Transcripts For BBCNEWS Coronavirus Daily Update 20200317

Youre watching bbc news. Im simon mccoy. As the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus rises to nearly 2000, the nhs in england is to cancel all routine surgery and sent home as many patients as possible in order to free up beds. The governments chief scientific adviser said it was reasonable to estimate that 20,000 people could die from catching coronavirus in the uk. If we can get this down to numbers 20000 and below, thats a good outcome in terms of where we would hope to get to with this outbreak. But its still horrible. The foreign secretary, dominic raab, advises uk citizens against all nonessential Global Travel for an initial period of 30 days. The government is set to announce emergency measures to support the economy after warnings that the latest restrictions could put firms out of business. The archbishop of canterbury calls for church of england churches to put public worship on hold and become a different sort of church in the coming months. And uefa confirm that euro 2020 has been postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Welcome to this bbc news special. Injust over an hourfrom now, the government is expected to announce new Financial Measures to help the economy through the coronavirus outbreak. Well be live in downing street, where the chancellor rishi sunak will be giving the details of that announcement. Earlier today the prime minsiter borisjohnson told his government that the we are in a war with coronavirus and that it is a war we must win. Lets take a look at some of the other main developments so far today. Speaking in the house of commons, the foreign secretary dominic raab urged britons against non essential travel for the next 30 days. Shortly after two oclock this afternoon the church of england announced it was suspending all worship until further notice. And the nhs will postpone all non urgent surgery in england from the 15th april freeing up 30,000 hospital beds. The number of cases in the uk has increased to 1,950. Ajump of 407 cases the biggest daily increase so far. As of yesterday, 56 people in the uk with the virus had died the department of health will update those figures later. Lets recap the latest advice that the government announced yesterday. Everyone should now avoid social contact with others and unnecessary travel. That means you should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other social venues. You should also start working from home where you possibly can. Anyone who lives with someone who has a cough or a temperature should stay at home for m days. And you should only use the nhs if you really need to. From tomorrow, the government will no longer be supporting Mass Gatherings using emergency workers. And on schools the chief scientific adviser said that it may be necessary to think about School Closures but only at the right stage of the outbreak. The governments chief scientific advisor sir Patrick Vallance said it was hoped the new measures introduced by the government yesterday would reduce the number of deaths from coronavirus. Every year in seasonal flu the number of deaths is thought to be about 8000 excess deaths, so if we can get this down to numbers 20,000 and below, thats a good outcome in terms of where we would hope to get to with this outbreak. But its still horrible. Thats still an enormous number of deaths, and its an enormous pressure on the Health Service. Having spent 20 years as an nhs consultant as well as an academic, i know exactly what that looks and feels like. With me now is our Health Correspondent nick triggle. The main news to come is that nonurgent operations are to be postponed. Yes, from mid april all nonurgent operations will be cancelled, coupled with quickly discharging patients out of hospital into the community. They believe that could free up 30,000 of the nhss 100,000 beds, creating room nhss100,000 beds, creating room for the number of coronavirus patients they are expecting to see. The question everybody wants to ask is, does it look as though the nhs can cope . There was an acknowledgement that there was a degree of uncertainty. The officials urge the public to play its part, to follow the advice the government issued yesterday in terms of reducing social contact, particularly i if you are one of the at risk groups, the over 70s or those with Chronic Health conditions, we should be avoiding theatres, pubs, any social gatherings, and if we develop symptoms or if anyone in our household develop symptoms, we should stay at home for 1h days. Household develop symptoms, we should stay at home for 14 days. We have heard a lot in the last 48 hours about ventilators. The most detailed information we have debate about ventilation. The nhs has nearly 4000 critical beds across the uk, nearly 5000 across the uk. What they said today was by using ventilators from the private secretary, ministry of defence ventilators, cancelling routine operations because people going at theatre need to be ventilated, we can get to 11 12,000 ventilated beds, and we know that will be crucial in terms of treating coronavirus patients, we know from the experience of china and italy a third of patient blue come into hospital do need Critical Care. We have heard from the chief scientific advisor today, he was asked specifically on the number of deaths that we might expect. Yes, he says the new approach announced yesterday, which is about suppressing the virus, previously the government was working on the basis that we could delay, reduce the impact, almost manage, control the impact, almost manage, control the spread, but we now are looking to suppress, and he said if we do that, we can keep deaths to below 20,000. That is from the new modelling presented by imperial couege modelling presented by Imperial College london to the government yesterday, which prompted this change in tactic. And in terms of the advice to the public, people watching us right now, many of whom have already self isolated, it is what . For each individual, you have to look at your own circumstances. The government has issued guidance, but it is up to us to decide just how we interpret that. So, for example, they say work from home if thatis example, they say work from home if that is possible. For some people, that is possible. For some people, thatis that is possible. For some people, that is simply not possible, so you should still go to work. You should reduce the social contact you have. That is not going to pubs, theatres. We are hearing of cinemas temporarily closing. But i think the most pressing need is for the over 70s and those with Health Conditions, and we are likely to get advice before the weekend for 1. 4 Million People with the most serious Underlying Health conditions, and they will be asked to be shielded from social contact for up to 12 weeks. And that i think will be to remain in their own homes for that period. Obviously they will have to rely on friends and neighbours to help them perhaps get shopping in for them, but we will hear a bit more about that before the weekend, i suspect. We have been getting figures from various nations. Scotla nd figures from various nations. Scotland announced its second death a little earlier. The chief medical officerfor a little earlier. The chief medical officer for wales saying as second person in wales has died after testing positive, and we have had other figures testing positive, and we have had otherfigures in the testing positive, and we have had other figures in the last few hours suggesting once again there virus is very much on the increase. It is. We know it is spreading across the community. We are nearly up to 2000 positive tests across the uk. But yesterday we were told there could be up to 50,000 cases that are undetected, and that is because a lot of people dont show symptoms. This is a mild illness, remember, for most people. So we know it is spreading across the community, and i think it is then that knock on impact on the nhs that has prompted the government to take this tougher approach than we appeared to be taking at the end of last week, that has convinced them we need to change tack. Nick triggle, thank you very much. That is the health aspect of this crisis. There is a financial aspect as well. Our chief Political Correspondent vicki young is in downing street for us. That is the aspect that the chancellor is going to be addressing when there is this News Conference later. Yes, and the government really fighting this on all fronts. There is of course the priority being the Health Impact of all of this, making sure that the nhs is as ready as it can be to deal with all of this. But as you say, there is also the Economic Impact which you canjust also the Economic Impact which you can just see from what is going on and the streets we are all walking down each day, looking at restau ra nts a nd bars down each day, looking at restaurants and bars and shops, and people just are not out there, they are not using them, they have been told to stay away from them, and the impact is going to be enormous. Cabinet met this morning. The Prime Minister told them that the prime the country was engaged in a war against the disease which we have to win, and talked about supporting businesses which will be hugely challenging. And the kind of areas they are looking at, as you can imagine, theyve got various working parties to go through all of this, specific sectors such as aviation, retail, manufacturing, food, insurance, services, entertainment, tourism, hospitality. This is a huge challenge for the government, and we should hear a bit later what exactly it is theyre going to do. Of course in the budget, which was less than a week ago, there were some measures which were laid out at the time, they seemed pretty significant, but now looking at what were facing in the coming months, theyre going to have to do an awful lot more, and if you look at other countries and what they have been doing, countries like france, 300 billion euros they are pumping into the economy, the kind of things they have been doing is suspending payments of rent and mortgages, bills, utility bills, we will have to see how much further the government here goes with all of that. We have been hearing stories about some banks saying you dont have to pay your mortgage for a while. It is going to have to be more widespread than that. People desperately worried about keeping a roof over their heads, how they will pay the rent when they dont have any income coming in, and i think most alarmingly, listen to those people speaking today whether it was the chief scientific officer or the nhs, we simply dont know how long this is going to go on for. It is difficult for the government to plan for that. They are putting in these measures now which wont be a couple of weeks, it will be months, but with no end point, and that makes it incredibly difficult to plan. And thatis incredibly difficult to plan. And that is the difficulty for the government, because if the public is to ta ke government, because if the public is to take that medical advice and self isolate, not go to work, the balance is at some point, if youve got to feed your children, you have got to feed your children, you have got to feed your children, you have got to decide whether it is worth taking that advice. Yes, and that is the kind of thing that people are thinking about even now. Lots of people have already been sent home from work. If you dont qualify for sick pay, what is the government going to do about that. There is talk of people being able to claim benefits, but that takes five weeks. People are going to have to try and get money from somewhere, they are going to have to try to get food from somewhere, and these are the really basic elements of our lives that the government is having to deal with. They are going to have to ta ke deal with. They are going to have to take a pretty widespread approach to all of this. The other thing we are going to hear that afternoon at some point is about the Emergency Powers, they have been pretty well trailed by the government, that is going to go through by the end of the month, Emergency Powers which again can be pretty far reaching, to try to deal with what is coming, whether it is detaining people who have got the illness to make sure that they do go into quarantine, forcing schools may be to stay open, being able to close ports if there are not enough staff, all sorts of things the government is having to deal with. Vicki, thank you very much, we will be back to you very much, we will be back to you later. British citizens are being advised not to travel anywhere in the world for the next thirty days because of the coronavirus pandemic. The foreign secretary, dominic raab, made the announcement in the commons. Soap with immediate effect i have taken the decision to advise british nationals against nonessential travel globally for an initial period of 30 days. And of course subject to ongoing review. Mr speaker, i should emphasise this decision has been taken based on the domestic measures introduced here in the uk alongside the changes to border and a range of other restrictions which are now being taken restrictions which are now being ta ken by restrictions which are now being taken by countries right around the world. Following todays changing travel advice, british nationals who decide that they still need to travel abroad should do so fully aware of the increased risks of doing so, and that obviously includes the risk that they may not be able to get home if travel restrictions are subsequently put in place that they hadnt anticipated. So we urge place that they hadnt anticipated. So we urge anyone place that they hadnt anticipated. So we urge anyone still considering travel to be realistic about the level of disruption they are willing and able to endure, and to make decisions in light of the unprecedented conditions that we face. With me now, our Diplomatic Correspondent james landau, watching that. Why now . This is an unprecedented move. No British Foreign secretary has ever told the british people not to go abroad u nless british people not to go abroad unless it is essential. It reflects two things, one is the advice given by the government yesterday, namely if you are telling of a body dont travel unless it is essential in the uk, you have got to pretty much copy that for overseas. But secondly, perhaps more importantly, they do not want more and more brits to be travelling overseas and getting into difficulties, because it is a pretty chaotic world out there at the moment. Countries are throwing up a lot of border restrictions, travel restrictions, a lot of the time without giving other countries any kind of notice, and there is an increasing risk in the governments view that there will be vulnerable brits trapped abroad unable to get back. And they dont want to add to that stock. There is already a fair number of them. They dont want that to be increased. So that is really why they are doing that. I think there are some exceptions, of course. The exceptions are primarily forfreight course. The exceptions are primarily for freight and business goods that simply have to come into the country, and for the moment, that advice lasts for 30 days, but it is going to be kept under constant review, so it will probably change. Unprecedented but is it problematic . It doesnt solve the british citizens overseas. Mps were standing up citizens overseas. Mps were standing up in parliament saying, what about my constituent in country x . There is no flights home, they havent got any money, the Insurance Company is saying we will only pay when you get back, how does it solve that . Frankly the foreign secretary could only really say, look, the uk government is not saying to these people they must return immediately but there is a window where some flights may be available, some countries may open up some of those restrictions so brits can get home. At the foreign secretary was clear repatriation flights are costly and becoming harder to achieve, so i think they are hoping if there is a chance for them to get home they should move now. Is there a sense all Government Departments are now singing from the same hymn sheet . Yes and no. Government is government and departments move in different phases now, but the Foreign Office is saying, this is our side of the particular case here. There are going to be a lot of instances of british nationals trapped abroad who find themselves in difficult circumstances now, and they will be a test of the extent of the remit if you like of the british government, because frankly it does not have the resources to fly everybody home. James landale, our Diplomatic Correspondent, thank you. With me now is our europe correspondent kevin connolly. We keep hearing in the uk we are two weeks behind what is happening in much of mainland europe, and unprecedented changes there we heard from the french president last night. Yes, we heard repeatedly from Emmanuel Macron that france is at war with the disease, i think he used the phrase six times. He announced powerful economic measures. He wanted to send a message to french people that they had to obey all of the social restrictions but also to say that the french was on their side, that they would get through this and by extension of the European Countries would get through it. The firepower was there to deal with the consequences. Certainly Walking Around brussels today, people are obeying the social restrictions. It is extraordinarily quiet. People are working from home, video conferencing. In fact, as we begin our video here the leaders of the European Union are having a summit by Video Conference to coordinate measures. It Emmanuel Macron spoke for everyone when he said this is serious, its getting worse. The germans effectively banned people from going on holiday and shut down church services, so here and there you had all of these different measures, many very severe. You had all of these different measures, many very severe. What we will get today from the european council, this summit, is some sort of sense of coordination. We think they will agree for example that the whole of the european continent should be closed to travellers from outside. They would like britain and ireland to sign up to that, but whatever britain and ireland decide to do, europe effectively will be closed to outside visitors. There will still be essential travel of course, the transport networks are not shut down for the minute, but there are extensive measures in place now. We can expect to hear more when the european leaders have finished the Video Conference. And amongst their proposals will be new Financial Measures. We heard from the president of france last night basically saying there could be a blank cheque here. In effect. He spoke of a set of measures, and one particular group of measures, then said very simply that the state will pgy said very simply that the state will pay. So he was doing his best to be reassuring. The germans have said there will be perhaps half e1 trillion available for Financial Support for companies of different sizes. But Emmanuel Macrons point was that he wanted people to be reassured that this is not beyond the capacity of government. It is quite a difficult message which we are hearing everywhere. We are hearing it in belgium, extraordinary and extreme social restrictions are necessary , and extreme social restrictions are necessary, but as Emmanuel Macron was also trying to say, they are not beyond the capacity of the state to resolve. It is a difficult message to get out i think in free societies, and of course belgians are being remarkably compliant it seems with everything that has been asked of them so far. They have been told its a period of two weeks. There is a growing suspicion it will be longer than that. Then you come to questions of how sustainable these sorts of measures are in free societies where people essentially have to cooperate voluntarily. China isa have to cooperate voluntarily. China is a communist dictatorship has tools at its disposal for restricting movement which are not generally available in the kind of countries in western europe. Some breaking news, and i cant remember when i last used the word brexit but in light of this latest guidance, the emphasis once again is that everything is on hold. Everything is on hold but nobody is saying the brexit timetable is being delayed or disrupted because it is too early for that. You think about how the trade talks were, they are enormous gatherings of people coming from all over the place. May be 100 people on either side in an enormous conference centre. How many contacts would each of those 200 people have had in the six days before they all meet together in quite an intense social gathering . So i suppose you would say that is government in the broadest sense, the british and european government, showing ordinary people they are sticking to the rules too, that if ordinary people cannot go to the cinema or theatre, then government officials cannot meet to talk about trade. Kevin, thank you very much. Kevin connolly. Its been a busy day of developments. Lets ta ke you through some of the latest developments. There have been a total of 1,950 confirmed cases as of 9am this morning, but sir Patrick Vallance said there could be as many as 50,000 cases in the uk. The uk has advised against all non essential travel out of the country. The euro 2020 football championships due to take place across europe and in the uk has been postponed to next year. The church of england has suspended all public worship until further notice but weddings and funerals can still take place. Speaking in the commons, the chief executive of the nhs Sir Simon Stevens was asked whether there were enough intensive care beds to cope. Well, this is obviously an unprecedented Global Health threat. Unmitigated there is no Health Service in the world that would be able to cope if this virus let rip. And therefore, it is crucially important that the measures that were set out by Public Health england by the government yesterday take effect in order to reduce the infection rate, such that the pressure, the peak pressure, on the nhs is moderated. In the meantime, what the nhs is doing, of course, is pulling out all the stops to make sure weve got as many staff and beds and other facilities available, including Critical Care for that peak in demand. So im not trying to ask you to have a crystal ball, but on the basis of the modelling and what it would be reasonable to think would happen as a result of yesterdays measures and also the preparations that are being made, do we have some degree of confidence that, as things stand at the moment, we will have enough intensive care beds . Well, those measures will certainly make a big difference and in our view were absolutely necessary. But, frankly, were going to have to keep this under review. And if it turns out that further measures are required in order to reduce the number of people who get this virus, then that will be something that policymakers and government will have to consider. In the meantime, what the nhs is doing is making sure that not just overall hospital beds but particularly intensive care beds, operating theatres, recovery bays being repurposed, mechanical ventilation, about which theres been a lot of discussion, other facilities across the hospital sector, that they are as expanded to the greatest possible extent as they can be, so that the nhs can do all we possibly can. Lets get more on the announcement from the church of england. With me now is our religion editor martin bashir. What is the situation right now . Eight days ago at westminister abbey, 2500 people including senior members of the royal family were present. Yesterday the Prime Minister gave his statement about reducing gatherings and so the church of england today, the archbishop of canterbury, has announced all normal services, evensong, Holy Communion, all cancelled. Churches will not be closed, they will be open for people to go and pray privately, but all formal services will cease. Some churches will be able to provide Live Streaming for parishioners who have access to online. I spoke to him earlier today and this is what he had to say. We will not be going ahead with public scheduled services from now. We are encouraging people to pray at home, to get online and join in broadcast services, i will be broadcasting one on sunday morning for mothering sunday. We are encouraging clergy to celebrate the morning and evening service, eucharist, the Holy Communion during the day as often as they can. We are encouraging churches to be open for informal prayer. Scheduled Services Wont happen. Go on being the church in how we act, we love and pray, and we call the country to a day of prayer and loving action next sunday. A positive approach of course but there must be disappointment. There is widespread disappointment, and there is concern because although Funeral Services and weddings will take place, because of the new protocols on hygiene and social distancing, they will have to be scaled down. I have already learned the Church Next Door to us has a number of couples who are expecting to marry in april and may and they are considering whether they should change those services. The other thing the archbishop said which was interesting, justin welby was an Oil Executive before he was ordained. He worked in paris for Something Like 12 years, and he said there was an absolute necessity for there was an absolute necessity for the government to support Small Businesses, particularly by investing in companies moderate and small to save us from what he described as a catastrophic set of circumstances. Here is what he said. I would urge the government to make it possible through regulations they introduce for Small Businesses and Events Companies and people who have had cancellations to be able to use insurance where they have it. That means they have got to have been told not to do something, rather than advised not to do something, very often. Secondly, i think we need really regulatory lightning and a real cash flow help to Small Businesses to get them through the next few months. Any normal downturn they might see their business go down 20, 30 , that would be catastrophic. This is 100 . They will need support. We need those Small Businesses. We need them to be able to pick themselves up at the end of this, dust themselves down, heal and move on. It will be very tough but we need major intervention. Thats the church of england view. The Roman Catholic Church Bishops are meeting today and they will be an announcement tomorrow morning, i expect that to be in line with the church of england. The Muslim Council of britain have issued an advisory to all mosques not to hold any public events, including traditional friday prayers. So religious groups all across the country are finding ways to supply means of worship to congregants but at the same time to obey the protocols of the government has introduced. Martin, thank you. Later this hour, the chancellor rishi sunak will set out measures to help the economy through the crisis it will come less than a week after he announced 12 billion pounds of emergency funding in the budget. Simon gompertz reports. Businesses are suddenly on their knees, like alfredos in the city of london. People are working from home, or wary of gatherings. Sales have disappeared, the bills cannot be paid and he is likely to close. We are losing money, we cannot make money to pay the rent and rates and everything. My staff, i have to send two of them home. What about the food . We throw it away. You cannot keep it. For places where we sit inside to eat and drink the situation is, if anything, worse. What do you do when people are warned not to come to your business . Restaurants are seeing 100 cancellation of bookings, some are closing. For pubs, it has turned from hoping for the best to a battle for survival. There are a Million People employed in pub sector and under threat massively and these are community assets. If they close for good they will be gone for ever, so we need help from the government, action now, a package that will get the cash flowing and they have literally 24 hours. Shops that sell essentials have seen a rush, but for the rest of the high street coronavirus is turning into a disaster. Mountain warehouse said takings were down last week by 50 and is suffering more this week. We are making things up as we go along but at the moment we look at potentially 2,000 redundancies later this week, for a business that is profitable under normal circumstances. I speak directly to anybody listening in the treasury, we need an urgent response, and by urgent i mean today or tomorrow. Now some traders thought they could claim on insurance policies that cover Business Interruption but that turns out not to be true with insurers not paying out and they will not in most cases even if the government tells them to stop trading. The sad reality is that most firms will not have taken out the insurance cover that protects them against a loss of profits and close down of business due to covid 19. The anxiety is heightened by carphone warehouse, that says it will close all stand alone shops with almost 3,000 jobs being cut. And by laura ashley, which called in administrators. In neither case is coronavirus directly to blame, but the worry is that this could be the start. Our global trade correspondent Dharshini David is here. This is a Health Crisis, but it is a huge financial crisis as well. Absolutely. It wasnt even a week ago we were sitting here talking about the budget and £12 billion was announced to support the economy through this difficult time. That was Ground Breaking just a week ago. Now that is looking like small change. £6 billion to help businesses, not even £1 billion to help workers. What are we expecting to hear within the hourfrom help workers. What are we expecting to hear within the hour from the chancellor . Some are urging him to go big, and though those voices are coming from unlikely quarters, for example the head of the watchdog that polices the treasurys finances says rip up the rule book and get out the cheque book, and that seems to be the overwhelming message here. If you go all the way back to the second world war, but then the government was borrowing the equivalent of 20 of our National Income every year. If we were to do the same again, he would say that is perfectly valid. There is a fire, just throw water at it, and worry about the consequences further down the line, because if we dont do that now, we are looking at a downturn. Can you top that turning into a lasting depression . Business after business failing on unemployment going up . So a blank check the business is one aspect of this, but there are Small Businesses, millions of people self employed for whom that is not necessarily going to help. Employed for whom that is not necessarily going to helpm employed for whom that is not necessarily going to help. It is not, and this is a subtle point, because it isnt just not, and this is a subtle point, because it isntjust about not, and this is a subtle point, because it isnt just about throwing money at a problem here, it is about how you target that help. If you look at last weeks budget, and how that was divided up, 5 billion for the nhs, 6 billion for businesses, and businesses including small and big ones are employers, so by supporting them you support employment. But the self employed, those at the lower end of the pay scale, the most vulnerable. When you see bars and restaurants empty, shops empty, the Airline Tickets not being booked, those are the kind of businesses that suffer, and we also know it is those lower down the pay scale who are least likely to be able to work from home and whose jobs may be most at risk, so that is what we are looking for. You mention airlines, they have been shouting very loudly and are expecting to hear something from rishi sunak in the next hour. Their ears must be ringing in whitehall, because they have been round tables and phone calls between industry representatives notjust calls between industry representatives not just from airlines but also the shipping industry for example. 95 of our trade by volume comes over in ships, andi trade by volume comes over in ships, and i dont just trade by volume comes over in ships, and i dontjust mean cargo ships, passenger ferries, and i dontjust mean cargo ships, passengerferries, almost and i dontjust mean cargo ships, passenger ferries, almost everyone carries medicine and foodstuffs without us even knowing about these things, and if you are seeing traffic being reduced because people simply arent travelling, what are those operators going to do . They are asking for a lifeline, airlines wa nt are asking for a lifeline, Airlines Want a lifeline, retailers asking for Business Rates to be waived, i could go on and on. Across the economy we are seeing could go on and on. Across the economy we are seeing signs now of real distress. Another car plant this afternoon in sunderland saying it is going to suspend production because of supply chain issues. We are looking at very serious issues here. We remember the financial crisis of 2008. This is a very different feel. We have to remember this is a very different type of crisis. In many ways it is the most monumental thing to happen to our global economy, in some ways it could be even more disastrous in the short term. And the real challenge now for policymakers around the globe is how you make sure this is a short, sharp shock. We know we are seeing the kind of shock we werent expecting, that we werent prepared for, but how do you make sure that doesnt tumble on for months and yea rs doesnt tumble on for months and years and become a financial crisis . Their financial crisis became an economic crisis. This is almost the other way around. But the challenge is the same in the numbers involved ultimately when it comes to fixing this problem could be as big or even bigger. Dharshini david, thank you very much. Huge pressure on the chancellor of the exchequer, who has only been on the exchequer, who has only been on thejob the exchequer, who has only been on the job five weeks. Our chief Political Correspondent vicki young is in downing street for us. The budget is going to be small beer compared to what he has to announce today. It is out of date already, isnt it . And that was seen as quite a big move, what he announced then, but they are going to have to go an awful lot further today. As you say, they have set up lots of different parts of whitehall if you like looking at all these different segments of the economy, and there is peoples personal finances as well in all of this, whether it is someone running a well in all of this, whether it is someone running a business in the hospitality trade, in tourism, they are looking at the possibility of no income whatsoever, and we dont know for how long. Not weeks, months. So thatis for how long. Not weeks, months. So that is a very precarious position to be in. What is the government going to do to help them . People will be looking at maybe what happened in france where they have said you dont have to pay your mortgage is or rent or utility bills, all of that kind of thing. But of course it is going to be a huge expense, but we are in a crisis situation, no doubt about that. They are having to deal with the Economic Impact, and of course with the fight against the virus itself, and we have heard from various people today, from the scientific adviser and the nhs too, and i think that of where the huge pressure is. The whole point of trying to suppress this is to make sure that the nhs can cope, and i think listening there, fascinating really because jeremy hunt, the former health secretary, quizzing the heads of the nhs in england about whether they are ready, whether they have enough intensive care beds and ventilators, and it wasnt totally reassuring. They are desperately trying to scale up they are desperately trying to scale up and get this equipment, get the staff in the right place, but it is going to be a massive challenge. Anyone who works in hospitals knows this, and in london particularly yesterday we heard that london is several weeks ahead of the rest of the country, so the pressure in the capital is going to be immense in the coming weeks. And a lot of people messaging me here right now saying, when are we likely to hear from the government . These Daily News Co nfe re nces , from the government . These daily News Conferences, presumably they are having to take in information by the minute . Yes, and i think that is the minute . Yes, and i think that is the issue. I know people get very frustrated about this, they want action, people are feeling in some cases extremely anxious about all of this, but i think it is pretty obvious that behind the scenes that was an awful lot of work going on, and they want to get it right before they relay this information to the public, to us watching is, so we think it will be in the next half an hour or think it will be in the next half an hourorso, and we think it will be in the next half an hour or so, and we will bring it to you as soon as hour or so, and we will bring it to you as soon as it happens, and we also know that rishi sunak will go to the house of commons at seven oclock to also tell mps what the plans are, so it is all in motion and it will be happening. Things are pretty fluid as they work out what exactly they are going to do, what measures theyre going to bring in, because they desperately want to help people. This is short term, this issue, but they dont want it to become extremely long term. They wa nt to to become extremely long term. They want to make sure that businesses at the end of it can come back from this extremely unfortunate situation. Vicki young in downing street, thank you very much for now. As vicki was saying, we are keeping an eye on what is happening in downing street and we will take you straight over there when the News Conference gets under way. You wont miss anything as we cover this continuing Coronavirus Crisis. Lets move on to todays sporting developments, with the postponement of euro 2020 until next year. With me now is our sport correspondent laura scott, whos at Wembley Stadium where the semifinal and finals would have taken place. So what is that announcement that we have been getting in the last hour orso . Have been getting in the last hour or so . So, uefa have formally announced that they will postpone the euros until next summer, it will now be euro 2021 to be held injune and july next year, and that is a big decision that uefa has taken, but they said they felt that they had to make the biggest sacrifice. They have done to try to prioritise the domestic leagues, many of which are currently suspended due to coronavirus, to enable them if football can resume to try to com plete football can resume to try to complete their seasons. So that frees up time injune and july when those seasons could be completed. What exactly this means for the womens euros, due to be held in england next summer, we dont yet know, but uefa has said that the Champions League and europa leagues remain on hold at this stage. And the implication is notjust for sport, it is an implication for broadcasters and betting companies. There is a huge Global Industry on this. Absolutely, and it is very early stages in this decision. It has only been made today, but the ramifications will be massive, and the financial ones across european football, it was meant to be held across 12 cities. They will all have been expecting tourism, and a lot of jobs would have been created around euro 2020, so it will be impossible at this stage to quantify the ramifications of this decision, but as you say, tv companies, the commercial partners, all of the National Federation is impacted, and the cities that were due to host euro 2020, london being one of them. But it was deemed that this was the right decision given the current climate, that they couldnt hold what was meant to be a celebration of football, given what is happening at the moment. Laura scott, with the latest from wembley, thank you very much. The government has advised everyone to social distance. Lets take a look at what that advice means. Avoid contact with someone who is displaying symptoms of coronavirus. The government has advised everyone to social distance. These symptoms include High Temperature and or new and continuous cough. Avoid non essential use of public transport, varying your travel times to avoid rush hour when possible. Work from home where possible. Your employer should support you to do this. Please refer to employer guidance for more information. Avoid large gatherings, and gatherings in smaller public spaces such as pubs, cinemas, restaurants, theatres, bars, clubs. Avoid gatherings with friends and family. Keep in touch using Remote Technology such as phone, internet, and social media. Use telephone or Online Services to contact your gp or other essential services. The pandemic has been affecting countries around the globe. President donald trump has been speaking about the coronavirus outbreak in the United States and he said he believes the us economy will come back rapidly when the Coronavirus Spread reduces and that progress is being made against the virus. Were giving relief to affected industries and Small Businesses, and were ensuring that we emerge from this challenge with the prosperous and growing economy, because thats whats going to happen. Its going to pop. One day well be standing, possibly up here, well say, well, we won, and were going to say that. Sure as youre sitting there, were going to say that and were going to win. And i think were going to win faster than people think i hope. The us treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin warned that the coronavirus pandemic could be even more devastating for the Airline Industry. The airline ceos have had conversations with the senate and the house. As the president said, i was up with a subset of the republican senators last night. Ive discussed that with them. I think, as you know, this is worse than 9 11. For the Airline Industry, they are almost ground to a halt. The president wants to make sure that although we dont want people to travel unless its critical, we want to maintain for critical travel the right to have domestic travel. Frances president macron has taken sweeping action, and placed his entire country on lockdown for fifteen days. People can only leave their homes to shop for food, go to work or to seek medical help. And 100,000 Police Officers will enforce the restrictions. Hugh schofield reports. French National Anthem plays. France is on a war footing. It was the president who said it. A health war against a virus, and the only way to win it to mobilise the entire country into self isolation. Translation we are at war, a health war. We are not fighting an army or another nation, but the enemy is here, invisible and making progress. For french families, life is going to be very different probably for weeks to come. Children given home schooling, parents working from home, and the infrequent trips outside the house heavily regulated. Translation honestly, i was kind of expecting it. We saw a lot of people, myself in particular. I went out yesterday and there were lots of people outside and, honestly, im not too surprised with being restricted. I dont know yet to what extent we will be confined. With the restrictions coming in at noon, paris, the external face of paris, has been gradually emptying of life. Translation along the champs elysees, there are usually loads of tourists. Now there is really no one. No one. I think it is strange to see a neighbourhood like that in paris. With so many tourists not here. You wonder what is going on. Many have headed for the railway stations to leave for the country. Years ago, that was the instinct, too, at the start of another crisis world war ii. These are measures which, outside of wartime, france has never seen before. Notjust one city, notjust one part of the population, but an entire nation of 60 Million People ordered inside because of an invisible and potentially deadly enemy. The times are indeed eerie and they are alarming. Hugh schofield, bbc news, paris. Italy has had the worst outbreak of coronavirus in europe so far, and its now a week since stringent measures were put in place across the country to try to contain its spread. Streets across the country are silent. More than 2,000 people there have now died thats more than in any other country after china. Sima kotecha reports from rome. Applause. A display of resilience and solidarity. Locals in rome feeling optimistic about what lies ahead, as the country tackles the worst Health Crisis in a generation. How do you feel the government is doing . Sorry . The Prime Minister, do you agree with what is happening . Yes, i do. Why . Because its the right thing to do, i think. Ive never seen rome in this situation. Popular streets, empty. No tourists, nothing open. Orlando is a taxi driver. He tells us the soul has been ripped out of italy. Im not busy because there are no people. Only to the hospital. Some tourists. But very, very down. The country has enforced rules preventing people from moving around. Stay indoors, especially if youre older, theyre told. But some are choosing to rebel. The advice for people who are older is to stay indoors . Yes, yes, we know. You are not staying indoors . No, because we think we have to walk a little bit. Every two days, we take a walk. The contrast is stark. We are in the centre of rome, and usually these steps are packed with tourists. Men selling roses, but, today, this. Bell rings. Completely deserted. A week on from when the measures were first announced, and churches are providing a place of solace for worshippers. The pope recently said he wanted clergymen to give those infected comfort. The government has put 25 billion euros into the economy to give it a cash boost, as many businesses remain closed. But everyone has to eat. And on some corners in rome, takeaway places remain open. Translation its a special emergency situation. Every one of us has a responsibility to do our bit. So you mustnt approach each other, everyone must stand at least a metre apart. The world is now watching italy closely to see whether what its doing succeeds in killing this virus. Sima kotecha, bbc news, rome. The governments chief scientific adviser, sir Patrick Vallance, says testing for covid 19 needs to be increased in the uk. Answering questions from the health and social care committee, he said he hopes the new measures introduced by the government yesterday will help reduce the number of deaths from coronavirus. Heres some of what he had to say. Every year in seasonal flu, the number of deaths is thought to be about 8,000 excess deaths. So if we can get this down to numbers 20,000 and below, thats a good outcome in terms of where we would hope to get to with this outbreak. But, i mean, its still horrible. I mean, thats still an enormous number of deaths and its an enormous pressure on the Health Service. And having spent 20 years as an nhs consultant as well as an academic, you know, i know exactly what that looks and feels like. I spoke to colleagues that ive known and worked with in singapore, right early in their outbreak, and it was clear from them that there was this two phases of illness. The vast majority of people, as you say, gets a viral illness, which gets better, so that by seven days theyre feeling better. Often by five days theyre feeling better. Some of them go on to get this second phase, which is the immune reaction. And that immune reaction seems to kick in it around five days. Its characterised by shortness of breath, failure to get better from the first round, and then a deterioration. Its important that this isnt at that stage due to active viral replication so much as the bodys response to it. And so, you know, the idea that antivirals are going to work then is probably probably wrong. They might work very early on. What are the features that make people more likely to be in that phase . Some evidence that its initial dose of exposure, which is why Health Care Workers potentially stood a risk at the beginning if they were being exposed to very large doses, and pre existing diseases, and age, which presumably is a surrogate for pre existing diseases as well. So thats sort of at high level what we know about this at the moment and it does have quite big implications for how we think about treatments. And can you just say for the public, then, for the people who are getting better, do they develop an immunity . And when can they return back to work . If they do their five days, theyre feeling better, are they able to go back out into the workforce and they re protected so that they can carry on working . The vast majority of people seem to stop having significant viral shedding around seven days. Some may go on a bit longer. Thats why the seven day isolation period was recommended for individual cases. Some may go on a little bit longer, but for the vast majority of people the viral shedding decreases quite rapidly after about four or five days. We need to use the testing in the right place at the moment, and we simply dont have mass Testing Available for the population now. And theres a big effort going on to try to get that in place as quickly as possible to be able to manage this. There are two things that are critical ramping up testing and making sure we have great data flows. Those two things are very, very important in how we manage this for both the interventions and, as i said, for removing the interventions. Could you give a really clear view on why schools arent closing now . Why were doing it differently from other countries, which seem to be quite commonly closing schools. And if schools are to be closed, what the plans are around that . When we looked at all of the interventions, we looked at the ones that had the biggest impact first, albeit with the variability that we talked about, and those that have less effect, and School Closing was definitely a bit lower down the list than some of the ones that weve announced. It doesnt mean it doesnt do anything. It would have an effect, but it has all sorts of complicated effects as well, including the one that you mentioned of potentially leading to children being with grandparents and so on. And, of course, also causing an enormous problem, not just for the workforce generally, but for the workforce in the nhs as well. So its a complicated one, and all i can do is give the sort of science advice on that. In terms of the effect, i think, as you look across the world, for example, singapore hasnt closed schools. Its introduced some different measures in schools. Taiwan, i think, didnt close schools in managing it, so theres been a variability across the world in terms of School Closures and whether thats been part of the approach or not. Its absolutely on the table as the whole suite of measures are. The Evidence Base is there to suggest where it might work and where it doesnt work. And decisions will, im sure, be made at the time they need to be made around School Closures, which is one of the things, one of the levers to pull to try to get on top of this at the right time. But i say its not without quite complex consequences. That was the chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance. With me now is our Health Correspondent nick triggle. People arejoining this people are joining this programme all the time so bring us up to date with where we are on this. Earlier today we heard of the nhs will be cancelling all routine operations from mid april. They believe that, coupled with quickly discharging patients from hospital, will free up 30,000 beds out of a capacity of 100,000, which will help relieve pressure on intensive care, routine treatment, patients end up going to intensive care. They think they can get the number of intensive care beds from 45,000 now up to 12,000. As we heard from Patrick Vallance, there is a desire for more testing to be done. If you remember at the start of this, we were testing everyone, we were testing close contacts everyone, we were testing close co nta cts in everyone, we were testing close contacts in an attempt to contain it as the virus spread that didnt become possible to sustain. We have started testing just hospital patients. We are testing 4000 people a day, there is a plan to get that up a day, there is a plan to get that up to 10,000, and they need to test then more in the community. We are getting new figures from england. We heard in wales two further deaths and in scotland another further death. Yes, a further 14 people have died after being diagnosed with coronavirus in england which brings the uk total to 69. We have had nearly 2000 positive cases, but we know that is the tip of the iceberg in the uk. Yesterday officials said there were perhaps up to 50,000 cases. This brings the issue of testing because we heard from the World Health Organization that three words are World Health Organization that three words a re really World Health Organization that three words are really important. Test, test, test. We heard from patrick valla nce test, test. We heard from Patrick Vallance earlier the government once more testing. Yes, things are changing quickly. Patrick vallance said this is a new virus and we are learning as we are going along. The World Health Organization yesterday, their warning camejust World Health Organization yesterday, their warning came just before the uk government changed its approach. They were looking to have a controlled spread of the virus, reducing the peak, and spreading the outbreaks out over the summer when the nhs could cope better. Yesterday they said they wanted to suppress it, to keep the numbers as low as possible. Thats because there was concern about whether the nhs and in particular intensive care could cope. It is because of new evidence from italy and china that model is in the uk have been looking at that show is a third of patients who come into hospital then need intensive care. That would overwhelm the Health Service if we had stopped at the original policy. Just for information, Laura Kuenssberg just tweeting that the number ten press conference is expected in around 15 minutes or so and we are keeping an eye on what is happening in downing street. We will be hearing from richie sue nack rishi sunak, the chancellor of the exchequer. In terms of the nhs, the question they kept getting asked, the various select Committee Hearings today, is. Is the nhs up to this, and the a nswer is. Is the nhs up to this, and the answer was what . So Simon Stevens, chief executive of nhs england, said there is a degree of uncertainty. His officials said the public must play its part. We all have a part to play its part. We all have a part to play in this, following the government advice that was issued yesterday, which was of course we should all now be socially distancing ourselves, reducing unnecessary contact, working from home if thats possible, not going to theatres, pubs and clubs. That is especially important for the over 70s and those with Health Conditions such as Heart Disease and diabetes. A lot of people are getting in touch now saying, how can it possibly be right for schools still to be open when the advice is dont go to large gatherings . Time and time again the government has said it is on the table but we dont want to do it now. Evidence shows School Closures would reduce the numbers but it is complicated in that if children are off school their parents may have to ta ke off school their parents may have to take time off work. That could involve Health Workers who will be crucial and stretched in hospitals treating coronavirus of patients. If pa rents a re treating coronavirus of patients. If parents are not looking after them, maybe it will fall to the grandparents looking after them and they are the very people we are trying to protect from the virus, so there is a concern School Closures would not be that helpful and at this stage they dont want to use them. But they are saying that it might happen and could be necessary now. At the bottom line at the moment is those who might be waiting for a routine operation might have to wait longer . Yes, hospitals have to wait longer . Yes, hospitals have to cancel them from mid april but it is up to hospitals how they do it. I think we will see some cancellations happening from this week. Thank you. And at 6 30 tonight on the bbc news channel, well be trying to answer your questions on the Economic Impacts of coronavirus on your job or your business. So, if youre concerned about your line of work, do send in your questions to us by emailing your questions at bbc. Co. Uk or tweet them with the hash tag bbcyourquestions. A lot are already coming in, and we will try to get as many answered as we can. While many adults are now working from home, for most children its lessons as usual. But nurseries, schools and universities have been putting measures in place to try to limit the spread of coronavirus and to protect their staff and students. John maguire reports. This is why we need to wash our hands, let me give you some soap. Washing hands is a game, a song and more important than ever here at the sunray nursery, near mold in north wales. This close to the border, they sing in both english. Happy birthday to you. And welsh. Penblwydd hapus i ti ising happy birthday to nursery and then i wash my hands. Why is it important to keep your hands clean . Because you might spread germs when you cough in your hands. Do you know what to do when you cough, what do you do if you cough . Why are you washing your hands . Because you get germs. Yeah. Got to keep them clean, havent you . The children dont seem to have a care in the world. But its very different for the adults. We avoid, you know, play centres, places like that, we wont be going anywhere unnecessarily. Stick to the park, stick to the outdoors. Our three year old, shes been teaching us how to wash our hands, so thats new. But, otherwise, itsjust trying to be sensible, really, not doing anything, not going anywhere that we dont need to go. Im actually staying away from my mum at the moment because shes got a little bit of a sore throat and a cold, butjust in case, im not going near her. My little girl is only three, so she hasnt asked too much. But she just says, do i have to wash my hands, now, mummy . Im, like, yes, come on, now, wash your hands. The nursery has more than 270 children on its books, and around 40 staff. Of course, this isnt the sort ofjob where people can work from home. And, as the virus spreads, then so does the uncertainty. Often grandparents are involved with childcare. But if they self isolate, then that help disappears. A lot of our children share, you know, parents, their grandparents looking after them, them coming to the nursery on the other days. So, yes, i think it is going to have an impact, certainly. We havent got any germs any more, have we . Can you see in the water . Just as the coronavirus is no respecter of age or international borders, it will affect and infect varying aspects of our lives, presenting many challenges and making everyday normal life anything but. John maguire, bbc news, north wales. The government has warned that london is further forward than the rest of the country towards the peak of the virus. The mayor of london, sadiq khan, has said hes looking at running a reduced service on the underground and warned that the advice to avoid pubs and bars could be catastrophic for london businesses. Some people will need to go to work. Think of the nurses, the doctors, the police, the firefighters. Ive ensured today public transport is running as normal. We may need to reduce the service as demand goes down. And over the course of the next few days, we may be reducing to a saturday sunday service during the week and even a less frequent service if the demand shows we can reduce that service. One of the frustrations and id say angerfrom the businesses ive spoken to is, at the moment the words from the government is theyre advising restaurants, pubs, businesses to not open. Theyre advising people not to gather in places of ten or more. What theyre saying to me is, the businesses are, that if the government said theyre going to ban it, it means the businesses can claim from insurance. So what the governments got to do is do one of two things. Either say explicitly theyre banning these things, which means some of these businesses can claim from insurance. Secondly, make sure the government steps in and provides the Financial Support these businesses desperately need. And i make this point. If these businesses have cash flow problems, if businesses close down, people are made unemployed, the government will have to step in and pay for their benefits. Why not in advance of that, support the businesses to avoid job losses in the first place . Our global trade correspondent Dharshini David is here. We arejust we are just hearing that the culture secretary, oliver dowden, who is himself in self isolation, held a series of sobering calls with the tourism and culture sectors. They are hugely affected. One of the bodies last night said we could be seeing hundreds of thousands ofjobs being put at risk. Some pubs and bars already laying off staff, saying we cant keep you on, we cant keep the doors open, and therefore we are going to be in trouble, and the big question of course is how do you ensure those peoples livelihoods are protected in the coming months . In what is essentially a personal crisis, that it doesnt extend into becoming a prolonged one when people are already facing a stressful time when it comes to health issues. There are industries across the board having phone calls this afternoon. Industries across the board having phone calls this afternoonlj industries across the board having phone calls this afternoon. I am getting tweets right now from people saying, its all very well to say work from home, but if you work in a shop and nobody is coming in, it means nothing. I took a walk up the high street at lunchtime to see what traffic was looking like, and there are more staff than customers in many of these shops. In some of these are big global names. But then you think about the Smaller Companies out there, and dont forget it is small and Medium Sized Enterprises which are the lifeblood of our country, notjust here but around the world as well, and they are the ones that need the most support. So what can we expect when we have the chance to speak in a few minutes . What we have the chance to speak ina minutes . What we have the chance to speak in a few minutes . What we are seeing in the likes of france and spain at these multi billion pound packages, almost £300 billion packages, almost £300 billion packages coming out of those countries. But a lot of that is about loan guarantees, so making sure there is a credit line there if businesses are in trouble that they can draw on, so dont get too blinded by the numbers. What we are looking for in particular is help for the people at the lower end of the pay scale, the self employed workers, those who work in the gig economy who perhaps havent had the protection afforded to workers at the moment. The bottom line, dharshini, is that Business People are saying if you are going to press the pause button which is what the government is doing to britain, then when we come out of this it must not have cost us anything and we shouldnt have been financially penalised as a result. This was a lwa ys penalised as a result. This was always going to be a trade off, and it is similararound always going to be a trade off, and it is similar around the world. You have to weigh up the impact on Public Health at the Economic Impact, so the more you tell us to stay at home, and a key thing is School Closures, studies done on this before, and you are taking pa rents this before, and you are taking parents out of the workplace equation altogether, and that is when you see the real Economic Impact. So there has to be a trade off, and the government has to play the wait and see game that you can see the more that you say to people, stop all economic activities, the greater the impact is, and that is where policymakers come into this, you have to stop that short sharp shock becoming a prolonged depression which affects all of our livelihoods for years to come. Dharshini, thank you very much. We will all be watching that News Conference, and the downing Street Television feed is up, we will return to that end vicki young is our Political Correspondent who is our Political Correspondent who is outside and we will talk to her as well. But in the meantime, bitter breaking news we are just getting. Zaghari ratcliffe has been temporarily released from prison in iran, that is coming from her husband. This has long been promised, and she has this afternoon been released temporarily for two weeks, so until the 4th of april 2020. She has in fact been detained for almost four years over spying allegations, allegations she denies. According to the campaign, they say u nfortu nately according to the campaign, they say unfortunately she will be required to wearan ankle unfortunately she will be required to wear an ankle tag during her release, which her parents have now heard from the authorities, her movements will be restricted to 300 metres from her parents home. That makes her release more comparable to house arrest than the standard arrangement that had been granted to other prisoners this week. But at least some positive news coming from her husband richard, and i think we arejust her husband richard, and i think we are just getting her husband richard, and i think we arejust getting a her husband richard, and i think we are just getting a Foreign Office statement as well. This is coming from the foreign secretary, who says, im relieved that mrs Zaghari Ratcliffe was temporarily released into the care of her family in iran. We owe to the regime to make sure she receives any necessary medical care. The foreign secretary says that while this is a welcome step, we urge the government now to release all uk dual nationals arbitrarily detained in iran, and enable them to return to their families in the uk. So that is the statement coming from the foreign secretary dominic raab in the response to the news that nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe has been temporarily released from jail, under effective house arrest with her parents. More on that later. Well just show you these stark pictures from the Czech Republic they are huge truck traffic queues near the Border Crossing to poland stretching back for 42km. Queues began to form yesterday morning, when the poles at the crossing began checks on people entering the country because of the coronavirus outbreak. The crossing in nachod is the only one where where the czech polish border can be crossed. Other Border Crossing points are closed. Staying with the travel implications of the coronavirus outbreak. British citizens are being advised not to travel anywhere in the world for the next 30 days because of the coronavirus pandemic. The foreign secretary, dominic raab, made the announcement in the commons. So with immediate effect i have taken the decision to advise british nationals against nonessential travel globally for an initial period of 30 days. And of course subject to ongoing review. Mr speaker, i should emphasise this decision has been taken based on the domestic measures introduced here in the uk alongside the changes to border and a range of other restrictions which are now being taken by countries right around the world. Following todays changing travel advice, british nationals who decide that they still need to travel abroad should do so fully aware of the increased risks of doing so, and that obviously includes the risk that they may not be able to get home if travel restrictions are subsequently put in place that they hadnt anticipated. So we urge anyone still considering travel to be realistic about the level of disruption they are willing and able to endure, and to make decisions in light of the unprecedented conditions that we face. The shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said tens of thousands of british nationals were stuck abroad and needed assistance. This is a time of immense concern for tens of thousands of british nationals stranded abroad, notjust dealing with the stress of trying to get Accurate Information and make their way home, but doing so facing the ever present fear of infection. I was contacted yesterday by tom, one of the 65 british nationals in peru, which has announced a 15 day state of emergency with its borders closed and the army enforcing a quarantine. Toms flight to britain today has been cancelled, and his calls to our embassy in lima have not been answered. Why is that . Because the embassy itself has decided to close down for 15 days, just when its services were needed most. The secretary of state said in his statement that our consular teams are working around the clock to provide the best Information Available to uk nationals. Well, im afraid that simply isnt the case in toms experience. We have received no advice or assistance, he says. We are all extremely concerned at being stranded here. Across the world, there are tens of thousands of british nationals in the same position as thomas, and all with the same message for the british government. Help bring us home. That was Emily Thornberry. Our chief Political Correspondent vicki young is in downing street for us. We are awaiting this News Conference, and all eyes are going to be on rishi sunak. He has got to produce, hasnt he . This is a bit different from the other press conferences we have had, because they have focused of course on the fight against the virus itself. On this occasion the focus will be on the Economic Impact, which everyone can see all around them. Yesterday borisjohnson can see all around them. Yesterday Boris Johnson saying can see all around them. Yesterday borisjohnson saying to people to stay away from pubs and restaurants. We know that people arent travelling. Really there is an effective lockdown across big parts of the country, and of course that is going to have a massive impact on the economy. So what can the government do about it . It is going to have to be an incredibly large intervention. We have had people from all aspects of industry calling for the chancellor to really just pump the money in, to not really worry about it. They are likening it with what happened during the war and saying that you have to just not worry about the kind of things that we re worry about the kind of things that were talked about previously about fiscal prudence. This is absolutely not the time for that, so it is about businesses, what they need to keep going. Because yesterday Boris Johnson saying at the end of all of this, they want to give businesses the space to come back from it. They dont want them to go out completely and not be able to come back at the time that theyre going to be needed to. Then there is peoples personal income, of course. A lot of them looking at not having any payment for the weeks and months ahead. What are they going to do about that so that people can simply stay in their homes, whether that is renting or paying the mortgage, and of course being able to feed themselves and theirfamilies. So being able to feed themselves and their families. So a being able to feed themselves and theirfamilies. So a huge being able to feed themselves and their families. So a huge array of things that he is going to have to look at here. We will see the detail of it, so we are going to have to obviously get this together very quickly. Less than a week since the budget, where there were some interventions which at the time seemed pretty significant. They dont really know. Lots of people looking to france, what was announced yesterday by the president there, talking about 300 billion euros being pumped in, saying to people you dont have to pay your utility bills, mortgages, rent, all of that. The other side here of course is going to be public transport. We know the airlines have been asking for help. Will they effectively nationalise transport in the short term, and the other factor here is, wejust dont the short term, and the other factor here is, we just dont know how long this is going to go on forfull stops today at sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific officer, giving evidence to mps saying this is not going to be a couple of weeks, it is not even going to be weeks, it is going to be months and he doesnt know how many months it is going to be. So that makes it particularly difficult for the government because they dont know how long they are going to have to keep these measures in place. You mentioned the Airline Industry, and Certain Industries are saying u nless we and Certain Industries are saying unless we hear something positive soon many unless we hear something positive soon manyjobs will be lost. And that means people are losing theirjobs and not getting paid. In theirjobs and not getting paid. In the end, grant shapps the transport secretary said of course at the end of it at some point we will return to normal and you need these things to normal and you need these things to be functioning, so they do want to be functioning, so they do want to help businesses through this no matter the cost. It has involved reorganisations of how whitehall works, they are setting up different working parties to look at what is needed whether that is ministers, subcommittees of the cabinet as well, new committees for health, Public Sector preparedness, the economy, international response, all of those things. Dont forget this is going on alongside the fight against the illness itself. The priority of course is looking at the nhs and how ready they are. Today for one of the first times we have heard from representatives of the nhs in england, where they gave evidence to the select committee, and they really were pressed for details about how ready they are to deal with this, particularly of course how many intensive care beds there are, and how many ventilators there are, and how many ventilators there are. At the most basic of levels this illness means that people when they get very sick will need oxygen. You need to get that to people and the staff to do it. Hospitals are trying to ramp that up and do it as quickly as they can, but there werent very clear answers on whether exactly they feel they are prepared because they dont quite know the extent of what is coming. Jeremy hunt, the former health secretary, really pushing Simon Stevens about that to ask if he feels they have enough equipment, enough beds, and he said there is a lwa ys enough beds, and he said there is always uncertainty with this and couldnt say for sure. I think that unease is reflected amongst the people working in hospitals. They know this will be an incredibly testing time. We will hear from sir Patrick Vallance again here today. He has been at the press conferences and will be here again today as well, and he gave some interesting a nswe rs , well, and he gave some interesting answers, pretty honest about what he thinks might come, but stressing this is very much based on modelling. He talked about why those measures are being brought in much quicker than people expected, and it is to suppress the numbers getting the illness so the nhs is not overwhelmed, so people can be treated so that they can recover. He said he thinks the measures being brought in, and the ones brought in at the weekend and afterwards, could mean deaths go below 20,000. That in itself is incredibly shocking. He says that will be a good outcome but it is still horrible, and he knows the kind of pressure that will put on the nhs. That is the number of deaths, the number of cases far higher than that. You canjust deaths, the number of cases far higher than that. You can just see the kind of enormous pressure the nhs will be put under in the coming months. When you mention the numbers, one of the difficulties the government has is the issue of testing. The World Health Organization yesterday saying test, test, test. There seems to be a change in direction, sir patrick valla nce change in direction, sir Patrick Vallance saying we need more testing, but at the heart of the issueis testing, but at the heart of the issue is trust. If the government is asking people to stay at home and self isolate, people will say we can only do that if we can afford to, and that is down to the government. They know that and they want to encourage people to do the right thing. What was interesting yesterday in all of these areas, when i asked the Prime Minister about enforcement, he said we have the powers but i dont think we will need them because we are a mature, liberal democracy and people understand what is being asked of them. It is advised at the moment. They can go further, there will be Emergency Powers which could force people to go into quarantine if they are refusing to do so. They can go further but they are not doing so at the moment, and they have talked a lot about personal responsibility. Forgive me but the prime i want to go through our overall plan for beating this new coronavirus. We must stop the disease spreading to put word overwhelms our nhs in every country in the world has the same problem. This is a disease that is so dangerous and so infectious that without drastic measures to check its progress, it would overwhelm any Health System in the world. I have used the italian Health System, it is excellent and the problem is not with the Health Systems, it is the numbers of sufferers. That is why we announced steps advising against all unnecessary contact, steps that are unprecedented since world war ii. They will have an effect on the spread of the disease. The shielding of vulnerable groups will also reduce suffering and i want to thank everybody at the stage for what we are all doing and to follow this advice. I stressed that although the measures are extreme, we may have to go further and faster in the coming days to protect lives and the nhs. Secondly, we are doing all we can end as quickly as we can to increase the capacity of the nhs. That means more testing, more beds, more than to leaders and train staff greater support for nhs and other staff it means much better data in much better technology. Third, we must do all we can to boost science and research. We must study this disease. Test drugs that already exist and have been to medical trials to see what helps treat severe cases and search for a vaccine. We must act like any wartime government and do whatever it takes to support our economy. That is the main purpose of this press co nfe re nce that is the main purpose of this press conference this afternoon. We must support businesses intense millions of families and individuals through the coming months. To do that, the machine must and will respond with a profound sense of urgency and many officials working around the clock but we must do more and faster. The chancellor will be saying much more about this in a moment with further announcements in the coming days. Fifth, we will need to strengthen our Public Services that will be under great pressure from the direct and indirect effects of the disease. Such as the effects of the disease. Such as the effects of Staff Shortages and from economic pressures. Of Staff Shortages and from economic pressures. All institutions will be under great pressure and we will invest hugely in the people we all rely on and again, i want to thank all of our Public Servants for what they are already doing. Ultimately, to beat this crisis we will need a combination of better science technology, medicine, data, government, operations, economic support, learning from other countries and social support. As time goes on, we will learn more about the disease and the effects of our actions. And while we need national unity, we also need international cooperation. And although we now need to impose physical distance between ourselves we must, at the same time have closer social support for each other. Yes, this enemy can be deadly. But, it is also beatable and we know how to beat it and we know that if as a country that we follow the scientific advice that is not being given, we know that we will beat it and however tough the months ahead, we have the resolve and the resources to win the fight and to repeat, this government will do what ever it takes. I will now hand over for more on that to the chancellor of the exchequer. Thank you Prime Minister, the coronavirus pandemic is an emergency that is an economic emergency. We have never and peacetime faced an economic fight like this one. Under the people are deeply worried, i other peoples anxiety about the disease itself is matched only by their anxiety about their livelihoods. Last week, i sent out an initial economic response in the budget. I promised to do whatever it takes to support our economy through this crisis. And if the situation changed, i would not hesitate to take further action. And thatis hesitate to take further action. And that is what i want to begin doing today. The struggle would not be ove rco m e by today. The struggle would not be overcome by a single package of measures or isolated interventions. It will be 13 collective National Effort, everyone of us doing all we to protect families, neighbours, friends, jobs. This National Effort will be underpinned by Government Interventions in the economy on a scale unimaginable only a few weeks ago. This is not a time for ideology and orthodoxy, this is a time to be bored. A time for courage. I want to reassure every british citizen, this government will give you all the tools you need to get through this. We will supportjobs, tools you need to get through this. We will support jobs, we tools you need to get through this. We will supportjobs, we will support incomes, we will support businesses and we will help you protect your loved ones. We will do whatever it takes. In the budget la st whatever it takes. In the budget last week, i set up the first stage of her economic response with a £30 billion package of support for people and businesses, but he also said in the budget that is the situation evolves, it would take further action and is the Prime Minister set out yesterday, we are now approaching the fast growth part of the upwards curve they have set up of the upwards curve they have set up the next stage of our Public Health response and so i now wanted to update everyone on the next stage of her economic response. First, the government will stand behind businesses, small and large. Government will stand behind businesses, smalland large. I government will stand behind businesses, small and large. I can announce an unprecedented package of government backed and guaranteed loans to support business to get through this. Today, i am loans to support business to get through this. Today, lam making available an initial £330 billion of guarantees, equivalent to 15 of our gdp. That means any business that needs access to cash to pay their rent, their salaries, suppliers or purchase stock will be able to access that government backed loan or credit unattractive terms and if demand is greater then the initial £330 billion i am making available today, i will go further and provide as much capacity as required. I said whatever it takes and i meant it. That support will be delivered through two main schemes. To support the quiddity along the march of firms they have today agreed a new Lending Facility with the bank of england to provide low costs, easily accessible, commercial paper. To support lending to small and medium size businesses, i support lending to small and medium size businesses, lam extending the new Business Interruption loan scheme i announced the budget last week so that rather than loans of £12 million, it would not provide loans of up to £5 million with no interest due the first six months. Both of these schemes will be up and running by the start of next week. And i am also taking a new legal power and the covert bill to offer whatever further Financial Support i is necessary. Some sectors are facing particularly acute challenges. In the coming days, my colleague for transport were discussing a potential support package specifically for airlines and airports. And yesterday, i asked my cabinet colleagues to urgently convene meetings of the coming days of Business Leaders and representatives in the most affected sectors to identify other specific opportunities to support them in their industries, including possible forbearance. I repeat, we will do whatever it takes. Second, as well as access to finance, Business Needs support with their cash flow and fixed costs. Following the change medical advice, there are concerns about the impact on clubs, theatres and other Hospitality Leisure and retail venues. Lemme confirm that for those businesses which do have a policy for insurance that covers pandemics, that the governments action is sufficient and will allow businesses to make an Insurance Claim against their policies. But many of those businesses do not have insurance, so we will need to do more. I announced last week that for businesses in the retail Hospitality Leisure sector, with the rateable value of less than £51,000, they will pay no Business Rates this year. Today, i can go further and provide this businesses in those sectors within additional cash grant of up to £25,000 per business to help bridge through period. Additionally, i am also extending today, the Business Rates holiday to all business in those sectors, a respectable of their value. Every single shop, club, theatre, music venue or single shop, club, theatre, music venue or restaurant or any of the business in the retail hospitality or leisure sector will pay new Business Rates whatsoever for 12 months and if they have a rateable value of less than £51,000, they can also now get a cash grant as well. I also now get a cash grant as well. I also announced last week there will be providing £3000 cash grants to the 700,000 of our smallest businesses. In light of the new circumstances and to support their cash circumstances and to support their ca s h flow circumstances and to support their cash flow today, i can increase those cash grants to £10,000. Taken together on top of the unlimited lending capacity i have already announced, this is a package of direct support of businesses through tax cuts and grants in this Financial Year with more than £20 billion. And that comes on top of the existing multi billion pound package i sent out at budget which included reimbursing small and Medium Size Companies for the cost of statutory sick pay. Local authorities will be fully compensated for the cost of these measures in the devolved administrations will receive at least three and a half billion pounds in additional funding as a result of these measures to provide support for businesses in scotland, wales and northern ireland. I repeat again, we will do what ever it takes. Third, iwill strengthen again, we will do what ever it takes. Third, i will strengthen our support for people and individuals ina support for people and individuals in a committed £1 million to support the Financial Security to Vulnerable People through billion pound boost to the welfare system and a half £1 billion Hardship Fund for local authorities. Following the industry today, i can announce that those in difficulty due to coronavirus, mortgage lenders will now offer a three month mortgage holiday so that people were not to pay a penny to the mortgage costs while they get back on their feet. And in the coming days, i will go much further to support peoples Financial Security, in particular, iwill work with trade unions and business groups to urgently develop new forms to protect peoplesjobs in their incomes through this period. As i said last week, this is first and foremost, a Public Health emergency andl foremost, a Public Health emergency and i reiterate today our commitment that whatever resources the nhs needs, it will get. Let no one doubt our resolve and what is on the budget that we will do everything we can to keep this country and our people healthy and financially secure, i meant it. The measures ive announced are part of a comprehensive coordinated and coherent response to what is a serious economic situation. These are only the first steps. I will set up are only the first steps. I will set up the next stage of our response in the coming days. We have never faced an economic fight like this one. But we are well prepared, we will get through this and we will do whatever it takes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well go straight to questions and laura, yes laura from the bbc. Thank you very much chancellor and Prime Minister, youve announced a vast package of support in the loan scheme should be up and running next week instead of more measures to come with in the coming days, but can you guarantee to firms that need to pay now in families that worry about paying rent now that they will not lose out while you work through the details of what comes next. In the details of what comes next. In the question on the scientific advice that changed in the next couple of days, do you have any regrets on taking more draconian measures sooner . On the first point, which was to me and the chancellor of the exchequer, be in no doubt that the status is asking people to do something to make very considerable changes to their lives is on right that the state should stand behind people as they make those changes and that is of the government, that is what a society is there to do, to look after people through thick and thin and make sure that we get through this together that we get through this together thatis that we get through this together that is what we are going to do. Youre absolutely right that people should have access to the support they need as quickly as possible and thatis they need as quickly as possible and that is why when all the interventions we have set, we had in mind the ability to execute an opportunity as soon as possible, it is for the people urgently need help, if they are in a vulnerable position, they will have to provide direct support to their assistance schemes and in the budget, have £1 billion is going to local authorities to supplement the support that they are ready give and with regards to the creditors of bags, we have had discussions with the banks and they will have assured me to provide flexibility to those in the circumstances and that understanding. We have laid out the package of measures that need to be looked at it and they have to come in at the right time in the right combination and what we have said is that the stage of the epidemic is now onto the fast upstroke and we are at the stage for this needs to come in and forcibly as they have done that is the right action to ta ke done that is the right action to take at the right time and the other packages that we have talked about, the other things that may be also necessary , the other things that may be also necessary, may also need to come in so necessary, may also need to come in so that this fast moving situation is we have to make the right decision at the right time and this is clearly one that is a serious situation. Sam from sky news. Question for sir patrick, jaw dropping piece of research from Imperial College yesterday suggested that we would go to, the only option was to go for a suppression strategy which could take up to 18 months and was there for that long because we we re was there for that long because we were looking for a vaccine. Is that how you see it . Is a vaccine the goal is you understand it . You have suggested a package that impart will be valid for three months, is that how long you see this price is lasting in these loans, however business going to pay stuff back and given the nature of this crisis and Prime Minister, some came with them yesterdays briefing a bit confused about guidance for the elderly. Do you accept that it stops absolutely with you in this crisis and do you ta ke with you in this crisis and do you take responsibility of the actions . The work from imperial, that work is been feeding instance the very beginning of the process focusing on the Stage Committee and it is only that we looked at and we ask for that we looked at and we ask for that piece of work to come through, that piece of work to come through, that particular piece and just to be clear, but suppression in that paper refers to is exactly what we have been talking about witches squashing this now and giving room for the nhs to cope and that is what the messages. In terms of the time frame, this needs to be done in a way that can be it at some point and sing with the effect is, none of us anywhere in the world know how to do that yet in terms of whether it bounces back or not at that point. That is what is going to have to happen weve got this under control is how you can release these measures the right time to monitor the effects. In terms of vaccines and vaccines are the answer to this, it is remarkable the progress that has been made. It is only probably three orfour has been made. It is only probably three or four years has been made. It is only probably three orfour years ago has been made. It is only probably three or four years ago where the standard answer to make the vaccine. It is now the case that there is a vaccine in the uk that make going to the clinic and i still believe there will be lucky to get a vaccine for max use in a year from the start of this that would be extraordinary. But there is progress, there are multiple different types of vaccines and there are other approaches as well that are being looked at which may provide protection. So theres a lot going on and as the Prime Minister has said, it is crucial that we support their research to get these to the right places to treat people, which may be possible with the existing drugs and promote the vaccine. I think that isjust one start in one aspect of the package as the situation involves, we will review everything, but i would defer to patrick in terms of timing for what we believe the movements of the virus to be. What is the right shape of a response package . Think about it and a few different ways. Monetary policy and fiscal policy and last week, in comparison to many around the world comments of the education of Global Leadership and coherent coordinated approaches, which i think as a Multiplier Effect beyond their individual measures and in that sense, there have been very significant policy already. You select coronation again today, which worked in a very particular financing scheme with the bank of england and also showing the two arms of Economic Policy can Work Together to show support you can benchmark what we can do with other countries around the world. Loan schemes are important because the need to get through the difficult bridge, but the benchmark of a very comprehensive and sizeable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax grants and £25,000 for retail leisure and hospitality businesses, £10,000 for several hundred thousand businesses eligible for Small Business rate and that comes on top of Business Rates and holidays that we have given to several hundred thousand businesses, compensation for statutory sick pay and as we said today, we will go further with regard to employment support and supporting people stubs and incomes and working to achieve that, it will be very significant this collection. So if you look around, we are doing the right things and other needs to be a balance of all measures but we want to be the best in class at all of them. It stops with me and i do take full responsibility for the actions of this government is taking, all the decisions, taking difficult although many of them are, the advice or giving to everybody. And what i would say to people who are thinking about this advice, the more we follow the advice of our scientific and medical advisers and the more closely we do what they tell us to do, the better our chances collectively, of slowing the disease, of protecting the nhs and of saving life and also, the better we can protect the nhs, the less economic damage there will ultimately be an people care about pubs in their right to care about pubs in their right to care about pubs and restaurants, that is what we are announcing the package come the extrudate package that he has unveiled today. That is the way that we should be working to look after economy. Many businesses are facing collapsing demand, particularly in the leisure industries. They also face demands to pay their taxes from la st face demands to pay their taxes from last years businesses and demands to pay wages. Why is your help in the form of debt and grants that may be re payable when the form of debt and grants that may be repayable when these Business Owners have got no confidence about what the future may hold . Why not just say now, we will cover your liabilities and we will assess this again at some point in the future is clearer . Because many businesses may simply decide to cease trading rather than take on more debt which is what youre offering, equally, you want to incentivize people to do the right thing and go home. So why not announced today how you make it clear that you will not be penalised for doing the right thing and then finally, for the Prime Minister, for doing the right thing and then finally, forthe Prime Minister, is there everan urgent finally, forthe Prime Minister, is there ever an urgent reason to the pub . Cani can i answer in general terms. This isa can i answer in general terms. This is a huge package of support for business large and small. It comes in the form of standing behind companies, obligations behind their debts, on a huge scale, but also in making sure they have the cash flow they need. Rishi has gone through they need. Rishi has gone through the figures. It is an extraordinary effort to put liquidity into the economy at a difficult time, but be in no doubt that one day the uk economy is going to bounce back, and those companies, brilliant british companies, will bounce back and thats why we are taking the steps to protect them that we are today. You are right that businesses have fixed costs, which we want to target support at. The largest fixed costs are rent payments and staff, so the various cash grants we have announced which are not repayable, direct cash grants, that is direct cash for businesses at scale, you can do an approximate rateable value which is a good approximation for the market rent someone might be paying on their property, not perfect i give you that, but the grant that we have given provide a lot of cover to cover those fixed re ntal lot of cover to cover those fixed rental payments you mentioned. When it comes to employees, in terms of people not being penalised for doing the right thing, the steps the Prime Minister already announced made improvements to how ssp works and how esa it works so that no one is penalised for doing the right thing. They can get access to ssp from day one if they are self isolating, even asymptomatic, that is covered under those provisions as well. The other fixed costs, the cost of people, we wa nt fixed costs, the cost of people, we want to look at and we want to develop with business and the unions are bold and ambitious support package because we want to provide businesses with the security that some of that fixed cost we can help with. Because that ultimately is good for the individual, good for the business because it doesnt have to go out of business, and good for preserving the job. We will get through this and on the other side to ensure we preserve those jobs. There are options out there to do that but we will work urgently with unions and business to figure out the best possible solution. Between the best possible solution. Between the cash grants to help on the rateable value and employment support, i think we will address the two large st support, i think we will address the two largest costs that businesses have. Thanks. Jason, daily mail. Chancellor, there will be people who are being laid off today and freelancers having their contracts cancelled. Would you ask firms to ta ke cancelled. Would you ask firms to take a moment and look at this package before taking those sorts of decisions . Prime minister, you have spoken about possibly needing to ta ke spoken about possibly needing to take more extreme measures in the coming days and weeks. A lot of people are confused about schools. Parents were told last night by you they shouldnt mix with their friends and should not stop for a chat in the street but kids can go to schools. When are you going to close schools . I would say to those businesses, many businesses are quite frankly struggling right now. They have seen what is happening and seen they have seen what is happening and seen their revenues fall off a cliff and they are anxious about what to do, buti and they are anxious about what to do, but i would say the package of support we announced last week, the new measures announced today with more to come hopefully should provide more reassurance to those businesses and support is on its way in various forms. We will help them through this so they dont need to rush into decisions quickly, they can talk to their banks, see what they are eligible for and make decisions based on that. Working through this together, we will get through this together, we will get through to the other side but that is the reassurance we want to provide to businesses. It is better for them, the economy and peoples jobs. On schools, i understand completely, and we are keeping that under continuous review. Francis elliott, the times. Sir patrick, could you help us a little bit with what inputs to the model changed such that you escalated the approach . Just take us through some of the thinking behind it. Was it that more icu capacity was needed . Chancellor, the 20 billion figure, is that on top of the 30 billion figure . And perhaps you could say a little bit more about this employment support. Visit essentially the state meeting wage costs in full or in part . Patrick. The model is there to try and make sure we keep nhs capacity, and clearly the aim is to make sure we save the maximum number of lives and protect the vulnerable. The number of people who may require or the proportion of people who may require ventilation looks a bit higher because the oxygen on its own isnt working all the time, so therefore more people may need to go on to ventilators, that changes the model a little bit. The main reason was not so much the change in the model itself but the place we were in the epidemic. We need to accelerate the moves we wanted to make in terms of the implementation, so it was a mixture of timing, especially as i said london was a bit ahead, but also the model assumptions as to where you need to get to to get under nhs ventilator and capacity. Sir Simon Stevens asked repeatedly today Sir Simon Stevens asked repeatedly today was Sir Simon Stevens asked repeatedly today was asked today if there we re today was asked today if there were sufficient ventilators. The work we are doing, and by the way these are models so you have to be very careful about that, but the measures that have been put in place, which are very big measures, and they require all of us to do them andl and they require all of us to do them and i would like to thank everybody who is already doing them because we need to do them, these are predicted to have a major effect ina big are predicted to have a major effect in a big way. They are not trivial interventions. It doesnt mean it wont be necessary to take more. Heather stuart, the guardian. Forgive me, sorry. These are new measures are extended measures which we will outline the guidance for. On your point of what we are looking at, we are trying to find a way to help businesses meet the fixed costs of their staff without having to let them go. That will involve partnership between us to see how best we can do that. The challenge we have is to make sure that whatever we do it can work fast and quickly. What we cannot do is try to re i nve nt quickly. What we cannot do is try to reinvent something or invent something from scratch that takes too long to get off the ground. But we want to be ambitious because we wa nt we want to be ambitious because we want to provide security to people and businesses that they dont have to make these difficult decisions. We can all get through this together. Heather stuart from the guardian. £330 billion is a very big number, are you confident you have the capacity to make sure businesses know about the scheme and to get the money out the door on a timescale people will need it if the businesses are to remain open . Can i also ask about food, so shoppers are arriving in supermarkets today to find shelves empty. You have tried exalting the public to shop sensibly, but what practical steps will you take to make sure we all have the food we need to eat over the coming months . We are confident we have the capacity, we have been working round the clock to deliver this as quickly as possible, and it should be up and running by the start of next week. We will supplement that with an extensive Retail Campaign to make sure all businesses are aware of what is available so they can walk into their bank Branch Next Week and talk to somebody about the interruption loa n to somebody about the interruption loan the government is backing. That is what we want to happen. Just on the supermarkets, we are confident our supply chains are working and will work, and that we will get farm to fork Food Supplies for this country, and therefore people should have no reason to stockpile or panic buy. The public want to do the right thing but theres been a lot of confusion about what the message is. As faras confusion about what the message is. As far as people understand it, they should be staying at home as much as possible. Can you say what the message is, but also some of the measures you have outlined today are designed to help people if they lose their jobs. Designed to help people if they lose theirjobs. Statutory sick pay in this country is a lot lower than in a lot of other European Countries. Are you confident there is enough support available for families who are worried about what seems to be a prolonged period, you know, longer than initially envisaged. And finally, Prime Minister, you made a joke about a last gasp attempt to get ventilators. Is that appropriate language to be using in this kind of situation . Thank you. First of all on the advice we are giving, lets be clear that what we want to do is stop the transmission of disease. What we are saying to the public is avoid all unnecessary contact that could involve the transmission of disease. That means not going to places where you might pick it up, restau ra nts a nd places where you might pick it up, restaurants and so forth, avoiding gatherings of large and small. I think people do understand that. We are seeing an effect of the advice given. You also know what we are seeing with home isolation, staying at home if you have any of the key symptoms, a High Temperature or a continuous new cough. Seven days if you have the symptoms, 14 days if someone you have the symptoms, 14 days if someone in your household has two of the key symptoms, and we will be bringing forward further measures to look after vulnerable groups to shield them even more. On your second point, ithink shield them even more. On your second point, i think what i want and all business want is an end to suffering. That is why they are working incredibly hard in the next few weeks, and we really only have a few weeks, and we really only have a few weeks, and we really only have a few weeks to build literally thousands of ventilators that this country will need. It is an amazing. The british industry, manufacturers, are responding to this challenge with Incredible Energy and determination. George barker, financialtimes. You energy and determination. George barker, financial times. You set out a wide ranging series of measures to mitigate the effect of the virus on business. The Us Administration is talking about sending a cheque of 1000 to every individual, is there a basis for a broader fiscal stimulus . Prime minister, hearing about Insurance Companies, are you speaking to Insurance Companies and do you think they are doing enough to help customers through this difficult period . With regard to fiscal stimulus, we had a budget la st fiscal stimulus, we had a budget last week which at the time was significant. That said, we will look at these things and respond as the economy demands. In terms of coordination, the Prime Minister and iare in coordination, the Prime Minister and i are in regular contact with our counterparts across the 620. Various communique have gone out to make sure we are as coordinated as we can be. In terms of the right way to do that, theres different ways to do it. In terms of sending cheques to people, what we can do on the employment support side is probably my first preference but if the need arises for further demands, we can look at that. But as i talked about in the budget speech, given the situation we are dealing with, typical demand side actions might not have the same benefit as they would normally have but of course we stand ready to do whatever it takes. Sorry, on the insurance point, i think rishi has been talking directly to the insurers but what we have done is to ensure that where people have policies that they say the insurers might have said only involve a pay out whereas it were the insured party has been compelled to close their business whereas we have only urged people to stay away, and there has been some sort of quibble about whether to pay out, the insurers have stepped up to the plate and understood they have to pay out to those businesses. We have reached that agreement with them today. Thanks. Paul. Chancellor, first can i ask you, the Prime Minister last week said he wanted to level with people that things would be bad in terms of death. Do you wa nt be bad in terms of death. Do you want to level with people today and say how bad things will be in the economy over the next 18 months . Do you think a recession is inevitable, but you are trying to mitigate that as much as possible . Prime minister, if you close schools, what steps will you take to stop children on Free School Meals from going hungry . I repeat what i said last week, which is even more clear today as a result of the actions we are taking and how things have progressed. This will have a Significant Impact on our economy. I said that last week andl our economy. I said that last week and i stand by that. But i also stand by what else i said, this will be temporary. We will get through this. And we will get through it together, the steps we are taking meaning we will emerge together on the other side able to rebound back to confidence in economic activity, and that is why all the interventions we are looking out are designed to provide that bridge through what will be a very difficult and challenging period, but get us through this period so that we can be there on the other side to emerge stronger thereafter. But yes, it will be significant, and thatis but yes, it will be significant, and that is why we are doing everything we are doing, doing whatever it takes to get through it, and things will be better in time. On Free School Meals, as we come to the decision on schools, we will have obviously plans to go on that, and gavin williamson, the education secretary, has a plan to make sure that parents with kids who are eligible for Free School Meals get the compensation of the treatment they need one way or the other. We certainly have anticipated that. I think probably we should wrap it up now, because these are daily conversations, Daily Press Conferences now, and i think rishi has outlined a pretty big and important plan that i hope everybody has been able to understand and has been able to interrogate us about. What we are doing is were asking the public to do some pretty big things, and the changes were asking us all to making our lives, and i understand the effect that is going to have on the economy. Ijust want to have on the economy. Ijust want to repeat that key message. The more zealously, the more meticulously, the more scrupulously we can follow the more scrupulously we can follow the scientific advice that we have been given, the better we will be able to protect our nhs, the more lives will will be able to save, and the quicker we will get through this experience and the more strongly our economy will bounce back. But in the meantime, as you will have gathered this afternoon, we are going to do whatever it takes. Thank you all very much. Studio you have been watching Prime Minister borisjohnson studio you have been watching Prime Minister Boris Johnson leading studio you have been watching Prime Minister borisjohnson leading that conference alongside the chancellor rishi sunak and the chief scientific adviser sir Patrick Vallance bringing us up to date with the governments coronavirus measures, the chancellor hinting at what economic measures will be used to mitigate the far reaching effects of the economic shutdown effectively as a result of this pandemic. Lets recap the main points now. Mr sunak promised Government Intervention on a scale he said was unimaginable only a few weeks ago, and that includes government backed loans worth £330 billion which he said amounted to the equivalent of 15 of the uks gdp. To try to minimise the impact on social venues, he said if an insurance policy is in place which covers pandemics, they will be able to make claims under government action. For the smaller businesses in that sector who dont have insurance, he says he will provide cash grants of £25,000 per business. They will also be £10,000 cash gra nts they will also be £10,000 cash grants for the smallest businesses, while the business rate holiday announced in the budget would be extended to all businesses for 12 months. And for those in financial difficulty, mortgage lenders will now offer a three month mortgage holiday. So, quite a range of measures there. Our global trade correspondent Dharshini David is here. £330 billion, the french were talking about 350 billion euros, the americans talking about 830 billion, it feels roughly in that ballpark, but these are all loans . They are, and this is the issue. These are unprecedented packages for unprecedented times, we heard the watchdog today saying rip up the rule back and get out the cheque book, this is an emergency, you need to put out the fire. And when you look at these numbers, you are right. It is the £330 billion we are gonna grasping at, that is loans that will need to be paid back with interest. That is a valid lifeline and will be valuable for businesses which will struggle to keep going at the moment when we are seeing this dip in demand, supply chain interruptions, as of course will be the £20 billion worth of business rate holidays and of course those gra nts rate holidays and of course those grants as well. And they are the businesses we rely on to create jobs, to keep paying wages up and down the country. So we shouldnt dismiss this by any means, and it is just a first step, but there are glaring omissions in this package, and most noticeably the help for the self employed, the freelancers, the people working on the gig economy who dont have the protection of security and whose jobs may be the first in the firing line. They may already have gone as we had that advice from the Prime Minister to stay at home and not go out to pubs and stay at home and not go out to pubs a nd restau ra nts stay at home and not go out to pubs and restaurants are not to travel as well, so the big question is what will be done for those kind of people in the coming weeks, and what about eligibility for benefits as well . We hear a lot about sick pay, well . We hear a lot about sick pay, we have a relatively low level and some people have to wait, we hear about businesses which are saying to their workers, if you go and isolate, you have to do it on unpaid leave, that is becoming more of a common thing. So these are the kind of issues that will be discussed between the chancellor and businesses again and again in the coming days. He said this is a first step, and we have to wait and hear more. What about specific sectors that could be targeted . The Airline Industry for instancemackie talked about agreeing a new Lending Facility with the bank of england to lend loans up to £5 million. That is nothing. It is a drop in the ocean foran airline, and nothing. It is a drop in the ocean for an airline, and we have had the industry body saying we could see airlines going bankrupt by may. So when youre talking about things on that scale, this isnt enough by any means, but they are talking to these industries, the shipping industry as well has been around the table today with transport minister saying we transport 95 of goods in and out of this country, you need to make sure we can keep the ferries and cruise ships running to make sure we can get goods in and out to get the supply lines going, make sure we get the food and medicines we need. You are hearing that from the entertainment industry, retailers, all getting their wish lists in. It will take time and it will also take time to see these measures put action. You heard there chancellor saying my hope is we get these loans being granted next week, we will have to wait and see. And in the meantime there are businesses that are suffering right now. Dharshini, thank you for that. Our chief Political Correspondent vicki young has the latest from downing street now. A lot of questions at the end theyre suggesting that this might not look as great as it does on paper, because fundamentally these are loans that businesses are going to have to pay back at some point . Yes, andi to have to pay back at some point . Yes, and i think the point that these are first steps, and rishi sunak they re talking these are first steps, and rishi sunak theyre talking about other measures, particularly saying they will work with the unions to try to sort that out a bit more, so i think they has obviously have to get this package together very quickly, and there are still a lot of things that are going to need to be done, and i think getting the money to the right people is clearly an issue. They are talking there about the cash grants, which are not repayable, to cover things like rent of the businesses, but i think there is going to be a lot more that is going to be needed, so lot more that is going to be needed, so it is reassuring, that enormous number of 330 billion, it is honestly a massive intervention, but i think the individuals are wondering about their own personal circumstances, there will still be questions. But i think overall the tone was to say we are acting, we will do whatever it takes. How many times will they say that to say we will get through this, and we are going to act like a wartime government, lots of parallels being made with that emergency wartime situation, that is what it feels like for people watching all of this, andi like for people watching all of this, and i think the other point to make there, Boris Johnson this, and i think the other point to make there, borisjohnson right at the beginning talking about for people to change the way to live their lives, making it very clear there that we may have to go further quite soon. Vicki, thank you for that. We are going to get reaction from the business community, lets hear now from adam marshall, director general of the british chambers of commerce. What is your response to this . I think businesses are going to welcome the scale of the package that has been put forward by the chancellor today, but what is going to be hugely important over the coming hours and days is that cash actually gets to the front line and it gets there quickly, because many businesses are having to make difficult decisions not several weeks from now, but right away, and getting the schemes of these right over the coming hours and days will be hugely important. And that is the point, because there are businesses that are hurting now. The chancellor has made it clear that they are still working through the process to be able to get these funds and loans sorted out, and that is precious time. Indeed, and businesses need to know as quickly as possible who they should be speaking to, what sort of evidence they are going to have to bring forward , they are going to have to bring forward, in order to do so. It is the practicalities now that matter, because in the world of business of course, cash is king, and time matters, so the speed that these new measures, this great scale of this package is going to be very important. Cash grants of maximum £25,000, will that be enough . For some it will be a huge help, others will inevitably need more. I was reassured to hear the chancellor say that this was a step in a phased approach rather than a final package of measures, and also reassuring to hear the government will say it is going to change its approach in the next few days, because it will need to do more, and it will face significant costs on the horizon, and they will need support in order to navigate those. Particularly in a period where incomes are likely to go down significantly. Adam marshall, director general of the british chambers of commerce, thank you very much. The chancellor made it clear that there could be more measures coming up. On top of the 330 billion . Yes, on top of that, which as you keep saying, it is loan facilities, loans that have been set up facilities, loans that have been set up with the bank of england. Earlier we heard from the head of the financial watchdog in the uk who was basically saying back in the second world war, the government was borrowing the equivalent of 20 of our National Income each year for five years. At the moment we are burrowing about 2 . If we were to say that that has that kind of emergency, we can actually tap up hundreds of billions of pounds here, and spend that extra money. This is very much a first step, more to be done with trade unions when it comes to supporting salaries with individual sectors as well, and the evidence at the moment is still very foggy. So i think we are going to be sitting here having similar conversations and listening to similar statements, but conversations and listening to similarstatements, but the conversations and listening to similar statements, but the crucial thing is we have to look at each one of these and make sure it is guided towards making sure the sharp downturn for business and employees up downturn for business and employees up and down the country doesnt turn into a lasting depression which affects unemployment and business failures, and that is the crucial thing. But as you mentioned a little earlier, there are tens of thousands of people working on the gig economy and they are self employed, they are delivering packages and so on and so forth. There is no mention for those people. And they are the ones who will be most worried, the ones we wa nt to will be most worried, the ones we want to stay at home if they are most deal, because they want to put food on the table. This issue of mortgage holidays, you can already ask your bank for a mortgage holiday if you are in financial difficulty, that already exists. So we need more on this to ensure peoples up and down the country are protected, and ultimately for the government it is in their interests to tackle that too because otherwise we will see a rise in unemployment, poverty and the benefits bill will go up, up and down the country. So much yet to be tackled, this is very much a first step, brace yourself for more big numbers. All right, Dharshini David, thank very much. At 6. 45 tonight on the bbc news channel we will try to a nswer the bbc news channel we will try to answer all your questions on the Economic Impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on yourjob or your business. Do send us your questions by e mailing or tweeting. Thats it. Ina by e mailing or tweeting. Thats it. In a moment it will be time for the six oclock news with sophie ray worth, but for me and the team, have very very good evening. Trying to bail out britain the chancellor announces a multi billion pound package to help businesses and workers hit by the Coronavirus Crisis as the death toll reaches 71. Empty restaurants, empty bars the chancellor promises £330 billion of support including government backed loans and a business rate holiday for those hardest hit. Empty streets too as millions of britons stay at home for what could now be months theres a new mortgage payment holiday for those struggling. The coronavirus pandemic is a Public Health emergency, but it is also an economic emergency. We have never in peacetime faced an economic fight like this one. Support has been promised on a vast scale in a situation that could be worse than the financial crash but there are questions tonight about whether everyone who needs help now will really get it. All non essential surgery is cancelled in england untiljune to free up 30,000 beds. The Foreign Office tells britons they shouldnt travel abroad now unless absolutely necessary