Died in the past 2a hours the biggest daily rise so far in a country thats been locked down for almost two weeks. Go home here, police start cracking down on people who are leaving their homes when they shouldnt be. And englands huge new army of volunteers gear up to help the most vulnerable more than 700,000 people have nowjoined the scheme starting next month. And coming up in sport. We hear from the chairman of Non League South Shields as they ask the Football Association to think again after the season was scrapped with the team 12 points clear at the top of the northern premier league. Good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. Theres been a big rise in the number of people in the uk who have died of coronavirus 181 lost their lives in the past 2a hours and more than 6,000 are now being treated in hospital. It comes as the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary have both tested positive for the virus. And the governments chief medical adviser, professor chris whitty, is now self isolating after also displaying symptoms. In a video on social media, borisjohnson said he currently has mild symptoms and will be working from home to lead the national fight back against coronavirus. As part of that fight back, English Councils have been told to house all rough sleepers by the weekend, firefighters are to help with nhs transport logistics such as driving ambulances and delivering medicines. And the metropolitan police are calling for retired officers to return. The uk death toll has now reached 759 in just three weeks. 0ur chief Political Correspondent vicki young reports. Keeping their distance. Like many neighbours, the Prime Minister and chancellor stepped outside to pay tribute to nhs staff last night but four hours later, Boris Johnson tested positive for coronavirus. Ive taken a test, thats come out positive. So i am working from home, i am self isolating and thats entirely the right thing to do. But, be in no doubt that i can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fight back against coronavirus. That top team has been spending less time in the same room this week. Cabinet was held remotely. The chief medical and scientific advisers where keeping further apart at online press conferences, but today chris whitty said he had symptoms and was self isolating. Mrjohnson had his weekly audience with the queen on the phone. In the commons on wednesday there were fewer mps at Prime Ministers questions, but ministers sat together on the front bench, including the Health Secretary. He developed coronavirus symptoms that night and is also in self isolation. I will be continuing to do everything i can to get our carers the support they need and i will be doing that from here, but with no less gusto. With the Prime Minister unavailable, it fell to michael gove to take questions at the daily press conference. The Prime Minister has coronavirus, the Health Secretary does as well, the chief medical officer is in isolation. People will be looking at this and may be wondering whether you havent been taking your own advice, or you may have acted too slowly when it came to stopping the spread of the coronavirus . The virus does not discriminate. We are all at risk and that is why it is so important that we practice social distancing measures. Those are in place in government. Ministers are working remotely and from home using Video Conferencing in order to make sure that we can follow the strict advice that all of us should be following in order to help to protect the nhs. Like any other workplace, downing street has been affected by staff absence. The Prime Ministers chief adviser Dominic Cummings is still up and running. Mrjohnsons girlfriend, who is pregnant, posted this photo of her and dog, dylan, saying self isolating wasnt so bad. As for the Prime Minister, he will stay in the office and flat in number 11 downing street for seven days. Meals will be left outside the door. Now that some of those who are making an effort to stop this virus have contracted it themselves, will be self isolating. They will continue to work, like many people who contract the virus will do. There has been lots of speculation about who might take over if the Prime Minister wasnt able to make decisions. That would fall to dominic raab, the foreign secretary. Borisjohnson may not be out and about, but he is still in charge. Vicky, thank you. There is growing concern that some nhs hospitals may be overwhelmed by coronavirus patients as early as this weekend. Theres particular pressure on hospitals on the outskirts of london, where some Health Bosses have warned that intensive care units face a tsunami of demand in the coming days. The head of the nhs said tonight that staff would start being tested for coronavirus from next week, including Critical Care nurses, intensive care staff, ambulance workers and gps. Our medical correspondent fergus walsh has the latest. I have got what they call locally advanced prostate cancer. Chris was due to have his prostate removed on monday, but his cancer surgery has been cancelled. The operating theatre has been turned into a makeshift intensive care unit. think it is morally and ethically wrong to sacrifice Cancer Patients in favour of covid 19 patients. It is important Cancer Patients to become the forgotten victims of this chaos that is taking place. The hospital in derby issued a statement saying. It is farfrom an it is far from an isolated example. Indeed, all nhs nonurgent surgery is being suspended for three months to free up beds for the outbreak. Cancer specialists should have the opportunity, with their patients, to decide whether it is more risky for somebody to embark on treatment at this particular time, giving you a more vulnerable to infection. This Conference Centre in east london will have 500 beds available for coronavirus patients from next week. Which will rise to 4000. It is being built with the help of the army. As is an even bigger field built with the help of the army. As is an even biggerfield hospital at the nec in birmingham, which will have up to 5000 beds. A third has been earmarked for the g meck centre in manchester. More personal protective equipment is being shipped out from this Distribution Centre near glasgow, but many medical staff are saying they are still being left at rest, among them, gps. People are really, really scared for themselves, for their teams and their patients. Theyjust dont know when they go into see a patient, whether or not, even though they are not displaying symptoms, they are not displaying symptoms, they may still have the virus. Nhs staff and family members with coronavirus symptoms, will be able to turn up at drive through centres like this is testing for the disease is ramped up. Fergus walsh, bbc news. Some Nursing Homes and Residential Care homes have told the bbc that they are still finding it difficult to get enough personal protective equipment to help them look after elderly and disabled people. They are also worried about the number of staff who are self isolating and want testing. It comes as a nursing home in east sussex says three quarters of its residents now either have the virus or are showing signs of it. Heres our social affairs correspondent, alison holt. At 0aklands nursing home in hove, they care for 20 vulnerable residents aged between 80 and 101. Many of them are fighting the coronavirus. Keeping her distance, the homes manager says two residents have tested positive and another 13 are showing symptoms. We never know where we are. More than a third of her staff are off sick or self isolating and she expects she and others will have to move into the home to care for the residents. She wants better protective equipment, but has been told they dont need full masks or gowns. Equipment, but has been told they dont need full masks or gownsli appeal to the government, the guidelines need to change if they wa nt guidelines need to change if they want us to look after these residents to the end, because they dont want them sent to hospital, yes. So we need protection. 0therwise, who is going to look after them . One of the residents have the virus, it is his 95th birthday tomorrow and normally his family would spend the day with him. The last eight days have been incredibly tough. I have been pretty much sitting by the phone waiting for the inevitable news. Ifeel slightly calmer now as the days go oii slightly calmer now as the days go on and he has battled on and he is getting there. Concerns raised at the home about equipment and the lack of Testing Available are echoed by others. We have been in contact with nearly 40 care providers, supporting thousands of people. Many are finding it difficult to get enough personal protective equipment and there are concerns about the number of staff they have self isolating. None of the services were very well provided, in terms of staff in the first place. They are all dependent on overtime and collea g u es all dependent on overtime and colleagues working long shifts, so thatis colleagues working long shifts, so that is all now getting stretched even further. There is a fantastic group of1. 2 million even further. There is a fantastic group of 1. 2 million nhs heroes but 1. 7 million of social care workers who deserve every bit as much recognition and praise. Some councils have bought their own protective equipment to distribute and the government says it is working round the clock to get more supplies to care staff. Alison holt, bbc news. Fines have already been issued by the police to some people who have breached the governments stay at home rules after new Police Powers came into force yesterday. Officers are also trying to discourage people from going out in their cars to picturesque locations to exercise, even if no one else is there. Heres our home editor mark easton. These Police Recruits in surrey are being trained to fight crime in a pandemic. Note the gloves. Inside headquarters, the chief constable is joined by a military planner as agencies consider how to use new far reaching powers to keep the public at home. We are interpreting the new powers in the style of british policing in that we police by consent, but of course some colleagues are having to take steps to really explain to people that treating this as a bit of a holiday is not what this is about. Footage has emerged of officers in perth confronting a man who claimed to have tested positive for the virus. Although this individual did eventually comply, other forces have already used new Health Protection regulations, issuing a number of £60 fine to people who refuse to go home when ordered. Two week training sessions are planned to get special co nsta bles, volu nteers and recently retired officers to help the public adjust to the strange new world in which we live. I think the vast majority of people are complying. The businesses that should be closed are closed and people are adjusting their lifestyles to the new what was first advice and now is regulations. In south wales, police and the local council are planning to use a drone to encourage people to comply with Public Health rules. Please follow government rules at this time. After controversy over whether Derbyshire Police were right to shame people who drove to the Peak District to exercise, the government today issued new guidance saying people should only use open spaces near their home. And cumbria visitors are being told they are not welcome this weekend. Tourist or holiday maker traffic we need to reduce to protect our nhs staff and to protect the vulnerable in this community. Police chiefs are demanding what they call common sense, adding this is a National Emergency not a national holiday. Mark easton, bbc news. In italy, theres been the biggest daily rise in deaths since the beginning of the outbreak there. More than 900 people have died in the past 24 hours taking the total number of deaths in italy to more than 9,000 with more than 86,000 confirmed cases. Mark lowen is in rome for us this evening. Mark, this huge increase comes after almost two weeks of Strict Lockdown . Two weeks indeed. It is truly shocking numbers. 919 people have died in the past 24 hours, that is over 200 more than the previous one day rise. The Northern Region of lombardy, the worst hit region, 445 people have died there. You mention with the lockdown that has lasted over two weeks, it is flattening the curve, the infection rate is down on yesterday but progress is slow and uneven and the awful news just keeps on coming, 46 doctors have died here since the outbreak began. The National Health institute now says the restrictions will have to be extended beyond the 3rd of april and italy has not yet reached the peak of the outbreak. The pope has given an address on an empty and very rainy st peters square. He has given an extraordinary address and compared the situation to the thick darkness to a gospel story. He said we find ourselves afraid and lost and he compared the doctors, nurses and he compared the doctors, nurses and caregivers and volunteers to exemplary companions on this journey. But in truth, it is hard for italians to keep faith at the moment. They are taking things day by day, hoping, pleading, many of them praying for the peak to come. Thank you. In spain, the number of coronavirus cases continues to increase with 769 deaths in 24 hours. With so many critically ill patients, it has meant that more and more are dying alone, because their families arent allowed in. Its putting an enormous emotional strain on families and medical staff, as our correspondent Damian Grammaticas reports from madrid. Cheering and applause. From his bed he waves, a moment of triumph in a spanish hospital. He is their first patient well enough to leave intensive care, but the medical staff are the only people there to see it. That is because every new virus patient brought in is immediately isolated from the outside world. Not even families are allowed to enter hospitals here, and spain registered another 8500 cases today. It is the awful reality Esther Garcia is facing. She has covid 19 and is trying to isolate herself, but she thinks she may have infected both her parents, mariapaz and constantino, both now positive, both in hospital and beyond her reach. You cannot hug, you cannot kiss, you cannot see the other, and its the situation of so many people here. Esthers parents are being treated here in this hospital. It is one of the cruellest aspects of this outbreak, the rigorous separation that has to be enforced between the sick and everyone else, because it is so contagious. This is where her parents were admitted. Many hospitals are at double their capacity. Staff dont have time to answer phones or update families. It is what happens when the Health Service is swamped. Spain did not bring in its lockdown quickly enough or test enough people to track the virus progress. So, now, people are dying in spains hospitals, hundreds and hundreds every day, not surrounded by loved ones, isolated and alone. To be so isolated, people get sick alone and they die alone and they are buried alone. You cannot do anything, you cannot be with them. Esther has found a way to reach her parents. A nurse has got a phone in. Herfather is improving, but her mothers condition is serious. And night and day, as the virus advances, more families are being separated. Silvia, who works in one of the hospitals worst affected, posted this notice this week, saying she will pass messages to those inside. These are the ones she is delivering tonight. The family tell me, say i love you so much, im here with you, we can see you while i am here. Something like this. Silvia is a nurse assistant, just 24 years old, delivering comfort to the dying. Spains medics now shouldering the emotional burden of this crisis too. Damian grammaticas, bbc news, madrid. The United States now has more confirmed cases of coronavirus than any other country in the world with more than 86,000 positive tests. The death toll has leapt to more than 500 in new york state alone by far the highest number of deaths in the country. Today the state governor announced plans to build four more temporary hospitals around new york city. From there, nick bryant reports. New york, new york, the worst affected city in what is now the worst affected country. The result was the senseless planetary pandemic would end up ravaging this global have and although there is a deceptive, and its quiet streets thatis deceptive, and its quiet streets that is behind the doors of its inundated hospitals that the crisis is playing out. Emergency calls have hit their highest levels since the attacks of september the 11th. Hospital staff are describing a of patients flooding emergency rooms. They are thought to be three weeks away from the peak year but already they are exhausted. New york is paying a price for being such a vibrant and International Paying a price for being such a vibra nt and international city. Paying a price for being such a vibrant and international city. We are so vibrant and international city. We are so dense, so together, which is what makes us special, give those that new york energy, that new york mojo, but that density becomes the enemy in a situation like this. In manhattan something we havent seen since 9 11, refrigerated trucks ready to store the corpses of the dead, each one capable of holding up to 44 bodies. These workmen were constructing a makeshift morgue. America is paying the price for not being prepared, for not taking the coronavirus seriously enough when it was ripping through china, for not ramping up testing quickly enough when it first came to these shores. For losing precious time. Like the rest of the world america is not just visiting a Public Health crisis but an economic emergency and congress has passed a 2 trillion stimulus package, a lifeline to an economy that saw its biggest spike in unemployment in its history. The president itching to lift the lockdown. The sooner we get back to every day we stay out it gets harder to bring it back quickly. People do not want to stay out. America is on a war footing, led not want to stay out. America is on a warfooting, led by not want to stay out. America is on a war footing, led by a commander in chief desperate for the conflict to come to a speedy end. Here the government has announced plans to cover Employers National Insurance and some Pension Scheme contributions as part of its bid to prevent a wave ofjob losses. The treasury said this could save businesses an extra £300 a month for each employee. Workers who have not taken all of their statutory annual holidays because of the coronavirus will be able to carry it over into the next two years. Under the new regulations up to four weeks of unused leave can be carried over. Scientists at Imperial College london say that around the world as many as 40 million lives would have been lost to coronavirus, without the global response. But theres a warning that the poorest countries are still more likely to be hit hardest. 0ur science editor David Shukman reports. All over the world, very different reactions to the virus. In africa, rwanda was the first to lock down, while in senegal the streets are still busy. And now new Research Points to a catastrophe unless there is an immediate global response. What this latest study shows is that if literally nothing is done to stop the virus, as many as 40 Million People could die from it worldwide this year. Now, that isnt likely to happen because so many governments are introducing Public Health measures. And if they all do, the death toll should fall to 9. 3 million, still horrific of course. The key to this is timing. If those measures are adopted rapidly, the number dying could fall to 1. 3 million. Itjust shows the critical importance of governments acting urgently. Bangladesh, a refugee camp for rohingya people. 0vercrowded and fearful. Its the poorest who will be hit hardest according to the scientists studying the pandemic. Even in the most optimistic scenarios in terms of the control that can be put in, it is still very likely that the Health Systems in the poorest countries will become overwhelmed. Many of these countries have very few numbers, for example, of intensive care beds available, and indeed hospital beds are very much in demand for the other diseases that are prevalent in those settings. In india there is meant to be a national lockdown, but it is hard to manage. And, as in many developing countries, the Health Care System is fragile. If unchecked it is going to basically make our Health Care Systems collapse thats the prospect we are facing. And the other crisis we are facing is an economic crisis. If you take very strong, draconian measures, it is going to shut down our economy and sent it into some sort of cardiac arrest. Many countries are now doing what they can, but to defeat the virus it will take action on a global scale. A British Airways plane is flying to nairobi tonight to rescue stranded britons. And three more ba flights have been chartered to bring home hundreds of british tourists stranded in peru. The flights back to london have been organised by the foreign office. The first peru flight will depart lima on sunday. The country has one of the worlds strictest coronavirus lockdowns, with no travel permitted. The uks largest rent to own company brighthouse is due to go into Administration Next week. Coronavirus was the final straw. Failure to reach a rescue deal puts 2,400 jobs at risk across 240 stores. 715,000 people have signed up to help the nhs in england by delivering medicines and supporting the vulnerable. But there are many more who want to help northern ireland, wales and scotland arent included in that scheme. Some Charities Say theyre also desperate for more volunteers as Judith Moritz reports. The nhs called, thousands rushed to respond, and the volunteer workforce continues to multiply. From her kitchen in huddersfield, vicky is one of those who logged on to offer her help. I volunteered to move medicines around. I dont know whether thats out of the hospital or within the hospital, and i havent heard anything back as yet but im raring to go. Ive got nothing else to do at the moment, so anything that helps. Those applying receive this email, warning them that it may take a little time to get the scheme up and running. Those coordinating the nhs project say they are staggered at the volume of volunteers who have come forward. They are now going through all the applications to check everyones id and those offering to transport patients will have extra safeguarding checks, but next week they say they will begin starting to match volunteers with those needing help. The nhs scheme only covers england. In northern ireland, there are lots of Grassroots Efforts like this one where volunteers are delivering food within the community. Welsh and scottish conservatives are asking for the nhs project to be extended there. There is also a clamour for support from charities which will not benefit from nhs volunteering. Fairshare redistributes surplus supplies from the Food Industry to people who are vulnerable and living in poverty. They say they are crying out for help. We desperately need volunteers who are fit and well, those who are able to get in safely, not supporting vulnerable people, who are able to muck in and help with our operation, whether that be driving the van or maybe helping in the warehouse sorting stock out, making up orders. Fantastic. I have managed to get everything you needed. In ilfracombe in north devon they have taken support down to the most local levels. 150 helpers are leafleting everyone in the community. Every street will be covered by a volunteer. The idea is that no one should be left without help during this crisis. Judith moritz, bbc news. Since the coronavuirus outbreak, one of the biggest tasks has been keeping the nation fed. Food manufacturers have been cranking up production to meet the increased demand. At kingsmill, for example, an additional two million loaves a week are being delivered to every uk postcode. And allinsons flour mill in hertfordshire is now producing an extra 400,000 bags of flour a week. Emma simpsons been to meet some of the workers. My name is matt lupton, i am the site manager. My names katie, i work as operations manager. We make flour and it goes out to the supermarkets. We are just sending out as much stock as we possibly can. Lines are running every shift available. So far this morning weve dispatched 140 tonnes to a customer. 0ur machines are working all hours to put flour into bags to go out to the supermarkets and to the british public. We may not be saving lives in hospitals, but i think everybody here knows the impact that theyre making. Its one of the basic products flour. And its in big demand. We werent allowed in to protect the workers, so they filmed themselves on the food front line. 0ur high speed packing lines are running 24 hours a day. Everyones digging in, helping out and seeing what we can do to get that food out to the customers. Those customers have been panic buying, as well as cooking and baking stuck at home. Some workers have even postponed retirement. We are feeding the nation. What we produce here is keeping the country going. If i left now while were in, you know, the country is in this situation, i would feel id left behind a family that needed a mother. Were now restricting access to one person at a time. All our food manufacturers are desperately trying to keep staff safe and fit for work. So, can the industry cope . The Food Industry is coping. Its stretched, theres no doubt about that. We and other manufacturers are running flat out. We will keep doing that, were making every provision to keep that volume going. If we manage this sensibly and in a calm and even way, flour will remain on the shelves. In these difficult times its about keeping the lorries loaded. From the mill to the meal, the whole Food Industry is in overdrive ensuring communities are fed. Emma simpson, bbc news, bishops stortford. And finally its not easy for any of us having to stay at home and avoid socialising. Many children are finding it particularly hard not being able to see their friends anymore, so parents have been coming up with creative ways to keep them connected. Like the family of a young boy who cant now have his birthday party. They have all come to see happy birthday to you. Instead, a surprise drive by pa rty was organised for seven year old sam who was said to be lost for words as his friends waved and tooted past his home in northamptonshire. And 12 year old katie from county sligo was out playing football on her birthday when she was visited