To help provide relief in the u. S. Epicenter. And in sport theres a new date for the tokyo some of the big games to my 202021. In just the last hour the World Health Organization has expressed optimism that italy which has been hit hard by the corona Virus Outbreak may soon see some stabilization as a result of the strict measures the government has put in place were expecting an update from actually within the hour on the situation there meanwhile for the 3rd consecutive day spain has recorded coronavirus deaths in excess of 800 means that more than 7300 people have died there since the outbreak began the number of new infections there is also rising steadily in israel Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu is entering sell for. Isolation after one of his aids tested positive hes expected to be screened in the coming months while in the u. S. At the sent to new york relief has arrived as i mentioned in the form of a Naval Hospital ship that has 1000. 00 beds on board and we have 2 correspondents this hour francesca but all she is standing by for us in rome there she is the 1st lets go to sunny gaya whos a london and song in the u. K. Has just released some new numbers what can you tell us. Thats right deaths now stand at 1408 thats an increase of 180 from the previous day as slight decrease from the previous day before there were 209 reported deaths from this that brings we also have a total number of cases of 22141. 00. People who tested positive for corona virus and it comes at a time really when we are still seeing that increase in numbers not yet quite a peak as is being anticipated to with all sorts of measures that the government is putting in place with. With its sort of send as of command which is going to be coordinating the response together with the military and other Emergency Services theyre going to be trying to put in place. Putting in all these equipment which Frontline Health workers have been so desperately needing such as personal protective equipment things like Hand Sanitizer as well which is going to be to get all of that push sent to the 50 8000. 00 or so hospitals across the u. K. As well and this comes at a time also where youve. Been outspent of 20008 chest start through returns to work on the front lines in the battle against coronaviruses well that was. Something that was commended by the Prime MinisterBoris Johnson who himself is in isolation as he is also tested positive for corona virus also the w. H. O. Has praised this move as well also another statistic a more 3 quarters of a 1000000 people have also signed up to one until in the National Health service. Yes it came as a whole. Really the people to volunteer their services and the number was greater than they had anticipated as well but it really is sort of showing how the u. K. After a bit of a slow start in terms of locking down the country as much as possible is now really starting to ramp up. The move towards trying to prepare for the glass of infections that is bound to happen with the opening also of the socalled no nightingale centers Exhibition Centers which have been turned into hospitals also equipped with mentally which the u. K. Is currently lacking but is now trying to sort of put in place as quickly as it possibly can in order to be prepared for the amount of opec says that its set to take place here for the next couple of weeks kim sunil gago we will check back in with you as we are expecting an update from dominic robb the foreign secretary in the u. K. On the governments response to the corona virus pandemic for now though thank you new yorks Health System is getting a lifeline via the sea the u. S. Navy medical ship arrived in new york city to help relieve hospitals which are filling up with coronavirus patients the 1000 bed ship will treat people with known virus for them to home and gabriel arizona has more from new york city. The last time that this particular floating hospital is called the comfort the u. S. Navy came here to new york was 3 days after 911 to help with people who were injured then this ship is massive it is about 894 feet or about 275 meters it has 12 operating rooms over 1000. 00 hospital beds inside and it will have about the 11021200 nurses and doctors and staff on it they will be helping here in the coming weeks and perhaps even months in new york city what they are going to use it for is taking patients that do not have coronavirus out of some of the new york City Hospitals bringing them here to this hospital least some of them to clear out bed space for coronavirus patients that are needing urgent care in new york city so just to give you an idea though of how much this is needed and how much still needs to be done according to the new york governor they need about 150000 hospital beds in the coming weeks right now they have about 50000 so theyre short about 100000 hospital beds this ship that you see as big it is it is is only going to have about a 1000 so theyre still short tens of thousands of hospital beds that are needed in this city in the coming weeks to meet what is going to be the peak of the most amount of people coming that are infected that are going to need urgent care. Lets turn to spain now its for the 3rd consecutive day has recorded coronavirus deaths in excess of 80100 says there are now more than 85000 cases but early signs suggest the right of infections may be slowing in the few days weve seen how these feeders has been decreasing a little bit and in the last 24 hours we had at 9. 39 percent of the decrease so these. These are good news but on the other hand weve got again for the 3rd day consecutive more than 800 fatalities from corona virus in spain 812 and was the you have to bear in mind that from all the total cases of people infected nationwide 14 percent of our healthcare workers nurses and doctors that are battling in the front line of coronavirus here in spain especially madrid that became the epicenter of the outbreak of the pandemic oswego started to being or started to be overwhelmed or were overloaded with people and they had to build these Field Hospitals in this Exhibition Center imagery they had to medicalize hotels but what weve seen weve seen since then to date i think in the past 24 hours to build a tent outside the main hospital bath he removed rape as a provisional side to good there the people infected because they cannot cope anymore so with heard that in the Field Hospital in the Exhibition Center the picture is really dramatic its completely overcrowded. Healthcare workers dont have the proper equipment protective protecting equipment and they are threatening government to to do not not showing up tomorrow if they dont project provide immediate the on the other side the government has given as a has reported that during these weekend they have distributed at least 2600000 of mask 10000000 units of other material satyrs google was. And they have distributed the these nationwide to all the regions and we are expecting new numbers out of italy any moment now it is one of the European Countries hit hardest by the chronic virus protests gammon altie is live for us in iran so we are expecting is not new numbers to come out very very quickly just bring us up to date on how the government is handling the situation. Gary properly at the moment for rehab. Number 3 the number of yellow and there are there are records are. The they are rather that or harm it. And yet they are a lot of power when i regret that it. Was raining the copper number are in fact there who are not only havent. Figured out i can in fact know 5 point than the lower rate you. Have found her breaking. Up the planning for the phone that. Bill 2 that you. Are only recall there but you. Are hoping that i in fact. Had the good years i have not met her. And that now caught up with them that they that that harassing admin really need to get that and that their rate of new a fact when you need it that i learned how to use are saying that if the lock down but that the same time for numbered ups that are. Red or white or. If any were me another better idea or not. And that. Probably is that we need more time to get reality back are you mad. Because i would not be that yet were they run by the compound but prior to you from my daughter the that reported that the exact and that were that. The heat will be in 2 weeks all right or so you know every other fact for probably we were happy to wait it adds up that. Its inevitable that the lockdown will be extended. And we have just had some numbers and there have been 812 new deaths and initially that is out of the 812 is the number that were seeing now that brings. That brings the total 211591 number that is the latest out of italy and as i said we are still waiting for the latest out of the u. K. Were expecting. Any minute now really an update from dhamma grab the foreign secretary in the u. K. Lets bring you more news now coming out of israel this time Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu is going into self isolation of coming into contact with an aide who tested positive for corona virus sorry force that has more from western muslims its been a somewhat mixed message coming from the Prime Ministers office through the course of the day emanating from the news that one of his senior advisers rivka politics that her husband 1st of all was hospitalized with coronavirus then she tested positive for the disease initially the Prime Ministers office said that he hadnt netanyahu hadnt met with her for the past 2 weeks and therefore would not require to go into self isolation but there was a t. V. News report suggesting that in fact the 2 had met on thursday at the Previous Office hasnt commented on that but it is now saying that netanyahu along with a number of his senior advisers will go into isolation as anybody new epidemiological investigation takes place were expecting a decision from the Prime Ministers own personal physician as to which day he will be allowed to emerge from self isolation as part of that epidemiological investigation there are those in the israeli media among others who are pointing to the fact that rivka politics is his advisor on ultraorthodox affairs and there has been a real spike in cases in ultraorthodox neighborhoods. A Vincent Van Gogh painting was stolen from a museum in the netherlands while it was closed because of the crowd of ours locked down thieves took the painting over night spy prying open the glass doors of the museum now amsterdam its believed the painting called garden at noon in spring is worth upwards of 7000000. 00 the dutch museum had been closed for several weeks during the netherlands coronavirus lockdown so ahead here on algis there are there is at least one positive thing coming from the pandemic environmentalists of rejoicing over the clean air caused by the closure of businesses and less traffic. And find out how nearly and many of the refugees in bangladesh you coping during the outbreak. How do weve got more heavy rain pushing into southern parts of china being a little further east was easing towards japan this weather system this stationary front thats going to continue producing heavy downpours across already saturated ground so more so again weather coming in the southern parts of China Southern areas of japan also seeing some western weather see go into the middle part of the week and that will nudge its way across a good part of the country for the 2nd half of the week behind that not bad in. Korean peninsula 17 celsius there for a sole were going to 17 degrees there too for beijing and you can see bits and pieces of cloud and right into a good part of central and Southern China perhaps not as heavy as it has been busy places the frying shabby right across much of indonesia pushing up into malaysia some parts of the philippines just catch you out shabba nothing much to speak of here and nothing much to speak of to across a good part of in that china cambodia might just catch the odd shabbat thailand looks fine and dry with plenty of sunshine and its fun to drive in the sunshine for much of that space is a cloud over towards the eastern side of the country towards a dish or maybe up towards the west and go for a time but the wettest weather is making its way out of northern parts but just down. On counting the cost as the Global Economy has a recession the dollar praised be the enemy currency resilient the coronavirus india grapples with the financial. Taking you live now to london where the foreign secretary is giving a briefing on the countrys coronavirus Pandemic Response thats less oil medical Director Public Health england before supply trick provides an update on the latest data from our cobra kurt coronavirus dashboard i just want to give you an update on the steps that we as a government have been taken to defeat growth of ours a step by step action plan is aiming to slow the spread of the virus so fewer people eat hospital treatment at any one time thereby protecting the n. H. S. Its capacity at each point weve been following the scientific and medical advice and weve been very deliberate in our actions taking the right steps at the right moment. Were also taking unprecedented action to increase and h s capacity by dramatically expanding the numbers of beds key staff lifesaving equipment on the front line so that we give people the care they need when they need it most thats why were instructing people to stay at home so we can protect our n. H. S. And save lives i can report that through the governments ongoing monitoring and Testing Programme as of today 134946 people have now been tested for the virus 112805 have tested negative 22141 of tested positive of those who have contracted the virus 1408 have very sadly died we express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those of those who have passed away and i think those figures are a powerful reminder to us all of the importance of following the governments guidelines we must stay at home to protect our n. H. S. And save lives and id like to thank all of those involved on the frontline in particular all of those in the n. H. S. For their battle against this virus the amazing doctors the amazing nurses all the support staff working day and night the thousands of other key workers from our teachers to supermarket workers to our fantastic Diplomatic Network who are all as a team working around the clock to get us through this unprecedented coronavirus challenge this is a United National effort and the spirit of selflessness shown by so many is an inspiration. And i want to turn to what weve been doing to support british people travelling around the world coronavirus doesnt just trying to stay at home is the greatest Global Challenge in a generation. As the countries work to secure their borders and stop with the spread of this deadly virus we appreciate that an unprecedented number of u. K. Travelers are trying to get home and were not talking a few 100 or even a few thousands were talking about hundreds of thousands of people traveling around the world so with that in mind on the 17th of march we advise people against all nonessential travelled around the world and since the 23rd of march weve advised that all or u. K. Residents who are currently traveling abroad should return home hundreds of thousands have already done so but many travelers havent yet managed to get back home from young backpackers to retired couples on cruises and we appreciate the difficult predicament that they find themselves in we also recognize exactly the anxiety of families here in the u. K. Who are concerned to get their loved ones home its a worrying time for all of those whove been affected and i want to reassure them that this government their government is working around the clock to support advise and help british travelers get home ive spoken to more than 24 and ministers around the world in the last week will say to support this effort to keep airports and ports open and to facilitate access to them by british travelers over the weekend i spoke to Foreign Ministers from Australia New Zealand india and brazil and pakistan and i also spoke to the ethiopian Prime Minister and in all of those cases urge them to what with us to comply to keep commercial routes flying given the scale and complexity of this challenge it inevitably requires a team effort so the Foreign Office is working with other governments theres a particular focus on transit hubs and were also working with the airlines to keep as many flights running as possible weve got a lot more to do but weve already helped hundreds of thousands of britons get home. The 1st priority has been to keep as many commercial flights running as we can and thats based on just purely the scale and the number of people who want to come home and as a result of those efforts and the corporation we see from the Spanish Government weve enabled nesta mated 150000 u. K. Nationals to get back from spain on other commercial routes theyve come under pressure we work with partner governments and airlines to get back 8500 u. K. Travelers from morocco around 5000 u. K. Nationals from cyprus that gives you a sense of the scale of the challenge and the numbers of british travelers abroad now in circumstances where commercial flights cant operate weve already chartered flights which proved necessary to return 1400 u. K. Nationals or flights for example from from china at the outset of this crisis and more recently from peru weve not faced challenges like this in getting people home from abroad on this scale in recent memory. Airports are closing down or preventing airlines from operating on a commercial basis local authorities have place restrictions on movement that prevent people from getting to the airport and the critical transit hubs that we rely on for long haul flights are also shutting down or in some cases limiting their flights some of these restrictions have been done with very little notice some with no notice at all which makes it very difficult to respond so International Collaboration is absolutely vital as i said its a team effort and it involves government working with other governments but also working with the airlines so with that in mind i can today announce a new arrangement between the government and airlines to fly home tens of thousands of stranded british travelers where commercial flights are no longer possible Partner Airlines include British Airways virgin easy jet jet 2 and titan and this list can be expanded. Under the arrangements that we are putting in place we will target flights from a range of priority countries starting this week and let me explain a little bit about how this will work in practice where commercial routes remain an option airlines will be responsible for getting passengers home that means offering alternative flights at little to no cost where routes have been cancelled and it means allowing passengers to change tickets including between carriers so for those still in those countries where commercial options are Still Available dont wait dont run the risk of getting stranded the airlines are standing by to help you please book your tickets as soon as possible where commercial flights are no longer running the government will provide the necessary Financial Support for special charter flights to bring u. K. Nationals back. Once special charter flights have been arranged we will promote them through the governments travel advice and by the British Embassy or High Commission in the relevant country british travelers who want to seat on those flights will book and pay directly for a dedicated travel Management Company weve designated 75000000 pounds to support those flights and the airlines in order to keep the cost down and affordable for those seeking to return to the u. K. And in arranging these flights our priority will be the most vulnerable including the elderly or those with particularly pressing medical needs and also looking in particular at countries where weve got large numbers of u. K. Tour is struggling to get home u. K. Travelers if they havent already done so you should check the Foreign Office travel advice and that advice is under constant review and it can help travelers find out more details about how to access the flights under this arrangement they should also follow the social media of the u. K. Embassy or High Commission in the country where they find themselves so they can be directed to accurate real time information from the local authorities. For any questions that cant be advised until in the travel advice or by the u. K. Embassies or High Commission we also have our call center working 24 hours a day 7 days a week and i know its been difficult to get through for some travelers just to give you a sense of the sheer volume on average we normally receive a 1000 calls a day to that Call Center Last tuesday we had nearly 15000 the highest on record so we boosted our resources we redeployed people to assist in the call center and we tripled our capacity yesterday the call center answered 99 percent of calls and helped thousands of british travelers to get the answers that they need. So for those stranded off the families nervously waiting news and wanting to see their loved ones return home were doing everything we can we can prove our advice and boosted the call center so travelers get better and swifter information weve put in place this arrangement with the airlines so that we can reach more british citizens in vulnerable circumstances abroad where commercial flights are running and were working intensively around the clock with all of our partner countries and governments around the world to keep open the airports the ports and the flights to bring people home weve not faced an International Challenge quite like this before but together were going to rise to it and of course here at home we can also pull our n. H. S. By continuing to follow the guidance to stay at home protect our n. H. S. And saved lives. I think ill now hand over to Patrick Vallance who will give a presentation on the latest data and then well take some questions after that i think your thank you very much i wanted to share with you some of the information about where we are in this outbreak and some of the measures are being taken and the idea as weve said repeatedly is to try and break in slow transmission of the virus and thats through staying at home and keeping distant so the 1st slide shows that actually this is being successful in terms of the behavior changes and i want to thank everybody for the way in which everyone is adhering to the measures that we put in place this shows the use of transport over time from the end of february through to now and you can see a dramatic falloff in the use of the london tube down to just a few percent of what it was back in the end of february the decrease in bus use a decrease in National Rail and a decrease also in the use of all Motor Vehicles so the measures are in place they are making a difference they arent decreasing the contact which is so important to spread the disease and were doing a good job at cutting that down now the reason thats important is because of course it then prevents number of cases should reduce the number of cases next line please so this shows the number of new u. K. Cases and ill repeat what ive said before this is cases that are detected with a positive test so its an underestimate of the total number of cases and its those cases which have been tested because they come to hospital what you can see is theres been an increase in the number of cases since the middle of march through to today we expect that the measures that are in place the cause that social distancing the stay at home message will be reducing the number of cases of transmission in the community and decreasing the number of cases overall. As the cases flatten often we shouldnt take too much attention to individual day to day variation we need to look over time and see whats happening we would expect this in turn to decrease the number of people needing admission to hospital next slide please this graph shows the total number of people admitted to hospital since the middle of march which is now 8000. 00 people with coronavirus thats gone up pretty much the same amount each day for the last few days that shows that its going up not in an increasing amount but going up in a constant amount which may suggest that were already beginning to see some effects through about half of those cases slightly under half or in london but what you can see in the lower lines on this graph is that were also seeing cases throughout the u. K. So the message stay at home protect the n. H. S. And save lives is true everywhere in the u. K. We all need to do this in order to break and slow the transmission of this virus decrease the number of cases and in turn decrease the number of people coming into hospital what ive said recently is that we expect this to get worse over the next couple of weeks because theres a lag phase between getting the disease and people turning up in hospital so you would expect to see a continuation of this at least over 2 or 3 weeks then a stabilization and a gradual decrease there after the number of hospital admissions to repeat has gone up roughly the same amount each day suggesting that were not on a fast acceleration at the moment next slide please all of this is about preventing deaths and preventing the n. H. S. Becoming overwhelmed in the intensive care units with ventilators. And on this graph it tracks the deaths that have occurred globally across some some of the countries not all of the countries obviously and it shows that there is a pattern of increasing deaths which you expect to plateau reach a plateau to come down eventually and you can see in the u. K. Here which is in the purple line were tracking roughly along the same path as fronts ive said before were behind italy in terms of the curve you can see that spain has a higher number than italy at the moment in terms of its trajectory not in terms of the total number but the direction in which its going the u. K. Is tracking alongside france in this the measures were taking to stop the transmission delay the transmission reduce the number of cases they reduce the number of people becoming infected in the community reduce the number of people therefore that need to go into ventilators and therefore reduce the number of people also that might die or will die from this infection so i want to thank all of the people in the n. H. S. Who are working unbelievably hard at the front line to look after this what we can do all of us can do is make sure that we heed the advice to stay at home to reduce those contacts so that we ultimately decrease the number of people who are going to be seriously ill or dying from this infection thank you very much patrick and it will turn to questions now it will ricans back there. Thank you for press of sir patrick based on what you know now are the restrictions working and can we avoid the n. H. S. Being overwhelmed at the trajectory continues like this and foreign secretary or ask a huge amount of the public is it the governments view that people need to be willing to follow these restrictions for as long as 6 months if thats what it takes. Joyce stop. The trajectory what what what what we know is that the measures that are being taken are having a very big effect on contacts and i showed you the data on transport its a dramatic reductions in the amount of transport being used you see dramatic get reductions in footfall we know of course the things that restaurants and pubs which are places where people are going to be in been closed so we are seeing a big change in contacts that is predicted to have a very significant effect on the socalled are the r. Value is the number of people on average infected by one infected person and the idea is to get that number below one at which point the epidemic stops and starts to go down on the basis of the contacts you would expect that are value now in terms of the early phases of transmission in the community to be coming down or below one so that we think that that has had the effect thats the desired that takes to