This is bbc news. Im lukwesa burak. The headlines at four the number of people diagnosed with coronavirus in the uk has increased by 43 in one day, bringing the total to 206. 140 british people remain on board a cruise ship off San Francisco, where 21 passengers have tested positive for coronavirus. There is a rush for me to get off the ship. I have stage four neuroendocrine cancer and my tumours are actively growing. Its not going to be easy to off load the ship with 2500 passengers. Gay man in his 80s is the second person in the uk to have died after testing a man in his 80s is the
second person to have died after testing positive for coronavirus. We have five patients who have been tested. We a re have five patients who have been tested. We are waiting for the results to come back. We have asked nine stuff to self isolate. £360 million will be paid by Insurance Companies to clean up the damage from storms dennis and ciara. Good afternoon. Welcome to bbc news. In the past hour we have learned that the number of people diagnosed with coronavirus in the uk has risen once again, to 206. The deputy chief medical officer
for england says the country remains in the containment phase in dealing with coronavirus. Moored off San Francisco since wednesday, test kits were lowered onto the ship by the us coastguard. 46 people were swabbed for the coronavirus. 21 tested positive 19 crew members and two passengers. The test results were revealed by the us Vice President , mike pence, whos leading the countrys response to the disease. We are taking all measures necessary to see to the health of the americans and those involved on the grand princess, and, just as importantly, to protect the health of the American Public and prevent the spread of the disease through communities in this country. Shortly afterwards the vice
president s news conference, the ships captain made an announcement over the public address system to confirm the findings and to apologise for the way those affected found out. You may have heard this on the news by the media already, and we apologise but we were not given advance notice of this announcement by the us federal government. It wouldve been our preference to be the first to make this news available to you. These individuals will be notified of their test results as quickly as possible. Plans are currently under way to bring the ship into a non commercial port. All passengers and crew will now be testit and those that require it will be put into quarantine. Crew members will stay on the ship. Its not known yet where the passengers will be taken. President trump appears to be at odds with his team dealing with the cruise liner. Frankly, if it were up to me, i would be inclined to say leave everybody on the ship for a period of time and use the ship as your base, but a lot of people would rather do it a different way
than rather quarantine people on land. When they do that, our numbers are going to go up. Either way, it means more days days of uncertainty for the passengers. There is a rush for me to get off the ship. I have stage four neuroendocrine cancer and my tumours are actively growing, so we almost didnt come on the trip but because of some delay in insurance and such, we were encouraged to go and weve been looking forward to it and really wanted to go. Officials say the majority of passengers are in their 60s, 70s and 80s the most vulnerable section of the population. The Vice President said his advice to elderly americans planning a cruise was to use common sense. Peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. Leeann higgins and her daughter, kailee, are on the grand princess cruise ship. Kailee explained how they found out that a case of coronavirus had been confirmed on board. The Vice President decided on the news and it was so surprising to me. I am not scared for myself because i am healthy and my mum is healthy. But it is definitely a very scary situation. Obviously i want to take all the precautions necessary, but i do want to go back to school because i am in high school and i dont want to miss more school. But i think its definitely important for everybody has my safety to take proper precautions. A man who caught coronavirus in a quarantined ship ofjapan has died, according to japanese media. The passenger has not yet been named. He was among more than 600 who became infected on the diamond princess liner. His death brings the death toll from the ship to seven,
including at least one british man. The cruise liner was put under quarantine in yokohama in early february after a man had disembarked in hong kong and was found to have contracted the virus. As we have been hearing, the number of uk cases has passed 200, with the chief medical officer saying the chances of the uk missing an epidemic now are slim to nil. The uk has reached 206 confirmed cases, an increase of a2. More than 22,000 people who have been tested. Last night, the death of a second patient with the infection was confirmed. The elderly man was on a ward with the patients for two days before he was diagnosed with coronavirus. With other patients. The trust has
asked nine members of staff to self isolate. The chief executive of Milton KeynesUniversity Hospital nhs trust said it was doing everything to protect the public. We managed that patient appropriately, and we are also managing those patients who are attending our hospital who are showing signs of coronavirus appropriately and isolating those individuals. Professor Mark Woolhouse is an expert in epidemiology and joins us now. First, do you think we are still in the containment face . Well, as the government has been saying, we are
on the edge of moving into the delay phase. This is what the early stages ofan phase. This is what the early stages of an epidemic look like. We are seeing a switch from where most cases can be traced back to foreign travel, now more and more, a larger and largerfraction travel, now more and more, a larger and larger fraction of our local, transmitted within the uk, often without a clear chain of transmission, and thats what it looks like in the early stages of an epidemic. What are the implications, then . It means we will have to move into the delay phase. It becomes less and less useful to do detailed Contact Tracing of every single case. We are more in trying to reduce the rate of spread, so one of the key measures we can undertake to do that is to ask people showing symptoms to self isolate, and that is designed to reduce the chances that they will transmit the infection on to anyone else. We have this ia day period of self
isolation, but is that enough . There are so many questions about this virus that we dont know. Yes, there is good data saying that ia days is usually the maximum incubation period. It is rare for it to be longer than that. The aim is to stop people transmitting. 0nce theyve recovered, they will hopefully have some immunity to the virus, and thats fine. They can resume normal life. What sort of measures would the government and the nhs have in place to handle epidemics . There is something in place, isnt there, normally . There is a whole series of planning that dates back all the way to the pandemic influenza in 200910. A lot of to the pandemic influenza in 2009 10. A lot of government planning is built around that. In that scenario, they have a reasonable worst case, the worst that an influenza pandemic might do in the uk. At the moment, the government is planning largely around that. I want to go back to the sars outbreak. I understand that
sars died out and no vaccine was given or developed. What happened then, are we likely to see the same with coronavirus . It doesnt look that way. Sars was a more serious infection with a higher mortality rate. Most of the transmission happened amongst people who were very ill, a lot of it in hospitals, so it was quite easy to identify cases and take appropriate measures to stop onward transmission. This illness is milder, which is a good thing for those infected, but it makes it harder to track, and less easy to isolate every single case. As you have watched the coronavirus outbreak develop, what are your main concerns about what you have been witnessing . How infectious is it . On average, if we dont do anything, an infected person will infect two or three other people, and that is quite high for respiratory infection, so it is spreading quite
fast. In the peak of the epidemic in wuhan, the infections were doubling every few days, and obviously thats not something we want to see in the uk. That is the point of the government measures to try and delay the spread of the epidemic, slow down the rate of the transmission and make the whole event more manageable. Thank you very much for that. The vatican has announced that the pope will stream his sunday blessing from inside rather than from in saint Peters Square due to coronavirus. The measures have been put in place to stop people gathering at large events. The pope has recently recovered from a cold and had himself been tested for coronavirus. After the wettest february on record, the association of british insurers says, the total value of pay outs to people hit by flooding will be around £360 million. The cost covers damage from storms ciara and dennis. Heres our business correspondent, katie prescott. The long clean up operation continues. When storms ciara and dennis spread through the uk, they left devastation in their wake homes, businesses and transport underwater. Now the Insurance Industry is counting the cost. More than 3000 households have made flood claims for an average of £32,000. Our initial estimates are that storm ciara and storm dennis are going to cost around £363 million, thats how much insurers are paying out to help customers recover from these devastating incidents. To put this into context, at £360 million, the cost of clearing up after storms ciara and dennis is triple that of the floods in the midlands and South Yorkshire last november, which cost £110 million, but below the three successive storms desmond,
eva then frank in december 2015, which cost £i. 3 billion. Several large insurers have recently said how winterflood claims are hitting their businesses. Direct lines profits were down 10 , while aviva says its paying out £70 million because of flood and wind damage claims. And these costs are still just estimates. They could yet rise as more damage emerges. Katie prescott, bbc news. The new chancellor is due to hold his first budget this week, with all eyes on what measures hell announce to help people through the coronavirus outbreak. 0ne separate, expected move, is the scrapping of the so called tampon tax, from january next year. Five percent vat is currently added to female sanitary products under eu rules. The treasury says removing the levy will make a pack of 20 tampons, 7 pence cheaper, with 5 pence coming off the cost of 12 sanitary
pads. Since 2015, women in the uk have paid around £62 million in tax on sanitary products, most of which is passed on by the government to charities. A little earlier, i spoke to our Political CorrespondentJonathan Blake about the implications of the tax cut. It is only a saving of a few pence on each but campaigners argue that so many women suffer what they call Period Property and cant afford to period poverty and cant afford to buy these products. Adding that tax is simply making it more difficult for them. So this is a long planned move. It was there because an eu rule meant that member states, and the uk was one of those until we left the eu, of course, couldnt reduce vat on sanitary products below 5 . Now that we are leaving, and come the end of the transition period at the end of december, the chancellor has confirmed the tax will go injanuary. He will confirm it in the budget on wednesday. Interestingly though, you mentioned
the figure of £60 million which is going to charities helping women who cant afford these products. They say that funding needs to be made up somehow. While they welcomed the move to get rid of the vat, they say those charities will lose out on that funding. They may well be watching the chancellor on wednesday to see if he goes any further than scrapping the tax. Three saudi princes including king salmans brother and nephew are reported to have been arrested. The detentions are said to be linked to the countrys de facto ruler, mohammad bin salman. While no reason has been given, its being seen as a move to consolidate his power and remove any threat to his authority. Heres our security correspondent, frank gardner. If confirmed, this would be a significant move by saudi arabias powerful crown prince to consolidate his position. One of the
senior princes reportedly detained is one of the last surviving sons of the countrys founder, and widely respected amongst older members of the ruling family. The other senior prince detained was next in line to the throne before he was suddenly replaced three years ago. There has been no immediate official confirmation or denial of the story, but Palace Affairs in saudi arabia are often shrouded in secrecy. Frank gardner, bbc news. The headlines on bbc news the number of people diagnosed with coronavirus in the uk has increased by a3 in one day, bringing the new total to 206. 1a0 british people remain on board a cruise ship of San Francisco, where 21 passengers have tested positive for the virus. And £360 million will be paid out by Insurance Companies to help in the clean up following the damage from
storm ciara and storm dennis. In sport, liverpool are three victories away from winning their First League Title for 30 years. They beat bournemouth 2 1 to move 25 points clear at the top of the table. England women thrashed wales in the six nations to retain their hopes of winning the grand slam. British number onejohanna konta bid to reach the final of the monterey she plays marie butskova later. More now on the coronavirus outbreak, and your questions, a nswered outbreak, and your questions,
answered by doctor chris smith. He started by answering sylvia post my question about whether wearing plastic gloves in public minimises the risk of contracting the virus. This virus wants to gain access to what are called your mucous membranes, your nose, your throat, or to do that via your eyes. If you touch a surface wearing gloves, 0k. If you peel the gloves off and threw them away, anything on the gloves wont go near your mucous membranes. If you touch anything while wearing the gloves, you can still transmit anything on the gloves to your eyes. If you touch your face, your fingers into your nose or mouth, you can transmit viruses on the glove surface. To be honest, because the virus can infect you through your normal skin, it is better to wash your hands with soap and water. Where are the mucous membranes located . Anything which is a soft and squidgy bit in your body, so that means your nose and throat, your naughty bits and your eyes. This virus infects dewar so it might
via the nose and throat. Peter says, doi via the nose and throat. Peter says, do i need to clean parcels that are delivered to my house . Hello, peter. You are asking how long it lasts on a surface. This is important because when we want to clean up when someone has been in an area and they have been shedding this virus, we need to know how much their risk how much risk there might be from surfaces. The answer is that this what we call an envelope virus. The outside of the virus is covered with an oily member rain membrane. It is vulnerable to alcohol, because that breaks that envelope of the virus. Without that being intact, the virus cant infect you. It makes the virus cant infect you. It makes the virus cant infect you. It makes the virus fragile, so it tends to be
ona the virus fragile, so it tends to be on a surface and intact and capable of infecting only four minutes to hours. Parcels coming through the post and that kind of thing, we think the risk is minimal. Does bleach breakthrough that membrane . Bleach will pretty much kill every virus we know about, both the envelope types and those without an envelope, such as norovirus. Because it doesnt have that envelope round the outside. It will survive on surfaces four weeks to months, which is why we are in a good position with this virus. It is easier to disinfect. Alcohol, bleach and Hydrogen Peroxide is good to deal with it, but dont put that in your eyes. We have been hearing about a new strain that may have developed. No confirmation yet but there is concern. This virus jumped from animal to concern. This virus jumped from animalto human, so concern. This virus jumped from animal to human, so edward is asking, is there a chance that this virus could mutate and worsen . All
viruses can mutate. That means the Genetic Information of the virus can change. Some viruses do this a lot. If you take the norovirus, this mutates so ferociously quickly that you can catch it again within six weeks of last having it. Other viruses mutate only slowly, such as the herpes virus or the measles virus. They mutate so slowly that you get vaccinated or catch them once and you never need to worry again. This new virus, we are looking at it carefully, and people are comparing samples coming out of patients now with those from the start of the outbreak in china, and you can see where the virus is changing. Reassuringly, the changes appear to be happening only very slowly and they are not affecting the rate at which the virus spreads or how nasty it appears to be. We are comfortable that there is a low risk at the moment that this virus
will suddenly weapon eyes in some way through mutation. Kath asks, should asthmatics take special precautions to protect themselves from the virus . What can you do . People with asthma have a range of symptoms, some people having mild asthma induced by exercise though going out on a cold day. Other people have severe asthma, and they might need to take drugs that suppress their immune system in order to keep their asthma under control. Asthma is an allergy to dust mites, so to keep it under control, you usually take drugs like inhaled steroids that delivers some of the steroid to the surface of the lung, and this depresses the immune response in the long and makes it less reactive, so you have fewer
symptoms. There is some spill over systemically around your body, and some peoples asthma is so severe that they have to take systemic steroids, tablets which depress their immune system, and that will affect the entire body. For this reason, anything that affects the chest and then immune suppressant will make you more vulnerable to the effects of this and any other virus. You should try to take steps not to catch it, which is easy to say but ha rd catch it, which is easy to say but hard in practice to do. If you think you are getting on well, you should call for help because it could be that the symptoms will be worse in you and steps need to be taken. That the symptoms will be worse in you and steps need to be takenm there anything that can be done for someone with a compromised immune system . Pregnant someone with a compromised immune system . Pregnant women have lowered immunity in order to protect the foetus. Is there anything you can do . Interesting that you highlight the effect in pregnancy, because that was a big concern at the start of all of this. Some viruses when they infect a woman who is pregnant
produce a manifestation that is more severe. If a lady catches hepatitis when she is pregnant, she can develop severe symptoms. That doesnt seem to be the case in this instance, so we are reassured that women are not at serious risk if they are pregnant. The other concern is, will this damage my baby . This virus does not go across the placenta, as far as we can tell, so it wont cause damage to the baby. Any kind of infection in pregnancy, it does increase the risk of problems, but the risk is small here. If you are in a group with a depressed immune system because your an organ transplant recipient or you are asthmatic, there is a risk that you will develop a more severe illness, but that is no more severe thanif illness, but that is no more severe than if you caught the flu, for instance. Most people who have had
transplants all know they are at risk have already become very sensible. They know how to stay well and they already exercise caution. They do tend to take steps to minimise catching these sorts of things. They say to friends, dont come over if youve got something because i dont want to catch it, or they dont go to places where they know there will be lots of people who will have an infection. That common sense approach is the best way forward here. Pam asks, ifi do contract the virus, how long with the symptoms last . Do we know that yet . Really good question, pam. It varies from individual to individual. It varies most discriminate led by age. It also discriminates against men, so i am potentially in trouble. We know that very young people seem to have very low levels of symptoms, so we dont really know how long they are symptomatic for, or how long they are shedding the virus for. We know
that people who get severely unwell tend to get worse and worse by the day. The incubation period seems to be about four days on average. The longest documented reliably is about 11 days, the shortest one day. People then get incrementally worse symptoms day by day so that if they are going to get really bad, by about a week into the illness, the symptoms peak and then may improve. It will probably follow a similar pattern to flu, where most people end up with symptoms peaking after three days and then you feel washed out and not very well but better largely by five days. That was doctor chris smith. When jade largely by five days. That was doctor chris smith. Whenjade called ups brother was born, doctors said he may never walk talk your smile. She decided to learn Sign Language so she could communicate with them. The pair teach others to sign on
their Facebook Page and have gained millions of supporters, including the singer lewis capaldi. Watch this one . Love. Can you sign friend . Yeah, friend 0ne, watch this one . Love. Can you sign friend . Yeah, friend one, two, three. Jade and christian record Sign Language lessons and sign along to pop songs on facebook and youtube. Their videos have been viewed by millions across the world. Well done. My little brother christian was stillborn. He didnt ta ke christian was stillborn. He didnt take his first breath for 2a minutes. His brain was starved of oxygen for that long, which has led to him having a type of brain injury called h ie. He was told he would
never be able to communicate, so i decided to learn Sign Language and teaching. It has enabled him to be able to talk and signing over 250 words, talking a lot. You are proving everybody wrong, arent you . So many people use signing. So, everybody should be able to talk it. What would that change mean to you, christian, your family . You could go to the local Brownie Group and be able to make friends, be able to talk to everybody, and it would mean everything, wouldnt it . Jade started an online petition calling for signing to be taught in primary schools across england. It has had more than 100,000 signatures in less than two months. Jade never expected her petition to go viral and get so
much support, but now it has had more than 100,000 signatures, it will leave her home here, making its way here, to westminster, where jades petition will be considered for a debate by mps. But how realistic is it . James will primary schools in london already teach Sign Language. I do admit it will be a big challenge. We have the benefit of not only deaf adults but specialist, very experienced sinosigners. It does take a while to feel confident and teach something on. As long as you have the right training, teachers are adaptable. The department for education says schools can teach sign if they choose to. It is currently developing a Sign Language gcse with
the hope of introducing it as soon as possible. Lets catch up with the weather. Another unsettled weekend because we have low pressure sweeping in. Wet weather in the west will transfer to the east overnight. There will be cooler air and blustery showers blowing in from the west with sunny spells in between. The winds are a feature ending the day this evening. A050 feature ending the day this evening. A0 50 mph gusts along with a heavy rain, spilling east. The heavier rain, spilling east. The heavier rain will be in the east by the end of the night. Further west, blustery showers with clear spells. It will be cool in the north and milder in the south. When the weather clears away from the south east through the morning and then a brighter day for many of us, lots of sunshine but also blustery showers, heavy and frequent in the north and west,
where there will be