The Trump Administration is trying to agree with congress a massive economic stimulus, to help the us economy withstand the coronavirus pandemic. The aid package, reported to be worth about a trillion dollars, would include sending cheques to individual americans, and 50 billion for airlines, hard hit by travel restrictions and a dropoff in demand. The news seems to have lifted spirits on wall street, the dow jones closing up more than 5 . This from the bbcs rich preston. There are more coronavirus cases being announced in the us every day, and more states encouraging businesses to close and people to stay at home. The government wants to reassure families and industry. American has cash now and the president wants us to have cash now in the next two weeks. As well as personal cheques, businesses and individuals will be able to delay paying tax for 90 days. We are now working with the senate to pass this legislation very quickly and these will be payments to small businesses. We have talked about loan guarantees to Critical Industries such as airlines and hotels and we have also talked about a stimulus package to the american worker. You can think of this is Something Like this in this interruption payments for the american workers. A state of emergency has been imposed in at least a0 states. The governor of ohio suspended plans to hold its election primaries after washington warned americans that make americans to avoid groups of more than ten people. Officials have urged families to live stream funerals rather than invite people to attend in person. America is steadily intensifying its response to the virus, a virus that President Trump previously described as a low risk to americans and in late february predicted it would soon be close to zero cases in the us. There are now more than 6000 confirmed cases in america with over 100 deaths. And here in the uk, finance minister rishi sunak unveiled his support plan to try to keep businesses afloat. He said the country is in an economic emergency and now is the time to be bold. The number of confirmed uk cases has risen to nearly 2000, with 71 deaths. 0ur political editor, laura kuenssberg, is in westminster. Everything seems different now. You can be on your own in the busiest parts of our biggest city. But quiet doesnt mask the worry. Millions are concerned about their health, and loved ones too. But instead of shutdown, behind closed doors, the centre of government is in overdrive. They re grappling with the biggestjob in generations to save lives first, but to protect how we make a living, too. We must act like any wartime government, and do whatever it takes to support our economy. You cant blame the new chancellor for looking serious. Just 33 days into hisjob, here he is announcing a bailout of historic proportions. 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. Today, i am making available an initial £330 billion of guarantees, equivalent to 15 of our gdp. That means any business who needs access to cash to pay their rent, their salaries, suppliers, or purchase stock will be able to access a government backed loan or credit on attractive terms. Can you guarantee to firms who need to pay wages now, and families who worry about paying the rent now, that they will not lose out while you work through the details of what comes next . Be in no doubt, the state is asking people to do something, to make very considerable changes to their lives. And it is only right, therefore, that the state should stand behind people as they make those changes. Business big and small might not have the luxury of time. The office of this brighton travel company is already practically empty. I dont think borisjohnson realises that people are losing theirjobs right now. Weve had to put staff on unpaid sabbatical, with no certainty of whats going to happen over the next few months. Reporter are you doing enough to stop the virus . Ministers have been scrambling to find a response big and fast enough. It might sound astonishing, but even more than £300 billion might be just the start. By the governments own admission, this is now an economic emergency. So theyve just promised to take vast steps to try to stop that turning into individual hardship for millions in the coming months, taking on long term costs for the country to try to stop a heavy and painful cost being paid by families in the coming months. The need for help for the countrys health and the countrys wealth is acute. Reassurance is not a currency in itself. Laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. Tough new restrictions have come into force in france. No one can now leave home without a government form that they must print out to justify their reason for being outside. For the next two weeks, people are only allowed out to go to work, to buy essential food or medical supplies, for a family emergency, or to exercise or walk a dog. But they must be on their own and face a fine if these conditions arent met. 0ur paris correspondent, Lucy Williamson reports. Before the quarantine, the fever. As france inched towards lockdown, supermarkets became ba rometers of the nations fear. The government had complained that people were ignoring the threat of coronavirus. But attitudes here are changing. Translation im scared. Ive got three kids, im here to buy the basics. Im afraid for myself and for my children. Last night, president macron announced a general confinement of frances population, from midday today. Translation for at least the next 15 days, our movements will be seriously reduced. It means that outside gatherings or meeting friends and family wont be permitted. Going for a walk, meeting friends in the park or in the street, wont be possible. All infractions to these rules will be punished. Its just gone midday here, the new rules have come into force and there are still a few people out on the champs elysees. 48 hours ago, the government was telling people to come out to vote. Now its saying, stay in your homes unless its essential, or face a fine. Within minutes of the deadline, extra police were out questioning people still on the streets. 100,000 officers have been deployed to enforce the new rules. Todays deadline sparked a last minute rush to leave the capital. Polls suggest a sudden jump in anxiety here. Normality, no longer a barrier to this crisis, is disappearing. And france instead is learning to manage its fear. Lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. The European Union has banned non eu citizens from entering for 30 days, as major European Countries try and stop the spread of the virus. Heres the latest from our correspondents in spain, germany and italy, starting with mark lowen in rome. Today, italys Prime Minister said this country had overcome fascism and world wars but never more than now was there such a need for italians to be united. He said that 10,000 medical students would have their final year exams scrapped so they could move more quickly into the Healthcare System and support doctors and nurses. Cases here are still soaring, but the rate of increase is the smallest now since the outbreak began so, possibly, the containment measures are beginning to work and, if so, that puts the pressure on other countries to copy the italian approach more closely. From today, this is the updated form you have to fill in for all movement around the country to certify that we are not in quarantine because of the virus or that we have tested that we are negative. In addition to the blanket closure of all venues across the country. Italy has taken the most extreme approach in europe but look at how one by one so many other countries are following suit. Spain, about a week ago, was pretty much where the uk is today so just a couple of thousand cases and in seven days that has soared sevenfold so what we saw out on the streets today, similar. Police out there ordering people to return home, stopping cars and checking them. This is the biggest train station in madrid behind me and it is virtually deserted. Spain has equally seen that if you do not take measures quickly you get a huge rising cases. Restrictions here were only brought in the day. We now have 2000 more cases in the last day, 500 people in intensive care. The spanish Prime Minister promises a massive economic stimulus to try and keep things going and nobody here complaining that any of this is excessive. Today, germany raised its official risk level from medium to high as the number of newly confirmed cases continues to accelerate. The Health Authorities up and down the country are bracing themselves. Here in berlin today they announced they are to turn a big Exhibition Centre into an extra hospital with 1000 beds. The authorities have pretty much shutdown every aspect of normal german daily life now affecting religion, business and leisure, people are being told they should stay at home and they should not go on holiday either within the country or abroad. The government is hoping that it can avoid following spain, france and italy into imposing a complete lockdown. They hope the current measures will be enough but people here are looking at what is happening in those countries and looking at the daily rising cases here and they are starting to fear that for germany it really isjust a question of time. Lets get some of the news on the coronavirus from around the world. Australias Prime Minister has announced an indefinite ban on all overseas travel. Scott morrison said the biggest risk and incidence of cases has come from australians returning from overseas. The government has now also banned gatherings of 100 people or more. But schools still remain open. Brazil has announced the partial closure of its land border with venezuela, banning venezuelans and other foreigners from crossing. At least 30 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in venezuela. In brazil, there are about 300 confirmed cases and one person has died. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come predicting the peak of the pandemic. How scientists save lives by simulating the spread of the virus. Today, we have closed the book on apartheid and that chapter. More than 3,000 subway passengers were affected. Nausea, bleeding, headaches and a dimming of vision all of this caused by an apparently organised attack. The trophy itself was on the pedestal in the middle of the cabinet here. Now, this was an international trophy, and we understand now that the search for it has become an international search. Above all, this was a triumph for the christian democrats of the west, offering reunification as quickly as possible, and thats what the voters wanted. This is bbc news. The latest headlines the us and the uk bring in massive stimulus packages to bolster their economies in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Joe bidens bid to take on donald trump gets a boost as results come in from Democratic Party primaries in three us states. Lets have more on that. Joe biden has won the latest Democratic Party primaries, in florida and illinois, strengthening his lead over Bernie Sanders in the race to take on donald trump. He is also on course to win in arizona. A fourth state, 0hio, didnt go to the polls because of the virus epidemic. Speaking from his home in delaware, mr biden talked of the challenges the coronavirus posed to todays vote. Americans in three states went to the polls today. I want to thank all the Public Officials and the poll workers who worked closely with the public Health Authorities to ensure safe opportunities for voting, to clean and disinfect voting booths, and to make sure the voters can cast their ballots while maintaining the distance from one another that was safe. You know, its important for us to get through this crisis, protecting both the Public Health and our democracy. Lets speak to the bbcs north america correspondent david willis. David, just to be clear, these are projections. The votes are not counted, but they looked pretty solid. They do, mike, and it was a convincing victory, by all accounts, for joe biden in the delegate rich state of florida. He has also been given the prize of illinois, the primary there, by the local media, by the networks, i should say, here. And they are calling, those same networks, the state of arizona forjoe biden, all of which would add up to a very, very successful night for the former Vice President. It would also put him in a position of being almost unassailable by his close rival, Bernie Sanders, and this does of course raise the question, what happens now to Bernie Sanders, and to his very dogeared campaign . But no doubt about it, mike, the election season has been completely transformed here because of the threat of the coronavirus. Dogged. There were no rallies, there we re there were no rallies, there were no get out the vote type effo rts were no get out the vote type efforts that we have seen in the past. Instead this has become the age, all of a sudden, of telling town halls, and virtual town halls, if you like tele town halls. And virtual town halls, if you like tele town halls. And crucially, it does leave senator sanders and his supporters with some crucial decisions to make. It does, and they were criticised, Bernie Sanders was criticised, for lingering in the race against hillary clinton. There were some who said that his prolonged presence detracted from that of senator clintons run for office. And so i think there will be calls in the morning, perhaps, for Bernie Sanders to perhaps drop out of this race. But there is no doubt about it, he has been a big influence on the democratic ticket. And he wont be going away, as far as american politics are concerned, anytime soon. Politics are concerned, anytime soon. And david, just how is the pandemic impacting on all of this . It has had a considerable impact, mike. We saw it at the polls today. A lot of the polling stations had to be moved at the last minute, because the locations werent deemed conducive given the current scare. A lot of the poll workers didnt turn up, and that caused some problems as well. And there were problems, for example, just practical things about how to arrange polling booth so that people could be the recommended six feet apart as they were lining up to vote. All of these sort of things. But now, another four states have pushed their primary is back tojuly, tojune in the case of most of them, and that is all making them, and that is all making the run up to this Democratic Convention all the more uncertain, if you like. The Democratic National committee insisting that it is nominating its nominating convention, meeting will go ahead as scheduled in july. Meeting will go ahead as scheduled injuly. But we simply dont know, louis, what is going to happen from one week to the next. Indeed, thank you very much for that. The dramatic escalation in restrictions introduced here in the uk were partly prompted by research from a team at Imperial College london, who said this was the worst respiratory virus since the spanish flu pandemic in 1918. They warned that britain was on course for a catastrophic epidemic, and the number of deaths in the uk could reach 250,000 unless there was a new approach to the pandemic. Here is our science editor david shukman. From the start of the outbreak in wuhan, there has been a huge Research Effort behind the scenes, scientists using every detail to develop a computer simulation of the disease, whats called a model. And it is what the british governments initial response was based on. But then came northern italy, where more people need intensive care than anyone expected, so the forecasts have had to be adjusted. What the scientists realised was that as many as 250,000 people could die of the virus in the uk, unless policies here changed. They now hope that will fall to 20,000 with the new measures announced yesterday. Theres new data emerging from italy, and now from our intensive care units here in london, to suggest that the level of treatment thats required for a small fraction of these cases is more intense than we thought. We keep hearing about the modelling of the outbreak, but what does that actually mean . Well, it is basically maths, calculations about different factors that influence the disease. This model was for wuhan, to work out the rate of infection. It is how scientists quickly found out that, on average, every person who gets the virus can pass it on to at least two others. So, over a month, one case can lead to more than 200. China has responded by closing off entire cities. Other countries have done the same. But until now, the uk has kept the most drastic measures in reserve, so critics have questioned the modelling of the outbreak in britain. But the scientists doing the work say it is better than nothing. Models are not crystal balls. Theyre better than just guessing, which is, you know, what you would otherwise have to do. But theyre reliant on the data we feed into them, and there is lots we dont know about this virus. Theres also lots we dont know about what the effectiveness of these interventions really will be. So how effective are these computer models of the outbreak . Well, they have to rely on a lot of assumptions about things that arent known, such as, if people have the virus but dont show symptoms, how easily can they pass it on . And then, a really critical question if someone has been infected with the virus and then gets better, with a full recovery, is it then possible for them to get it again . Chinese television, reporting on research into a possible vaccine. That wont come soon, but it is part of a frantic search around the world to understand the virus and to minimise its impact. David shukman, bbc news. With so much going on, there is a group of people who have perhaps not had so much attention and all of this, and thatis attention and all of this, and that is Homeless People. Jessica lin is a researcher at Georgetown Center for global health, science and security. Jessica, i know you were also a case worker in a homeless shelter for several years. Why are Homeless People particularly vulnerable in all this . Well, theres a variety of factors. One is that a lot of factors. One is that a lot of people experiencing homelessness have Chronic Health conditions, and we know that people who have Chronic Health conditions, and also the elderly, of which there is a decent amount of, have a higher risk of worse outcomes with covid 19. The other is that there is just a covid 19. The other is that there isjust a lack covid 19. The other is that there is just a lack of access to hygienic resources, whether thatis to hygienic resources, whether that is sinks or bathrooms or showers, and thats increasing the risk, as is the congregant settings that they live in, because either they live on the streets, close together, or at best they are in a shelter where there are bunk beds, maybe one to 1. 5 metres apart. They are unable to follow the basic Public Health precautions. That puts them at risk and also put everyone else around them at risk. And i guess as a selfish reason, for the rest of the population, to ca re the rest of the population, to care about this, because if it spreads unchecked among Homeless People, it will spread even further. Yes. I think people often forget that the Homeless Population is quite mobile. Maybe not between state to state and country to country, but they are moving around throughout their day. They are going to coffee shops and two libraries, to find places to eat and set. And so they will be interacting with they will be interacting with the rest of the population. They are not in their own silo. 0n the way into work here every night, we pass a whole lot of Homeless People sleeping on the steps of the church, right next door to bbc headquarters. Some of them have tense, some of them dont. Some have sleeping bags, some dont. 0nly them dont. Some have sleeping bags, some dont. Only a few have cardboard under them. This idea of social distancing, taking extra care of yourself, these are just fine words, in this context, arent they . Is there more that can be done, that should be done . And do you think it will be done . |j that should be done . And do you think it will be done . I think there are things that can be done. I know some of the cities in the us are now starting to distribute hygienic supplies. They are having outreach teams go out with hand sanitiser, but we are also starting to run low on that. We have a few that are putting in safe stations and trash disposals for these homeless camps. Local governments need to be doing more, though. It is something to say lets give them the product they need to wash their hands. It is Something Else to actually give them the ability to social distance. What that means in the case here is finding hotels, or maybe camper trailers or modular tents, to be able to separate all these individuals from each other. Both if they get a virus, but also beforehand, as a preventative measure. Thank you so much for giving us your time. Thank you. Amid all the very grim developments during this pandemic, there are some glimmers of positive news and hope. Around the globe, many people are doing their best to stay cheerful. Lets take a look. Plays trumpet. Singing. Singing. Rinse with water, use a paper towel. Now we have done so, lets have fun. Saxophone plays. Briefly, that made news again. The Trump Administration is trying to agree with congress a massive economic stimulus to help the economy stave off the pandemic. It would include sending cheques to individual americans. Also about 50 billion for airlines, hard hit, of course, by travel restrictions and a drop off in demand. That does seem to have lifted spirits on wall street. The dowjones lifted spirits on wall street. The dow jones closed lifted spirits on wall street. The dowjones closed up more than 5 . Much more for you anytime on the bbc website and on twitter. Thank you for watching. Hello. We got some real contrast in terms of the temperature, north to south across the British Isles over the next day or so. For england and wales on wednesday, we keep the cloudy, mild themes of things, with some outbreaks of rain. Rather grey conditions, though. But for scotland and for Northern Ireland, clear skies. A cold start with some frost on the risk of them patchy ice. A little bit of a day of sunshine and showers on wednesday. So the dividing line between those weather types as these weathertight here. It is going to be slowly sinking its way south. To the south of that we keep a south. To the south of that we keepafairamount south. To the south of that we keep a fair amount of cloud across england and wales. Rain initially for north wales and Northern England will slowly sink its way south, becoming fairly light and patchy as it moves into the south west of england during the afternoon. But to the north of that, after a cold, frosty start, with your odd icy patch around, we see lots of sunshine developing across scotland and Northern Ireland. But some wintry showers working in from the north west. Quite blustery winds likely here as well, we temperate is about eight to ten in the north, but 11 to 13 further south. So now, in the north, but 11 to 13 furthersouth. So now, heading through wednesday night and overnight into thursday, with still got this fairly stubborn, slow moving but relatively weak weather front. Its slow moving but relatively weak weatherfront. Its dividing this mild air across southern england from the much colder air, the blue colours you can see, across the rest of the uk, with a northerly breeze coming in here. So most of us will see some blue skies, some sunshine, still a few wintry showers across the north west of scotland. I think anywhere north of the ma, just into south wales as well, we will see a bit more cloud. Milder conditions but some patchy outbreaks of rain, especially towards the south west of england. So temperate is here around about nine or 10 degrees, but most of us typically around about seven to 10 degrees on thursday. And then we have still got that weather front. It looks like then we have still got that weatherfront. It looks like it could linger in towards the end of the working week. But a big area of High Pressure builds as we move on into friday. So for much of the uk, lighter winds, lots of dry weather, with some sunshine. A bit of uncertainty about how far north any of that rain will get on friday, but we are likely to see some wet weather for the channel ales, perhaps the far south west of england as well. Most places look dry with variable amounts of cloud. A fairly cool breeze coming in off the north sea, keeping temperatures in the eastern single figures. But we could see 10 degrees or so in the warmer spots on any sunny spells on friday. Looking further ahead, still a few showers around on saturday, particularly for scotland, Northern Ireland and wales. Sunny conditions and drier weather more widely from sunday onwards. Goodbye. This is bbc news, the headlines the Trump Administration is trying to agree with congress a massive stimulus package to help the economy withstand the coronavirus pandemic. Its reported to be worth about 1 trillion, and could include sending cheques to individual americans, and 50 billion for airlines, hard hit by travel bans. Here in the uk, the government said they were on a war time footing and announced unprecented measures with more than £300 billion to help businesses struggling with a drop in trade. There was also help for homeowners who may struggle to make mortgage payments. Former us Vice President joe biden has won the primary vote in florida and illinois in his bid to be the Democratic Partys nominee to take on donald trump in novembers election. Hes also projected to beat his main rival, vermont senator Bernie Sanders, in arizona. Its about 3 30am. Youre up to date on the headlines. Now its time for panorama. Tonight on panorama whats going on with britains buses . So, ive been at the bus stop for 35 minutes for absolutely nothing. Now im walking home. Thousands of services cut, fares on the rise, a system under pressure. If they carry on like this, nobody will use it. They cant use it, you cant rely on it, its a waste of time, waste of time. We travel to the communities where buses have disappeared. I feel as though we are being completely ignored, and we dont matter