At home, work and when travelling, in a bbc news special. Its the biggest Global Health crisis for a generation. Youre watching coronavirus explained, a bbc news special with me, lucy hockings. The outbreak began in december, in the central city of wuhan, home to more than 11 million people. All these shops are closed. Theres pretty much nobody on the street here. The infection is a new type of coronavirus. Put on a mask, even if you are not ill because others may be. The World Health Organization declares a Global Health emergency as chinas coronavirus. This Metro Network is pretty much empty. But now, the new coronavirus has claimed its first victim outside asia. This is the exclusion zone now, the centre of the outbreak. Covid 19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity. Well be asking three key questions what is it . What can you do . And what happens next . Our experts are here to help you navigate the complexities of coronavirus and to share their advice and to answer your questions. Well also be asking how contagious is it and how worried should we be . The spread of misinformation and hysteria is a daily battle, too. Who should we trust . And the impact on travel should you be taking that next trip . Thats all coming up in coronavirus explained. With us for the next 25 minutes are drjake dunning he really is the man head of emerging infections, Public Health england, and our Global Health correspondent, tulip mazumdar. So, to our first question. Its a disease a bit like flu, and its spread from china rapidly around the world. People can have it for about two weeks before symptoms appear, and it passes from person to person through the air often through coughs and sneezes. So, how do you know if youve got it . Well, among the symptoms are fever, a dry cough and muscle pain. Jake, this sounds a lot like the flu. How is it different . They are a completely different family of viruses, these symptoms are quite similar. Fever, dry cough, some people get muscle aches as well. The actual illnesses are not that dissimilar. No vaccine yet . Theres a vaccine for flu and some anti virals, but not yet for coronavirus. Tulip, if you have these symptoms, should you go get tested if you can in your country or should you automatically stay at home and self isolate . It depends on where you are in the world. If you are concerned that you have coronavirus, you have been to a country that has lots of cases, or you have been in touch with someone who has coronavirus, it is a good idea to self isolate. There is a 111 service here in the uk, they will give you good information. Elsewhere around the world, self isolate in the first instance, contact your Health Provider on the phone, dont go in, and they will be able to give you some good advice. Well, julie in singapore recovered from the virus and told us about her symptoms. When i was going through the critical stage, one thing that i encountered was really breathing. It felt like my lungs were going into overdrive, they were really making an effort. Its not like normal days, right, when were not even conscious of how we breathe. It was just so labourious trying to get from my bed to the bathroom, which is, like, i dont know, five metres away, just walking the bathroom and it was just challenging. Good to see she has recovered. Is breathing a main cause of concern . Certainly those who get more sick, and thats a small proportion, they can get difficult problems with their breathing, but that is less than one in five people that will get that sort of severe illness, where it really makes it difficult to breathe and gives a really bad cough as well. When you look at the figures, flu has killed so many more people this year than the coronavirus. Why are we so concerned . Why are we taking it so seriously . This is a new virus, very few people have immunity to this virus. They havent seen it before. It is spreading quite quickly. There is a potentialfor a lot of people to become infected very quickly and become infected before we have developed a vaccine. Older people are the great concern. If that is the case, why are they shutting schools and universities . Some countries, not all, have made that decision. That is based on how bad things are in that particular country, and also what they think are the best measures at the time to try and control this, and it is about keeping people apart. Once you try and do that, you need to think about closing things like schools and universities so that can happen. Lets take one of your questions now. Stephen in sydney asks. The who said they are not currently declaring a pandemic, they have declared an International Health emergecnty. They say there are linked epidemics in different parts of the world, mainly in china, south korea, iran and italy. In other countries, they say it is still containable, it is still containable internationally at this time and at the moment this is not a pandemic. If you speak to some other scientists, they are saying that we are transitioning into that period of a Global Pandemic if we are not in one already. The World Health Organization says practically what we do, nothing will change if we call it a pandemic and that mightjust panic people and some countries might say, its here now, theres not we can do when there is still a lot countries can do to contain this. So, this is one of the key things, isnt it what can we do . How can we minimise the chance of catching coronavirus . Well, the bbcs Michelle Roberts and laura foster have some ideas. Number one, wash your hands more. The more you wash your hands, the less likely you are to spread the virus to other people. So, if you have been out in a public place, on a bus or train, wash your hands as soon as you can afterwards. And when you are done, turn the tap off using a tissue and put it in the bin. Antibacterial gels do work, but soap and water is best. Number two, avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth because that is the way the virus could get into your body. You can still touch your face, but only if you have washed your hands before. Number three, catching your coughs and sneezes. Experts think coronavirus is spread by droplets that come out of your nose and mouth, so when you sneeze or cough, catch them with disposable tissues, then bin it and wash your hands. Disposable tissues are better than handkerchiefs that you carry around with you all the time. If you dont have a tissue, sneeze or cough into the crook of your elbow. Dont touch things with your hands if you dont have to. The less you touch things like surfaces, handrails, lift buttons, the less likely you are to catch the virus or indeed spread it on. Because it is so important and it was a bit quick, were going to show you how to wash your hands properly. Tulip, youre going to time us. Time is of the essence. Jake, take it away. Ill roll my sleeves up to make sure i get all of my hands and my wrists, i will demonstrate with some alcohol gel. The principles are the same. We are trying to cover much of our hands and wrists as possible. I am going to put a good amount on, im going to start. Thats a lot more than i wouldve thought. I will do it with you. I overdid it slightly, every pump is different. I will rub it over, then the back of my hands, my fingers are together, and then the other side. Then like this, fingers together. And then like this. Im trying to cover all of my fingers. Underneath your jewellery and things . Yes, and people forget that their thumbs stick out, so watch those. Then fingertips. Were still going. You just passed 20 seconds. Its because i am talking. 20 seconds is the time, that felt like a long time. You can take as long as you want. Minimum of 20 seconds to get good coverage. Ive touched so Many Services today. From leaving home to being here. How often should i be washing my hands . As often as you can, really, within reason. If you have touched a lot of surfaces, if you have been out and about, its good to have some alcohol gel with you if you have, but soap and water is good enough. Certainly before eating, and if you think you need to touch your face, wash your hands before you do that. Shops are selling out of this. What should we be looking for . What kind of percentages of alcohol should be in our sanitiser . Different types of hand sanitiser, most involve alcohol, looking for a minimum of 60 . Most contain 70 or higher. That will kill the coronavirus . That will. Well on that subject, lets take another of your questions. Clair asks. Is this mask any good . This is a surgical mask, quite a simple mask. They are really important for health care workers, but if you are member of the general public, the evidence isnt great that they are going to help you. Thats because when we use them, if we work in a hospital, we use them for a short period of time, were trained in their use and we get rid of them in a safe way. If you just have one of these on all day, youre probably trying to eat and drink wearing it, ive seen people with it worn like that, which is ineffective. Then people will take it off, have something to eat, theyve contaminated the outside if theyve got virus on their hands, then theyre putting it back on their face and potentially exposing themselves. Your advice is you dont need a mask. Our advice in england is that we dont recommend people wear masks to prevent getting infection, sometimes we ask people who have got symptoms to put them on because they will stop some cough droplets coming out. To our question, what about children . There is a lot of Research Going on in this area and many areas around coronavirus, but it does seem from some early studies that the risk to children seems to be a little bit lower, about 1 of children and young people, under20s, were infected. Its a similar thing, make sure they are washing their hands regularly. Staying clean and theyre not touching a lot of surfaces. Difficult with kids, but just make sure. Use soap and water as well as hand as sanitiser. Sing happy birthday and row, row your boat. Yes, a good earworm. Theres a lot of damaging misinformation out there. Misinformation out there thats contributing to the panic and fear heres ros. Thank you. Ever since this new coronavirus was identified in december, weve been dealing with a new viral threat, not the virus itself, but misinformation, by which i mean reports and advice that are either incorrect, misleading or completely false. For example, one theory that will not go away is that this virus came from a chinese lab. Here is the Washington Times in january reporting that covid 19 could be connected to a chinese biowarfare programme. Or theres this in february from the new york post, an opinion piece, dont buy chinas story, it may have leaked from a lab. But theres no evidence to back this up. However with a lot of misinformation, there are some grains of truth in there. This outbreak did originate in wuhan, china, and you will find the Wuhan Institute in that city which is a high security biolab, but this is a very big but, heres the medical journal documenting how scientists have analysed this virus and they have concluded it has come from wildlife and was not engineered ina lab. If wildlife is the suspected source, a huge amount of attention on this live animal and Seafood Market also in wuhan. One theory is that the virus originated in bats that were being sold there. It is true, that is one possible explanation. This will not help you understand that. Its a video of a woman eating bat soup that went very viral in the last couple of months, with many people blaming this kind of dish for the virus. Except for this article, that video is three years old and it is not from wuhan. This article from the center for Disease Control helps us on this issue. It outlines how this disease could spread from animals to humans. That can happen via direct or indirect contact or via pests, water or food. So, soup may have been involved, but not the one in this video. Quite possibly not at all. Next is the issue of advice, bad advice. For example, heres a Facebook Group telling us if you eat a bowl of boiled garlic, that will kill the virus. It cant. Lots of people buying surgical face mask, doctors are telling us they will not help you avoid the virus. These are just some of hundreds of examples. I should say there is good advice out there, you can look at the website for the center for Disease Control. That is the bbc news website with an awful lot of verified information about what is happening and what to do. Theres no doubt that, as the who director says, were not just fighting an epidemic, we are fighting an infodemic. One of the things many of us are tackling, how should our daily lives should change . Go to the movies . Kids birthday parties . Shake hands or kisshello . Should all of that stop . I would say yes ordinarily. It depends where you are in the world at the moment as to what you should do, but we should all be thinking about how our lives may need to change, not forever, but for a short period. For example, how has my life changed in the uk at the moment . Im not shaking hands with anyone any more, that is my personal choice. I am doing an elbow bump orfoot tap, which i think is a good idea. Its something easy i can do, it doesnt offend anybody that i dont shake their hand any more. There will be other things if this gets bigger in my own country going forward, about trying to keep distance from other people. Social distancing. And it all depends on how big it gets, how many people are infected. So, there are lots of plans to try and work out when that may happen and what actions need to be taken. Its important to listen to the authorities in your own country and listen to their advice. Well, some schools around the world are shut and many big sporting events have been postponed. Businesses are changing the way they work. Singapore had some of the first cases of covid 19 outside china. So, in many ways, theyre ahead of the curve, and whats happening there now may well become the reality for a lot of countries. Heres karishma vaswani. Business as usual under unusual conditions. Im at singapores Largest Telecommunications firm, and, as you can see, adding new precautions into everyday life has become part of the routine here. These thermal scanners are now a common fixture across buildings in singapore. If your temperature is above 37. 5 or 38 celsius, theyre not going to let you in. Morning. Turns out im 0k. But what companies are really worried about is business continuity. How to keep operations running while keeping their staff safe. Some companies have asked their employees to work from home, but that can be challenging, especially if you have young kids running around. Others have adopted the split shift strategy, which means two groups of employees never see each other. Its been great for tech Firms Providing Services like online training, virtual conferences and virtual meetings. And for some companies, productivity has actually gone up, with happier employees enjoying their time working from home. With most people not travelling for work or conducting their business meetings online, the airlines and travel industry, theyre suffering, too. Frankly, we still dont know how much the coronavirus is going to cost the world. But one things for sure its forcing all of us to take a deeper look at how we work in a globally connected world. Well, weve had lots of questions about travelling from all over the world. Simon calder is here. Simon. Sean from newjersey asks. Were in uncharted territory. Sean, i must say please be very careful. You could well be driving in twisting mountain roads in terrible conditions. Youre going to be going down a mountain very swiftly on skis. This is real risk. The tiny possibility that you might be in proximity to someone with the coronavirus, i think, is not really worth worrying about. But given that it is a possibility that you will be kept in some lovely alpine village, the evidence weve seen and there arent that many examples, you will be fed and watered and your airline at the end of this unfortunate incarceration will be flexible and get you home to newjersey without too much fuss. So, how often are you saying to people, no, i dont think you should travel now . If your government says country x, region y is too dangerous, dont go there. It would generally invalidate your travel insurance. It is a wonderful time to be a traveller anywhere else, top of the risk list is road accidents, which claim nearly 4000 victims a day worldwide, its still the case that travel has never been safer. Yes, the coronavirus is a worry. Yes, each of the nearly 4000 deaths have been a tragedy, but it is still not significant risk, at least in my regard. Simon, given the advice differs from country to country, whats the one piece of information that people should be looking for . If youre in one of the vulnerable groups, an elder traveller or a weakened immune system, then be circumspect and look for threats. Otherwise, if your government says it is ok to travel somewhere, go there. Its wonderful. Have a lovely time. Jake what about when youre flying . Sanistise the seat . Air vent off . Is there something you should be doing . You should relax and enjoy your journey. Planes are cleaned regularly, cleaned professionally, use your hand sanitiser gel if youve got it, wash your hands, be in control of your hand hygiene. Keeping your hands clean is the most important thing we can do this stop the spread of this virus. Simon, are airlines changing their policies . They are doing it in quite an unhelpful way, they are trying to stimulate bookings. In the past few days, we have seen a rush of airline saying book your flight and if you need to change it, we will allow you to do it without the usual change fee. That doesnt apply regrettably to previous trips that you might have organised, and a lot of people are feeling very bitter about that. But again, just go, travel is good for the body, its good for the soul and its very good for the Host Community as well. It enriches everybody. Absolutely. The economic implications of not travelling are quite big. Now the big question will science come to the rescue with a vaccine and a treatment . Vaccines are being studied and developed. Six to 12 months before anything becomes available, there is a lot of Research Going on, including treatment for those who do become unwell. What is your big message to people who are nervous or worried . I think being nervous and worried is completely natural and normal. Prepare yourself and inform yourself. So, its great were doing this programme, lots of information online. There is the one thing that every Single Person can do is washing their hands regularly as we have seen for 20 seconds, several times a day. It is important to remember the World Health Organization is saying this thing can still be contained. We saw what happened with china, there were so many cases, it was looking very frightening there and cases are in decline now. We are seeing hotspots popping up in other parts of the world which is a major concern, of course it is, but theres still hope that from some of the worlds leading scientists that these things can still contained. How will it be brought under control . In china, there were draconian measures that cant be implemented in every country. I agree with that, but we can all do our bit. Global responsibility, being good members of society. Yes, if you do get it, the likelihood is you will get a very mild illness. But you may pass that illness onto people who may get a more serious illness. The more we can do now to stop our infection from spreading to other people, the better. That means making sure that you catch your sneezes and your coughs in tissues, getting rid of them in the rubbish pen, washing your hands not only after blowing your nose but as often as you can. If you have symptoms, make sure you follow the advice which in the uk is to self isolate, get away from people and seek help by calling our helpline in the uk. What is the potential of the coronavirus, how bad could it get . Based on what we have, the Information Available at the moment that has come from china, really, they have been through a significant ordeal recently, but their containment efforts seem to have made an impact on the duration of this virus in parts of china. So, we do need to keep containing, but the likelihood is that a lot of people around the world will get this infection. What kind of percentage are we looking at . And are most of us going to get it in a minor way . We dont know yet. There are some predictions, ranges of predictions, some say as high as 80 of people may get the infection. But remember, the majority of those people who are infected will still get mild illness based on what weve seen in china. How big an issue is the underreporting of coronavirus, particularly in countries like iran . It is a major concern, and again the World Health Organization right from the start of the outbreak was saying the world needs to come together, Everybody Needs to be really open about what is happening in their country. What we are seeing in iran is a significant amount of cases and the largest number of deaths outside of china, and it is also because of the sanctions that are there. It is an unclear picture and it needs to be as clear as it can be, because if one country drops the ball, then the rest of the world will be impacted. Are you worried that some Health Systems simply will not cope . We are worried, the who is worried as well. Everyone is working as very hard to support the countries with lesser developed Health Systems and with fewer resources. It comes back to the Global Community helping each other. Its been an information rich 25 minutes, i hope youve found it useful. If you want to find out more, please go to bbc online or our news app, its all there for you. Our thanks to jake, tulip and simon. Your information has been invaluable. Thank you so much. Thanks for watching, and the message from us keep washing your hands, everyone and dont panic. Hello there. It is been one of those dates across northern and western parts of the british isles. It was a front moving in with a combination of fairweather moving its way towards the southeast on sunday. At the front clears away, what will have been a relatively mild packet of air will be pushed into the near continent and something a bit fresher following on behind. Overnight you may well be woken up by some pretty gusty winds of a0 or 50 mph. And some pretty heavy rain at times as well, gradually easing its way down towards east anglia and the southeast, crossing all parts but quite cloudy skies following on behind and a packet of showers as well in many areas urged alone but still quite a noticeable wind. So the combination of cloud and wind and rain that will help keep many of us and rain that will help keep many of us frost free as we begin the new day and sunday. You have to be up pretty quick in the dates across east anglia in the southeast to see the last of the rain and once it is away, it will be a day of sunshine and some blustery showers. Some quite sharp. The temperatures really issued for the time of year was civil figures issued for the time of year was civilfigures in the north issued for the time of year was civil figures in the north of scotla nd civil figures in the north of scotland and maybe 11 or 12 to the south. We keep those showers going into the first part of the evening in the first part of the night as well, especially across many of these Western Areas with one or two spots in scotland seeing fairly clear skies and temperatures dipping away and nothing unusual about that. Many will start the new week frost freak with temperatures in the range of 3 6. That shall re regime does not last too long because from the west as we get on into monday, we see a combination of quite wet and quite windy weather. It will take a time to show its hand. Initially through the morning into Northern Ireland and then around lunch time just getting to the southwest of scotla nd just getting to the southwest of scotland and through to the early afternoon with many Western Areas having seen that combination so some quite heavy rain coming so the met office have got a yellow warning for the heart of wales where we could seep between monday and midday tuesday up to around 18 mm of rain. Really mild for some on tuesday and a week to come that is essentially a mixture of sunshine and showers. See you later. This is bbc world news today. Im Lewis Vaughan jones. Our top stories. The Italian Government plans emergency measures after a big rise in coronavirus cases in the country. Passengers stuck on board a cruise ship moored off california, are all being tested for coronavirus. Clashes on the Turkish Border as migrants try to break through fences into greece. And in sport, england narrowly beat wales in rugbys six nations as they chase down france at the top of the table. Hello and welcome to world news today. The Italian Government says it will adopt emergency