are going to cover the exam periods, has the uk government had discussions with the likes of universities uk about scoring exams? these decisions must be gci’oss government and cross sector and i hope discussions will continue. parents may not be key workers but they will be key workers in their homes because they are the ones who are paying the mortgage, the rent and the bills. so if parents cannot go out to work because their children cannot go to school, who will pay their salaries? the education secretary accepted that his decision raised wider issues. well, the massive impact of coronavirus has seen stock markets plunge and the pound fall. the bank of england has cut interest rates not once but twice, and the chancellor too stepped in. speaking at one of the now daily downing street briefings, rishi sunak vowed that the government would do whatever it takes to support the economy. and so, barely a week after his budget, he set out £350 billion of emergency measures for firms — the equivalent of 15% of national income, known as gdp. that means any business who needs to access cash to pay

has the uk government had any discussions with the likes of universities uk about alternative ways ofxams? it goes without saying, these decisions can't be silo. there must be cross constrictor and cross government approach and i hope you agree with the dialogue and dissolve discussions continue. the primary nursery sector provides a crucial role in enabling parents but particularly mothers to go back to work. they are absolutely crying out for clarity and support from the government and feel very strongly in the words of my constituent, louisa simmons, they've seen pubs and retail get a great deal more assistance than they have. this is the right thing to do for their kids and for us stop the virus spreading, but they're also going to be really worried that theyjust can't afford to stop work to look after them and can't get the grandparents to step in. given that he said this could last for some time, will he look at urgent financial support for parents, not just those for free school meals, but all parents in these circumstances, or look at working with local councils for free child

uk. the university of leicester is working on a facemask test, using money from research england and partneringse a test they were using for tuberculosis. by wearing a facemask for 30 minutes with 3d printed strips inside, it can show whether the person is breathing out the virus. scientists at the university of oxford say they have developed an ultrasensitive test that can work injust 30 minutes. they say it doesn't need the kind of machine used in the other tests and can be deployed to rural or remote areas quickly. they also say it's sensitivity means it can detect when someone is in the early stages of the virus, which could help slow down transmission. detecting the virus in the early stages in an asymptomatic carrier could indeed be game—changing in halting its progress. getting more tests out to as many people as possible as soon as possible could provide the data needed to accurately track the virus. that wasjen and it will be fascinating to see how that story develops. pretty quickly, i would imagine. now, with countries around the world battening down the hatches and locking down huge

uk. the university of leicester is working on a facemask test using money from research england and partneringe a test using thought tuberculosis. by wearing a facemask for 30 minutes with 3d printer trips inside, it can show whether the person is breathing out the virus. sciences at the university of oxford say they have developed an ultrasensitive test that can work in just 30 minutes. they say it doesn't need the kind of machine used in the other tests and could be deployed to rural or remote areas quickly. they also say its sensitivity means it can detect if someone is in the early stages of the virus which could help slow down transmission. detecting the virus in the early stages in an asymptomatic carrier could indeed be game changing in halting its progress. getting more tests out to as many people as possible as soon as possible could provide the data needed to accurately track the virus. that wasjen, and it will be fascinating to see how that story develops. pretty quickly, i would imagine. now, with countries around the world battening down the hatches and locking down huge swathes o

with me now is chris hale from universities uk. our existing students. what is the situation across the country today for them? a lot of universities now, or the majority of universities, have now put their education provision online stop so they will be encouraging students to stay home and they will be uploading lectures. they will have the facilities to let students access them and engage with lecturers and their peers as well. they will also be exploring ways in which they can do exams and assessments in an alternative way, using online means. what about international students? because of course, many international students don't have an alternative home to go to in the uk and some of them can't get home to where they originally lived because of the collapse of flights internationally and closed borders. absolutely, and universities are very aware of those students. they are looking at options around giving them possession within student accommodation and making sure they are being looked after. —— giving them provision. they wi

we've already sat down with head teachers unions, universities uk, working very closely with off quual

so they would have picked before hand whereas if you're coming to university in the uk, there is to catchhat delay or maybe complete cancelling of the degrees will have a severe hit on the coffers as well. let's turn to the front page of the daily mail. we will be told to work from home if you can. that is the key question. if you can. now, for people who work in large companies, this is probably the sensible precaution to take and for somebody like me who can work on a laptop from almost anywhere, it is not going to affect me. if you are self—employed for example, this will be quite difficult. yourjob is to drive a be quite difficult. yourjob is to drivea van, be quite difficult. yourjob is to drive a van, to fix people houses, built homes, then this will be difficult. even worse is what how is it going to affect people in the ca re it going to affect people in the care industry. care home visits, you work ina care industry. care home visits, you work in a care home looking after the sick and they vulnerable and disabled, then you have serious implications here. it may turn out to be the

i have looked at the universities uk advice but it seems some universities don't seem to be followingiving.” notwithstanding the advice the country at large may be giving. i am surprised to hear that, because we have been very, very clear about universities alongside schools. of course it is a matter for my right honourable friend the education secretary in the first instance, but on the public health grounds we made it absolutely clear that we were taking steps to close schools and nurseries and universities and colleges, except for the children of key workers where they absolutely need to be at school, where they for instance need a parent —— where neither parent can look after them. but all of those at university can stay at home on their own and don't need a parent, sol stay at home on their own and don't need a parent, so i don't think there is any excuse whatsoever... 0ur there is any excuse whatsoever... our local authority, they have made the point that workers who are furloughed in leisure centres may need to be redeployed into other council areas where they wouldn't normally

we've already sat down with the head teachers unions, universities uk, working very closely with 0fqualking sure that every child gets their gcse, a—level and other qualifications as and when they'd be expecting them in the summer. we will be bringing out the details tomorrow. it's notjust schools being shut, services on the london underground are being reduced, up to a0 stations will be closed. the mayor says the tube should only be used for essentialjourneys, to free up the network for critical workers. and to help the nhs, emergency laws will be introduced in parliament, which will allow the registration of retired or soon to be qualified nurses and paramedics. there will also be legislation too, to protect renters from eviction. this is a message from the government's chief medical officer... from today, a new tv advert will offer health advice, but the warning is there may be more restrictions on daily life to come. this is going to be a long haul, we have described it as a marathon, not a sprint, and we do have to be able to do things over many weeks to months, if we are going to

uk. the university of leicester is working on a face mask test, using money from research england and partneringusing for tuberculosis. by wearing a face mask for 30 minutes with 3d printed strips inside, it can show whether the person is breathing out the virus. scientists at the university of oxford say they have developed an ultrasensitive test which can work in just 30 minutes. they say it doesn't need the kind of machines used in the other tests and can be deployed to rural or remote areas quickly. they also say its sensitivity means it can detect when someone is in the early stages of the virus, which could help slow down transmission. detecting the virus in the early stages and in asymptomatic carriers could indeed be game—changing in halting its progress. getting more tests out to as many people as possible as soon as possible could provide the data needed to accurately track the virus. that wasjen, and it will be fascinating to see how that story develops. pretty quickly, i would imagine. now, with countries around the world battening down the hatches and locking down huge swathes of th

many universities in the uk have now ended face—to—face teaching.ority of situations, there is absolutely no need to close a school or to send pupils or staff home. can you just flip over the sheets of paper you're reading, please? the government's chief scientific adviser defended not closing schools, saying that it would be inconceivable that children wouldn't socialise with each other anyway, and that there were more impactful measures to be put in place first. can you hear me all right? can you see the powerpoint ok? some schools have already tried remote learning for pupils in self—isolation, like this school in devon. but some head teachers have pointed out this only works if all pupils have access to technology. 45% of our young people are pupil premium. so we have children who don't have access to the internet. so for them, that's not a goer. so for them, we've come up with schemes of learning whereby they can have paper—based learning. but that feedback from a teacher, which is so important to ensure you continue to progress and learn well,

i mean the bureaucracy in the process of getting universal credit in the uk is known to be pretty bado work even if they think they might have coronavirus, because they can't afford not to? this is the risk. we are focusing on the economic and personal impact of this, but fundamentally if it is just too much hassle, too much of a risk, then there is a real concern that people will not be forthcoming about their symptoms and just continue working because they have to put food on the table. ok, thank you very much, professor suzanne rab, we appreciate your expertise. there is currently alive and answer —— live question and answer section online about the coronavirus. take a look at our website today. that is all from us for today. there will be more business news throughout the day on the bbc live web page and on world business report. we'll see you again tomorrow. good morning. yesterday we had temperatures once again in the mid teens across the southeast and today it will feel very different to that. a much chillier wind blowing for all of us. with that, some sunny spells and showers.

interest n understanding the epidemiological trends a lot of models, the imperial model out of the uk, university of washington has published another model, multiple models, all of them, of course, are based on a range of different assumptions but there's a few common trends i see. you see that you would expect peaks to happen over the coming, you know, two to six weeks, depending on the model we're going to see peak utilization of health care resources, assuming that we maintain the kind of social distancing or physical distancing programs that have been put in place all around the world. and then comes the period of kind of the unknowns, unknown of how will seasonality in terms of the weather impact the spread of the virus, how much immunity is in the population that, you know -- given the virus has been circulating now for a number of months, and then the question, of course, is will we see a return in the fall or the winter i think most models suggest that there would be a return as social distancing is, you know, put to lower levels, and then, of course, as the weather turns and we get back

look, italy has universal healthcare system, look what's going on there. ukyou highlight a universal healthcare system. why is america who's normally performed so well, we have freedom markets we look at the constraints we are under with getting these test kits out, they are being hamstrung. i think when you go back and do the after action review, leadership really matters. i think right now you see a lot of panic, a lot of fear. and it's a time, the president is trying his best to say look, this is a serious problem, but let's not overreact. that's not really going over well, there's just a lot of panic. bitcoin is in freefall. kennedy: it sucks or minds into things as in the l.a. riots, and i was in the northridge earthquake. in 92 and 94 respectively. and i saw how quickly things fell apart. so yesterday, i was at trader joe's, people were loading up their baskets. today i was at whole foods i forgot a couple things, and when you see people jamming stuff into their carts legs on-base, it makes you kind of do the same. you get this foam a and you start to t

look, italy has universal healthcare system, look what's going on there. ukyou highlight a universal healthcare system. why is america who's normally performed so well, we have freedom markets we look at the constraints we are under with getting these test kits out, they are being hamstrung. i think when you go back and do the after action review, leadership really matters. i think right now you see a lot of panic, a lot of fear. and it's a time, the president is trying his best to say look, this is a serious problem, but let's not overreact. that's not really going over well, there's just a lot of panic. bitcoin is in freefall. kennedy: it sucks or minds into things as in the l.a. riots, and i was in the northridge earthquake. in 92 and 94 respectively. and i saw how quickly things fell apart. so yesterday, i was at trader joe's, people were loading up their baskets. today i was at whole foods i forgot a couple things, and when you see people jamming stuff into their carts legs on-base, it makes you kind of do the same. you get this foam a and you start to t

look, italy has universal healthcare system, look what's going on there. ukyou highlight a universal healthcare system. why is america who's normally performed so well, we have freedom markets we look at the constraints we are under with getting these test kits out, they are being hamstrung. i think when you go back and do the after action review, leadership really matters. i think right now you see a lot of panic, a lot of fear. and it's a time, the president is trying his best to say look, this is a serious problem, but let's not overreact. that's not really going over well, there's just a lot of panic. bitcoin is in freefall. kennedy: it sucks or minds into things as in the l.a. riots, and i was in the northridge earthquake. in 92 and 94 respectively. and i saw how quickly things fell apart. so yesterday, i was at trader joe's, people were loading up their baskets. today i was at whole foods i forgot a couple things, and when you see people jamming stuff into their carts legs on-base, it makes you kind of do the same. you get this foam a and you start to t

uk. italy is shutting down schools and universities as it tries to stop the spread of coronavirus. the ups and downs of the race to take on donald trump — billionaire bloomberg drops out; former vice presidentjoe biden is the comeback kid. the greek island that's fast becoming a new migrant flashpoint — aid workers say residents are turning on them. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the chief medical officer now says a coronavirus epidemic here in the uk is likely — though not definite. chris whitty‘s comments come on the day of the biggest 24—hour rise in the number of people infected — 36 new cases, two of which are in scotland and two in northern ireland. it brings the total number of people with the virus here to 87. of the new cases, three do not seem to have any connection to travel abroad — that's what's called community transmission. in parliament today borisjohnson announced a change to the rule on sick pay for those who end up having to self—isolate as a result of coronavirus. more on that in just a moment, but first here's our health editor hugh pym. it's in demand.

university. discussing the rise of populism in the uk and us and the future of progressive politics at george washington university. >> welcome to this conversation on will the centerleft rise to the challenge along with the tony blair institute we are proud to present today as speech by in a conversation of the quite honorable tony blair former prime minister of great britain on this topic and what the progressives need to do to rise to it. several hundred that was best given the coronavirus spread to cancel the public meeting so we are live streaming today thank you for joining us by live stream and also to c-span and the audience to today's conversation. this is obviously the subject of a state of emergency has been declared in washington and we want to do our part to slow down the spread of this virus but also carry on with business as usual is much as we can. welcome to everybody on a personal note i want to say how pleased i am to see tony blair after being reunited after a long hiatus the progressive policy institute worked closely with president clinton and prime minister blair to organize the d

she has aspirations to attend a fairly prominent uk university.markable young lady. herfortitude isjust her fortitude is just amazing. her fortitude isjust amazing. let me give you the response from cypriot police. cypriot police officials denied claims that they acted improperly in this case as well as claims made by the teenager's family that they bullied her into reca nting her statement. what do you say in response to that? i think one only needs to look at the facts of the specific case. this is a young girl we all remember who was taken in the early hours of the morning in a police car to a police station. she was interrogated without a solicitor being present. nothing was recorded in terms of that interview. remarkably, she was able to have her mobile phone on her at the time and she was actually texting her mother at the time that pressure had been born upon her to make this confession statement and that she had been threatened that notjust her mother, but her friends would have serious difficulties within the judicial system and she was f

uk. italy is shutting down schools and universities as it tries to stop the spread of coronavirus.elease of the new bond film is delayed by seven months — is it the latest casualty of the coronvirus outbreak? and we'll be looking at the new rules on sick pay for those affected by coronavirus. also tonight... the greek island that's fast becoming a new migrant flashpoint — aid workers say residents are turning on them. the ups and downs of the race to take on donald trump — billionaire bloomberg drops out; former vice president joe biden is the comeback kid. and coming up on bbc news, dillian whyte says he'll fight anyone. he talks to us about his comeback in heavyweight boxing and his hopes for a shot at the title. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the chief medical officer now says a coronavirus epidemic here in the uk is likely — though not definite. chris whitty‘s comments come on the day of the biggest 24—hour rise in the number of people infected — 36 new cases, two of which are in scotland and two in northern ireland. it brings the total number of people with t

university. i'll start with you. this question is from julia. what is the ukwing the who's advice to taste every suspected case? -- test. up untiltoday, the impression given by the government was that they weren't going to carry on testing vary widely and that people who had symptoms, a persistent cough or fever, should just go home and isolate for a week. they wouldn't get tested. if you listen to the press conference, professor chris whitty, the treat dome light chief medical adviser said they are increasing testing. they are trying to go further. a bit ofa they are trying to go further. a bit of a change of emphasis there, but sources tell me theyjust don't think they have the resources to test everybody. they want to focus particularly on nhs workers and those who are most important or most vulnerable, certainly. so i think they've changed here a bit on this, but they're not complying totalling with what who have suggested. some other countries but not all. it's a resource issue when it comes to testing. this question is from david, who's in nottingham. it

madrid's authorities have closed schools and universities for two weeks. 0ne expert told me she thought the uk'ssuch bands or closures was well judged response without any such bands or closures was welljudged so far but the european figures could be a sign of troubled times ahead. these are countries that we would anticipate as being able to contain a virus like this, or at least this kind of spread of infection, so it is concerning that they have struggled to do it. i think it suggests that once there is the development of ongoing person to person transmission within a country it becomes much harder to stem the tide of this infection. off the californian coast, a cruise ship carrying some people who have tested positive for the virus, headed for port. the mood of more than 140 british passengers and crew was much improved. they have been told they will be tested and if there are no symptoms will be allowed to board a special flight set to get them back to the uk on wednesday. hugh pym, abc news. —— bbc news. a number of major sporting events have now been postponed, because of the virus. franc

uk. anyone with a new continuous cough or high temperature is told to stay at home for seven days, but the prime minister stopped short of closing schools and universities control the spread of the virus. that move by president trump caused global stock markets to plunge. the new york stock exchange was temporarily suspended after big losses, while in london, the ftse100 tumbled to its lowest level since the 1987 crash. and in ireland, the government today closed down all schools, colleges and other public buildings for more than two weeks. and stay with me here on bbc news for more on how the coronavirus is disrupting holidays worldwide. in a few minutes, i'll be putting your questions to a travel consultant. president trump has announced severe restrictions on travel between european union countries and the us to tackle coronavirus. the restrictions, which don't apply to the united kingdom, suspend travel from the 26 countries in the schengen agreement, the area of the eu where people are allowed to move freely from one country to an other. the eu has strongly criticised president trump's decision. there are now more than 45 us states affected by the

universal credit. the number of cases in the uk has risen again. one of those newly infected isa again.those newly infected is a member of staff at this hospital in carlisle. they had been in italy but hadn't been back at work. hospitals across the uk have been asked to carry out more video consultations with patients. officials say the nhs is preparing for a surge officials say the nhs is preparing fora surge in officials say the nhs is preparing for a surge in cases. if it is a relatively small wave, then it might feel rather like a bad winter in the nhs. but in the 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 then if it gets to a very large wave, then you would need to reconfigure the nhs in a much more fundamental way. this new campaign was launched today to encourage frequent hand washing for at least 20 seconds. people are being urged to wash their hands when they arrive at work, before and after eating

341,722, but you're about to hear an exclusive interview from the leader of a team at oxford university in the ukbola and even hiv they think they could have a vaccine breakthrough within months it's not guaranteed they say, but it's a glimmer of hope some of the world's most iconic cities desolate, and the devastating global milestone international cases surpassing 300,000. now the olympics, symbol of unity and human achievement, under threat a decision to come within a month. canada and australia already italy suffering it's deadliest day. its death toll 5,500 italys hospitals a pulling out. italy suffering it's deadliest day. its death toll 5,500 hospitals, a battlefield. >> a disaster, a tsunami. >> reporter: the worst crisis since world war ii says its prime minister italian nurses posting pictures of their exhausted faces scarred by masks in spain, more than 2,000 have died its leader warning the worst is yet to come. german's chancellor angela merkel in quarantine after her doctor tested positive this morning, hope from britain's oxford university telling nbc news they may have a vaccine w

universal credit. the number of cases in the uk has risen again.e newly infected is a member of staff at this hospital in carlisle. they had been in italy but hadn't been back at work. hospitals across the uk have been asked to carry out more video consultations with patients. officials say the nhs is preparing for a surge in cases. if it's a relatively small wave, then it might feel rather like a bad winter in the nhs, but in the 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's safer to do them. and then if it gets to a very large wave, then we would need to reconfigure the nhs in a much more fundamental way. this new campaign was launched today to encourage frequent hand—washing for at least 20 seconds. people are being urged to wash their hands when they arrive at work, before and after eating and if they blow their nose. meanwhile, there's been a boost in demand for hand sanitisers, with some p

country enters its second week in a nationwide lockdown. >>> john hopkins university reporting 14,743 confirmed covid-19 cases in the uktoday, a royal show of support for healthcare workers battling the spread of coronavirus. prince charles and wife, putting them. the prince himself is recovering from a mild case of coronavirus. >>> today chris and officials with holland america say their ship has more than 100 people sitting on board right now, and four passengers have died. they do not know of anyone who is sick has the coronavirus because no one has been tested. for the last 10 days the ship has been turned away from port, the crew wants to dock in florida but has not been given permission to do so. it also does not have clearance to sail through the panama canal which was closed to foreigners due to the coronavirus. >>> we howl have a lot of questions about coronavirus, we have been receiving dozens each day from our viewers. up next we take those questions directly to an infectious disease doctor. >>> a break in the rain fall today with a mixture of sun and clouds, and a break in the rain will soon be coming to an

uke's university network, are also the biggest employers in my district. hey anxiously await the spread of this disease to our frontlines. community, our nurses, ab teches, p.a.'s, physicians, and custodial and cafeteria staff have worked tirelessly to patient.every despite their concern for their own well-being and despite often gear to protect themselves, they put the most vulnerable ahead of themselves. the pride of my community. the actions of health care the country say o us, we are all in this together. our response cannot be fend for yourself. do our part and provide them with enough personal protective equipment for their ventilators patients. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. speaker.: yes, mr. i'm proud to yield one minute to the gentleman from arizona, mr. biggs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is minute.ed for one mr. biggs: i thank the gentleman. the vote we take today may be monumental vote during our tenure in congress. the amount of money we're epic, in

professor in the uk a tourist started the project at the university. he measured the bones and tracks digitized them animated them together with specialists and compared their mobility with that of living reptiles today. we found that the movement of these animals was already very well adapted to life on land. which meant we had to shift our estimation of when i could activate mobility on land at a fault back by 15 to 20000000 years and the. thomas martin's his grandson and his successor tom who are all the way to the depot of castle have prepared. back from the us. was. a skeleton is absolutely complete as far as the most in taxes gallatin of this kind of animal in the world. it. was really crazy seeing something like this. you can almost picture how it lives how it moved and what it saw. you can see the eye sockets in that skull. this is where the treasures of the pro mocker are stored among them the famous tom. 2 fossilized samaria the discovery was the 1st biological proof that europe and the us were still a super continent called pangea some 30000

events are suspended — as public gatherings are forbidden, and schools and universities will remain closed until next month. in the ukirus, with 319 confirmed cases so far. the government has said it will relax restrictions on night—time deliveries to supermarkets in built up areas to maintain supplies and nhs guidance about coronavirus will appear at the top of internet search results in a campaign against fake news. in china, president xi jinping visited wuhan, where the virus originated, for the first time, in a move that will be interpreted in china as a sign that the coronavirus emergency there is under control. according to officialfigures, china has only 19 new coronavirus cases today, with no new infections outside of hubei. but in iran, the death toll has jumped by 5a to 291, it's highest number of deaths in a single 2a—hour period. here — the health secretary matt hancock has been giving an update to mps in the house of commons. the global coronavirus outbreak is clearly growing. last night italy place the whole country into quarantine. we've updated our travel advice to advise against all but essential tra

. —— pal abu as we've heard, the government is advising schools in the uk to remain open for now. but some universities education correspondent caroline davies reports. the last day of school in france — one of more than 30 countries around the world to decide to close them. but today at the conference for the association of school and college leaders, the government said again that schools in the uk will currently stay open. in the overwhelming majority of situations, there is absolutely no need to close a school or to send pupils or staff home. can you just flip over the sheets of paper you're reading, please? the government's chief scientific adviser defended not closing schools, saying that it would be inconceivable that children wouldn't socialise with each other anyway, and that there were more impactful measures to be put in place first. can you hear me all right? can you see the powerpoint 0k? some schools have already tried remote learning for pupils in self—isolation, like this school in devon. but some head teachers have pointed out this only works if all pupils have access to technology. 45

madrid's authorities have closed schools and universities for two weeks. 0ne expert told me she thought the uk's closures was welljudged so far, but the european figures could be a sign of troubled times ahead. these are countries that we would anticipate as being able to contain a virus like this, or at least this kind of spread of infection, so it is concerning that they've struggled to do it. so i think it suggests that once there is the development of ongoing person—to—person transmission within a country it becomes much harder to stem the tide of this infection. off the californian coast, a cruise ship carrying some people who have tested positive for the virus, headed for port. the mood of more than 140 british passengers and crew was much improved. to the uk on wednesday. hugh pym, bbc news. a number of major sporting events have now been postponed because of the virus. france has called off its six nations rugby match against ireland in paris and italy has postponed its game against england in rome. but most sporting events here in the uk are still on for now including one of the highlig

seen articles like this one in the financial times, quoting an oxford university study which suggestes as many as 50% of people in the ukas yet to be published or scrutinised by other scientists, and it contains a number of hypothetical situations about how far the virus has already spread. while some are hospitalised by coronavirus, many people will have mild symptoms, or none at all. here's the uk's chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance. we simply don't know at the moment and that is why the antibody test is so important. so there are estimates up so important. so there are estimates up to 80% or more people in wuhan weren't detected. there estimates that of those who are positive, a small percentage of the population who have tested positive, quite a number of them were asymptomatic in a town in italy but we don't know at a town in italy but we don't know at a general population of old which is why it is so important to get this testing in place. one person who has been tested for the virus is prince charles, he tested positive while in scotland. the nhs in scotland have their own criteria for testing, as ou

university, and hejoins me now. welcome, thank you forjoining us. what is your assessment of where we are now? here in the ukransition point, where we expect the number of cases to rise significantly sometime over the next couple of weeks. we don't know exactly when, of course, and i think the response here in the uk to this point has been very exceptional, but i do think it is time to really consider seriously some of the social distancing measures that you mentioned, like closing of large gatherings, and some pre—emptive working from home, possibly even closures of schools. what evidence we do have about dealing with respiratory viral epidemics like this suggests that social distancing works best when it is implemented before the surge in cases rather than after. what bike i was going to ask you exactly that point about it, because it feels like it is a wait and see in the meantime it is getting out there, and then is there a danger of getting to a point where the social distancing is a waste of time? not that it's a waste of time, but it would be less effective if there was already a widespread surge in t