richard galpin, bbc news.al correspondent helen catt is here. we will be having one of the uk government's regular news conferences shortly, but helen, we know from the prime minister today that there are worries about the extent to which people are observing social distancing. there does seem to be some confusion. we don't know if people are confused or not listening, but there does seem to be some element of people not observing the advice the government has been giving out on this idea of social distancing. what does that mean? trying to stay away physically from anyone you don't live within your household as much as possible. if you have to have face—to—face contact, stay two metres apart. that is the gist of it and it is what the government has been advising since last monday and that every single one of us should be doing, but we saw that wasn't necessarily happening, so we saw the government closing clubs, pubs and bars on friday, but we are seeing that shifting to outdoor spaces. we heard from the prim

here's our health correspondent, richard galpin.he streets across this country are now quieter, this following increasingly urgent calls from the government for people to stay at home. even the churches are closed, and this is mothering sunday. and now, the government is implementing even more stringent measures to protect 1.5 million people who are most at risk. effectively putting them into a 12 week lockdown. most at risk. effectively putting them into a 12 week lockdownm most at risk. effectively putting them into a 12 week lockdown. if you are one of these into videos, i understand he would be very worried. we wouldn't have done this lightly. we wouldn't have done this lightly. we are doing this because it is absolutely critical to save lives. at the same time, we will be setting out to you how we are going to help them so they might be staying at home for a long time but they should not feel alone. is a 1.5 million people who will receive letters or text messages in the coming days include those who have had organ transplants

let's find out more from richard galpin who joins me from delhi. vernment saying, richard? not that much. they made this statement about stopping exports for 26 different drugs. these include paracetamol, but also antibiotics. i've been speaking to an official from the pharmaceutical industry and he is saying that this is about protecting the people of india. they want to make sure that their own population have enough of the medicines which may be needed, particularly of course, if there is an outbreak of coronavirus in india. india is a very, very big producer of generic drugs. i've seen figures indicating it provides around a fifth of the global production of these generic drugs. so of course, if there were to bea drugs. so of course, if there were to be a dwindling of suppliers, it could have a major impact on quite a significant number of countries. richard, thanks very much. richard galpin in delhi. and a reminder — you can keep up with the latest developments about the coronavirus outbreak, the symptoms to watch out for, how to guard against

our health correspondent richard galpin reports. london, they are now bracing for the worst. the recent surge in the number of patients needing treatment as the epidemic moves towards its peak may mean some hospitals running out of intensive care beds this weekend. the whole hospital is removing those barriers between specialties, and we are working as one massive team together. we have worked to a permanent on—call system, so we will only be doing predominantly i2 permanent on—call system, so we will only be doing predominantly 12 hour shifts for the coming months. we have made drastic changes to the way we work, and we will continue to do so, because that is what we are here to do. and in central london, an nhs official has warned of a tsunami of cases in the coming days and weeks. anna veith as nhs staff are themselves falling sick. so there is now a race to build up to 13 field hospitals across the country to create more capacity. this one in east london is being built with help from the army. it is due to open next week, initia

richard galpin, bbc news.ou about the figures that came through. our health correspondent anna collinson is with me now. in the last few minutes, the death toll has been announced and it is an increase of 181 so the death toll for the uk is now at 759. yesterday, it was 578 and yesterday, when that figure was announced it had increased by 100 and because there had been a change in how the government recorded the data, that seem to explain the big increase but again today, we have seen an increase of 121. what we had heard in the pm's press briefing from the deputy chief medical officer, she said that the figures they had received, looking at the trend, there was a slight glimmer of hope that the uk's trajectory compared to other countries wasn't as steep and they were hoping that things were looking more positive. 0bviously, these figures will need to be looked at but it does appear to be bigger than what people may have been expecting. continually, we have to look at other countries and we will continue to do

in the meantime, our news correspondent richard galpin is here.ou cannot miss how many people having out and about at this time of the year despite social distancing stop yes, i noticed that my self enrichment park. very large numbers of people, lots of vehicles going through. at times it did not look like people we re times it did not look like people were doing the social distancing, keeping a part by at least two metres from other people. we are hearing now that a number of parks in london have been closing. we think richmond, but i am not sure of that. but also a swathes of parks across london. also, the national trust is saying it is going to close all of its parks. i presume that then would be nationwide as far as the national trust is concerned. then the issue is we have had a whole series of increasingly stacked m essa 9 es whole series of increasingly stacked messages about what we all need to do to slow the spread of the virus, yet it would appear that many people are flouting that kind of advice. it will be interesting to see what the p

well, our correspondent richard galpin is here.way, so how is the nhs dealing with it right now, what is a situation right now? opinion seems somewhat divided. we are approaching the peak and according to the chief medical adviser, chris whitty, he believes that the nhs will be able to manage what will be obviously a big surge in the number of cases, the number of people coming into the hospital. he is saying it is going to be a close run thing but he believes it is possible. in other words, he is saying he doesn't think that's the nhs will be swamped, which would obviously be an absolute disaster in the midst of this epidemic. however, others are saying different things. chris hobson, a senior executive in the nhs, he was saying earlier he has been talking to london hospitals who are already receiving wave after wave of patients who are seriously ill, coming into those hospitals, describing it as a tsunami. he is saying that already the extra capacity that has been built up, particularly the number of intensive ca re particularly

our first report is from our correspondent richard galpin.1—year—old prince, who has a busy schedule, had his last public engagement on march the 12th when a palace source said he also saw the queen. it is understood he became contagious the following day and after then he had had a small number of meetings. he and the duchess of cornwall are currently in balmoral in scotland and are both self isolating. he tested positive on monday after showing mild symptoms, but it is thought unlikely it will escalate into a more serious case. meanwhile, the nhs appeal yesterday afternoon for a volunteer army has been hugely successful. by 9:45am this morning they had more than they had asked for, 252,000 people had joined up. in times like this, as the chief medical officer has already said, we see outbreaks of altruism, people wanting to help, so it isa altruism, people wanting to help, so it is a wonderful response in the same way that all those doctors coming back, nurses saying they will come back, i am bowled over by it. the volunteer‘s role is to he

we'll have reports from around the world over the next half an hour, but first, richard galpin reportsthe situation in the uk. the streets across this country are now quieter. this followed increasingly urgent calls from the government for people to stay at home. even the churches are closed, and this is mothering sunday. and now the government is implementing even more stringent measures to protect 1.5 million people who are most at risk. effectively putting them into a 12 week lockdown. if you are one of these individuals, i understand you will be very worried and we would not have done this lightly. we are doing this because it is absolutely critical to save lives. at the same time, we will be setting out to them how we will help them, so they might be staying at home for a long time, but they should not feel alone. the 1.5 million people who will receive letters or text messages in the coming days include those who have organ transplants, or who have severe respiratory conditions, cystic fibrosis, or specific cancers. the advice is for them not to go out for 12 weeks. also, not to

in the meantime, our news correspondent richard galpin is

our first report is from our correspondent, richard galpin the 71—year—old prince, who has a busy scheduleumber of meetings. he and the duchess of cornwall are currently in balmoral in scotland and are both self—isolating. he tested positive on monday after showing mild symptoms, but it is thought unlikely it will escalate into a more serious case. meanwhile, the nhs appeal yesterday afternoon for a volunteer army has been hugely successful. by 9:45am this morning they‘d had more than they had asked for, 252,000 people had joined up. in times like this, as the chief medical officer has already said, we see outbreaks of altruism, people wanting to help, so it is a wonderful response in the same way that all those doctors coming back, nurses saying they will come back, i am bowled over by it. the volunteers‘ role is to help the most vulnerable people in the country who have to remain at home for 12 weeks to avoid being infected by coronavirus. the call for 250 , 000 volunteers is looking to help people with their shopping, with transport, if they have a dbs qualification they can help with p

richard galpin, bbc news.the news that the prince of wales has tested positive for coronavirus. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell is here. what else do we know? mild symptoms, according to clarence house and the nhs in scotland is at pains to point out he qualified for a test purely on clinical grounds as somebody over 70 who exhibited symptoms. we know that he and the duchess of cornwall travelled to scotland on sunday, they flew up, i presume on an raf flight. they flew up, i presume on an raf flight. some symptoms must have been exhibiting by then but i think they we re exhibiting by then but i think they were indistinct, more pronounced on monday and they were both tested on monday and they were both tested on monday evening by the nhs put out the results came through late last night, his were positive, hers were negative. they are both now self—isolating at his house on balmoral estate, which is quite a large building with plenty of space for them to self—isolate. we are told he is continuing to wo

with me now is our correspondent richard galpin. it isa it is a strange world.any millions of people fear losing theirjobs and others are being pulled out of retirement? and a huge number. they are talking about 50,000 nurses and 15,000 doctors. very, very big numberand it 15,000 doctors. very, very big number and it gives an indication of the scale of the challenge which ahead as the rate of infection sta rts ahead as the rate of infection starts to surge, reaching the peak expected and may orjune. starts to surge, reaching the peak expected and may orjune. that is a numbers for england but there are also the other nations doing the same thing? we are hearing scotland talking about doing the same thing and these are people who have only recently retired. it is important to say, since 2017. the younger retirees and they will come in and be assessed as to what role they can play. it could be more at the front line or it could be more back room for example answering calls from the nhs helpline, calls from the public. a variety of roles. also, they are talking abou

our correspondent richard galpin is here.cently, but perhaps some not. it is people who have retired since 2017, so there is a specific cut—off. it is a huge call up specific cut—off. it is a huge call up and they are talking about 50,000 nurses and 15,000 doctors. they are also talking about getting medical stu d e nts also talking about getting medical students in, student nurses. so very, very big numbers. ithink students in, student nurses. so very, very big numbers. i think that gives you an indication ofjust the scale of the problem that this country and the world faces. these recruits, there has been a mixture of responses, but essentially they would be assessed for what roles they could play. if necessary, there would apparently be some training if they needed it, if they needed to get up to speed with some of the issues. what nhs officials are saying is that they would make more ofa saying is that they would make more of a difference than ever before. this comes also as the chief nursing officerfor england this comes

richard galpin, bbc news.enced an unprecedented demand for its services as the coronavirus outbreak intensifies in the uk. as parents started working from home and school began to close, the charity saw a surge in children calling for help. let's speak now to dame esther rantzen, the childline founder, who joins us from her home in the new forest in hampshire. good afternoon, thank you for being with us. this sounds like a dreadful development, are you getting any sense as to why this is happening, why are you getting so many more calls ? why are you getting so many more calls? because children pick up the anxiety, the fear around them. and quite often try and protect their own families, their own parents from the knowledge that they are frightened, so they turn to an anonymous helpline. and what we at childline are saying, two things, really. one is, if you can sit down and talk about everyone's feelings together, that is actually helpful. it feels counterintuitive, you think you must protect your children fr