to spread through the population differences of people who die testing the contract. tracing was a problem from the start possibly dismissed and then have really embraced 100,000 tests per day many grand schemes were announced an antibody test apps a volunteer army. >>but this one actually happened nearly on time bit late. it comes have helped decision-making the boris johnson was nearly killed by the disease to its

he identified covid—i9 hotspots following the cheltenham festival, and liverpool's champions league matchs infection rates continue to fall. spain says foreign travellers will be able to visit the country from the beginning ofjuly — without going into quarantine. the spanish foreign minister said the country was looking forward to welcoming tourists back now the worst of the coronavirus pandemic was behind it. 80 million visitors travel to spain each year — 20 million from the uk. meanwhile, greece has taken another major step towards re—starting its tourism industry, opening its islands to domestic visitors for the first time in months. a team of doctors from mainland greece were among the first visitors to the remote island of sikinos, in the aegean sea. our correspondent quentin sommerville accompanied them on theirjourney. on a 100—mile—plus journey, these athens doctors are the first visitors to sikinos in months. the greek islands are accepting visitors again. the mayor of the island welcomes them ashore. we're greeted with elbow bumps instead of handshakes. there are enough coronav