Look at the difference, a ridge of High Pressure starting to building from the south west. That will help to settle things down. We can take a bit of a breather. The next low pressure system is just waiting in the wings. For many of us, friday is a different feeling day. The wins will be that bit lighter, a good deal of sunshine around, still the chance of an isolated shower. Many places remaining dry. Down the east coast, there will be quite a cool breeze, so here, temperatures tempered a bit. Temperatures more or less in line with todays values but with lighter wind and more sunshine it should be a more pleasant. The rain starts to move into South West England and wales before the end of the day. As we head into the weekend, guess what . Low pressure is backin weekend, guess what . Low pressure is back in charge. A spell of rain working its way through saturday and into sunday. But on into next week asi into sunday. But on into next week as i mentioned, it looks as though High Pressure starts to build in from the south. That will help to settle things down for the southern half of the uk but i think for many, it will start to feel a bit more springlike. A reminder of our top story. The governments Emergency Cobra Committee is meeting now to decide whether to step up its response to the spread of coronavirus. It could introduce new measures to restrict movement. It to restrict movement. Could include restricting gatherings it could include restricting gatherings and advising elderly people to stay at home. Ministers have sought to reassure the public. We will make the right decisions at the right time, every step of this process , the right time, every step of this process, people can be assured of that. In the us, President Trump has imposed a mass ban on flights from 26 european countries, excluding the uk. To keep new cases from entering oui uk. To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from europe to the United States or the next 30 days. Thats all from the bbc news at one, so its goodbye from me, and on bbc one, we nowjoin the bbcs news teams where you are. Hello, youre watching bbc news. Im olly, at the bbc sport centre. Mclaren have withdrawn from sundays opening race of the formula one season the australian grand prix thats after a member of their team tested positive for coronavirus. Fi Officials Say theyre now coordinating with all the relevant authorities on the next steps. Seven other fi staff tested negative for the virus in melbourne for the virus in melbourne. The chinese grand prix has already been postponed next month and the barhrain race next week due to take place behind closed doors. The World ChampionLewis Hamilton says hes surprised the race is going ahead. Our fi reporterjennie gow is in melbourne gow is in melbourne. Some people that i spoke to here today in the paddocks said as soon as one positive test comes back, he would suggest that the whole camp closed down. Others have said if its a matter of containment, and they can source how many people that one crew member has had direct contact with, you might be able to be confined within the presence of that team. There is i suppose hope for the other nine teams that you have to stay in a very small paddock which works in a very close knit community, so more cases may well come to light and more tests could happen. A big decision for formula i and the medical authorities within victoria state in australia, where the race takes place, to make that call. Manchester Citys Champions League tie against real madrid is likely to be postponed next week. Reals players are in self isolation after a real madrid basketball player who shares the same facilities as the footballers tested positive for the virus. The Training Facility has now been shut. Spains top division la liga has also been suspended for at least two rounds of matches. The English Football League will have talks with the premier league today after a crisis plan was leaked, a contingency plan to play all remaining matches behind closed doors because of the coronavirus. Officials at the premier league believe matches taking place without fans is inevitable but their plan, reported in the times has not been approved by the governement and has taken efl bosses by surprise. They are understood to be against matches taking place behind closed doors due to a loss of revenue. Premier league bosses have distanced themselves from the report. Europa league matches, not involving spanish or italian sides, go ahead two english clubs are playing behind closed doors. Manchester united are in austria to play lask in the last 16. Wolves asked for their match in athens against olympiakos to be postponed due to covid i9. That was rejected by uefa so it goes ahead. Rangers are at home Bayer Leverkusen but will play behind closed doors in germany in the second leg. Northern irelands euro 2020 play off in bosnia at the end of this month could be postponed. The bosnia and herzegovina fa have asked for the delay because some of their team play in italy which is in lockdown. And englands friendly against denmark at wembley on march 31st is set to be cancelled thats the expectation of the danish fa who have stopped all football in the country until the end of the month. We could get a lot more clarity over european football fixtures next week uefa have invited all 55 member associations, the European Clubs Association and the World Players Union to attend meeting by videoconference next tuesday. Discussions will include all domestic and european competitions, including euro 2020, the European Championship this summer. I2 12 different cities due to take place. Due to the outbreak theres only one game going ahead in the six nations, as scotland play wales in cardiff. Scotland have made three changes from their win over france with stuart mcinally, sam skinner and Magnus Bradbury coming in for saturdays match. As for wales, captain alun wynjones will equal the world record for test appearances going level on 148 with all black richie mccaw. Scrum half rhys webb will make his first start for two years while Willgriff John makes his debut and cory hill comes in too. And despite the coronavirus, day three at cheltenham has just got underway. Thousands are in attendance with the ryanair chase and marsh novices chase among the feature races. Lots of health and hygiene provisions have been put in place, and we will be speaking to our correspondence throughout the course of the afternoon. Go to the bbc sport website, a constantly updating list of events that have been hit by the virus. We will have all those updates on afternoon live and beyond. Earths great ice sheets, greenland and antarctica, are now losing mass six times faster than they were in the 1990s thanks to warming conditions. A comprehensive review of satellite data from both poles is unequivocal in its assessment of accelerating trends, say scientists. Between them, greenland and antarctica lost 6. 4 trillion tonnes of ice in the period from 1992 to 2017. Professor Andrew Shepherd is the co lead on the project looking into ice sheet melting, called the ice sheet mass balance intercomparison exercise. He works for the university of leeds, and joins us from there now. Welcome to bbc news and thanks so much forjoining us. This sounds on the face of it very sobering. Is this rate of these ice sheets losing mass, is this what he would have expected . No, its not what we expected in fa ct. No, its not what we expected in fact. It has taken is about 20 or 30 yea rs fact. It has taken is about 20 or 30 years to detect the signal in the climate record. Until then, we relied upon modern predictions of Climate Change. What we see actually as the ice loss is tracking the upper end of those predictions, which, in other words, upper end of those predictions, which, in otherwords, is upper end of those predictions, which, in other words, is the worst Case Scenario. It is happening faster than you would have expected . It certainly is, and that means predictions for the future should be revised upwards as well, because nothing is about to change in terms of the amount of heat we are putting into the oceans, so we should expect more ice to be lost. What is this likely to mean for governments who are Planning Strategies for dealing with the increased risk of flooding, particularly around coastal areas . There are two ways to look at it. Either we have to build higher defences either we have to build higher d efe nces by either we have to build higher defences by about 20 centimetres, which is about the size of my head on this screen here, all we have to bring forward the plan is that we have currently got by about 20 yea rs. Have currently got by about 20 years. Both of those things will cost a lot of money for the places that are going to be affected by sea rise. Which of those is easier or quicker to do . Either thing has to be dealt with today. I know we have a huge Global Crisis with coronavirus, but this is a crisis for People Living in the future, that we have to act on today really because if we dont, then were just really because if we dont, then werejust going to really because if we dont, then were just going to be experiencing more Sea Level Rise and we wont have a chance to either prevent it from happening or to deal with the consequences. There is a vast amount of ice that has been lost in this period. Have theice has been lost in this period. Have the ice sheets reacted in the same way to Climate Change . The rate at which the ice loss has increased, antarctica has gone up by a factor of five and greenland seven, so six over all. It is partly due to atmospheric warming and atmospheric pressure, and sea water temperature. What would your message be . The message is absolutely clear that we need to plan, first of all, for a more Sea Level Rise in the future and we have to let people know where that Sea Level Rise is going to happen in the uk. I expect most people dont really appreciate which parts of our coastline are most vulnerable to Sea Level Rise, and it turns out they are not just the places we enjoy to visit for recreation, but it is where we grow most of our crops. They will be a knock on effect for those coastlines. We are going to have to leave it there. Professor shepherd, thank you very much forjoining us. Lets get more now on coronavirus, with the government expected to announce that it is stepping up its response. In the past half hour, the chief medical officer for england, professor chris whitty, and government chief scientific adviser sir patrick vallance, have arrived in downing street for a meeting of the governments cobra Emergency Committee. Its thought that the uk will switch to tactics aimed at delaying the spread of the virus, rather than containing it. Earlier, my colleague Annita Mcveigh spoke to his professor whittys deputy, the deputy chief medical officer, drJenny Harries, and put to her some of your questions. Now, lets stay with the subject of coronavirus, because here to answer your questions on the subject is deputy chief medical officer were england, drJenny Harries. For england, drJenny Harries. We are very grateful that you are coming along to talk to us today. As well as being on the news channel and bbc two, on the bbc News Facebook page and website. Can i ask for your response to what the irish Prime Minister has been saying, in contrast to what is happening in the uk . Im sure some of your viewers may be asking questions on these, but i think the important thing here is to really be understanding of what it is people are asking to happen, why they are asking that, when those interventions should go into place and how long they should be there. All of those things may vary from country to country. In the uk, we have been planning consistently for many weeks and in fact years with pandemic flu, and we have extremely good modelling. Any interventions will be designed to come in at exactly the point where they will be most effective, save the most lives, manage our Health Systems properly and disrupt life as little as possible. I think its what underpinning those decisions is what we will talk about. Lets begin with the questions. This one from nita in maidstone. Can you catch the virus more than once . Also, how long are you ill for . If i maybe do the second one first, because that might allay peoples concerns. Normally you are ill for about a week. We are still learning about the disease. People get symptoms, they may get a new persistent cough, they may get a fever or some other symptoms, feeling generally unwell, muscle aches, that sort of thing. It will tend to go on for two or three days, build up, go off again and then by about a week, for most people, most of that will have gone. How similar is that to, say, how we might feel if we have flu . Pretty similar. I think for most people, obviously, when we talk about flu, people have very different ideas of what it is and you may find once somebody has had a realflu rather than the cold that they thought was flu, they realise it can feel pretty rough for a few days. Nevertheless, it is pretty similar. Learning about these symptoms all of the time, but most people are feeling ok again after about a week. Some people a little bit longer. It will tail off but about a week. Just to clarify, can you catch it more than once . While we are watching the virus, we are watching what it does. It seems pretty stable at the moment, which means its not changing very much. That means that once somebody has had it, they should be building antibodies to it. If they were re exposed, if you like, once they have had it in this current cycle, very unlikely they would get it again. Not possible. I think as we look forward into future years, we will have to see how the virus behaves, just like we do with the flu. Antonia from barking asks, should i be self isolating . Im 68, have Underlying Health issues asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol plus prediabetes. Some of the Health Conditions that are associated with more susceptibility to the affect of this virus. A really good question. First thing is its really good that she is aware of those things, and she is not in our very ill group, shes in in the normal group for being advised to have a flu vaccination, for example. She is recognising she has the long term conditions that might increase her susceptibility. At the moment we are encouraging people to do effectively what they do for a normal flu season. These are respiratory illnesses and for most people with those sorts of conditions, we would normally say be careful during this season, be alert but not alarmed, and cut down, perhaps, over the period when normally flu but in this case coronavirus is circulating, to keep yourself safe. Antonia shouldnt be socialising with somebody who perhaps has an obvious cough, for example . This is quite straightforward stuff, and i know in the background of all the things we have seen on the tv, it can seem quite simple but in reality, for somebody with a considerable number of conditions, we need always to be alert. If in any winter, family were visiting, i would advise them not to visiting, i would advise them not to visit if they could avoid it while they are themselves ill, and in that way she is protecting herself as well. 0k. Antonia, i hope that answers your question. Catherine from Northern Ireland asks, im 22 and suffer from allergies all the time so constantly have a runny nose and cough. How will i know if i have it . Another really good question. It is, and as the case numbers rise and as we try to look for it more, and we expect more cases of coronavirus, that there will be a little bit of flex over if you like with people who have the common cold or Something Like she has, and not being able to distinguish perfectly with coronavirus. As those cases rise, we will know that most people have coronavirus. In her case, the important thing is we are looking for a high temperature, a fever, and a new persistent cough. What she is describing is something she is very familiar with, so i think she will see a change in the symptoms she has. There are ways you can differentiate. If you arejustjoining us, welcome to this special edition. The deputy chief medical officer for england dr Jenny Harries is here to answer your questions. We are on bbc news, bbc two and the facebook and website. This next question is, will everybody get it eventually . That is a bit never ending, but lets go with this season, with this cycle. A large number of people could get it. The thing about a new virus is nobody has antibodies ready made for it. We havent been exposed before and this virus is having a field day. The desire will be to find as many people to infect as it can. When we plan, we do plan for a worst Case Scenario and it is possible that up to 80 of the population could get this. But we need to be really clear that the vast majority of those people are going to have quite mild illness, will be at home no problem. That is still a very, very high estimate, we think. If we look at somewhere like china, we think about up to 20 or so of the population have been affected. Very difficult to say until weve got good testing until we look back and check to see how many people have had it. Some people will have it and get no symptoms whatsoever. Even if you are somebody who catches it, its possible you may have no symptoms. We dont know if its going to become a seasonal virus like cold. Absolutely. The next one is from natasha in manchester who says, will the uk be quarantined and on lockdown in the coming days and weeks . The sort of pattern that weve seen in italy . That goes back i think to the start of the programme when we were looking at the announcements around the republic of ireland. I wouldnt like to pre empt what ministers are going to say later today, and they are meeting this afternoon in a cobra meeting and will be looking at all the medical and Scientific Evidence that has been put forward. I think viewers will need to wait for that. The approach that weve been taking in the and across all the uk nations is to base what we are doing on science. I know it seems counterintuitive to many viewers and readers of the media that we would wait, but the really important thing about some of these social distancing measures, where you are trying to reduce the number of contacts, is to make sure that they go in at exactly the right time. Some scientists are already saying those sorts of social distancing measures should be in place, arent they . They are and that is why i started by saying it is really important they go in at the right time. With respect to them, im not sure they would necessarily have all the information we have to hand. The important thing we are trying to do, we will see cases rise very steeply. What we dont want to do is see too high a peak. We are trying to push that away so we can manage patients safely through our health system, and that means intervening at the right time. Can i add a supplementary question . A line from china earlier today saying that the coronavirus outbreak within its borders has passed its peak and the whole country, china, is reporting just 15 new cases in 2a hours. We dont have exact confirmation of those figures, but if that is the pattern in china, would we expect necessarily to see the same sort of pattern in terms of peak and levelling off in other countries . So, theres a whole load of issues there. Without going into detail i think there is about how people are counting the numbers. Its about when you start counting and what interventions are in place. It is good the numbers are coming down. We will be watching to see what happens when some of the measures come off. China is onlyjust taking some of their lockdown measures off and even when they have lockdown, we are not clear what it is that they have done that has been affected. What we are trying to do in the uk is ensure these social isolation measures, if you like, safe isolation, that people assume as we go forward i think will be recommended today, will be the ones that maximally keep us safe and manage our health services. In china they have been extremely for use of a better word draconian in the sense of really clamping down and what we want to do is make sure we use effective measures, and im sure the uk has that tightly planned. A question from paul in sunderland who asks, will this years flu jab help at all . No. 0k. Quick one. Completely different virus. It wont have an effect. We are doing lots of work to look for one that will be effective. Coronavirus is quite tricky or we would have one already for the common cold. It is likely to be some time away. Still time for people to have the flu jab . Absolutely, because we dont want people getting flu at the same time and then being extra vulnerable. We are going to hear next from kelly in leicester. Good morning. Thanks forjoining us. Imjust im just wondering what effect. Coronavirus on those particular areas. Let me fill in the gaps. We are being a little bit bedevilled by the technology but, kelly, let me fill in gaps where the picture and the sound froze. Kelly, you are pregnant at the moment. How many pregnant . Nine months. Due when . We are going to find out when kelly is due. Kelly is obviously due to give birth any day now, by the sound of it. She is asking should she be worried . Next week . Next week, ok. What measures can she take to protect her family . Congratulations in advance, hopefully, for a safe landing. I think a simple one, actually, for many pregnant ladies is there has been some very new guidance from the Royal College of obstetricians and gynaecologists. It is online. Just look it up. Really sensible questions and answers about things like Breast Feeding and delivery, all those sorts of things. I think you will be better to be having your baby in a proper hospital maternity unit. I dont know what you have planned. You should be talking to your hospital now. And they will be monitoring your baby and yourself. I think the good news is that the early evidence that we have suggests that the virus doesnt pass from the mother to the baby, which is really good, and the only sort of real risk we might think about is we want you to breast feed because thats really good for your baby, but perhaps to be taking precautions around that if you should become ill yourself. As you are, you look very well and healthy. Im assuming you do not have coronavirus at the time, so i think normal safety precautions, whenever we have a baby. You are always very alert to hygiene so the message is the same to the general public. Always make sure you wash your hands very thoroughly, but particularly for you if you are handling your baby or milk or those sorts of things, and just be very sure. If somebody you know has coronavirus then obviously try to keep away. We do know that. You are right at the end of your pregnancy but we do know that women when they are pregnant are a bit more susceptible to infections, so we would generally advise, whether its coronavirus or flu, that you try to stay away from people who are symptomatic for any reason and they help you by staying away as well. Thank you very much, deputy chief medical adviser for england, doctor Jenny Harries. Good afternoon. March continues to show its numerous faces. Weve seen some wintry showers across scotland, even to some lower levels. Through the afternoon, though, the snow will become confined to the hills. Further showers for Northern Ireland, northern england, and scotland. Nowhere immune but a good deal of fine, dry weather around. Gales, though, for Northern Ireland, southern scotland and northern england. Windy across the board, and that is making it feel cooler than those temperatures suggest. Overnight the winds gradually start to ease down. We draw in more of a northerly feed, though, through scotland, and the showers, wintry even to some lower levels. The risk of ice here as well, as temperatures drop to or below freezing. A widespread frost, and it will be a chilly start across the board on friday morning. But a ridge of High Pressure helping to settle things down. A lot of sunshine around, many places remaining dry. The cloud will start to increase down towards the south west of england and wales, as rain starts to edge its way in. Hello, youre watching afternoon live im simon mccoy. Today at 2. The governments Emergency Committee meets as the uk looks set to move into a new phase of dealing with coronavirus what will it mean for public gatherings and schools . Well make the right decision at the right time every step of this process. People can be assured of that. Stock markets plunge so far the New York Stock Exchange was temporarily suspended as President Trump imposes a mass ban on flights from most european countries, excluding the uk and ireland this is not a financial crisis. This is just this is not a financial crisis. This isjust a this is not a financial crisis. This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world. The pc harper murder trialjury hears the 999 call about a theft which led to his police car being sent to investigate