now, this week i am in the maldives looking back at our best bits from the past few months.ave had an astonishing year so far, from mike's trip to an amish holiday resort, to the time when rajan explored an ancient newly discovered tunnel underjerusalem, and let us not forget my time here in maldives where i came to find out what they are doing to protect the local marine life. but let's start with a little glimpse into the future, when lucy descended into a space centre, built deep inside a spanish cave system. since hg wells wrote of the martian invasion in his 1897 novel, war of the worlds, the red planet has captured our imaginations. at over 33 million miles away, it's incredible to think we could one day colonise mars. for the next 2a—hours, i'll be learning how to live life like a mars colonist...in spain. astroland is a project set up to see how humans would potentially cope living on mars from a psychological perspective. i look ready, ifeel ready, i'm ready. our aim is to get to ares, our base, where we will be spending the night. it's anticipated that the first co

this week i am in the maldives looking back at our best bits from the past few months.shing year so far, from a hamish holiday resort to exploring an ancient newly discovered tunnel under jerusalem and let us not forget our time here in maldives to find out what they are doing to protect local marine life. but let's start with a little glimpse into the future when elusive descended into a space centre built deep inside a spanish cave system. since hg wells wrote of the martian invasion in one of the world, the red planet has captured our imagination. at over 33 million miles away, it is incredible to think we could one day colonise mars. for the next 2a hours, i will be learning how to live life like oui’s be learning how to live life like ours columnist in the space. the project is set up to see how humans could live on mars from a psychological perspective. i look ready, ifeel i look ready, i feel ready, i look ready, ifeel ready, i am ready. our aim is i look ready, ifeel ready, i am ready. ouraim is to i look ready, ifeel ready, i am ready. our aim is to get to our

now, this week, i'm in the maldives, which is a dream destination for many people.ubt that tourism and climate change have had an impact on its environment, and a while back, i came here to meet some of the people trying to do something about that. we're starting with something that up until now most tourists haven't wanted to see on their pristine beaches, but which is vital in the fight against climate change, seagrass. so sandra, tell me what is seagrass? seagrass is very important, because actually it has a lot of the functions in the ocean. not only is it a habitat or a nursery for many animals, many fish, during the different stages of their life, but it also provides most of the oxygen that we need for us, also, for breathing. and what's the biggest threat to seagrass? in most of the reserves, they thought that seagrass, it's not looking nice for the guests, because it's not the white sand that they want to have for their pictures. so they used to remove it from the beach because of that. yeah, i mean, the project isjust to really avoid removing seagrass arou

the presidents of s sri lanka a the maldives said they were worried about a drop in tourism, a main industry for both countries. >>> in south korea, the outbreak is becoming the major political issue, one month away from a general election. the country has been one of the hardest hit outside mainland china with more than 8,000 cases and 75 deaths. hkds has more from seoul. >> reporter: there's a growing sense of frustration over how the current administration is handling the outbreak. and many candidates are eager to show voters they're serious about curbing the spread. there are 300 seats up for grabs in the national assembly next month. one of the major battlefields is seoul's district. it's seen a bellwether for voting trends, and this time two former prime ministers are facing off in the district. in some of their social media posts, they're seen spraying sanitizer on the streets. the coronavirus is also changing the way candidates campaign. the streets are quiet ever since the government called for a social distancing. traditional methods like hand shakes and handing out business cards

next, and first of all, the maldives.ix foreign nationals have tested positive's and two resorts had to be locked down. in singapore, the ship has docked there and passengers have started to disembark. the ship had beeturned away from thaand and malaysia, despite none of its 2000 passengers, including 64 italians, testing positive for the virus. it was still turned away. it is now settled in singapore. meanwhile in china, where all this ban, the news is better than it has been. for five days in a row the city of wuhan, the center of the outbreak come has been the only place in ca na to recorw cases. have a look at who visited wuhan . here is stephen mcdonell. stephen: we could be looking on this in the future as one of the key turning points in the coronavirus emergency, the day that xi jinping went to wuhan. that is because this is a thmessage to all opeoplen china that e emergency is while i think that-- whyould they think that? becausehi's most important person is travelo the most dangerous city in terms of coronavirus

we are talking above all about morocco, the dominican republic, the philippines, egypt, and the maldives. the airlines will make flights available. simon: on monday, drastic steps were announced to beat the virus -- shutting many shops aside from essential is this is such as food stores and pharmacies. civic life is shutting down. schools, theaters, and museums are being closed nationwide, as even children's playgrounds are deserted, many parents having to stay at home to look after their families. government is offering them extra support. >> what we are seeing is that many families are wondering about many issues. they want to know how to deal with the drop in income. this is a huge concern. it is not a privatee matter. it needs to be resolved, and the state has to help. simon: politicians continue to search for the right responses to this rapidly evolving crisis. brent: daimler, the parent company of mercedes-benz, says it is suspending the majority of its european production in response to the coronavirus pandemic become committee says the shutdown affecting vehicle plans will be for

the reality is for a lot of brits in far—flung parts of the world, like honduras of the maldives whorts events around the world being cancelled, this morning premier league clubs met to discuss when the football season might resume. earlier this week, uefa postponed the euro 2020 tournament for a year. it comes as speculation mounts over whether this summer's tokyo 0lympics can go ahead. let's get more from our sports correspondent laura scott. what has come out of the premier league meeting? well, in the last few moments we've had a statement, a collective statement from the premier league, the fa, the efl and the women's game, saying that they won't resume football until the 30th of april at the earliest. they've also collectively agreed that they wa nt to also collectively agreed that they want to finish the season. they've committed trying to do that if at all possible. crucial to that is an agreement by the fa board to relax a rule that stated that the season should finish no later than the 1st ofjune, and they said they'll extend that indefinitely, which will vastly increase th

now, this week, i'm in the maldives, which is a dream de5tination for many people.rass? seagra55 is very important, because actually it has a lot of the functions in the ocean. not only is it a habitat or a nursery for many animals, many fish, during the different stages of their life, but it also provides mo5t of the oxygen that we need for us, also, for breathing. and what's the biggest threat to seagrass? in most of the reserves, they thought that 5eagra55, it's not looking nice for the guests, because it's not the white sand that they want to have for their pictures. so they used to remove it from the beach because of that. shall we have a look at the seagrass? yeah, sure, let's go. vamos. it is estimated that the world's oceans lose the equivalent of two 5occer pitches' worth of 5eagra55 every hour of every day. and, because 5eagra55 ab5orb5 and stores carbon far more effectively than rainfore5t, it's vital to see it thrive. here in the maldives, many resorts are realising that healthy underwater ecosystem is more important than tourist5' picture—perfect idea o

in fact tens of thousands of germans ranging from latin america to northern africa south africa maldives who essentially have no means of getting home because flights haven't been cancelled because of travel bans in place so the government will be working together both with the german military and with lufthansa with private carriers to repatriate these people as well as their family members who are not german citizens if needed possibly even other e.u. citizens if there's enough room in the planes that this will become this will begin within the next couple of days and be ongoing given that it is a very large number of people in that anyone affected in case anyone out there is perhaps watching us from abroad anyone affected could contact either the foreign ministry or the local german government representatives at the embassy in order to get more information about that let's talk about the situation here in germany with the health care infrastructure as a coping infrastructure itself is pretty good this country has more hospital beds more intensive care units more respirators than any o

sad it is a very ambitious commodity in the maldives because this one millimeter of the ocean touching you constantly every minute every 2nd every day every year is such a false and it is eat. or you don't deny. the mall deaves our road at a moment here right residents do what they can to protect their homes but many beaches are little more than memories. really not god and i'd get all of them are sick and have a demonic in the house i'm in nevada did it come up with. the law one nun a gifted adama dick only numb the dental villian i got in riyadh only make a name on a clinic the highgate at the law get given in edmonton and it will make on the money the board unless of unite in the going to become a living. several 100 islands have already been evacuated and today the refugees crowd on to larger and better protected islands such a small way the capital. already overcrowded new houses are being crammed together . but in another better irony of the sand wars new. construction require ever more said. we have been in the middle of the indian ocean for the last 5000 is the have it in histo

i think the reality is for a lot of brits in lots of far—flung places like maldives and honduras, ituppress the spread of coronavirus. but behind the scenes, the health service is getting prepared for a surge in cases. so is it ready? the first thing to say is that most people will only get a mild illness with symptoms passing in a few days. but a minority end up severely ill. just over 4% need hospital treatment. a third of those end up in intensive care, needing ventilation to support their failing lungs. to help with its planning, researchers have been looking at how long patients need hospital treatment for. evidence from places such as china and italy shows that, on average, people will spend eight days in hospital. if they end up on a ventilator that doubles to 16 days. another challenge is that the number of cases can come quickly if the steps being taken do not manage to suppress the virus. as many as half can come in two or three weeks. so the nhs is trying to free up beds. in england, there are around 100,000 hospital beds. currently nine in ten are occupied. but nhs bosses

so the advice they give has to be applicable in the maldives, in somalia and in the united kingdom.ns increasing intensive—care capacity, so that means increasing intensive—ca re capacity, making community care different, but also ca re of community care different, but also care of the population. these are two different things. caring for an individual, like i did when i had a properjob as a surgeon was one thing full but caring for the population as a whole is a different thing and it requires difficult decisions to be made with the best science we can. that is why each country will be slightly different on its path. there are two quick questions i would like to get to. these are difficult things to do briefly but if you could, uk government again speculation about asking over 70s to self isolate within the coming weeks. you tweeted yesterday and said that scotland has no plans to do that. what is the thinking around, particularly, this older generation? we are trying to do this uk wide and cobra will meet later today to take advice from me and others. what we will probably move t