stephen mcdonnell, bbc news, hubei. have died in a fire at a terraced house on the outskirts of hull. crews were called to the property just before 8am this morning. humberside police said fire investigators are working to establish the cause of the blaze. a royal marine who got into difficulty during a training exercise on the cornish coast earlier this week has died. the recruit — who hasn't been named — had been critically ill in hospital since being found unconscious in the water at tregantle beach near plymouth on tuesday night. an investigation into his death is continuing. a rescue operation is under way in eastern turkey, where an earthquake has killed at least 22 people with many more missing. more than 1,000 people have been injured in elazig province. teams are working in freezing temperatures to reach survivors buried under collapsed buildings. 0ur correspondent, richard galpin, reports. the powerful earthquake struck this eastern region of the country last night... causing hundreds of casualties. in the dar

stephen mcdonnell, bbc news, hubei.w tojonathan ball, who is a professor of virology from the university of nottingham. thank you very much for being with us. thank you very much for being with us. it strikes me there are still a lot of unknowns around this virus which generates concern. what do you make of the estimates we are looking at at the moment, up to 11,000 potentially getting infected? it's very difficult to put a hard number on it. i am aware of those estimates, they seem to be at the high end but i think what's absolutely certain is that the rapidity of this outbreak is pretty unprecedented in terms of a corona virus epidemic. i think you touched on an important point. there are many unknowns about how this virus is spreading. also, what is the best approach to bring it under control? so, give us a sense as a virology test. when something like this hits, what is the detective work that you start to look at? in terms of trying to identify those infected, that is a really big challenge. with previous outbreaks

stephen mcdonnell, bbc news, hubei.to professor steve tsang, director of the soas china institute. thank you for being with us. a lot of comparison being made with the chinese government's handling of the sars epidemic. how do you assess how they are doing this time round? they have certainly learned some lessons from the sars crisis. in 2002—2003 they covered up the sars story for a very long time before they confronted it. this time it was more like wilful neglect for about a month and then they confronted it openly and directly. but i don't think they have fully learned all the lessons. if they had, they would have hit the nail on the head from the very beginning in december when the very beginning in december when the virus was discovered in the first case of transmission happened. in your view, still some unnecessary delay. we see now some quite drastic action in the shutting down of numerous very large cities. do you feel that is the right approach? some restrictions of travel i think would be useful. but then for

stephen mcdonnell has more from beijing. the number of those infected is going up and up.re coming hours apart, and with every jump, people are taking this crisis more seriously. just days ago, many lunar new year traveller seemed quite blase about the situation stopping now the mood is different. translation: of course they are worried that the virus may all of a sudden spread further. of cross infection happened during this spring travel period, the epidemic will be terrible. my hometown is close to the place where the virus broke out. translation: of course i'm worried. ijust went to translation: of course i'm worried. i just went to buy masks, translation: of course i'm worried. ijust went to buy masks, but translation: of course i'm worried. i just went to buy masks, but when attracted by some around my neighbourhood before leaving, they we re neighbourhood before leaving, they were all sold out. in wuhan, where the outbreak started, scientist say anyone with a high temperature shouldn't leave. the authorities have ordered local to cancel their trips and cars driving

a short time ago stephen mcdonnell also sent us this update from beijing on how the crisis is having across china. right across china this emergency is touching every community, here in beijing the tempo fairs which are normally a central part of chinese new year celebrations and will be very crowded over the coming weekend, called off from here to hong kong, new year's celebrations cancelled, street parades and be like because authorities are worried about the going away of sars. the death toll so far as a percentage is not nearly as bad as sars. but when you consider the raw numbers and people travelling, flights alone, now there are six times as many people flying out of china as they we re people flying out of china as they were at the time of the sars outbreak in 2002. that is why the world health organization is set to meet again to decide whether or not to declare this global emergency. a doctor at the hospital in wuhan where this all began has been speaking to the bbc and said the virus is now spreading at an alarming rate. the hospitals have been... the story is developing q

now been tested for coronavirus, all of which were confirmed as negative. 0ur correspondent, stephen mcdonnellchinese province of hubei, where the outbreak began. the authorities are starting to lock down this entire province of nearly 60 million people, where the coronavirus emergency began. hospitals in wuhan have been overwhelmed with the sick. state media has reported that one doctor treating people with the virus has died. military medics have been flown in to help with the crisis, as have specialist doctors from shanghai. but the challenge remains considerable, with the infection rate ever on the increase. this is hubei province, where this virus emergency started. as you can see, it is pretty quiet, on the first day of the year of the rat. all these shops are closed. there‘s pretty much nobody on the street here. those who are out on the streets are wearing masks. and you can understand why. people are very worried, and people just don‘t know for how long it‘s going to be like this, for how long they have to stay indoors or risk being infected with this potentially deadly coronavirus, w

says 31 people tested for the virus have all been given the all clear. 0ur china correspondent stephen mcdonnellhich is under strict quarantine — and has sent this report. the approaches to hubei province are like scenes from an apocalyptic movie. only after a temperature scan can you pass these checkpoints. the unwell are not allowed to travel. what's more, the lockdown is spreading. roads out of the infection zone are being closed. so, basically that's the border that way. the police have told us that we can drive in but we can't drive out. so it seems that this whole province where the coronavirus first broke out is now going to be locked down. we cross the border and drive through ghost towns. instead of lunar new year celebrations, people are in survival mode. 0n the first day of the year of the rat all these shops are closed, there is pretty much nobody on the street here. i mean, this isjust one of the towns you come across when you first enter the province and people just don't know for how long it's going to be like this, for how long they have to stay indoors or risk being infected wit

stephen mcdonnell, bbc news, hubei.oined now byjosep jansa, a principal expert at the european centre for disease prevention and control. welcome to you. thank you for being with us. president xi jinping welcome to you. thank you for being with us. president xijinping has warned the virus is accelerating, what can you tell us about that? the first cases were a little number of cases that were reported, about 41, but as time goes by there are more and more cases and so it is true. more cases have been detected. what is not completely clear as to what extent that is related to a better detection or if there are more cases, so detection or if there are more cases, so it is a combination of both things. what do we know about the virus itself? is it mutating? so far, no. there is no information about that. what happens with those coronavirus is they are circulating within animals and to a particular time, theyjump to humans and they start being spread among humans. that is the current status according to the information we a

stephen mcdonnell sent this report from beijing.the moment without being aware of this crisis. health screening is in place at transport hubs across the country. public celebrations marking the lunar new year being cancelled and the inconvenience is considerable. at most, people are welcoming decisive action from the government. translation: china is a very strong country, it can definitely control the virus, also a vaccine will be developed, we are very confident. translation: typing this thing will go away in the near future, like sizing 2003. now the government'sjob is to prevent its spread, i think it will disappear by itself. in wuhan, hospitals are stressed to the limit. i had a fever and a cop so i am worried that i am infected. i don't know the results yet but i am concerned, and a bit nervous i have the virus. wuhan is a very large city with a large population. the medical capacity of wuhan alone cannot withstand the outbreak of the virus. it needs the support of a whole country. the chinese government has any footage ofa c

my colleague annita mcveigh spoke to our beijing correspondent stephen mcdonnell.er visiting wuhan. imean, a i mean, a lot of people at the moment i'm not returning to work in china. big companies like toyota, samsung, have said their factories are not reopening after the lunar new year break. ikea has said that it shops won't open yet. and they have told people, don't come to work and if you can, work from home. it is the same as what's happened with me. i was in one province where people there are not supposed to be going to work because of the risk that you could be passing on the virus to other people. but this is applying to people all over china. companies are just saying, we are not reopening. the official holiday period is been extended. schools, universities and classes have been cancelled for the moment. they're trying to work out when that will safe. safe for them to start again. and you can imagine the economic impact in china is going to be absolutely enormous. i mean, just look at this one province alone, 60 million people locked down in that province

stephen mcdonnell. now time for the business news.e to a new high. the figure could reduce the chance the bank of england will cut interest rates next week. facebook will create 1000 newjobs in london this year including hiring more people to tackle harmful online content. it will take their uk workforce to more than a000. pressure has been growing on social media firms to remove posts promoting self—harm and political extremism. and network rail has been issued a formal warning for its poor service in the north—western central regions of england, including northern and trans pennine express. the regulator is investigating whether network rail is doing everything it reasonably can to improve for passengers. let's start with news that the institute of directors is calling on the government to publish its negotiating objectives for the next stage of brexit talks. a new survey suggests the majority of its members don't think it will provide enough uncertainty to unlock business investment that has been held up in that uncertainty over th

our beijing correspondent stephen mcdonnell has quarantined himself in his home. this, what is going on? the authorities have said that anybody who was in the province and travelling to another city should not go to their normal workplace and should stay at home for two weeks and so since we are in the province where this coronavirus emergency started, i'm staying in my place for two weeks. i'm sure my bbc collea g u es two weeks. i'm sure my bbc colleagues here don't want to catch this virus in case i am carrying it they are saying that it could take, from the first point of contact, it could take two weeks. obviously, people may not know they are sick if they don't have any symptoms and they don't have any symptoms and they are travelling around with this virus and potentially infecting others and that is why i am here, reporting from home. how does this work? what about things you will need? are you going to be able to go out to the shops? you are facing the same problem as presumably millions of others are having to face now. yes, well luckily it is a delivery

our correspondent stephen mcdonnell sent us this update from beijing on how people there are responding oldest long—distance train station — you can see how many people are moving around. and the news that this virus, the coronavirus, can jump from person to person, means that screening at places like this is much more important. australia is the latest country to join others in watching when people come in off flights and testing them, especially when they're coming from wuhan. there's a case there of somebody who's returned from wuhan, in brisbane, who has been placed in isolation. they are not sure yet if he has the coronavirus, but scientists here have joined those in the uk saying that although there are hundreds of people who've been infected, they think the real figure could be thousands and that's because — look how many people are travelling around china at the moment. the virus has not only spread to other chinese cities, but to other countries, and that's why the authorities are not taking any chances and they've put all these extra screening measures in place. breaking news

we provide that to our colleagues in the nhs and obviously to the public. 0ur correspondent stephen mcdonnellost important festival of the year for chinese people. and the streets are quiet. much more quiet than they would be in virtually all cities in china. in beijing, the government is now saying everybody who arrives from wuhan, whether they have a temperature or not, is to be quarantined for two weeks. they can stay at home, but they have to regularly go for checkups to have their health monitored. elsewhere, festivals are being called off, the normal temple fair that you would have in beijing, cancelled. shanghai disneyland has been close. in guangdong province cinemas are all shot for the entire spring festival period. and closer to wuhan, many more cities are following the lead of that city, shutting down all public transport so no coming in and out of the cities and even within the cities, no public transport and these are the drastic measures that are being taken by the government here. to try and not fix this problem but restrict it, to try and make it not as bad as it might become

let's get more on this from our correspondent stephen mcdonnell, who's in beijing.on that is being looked at internationally and a huge city, 11 million people, wuhan, effectively in the form of lot down. all across china people are a lot more mori today than there were two days ago. 48 hours ago we couldn't find somebody who seemed that worried about it amongst the general public. people are cancelling trips, lining up to get facemasks, cancelling their own holidays and what's really made them concerned has been the situation in wuhan where the government has effectively locked down that city. all trains coming out of wuhan, all flights coming out of wuhan, all flights coming out of wuhan. there, they've stopped the underground train service. public buses, all public transport shutdown. imagine if you are sick, difficult for you to get to the hospital however the mitigating factor there has been the reason there isn't traffic gridlock necessarily varies because people are staying indoors. they are worried about getting the virus and what has global health authoriti

stephen mcdonnell is in beijing. of chinese people are on the move, going home for the lunar new year celebrations. here at beijing station, the capital's old est beijing station, the capital's oldest long—distance train station, you can see how many people are moving around and the news this virus, the coronavirus, canjump from person to person means screening at places like this is much more important. australia is the latest country to join others in watching when people come in off lights and testing them, especially when they are coming from wuhan. there's a case of somebody who has returned from wuhan in brisbane who has been placed in isolation. they're not sure yet if he has the coronavirus, but scientists here have joined those in the uk saying that although there are hundreds of people who have been infected, they think the realfigure people who have been infected, they think the real figure could people who have been infected, they think the realfigure could be thousands, and that's because look how many p

that was stephen mcdonnell reporting. so far this year, according to new figures. in total, 9,949jobs have gone with a further 1,200 already under threat. january is traditionally a tough month for retailers, as they count the cost of a poor christmas trading period. global stock markets and oil prices have fallen sharply over fears that the spread of the coronavirus will hit demand for travel. brent crude fell by 2.1%. regional economies in asia are bracing for a large economic impact and firms have asked staff to stay at home, prompting a slowdown in economic growth. british banks approved the highest number of mortgages in more than four years in december, according to the latest officialfigures. they suggest a turnaround in the country's housing market since last month's election. mortgage approvals for house purchase hit the most since august 2015. more certainty over brexit, better household living standards and the chances of a budget boost have lifted economic prospects for this year and next. that's according to

that is stephen mcdonnell reporting.le some officials have been announcing warnings, president trump has been speaking to people in dallas where he said the situation was under control. cdc has been terrific, very great professionals and i think china is in very good shape also. thank you very much. and at around 11:30pm questions will be answered about coronavirus. if you want to get in touch hashtag bbc your questions. let's get more now on the news that the saudi authorities have dismissed reports the kingdom was responsible for the alleged hacking of amazon founder jeff bezos's phone. the guardian newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying his phone was infiltrated bya whatsapp message from an account apparently belonging to the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman in may 2018. in a tweet, saudi arabia's embassy in washington described the now is our cyber security reporter joe tidy. what has emerged so far about this? we have heard previously thatjeff bezos's team has said that the saudi arabian authorities were r

earlier, i spoke to our china correspondent stephen mcdonnell.t of people at the moment are not returning to work in china. but companies like toyota, samsung have said theirfactories are companies like toyota, samsung have said their factories are not reopening after the lunar new year break. ikea has said that its shops won't open yet and they have told people don't come to work and if you can, work from home. the same as is what has happened with me. i was in hubei province and those who have beenin hubei province and those who have been in hubei province, especially are not supposed we going to work because of the risk that you could because of the risk that you could be passing on the virus to other people. but this is applying to people. but this is applying to people all over china. companies are just saying we are not reopening. the official holiday period is being extended. schools, universities and classes have been cancelled for the moment. trying to work out when that will be safe. and for them to start again. and you can imagine the

we can speak now to our china correspondent stephen mcdonnell, who's in quarantine at home in beijingist, you go in the other and you turn up in an empty train and you turn up in an empty train and cross the border and the police said you could go into the province but you cannot come back out again. and at that point we knew that it was going to be locked down and that is 60 million people in that province and we ended up getting out of there, partly because some local government officials wanted to get rid of us and we wanted to do some interviews and this and that and we caught up with and we said, can you leave and how can we get out of here. 0h, we will take you out and so the police escort was back across the border and that's how we got out of the province. but, yes, certainly all around there not only in the bay, there are towns implementing lockdown is in neighbouring provinces to enter the cities along the border and you have to go through screening points and your temperature check so you cannot enter there and some smaller villages and towns are unilaterally declared that

we can speak now to our china correspondent stephen mcdonnell who is in self—quara ntine in beijing after away from their workplace for two weeks, and that is what i am doing as others are. it is just that the authorities are taking more and more strict precautions when you go into buildings, iam strict precautions when you go into buildings, i am back in beijing now, you go into buildings, you have a temperature check, whether it be an office building or a building where people live with flat, the streets are very quiet in the chinese capital. it is normally kind of quiet for the spring festival, but it is very quiet. people are not walking around, they don't want to leave their homes if they don't have two at risk of being in fact did. i think it is hoped, by taking measures like this, they can quickly bring this under control. the rate of infection is still going up and up. authorities would rather have that plateauing or going down. that is what i wanted to talk to you about, the rate of infection going up, also the number of people who have died as well. is there a sense they are get

steven mcdonnell has more from beijing. stephene number of those affected -- with every jump, people are taking this crisis more seriously. days ago many lunarav new year ers seemed blase about the situation. now the mood is different. >> of course i am worried that the virus may all of a sudden spread further. if cross infection happens during the spring travel period, the epidemic will be terrible. my hometown is close to the place where the virus broke out. >> of course i am worried. i just went to buy masks, but when i triedhey were all sold out. steven: in wuhan, where the outbreak started, scientists say anyone with a high temperature shld not leave. authorities have ordered local tour groups to cancel their trips. cars driving away are being syrup -- stopped for random searches. the chinese government is saying everything is under control. >> we believe that strong leadership of the party central committee, the new virus outbreak inuh will be brought under control. steven:ut but thebreak has already spread well beyond centra

simon jones, bbc news. 0ur china correspondent, stephen mcdonnell, is in wuhan. long they have to stay indoors, or risk being infected with this potentially deadly coronavirus, which causes pneumonia. we will keep you updated on any developments. at least 20 people are dead and hundreds injured after a powerful earthquake in eastern turkey. rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors. the quake, with a magnitude of about 6.8, was also felt in neighbouring countries. gareth barlow has this report. rescuers carry survivors out from the rubble. the 6.8 magnitude quake sent buildings crashing to the ground and residents rushing into the streets. more than 30 people are feared trapped and more than 500 people have been reported injured. the exact moment the earthquake struck, captured live on turkish tv. amid the inky darkness, among ruined buildings, screams rang out as more than 400 rescue teams rushed to help survivors. dozens of aftershocks followed the main tremor, which was also felt in neighbouring syria, lebanon and iran. the region, 550 kilometres e

stephen, thank you very much for that update. steven mcdonnellively the very public face of that failed merger bed, that attempted to take over asda. this is mike coupe. he has been 15 years with the retailer and 35 years in terms of retail overall. he is going, he is going in may. that is soon. you don't normally hear they are going as soon as that. he has presided over some su ccesses , as that. he has presided over some successes, the sale of the pharmaceutical business, for example, the purchase of next door, and argos. that has generally done quite well. however, when it comes to asda, he was so confident, he was so sure that was going to go ahead and there was always that clip. it went viral. he was caught on camera when he was doing a round of interviews, about two talk about the planned with asda doing this. # wherein the money, this guy is sunny —— # wherein the money, this guy is sunny “ we are # wherein the money, this guy is sunny —— we are in the money, the sky is sunny... turns out he wasn't. quite far from it. the competition regul

how china correspondent, stephen mcdonnell gave us an update on the travel band that is in place.ple in terms of these masks. the provincial government has ordered millions of facemasks so somewhere they are churning them out on the production line. special military medical teams have arrived to bolster the local teams and also teams from shanghai. but the problem isjust teams and also teams from shanghai. but the problem is just so teams and also teams from shanghai. but the problem isjust so huge teams and also teams from shanghai. but the problem is just so huge and the lockdown area, if you can call it that, is getting wider and wider. where we are is just across the borderfrom hubei. where we are is just across the border from hubei. but where we are is just across the borderfrom hubei. but this is also a place with very much at the heart of this emergency. all of these cars are eitherfrom this of this emergency. all of these cars are either from this small city or they are about to pass a screening point to enter cities along this border area and the region. they are doing s