Transcripts For BBCNEWS Afternoon Live 20200303

Medical advice. One other main story this afternoon, its a super tuesday in the United States were democrats inili in the United States were democrats in 14 states voting on who they want to ta ke in 14 states voting on who they want to take on donald trump in novembers president ial election. Coming up on afternoon live. Also all the latest sports news. Good afternoon. Gibrans olympic minister concedes the tokyo games this summer may be moved because of coronavirus. Japans olympic minister concedes. Thank you, the weather. Thank you. Sunshine and showers the rest of the afternoon. Bit more clout than what recently. Tomorrow could see a bit more rain in the forecast across southern parts of the country, brighter further north and it is all change as we go into the weekend. A bit more cloud. There is also Tropical Cyclone trevor new tour of the entire country. More of those details later. A Tropical Cyclone trevor a tour. And we are going to Bishop Auckland to look at a project that looks at the future of the high street. Hello there. This is afternoon live. Im ben brown. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the uk has now risen to 51. That is up the uk has now risen to 51. That is upi2 the uk has now risen to 51. That is up 12 from the previous total of 39. The government has set out its plans for dealing with a widespread outbreak of the virus in this country with the Prime Minister saying its highly likely the uk will see a growing number of cases. Lets just take a look now at some of the main points from Boris Johnsons briefing this morning at number ten. Up to one fifth of the workforce in the uk could be off sick during a peak of the epidemic. If needed, the military could provide support to the Emergency Services and if the virus to spread more quickly, the police might only respond to the most serious crimes and they would focus on maintaining public order. Other possible measures would include school closures, reducing social gatherings and getting people to work from home. The Prime Minister said the government will do Everything Possible to prepare for all eventualities and the priority on keeping the country safe. This report now from our health correspondence over the hutchinson. Preparations are afoot for the widespread transmission of the new coronavirus in the uk. The government stopped short of giving a figure for the number that is around 6 million people. Let me be absolutely clear that, for the overwhelming majority of people who contract the virus, this will be a mild disease from which they will speedily and fully recover, as we have already seen. I fully understand public concern, your concern, about the global spread of the virus, and it is highly likely that we will see a growing number of uk cases. That is why keeping the country safe is the governments overriding priority. The governments revealed its plan to tackle a pandemic could include asking the police to focus solely on dealing with serious crime and maintaining public order, and the military could also be called in to support the nhs. Other possible measures in the coronavirus action plan include bringing retired doctors and nurses back to the nhs, delaying routine operations, working from home and cancelling large gatherings and events. The plan is based on a reasonable worst Case Scenario where as much as 80 of the uk population becomes infected. The plan is based on a reasonable worst Case Scenario where as much as 80 of the uk population becomes infected. Englands chief medical officer was keen to stress this is at the upper limit of what might happen. The proportion of the population who get infected is likely to be lower than that, and probably a lot lower than that, so putting an overall number is largely speculative. No one can know at this stage just how the infection might develop, but if there is widespread transmission in the uk, Officials Say it is unlikely to happen immediately. What we think, in terms of the profile of an epidemic, and this may change as we get numbers from europe and the uk, is you can think of it as roughly two to three months from an outbreak of sustained person to person transmission, up to the peak, and two to three months after the peak to decline again is the timeline wed be thinking of. A range of measures to prevent the coronavirus spreading are being taken abroad, with politicians in switzerland finding novel ways to greet each other. But the Prime Minister pointed out he is taking no such precautions. I can tell you, i am shaking hands. I was at a hospital the other night where i think there were coronavirus patients and i shook hands with everybody. Questions were asked today about how seriously the government was taking the threat to the uk. The Prime Minister stressed they were well prepared and reiterated the main way for people to protect themselves was still through thorough and regular hand washing. Sophie hutchinson, bbc news. Our health correspondence has been looking ale and a little more detail at the plans the government set out this morning. Looking in a little more detail. The government has set out its response to coronavirus in its battle plan. There are four key stages that have been set out, contain, delay, research and mitigate. Containing involves chasing up the close contacts of those who are infected and asking them to self isolate. Even if this doesnt work, it has a benefit of delaying major outbreaks, which means valuable research can be done in the meantime to help develop a vaccine. Steps are being taken to mitigate the impact. The incident drops as we get into the spring and the summer. Even if the numbers do grow, they dont grow so enormously and as we get to the spring and summer, there is a natural drop off. Containment is still possible about what might happen next . Health officials and indeed the pm admitted yesterday that transmission is now likely. It would take three months for the cases to peak and have the infected case it could cases could then come and those peak weeks but none of us are certain as we are not sure how the virus will act. The government has several measures at its disposal if the problem gets worse. These include closing schools and banning public gatherings. Health Officials Say those measures are most likely to be taken just before the peak in an attempt to flatten it. We may be encouraged to social distance are self, avoiding unnecessarily travel and working from home where necessary. When you have a new virus like this, there is no immunity and no vaccine. The most that can infect is thought to be around 80 of people but that is the worst Case Scenario for an epidemic. Foremost, it will be mild, close to half may not any symptoms. China suggests it could be i of cases and in peak weeks, one for their employees could be off work but that is the upper end of what could happen and the Economic Impact is unknown. We will take all necessary steps to support the uk. We are monitoring the situation closely with all of our functions and ensuring all necessary contingency plans are in place. So, is the nhs ready . There are around 30 hospitals on standby to take patients. Every patient infected has been admitted but if there is a surge in cases, there is an acceptance this will have to change. Those with mild illnesses may be asked to self isolate at home and hospital may be asked to cut back on routine work so they can focus on those with the virus. Recently retired doctors and nurses may be asked back to help ta ke and nurses may be asked back to help take the strain. We are still at the early stages of this outbreak and there are still some unknowns but there are still some unknowns but the government does have a plan with multiple scenarios. Lets get the latest from vicky young at westminster. For Boris Johnson and the government, its a fine balance between warning people about what may lie ahead and not being alarmist. I think that was really apparent all the way through that briefing with the Prime Minister, as he has done the last couple of days, much more in the centre of things, having really delegated all of this to matt hancock, the Health Secretary. He is there with his experts beside him showing he has been taking that advice, listening to it and he wants to show he has a plan if and when this gets a lot worse and you also got the impression this is very likely to get worse in the next few weeks. I thought it was very interesting that they talked about not bringing in these kinds of measures to early and thatis these kinds of measures to early and that is because they dont have to do it yet and people get bored of the message. If you do it now and stop people going to work, people will think, why are you doing this . There is no point. Then they will stop listening. Again, looking at things like closing down schools, they are weighing up both sides of that dilemma, because children dont particularly get badly affected by it. On the other hand, if you close the schools, parents will have to stay at home and look after them with a lot of those parents working in the Health Service and they are desperately needed elsewhere so you can see the kind of things they are thinking about. As they weigh up which are measures to take and crucially went to take them. Its quite an unusual type of crisis for a government, for politicians to have to deal with and for Boris Johnson, i suppose, have to deal with and for Boris Johnson, isuppose, quite have to deal with and for Boris Johnson, i suppose, quite early in his premiership, quite a big test. It isa his premiership, quite a big test. It is a big test. People were critical of him when it came to flooding for example but that, u nfortu nately, flooding for example but that, unfortunately, for the People Living in those areas, has become a rather regular thing in the United Kingdom. This is very unusual. Of course i think it shows the people around him are going to be very, very important, a lot of the questions, yes, he took some himself but he was very much deferring to the chief medical officer chief scientific adviser, as you would expect and i think people we have watched the whole thing would have found it very informative as they try to base their answers on the facts but ultimately, its the Prime Minister who is accountable for what happens. He was very much trying not to panic people but i think is the days go on, we will see more of these kinds of things because getting that information out to people, particularly if the situation gets worse, will be more important as the weeks go on and just to say, we have had the most recent numbers for those who have been tested in the United Kingdom so, as of 9am, 13,900 people have been tested, 51 of those tests were positive but of course worth remembering that some of those people have since recovered. Ok, thank you. We can speak now to the virologist doctor Mohammed Muneer whojoins us virologist doctor Mohammed Muneer who joins us now. Virologist doctor Mohammed Muneer whojoins us now. Thank virologist doctor Mohammed Muneer who joins us now. Thank you for being with us. Just from what you have seen and heard of the governments battle plan, as they call it, does it make sense to you . I think preparedness is really key to tackling and containing. I think it isa to tackling and containing. I think it is a balance between proposing a plan but, at the same time, really making the public aware that the government is fully prepared to put all those in the same basket in case we need to take it. One thing that is clear as these actions will only be put in place when the worst Case Scenario happens. Another thing that will probably be important to consider is the safety of the Public Health, which hasnt been discussed ina health, which hasnt been discussed in a greater detail because, if we look into the Public Health sector, more than 1000 people from the medical perspective, and four point 8 , that helps is a situation arises. Is the uk doing a good job at the moment of containing the virus or, there is a second question to that, do you expect the number of cases, as referred, possibly to rise significantly in the coming weeks . If we look into the history of this, it has taken over the whole globe, and based on the mathematical modelling and the epidemic a logical prediction, the virus has not reached its peak jet, prediction, the virus has not reached its peakjet, which means we will have wider consequences on the whole world if the control measures put in place are not sufficient. They will not be in the Protection System or the community, which is where the major threat is. It hasnt reached its peak yet but when might it reach its peak, do you think, based on everything youve read about it . Based on the scientific predictions, it has not reached the peak and the way to spreading at the moment, it pretty hard to calculate when it will reach its peak and all is really down to the global efforts to contain the infection, so any leaking this into the containment policy would allow the virus to spread at a broader scale, which is where the peak would start to reach, and the point where we really have to act in a consolidated way globally to really contain the infection. White speaking of containing it, lets look at some of the measures suggested that people take. Washing hands is obviously very important but a bit of confusion about shaking hands, the Prime Minister saying he still shakes peoples hands even when hes been to hospitals and so on, that is not a problem but what is your advice on that . The important thing is to understand how the virus spreads, it is through contaminated hands, if someone has touched contaminated surfaces, so shaking handsis contaminated surfaces, so shaking hands is one of the ways the virus spreads but that is not the only way the virus spreads. At this moment, since we dont have a very high level of threat to the individual person but its quite concerning at the community level, shaking hands at this moment is not a major concern but close contact is something we have to definitely avoid at this stage. One more question that people are a little bit confused about, face masks. People have said they are pretty much ineffective. Whats your view on that . Based on the scientific evidence, a face mask does not provide good protection against any of the infection and especially when it comes to respiratory infections. Facemasks are not really a solution to protect the infection in the society, so therefore my simple advice would be dont wear a facemask because it gives false allusions to the general public. White made very clear, thank you for your time. White made very clear, thank you for yourtime. White made very clear, thank you for your time. Very clear, thank you for your time, muhammad munir. Your time. Very clear, thank you foryourtime, muhammad munir. Your headlines, the Prime Minister has set out the governments plans to tackle coronavirus in the uk and revealed up to one fifth of the workforce could be off sick at the peak of the virus. The Health Secretary has confirmed a number of cases of coronavirus in the uk has risen again, now standing at a total of 51. And one of the main headline, it is super tuesday in the United States with democrats in 1a states voting on who they want to take on donald trump in novembers president ial election. And in sports on afternoon live, japans olympic minister said the tokyo games could be moved from the summer too late this year. They say they are preparing very successful games as normal at the olympic committee. Playing games behind closed doors is a consideration of that is weeks rather than days away, after football authorities met with the government and Health Experts. And england face india in the semifinals of the womens t20 world cup with australia taking on the hosts south africa as has been decided today. More to come in all of those stories at around half past. Many thanks. Today a super tuesday in the states, which is when democrats across 1a different states a vote on the candidate they want to stand against donald trump any president ial election. Former Vice President joe biden has been given a boost overnight as to former rivals have declared their support for him. The polls have opened. People from the south west coast of california to the north east shores of maine are making their way to polling stations have their say in what is the most important test for the candidates yet. Winning the democratic nomination to be the person to take on President Trump is about gathering delegates. On super tuesday, more than a third of them are up for grabs. Thats more than on any other day in this long, gruelling campaign. Its big, and its even bigger this time, because california, the most populous state with hundreds of delegates, is also taking part. About a quarter of those eligible to vote are hispanic. Some are voting for the first time, after coming to citizenship classes like this. They are passionate about being part of this political process. It is good to become a citizen, because you can vote. You feel like people are going to hear a voice, so it is good to become a citizen, because you can vote for the person you believe is going to change our world. Issues that are important to them are immigration, of course, but also education, health care, and the economy. In more rural areas, farmers want to know who the candidate will be and what solutions they propose for the many issues affecting this huge and diverse country. Right now, the focus is trying to narrow this field down and getting a better picture of what that looks like. We know what trumps proposals are, particularly when it comes to water, which is so important to farmers and ranchers here. That is a critical issue that he has been very supportive of for us here locally, so see what the other candidate, or candidates, as it starts to narrow down, proposes will be a big interest to us. While no one can win the nomination on super tuesday, it can get them a long way towards it. Senator Bernie Sanders has taken the lead both in the liberal lane and in the national polls. Former Vice President joe biden had been limping at the start of this marathon, but his big win in South Carolina has put him back in contention atjust the right time. His performance could be helped by other moderates dropping out and endorsing him. But, enter the late starter. On the ballot for the first time is billionaire Mike Bloomberg and he has been converting his cash into campaign ads. Also running still are Senators Elizabeth Warren and tulsi gabbard. It is the day political pundits have been waiting for. It could make or break candidates campaigns. But, it might not. Sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. Well, lets get the very latest from oui well, lets get the very latest from our correspondent in charlotte, north carolina. How do you see this . How decisive will it be . Who will emerge the winner . Well, thats the big question. Of course, interestingly, over the last few days, weve seen a sort of crystallising of the choice for democratic voters really with people all dropping out and backing joe biden. It has become a much clearer choice between the progressive, the firebrand, the revolutionary Bernie Sanders and the kind of safe pair of hands, old school centristjoe biden, the man who can get thejob done, as he says, and be donald trump. And of course the third factor in super tuesday is Mike Bloomberg, former republican mayor of new york, a man who has walked into the casino and put 400 million on one days outcome so we will see what he does. The thing about today as there are so many delegates up forgrabs, as there are so many delegates up for grabs, about one third of the total you need to get the nomination that, if you can build a lead today, if youre Bernie Sanders and you get a whole chunk of those 400 plus in california and texas, 200 plus. If you can build a lead, proportional nature of the process means it is very ha rd nature of the process means it is very hard for people to overhaul you u nless very hard for people to overhaul you unless they really you really crash and burn. If you get a lead and carry on doing what you do, maintaining the levels of support, after super tuesday, is very hard to catch you. Who do you think donald trump would fear the most out of all the people youve mentioned there, bloomberg, joe biden, Bernie Sanders. He was the most worried about . Its interesting, we were at about . Its interesting, we were at a donald trump rally here in charlotte last night asking people that very question and they said, of course, he doesnt fear any of them doesnt mind who he faces, i think he doesnt mind. Hes been road testing those political attacks on the various candidates, sleepyjoe biden. If its him, you will hear that a lot through the whole process , that a lot through the whole process, Bernie Sanders is a socialist and bear in mind the word socialist and bear in mind the word socialist in this country is practically an expletive in political terms for many people in the centre and on the right, so he will be working out with his team exactly what the best strategy is what the thing is, he has raised so much money. We talk about Michael Bloomberg but donald trump has raised so much money that they will be able to carpet bomb those marginal seats, those swing states, like north carolina. This was the sixth most marginal state last time around with donald trump winning by four points. They will carpet bomb them with ads and Campaign Rallies so whoever goes up them with ads and Campaign Rallies so whoever goes up against him is up againstan so whoever goes up against him is up against an enormous machine that has money to burn and also has built over the last three or four years significant amounts of ground game in terms of structure and social media presence, so they have done an incredible job media presence, so they have done an incrediblejob in media presence, so they have done an incredible job in many media presence, so they have done an incrediblejob in many ways, the trump administration, the trump campaign, to prepare for november this year. Many thanks. Just to say that Kristian Fraser and cathy kay will be bringing you all the latest on the super tuesday race tonight on beyond 100 days on the bbc news channel and you will be bringing you all the results youre from midnight. Diplomatic efforts are intensifying in turkey and syria to try to halt the crisis in the region. Eu officials are heading to the greece turkey border where thousands of migrants have gathered after turkey said it would no longer stop people trying to reach europe. Paul adams reports now from turkey. The battle rages on, men bent on changing by the day. Momentum changing. The battle for idlib rages on, momentum changing almost by the day. Around the town of kafr nabl, the russian backed syrian army once again pushing forward after several days of setbacks. Turkeys intervention has been dramatic. Dozens of Syrian Government targets hit in waves of turkish drone strikes. Civilians are still on the move in huge numbers. For Abu Mohammeds family, the exodus began nine months ago, far to the south. The fighting has chased them from town to town and now, finally, to the forest. Theyve carried what they can, even bringing their precious animals. Translation we are living in these mountains, on these rocks, in the rain and cold. Where should we go now . We dont have anywhere else to go. Except here. For the besieged, traumatised people of idlib, this was a first a un team on the ground yesterday seeing for themselves the scale and severity of the crisis. The un wants to do this more often, but with fighting not far away, knows itll be a challenge. What my colleagues found, these are professionally experienced people, was quite shocking. The level of need is very high. Firstly, people are enormously frightened and traumatised, but secondly, they have very basic needs food, water, latrines, medical services and so on and we need to work out the best ways to scale all that up. And those needs begin at the beginning. In the midst of all this trauma, there are new lives here, but doctors say miscarriages and premature births are on the rise. Outside, an alarm sounds, a sign that an air strike could be imminent. There is no let up in the fighting and there probably wont be before thursday when the two main players in the idlib conflict, turkeys president erdogan and russias vladimir putin, meet in moscow. Both have stakes and interest in idlib, and neither man will want to negotiate on the provinces fate from a position of weakness. Paul adams, bbc news, near the turkish syrian border. Lets see what the weather is doing. Before we talk about our weather, we will talk about australias weather because there is an ex Tropical Cyclone trevor moving about there. Yes, very interesting story because ive not seen one around for so long. Australia really keeping its moisture going which is another unusual thing. A category one will start to move westwards across the territory and bring 100 millimetres of rain to areas that dont see that much rainfall. It goes over to the kimberley and broads and doubles back on itself, which is very weird, going back to Central Australia bringing heavy flooding down close to alice springs. It is a very unusual path that is taken, making landfall. Going all the way to broome, kimberley, and then heading into central areas and it still not done yet, looks like it will continue its journey. If we think the journey time will be around 8000 3800 miles at a time where it winds its way all the way down to canberra and sydney towards the end of the week. It has brought flooding rains, currently in Central Australia and its flooding rains, currently in Central Australia and its expected, over the next few days, to join australia and its expected, over the next few days, tojoin in australia and its expected, over the next few days, to join in with a cold front and slide into the south east of australia to bring some heavy, perhaps thundery rain towards canberra and sydney. The good news is the wide fathers are out so any rainfall will not wildfires are out so rainfall will not contribute to that. Any heavy rainfall year could impact the womens t20 world cup cricket, which is taking place in sydney over the next few days. If it is a wash out and you dont get to play, england will be out, so its pretty big news. Talking about the uk, we had an off rain here a in february. Whats the latest forecast . Sunshine and showers in the next few days, turning wetter for the weekend. Good afternoon to you, he was the satellite picture, on the radar the last few hours, a bit more cloud around the country than weve had recently. More organised showers spreading their way eastwards, ending up across the middle east and scotla nd ending up across the middle east and scotland later in the day with some snow on the hills. In the evening, the front moves away and it should clear for many with the clear skies turning it quite cold. An area of cloud and rain pushing into the south west, an area of low pressure. There bridges recover here but further north and east, and the risk of ice where we had the showers, so wednesday starts on a sunday . Funny note, crisp, bright, staying like that in scotland but further south, a disappointing day with the weather front moving in. Moving on across the midlands, some snow on the hills, so it will be a bit cool and drab through the afternoon, that area of low pressure skirting to the south of the country as we head on into thursday, saying mainly offshore across france what it was a bit of rain affecting the south coast and the Channel Islands could be quite wet through thursday, a breezy day further south, but north a drier story, variable cloud, some sunshine breaking through. A few showers at times through the north, these will be wintry in the hills of scotland. Another chilly day, temperatures in single figures for most of us so that is how it is looking for thursday, a brief ridge of High Pressure again. Chilly start to friday. This is where the fun sta rts to friday. This is where the fun starts to push in of the atlantic and bring a band of showers, long spells of rain. Into western areas, some snow on the hills of wales, Northern England and into scotland. After a bright start in the east, turning cloudy in the afternoon with the showers moving through there and further west, brightening up for an afternoon of sunshine and showers. Feeling quite cool and snow on the hills. That moves away and come into the weekend, guess what . Turning u nsettled, the weekend, guess what . Turning unsettled, an area of low pressure moving on, lots of isobars on the charts, weather front for saturday is wet and windy so a breezy day with sunshine and showers on sunday. For the weekend, wet and windy, mild on saturday but by sunday, sunshine, blustery showers and feeling cold again with some snow on the hills. An unsettled end to the week. See you later. Hello. We are watching bbc news. Our latest headlines. The Prime Minister has set out to the uks plans to prevent the spread of coronavirus. They say up to one fifth of the workforce could be sick at the peak of the virus. The Health Secretary confirms the number of cases of the virus in the uk has risen again. It now stands at 51. In the United States, it is super tuesday, with democrats in 14 states voting on who they want to take on donald trump on novembers president ial election. All the latest sport, and of course the coronavirus has provoked a lot of fears about sporting fixtures. And also about the olympics in tokyo in the summer. Quite a significant development. The japan olympic minister has said the games could be postponed from the summer until later in the year. She was speaking in parliament, saying that a tokyos contract with the ifc is to stage the games in 2020, which could permit a change in date because of the virus. It was said they are continuing to prefer for a successful games, and a meeting today was scheduled. Ifc member wouldnt be drawn on any possible delay. Something we talk about a lot. Do you think there is a pol ability the olympics could be staged behind closed doors . |j ability the olympics could be staged behind closed doors . I will not speculate at all on these games in tokyo in five and a half months. You are confident they will go ahead despite the virus . I will not speculate. Thank you. That was in difference. Uefa appeared to downplay fears of the virus with the euros are staged before the olympics through 12 host cities throughout europe for the first time. Alexander chaffin said the virus is one of many challenges they face. Look, you do not know how many concerns we have when we organise a big competition, and we organise now at competition, and we organise now at competition in 12 countries was up we have security concerns. We have political instability concerns, especially in 12 countries, and in one of the 12 countries, that virus. We are dealing with it and we are confident that we can deal with it. U efa confident that we can deal with it. Uefa headed there, and one of the Big Questions is one of the contingencies here with the football authorities saying they discussed playing matches behind closed doors with government and Health Experts will stop the bbc were told by a source that it is weeks rather than days away from happening. Health secretary matt hancock says the government is not recommending the counselling of large event unless advised by Public Health england, as fa ns advised by Public Health england, as fans wait for news. Of course, so do many of the players and athletes as well. Approaching herfifth day many of the players and athletes as well. Approaching her fifth day in quarantine, australian cyclist remains confined to a hotel in the uae after the last two events were cancelled due to coronavirus. Other cyclists have been allowed to return home, but he has been forced to remain. 415 450 others have returned to their countries everywhere around the world, and it is quite a weird situation because we were sharing the same buffy rooms during the first few few days of quarantine, so if there was any doubt, it is safe to say the organisation has definitely let 450 to 500 people slip away while we are still being quarantined. England will play india in the semifinals of the t20 world cup on thursday. That is after south africas match with the west indies was abandoned because of rain earlier today. The wash out means unbeaten South African will meet australia in the last four. Joe corrie reports. The weather has affected both matches here at the syd ney affected both matches here at the sydney showground. Earlier, thailand put ina sydney showground. Earlier, thailand put in a fabulous innings against pakistan, making 150, only for the rain to start falling and the game abandoned, denying thailand their first ever win at the world cup. The later match here between west africa and southend is south africa and west indies. South africa take a point from that game, being the top of group b. They will be the hosts, and defending champions australia. The only news i can tell you about from the world cup is Australian Star all rounder has been ruined dominic ruled out because of a hamstring industry during the win in new zealand. She will not play in the final should australia get there, and that takes place in melbourne on march the 8th. More rain on thursday, so we will wait to see how much action there will be with those semifinals. That is all for now, and your next update in an hour. Thank you very much. Another 12 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the uk, taking the total to 51. The government predicts up total to 51. The government predicts up to one fifth of workers could be off sick at the peak of an outbreak. This will force that the national Health Service to delay nonurgent care. We can talk now to pol cross virtue is medical director of Public Health england. Thank you very much for talking to us, professor crossford. Give us your assessment of the state of coronavirus in the uk. As i said, 51 cases. Is it being contained at the moment . Good afternoon. The increase in numbers we have seen over the past few days, coupled with the developing situation and rise in numbers in other countries, particularly in italy and some parts of europe, they do suggest that we are very likely to see more widespread infection in the uk. At the moment, of the 51 cases that we have, the very vast majority, we can trace a link back to one of the countries where we know the spread of infection. It seems at the moment our containment is working, but that gets progressively more difficult, as we see more cases arising, both in the uk and elsewhere. The question for us uk and elsewhere. The question for us is at what point will be need to move to the next phase of the response . That is the delay phase, where we do everything we can to reduce the spread of infection and make sure that if we get a wider spread of infection, that that is limited as we can possibly make it, but of course, we have to be prepared for that, and there will be challenges that come along with that should that be where we end up fairly soon. When do we know that we have reached that next phase . Is it one that is hundreds of cases where thousands . It is not about a precise number, it is about being able to identify, with the people who get infected, whether they have got a clear link to one of the countries of concern. At the moment, almost all our cases are linked to either italy or southeast asia, but it is not the case for every single one, and we have begun to see one or two where the chain of transmission, the source of the infection, we cannot easily identify it. We are working on identifying it, but it is not obvious. That suggests we may be beginning to see a spread within the communities in the uk. If we are saying that, it is not widespread at this stage, so our efforts to contain are still this stage, so our efforts to contain a re still exactly this stage, so our efforts to contain are still exactly the right thing for us to do, but it does suggest we must be prepared now for wider spread of infection. In other words, it is likely to get worse before it gets better. Absolutely, and that is the reason why the plan was published today with all the different actions we might need to ta ke different actions we might need to take over coming weeks and months should we get that widespread infection. If that is the case and it isa infection. If that is the case and it is a more widespread outbreak in this country, are you confident the national Health Service will be able to cope with all that pressure . There is a number of things to say about that. The first is to make sure we have this in proportion. We know that for the vast majority of people, this is a mild infection, and they will make recovery. We know that children and otherwise healthy adults appear to be a particularly low risk of getting into serious complications with this illness. The people we are concerned about are those who are older and those who have serious underlying conditions. Even then, if you are one of those people, you are most likely to make a full recovery, but the risks of getting convocations and needing to have the support of the nhs will be greater, and the problem that we have, of course, is if you get a very significant number of people who end up having the infection, there is a small risk for each of us individually that can translate into a large number of people needing the nhs, and that is why the nhs is looking at a whole range of Different Things that it may need to do to help support those people. But it is also why we are looking at a whole range of things that may be able to reduce the spread of infection, keep the peak of that infection, keep the peak of that infection as low as we can make it, and help us to manage all those things like sickness absence, the pressure is on the nhs that may arise and other things. Of course, i do think if we pretend this is going to be without challenge, we are fooling ourselves as there will be challenges as we deal with it. The plan published today helps us see some of the things we may need to do in order to deal with those challenges. I suppose it is a balance about preparing for the worst eventuality but also not being alarmist. Some people are quite nervous about what the future holds. What would you say to reassure them . The balance is about doing what we need to do to protect public safety, to make sure the impact of the infection is as limited as we can possibly make it, whilst also protecting the social fabric and the nature of the country and our communities carrying on being successful, prosperous communities, doing all the things all of us like to do. We do not want to stop things unnecessarily. A good example of that would be to say, you know, if we do is stop doing things now and start putting in place some of these measures, when we are not seeing widespread infection, then that will not be of benefit to us, and it will only harm the social aspect of the measures we are talking about. We need to wait and see how the infection develops and then we can make decisions on what the different actions that are needed will be at the time. Again, the reassurance point is that, for the vast majority of us, hopefully this will be able mild illness and they will make a full recovery. How long can this be with us for a problem . Are we talking about months . Yes, we are. The best predictions projections, and we cannot be sure on anything, when we start to see transmission within communities, we are about two months away from the peak of infection, so then it takes to three months to get to a peak and 23 three months to get to a peak and 2 3 months to come down again back to our normal rate of infection, the first wave of this has gone. It is possible you can have more than one wave. It is uncertain that we will only be able to watch and see, but if there is one more than one wave of any infection such as this, the second wave is usually less intense than the first. Do you think we have gone on to this quickly enough . Have we clamped down on this virus quickly enough . Some people are suggesting that perhaps we havent. Ido suggesting that perhaps we havent. I do believe we have. At the moment, we are identifying every case as they come back into the country. We are very robustly managing all of the contacts, and identifying them, isolating those where necessary, to avoid the spread of infection, and up avoid the spread of infection, and up until now, all of our efforts on thoseissues up until now, all of our efforts on those issues seem to be working remarkably well. That is not to say we can completely avoid widespread infection, and we have always that we will come to a point where we do see that, and as i said, with the increase in numbers we are beginning to see in the uk, particularly with one or two where it is more difficult to identify and trace the links back to some of the countries of concern, and with what is happening elsewhere in the world, it does make it much more likely that we will see more widespread infection. That is not a failure of what we have been trying to do. The issue for us now is how we can best act to dump that down as much as possible. Let mejust act to dump that down as much as possible. Let me just ask you, viewers will be watching this wondering what they should be doing. A lot of people are getting the message about washing their hands with hot water and soap, singing happy birthday to themselves twice asa happy birthday to themselves twice as a pro minister said, but there may be confusion about other measures. Face masks, let me ask about that. Some people saying its pointless while others dont, and shaking hands, the Prime Minister is saying he is still shaking hands with lots of people. That is not the problem. Just give us in definitive advice. The most important thing any of us can do is rush our hands regularly wash our hands regularly wash our hands regularly with soap and water and for a sufficient time, so singing happy birthday twice is roughly the right amount of time to do that, and over and above that, catching our coughs and sneezes in a tissue, throwing the tissue away and washing our hands afterwards. Those are the single most important things to remember. When we have coughs and sneezes, we shouldnt go out and spread those or risk spreading those to other people either in work or other social circumstances. Of course, many of us try to carry on even when we have a respiratory cyst symptom, a car for a even when we have a respiratory cyst symptom, a carfor a cold, but now isa symptom, a carfor a cold, but now is a good time to stop doing that and make sure if we do have those symptoms, stay at home until we get through them. In terms of the other actions, facemasks, we do not recommend them per se. They can be useful when people have the infection to stop them spreading it, but of course, then we are into Health Care Settings where people would be using those sort of Infection Control processes anyway, and if you have the infection, you should be isolating yourself at home a nyway over should be isolating yourself at home anyway over the course of the next few months. In terms of shaking hands, the evidence is actually a very poor as to whether it makes any difference or not, so some people will choose not to shake hands, while others will be happy to carry on. What i dont want to do is to have such a lot of speculation about whether shaking hands is the right thing to do or not when it is obvious the most important thing is to wash our hands and do it well and regularly. And just a question about risk in terms of the various sectors of the population. We are talking really about people who are older that are most at risk, and talking about younger children and so on, and those with existing conditions, is that right . We cant speculate on the younger persons piece, because what we know is all the evidence so far, and there is a large amount of experience in china with this virus, that children seem to be remarkably safe from getting the severe publications of this disease, so the people we are concerned about are the older groups in society, and those of us with a serious underlying illnesses. Those are the ones who will be most at risk, and even then, most will make a full recovery from illness, but those are the ones we need be particularly conscious cautious about, and if youre in one of these groups, you might want to think about the things that we do over the coming months when the infection is more widespread and how much we go out and see other people and engage in those social activities. If we are particularly at risk, and of course, if we are not at risk and we have the symptoms or disease, we should be particularly helpful about transmitting that to people who are more at risk. Professor paul cross ford, directorfor more at risk. Professor paul cross ford, director for Public Health england, thank you very much for your time today. We really appreciate it. We are going to the International Committee News Conference now and how that might be impacted by coronavirus. Let us listen in. Thank you very much. Following a very comprehensive discussion today in the executive board, the eye ec remains committed to the success of the Olympic Games in tokyo in 2020. There is a task force in place since mid february, and following their regular information from this, the task force, which consists of the ioc, the organising committee, the host city of tokyo, the government of japan and in particular the world health organization, we remain very confident with regard to the success of this Olympic Games in tokyo in 2020. I would like to thank everybody in this task force for the very constructive way of cooperation. Of course, we will continue this regular consultation with thisjoint task continue this regular consultation with this joint task force to be able to address any development which may occur. I would like to encourage all the athletes to continue their preparation for the Olympic Games tokyo 2020 with great confidence and full steam. We, on our side, we will continue to support the athletes and their noc is. Also with regular updates on information which we will provide on the athletes 365 website, which is open to the athletes, and everybody interested. The latest information is always available for everybody concerned. Thank you very much. Thank you very much indeed everybody. We will come back for questions later. That was the International Olympic committee, president just allaying International Olympic committee, president just allaying fears International Olympic committee, president just allaying fears that the olympics in tokyo might be postponed in any way because of the coronavirus outbreak which is now affecting 60 countries. He is saying that athletes preparing for those Olympic Games in tokyo should be training still steam ahead and should view the games with great confidence, and the ioc is fully committed to the success of the Olympic Games in tokyo in the summer and remaining very confident about the games going ahead and being a success. But of course, there are still questions of the outbreak around the world and it does continue to escalate, and what that will do to the olympics. Nowjust to say that later on we are going to be answering your questions on the coronavirus. Send them into us using the hashtag. Coronavirus. Send them into us using the hashtag. That coronavirus. Send them into us using the hashtag. That is coming up for you at half past three with lots of expert answers to your questions. Also with expert answers to your questions or to my questions is ben thompson with the latest business news. I quickly get the headlines. The Prime Minister sets out the governments plans to tackle coronavirus in the uk and reveals up to one fifth of the workforce could be off sick at the peak of the virus. The Health Secretary meanwhile has confirmed the number of cases of the virus in the country has risen again, now standing at 51. One other main headline is it is super tuesday in the United States. Democrats in 14 states are voting on who they want to take on donald trump in november s president ial election. European markets have risen for a second day in the hopes the government and Central Banks around the world will intervene to tackle the world will intervene to tackle the Economic Impact of the coronavirus. The ftse was up more than 2 and similar gains in other european markets. More than 5 higher, sitting bigger. The social media giant twitter has told its employees to work from home to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The firm said it was mandatory for staff in hong kong, japan and south korea to work remotely. It is also encouraging its 5000 employees around the world not to come into the office. That comes one day after the office. That comes one day after the firm banned all nonessential work travel. The tech giant apple has agreed to pay up to 500 million to settle a Class Action Lawsuit accusing it of slowing down older iphones as it brings out new to encourage people to buy new batteries or models. In 2017, apple admitted it slowed down some iphones to prolong their life, but saying that it was to encourage that to buy new phones. It could amount to £20 per person. We have had so much turbulence on the global market, but they are bouncing back. What a difference a day makes. We were sitting here yesterday at nursing heavy losses, but they are back in the green now. Essentially because they were reassured by what they have heard from Central Banks around the world is that if the worst happens, there is that if the worst happens, there is an is that if the worst happens, there isanm is that if the worst happens, there is an m Economic Impact, that they are prepared to step in, and that could be by cutting Interest Rates and other stimulus for the economy. Lots of issues around that, but yesterday, an amazing session in the new york, dowjones closing at 5 with its biggest one day gain ever, and investors felt very cheered. It isa and investors felt very cheered. It is a very different picture today, and we will take you there are now at the New York Stock Exchange. Michelle, we noticed markets are opening lawyer. It has been a roller coaster ride, and we have seen unprecedented swings on these markets in the last few days. Last week, the worst week for the Financial Markets in america since 2008, the financial crisis, now we are talking about that huge gain we saw on monday. We are back in the red again today, the dowjones industrial average down by one percentage point right now and only being trading for 25 minutes. What is going on today is that the market had been excited about the prospect that Central Banks around the world would be coordinating and certainly here in america, the Us Federal Reserve would raise Interest Rates. That is factored in. Traders here fully expect the Us Federal Reserve to cut Interest Rates this month by 50 basis points and a further cut in april. Then you had this 67 meeting which saw basically finance ministers and central bankers from the g7 ministers and central bankers from the 67 countries all getting together, saying they would act in a coordinated fashion, but they didnt give details, and that disappointed the market and that is why you see the market and that is why you see the sell off right now again. The market and that is why you see the selloff right now again. Talk me through what we have heard so far, because the treasury secretary getting involved, reserve chairman joe powell, and that coordinated action and what markets are clearly looking for our clear direction. Look, we know this is coming, but it is on hand. That is the message they wa nt to is on hand. That is the message they want to hear. Also, you saw this huge sell off in the markets last week, based on fears that companies and corporate profits would be flat, and corporate profits would be flat, and why any of that matters to ordinary people, that has a knock on effect on wages and employment on the global economy. That is behind the global economy. That is behind the fears. That led to governments and central bankers around the world trying to show that there is a coordinated response. So far, that has not cam investors, but steven minutes and was speaking, and meant to be speaking about the congress, but instead he was talking about the coronavirus and the measures are taken coronavirus and the measures are ta ken by coronavirus and the measures are taken by the us government, saying they will throw their weight to deal with this problem, getting testing kits out there which i have been criticised for, and hinting there might be some stimulus ahead. Criticised for, and hinting there might be some stimulus aheadlj criticised for, and hinting there might be some stimulus ahead. I know you will keep an eye on that for us. Then, back to you. Keeping an eye on the weather is staff. Thank you, ben. Good afternoon for sub it has been an afternoon for sunshine and showers, with quite a bit of cloud around the country today compared to what we had yesterday because it was enhanced by this weather front which has been moving from west to east. We have an area of low pressure approaching from the south west as we head through tonight. Most places there through this evening, the showers should die away and being largely largely dry. Widespread frost and ice where we might have had the showers earlier in the day. Temperatures in the south west, low pressure swooping in and bringing increasing breeze. Cloud, rain, to the south east of england, and then through southern countries and parts of the midlands, wales and up into Northern Ireland, there will be some snow in the high ground. Bright, and chile with some sunshine, and south a bit ofa chile with some sunshine, and south a bit of a dismal afternoon. Thursday and friday also days of sunshine and showers, getting quite chilly. Saturday and sunday, turning milder about wet and windy. Especially on saturday with gales and heavy rain. Hello, youre watching afternoon live. Im ben brown. Today at 3. The Prime Minister unveils the governments battle plans against coronavirus in the uk. Up to one fifth of the workforce could be off sick at the peak of the virus. Keeping the country safe is the governments overriding priority. Our plan means were committed to doing Everything Possible based on the advice of our world leading experts to prepare for all eventualities. The Health Secretary has confirmed the number of cases of coronavirus in the uk has risen again. It now stands at 51. This is a national effort. We need everyone to listen to and act on the official medical advice. One other main story this afternoon, its a super tuesday in the United States with democrats in 14 states voting on who they want to take on donald trump in novembers president ial election. Coming up on afternoon live. All the latest sports news. Good afternoon. The ioc president has said he is confident the games will go ahead as planned despite fears of coronavirus. And the weather. How it looking . Not looking too bad, sunshine and showers the rest of the day, turning wet and windy the rest of the week and into the weekend. A tropical cycle and is doing a grand tour into australia as well. Hello, everyone. Youre watching afternoon live. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the uk has now risen to 51. That is up the uk has now risen to 51. That is up12 the uk has now risen to 51. That is up 12 from the previous total of 39. The government has set out today its plans for dealing with the widespread outbreak of coronavirus in this country. The Prime Minister has said it is highly likely that the uk will see a growing number of cases. Lets take a quick look at the main points from borisjohnson, briefing at number ten. He said up to one fifth of the workforce could be off sick during the peak of an epidemic in the uk and, if needed, the military could provide support to the Emergency Services and, if the virus to spread more quickly, the virus to spread more quickly, the police might respond only to the most serious crimes and they would have to focus on maintaining public order. Other possible measures would include school closures, reducing social gatherings and getting people to work from home. Borisjohnson also said the government will do Everything Possible to prepare for all eventualities with a priority on keeping the country safe. This report from our Health Correspondent. Preparations are afoot for the widespread transmission of the new coronavirus in the uk. The government stopped short of giving a figure for the number of people who might become infected, but today warned that one in five workers might be off sick at the peak of the virus. That is around 6 million people. Let me be absolutely clear that, for the overwhelming majority of people who contract the virus, this will be a mild disease from which they will speedily and fully recover, as we have already seen. I fully understand public concern, your concern, about the global spread of the virus, and it is highly likely that we will see a growing number of uk cases. That is why keeping the country safe is the governments overriding priority. The governments revealed its plan to tackle a pandemic could include asking the police to focus solely on dealing with serious crime and maintaining public order, and the military could also be called in to support the nhs. Other possible measures in the coronavirus action plan include bringing retired doctors and nurses back to the nhs, delaying routine operations, working from home and cancelling large gatherings and events. The plan is based on a reasonable worst Case Scenario where as much as 80 of the uk population becomes infected. Englands chief medical officer was keen to stress this is at the upper limit of what might happen. The proportion of the population who get infected is likely to be lower than that, and probably a lot lower than that, so putting an overall number is largely speculative. No one can know at this stage just how the infection might develop, but if there is widespread transmission in the uk, Officials Say it is unlikely to happen immediately. What we think, in terms of the profile of an epidemic, and this may change as we get numbers from europe and the uk, is you can think of it as roughly two to three months from an outbreak of sustained person to person transmission, up to the peak, and two to three months after the peak to decline again is the timeline wed be thinking of. A range of measures to prevent the coronavirus spreading are being taken abroad, with politicians in switzerland finding novel ways to greet each other. But the Prime Minister pointed out he is taking no such precautions. I can tell you, i am shaking hands. I was at a hospital the other night where i think there were coronavirus patients and i shook hands with everybody. Questions were asked today about how seriously the government was taking the threat to the uk. The Prime Minister stressed they were well prepared and reiterated the main way for people to protect themselves was still through thorough and regular hand washing. Sophie hutchinson, bbc news. Well, our Health Correspondent has been looking in a little more detail at the plans that the government set out earlier on today. As weve been hearing, the government has set out its response to coronavirus in its battle plan. There are four key stages that have been set out, contain, delay, research and mitigate. Containing involves chasing up the close contact involves chasing up the close co nta ct of involves chasing up the close contact of those who are infected and asking them to self isolate, and evenif and asking them to self isolate, and even if this doesnt work, it has a benefit of delaying major outbreaks. This means valuable research in the meantime to help develop a vaccine. If cases are rising rapidly, steps are taken to mitigate its impact. Usually for these types of viruses, or respiratory viruses, the incidence drop as we head into the spring and summer so you hope in this country as we can keep this contained, even if the numbers do grow but dont go so enormously and then, as we get to the spring and summer, there will be a natural drop off. Summer, there will be a natural dropoff. Containment is still possible but what might happen next . Health officials and indeed the pm admitted yesterday that have widespread transition transmission is now unlikely. It would normally take two or three months for the cases to peak. Half the infected cases could then come and those peak weeks but none of this as certain as we are not sure how the virus will act. The government has several measures at its disposal if the problem gets worse. These include closing schools and banning public gatherings. Health Officials Say those measures are most likely to be taken just before the peak as they attempt to flatten it. We might be encouraged to socially distance ourselves, avoiding unnecessary travel and working from home where necessary. When you have a new virus like this, there is no immunity and no vaccine. The most that can infect is thought to be around 80 of people but thats the worst Case Scenario for an epidemic. Foremost, it would be mild, close to half not showing any symptoms. But the death rate, the evidence from china suggests could be 1 of cases. In the peak weeks, a fifth of employees could be off work but that is on the upper end of what could happen and the Economic Impact is unknown. Eubank will take all necessary steps to support the uk economy and Financial Systems that dont make statutory with its responsibilities. We are taking every effort to make sure all necessary contingency plans are in place. Is the nhs ready . There are 30 hospitals on standby to take patience with every patient infected being admitted but if there was a surge in cases, there is an a cce pta nce surge in cases, there is an acceptance this will have to change. Those with mild illnesses may be asked to self isolate at home and hospitals may be asked to cut back on routine work so they can focus on those with the virus. Recently retired doctors and nurses may be asked back to help take the strain. Youre still at the early stages of the outbreak and there are some unknowns but the government does have a plan with measures for multiple scenarios. Now to vicky young at westminster was listening to the Prime Ministers statement earlier on, and it is always a balance for any government, isnt it . But particularly in this crisis to warn about the possible impact in future weeks and months but without being alarmist . Yes, and you could absolutely hear them treading that line really today, listening to matt hancock as well, other advisors, and clear they do not want to panic people but they do want to show they have a plan in place if and when things do get worse and you can see the kind of thing they are weighing up. Do you the kind of thing they are weighing u go the kind of thing they are weighing up. Do you go schools to stop the spread potentially . Then of course pa rents spread potentially . Then of course parents looking after children, a lot of whom will be Health Workers and not needed elsewhere. It is a decision that will need to be made in the coming weeks and months. Lets speak to the liberal Democrat Health spokeswoman miniver wilson who is with me now. What have you made of the messaging from the government and the action taken . Firstly im glad borisjohnson has stepped up to the plate and taken some personal ownership and leadership of the last couple of days. They that has been far too slow in coming. And the fact that the minister have been finding out on the news programmes today which they have been avoiding to date. It is important there was Clear Communication with the public to avoid panic but to reassure that plans are in place. They do remain like do remain a number of questions that need answered. If people are actually taking responsibility, doing the right thing and self isolating, what compensation rollover be for people who work in the giger colliery on zero hours contracts, self employed people or those whose sick pay allowa nce for people or those whose sick pay allowance for mac from their employers will mean they are left on Economic Hardship . The last thing we wa nt Economic Hardship . The last thing we want is people who should be self isolating going into work and infecting others, and on that point there has been very little forthcoming from the government. Youre not reassured but matt hancock said people could take seven days off and that would qualify a sick pay but there are people who qualify for that. Youre worried about people who dont. Indeed. The dwp have said people who work in the gig economy can apply for universal credit. We know that takes at least five weeks to come through and a lot of those people may be living hand to mouth and they cannot do that. The irony is, as more and more people self isolate or try and stay out of public places, that gig economy becomes even more important as they are relying on those deliveries. There are other questions that remain to be answered. In the case of a full scale pandemic, the government has said we need to discharge people from hospital much more quickly and we already know we have a social ca re we already know we have a social care crisis. What resilience is there in the social care system because you may have a lot of typically women with Young Children who are care workers, who may find if schools are starting to close that they have to be at home or are looking informally after elderly and Vulnerable People you may also be impacted so the social care system is not resilient enough at the moment to cope with those early discharges and i know from talking to Health Leaders of my own in my own locality that the nhs is permanently on a winter crisis footing. There are steps they said they would take light cancelling nonurgent operations to free up beds and intensive care places as well. Do you think that would be enough to encourage former doctors to come back into the workplace . The problem of cancelling elective surgery is that a lot of the waiting lists are already very long and that might be something that has to be done. Particularly if people cannot be discharged quickly because there is not currently community and as far as bringing back retired doctors, that might be a possible solution but what can you do to expedite registered creation for people. People who might collapse. Can they work . Lets not think about clinical staff or nonclinical staff. People who keep those hospitals going and another key point to think about is if we do reach a pandemic situation, they will use our existing stockpiles of medicines. A lot of those would come together. Looking for a those would come together. Looking fora hard, those would come together. Looking for a hard, no deal brexit. Those would come together. Looking fora hard, no deal brexit. Given the government public approach to brexit talk, we quite like the face that scenario at the end of this year. Will they be working with industry to continue to build a stockpile so we do not run out of vital medicines . Thank you very much indeed. You can youre the counterpoint people still feel need to be answered and we will be hearing a lot more from the government in coming weeks and advice could well change at the situation changes. Thank you very much indeed. The south korean president says he has declared war on coronavirus. He has warned all Government Departments to operate 24 hours a day. South korea is the worst affected country after china with more than 5000 confirmed cases, more than 30 people dying there since the outbreak began. The death toll in italy, europes worst affected country, has now risen to 52 with the number of confirmed cases theyre reaching more than 2000. Northern region of lombardi is the artist it with tourists visiting places like milan. Restrictions have been implemented in chinese cities for people visiting. People arriving invasion from south korea, japan or italy will be quarantined for a fortnight and officials in shanghai have announced isolation plans for people who have recently travelled to country seriously affected by the virus, although they have not yet specified which countries those will be. Now, dont forget that a little later on, we will be answering your questions about coronavirus, so please do send them to us by tweeting to the hashtag on screen. That is coming up for you at 3 30pm with me. Youre watching afternoon live, these are latest headlines. The Prime Minister has set out the government wasnt plans to tackle coronavirus in the uk and reveals up toa coronavirus in the uk and reveals up to a fifth of the workforce could be off sick at the peak of the virus. The Health Secretary meanwhile confirms the number of cases of the virus in the uk has now risen again, standing currently at 51. One of the headline, its super tuesday in the United States with democrats in 14 different states voting on who they wa nt to ta ke different states voting on who they want to take on donald trump in november possible president ial election. And in sport. The ioc president said the other big games will go ahead as planned following a meeting with their executive committee. Japans sports minister warned there might be a delay of coronavirus. An England Rugby player will self isolate as a precautionary measure after returning to the uk via hong kong, he has displayed no symptoms and will stay in the squad to face wales on saturday. Despite reaching the semifinals of the world cup, england face elimination if rain prevents play on thursday with south africa, his final group game is washed out today, would qualify at englands expense. More to come all the stories that have passed. More to come on all those stories at 3 30pm. It is super tuesday in the United States were democrats across 14 states will vote for the candidate they want to stand against donald trump in the president ial election for the former Vice President joe biden has been given a boost overnight as two former rivals have declared their support for him. The polls have opened. People from the south west coast of california to the north east shores of maine are making their way to polling stations have their say in what is the most important test for the candidates yet. Winning the democratic nomination to be the person to take on President Trump is about gathering delegates. On super tuesday, more than a third of them are up for grabs. Thats more than on any other day in this long, gruelling campaign. Its big, and its even bigger this time, because california, the most populous state with hundreds of delegates, is also taking part. About a quarter of those eligible to vote are hispanic. Some are voting for the first time, after coming to citizenship classes like this. They are passionate about being part of this political process. It is good to become a citizen, because you can vote. You feel like people are going to hear a voice, so it is good to become a citizen, because you can vote for the person you believe is going to change our world. Issues that are important to them are immigration, of course, but also education, health care, and the economy. In more rural areas, farmers want to know who the candidate will be and what solutions they propose for the many issues affecting this huge and diverse country. Right now, the focus is trying to narrow this field down and getting a better picture of what that looks like. We know what trumps proposals are, particularly when it comes to water, which is so important to farmers and ranchers here. That is a critical issue that he has been very supportive of for us here locally, so see what the other candidate, or candidates, as it starts to narrow down, proposes will be a big interest to us. While no one can win the nomination on super tuesday, it can get them a long way towards it. Senator Bernie Sanders has taken the lead both in the liberal lane and in the national polls. Former Vice President joe biden had been limping at the start of this marathon, but his big win in South Carolina has put him back in contention atjust the right time. His performance could be helped by other moderates dropping out and endorsing him. But, enter the late starter. On the ballot for the first time is billionaire Mike Bloomberg and he has been converting his cash into campaign ads. Also running still are Senators Elizabeth Warren and tulsi gabbard. It is the day political pundits have been waiting for. It could make or break candidates campaigns. But, it might not. Sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. The battle rages on, men bent on changing by the day. Momentum changing. And we will have all the latest money super tuesday race tonight at 7pm on beyond 100 days. Diplomatic effo rts 7pm on beyond 100 days. Diplomatic efforts are intensifying in turkey and syria to try to end the crisis in the region. Eu officials are heading to the greece, turkey border where thousands of migrants have gathered after no longer stopping people trying to reach europe. The battle for idlib rages on, momentum changing almost by the day. Around the town of kafr nabl, the russian backed syrian army once again pushing forward after several days of setbacks. Turkeys intervention has been dramatic. Dozens of Syrian Government targets hit in waves of turkish drone strikes. Civilians are still on the move in huge numbers. For Abu Mohammeds family, the exodus began nine months ago, far to the south. The fighting has chased them from town to town and now, finally, to the forest. Theyve carried what they can, even bringing their precious animals. Translation we are living in these mountains, on these rocks, in the rain and cold. Where should we go now . We dont have anywhere else to go. Except here. For the besieged, traumatised people of idlib, this was a first a un team on the ground yesterday seeing for themselves the scale and severity of the crisis. The un wants to do this more often, but with fighting not far away, knows itll be a challenge. What my colleagues found, these are professionally experienced people, was quite shocking. The level of need is very high. Firstly, people are enormously frightened and traumatised, but secondly, they have very basic needs food, water, latrines, medical services and so on and we need to work out the best ways to scale all that up. And those needs begin at the beginning. In the midst of all this trauma, there are new lives here, but doctors say miscarriages and premature births are on the rise. Outside, an alarm sounds, a sign that an air strike could be imminent. There is no let up in the fighting and there probably wont be before thursday when the two main players in the idlib conflict, turkeys president erdogan and russias vladimir putin, meet in moscow. Both have stakes and interest in idlib, and neither man will want to negotiate on the provinces fate from a position of weakness. Paul adams, bbc news, near the turkish syrian border. The duke and duchess of cambridge have landed in cambridge ahead of their First Official visit might have landed in dublin ahead of their First Official visit to ireland. Talk us through what they are going to be doing there. You can probably see now the entrance to the garden of remembrance. This is right in the centre of dublin in the east corner of Parnell Square and we are waiting for the duke and duchess to turn up any moment now. They landed a couple of hours ago, they have met the irish president Michael Higgins and this, i think you can fairly say is the centrepiece, the heart of the day. The garden of remembrance dedicated to those who gave their lives for irish independence, those who gave their lives fighting british rule. Nine years ago, the queen was here and she very memorably dipped her head in memory of those who gave their lives fighting for independence. Fighting against british monarchs of course. All eyes of course will be on the duke and duchess to see how they remember those who are remembered in this fairly stunning sport. You may be able to have the helicopters up above. That is a sign that the duke and duchess will be here any moment now and after they have come here, there will be a reception hosted by there will be a reception hosted by the British Ambassador with luminaries from sport, arts, other celebrities and business. Fairly traditional start to a three day visit here in dublin. Just more generally, the duke and duchess, is ita generally, the duke and duchess, is it a slightly higher profile now for them that prince harry, of course, and meghan have stepped back, Prince Andrew is off the scene as well. Their workload is higher, isnt it . Yeah. I think more rests on them, certainly. The question of workload a sort of being discussed, i think you could say, among officials. There are those who think the work simply expands according to the number of royals youve got and at some point you have to call a halt but i think theres more of a spotlight on them. We have what we a lwa ys spotlight on them. We have what we always understood Prince Charles a lwa ys always understood Prince Charles always wanted now, a slimmed down monarchy with fewer people who have been doing for your events. There is more of a spotlight on them. Of course there will be on thursday night and appearance by the duke and duchess of sussex, by harry and meghan in london, of which the spotlight will be very firmly trained on them when that happens but for now the duke and duchess of cambridge, kate and william, just about to turn up in the garden of remembrance. We will be back with you soon to take a look at what they are doing but for the moment, our royal correspondent. And there is the royal motorcade, i think, johnny. Yourejust seeing the royal motorcade, i think, johnny. Youre just seeing them arriving. Asjohnny johnny. Youre just seeing them arriving. As johnny was johnny. Youre just seeing them arriving. Asjohnny was saying, the duke and duchess of cambridge their First Official visit to the republic of ireland. There is the duchess of cambridge in green. One of her favourite colours, i think its fair to say. And the duke of cambridge as well. Johnny diamond, royal correspondent, just tell is older bit more then about what we are expecting them to be doing and significance i think the significance i think the significance is two falls, one is the immediate desire of the Foreign Office, it is the Foreign Office who asks the royal family to go and visit these kinds of places. It is the immediate desire of the Foreign Office to strengthen the links between britain and ireland, especially i think since the difficulties over securing a Withdrawal Agreement over brexit. The continuing difficulties. I think there was an overarching feeling that the royal family are pretty good at being a soft power, doing the diplomatic work. You can see that happening right now, the crowns around my crowds around the garden of remembrance, a big gesture of goodwill and where better to do it, think many, than here in ireland, which has had such a difficult time recently, and until the peace deal that sorted out the problem in Northern Ireland, and the activities there, their thats fine visit by the queen in 2011, and this i think you can see they all, of course, during that visit, they came, the queen came here to the garden of remembrance where euros of irish independence are remembered, she made the same journey as the duke and duchess are making now. And she caught the imagination of so many when she came here and dipped her head in memory of those who had fallen. Here we are again with her grandson and with the duchess making their way down past the sunken pool of the garden of remembrance. The sun has come out, the weather has been a bit iffy over the last few days but its been a pretty cold, clear day to day and the duke and duchess making their way, i think the duke is wearing a green tie, the very vivid in her dark green coat and a lighter, more bright green dress. Again, notable when the queen came over in 2011, she stepped off the plane and was wearing a green dress and many in ireland saw that asa dress and many in ireland saw that as a note towards her hosts. You can see now the duke and duchess making their way towards the centrepiece of this garden of remembrance. A fairly long strip, the sunken pool. They are chatting away. This is a military ceremony. Military band c0 but as you can probably hear, they are also gathered, more civilian figures, fans of the duke and duchess, who had been waiting in this fairly cold day for the duke and duchess to arrive here. They will make their way up the steps here and then towards the statute that dominates this place. And a wreath awaits them. After that gesture from the queen nine years ago, everyone watching to see how the duke and duchess will act in this perhaps the most solemn place in dublin. God save the queen plays the first of two anthems there, the British National anthem of course. It will be followed by the irish National Anthem. Worth remembering how far we have come in the rather tangled history of our islands that a Senior Member of our islands that a Senior Member of the royal family can be welcomed here. As the duke and duchess are being welcomed here today. Up up above the duke and duchess, soldiers from the irish armed forces have presented arms. They are standing ina have presented arms. They are standing in a semicircle and front of the duke and duchess above that dramatic statue, and now a wreath is being prepared. This is for the duke too late. To lay. Both duke and duchess dipping their heads in honour of those who laid down their lives for irish independence a long, long battle against british rule. And now standing in silence. Two minutes silence completed. A very solemn moment here at the garden of remembrance, and now a piper will play the lament. Music the lament shouting. Band plays. The irish military. Band of the irish military, and now above the duke and duchess, the irish flag is being raised in this wintry sun. A cold day here for both the duke of duchess as they stand stock still at this very solemn ceremony as it unfolds around them. The irish flag is now at the top of the flagstaff, fluttering away. Band play. That is the end of this ceremony. You can hear the National Anthem of ireland being played. Ivery you can hear the National Anthem of ireland being played. I very solemn ceremony here, a reminder of irelands struggles against british rule is rule and remembering that rule is rule and remembering that rule is rule and remembering that rule is now at an end with Senior Members of the royal family paying tributes to those who lost their lives for the fight of irish independence. The duke and duchess having stood stock still for the last few minutes make their way away from the statue that dominates this, the children of lear, down the steps and out the garden of remembrance. I will hand you back now. Johnny diamond, a royal correspondent, and the duchess of cambridge is in that green outfits, paying tribute to the emerald isle, and just one little postscript. The couple and just one little postscript. The cou ple flew and just one little postscript. The couple flew into Dublin Airport on commercial aer lingus flight. Joining all the other passengers on that aer lingus flight into dublin. Duke and duchess of cambridge there in dublin. Now on afternoon live, let us take you more about the government are laying out its plans to slow the spread of coronavirus here in the uk. Your questions on the outbreak answered. Youve been sending them in throughout the day and here to answer them is our Health Correspondent, nick triggle. Also in nottingham, professor of virology, jonathan ball. Welcome to you too, and thank you for being with us. Let us kick off with the first question, jonathan. Why is the advice only to self isolate if you have symptoms . Surely that is only like closing the sta ble surely that is only like closing the stable door after the horse has gone. That is from helen in swansea, wanting to know why do we just self isolate. Wanting to know why do we just selfisolate. Firstly, the advice to self isolate if you have been to one of the high risk areas, for example, some of the town is in lockdown in italy, but for the rest of people in terms of returning safe from somewhere else, the reason for the self isolation or only self isolating when you get symptoms is, we think, that the evidence suggests people are likely to be able to transmit the virus once they start to develop symptoms, and before that period, there is very small if any risk of them passing on the virus, and that is why looking out for symptoms is the key. Thank you. Nick, this is for you. You in norfolk wants to know why flights in affected areas are continuing . Is it not time to start restricting International Flight . Health officials have spoken about the need to be proportionate, to balance the response. You could stop travel abroad, you could stop holidays, people travelling for work, but what would be the social and Economic Impact of that . Italy were very quick to stop flights from china, but they now have the biggest outbreak of coronavirus in europe, so it shows it is very hard to stop with the nature of global travel. All flights with the nature of global travel. All flights from countries with major outbreaks that come into this country, pilots have to make a declaration that they are unaware of anyone with symptoms on the flight, and passengers are given information about what to do if symptoms develop. Another one for professor jonathan ball, from the university of nottingham. This is from teddy, and he wants to know if you do have to self isolate, what sort of medication should you be taking for that period . Medication should you be taking for that period . May medication should you be taking for that period . May be over the counter flu medication, paracetamol, cough ta blets . Flu medication, paracetamol, cough tablets . That is what terry wants to know. During that self isolation period, preserving there are no symptoms, there is no need to take medication whatsoever. If you start to develop symptoms, then the key is obviously take paracetamol if it makes you feel better, but the really important thing is to either phone, and i underline phone, your gp surgery or nhs111, and advice on why you are self isolating and the fa ct why you are self isolating and the fact you have started to develop symptoms, and they will explain what is going to happen after that. Thank you. Nick, this is from alicia in dorset. Should we start stocking up on foods and other necessities in case things get worse . The government advice, no, is to go about your daily lives as normal. There is no need to stockpile food. We see with hand sanitiser is now, there has been such a rush of demand that people cannot get a hold of them in the pharmacies, so be very cautious. The government do not want people to start stockpiling. They say to stock your shelves up as there may come a point in the next couple of weeks where they ask people to start exercising social distancing, reducing unnecessary travel, working from home where that is appropriate, but we shouldnt be panic buying. Scott in lincolnshire wa nts to panic buying. Scott in lincolnshire wants to know, jonathan, do we need to start wearing face masks out in public . This is a question we are getting asked all the time. People who are hearing contradictory things about face masks. What is the definitive truth on that. Ok, i would first point of years to the who website about face masks and novel coronavirus, but very briefly, if you are trying to wear a face mask to protect yourselves out and about when wandering among the general public, the reality is that you wear those masks for too long, you wear those masks for too long, you are not very careful about how you are not very careful about how you wear the masks, very blue fitting very often, you are frequently touching them and potentially contaminating your hands, and when youre taking them off or putting them on, you can potentially touch your eyes, nose or mouth, and therefore there is no evidence for general prevention that they work. If, however, you do have coronavirus infection, then the advice if you have a face mask, to wear that. Preferably something that conforms to n 95 or ffp to if you are conforms to n 95 or ffp to if you a re interested conforms to n 95 or ffp to if you are interested in knowing the exact specification, and that prevents people from passing on that virus to others at risk. Really, that is the only time they advise to wear a mask. Thank you. Nick, our Health Correspondent, this is from lucy in kent. Will businesses be advised to allow employees to work from home where they can in order to avoid mass travel in city centres like london . That is one of the options on the table. The government and its Top Health Officials were addressing the media this morning when they launched the governments battle plan, and they are saying we are not at that point yet. We are still trying to contain this virus, but if we get to the point of fairly widespread transmission, asking employers to let their staff work from home is certainly one option. This could happen in a couple of weeks, months, it depends how this outbreak, if we see major outbreaks, and how they develop. There is also more drastic measures that the government has at their disposal is. Banning public gatherings, closing down schools, but those will be last resort. Professorjonathan ball from the university of nottingham, this is another one from keith in suffolk. He is wondering whether he is being neurotic or sensible. He says he wont handle his post without wearing rubber gloves. There are so many stages where the virus could infect mail from all over the country if the virus can spread by people just touching hard services, thenit people just touching hard services, then it could be on the services of envelopes. And i being too neurotic orami envelopes. And i being too neurotic oram i being sensible . envelopes. And i being too neurotic or am i being sensible . I think he probably is being a little bit over cautious and neurotic in this case. We know that the virus can survive outside of the body on services, but its survival is not for long periods. We think on average it will be ours rather than days, and if you think about the duration of your typical postage letter or parcel, it is going to be significantly more than a couple of hours, so also, very often, the material is quite absorbent, and we know that viruses survive for shorter periods of time on absorbent surfaces, so therefore, i think he can relax, remove his rubber gloves and look forward to his letters. Good advice, jonathan. Jey his letters. Good advice, jonathan. Joey on e mail wants to know what are the chances of a big event like glastonbury in the summer being cancelled . Glastonbury in the summer being cancelled . I glastonbury in the summer being cancelled . I think lots of people are looking ahead, pop festivals, sporting events, wondering. Wondering whether they are going to go ahead. There is a lot of events in the summer, and there is concern about this. Health Officials Say they are looking at this very carefully. One of the things, if someone is at a football match or glastonbury and they are infected, they are not going to infect thousands of people. The people at risk are those who are in close contact with you, within two metres for 15 minutes. You could stop people going to these events, but where are they going to go . They could go down to the pub to watch football and they will still infect people there, so they are very wary about this. What they actually say is they might look at asking people who are most at risk, the elderly, those with existing health conditions, to perhaps cut back on their social contact and limit to that particular group. Catherine on e mail wants to know, jonathan, i have a young baby who is breast fed. What should i do if she or i contract covid 19 . Should i self isolate away and try to get her on the formula, or is it better to continue Breast Feeding so she gets my antibodies . That is catherine on e mail. My antibodies . That is catherine on email. That is a question i have heard a number of times on these sorts of yours questions, and the advice really is to continue to breast feed because the benefit of breast feed because the benefit of breast over formula breast feed because the benefit of breast overformula milk breast feed because the benefit of breast over formula milk cant be over egged. In terms of what you would do if you are infected and your baby wasnt, it is a case of making sure that you wear a mask and to protect your baby. Also ensure that you thoroughly wash your hands before handling the baby. In other words, what youre trying to do is minimise the potential contamination between yourself and anything that you have potentially contaminated, touched, and the baby. Particularly their mouth eyes and nose, continue Breast Feeding is the advice. Their mouth eyes and nose, continue breastfeeding is the advice. This is one from cathy on e mail. Why is the uk not temperature testing people when they arrive at our airports . We have seen a number of countries do this, but the fact is Public Health officials here in the uk dont leave it is very effective. You might have a High Temperature for another reason, so a false positive. The symptoms of coronavirus might not show for a few days, so you might pass through the scanner, but then developed the symptoms later on, so in truth, it is not that effective and instead of that, they are asking patients to keep an eye on symptoms and call 111 if they are worried. Thanks so much to both of you, professorjonathan ball and our heath correspondent, nick triggle forjoining us today on your questions answered. Just to say, that was your questions answered, and thank you very much to our guests. One of the first british soldiers to land in normandy on d day has been at Buckingham Palace to receive an obe from the queen. He was given the honour for raising tens of thousands of pounds for a National Memorial honouring his fallen comrades. It is in memory of every one of them fellas, 22,442 men killed in a day on that beach where i landed. Killed in a day on that beach where ilanded. I killed in a day on that beach where i landed. I never thought i would be in with the royalty. I am very thankful. Great stuff. In a moment, we are going to have the latest business news. First a look at the headlines on afternoon live. The Prime Minister sets out the governments plans to tackle coronavirus in the uk and reveals up to a fifth of the workforce could be off sick at the peak of the virus. The Health Secretary confirms the number of cases of the virus in the uk has risen again it now stands at 51. Its super tuesday in the United States with democrats in 14 states voting on who they want to take on donald trump in novembers election. Hello, iam bent hello, i am bent thompson. Here are your business headlines on afternoon live. European markets have risen for a second day on hopes that governments and Central Banks will intervene to tackle the Economic Impact of coronavirus. Us central bank in the last few minutes has slashed Interest Rates due to mounting concern of the virus. Social media giant twitter has told its employees to work from home to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The firm said it was mandatory for staff in hong kong, japan and south korea to work remotely and is also strongly encouraging its 5,000 employees around the world to not come into work. It comes a day after the firm banned all non essential Business Travel and events for its workers. Tech giant apple has agreed to pay up to 500 million to settle a Class Action Lawsuit accusing it of slowing down older iphones as it launched new models, to induce people to upgrade or buy new batteries. In 2017, appple admitted it slowed down some iphones to prolong their life, but many suspected it was to encourage upgrades to more expensive phones. The pay out could amount to around £20 per person. Are the murky is bouncing back a little . Yes, and what they are hoping for is this promise of intervention from Central Banks around the world if the Coronavirus Impact spreads further, and there is the worry that that means people cant get to work, that means people cant get to work, that Economic Growth would suffer an economy is grind to a halt in some cases. What they are hoping for is Central Banks to cut Interest Rates to boost spending, and in the last few minutes, the Us Federal Reserve, Americas Central Bank has cut its Interest Rates by 50 basis points, and it says it wants to do that to encourage the economy to keep going. It isa encourage the economy to keep going. It is a shot in arm, adrenaline in the american economy. This is midway through the trading session. Not all traders are happy with this. Michelle has been talking to someone on the us stock exchange, and this is what he says. They are doing this to support the markets, but that makes people fearful that while, we must be in bad shape if they are doing such a large cut. We have two voices talking, you know what im saying . You are worried that they are spending ammunition they dont really have. I was hoping theyd wouldnt do it, let the murky equalise itself. We had a nice rally yesterday. Markets can handle and adapted to any situation if given the opportunity and the time, but to pull that bullet out so fast and furiously leaves us with not that much ammo. Now people are looking ahead to their summer holidays. You have some news about how to book your holidays and your hotel rooms. There is an move of late that the best way to get a cheap hotel or flight best way to get a cheap hotel or flight is to use one of the websites that lets you compare prices. They make big adverts about this is the way you will get a cheaper deal, it is really easy to compare. Which, the consumer group, has found this is not always the case, and they say it might be cheaper to book with the hotel directly, so decide where you wa nt to hotel directly, so decide where you want to go, where you want to stay and check out their own website because that might be the place to get a deal, so let us speak to Gareth Schott who is the head of the place that did this research. Good afternoon. Explain what you found. I went over the headlines there, but it is quite surprising. People you would get a cheaper deal but that is not always the case. We have all used Online Travel agents to scar the murky and find the best hotel deal, but we found when we cold or e mailed the hotel, eight out of ten times, we got a much cheaper price. The crucial thing is phoning the hotel or e mailing the hotel, because a lot of the hotels listed on these sites have a rate parity clause which means they cant undercut the booking sites themselves, so phoning and calling is the best way to secure yourself an even cheaper deal. As i touched on, a lot of these websites will make big claims and lots of adverts, very expensive adverts, saying they will offer you the best deal. How can they make that claim when youre evidence suggests that it is not the case . These clauses cover the fact that i Hotels Website cannot list prices any cheaper, but these hotels and small b bs are paying a commission to the Online Travel agent, usually between 15 25 , and thatis agent, usually between 15 25 , and that is the wriggle room you have is a potential customer to call up a hotel and say, you dont have to pay the middle man now, can i get a discount on my deal . We found eight out of ten times, you are able to do so. It is not the first time these sorts of websites have come in for scrutiny and criticism. I am talking about those deals that look like they are going to expire if you dont spend the money in the next five minutes or the limited time deal. They tried to pressure you into making that booking, so they are into making that booking, so they a re really into making that booking, so they are really under scrutiny right now. The competition and markets authority has taken a deep look at this market and recommended a whole suite of changes, which, you know, many sites have adhered to. One of the things it chose not to tackle was this rate parity clause, the fa ct was this rate parity clause, the fact you cant charge a cheaper rate on your own website compared to an Online Travel agent, but well be sending the evidence to the regulator and continuing to monitor this part the market. Thank you very much. As promised, i am going to show you what those numbers are doing, and the dial is back in positive territory after that shot in the arm, even though there is some criticism about the timing of it. Nonetheless, the markets are very different to yesterday. That was due to the coronavirus is spread yesterday. Thank you very much indeed. Just a little bit more from Public Health england about coronavirus. Of the 12 new confirmed cases, all had recently travelled from abroad. Eight from italy, one from germany, one from singapore, one from japan and one from iran. The patient have came from the world, manchester, humberside and kent to name a few, so just humberside and kent to name a few, sojust a bit humberside and kent to name a few, so just a bit more detail of those 12 new cases taking the total in the uk from the 51 confirmed cases, and those 12 had all recently travelled from italy, germany, singapore, japan and iran. Much more on that in the coming hour, but now we are going to check out the latest weather prospects. Hello there. It has been an afternoon of sunshine and showers. More cloud around today than we had yesterday, and it still felt on a chilly side. This is the weather front that enhance the shower activity, pushing off into the north sea. As we enter the day and head on into the evening, most of the showers will clear away with clearing skies for many, and one or two continuing across northern scotland, but across the south west, low pressure arising here. It is going to be another cold night with widespread frost around the north, andi widespread frost around the north, and i swear there are showers. Way to start the day bright with plenty of sunshine, cold for wednesday, but this area of rain pushing across the south west and midlands, southern england to wales, perhaps into Northern Ireland as well. There will be snow on the hills. A bit of a dismal day here. I chilly day for the north, bright but you will see milder across the south west. As we move through thursday and friday, days of sunshine and showers and turning wetter, windier and milder into the weekend. Hello, everyone. Youre watching afternoon live. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in keeping the country safe as the government was my overriding priority and we are committed to doing Anything Possible based on the advice of our world leading scientific experts to prepare for all eventualities. The Health Secretary confirms the number of cases of coronavirus in the uk has risen again and now stands at 51. This is a national effort. We need eve ryo ne this is a national effort. We need everyone to listen to and act on the official medical advice. One of the main story this afternoon, it is super tuesday in the United States with democrats in 14 states voting on who they want to take on donald trump in the next president ial election. We will also have all the latest sport for you here on afternoon live withjohn watson. The ioc president said the olympics will go ahead as planned despite fears over coronavirus. Thank you. You will bejoining you over coronavirus. Thank you. You will be joining you for a full update just after 4 30pm, and we will have the weather. A day of sunshine and showers, bit more cloud across the board this afternoon than be seen yesterday. Tomorrow, it looks like it will stay quite chilly and you could see some wetter weather affecting southern parts of the country with sunshine and showers towards the end of the week. All the details a little later on. Also. Going nationwide to find out what is happening around the United Kingdom, we will be on Calder Valley in West Yorkshire for people affected by the recent major floods coming face to face with those who handled what has been going on there. Hello, everyone. The number of confirmed cases by the uk of coronavirus is now 51, up 12 from the previous total of 39. All 12 new cases are people who have recently travelled from abroad. The government has set out today its plans for dealing with the widespread outbreak of coronavirus in this country. The Prime Minister has said it is highly likely that the uk will see a growing number of cases. Lets take a quick look at the main points from Boris Johnson, and his briefing at number ten. He said up to one fifth of the workforce could be off sick during the peak of an epidemic in the uk and, if needed, the military could provide support to the Emergency Services and, if the virus to spread more quickly, the police might respond only to the most serious crimes and they would have to focus on maintaining public order. Other possible measures would include school closures, reducing social gatherings and getting people to work from home. Borisjohnson also said the government will do Everything Possible to prepare for all eventualities with a priority on keeping the country safe. This report from our Health Correspondent. Preparations are afoot for the widespread transmission of the new coronavirus in the uk. The government stopped short of giving a figure for the number of people who might become infected, but today warned that one in five workers might be off sick at the peak of the virus. That is around 6 million people. Let me be absolutely clear that, for the overwhelming majority of people who contract the virus, this will be a mild disease from which they will speedily and fully recover, as we have already seen. I fully understand public concern, your concern, about the global spread of the virus, and it is highly likely that we will see a growing number of uk cases. That is why keeping the country safe is the governments overriding priority. The governments revealed its plan to tackle a pandemic could include asking the police to focus solely on dealing with serious crime and maintaining public order, and the military could also be called in to support the nhs. Other possible measures in the coronavirus action plan include bringing retired doctors and nurses back to the nhs, delaying routine operations, working from home and cancelling large gatherings and events. The plan is based on a reasonable worst Case Scenario where as much as 80 of the uk population becomes infected. Englands chief medical officer was keen to stress this is at the upper limit of what might happen. The proportion of the population who get infected is likely to be lower than that, and probably a lot lower than that, so putting an overall number is largely speculative. No one can know at this stage just how the infection might develop, but if there is widespread transmission in the uk, Officials Say it is unlikely to happen immediately. What we think, in terms of the profile of an epidemic, and this may change as we get numbers from europe and the uk, is you can think of it as roughly two to three months from an outbreak of sustained person to person transmission, up to the peak, and two to three months after the peak to decline again is the timeline wed be thinking of. A range of measures to prevent the coronavirus spreading are being taken abroad, with politicians in switzerland finding novel ways to greet each other. But the Prime Minister pointed out he is taking no such precautions. I can tell you, i am shaking hands. I was at a hospital the other night where i think there were coronavirus patients and i shook hands with everybody. Questions were asked today about how seriously the government was taking the threat to the uk. The Prime Minister stressed they were well prepared and reiterated the main way for people to protect themselves was still through thorough and regular hand washing. Sophie hutchinson, bbc news. Our Health Correspondent has been taking a closer look at the plans the government has set out today. As weve been hearing, the government has set out its response to coronavirus in its battle plan. There are four key stages that have been set out, contain, delay, research and mitigate. Containing involves chasing up the close contact of those who are infected and asking them to self isolate, and even if this doesnt work, it has a benefit of delaying major outbreaks. This means valuable research in the meantime to help develop a vaccine. If cases are rising rapidly, steps are taken to mitigate its impact. Usually for these types of viruses, or respiratory viruses, the incidence drop as we head into the spring and summer so you hope this country as we can keep this contained, even if the numbers do grow but dont go so enormously and then, as we get to the spring and containment is still possible but what might happen next . Health officials and indeed summer, there will be a natural drop off. The pm admitted yesterday that have widespread transition transmission is now unlikely. It would normally take two or three months for the cases to peak. Half the infected cases could then come and those peak weeks but none of this as certain as we are not sure how the virus will act. The government has several measures at its disposal if the problem gets worse. These include closing schools and banning public gatherings. Health Officials Say those measures are most likely to be taken just before the peak as they attempt to flatten it. We might be encouraged to socially distance ourselves, avoiding unnecessary travel and working from home where necessary. When you have a new virus like this, there is no immunity and no vaccine. The most that can infect is thought to be around 80 of people but thats the worst Case Scenario for an epidemic. Foremost, it would be mild, close to half not showing any symptoms. But the death rate, the evidence from china suggests could be 1 of cases. In the peak weeks, a fifth of employees could be off work but that is on the upper end of what could happen and the Economic Impact is unknown. The bank will take all necessary steps to support the uk economy and Financial Systems statutory with its responsibilities. We are taking every effort to make sure all necessary contingency plans are in place. Is the nhs ready . There are 30 hospitals on standby to take patience with every patient infected being admitted but if there was a surge in cases, there is an acceptance this will have to change. Those with mild illnesses may be asked to self isolate at home and hospitals may be asked to cut back on routine work so they can focus on those with the virus. Recently retired doctors and nurses may be asked back to help take the strain. Youre still at the early stages of the outbreak and there are some were still at the early stages of the outbreak and there are some unknowns but the government does have a plan with measures for multiple scenarios. Now to vicky young at westminster was listening to the Prime Ministers statement earlier on, and it is always a balance for any government, isnt it . He has been criticised for being invisible but today he was very visible. Yes, up until now, he has been delegating in all sorts of areas saying he trusts his cabinet ministers to get on with the job and this is likely to be a problem of a different magnitude to anything else that he has experienced in his premiership, so how he deals with it, how he reassures people is going to be incredibly important and you will bejudged on it, im sure. He is accountable for what happens next and the government does have a plan, it is interesting about when they might press the button on the kinds of things they think they might have to do. It is clear they may have intense disruption with everyday lives. The spread of coronavirus means it is clear they dont want to start issuing people with instructions, telling them to stay at home, closing down schools, stopping sporting events for example. They dont want to do all of that because they know this could be something that goes on for weeks and months, and they feel that people get bored of the message, they stop reacting to it because they stop reacting to it because they think is not actually making any difference so they are being very cautious about that, weighing up very cautious about that, weighing up those things, the disruption and trying to still at this point contain a virus but in the house of commons, the Health Secretary is that my answering questions today and it is clear they do have a lot of concerns. This is a question from the Labour Health spokesperson. On the Labour Health spokesperson. On theissue the Labour Health spokesperson. On the issue of sick pay, does he accept that people should not be forced to make a choice between their health and Financial Hardship . We are told he is considering emergency legislation. Does the love will he bring forward legislation to remove these barriers from self isolation so all workers can get the sick pay they deserve . Those who do need to self isolate for medical reasons to protect others, that cou nts reasons to protect others, that counts as being off sick. They do not need to go to a gp because there isa not need to go to a gp because there is a seven day allowance for self decoration. I hope that addresses that point directly. For self declaration. We keep all matters on this under review because broadly i agree with him on the principle that he has set out. There are questions about those who do qualify for sick pgy about those who do qualify for sick pay. We were told they could claim universal credit but lots of mps saying, hang on, we know that takes at least five weeks, is not an easy system to dip into and so there were also concerns about that expressed by mps. Thank you very much indeed. The head of the International Olympic Committee Says he is confident the tokyo games will go ahead despite the threat of coronavirus. Speaking in switzerland a little earlier, he urged athletes to continue their preparations for the med. There is a task force in place that will meet in february following the Regulatory Information and the task force of the ioc,. We host city of tokyo and japan, the health organisation, we remain very confident with regard to the success of these Olympic Games. I would like to encourage all the athletes to continue their preparation for the Olympic Games, tokyo 2020, with great confidence and with full stea m. Great confidence and with full steam. That is the president of the ioc. Over to switzerland now the announcement was made earlier. Talk us through this. He sounded very confident the games go ahead. A little earlier in tokyo, the japanese minister for the olympics brought up in parliament and said, or hinted, that the games could be delayed. The olympics must take place in 2020, that statement left speculation it could be delayed until later in the year. The ioc leader has been confident to dismiss that today. As you heard there, he is very keen to stress that all plans now are heading towards a start date ofjuly the 24th and, despite all the sporting events, the many injapan and they show being cancelled and in other parts of the world, he is insisting that, at the moment, in public at least, there is no plan b and no contingency plan, no plan b and no contingency plan, no delay, no postponement. The Olympic Games will take place as planned. We can speak to doctor helena mcewan who is chair of the British Medical Association and joins me now here to talk about the impact of the coronavirus on the Health Service in this country. Do you think the nhs can cope with this . There are preparations made. U nfortu nately, this . There are preparations made. Unfortunately, you will be well aware that most nhs services are very full currency, so many of our hospital beds are full, we are well over 90 capacity, 99 capacity. If you try to make a routine gp appointment, you may well have been asked to wait 2 3 weeks so it is a at the moment before we get more than 50 cases already. Is my understanding right that if this get substantially worse, significantly worse, which is what the Prime Minister was saying, it could do, then you nhs might be in trouble . That is true however there are some things we can do differently. General practice means could be some bureaucratic things. This time of the year in march, we are often polishing up most of our chronic disease management things and awards and payments are made by what we do in march. Its not that we havent donein in march. Its not that we havent done in march, is the bureaucracy of recording the bureaucracy of recording the bureaucracy of recording them in march. If youre unable to stop doing many of these sort of tasks, we may be able to free up some gp capacity. In hospital, its a bit more difficult. For instance, if you need a knee replacement, and ive made a referral, you may not think it the right thing to do to get your new replacement at the moment. In a time where you might pick it up in hospital but well you may see the bed being needed for a patient. Would you be satisfied with the levels of protection that doctors, nurses and gps are getting . Im not satisfied with what we got at the moment because im expecting that we will be needing more equipment such as face masks, that we would normally have in practice. I understand these are on their way from central supplies. That is my understanding and that what dbm yet might be a may have been calling for. What about the idea of bringing in doctors who have recently retired and helping out gps and so on . Is that a good idea . For some people, this may have some possibilities. You may remember the swine flu, it was thought to be too difficult then because of the complexities of regulation and insurance for these individuals and a variety of doctors, some being more or less useful so we have some doctors recently retired to remain licensed to practice and you may be willing and able, healthy enough to be trained briefly upwards and doing some things and it depends what they are asked to do. When it comes to blood test results, prescribing medicines, doing some patient confrontations on the telephone, however they may not be well enough or want to do face to face confrontations and many may not be able to do confrontations at the speed they are used to however what we know unfortunately about this illness is your far more at risk if you are over 60 and many people are over 60, they may have a pre existing health condition, heart condition, lung condition and could be very vulnerable to this illness in which case there is no way we could be forcing or making these doctors and former doctors return to work. No one will be forced to do it. It is presumably if they volunteer, they might be asked and taken on. What would be good is to have some sort of Occupational Health assessment with his daughters. See what theyve been asked to do and make sure they feel safe to act as doctors again. Right back borisjohnson said fantastic nhs, it can cope. Are you saying there is a bit of doubt about that or if you question marks . The nhs is fantastic, i would agree on that, but 11 days ago, the nhs staff survey told us 40 of our workers in the nhs are being made sick with stress related illness due to the nhs and 56 of our workers, even before coronavirus, were going into work in the nhs sick. The message has changed. We cannot condone doctors and nurses of other health ca re doctors and nurses of other Health Care Workers going into work sick at the moment because they may be a risk not only to themselves, but two patients and that would put more scratch on the surface my only service, even before we see a rise. Thank you for your time. And we heard from the Health Director general, who said that the proportion of people dying from seasonal flu is worse than coronavirus. While many people globally have built up a an immunity to seasonal flu strains, no one has immunity to coronavirus. That means more people are susceptible to infection, and some will suffer severe disease. Globally, about 3. 4 of reported coronavirus cases have died. By comparison, seasonalflu generally kills far fewer than 1 of those infected. White speculators from the health organisation. View latest from the world health organization. Today is super tuesday in the us where democrats across 14 states vote for the candidate they want to stand against donald trump in novembers president ial election. The former Vice President joe biden has been given a boost overnight, as two former rivals have declared their support for him. Sophie long reports from los angeles. The polls have opened. People from the south west coast of california to the north east shores of maine are making their way to polling stations have their say in what is the most important test for the candidates yet. Winning the democratic nomination to be the person to take on President Trump is about gathering delegates. On super tuesday, more than a third of them are up for grabs. Thats more than on any other day in this long, gruelling campaign. Its big, and its even bigger this time, because california, the most populous state with hundreds of delegates, is also taking part. About a quarter of those eligible to vote are hispanic. Some are voting for the first time, after coming to citizenship classes like this. They are passionate about being part of this political process. It is good to become a citizen, because you can vote. You feel like people are going to hear a voice, so it is good to become a citizen, because you can vote for the person you believe is going to change our world. Issues that are important to them are immigration, of course, but also education, health care, and the economy. In more rural areas, farmers want to know who the candidate will be and what solutions they propose for the many issues affecting this huge and diverse country. Right now, the focus is trying to narrow this field down and getting a better picture of what that looks like. We know what trumps proposals are, particularly when it comes to water, which is so important to farmers and ranchers here. That is a critical issue that he has been very supportive of for us here locally, so see what the other candidate, or candidates, as it starts to narrow down, proposes will be a big interest to us. While no one can win the nomination on super tuesday, it can get them a long way towards it. Senator Bernie Sanders has taken the lead both in the liberal lane and in the national polls. Former Vice President joe biden had been limping at the start of this marathon, but his big win in South Carolina has put him back in contention atjust the right time. His performance could be helped by other moderates dropping out and endorsing him. But, enter the late starter. On the ballot for the first time is billionaire Mike Bloomberg and he has been converting his cash into campaign ads. Also running still are Senators Elizabeth Warren and tulsi gabbard. It is the day political pundits have been waiting for. It could make or break candidates campaigns. But, it might not. Sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. Christian fraser and katty kay will be bringing you all the latest on the super tuesday race tonight at 7pm, thats on beyond 100 days on the bbc news channel and well be bringing you all the results here from midnight. High streets across the uk are continuing to face challenges with the rise of online shopping. According to research commissioned for the bbc, more than 1 in 10 shops in town and city centres is vacant. Over the next year, bbc news will be looking at the future of the high street through the experience of one town, Bishop Auckland in county durham. Our Business Correspondent sarah corker reports. Archive the Main Shopping Centre at Bishop Auckland. In the 60s and 70s, the town was bustling. Once synonymous with coal mining and the railways, but over the decades the change is stark. This was once prime retail space, but its been left to decay. Its been empty since Beales Department store closed for the final time in 2017. And here in Bishop Auckland, almost one in every four shops is now empty. Thats nearly double the uk average. You only come into town if you have to. Theres nothing here to bring you into town for a wander. It is depressing, isnt it . It is, you are right. It is depressing, yes. And i must admit, im not taking internet shopper, so id rather have shops, and where are they . Its a bit daunting, really, coming and seeing the shop empty. Bernadette rush closed her bridal shop in december after more than a decade of training. Once the high street lost all of the big names, there was no attraction, then, to draw people in. She didnt want to sign a new nine year lease, so now works from home. I havent got the overheads here as i had in the shop. We look at it moving further into the marketplace, and we were talking about thousands of pounds a month, rather than hundreds, and its just not affordable, this day and age. Despite the clear challenges, some young entrepreneurs are willing to take a risk. The high street might look as though its dying, but theres more to the town than the high street. Theres lots of independent retailers and lots of culture and its more of an experience. You know, you could sell all of this from your bedroom at home. Why do you need a shop . We chose to open a shop because theres nothing like this in the area. County durham is known as the land of the prince bishops. This town is trying to reinvent itself by marketing its rich past, swapping retailfor tourism. Sarah corker, bbc news. Yes, iam yes, i am at the auckland tower and you can take a look at the amazing view behind me. This is what its all about, 900 years of history surround the town of Bishop Auckland, and its that history that the town is hoping will be able to harness in order to help the high street. Of course, to bring in more visitors, tourist numbers, extra footfall but there is a bit of an uneasy balance because in creating all of those cafe is in restaurants, the galleries that tourists want to come and visit, will it impact on what the people in the town have as pa rt what the people in the town have as part of their Retail Experience . Lets talk to liz, who is from the auckland project. There is a bit of an uneasy truce in terms of how the locals perceive this project. What are you doing to make sure that reinventing the high street here the track from their experience on the high street . The project is really clear, we are here to regenerate Bishop Auckland, and that town and people as well. Weve always worked in partnership with the key organisations to make sure that balance is struck. The group and the various Community Groups mean a successful high street is the one that meets the needs of the local people as well as visitors from far and wide, and healthy high street will do that. It may mean that the high street changes from the way it is now. The auckland project mean that for the next 15, 20 years, we go on thatjourney with the town and embark on it together. White or seven embark on it together. White or seve n yea rs embark on it together. White or seven years into a 25 year project. For some people, perhaps they are not seeing the change as fast as they might have liked to. |j not seeing the change as fast as they might have liked to. I agree. £250 million worth of investment has been put into Bishop Auckland and you can see the site of the castle, we are building that, during the various Art Galleries in the town, the tower we are standing on have all been built in the past seven yea rs, all been built in the past seven years, so all been built in the past seven yea rs, so we all been built in the past seven years, so we are just coming to the end of the capital build and then youll start to see the impact of the visitors coming in and see some of our Community Work that will happen and start to see the fruits of our labour happen and start to see the fruits of ourlabourcoming happen and start to see the fruits of our labour coming through in the long term. Not all high streets of a millionaire benefactor or this kind of history around it, so what kind of history around it, so what kind of lessons do you think of the high streets up and down the country can learn from this . That is a very good question. What weve learned and what you would like to pass on is looking at the opportunities to see how the opportunity the community can work together. The destination is where people of the local area are as proud as what weve got here as we are, and its bringing all of that together to make a difference. We will come back here as part of my high street to see how this project goes ahead. Many thanks. Now its time for a look at the weather. Hello, its been an afternoon of sunshine and showers, a bit more cloud around today than what we had yesterday. It is still feeling on the chilly side. This is the weather front that enhance the shower activity and continue to push off into the north sea, so as we end the day and head on into the evening, most of the showers will tend to clear away with clearing skies for many, one or two just looking across northern scotland what across the south west, an area of low pressure sta rts south west, an area of low pressure starts to arrive here with clear skies, a cold night with a widespread frost across the north and some ice patch hours. We start the day off right with plenty of sunshine, called for wednesday but we will see this area of rain pushing across the south west, the midlands, southern england to wales, Northern Ireland as well with some snow on the hills, bit of a dismal day here. Chilly day further north, right, milder across the south west briefly. As we move through thursday into friday, the days of sunshine and showers turns wet, windy, wild into the weekend. This is bbc news our latest headlines. The Prime Minister sets out the uks plans to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the uk. They say up to a fifth of the workforce could be off sick at the peak of the virus. The Health Secretary confirms the number of cases of the virus in the uk has risen again. It now stands at 51. Its super tuesday in the United States with democrats in 14 states voting on who they want to take on donald trump in novembers election. Benjamin netanyahu claims victory in israels third general election in a year, but his right wing bloc appears just short of a governing majority. Sport now on afternoon live withjohn watson. There has been some concern about whether the olympics are going to go ahead in tokyo because of coronavirus, but we have some assurance from the ioc. We did, and there president thomas bach said the games would go ahead as planned despite suggestions from japans olympic minister that it could be delayed until later in the year. He was speaking at an executive meeting, and has said that steps have been taken to deal with any outbreak and advises that athletes should continue to prepare as normal. Following the regular information of this task force which consists of the ioc, the organising committee, the host city of tokyo, the government of japan committee, the host city of tokyo, the government ofjapan and in particular the world health organization. Of course, we will continue this regular consultation with thisjoint task continue this regular consultation with this joint task force to be able to address any development which may occur. That comes as japans sports minister said the games could be moved to later in the year as a possible continuously when asked about it in parliament today. That is not the only sporting event there will be questions about with coronavirus around the world. We have euro 2020 this summer. Absolutely, not long away yet. The head of european football governing body uefa has moved to downplay the impact of the virus on the championships due to get under way injune. Championships due to get under way in june. For the first championships due to get under way injune. For the first time, it is going to be staged across 12 different host cities throughout europe. Alexander chaffin said the virus is one of many challenges they face when putting on the tournament. Look, you dont even know how many concerns we have when we organise a big competition. We organise now an organisation competition in 12 countries. We have security concerns, political instability concerns, political instability concerns, especially in 12 countries, and one of the concerns is also that virus. We are dealing with it and we are confident that we can deal with it. He will play no part despite showing no symptoms of the illness. Meanwhile, more details over the departure of the england captain, saying he would leave the club with immediate effect, denying it was to do with any salary issues. It was said it was best for all parties. We had a difference of opinion really, me and my coachs staff think we are on the right trajectory to do things right and we had ever disagreement about various things and thought we are not going to fall out over it. The best way is to part company. This is the day where you can get another club before the end of the season and we thought this was the best thing. England will play india in the semifinal of the womens t20 world cup on thursday. Thats after south africas match with west indies was abandoned because of rain earlier. The wash out means unbeaten south africa top group b ahead of england and will meet australia in the last four. Jo currie reports. Weather has affected both matches here at the sydney showground. Earlier, thailand put on excellent innings against pakistan, making 150, only for the innings against pakistan, making 150, only forthe rain innings against pakistan, making 150, only for the rain to start falling and the game abandoned, denying thailand their first ever win at the world cup. The later match between south africa and west indies, it never got under way because of this bad weather. What it means is south africa take the point from that game but now finished and the like top of group b. They will now playing the hosts and defending champions australia in the semifinals. England will face india. The other news to tell you about from the world cup today is australias starting all rounder has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament because of a handspring ham spring hamstring industry. That final takes course place in melbourne in march date. With more rain forecast on wednesday, it would mean that india would progress that england was my expense. That is often the bbc sport sprinter centre. We will be back in the next hour. Now on afternoon live lets go nationwide and see whats happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. Luxmy gopal is in leeds and can tell us more about a meeting taking place this evening in the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire between authorities and residents who were affected by recent major flooding. Fiona lamdin is in bristol and can tell us more on an army widow calling on the government to monitor levels of post Traumatic Stress disorder in veterans. More from fiona in a moment. But first to luxmy. Remind us about the devastating flooding for the people there. Think back to storm a carer, about three and weeks ago, there was heavy rain brought back by the storm that caused massive flooding in the Calder Valley region in West Yorkshire. Around 1200 homes and businesses were flooded. We caught up businesses were flooded. We caught up with one of those Business Owners affected today. It isjoan west who owns a second hand dealership, and when the club floods hit, she had 16 of her vehicles reigned, losing her £45,000. Have a listen. Its been awful. For the first two weeks, i cried every day, i sobbed, but i have to keep going. I cant do anything else. Had it been 20 years ago, i think i would have been more resilient, but i am 60, so it is quite difficult. I dont have that much time left to get back on my feet and get people paid back. Like many people in the area, john couldnt get flood insurance, and the best she can hope for is two and a half thousand pounds from the council as part of a Flood Recovery fund, but it doesnt take more than basic maths to see that its not going to begin to cover the cost of the damage. It is so tough when you cant get insurance, andjoan it is so tough when you cant get insurance, and joan is going to be one of the people going to that meeting with the authorities tonight. That is right, she and other residents and Business Owners are being asked to go along to this meeting held by the council and the Environment Agency will be there. The idea is to give some feedback about how the organisations responded to the flooding so that lessons responded to the flooding so that lesso ns ca n responded to the flooding so that lessons can be learned for next time. We have to remember that this is not the first time people in the Calder Valley have experienced this kind of flooding. There was major flooding back in the summer of 2012, and then the boxing day floods of 2015 and now this. Three major floods in the space ofjust eight yea rs, floods in the space ofjust eight years, so the authorities want to know how they can better deal with it when it happens again, and that is when, not if, as this is the reality of climate change. There could be a bit of awkwardness at the meeting tonight for the council as work was started on flood defences after the flooding in 2015, and they still havent been finished. If they had, perhaps the impact of the recent flooding could have been reduced, so potentially some difficult questions for the council tonight. Thank you so much for that. Let us go to fiona, telling us more about that army widow who wants action on post Traumatic Stress disorder in vetera ns. Post Traumatic Stress disorder in veterans. Fiona. I have been talking tojoejukes, her husband had been in the army for 25 years, but he suffered with post Traumatic Stress disorder. He had nightmares, and at the end of his life, he started having suicidal thoughts. In 2018, he tragically took his life. She is calling on the mod to keep live data to say exactly how many veterans have taken their lives, because when they talked to the mod, they said they dont know how many people have taken their lives, so if you go to a veteran charity, they would say for example in 2018 that they think 86 people have taken their lives. In 2019, 74 vetera ns have taken their lives. In 2019, 74 veterans took their lives, and in 2020 so far, they believe nine have taken their lives. This isjoe saying she thinks it is completely wrong that the mod isnt accountable and doesnt actually know how many vetera ns and doesnt actually know how many veterans have done this. He signed up veterans have done this. He signed up to protect our country, and that left him with really bad mental health. I think if we look at that, the mod are the one ones who should have stepped in. I think you have also been speaking to a veteran. Yes, Graham Stubbs lives in wiltshire. He served in Northern Ireland and left the army some time ago. In 2018, he also tried to take his life. He was saved. The Police Actually saved him. He is now campaigning, and he says again the mod should take a lot more responsibility, and he wants to help other veterans who like him are still suffering. The mod actually accept that this is caused through ourjob andi accept that this is caused through ourjob and i would like to see the government step up to try and sort process app that is consistent across the country for all veterans who have served, and they have got to admit to a certain extent that thejob to admit to a certain extent that the job they to admit to a certain extent that thejob they are to admit to a certain extent that the job they are sending us to do is causing the problems. We are only asking for a bit of help and support, a bit of money spent in the right way, rather than wasting it. The mod says every suicide is a tragedy and their thoughts are with the families of those who have taken their lives. They say they are investing more money, they are trying to help the nhs work alongside the veterans who have come out of the army. They also say they have commissioned studies to better understand what needs to be put in place to help these people. Thank you so much for that. Thank you to luxe me in leeds. If you would like to see more on any of those stories, you can access them via the bbc iplayer, and a reminder that we go nationwide every weekday afternoon at 430 here on afternoon live. Diplomatic efforts are intensifying in turkey and syria to try to halt the crisis in the region. Eu officials have visited the greece turkey border where thousands of migrants have gathered, after ankara said it would no longer stop people trying to reach europe. Paul adams reports from turkey. The battle for idlib rages on, momentum changing almost by the day. Around the town of kafr nabl, the russian backed syrian army once again pushing forward after several days of setbacks. Turkeys intervention has been dramatic. Dozens of Syrian Government targets hit in waves of turkish drone strikes. Civilians are still on the move in huge numbers. For Abu Mohammeds family, the exodus began nine months ago, far to the south. The fighting has chased them from town to town and now, finally, to the forest. Theyve carried what they can, even bringing their precious animals. Translation we are living in these mountains, on these rocks, in the rain and cold. Where should we go now . We dont have anywhere else to go. Except here. For the besieged, traumatised people of idlib, this was a first a un team on the ground yesterday seeing for themselves the scale and severity of the crisis. The un wants to do this more often, but with fighting not far away, knows itll be a challenge. What my colleagues found, these are professionally experienced people, was quite shocking. The level of need is very high. Firstly, people are enormously frightened and traumatised, but secondly, they have very basic needs food, water, latrines, medical services and so on and we need to work out the best ways to scale all that up. And those needs begin at the beginning. In the midst of all this trauma, there are new lives here, but doctors say miscarriages and premature births are on the rise. Outside, an alarm sounds, a sign that an air strike could be imminent. There is no let up in the fighting and there probably wont be before thursday when the two main players in the idlib conflict, turkeys president erdogan and russias vladimir putin, meet in moscow. Both have stakes and interest in idlib, and neither man will want to negotiate on the provinces fate from a position of weakness. Paul adams, bbc news, near the turkish syrian border. Jonah fisher is on the greece turkey border which has seen a rise in people attempting to cross into the eu and sent this update. This is a greek side of the land border. There are a large amount of refugees who have gathered along that border fence after being encouraged to do so by the turkish authorities. Now, what has happened todayis authorities. Now, what has happened today is that we have had the visit of three of the most Senior Members of three of the most Senior Members of the European Union. The president of the European Union. The president of the European Union. The president of the council, the commission and of the council, the commission and of the council, the commission and of the european parliament. They came here to very publicly show their solidarity with grace. This is of course not just their solidarity with grace. This is of course notjust at their solidarity with grace. This is of course not just at the their solidarity with grace. This is of course notjust at the border between greece and turkey but also the border between the European Union and turkey. Talk about solidarity in their comments afterwards, and support with more money and Security Assistance for greece, particularly in the aegean sea, where we have seen boats try to cross from turkey to the greek islands, and there have been some stand offs there between these dinghies as they try to cross and the greek coastguard as they try to thwart them and push them back. A couple of pointed references in the eu comments towards the need for greece to do this with respect to human rights and european values. They didnt set directly, but we do know that there are lots of people who are a little bit worried about greeces decision to cancel the assessment of asylum claims here in greece. They have announced that if you get arrested here, having crossed the border illegally, you will not have your claim assessed and will not be able to stand here stay here in a Detention Centre and will be sent back to turkey most likely, and that is in breach of most International Conventions on how refugees should be treated. The greek Prime Minister was also here, and in his comments, much more direct criticism of the turkey was playing, and they see this being turkish aggression towards greece carried out with migrants being used asa carried out with migrants being used as a pond. At the moment, this border is relatively secure. We know that some people have got through because we have been speaking to them over the last few days. The big question is in the aegean sea and whether the increased security presence there can stop the rising number of boats that are leaving the turkish mainland, hoping to reach the greek islands and reach europe. That is jonah fisher the greek islands and reach europe. That isjonah fisher reporting. I wa nt to that isjonah fisher reporting. I want to bring you an update on how coronavirus is affecting sport in europe, and we have heard from the Spanish Health minister, this is reuters reporting that Spains Health minister says there is, on the last 16 return leg of the Champions League game between valencia of spain and italys ata la nta, valencia of spain and italys atalanta, that is going to be held without fans. No fans at that last 16 return leg of the Champions League football match between valencia of spain and atalanta of italy. Atalantas from the Lombardy Region of italy, one of the regions affected by the coronavirus. Other sporting events also to be held without fans include a Europa League match between qatar fate of spain and italys inter milan, and milan is in one of the areas affected by coronavirus, so those two games are to be held without fans according to the Spanish Health minister. We will bring you more details on that, but most of those matches will be held without fans because of coronavirus. Ben thompson is with me for the business news. But now look at the headlines. The Prime Minister sets out the governments plans to tackle coronavirus in the uk and reveals up to a fifth of the workforce could be off sick at the peak of the virus. The Health Secretary confirms the number of cases of the virus in the uk has risen again it now stands at 51. Its super tuesday in the United States with democrats in 14 states voting on who they want to take on donald trump in novembers election. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. The Us Central Bank has slashed Interest Rates in response to mounting concerns of the Economic Impact of the coronavirus. It cut rates by a half of 1 from promises from other Central Banks to intervene to prop up growth. European markets also bounced back after recent heavy losses as investors and businesses will worry about a fall in sales and a slump in productivity if staff are forced to stay at home. Social media giant twitter has told its employees to work from home to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The firm said it was mandatory for staff in hong kong, japan and south korea to work remotely and is also strongly encouraging its 5,000 employees around the world to not come into work. It comes a day after the firm banned all non essential Business Travel and events for its workers. Tech giant apple has agreed to pay up to 500 million to settle a Class Action Lawsuit accusing it of slowing down older iphones as it launched new models, to induce people to upgrade or buy new batteries. In 2017, appple admitted it slowed down some iphones to prolong their life, but many suspected it was to encourage upgrades to more expensive phones. The payout could amount to around £20 per person. What a day hit has been. 48 hours yesterday, we were talking about heavy losses on european stock markets, but the best one day points rise for new yorks dowjones industrial average, huge rive rise as more than 1200 points, but today somewhat different, and in the last hour, Us Federal Reserve has slashed Interest Rates. It has cut them by not. 5 , designed to inject a bit of a burst into us markets that might feel a slowdown from the coronavirus. Not everyone is happy. Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange have questioned the timing of its, saying that it would not benefit. They are doing it to support the markets, but that makes people fearful that, we must be in bad shape if they are doing such a large cut. You have two voices talking. You are worried they are expending ammunition they do not already have. I was hoping they would not do it, let the market equalise itself. Markets can handle and adapt to any situation when given the opportunity and time. To pull that bullet out so fast and furiously leaves us with not that much ammo. Not much ammo. Lets get the thoughts of ross mould, investment director at ajay bell. I think you could hear that. That is the thought of one trader there at the thought of one trader there at the New York Stock Exchange. Give me an idea of what you think of this. It is not unprecedented, rates can be cut quite drastically in scenarios like this, but one trader i was talking to the saturn and says this does not paint a picture of an economy that is calm. Not at all, andi economy that is calm. Not at all, and i think if the Federal Reserve was hoping to inject benefits into the market, it has not succeeded. The dowjones the market, it has not succeeded. The Dow Jones Industrial the market, it has not succeeded. The dowjones industrial before we came on air, it was down, so traders are right to ask themselves if it was economical or political. President trump has been screaming out for Interest Rate cuts. Was it designed to help the economy or Financial Markets . If it was Financial Markets . If it was Financial Markets, that is a moral hazard, not a good thing. Would it work if it was designed to help the economy . If youre not going to get a flight from miami to milan, it does not matter what the cost is, youre just does not matter what the cost is, yourejust simply does not matter what the cost is, youre just simply not going to. Let us talk today, because this time yesterday we were nursing heavy losses in the markets, and today is quite a different picture in europe, and it is quite a reversal of what has happened in the us. Everyone will be forgiven for thinking what is going on. We saw big rises in the us and europe and it has gone the other way today. It is because we are trying to work out how to get a clear idea of how far the coronavirus could reach and how long it could last, and what the knock on effect is on the economy. We simply dont know. That wouldnt be necessarily a big problem from the narrow perspective of the Financial Markets if they were trading at or near all time highs. The problem from an upmarket perspective is we have had a ten or 11 year run, the price for thing is Getting Better on a consistent basis, and for the first time they might be getting worse. Lets talk about this rate cut in the us given all of that context. Is this an economic decision, one that is designed to pp up decision, one that is designed to prop up an economy, or is it purely logical . We know that resides in trump likes it when the arrows are up. We know President Trump likes it when the arrows are up. Trump is saying we should have the lowest rates in america, and he hasnt quite worked out that is what the economy does when it is in trouble. If that is the case, the direction of travel is Interest Rates going to zero, and the unpleasantness gold plating their money there when it is too risky. We heard in the clip they are from the trader on the New York Stock Exchange is playing you hands to sin. If you make this move now, there are few options to do if you dont get it to work. Interest rates are down to one and a quarter percent, and we still dont have a recession. In an upper limit is at a record low, and there is a big risk that they slow down from here, but we have Economic Growth on the face of it, so there is very little room for manoeuvre other than taking Interest Rates to zero and then negative territory and then quantitative easing and then helicopter money because of it has options, but they are very extreme and once we hoped we would never see. Very smart lady from management said to me it is a lobster pot economy. Very easy to get into, cut rates and encourage borrowing, but very ha rd to rates and encourage borrowing, but very hard to get out of when you try to put rates up because of debt. |j learn something from you every day. That is a new phrase for me. A lobster pot economy. Let us have a look at those numbers as promised, so let us have a look at how the session has ended. Ignore the cat on their down. Similar picture in janome, as i touched unquote, quite a reversal of. Look at the dow they are, trade still down, 1. 4 lower despite that half point cut in Interest Rates, so what investors and rats was alluding to there, they are worried the us federal has played their hand to sin will stop we know the Central Banks injapan and england have said they are prepared to step in an active necessary. We could see a cut in Interest Rates on the cards in the uk before the end of the month. Remember the bank of england, its Monetary Policy committee, that is the rate setting committee, it meets at the end of march, but we might see some Emergency Action and a cut in Interest Rates a little earlier than perhaps we might have been expecting. You are up to date with all of the business. Ben is back with bbc news at five, but now a look at the weather. It has been an afternoon of sunshine and showers. More cloud around then we had yesterday, and still felt on the chilly side. This is the weather front that enhanced the shower activity, pushing off towards the north sea. As we enter the day and head on into the evening, most of the showers will clear away with clearing skies with many, continuing across northern scotland. Across the north west, temperatures will recover, but it will be a cold night for the widespread frost and ice where there are showers. Starting the day off bright with plenty of sunshine, cold for wednesday, the day off bright with plenty of sunshine, cold forwednesday, but the day off bright with plenty of sunshine, cold for wednesday, but we will see this area of rain pushing across the south west, the midlands, southern england to wales and perhaps into Northern Ireland with snow on the hills. A bit of a dismal day here. A chilly day further north but right and milder across the south west briefly. Into thursday and friday, days of sunshine and showers and then turning wetter, milder towards the weekend. Today at five up to a fifth of the uk workforce may be off sick during the peak of a coronavirus epidemic, according to the government. As the number of people infected in the uk rises to 51, the Prime Minister says its highly likely we will see further infection and has unveiled the governments plan to tackle the virus. Our plan means we are committed to doing Everything Possible based on the advice of our world leading scientific experts to prepare for all eventualities. About 90,000 people have been infected globally since the outbreak of covid 19, with cases in more than 50 countries and more than 3,000 deaths. Well be talking to a professor in experimental medicine about how best to contain the outbreak