let me ask dr elisabetta groppelli, why is it six?g question, doctors pointed out that we cannot find a source specifically that would support six under for example not five or seven. however, the most important thing right now is that has been mentioned in the last few months, and because the uk government wants to simplify the message, they wanted to keep the same number, so six it is. that is because coronavirus cases are rising, and as matt hancock, the health secretary what england said last week, we have to make this sacrifice now to get over this in the long term ? sacrifice now to get over this in the long term? absolutely, the situation now is changing in the uk, and it is changing and other european countries and across the world. so it's very important now that, as we go into what we already know is a critical part of the year, which is autumn and winter, when we know it is critical because of respiratory viruses, and we set ourselves out in the best possible way to also address the pandemic, and this new virus that is adde

we'll be speaking to virologist and lecturer in global health, dr elisabetta groppelli, on the latest mean for you. a lot of debate about testing and tracing. any thoughts you have at this stage, do send them straight through to us. send your questions in using the #bbcyourquestions, or email us on yourquestions@bbc.co.uk. the headlines on bbc news: plans for a huge increase in covid testing in britain — 0peration moonshot hopes to do ten million daily tests by early next year. scientists are questioning whether it is achievable. emergency brexit talks get underway — the eu says it has serious concerns about british government plans to override parts of the withdrawal agreement. the roof of a school bus is sheared off in a crash in hampshire — three children are in hospital with serious injuries. a tax on frequent flyers and banning cars from city centres are among the climate change solutions members of the public have come up with, as part of the uk's first citizens‘ assembly on the environment. more than 100 people looked at the changes needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zer

we'll be speaking to virologist and lecturer in global health dr elisabetta groppelli.the hashtag #bbcyourquestions or email us on yourquestions@bbc. co. uk. the number of people allowed to meet up in scotland has been cut to six from two households amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic accelerating. first minister nicola sturgeon announced the measure at lunchtime. it comes as a new contact tracing app called protect scotland became available to download. james shaw is in glasgow. so, ithink so, i think the new measures nicola sturgeon is talking about take effect immediately? that's right, what nicola sturgeon said in a scottish parliament earlier on this afternoon was that she wanted people to start following these new guidelines straightaway even though they won't actually come into law until monday, so it includes this measure reducing the number of people you can meet together either indoors or outdoors down to sex and additional measures which are a bit different from england, regarding hospitality venues, clubs, restau ra nts, hospitality venues, clubs, r

and to answer your questions, i'm joined by dr elisabetta groppelli, a virologist and lecturer in globalh. straight into the questions. andrea says, only a small percentage of people being tested actually have the virus, so my question is what is causing symptoms in the majority being tested? the symptoms associated like fever and a continuous cough are quite general symptoms and they can be caused by many viruses, and some viruses are older coronaviruses and others are rhinaviruses, but what is important is that all of these are now respiratory viruses which like to spread and transmit as we start mixing with each other. the only way that we have to tell these viruses apart is actually testing so right now testing is going to be crucial, not only to identify coronavirus infections but also to exclude it because there are many other players which are part the game. it could just be a cold? absolutely, that is what i'm seeing in practice and the viruses that she is talking about, rhinoviruses and other types of coronaviruses which we have seen for the last few decades. that is why testing

joining us will be the virologist and lecturer in global health, dr elisabetta groppelli, and universityk's top scientific and medical advisers warn britain could be facing 50,000 new covid—19 cases a day by mid—0ctober, leading to 200 deaths a day by november a month, if the current rate of infection is not halted. in other news... a leak of confidential documents involving $2 trillion of transactions reveal how the husband of one of the biggest donors to the conservative party was secretly funded by a russian oligarch, with close ties to president putin. labour has set out its three—step plan for the uk's economy at the labour party's virtual conference, saying a future labour government would create jobs, retrain workers and rebuild business. more than £200 million worth of furlough payments from the government have been returned to the treasury by companies that have decided they don't need the money. around 80,000 firms — including the retail giant ikea and the housebuilders taylor wimpey and redrow — have re—paid the cash they were given to help cover workers' salaries. the governm

let me ask dr elisabetta groppelli about that. why is it six? why that number?resting question, scientists and medical doctors have pointed out that we cannot find a source specifically that would support six, and not five or seven. however, the most important thing right now is that six has already been mentioned in the past few months. and because the uk government want to simplify the uk government want to simplify the message, they have kept the same numberand so the message, they have kept the same number and so six it is. obviously thatis number and so six it is. obviously that is because coronavirus cases are rising. as matt hancock, the health secretary for england, said last week, we hope to make this sacrifice now to get over this in the long term ? sacrifice now to get over this in the long term? absolutely, the situation in the uk is changing, and it is changing and other european countries and across the world. so it's very important now that as we go into what we already know is a critical part of the year, autumn and winter, when we know it is cri

doctor sarah pitt and dr elisabetta groppelli, really good to talk to you both, and fascinating.ing at the weather picture of the next few days, although we have sunshine today, things will take a turn. it will turn much cooler as we head towards the middle part of the week. temperatures well up into the 20s today, and for some of us tomorrow. but as we head through the autumn equinox and into the middle of the week, we see that colder air arriving, northerly winds, and by the end of the week, temperatures much lower, just 9 degrees for some in scotland and 11! towards parts of south—east england. so enjoy the warmth while it lasts. you can see the extent of the sunshine through the extent of the sunshine through the day today. always a bit more cloud across the north west, and for the scottish islands, particularly into shetland. they will be some persistent outbreaks of rain here. top temperature is about 211—25 across eastern england, an overnight, outbreaks of rain turn heavier for overnight, outbreaks of rain turn heavierfor a time across overnight, outbreaks of rain turn he

we can now speak to dr elisabetta groppelli — virologist and lecturer in global health at st george‘stests a day by the end of october. what do you think of that? is it realistic? it is certainly a fantastic and very ambitious number and testing is absolutely crucial to give an understanding of where the virus is and how it is transmitting however capacity and increasing capacity is not the only thing. there‘s a lot of things that have to go right can be organised before the testing in terms of sample collection for example and also what to do with the data, making sure those results trickled down to the people who are involved and who can actually make a difference on the ground, so great to see again having testing, taking very important emphasis on the stage, but it seems a little bit ambitious especially for the timeframe given the challenges that are still there and also having been ironed out in the test, trace and isolate system. there has been some confusion as to quite where the problem has lain with testing, whether it was a question of laboratory capacity or whether it was

your questions on testing will be answered by virologist and lecturer in global health dr elisabetta groppelliir starmer. he has been isolating for a couple of days after we we re isolating for a couple of days after we were told that a member of his household had developed symptoms. angela raynor, the deputy leader, is due to take his place at prime minister's questions today. we'll see a key make a return? i don't know know about that, i'm just speculating. the rate of inflation in the uk fell sharply last month. it dropped to 0.2& from 1% injuly — as the effect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed down restaurant prices. that's the lowest inflation rate since late 2015. our business correspondent ben thompson says the government's eat out to help out scheme had helped drive inflation down. inflation measures how quickly, on average, prices are rising for all of the stuff that we buy and consume. that fall in prices for food as part of the eat out to help out scheme, it accounted for about half of that entire fall so a significant proportion. but there were also falls in things like airf

we'll be speaking to virologist and lecturer in global health dr elisabetta groppelli, on the lateston, as part of her daily corona update. as of last night to seven people were in intensive care, which is one more than yesterday. in the past 24 hours, no deaths were registered of patients who had been confirmed as having the virus and the total number of deaths under that measurement level remains 2499. i wa nt to measurement level remains 2499. i want to send my condolences again to eve ryo ne want to send my condolences again to everyone who has lost a loved one to this illness. let me turn now to the review of lockdown restrictions, as indicated a moment ago it is not possible at this stage to indicate a move from phase three to phase four of the route mapped out of lockdown. ican of the route mapped out of lockdown. i can therefore confirm we will remain in phase three for now and it is also important to stress that is likely to be the case for some time yet. for us to move to phase four, we must be satisfied, and i quote, the virus is no longer considered a significant threat t