falls to a record low. release. and looking for life on mars — nasa launches a rover to bring back rock samples from the red planet. and coming up on bbc news — a blow to the us open, as world number one ashleigh barty pulls out, citing concerns over travelling during the pandemic. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. people in the uk with coronavirus symptoms will now have to self—isolate for ten days — rather than just a week — as ministers attempt to prevent a new spike in infections. the extension comes into force immediately and brings us into line with world health organization guidance. it comes as new figures show that england had the highest level of excess deaths in europe between the end of february and mid—june. excess deaths are the number of all people who die above the average recorded in previous years — and are seen by many experts as the most reliable measure of the impact of the pandemic. the health secretary matt hancock has warned that new countries could be added to the quarantine list in the coming days, after people arriving in the uk from spain were ordered at the weekend to isolate for two weeks. anna collinson reports. for many, it had started to feel safe, to do the things we had missed. it wasn't the same as before, but this is our new normal. but with fears of coronavirus spikes appearing across europe, this morning a reminder that the virus is still a danger. the uk's chief medical officers have increased the time people with coronavirus symptoms will need to self—isolate from a week to ten days. scientists say people are most infectious during the first few days of the illness but there is a possibility some may transmit the virus for up to nine days after they become unwell. ten days provides a reasonable balance whereby we should hopefully within that period ca ptu res a hopefully within that period captures a vast majority of people so captures a vast majority of people so that by the time they are released from isolation they are no longer infectious. the change is said to help protect those who are shielding and to help the nhs prepare for winter wear community transmission may increase. the government has also announced future gp appointments should be done via the phone unless there is a compelling clinical reason not to. so from now on if a person tests positive for covid or develops a cough, a temperature or loss of taste or smell, they must now isolate for ten days. if they still feel unwell after that they must keep isolating. other members in their household must isolate for m days. brilliant. there have been concerns about several local outbreaks across the uk, including in staffordshire, where ten cases we re in staffordshire, where ten cases were confirmed at this pub. in recent days the government has repeatedly warned about signs of a second wave of the pandemic in parts of europe. anyone who returns from spain now has to quarantine for 14 days and this could be extended to other countries if cases increase. testing and tracing must become a new way of life. key elements to monotone the coronavirus in england is the test and trace system. latest figures show nearly one in four close contacts of those who tested positive are still not being reached. we all know that we haven't got everything right and that there will be lessons that we need to learn from this pandemic. this includes what we have learned both from our health care system and about it. we can see a second wave emerging in europe and we will do everything in our power to stop it reaching our shores. while the government is focusing on the present, their past performance of battling the covid crisis is also coming into question. new figures from the office for national statistics have found england had the highest level of excess deaths in europe across the first half of 2020. earlier this month the uk united to thank nhs staff for their work during the pandemic. now the group together which helped organise the clap says they community spirit that formed during lockdown is starting to fray. it's hoped today's tightening of the rules will be seen as an important signal warning against complacency. anna collinson, bbc news. let's speak to our assistant political editor, norman smith, in westminster. extending the self isolation time, talking of extending quarantine to other countries, it feels like the government is battening down again, doesn't it? i think this will come asa doesn't it? i think this will come as a jolt to many others because the sun is out, lockdown is being eased, we can go to the park and go to restau ra nts, ta ke a we can go to the park and go to restaurants, take a foreign holiday abroad, a bit wobbly there. this announcementjust abroad, a bit wobbly there. this announcement just feels like abroad, a bit wobbly there. this announcementjust feels like the bra kes announcementjust feels like the brakes are beginning to be applied and in the last few minutes we've heard from the prime minister, who said we mustn't delude ourselves, this is —— we mustn't delude ourselves this is over, we've got to keep our focus stand that follows on from the quarantine restrictions for travellers returning from spain, it may soon apply to luxembourg, may belgium, there is a lockdown in leicester and an extension to the self isolation time and although ministers say this is based on the scientists advice, the scientists think you could be infectious beyond seven days, it's hard to decouple that from the clear warnings from the prime minister and the health secretary about the beginnings of a rolling second wave on mainland europe and a pick—up in infections here and i guess itjust points to what the scientists have always said, which is this is going to be a long haul and the virus may come at us long haul and the virus may come at us in wave after wave, but perhaps it does raise a question now, whether we are going to be able to meet the prime minister was my ambition of getting back to a near normal in time for having friends and family round for that groaning platter of turkey, roast spud and brussel sprouts boiled to within an inch of their life at christmas. norman, thank you very much, and just before you go there will be viewers who don't realise that this is your last day at the bbc and that was your last live for the one o'clock news. you've been an absolute star wart of this programme. everybody here, everyone on the team, will miss you and i know the audience will too so thank you so much, norman smith, the bbc‘s assistant political editor —— you have been a star wart on the programme. our head of statistics, robert cuffe, is with me to look more closely at the number of people who have died from the virus. these figures have just come out. what do they show? the office for national statistics have looked at death rates across 29 different countries in europe and they show that england is probably the hardest hit so farare that england is probably the hardest hit so far are amongst those nations and we can see here a list of countries that have seen increases in death rates up to the middle of this year compared to last year. england hardest hit, the uk as a whole followed by spain, then scotla nd whole followed by spain, then scotland and wales and northern ireland are also in that grim table of the hardest—hit countries. they haven't just looked at of the hardest—hit countries. they haven'tjust looked at countries, theyis haven'tjust looked at countries, they is also look to individual cities as well so while it's the case that certain cities like milan or madrid have been harder hit than anywhere in the uk, of the 15 hardest—hit cities in europe, seven of them are in the uk so it underlines just how the effect of the virus has been in the uk. during the virus has been in the uk. during the course of of this pandemic we've had lots of data and lots of analysis. how significant is this? it's pretty serious analysis. i think for two reasons. first of all they are looking excess deaths, overall mortality, and show what that means to the audience now. the big increase we've seen in the number of deaths during the epidemic, it's not entirely captured by the red area which is the official covid—i9 death. we see more deaths than that. by looking at all deaths than that. by looking at all deaths we capture the full picture. they adjusted by age which many analysis doesn't so countries have different age populations and because covid hits the oldest ha rd est you because covid hits the oldest hardest you need to take up an account of that so it's more reliable and because of that it enables us to understand why as well, so we saw the peak in the uk. it's not the highest in europe. the highest peak was in spain but it took the uk longer to get back to normal compared to other countries and that combined with the wide spread of deaths across the uk, spread of deaths across the and that combined with the wide spread of deaths across the uk, they are the two reasons they point to as to why the uk has been so hard hit. robert croft, head of statistics, thank you. —— robert cuff. ministers are closely monitoring infection rates across europe, as britons consider whether to travel to the continent on holiday. cases of the virus in luxembourg and belgium are among those causing concern. let's speak to our correspondent in brussels, nick beake. talk is through the situation as it stands now. we know this is a virus which doesn't respect borders in any way and what we've got now is lots of different countries in europe anxiously looking at their own coronavirus rates, but also that of their neighbours, both close and further afield, and in many cases they do not like what they see. if we have a look at the maps. here in belgium the number of people going to hospital with covid has doubled over the past week, in neighbouring luxembourg infection rate has gone up luxembourg infection rate has gone up and that's led to speculation that both of those countries could soon be put on the uk's quarantine list. spain is already on it. also today, crucially in france, they said the number of new cases has been the highest for a month. if we move further to the east towards eastern europe, romania is a country thatis eastern europe, romania is a country that is experiencing a cluster of new cases, but it remains the case that the worst affected part of europe is the southeast balkan region, so we are talking about serbia and kosovo, and health missions in kosovo are warning that hospitals are already overwhelmed so it's a pretty bleak situation —— health officials in kosovo. we know about northeast spain on the impact that's having on british tourists andi that's having on british tourists and i guess the thing we take from all of this is that it's clearly a very difficult time in all of the countries we are talking about but if you were trying to take a holiday this year, if your plans have already been postponed, it's looking like 2020 is the year when nothing can be planned with any certainty. our correspondent in brussels, nick beake, thank you. the uk's biggest tour operator, tui, is closing more than 160 high street stores. it says it's responding to changes in customer behaviour. let's talk to our business correspondent, ben thompson. is this about consumer behaviour rather than because of the pandemic? yeah, ithink rather than because of the pandemic? yeah, i think today further evidence, if we needed it, that as we change the way we shop business has to change the way that it operates and therefore ins‘s case they said 70% of all the bookings they said 70% of all the bookings they take are now done online and therefore that makes it more difficult to justify the cost of high street stores with their rent and rates and maintenance that needs to be paid on what they've told us that if they will close around one third of those stores, i66 that if they will close around one third of those stores, 166 will close across the uk and ireland. just in may the firm had announced more than 8000 job cuts across its entire business of airlines, hotels and cruise ships. this affects just the travel agency business. 900 staff are affected and the firm says it hopes it can redeploy some of those staff into other high street shops, but 70% of them it expects to be able to work from home, so selling holidays or offering advice to travellers from home. further underlining the changing way that we work, many more now asked to work from home. then, many thanks. -- ben, many thanks. schools in scotland will reopen from 11th august, nicola sturgeon has confirmed. the first minister said there may be a phased return in some areas, but all pupils are expected to return to classes full—time by the following week. let's get more from our scotland correspondent, lorna gordon. talk is through some of the detail here. this has been long anticipated, schools closed in scotla nd anticipated, schools closed in scotland on the 20th of march with children moving to the online model of learning, but in the last hour it's been confirmed that schools will be reopening from the 11th of august. they will look a little different than before. children won't have to physically distance from each other but it is being encouraged in secondary schools, secondary school pupils where possible. staff and teachers will have to physically distance from each other and from the students. there will be enhanced hygiene measures. there will be fast access to testing, the first minister said, for any symptomatic staff or pupils. reopening schools to all children was nicola sturgeon said a central objective for her government. it is a moral and educational imperative that we get children back into school as soon as is safely possible. in fact, a key reason for our cautious approach to lockdown easing over the past two months and indeed, over the next few weeks, is that determination to drive the virus down as low as possible and keep prevalence low so that schools can reopen in august. i am therefore very pleased to confirm today that schools will return from the 11th of august. well, the first minister said given how long some students had been out of school, some local authorities may opt for a phased return but that all children should be back full time from august the 18th at the latest. she also warned she couldn't rule out blended learning at some point in the future if the virus returns. lorna gordon, many thanks. australia has recorded its worst day since the start of the pandemic. a wave of infections sweeping the state of victoria saw new cases up by a third since monday. more than a dozen people have died. other australian states have closed their borders with victoria, but this hasn't prevented some infection spikes elsewhere. shaimaa khalil reports. another record high in victoria and another setback for australia, as health workers race to contain the spread of covid—19. there were hopes that the outbreak may have peaked on monday, with more than 500 infections recorded. but the latest spike in coronavirus numbers has surpassed the previous record by nearly 200 cases. there are 9,998 cumulative cases of coronavirus in the victorian community. 723 new since we last updated you. authorities have said that many people who've shown symptoms of the virus or are still waiting for test results have been turning up at workplaces, including some who've tested positive for covid—19. if you're a positive case, then you need to be at home and you need to be isolating. that is a very important message. the state is also racing to contain more than 80 outbreaks at aged care facilities, which have claimed dozens of lives in the past few weeks. ten of the 13 deaths today were in aged care homes. the virus is hitting the most vulnerable in big numbers. this is epping gardens, one of the worst affected aged care facilities in victoria. family members are desperately pleading for more help. they're getting neglected. it is so sad that they're being locked up for three weeks in one room. get them out of the room, get them to another safe place. get them to a hospital. please help. from midnight sunday local time, every person in the state will be required to wear a mask or face covering when leaving their house, as concerns grow with more cases appearing in regional victoria. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, sydney. the number of suspects convicted in rape cases in england and wales has fallen to a new low. the national police chiefs' council said it was getting harder to achieve the standard of evidence needed to take cases to court. the crown prosecution service has rejected suggestions it has been telling police not to bring so many cases. zoe conway reports. in my two and a half years of dealing with the detectives on my case... courtney — not her real name — alleges she was the victim of a violent sexual assault. she reported it to the police in 2016. in my case...there were witnesses on the night of the assault, there was a potential second victim, and none of that mattered. she was asked to provide access to all of her social media over several years — she refused. she says the crown prosecution service was being unreasonable, deliberately so, and the police on her case agreed. they felt that the crown was trying to make it as dehumanising as possible for victims to continue their case, so they'd drop out, so that they can look good in statistics, and that is verbatim what the officer told me. she says she had no choice but to drop her case. the latest figures show that, in the last year, 11139 rape suspects were convicted of rape or another crime. that's half the number of three years ago. they also show that, in the same year, police referred 2747 cases to the cps for a charging decision. that's 40% fewer cases over the same time period. the crown prosecution service says it's working hard to reverse the trend. what we need to do, and our five—year strategy that we've published this morning is going to make good on this, is to work with our partners in the police — area by area, force by force — to make sure that we build a strong relationship at the start of these very serious criminal investigations, build strong cases together, and together drive the numbers up. police chiefs say the figures are very concerning. the officers tell me that, actually, the amount of information that they need to gather to inform a proper charging decision is much more than it has been in the past and it takes longer. now, a range of reasons for that, and often when it takes longer, victims withdraw from the process. courtney says that the message being sent to her and other victims is that they have no chance of getting justice. zoe conway, bbc news. the time is 19 minutes past one. our top story this lunchtime: the amount of time people with symptoms of coronavirus must self—isolate has been extended to ten days. the prime minister has warned the virus is "bubbling up" in some towns in the uk. and a new push to safeguard the wellbeing of young people working in horse racing. coming up on bbc news, could brentford make their return to the top flight after 73 years? they're just are one win away from reaching the premier league after beating swansea to make the play—off final. there's a warning that a quarter of britain's native mammals are at risk of extinction. species under threat include wildcats, red squirrels and water voles. conservationists say the ongoing loss of habitat is making it harder for animals to survive, and they're calling for urgent action to prevent their loss. victoria gill reports. familiar characters that are becoming increasingly rare sights. while the uk is a natural home for dozens of mammals, including red squirrels, dormice and hedgehogs, many of those species are now in danger of disappearing. this first red list of threatened species, put together by the conservation charity the mammal society, has shown that a quarter of all of the uk's native mammals are under threat of extinction. so what we've done is a really comprehensive review of all the evidence we have available on things like how big the populations are or how isolated those populations are. we've drawn all that together. and it's come up with this list of 11 of our 47 native species being classified as threatened imminently. and what this is clearly saying is we need to be acting right now, we can't carry on with the current trajectory. different animals face different threats. the now critically endangered scottish wildcat population has not recovered from decades of persecution. for the red squirrel, disease and competition from the introduced grey squirrels has driven its decline. but something conservation scientists agree on is that we need to leave more wild space for these species to recover. there are pockets of good habitat, like this red squirrel reserve in formby, but that's exactly what this is — this is an isolated pocket of good natural habitat for red squirrels. and what conservationists say we need is for that to be a connected network of wild space across the landscape. here's my little foxy loxy. during lockdown, many people shared pictures and video on social media of animal encounters in quite urban settings. now, scientists say, we need to find sustainable ways to share our environment with nature. victoria gill, bbc news. the government is reviewing the coronavirus restrictions in leicester, with an announcement expected this afternoon. the city went into extended lockdown a month ago, but the number of cases there is still high. ministers have announced additional support for businesses in the area, as phil mackie reports. so whilst you might have been redeployed or some of you have volunteered... in a sports hall near the city centre, leicester's director of public health, ivan browne, is thanking some of the 500 volunteers who go door to door every day carrying out covid tests. thank you very much. applause. the number of cases in the city is still high, and that might be because the mass testing is finding many asymptomatic cases that might otherwise go undetected. we are going into communities, we are knocking on doors to try and find those, and whilst that makes it difficult because we are finding cases, in the long run that is for the best, because obviously if we find it and people can take action, we break that chain of transmission. it feels like a very different world to the one most of us are living in at the moment. a month ago, when the rest of england was getting ready to go out to the pub, leicester was sent deep back into lockdown. this is from a 44—year—old woman. she said, my dress is left hanging unworn, the rings are boxed, unopened, and my heart sinks at now not being married to my soulmate. it feels selfish to even type it anonymously here in comparison to the bigger picture of the country. deanna lad has spent lockdown at home with her parents. she's used her time to start a project collecting people's covid experiences, which she shares on social media. people are starting to get alarmed, not just for themselves, but for their communities, and i think that's the sense we get in leicester of everyone else is getting back to normal, when will it be our turn? if you knock on the door and you see some safeguarding issues... back in the city centre, the afternoon shift is being briefed before they head out again. this is what they've got in the bag. many test kits inside, there's a swab and a test tube. you can either post them back using this box here, or the volunteers will come back and collect it half an hour after they've dropped them off. lessons learned here are being used wherever there's a new outbreak. volunteers like hillary, dawn and asreen know the part they are playing is essential. i'm quite happy to do it a couple of days a week if it's going to help leicester get back to some sort of normality, really. either they're clear or actually we find out they're asymptomatic and then they can isolate, so it's to stop it. everyone wants to go back to normal. i want to go back to my work, i miss myjob. they don't think lockdown will be completely lifted today, but hope some restrictions can be eased so there is some light at the end of the tunnel. phil mackie, bbc news, leicester. the deaths of young people involved in horse racing has prompted a renewed focus on the wellbeing of those working in the sport. a bbc investigation has found that, in the last three years, there's been a large rise in the number asking for help with their mental health. charlotte gallagher has been talking to some of those affected. liam treadwell winning the grand national atjust 23 years old. but last month he died suddenly at the age of 34. in recent years, he'd spoken frankly about his struggles with depression after suffering a severe head injury. the coping mechanism got knocked out of me that day. james banks, another talented jockey, died in february. an inquest found the 36—year—old had taken his own life. michael curran, a dedicated stable lad, died suddenly in may. well, it doesn't appear to me that we seem to have the same prevalence in other sports. it is young people, rural communities. it's loneliness, isolation, pressure, not great money. simon's son tim was an up—and—coming rider. last year, he took his own life atjust 17. he was very kind lad. every child gets a bit of an obsession about a hobby or interest. well, horses and horse racing was tim's, and he threw himself, he threw himself into it. it was, a, such a shock that it had happened, you know, that kind of death. but it was a massive shock that it was him. in 2017, the industry charity racing welfare helped 620 people with their mental health. that rose to 685 in 2018, and 887 in 2019, a rise of 43% in three years. the charity has a 24—hour helpline and provides counselling. one person who knows about the pressure of the sport is formerjockey kevin tobin. he quit after coming close to taking his own life. it was a slow burn when it began, so i would have, you know, an owner or a trainer or even a fellowjockey that might pass on a slight criticism of how i rode on a given day. i began to acquaint myself with and my value as a person with how i was performing on a horse. shannon james is someone in the industry who asked for help. i 100% rely on my horses, it's my happy place. do you think there's a lot of people that just feel too shy, almost like they don't want to make a fuss? definitely, because i was one of those people, and it was suggested that i be put in contact with racing welfare, which really did make a difference. after his son's death, simonjones began raising money to train mental health first—aiders — a legacy for tim. we wanted to put a first—aid trainer in every yard. and the response, you know, we raised almost £20,000. if i can help, you know, one person, one dad, one mum, one brother, you know, to not go through what we've gone through, then for me that's success. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. and if you've been affected by any of the issues in that report, information and support are available at bbc action line. that's at bbc.co.uk/actionline. now, nasa has just launched a new mission to mars to try to answer that perennial question — has there ever been life on the planet? its rover, called perserverance, took off from cape canaveral in the last few minutes. but it won't land on mars until february. the mission will also collect rock samples for analysis by scientists in laboratories back on earth, as rebecca morelle reports. are heading to the red planet, the start of a seven—month journey for nasa's most advanced of a mission to mars. the rover, called perseverance, will be collecting samples of martian rocks from an area that was once a river bed, and the hope is it will answer the key question — is the ever life on mars? we now know mars had an enormous amount of water in its past. if ancient life was on mars, you know, we have a good bet that we might be able to find it in these sediments. so this is really a life—detection mission. the rock samples will be stored and brought back to earth on a future mission. but this mission is also taking something back to mars — a piece of martian meteorite. it's from the natural history museum's collection. it blasted off the surface of the red planet more than half a million years ago. now it's heading home. we really know what that meteorite is made from. we can use it to compare that meteorite with the new rocks, the unknown rocks that we're looking at for the first time on mars, and see how similar or different they are. also on board is a miniature mars helicopter that, for the first time, will attempt to fly in the extremely thin martian atmosphere. nasa wants to test this technology forfuture missions. america's spacecraft is the last of a trio heading to the red planet.