that was jon donnison.the pope will stream his sunday blessing from inside, and not in st peter's square, due to the coronavirus. the measures are being put in place to avoid people gathering at large events. the pope has recently recovered from a cold and had himself been tested for covid—19. jane hill has got some important information for us about the virus. this is what we all need to know about reducing our risk of getting coronavirus. wash your hands regularly, rub the palm and back of your hands in between the fingers and not forgetting the thumbs. it should take 20 seconds, long enough to sing happy birthday twice. avoid touching your face with unwashed hands because this can spread disease. the first symptoms of coronavirus or a fever and a cough, and you may experience shortness of breath. if you have a cough or high temperature, that doesn't mean you have coronavirus. but if you think you might, don't go to hospital or yourgp. you might, don't go to hospital or your gp. stay at home and call nhs

many thanks, jon donnison. let's talk to our assistant political editor, norman smith.esting of nhs workers to see if they have had the virus continues to be a really burning political issue. and there has been confusion over the numbers that have been tested? i think it is probably true to say, in any crisis you have to give clear, consistent information, otherwise people begin to doubt what they are being told. we have had, frankly, some confusion this morning over the amount of testing being done. 0ne government minister saying 7000 people have been tested on a day at the weekend, others say 10,000, the department saying 9000. the reason is this. yes, there was the potential to carry out 10,000 tests, but only 7000 people were actually tested because some people, for clinical reasons, needed to be tested more than once. that said, we are going to dramatically increase the level of testing if we want to get in a position where we can ease the lockdown, following the warnings at the weekend that it could potentially even go on for six months. now, this morning, downing

jon donnison reports. in central milan this morning, an uneasy quiet.ly's population, some 16 million people, including those living in the country's second biggest city, now in quarantine. translation: we are facing an emergency, a national emergency. we have done so from the outset with exceptional precautionary measures, and we are facing it with great awareness, without underestimating the situation. but such a drastic measure is an admission that italy has so far failed to contain the virus, with around 6,000 cases and more than 230 deaths. it is not a complete lockdown. trains and planes will still run, but many travellers are choosing to stay home and police will be able to restrict people's movements. bars and cafes can stay open but must ensure customers can sit a metre apart. marzio toniolo, a primary school teacher, has been making a video diary with his family. he has already been in quarantine for several weeks. he says people have to cooperate with the new measures or the problem will get worse, with hospitals already overloaded. venice, w

jon donnison, bbc news.secutive day in china there have been fewer than 100 new cases of coronavirus and the whole country. health authorities are reporting 44 new expected cases in the past 2a hours. there have been a further 27 deaths, all of them concentrated in hubei province where the outbreak began. a little earlier we spoke to doctor claire sta ndley earlier we spoke to doctor claire standley and assistant research professor at georgetown university who specialises in the public response to infectious disease. she says it is encouraging there has been a poll on the number of new cases in china. there are still new cases in china. there are still new cases so it definitely hasn't been killed off yet. any decrease in new cases is an encouraging sign. china put in extremely stringent control measures starting already injanuary and so we are hopefully seeing some of the impact of those measures, but we are into much now, so there is a time like we know there is a relatively long incubation period with the

jon donnison reports from milton keynes.the man died here on thursday, shortly after he tested positive for covid—19. he was in his early 80s and was being treated for underlying health problems. the hospital says it remains open as normal and doctors are following nhs guidelines to try to stop the virus spreading. as in many places, a tent to test people has been set up in the car park outside. doctors here say they are now trying to trace and isolate not only staff who were in contact with this man but also fellow patients. these are the current numbers. 20,338 people have been tested for coronavirus, 164 of those were positive. there are 147 cases in england, where cases have been confirmed. in scotland there are 11, four in northern ireland, and two in wales. they are quite small numbers compared with other countries. in europe, for example, italy is up to around 4000. but nevertheless it is progressing, and i think as professor whitty said to the health select committee last week, the chances of the uk missing an epidem

jon donnison, bbc news.igures from the department of health for this country have just emerged in the last few moments. this was as of nine o'clock this morning. the department of health is now talking of 273 positive tests for coronavirus as of this morning. that fit figure was 211 so it has gone up by 62 since that last announcement. the total number 23,500 people have been tested in total, so the vast majority of those obviously by definition given the number of positives turned out to be negative but we are now talking about 273 positive tests in the uk as of nine o'clock this morning, and of course to patients who tested positive for coronavirus have sadly died but those of the latest figures from the department of health, now looking at 273 positive tests in the uk. we we re 273 positive tests in the uk. we were talking about lombardy moment ago. one of the people who will be affected by the italian lockdown is peggyjohnson — a british ex—patriate currently living in the village of montaveckio in lomba

jon donnison, bbc news.ed a state of emergency after announcing its first death related to coronavirus, bringing the number of deaths in the us to 11. the victim was a 71—year—old man who had underlying health conditions and had been on a cruise ship. as the virus continues to spread, authorities have confirmed more than 92,000 cases worldwide. the duke of cambridge has called on the uk and ireland to work to maintain the bonds of friendship after brexit, saying the royal family would play its part. speaking in dublin, prince william said the progress the two countries had made together should never be taken for granted. this report from our royal correspondentjonny dymond contains flashing images. at dublin's museum of literature, the duke came to offer reassurance about the future for britain and ireland. he gave thanks to the peacemakers of the past, and said whatever happened with brexit, the two countries would work together. i am confident that friendship, understanding and a shared vision for a peacef

jon donnison, bbc news.k now to our china correspondent robin brant who is in hong kong. how are things going there?m how are things going there? in china where it all began, then use continues to be good. the daily numbers we get from the government, remember, we have to rely on those, the number of new cases and deaths keeps falling from the middle of february. new cases up to 38, keeping up to 3000 who have died on mainland china. all of those except one, continue to be in that province of where it all began. another of affected is more than 80,000. the focus is shifting away from domestically in terms of containment and trying to stop china's who are abroad ringing back the virus and re—importing it so to speak. we have a high security in the capital beijing. the focus is on chinese and anyone else returning from japan, iran, italy and south korea. south korea, a 10 billion dollars stimulus they are to mitigate the effect it is having on the economy. these countries economies are also suffering. former v

jon donnison, bbc news.e'vejust been hearing more than 140 british people are among more than 3,000 passengers and crew stuck on a cruise ship off the coast of san francisco, and there are concerns there is an outbreak of coronavirus onboard. 0ur reporter zoe thomas is there for us. zoe, what's been happening? well, we know the boat is just offshore outside of san francisco, 121 british passengers on board, another 21 british crew members. we have heard from some of the folks on board that people are in pretty good spirits, we have been told that they're not allowed to go to the restau ra nt they're not allowed to go to the restaurant on board but they are being given room service to get food. we don't know when they will be getting off the ship. california authorities did airlift tests to them to check about 100 people who they think might possibly have contracted the coronavirus. some of the passengers from the earlier voyage where two passengers who did get the coronavirus, they were on board the ship so

jon donnison, bbc news. whitty, the chief medical officer for england, described how different severities of the virus could impact the nhs. if it's a relatively small wave, then it might feel rather like a bad winter in the nhs, but in summer, or late spring. if it gets a much larger wave, then the first thing we would do would obviously be to cancel those things that can be delayed and push them out in time to a later point when it is safer to do them. and if it gets to a very large wave, then we would need to reconfigure the nhs in a much more fundamental way. let's remind you of the measures that the prime minister said might have to be taken if there is a major outbreak of the virus. in a news conference at no 10, borisjohnson said there could be limits or bans on large public gatherings like concerts or football matches in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. if large numbers of police officers get ill, they would focus solely on the most serious crimes and maintaining public order, with the opt

jon donnison, bbc news.s morning to the government's chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance — and was questioned on the government's aims if the uk moves from a containment to a delay phase. in general, you would expect an epidemic of this type and from what we've seen, to go up over about 12 weeks and go down over about 12 weeks. and about 95% of the cases would occur in the middle nine weeks and about 50% in the middle three weeks. so you get a very sharp peak. for the nhs, it would be better to dampen that down and make it a little bit broader and for the disease itself, it would be good to pushit disease itself, it would be good to push it if we can, a bit into the summer push it if we can, a bit into the summer months where we've got less other respiratory infections, the nhs is under less pressure, so that's the aim and the virus may actually be less transmissible in the summer, we don't know, but respiratory viruses often are then so respiratory viruses often are then so that is the aim of the

jon donnison, bbc news.like at this moment because this is the area outside the central railway station in milan which normally on sunday evening one would one would imagine would be very busy but the streets are almost com pletely very busy but the streets are almost completely deserted with very little traffic going back milan very much the main city at the centre of the most affected by the coronavirus and it is the main financial centre of italy. one of the concerns that has been expressed about the impact of the coronavirus is notjust the medical health of people who have suffered but also the wider economic picture but this virus will have. that is no line on a sunday evening not looking quite as you would expect it to. for a second consecutive day in china, there have been fewer than 100 new cases of coronavirus in the whole country. the health authorities are reporting 44 new suspected cases in the past 2a hours. and there have been a further 27 deaths — all of them concentrated in hubei province — w

jon donnison reports. in central milan

jon donnison, bbc news.have cast doubt on the health secretary's claim that the government is working with retailers to ensure food supplies don't run out, amid concerns over coronavirus. earlier i spoke to our business editor, simonjack, who's been talking to a senior executive at a leading supermarket. they got in touch with me this morning saying they were slightly baffled by matt hancock's remarks last night. they said they'd heard nothing at all from government directly. and they'd run around to others and they'd had the same story. there was no coordinated approach from government to supermarkets directly or indeed the trade body which represents them and it is their words not mine, matt hancock has totally made up that, that he has been working with supermarkets, we've heard nothing from him. from him or indeed the government. they are just expressing we don't know where this has come from because we know nothing about it. so there is clearly a discrepancy of the government are saying and what the ind

studio: thank you, jon donnison in milton keynes. passengers stuck on board a cruise ship off the coast of california are preparing themselves for a number of days, or even weeks in isolation. 21 people on board the grand princess have tested positive for coronavirus — 19 of them crew. caroline davies reports. coronavirus test kits, lowered by helicopter onto the grand princess, after 21 people on board the ship were found to have the virus — 19 of them crew. the test results were revealed by the us vice president, mike pence. he said the crew may have been exposed to the virus during a previous voyage to mexico. we are taking all measures necessary to see to the health of the americans and those involved on the grand princess, and just as importantly, to protect the health of the american public and prevent the spread of the disease through communities in this country. the press conference was the first many passengers knew of the confirmed cases on board — something the ship's captain apologised for over the tannoy system. you may

jon donnison, bbc news.terjeane freeman confirmed this morning that there were two more coronavirus cases — she told bbc good morning scotland. yes, i can confirm that overnight we were informed of two more cases. obviously at this point, i am sure you appreciate, there isn't anything more i can say about that. we will release more information later. so that takes our total number of cases now in scotland to three. let's get more on that news that the london book festival has become the first major event to fall due to the spread of the virus. in a statement they said... "the effects, actual and projected, of coronavirus are becoming evident across all aspects of our lives here in the uk and across the world, with many of our participants facing travel restrictions. we have been following uk government guidelines and working with the rolling advice from the public health authorities and other organisations, and so it is with reluctance that we have taken the decision not to go ahead with this year's event."

jon donnison has the latest.doctor chris whitty on how well the uk can deal with it. let's listen in. washing hands is the key and this is a very big difference. people remember the advice we gave with the ebola virus and that was a touch transmitted virus, so the routes of transmission, the primary routes of transmission, the primary routes we re very routes of transmission, the primary routes were very different. this is primarily a respiratory one with a secondary touch thing but from respiratory droplets. to be more specific because a lot of people are concerned about surfaces, if somebody had the virus, if they hold a handrail on the bus or the tube and you touch that same handrail two or three hours later, is there a risk of transmission? there will be some risk of transmission and it peaks some risk of transmission and it pea ks immediately after they've some risk of transmission and it peaks immediately after they've done it and then goes down over time and it's probably largely from 48 hours and it's alm

jon donnison reporting there.vernment insits it's "ramping up" its capacity to test health and social care workers for the coronavirus — the doctors' union, the bma, has says the need for increased testing of healthcare staff is urgent. lauren moss reports. test, test, test. that's the global health advice to track, tackle and get on top of the coronavirus crisis. and it's what the uk government has promised to do. at the minute, public health england says capacity is at almost 11,000 a day. more than 40,000 tests were done in the past week, though, compared to germany, which is carrying out 500,000 tests a week. there are a handful of countries that have got higher rates of testing than us, but actually, we are amongst the highest testers in the world. and as i said, the numbers are going up. and we recognise the importance of this — the importance of testing, the importance of the equipment, and also, i should say, the importance of having enough trained staff. 20,000 retired doctors and nurses have also answere

let‘s speak to our correspondent, jon donnison, at the new nightingale hospital in east london.tually house or accommodate thousands of patients, patients who have got coronavirus. do we know when it is likely to be up and running? a lot of activity here today and over the weekend. at the moment we think it will be later this week, possibly as soon as wednesday. they are setting up a massive field hospital, in effect, initially it will cope with some 500 patients, 500 beds with ventilators and oxygen, but expanding potentially to as many as 4000 beds. there are similar facilities as many as 4000 beds. there are similarfacilities being as many as 4000 beds. there are similar facilities being set up as many as 4000 beds. there are similarfacilities being set up in other cities, manchester, birmingham, glasgow. and in cardiff. this one we think should be running later this week. do we know what sort of numbers they will have initially? asi will have initially? as i say, 500 to start with. one interesting thing in terms of staffing because we have had some of the big airlines today