Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At One 20200327

The Prime Minister and the Health Secretary matt hancock have both tested positive for coronavirus. Ive developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus, thats to say a temperature and persistent cough. And on the advice of the chief medical officer, ive taken a test. That has come out positive, so i am working from home, im self isolating. He was in public last night taking part in the nationwide applause to thank health workers. This is the scene live in westminster right now. Well have the latest live from westminster. Also this lunchtime it comes as fears grow that certain hospitals may soon be overwhelmed. Health Officials Say some intensive care units face a tsunami of demand. Work is continuing to turn the excel Conference Centre in east london into a 4,000 bed hospital. We are facing the greatest Health Emergency that we have seen ever in my career, and indeed the history of the nhs. The us now has more confirmed cases than anywhere else, though President Trump says the country will be back to work pretty quickly. Here, police have already issued some fines to people not following the rules about social distancing. More, more, more andjump for my love. And how to keep yourself occupied in lockdown boxerJoseph Parker tries out his hugh grant love actually impression. And in sport, Lower League Clubs fight for survival as all football below the National League is cancelled, making results, promotions and relegations null and void. Good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. Its been announced that the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary, matt hancock, have tested positive for coronavirus. Boris johnson says he has mild symptoms and will self isolate in downing street but will still lead the government response to the crisis. The Health Secretary is also self isolating. Our Political Correspondent leila nathoo has the story, and, a warning, her report contains flash photography. Something urgent for the Prime Ministers top adviser this morning, his boss has contracted coronavirus. Ive developed more symptoms of the coronavirus, that is to say a temperature and a persistent cough, and on the advice of the chief medical officer, i have taken a test, that has come out positive, so iam test, that has come out positive, so i am working from home, i am self isolating, and that is entirely the right thing to do. But be in no doubt that i can continue, thanks to the miracles of modern technology, to communicate with all of my top tea m to communicate with all of my top team to lead a national fightback against coronavirus. Last night the Prime Ministerjoined people across the country and paying tribute to nhs staff. He received a positive test result not long after, at midnight. His neighbour, chancellor rishi sunak, has not displayed any symptoms so as not been tested. Mps have been following social distancing rules in parliament, but the Prime Minister has been in close contact with others leading the response to the outbreak. Ministers and number ten staff have been told they dont have to self isolate u nless they dont have to self isolate unless they start displaying symptoms. Boris johnson will unless they start displaying symptoms. Borisjohnson will be self isolating in a flat in number 11 downing street for seven days. He is still leading the governments response to the coronas outbreak. Should his condition worsened, foreign secretary dominic raab will ta ke foreign secretary dominic raab will take charge. Last time borisjohnson saw the queen in person was the 11th of march. Earlier this week, they spoke by phone. The Prime Minister will be relying more heavily on technology to carry out government business in the coming days. Leila is in westminster. So the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary, talk us through the implications of this. Just in the last few minutes, we have had confirmation that the Health Secretary, matt hancock, has also contracted coronavirus. He has tested positive for it, the results came back this morning. He is now working from home after developing at milder symptoms on wednesday night, and i think that is the point we are stressing, that both the Health Secretary and the Prime Minister have described themselves as having mild symptoms, so although they are self isolating, they are both very much involved in the government response to the outbreak. Clearly, there will have to be some adjustments in terms of using video technology, we have already seen cabinet meetings conducted over video conferencing, and the Daily Press Briefings have also now become video conferences. So although there are contingency plans in place, should the Prime Ministers condition worsened, it is clear that he is very much in charge of leading the operation for now, given that he only has mild symptoms. All right, leila nathoo in thank you. The Prime Ministers diagnosis comes as there is growing concern that nhs hospitals may be overwhelmed by coronavirus patients as early as this weekend. Theres particular pressure on hospitals on the outskirts of london, where some Health Bosses have warned that intensive care units face a tsunami of demand in the coming days. Globally, the us has overtaken china as the country with the most confirmed cases its risen to over 85,000. Here, police have started issuing fines to people breaching the lockdown rules, less than 2a hours after they came into force. And the metropolitan police is calling on any officers who have retired in the last five years to consider returning to work. And the government is urging people not to move house to try to limit the spread of the virus. They say buyers and renters should delay moving while these emergency measures are in place. Our Health Correspondent Richard Galpin reports. In the hospitals around london, they are now bracing for the worst. The recent surge in the number of patients needing treatment as the epidemic moves towards its peak may mean some hospitals running out of intensive care beds this weekend. The whole hospital is removing those barriers between specialties, and we are working as one massive team together. We have worked to a permanent on call system, so we will only be doing predominantly i2 permanent on call system, so we will only be doing predominantly 12 hour shifts for the coming months. We have made drastic changes to the way we work, and we will continue to do so, because that is what we are here to do. And in central london, an nhs official has warned of a tsunami of cases in the coming days and weeks. Anna veith as nhs staff are themselves falling sick. So there is now a race to build up to 13 Field Hospitals across the country to create more capacity. This one in east london is being built with help from the army. It is due to open next week, initially with 500 beds, eventually increasing to 4000. Many retired nurses are being brought back into work in places like this. 5000 in england alone, they have come back and said they are willing tojoin our profession come back and said they are willing to join our profession once come back and said they are willing tojoin our profession once more. I am extremely grateful to them all, because we are facing the greatest Health Emergency that we have seen ever, in my career and indeed the history of the nhs. The nhs is now also calling for nurses from other parts of england to work in the london area. Meanwhile, manufacturers like this one here in scotla nd manufacturers like this one here in scotland are working at full speed to provide more protective equipment for doctors and nurses around the country. There are still shortages. It has been confirmed that a gp in essex has died. It is suspected but not confirmed that the 76 year old died from coronavirus. His family say he sacrificed his life for his job. Nhs staff say it is a very frightening time for them. People are frightening time for them. People a re really, really frightening time for them. People are really, really scared for themselves, for their teams, and for patients, because theyjust dont know when they go into see a patient, whether or not, even though they are not displaying symptoms, they are not displaying symptoms, they may still have the virus. My name is dr cloud tyler. Another gp is also in isolation with coronavirus symptoms thought to have been picked up from seeing patients. We cant use what some would deem inadequate personal protection to see all our patients still, because we havent got enough. And we dont have eye protection in general practice. We just have a surgical mask. A plastic apron and gloves. But amidst all this, there is at least some positive news from the experts who say the trajectory of the outbreak in this country is now showing that the social distancing measures may be having an impact. Richard galpin, bbc news. Well, with me is our Health Correspondent lauren moss. And intensely difficult time for staff, lauren. It is, but the nhs has measures in place to deal with increased pressure and demand in the coming weeks. Last week, one hospital in harrow declared a Critical Incident for 204i was after experiencing a surge in patients with colbert i9, meaning they couldnt take any more patients, so they were transferred to nearby hospitals. It is that resilient system that the nhs will call on when it needs to do as the coming weeks and months go by, but the chief executive of nhs providers has warned there has been an explosion of patient demand in london, saying that combined with staff sickness sometimes of up to 50 in some areas isa sometimes of up to 50 in some areas is a wicked combination. More than a third of the confirmed uk cases are in the capital, over 3000. Next week the excel centre in london docklands, which is being turned into a docklands, which is being turned intoa giant docklands, which is being turned into a giant Field Hospital is due to open, accommodating up to 4000 patients, and the priority is making sure there are enough Critical Care beds and ventilators for patients who may need them. Staffing is also crucial, 12,000 retired nhs staff have now answered the return to work all that was issued last week, and finally a medic sounded nurses can also be called up. Thank you, lauren, lauren moss. The United States now has the largest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the world, although europe continues to be the epicentre of the outbreak. Spain has reported 769 deaths in the last day alone and has nearly 65,000 cases among the highest daily figure for any single country. Italy has suffered the greatest number of deaths, more than 8,000, and has 80,000 cases, with fears that the virus is now taking hold in the south of the country. But america now has more than 85,000 cases of infection, although only 1,300 deaths. President trump, though, still says the crisis will end quickly. Paul adams reports. The great global city of new york is now in the eye of the storm. At the elmhurst hospital in queens, a steady stream of desperately ill patients, exhausted staff struggling to cope. The city has fewer than 2000 intensive care beds all are expected to be in use by today. Adding to the pressure, thousands of worried new yorkers looking to be tested. The city has never seen anything like this before, not even on its darkest day. Over 6000 calls a day, which are breaking records. We didnt have this many calls on 9 11. And were not even started yet. So if were doing 6000 today, its going to be 8000 tomorrow, more and more people are going to call. America now has the highest number of confirmed cases of covid 19 the president defending his administrations response. Its a tribute to the amount of testing that we are doing, were doing tremendous testing, and im sure youre not able to tell what china is testing or not testing. After the sniping, a sign that washington and beijing are at least talking about solutions were working closely together, mr trump tweeted, much respect. Across this vast country, americas shutdown is now illustrated in startling ways. In oklahoma, dozens of passengerjets sit idle. A third of the worlds aircraft are now in storage. And for americans, no more iconic or depressing image than this yesterday was supposed to mark the start of the baseball season. This year, no one knows if there will even be one. The pandemics Economic Impact is colossal millions of americans have been laid off, the biggest unemployment spike in the nations history. They have to go back to work, our country has to go back, our country is based on that and, uh. I think its going to happen pretty quickly. But for now, its all about survival. The us military is racing to prepare hospital ships heading for los angeles and new york. And on manhattan, one of the countrys Largest Convention centres is being readied. New york has weathered plenty of storms before, but this is perhaps the citys sternest test yet. Paul adams, bbc news. Lets get the latest from Gary Odonoghue in washington, something ofa odonoghue in washington, something of a disconnect when you see some of the pictures we were just watching there with what the president is saying. Yes, particularly when you look at new york and what paul was saying, new yorkers for getting getting on for almost half the cases reported in this country, it has more than a third of the deaths and one figure i find particularly striking, more than 10 of the new York Police Department are now off sick so trying to maintain that city with the state it is, with so Many Police Officers off ill, must be an incredible challenge for the authorities there. We are starting to hear about other states with rising numbers as well. Louisiana is looking very serious, with the number is rising there. Minnesota and michigan, big population centres like detroit and chicago in illinois also showing worrying numbers. So the peak of the virus does not seem to have been reached at this stage yet, yet the president does seem to be sticking to this idea that he wa nts be sticking to this idea that he wants some sort of partial rollback of the restrictions by april, by the 12th of april, by easter. Not many people agree with that here. Gary, for now, thank you, in washington. As the death rate here in the uk continues to rise, how does it compare with the worst affected countries . The uk is believed to be several weeks behind italy in the progress of the virus, so the bbcs head of statistics, robert cuffe, has been comparing the numbers. Robert. First, lets take a look at how quickly the deaths have climbed. To highlight the patterns, were showing them on a scale where a Straight Line means doubling at a constant rate. So this line would show deaths doubling every two days, and this one, every three days. The uks in between those two doubling every two and a half days. If that pattern carried on, we would expect to see another 600 deaths by monday and another 1,200 again by thursday. Thats a lot, but how does that compare to other countries . Well, lets add italy, starting both from the day they passed ten deaths. The early growth in both countries looks similar. In fact, i could draw the early growth in germany, france, plenty of other countries, and theyd look pretty similar thats because viruses multiply at a constant rate until they run out of people to infect or until something stops them. But the latter part of italys curve does give cause for hope. Before they started lockdown, the death rate was accelerating. Then, for a while, it was doubling roughly every three days and has eventually started to slow down still growing, but at a slower rate. It does take a few weeks to see the effects, as it did in china, but, eventually, distancing does turn the tide. The best would be falling numbers of new deaths, putting brakes on the epidemic. But rising numbers can still be good news, if they mean that the growth of the epidemic is slowing, taking the foot of the accelerator. Jane. Robert, thank you. Police have already issued fines to people whove breached the rules around movement and self isolating, only 24 hours after the rules came into force. Our home editor, mark easton, joins me. What are Police Telling us about this . We have had a briefing from the National Police chief counsel and they are saying the most important thing to know is the vast, vast majority of people are complying with the rules, doing what they should do to protect the nhs and to save lives. At the police, as you say, do have these new powers, they have launched an operation at they have launched an operation at the idea is to base it on what is called the four es approach. The first is to engage with people who might be out and about and then to explain to them what the rules are and why those rules are in place. And then to encourage them to do the right thing, to voluntarily comply and go back home. And only if all of those es are exhausted will they move on to the fourth one, which is enforcement and, as you say, a number of people have already been fined for not complying. They would have been fined £60 in the first instance, reduced to 30, like a parking ticket if you do it quickly enough. Police say they are not criminal offences, they dont want to criminalise people. What they do wa nt to to criminalise people. What they do want to do is for people to use their common sense. As the head of their common sense. As the head of the National Police Chiefs Council put it, this is a national emergency, not a national holiday. Thank you, mark. The time is1 20pm. Our top story this lunchtime. The Prime Minister borisjohnson and the Health Secretary have tested positive for coronavirus. Ive developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus, thats to say a temperature and persistent cough. And on the advice of the chief medical officer, ive taken a test. That has come out positive, so i am working from home, im self isolating. We will have all of the latest reports, interviews from the bbc sports centre. One of the biggest tasks in fighting the coronavirus is keeping the nation fed. Food manufacturers have been cranking up production and working round the clock to keep up with the increased demand. Allinsons flour mill in hertfordshire is now producing an extra 400,000 bags of flour a week, an increase of 50 . Emma simpsons been to meet some of the workers. My names matt lupton, im the site manager. My names katy daigle, i work as operations manager. We make flour and it goes out to the supermarkets. We are just sending out as much stock as we possibly can. Our lines are running every shift available. So, this morning, we dispatched 140 tonnes to customer. Our teams are working all hours to put flour into bags to go out to supermarkets and to the british public. We may not be saving lives in hospitals, but i think everybody here knows the impact they are making. Its one of the basic products, flour, and it is in big demand. We werent allowed in, to protect the workers, so they filmed themselves on the food front line. Our high speed packing lines are running 24 hours a day. Everyones digging in, helping out and seeing what we can do to get that food out to the customers. Those customers have been panic buying, as well as cooking and baking, stuck at home. Some workers have even postponed retirement. Were feeding the nation. What we produce here is keeping the country going. If i left now, while, you know, the country s in this situation, i would feel id left behind a family that a mother a family that needed a mother we are now restricting access to one person at a time. All our food manufacturers are desperately trying to keep staff safe and fit for work. So can the industry cope . The Food Industry is coping. Its stretched, there is no doubt about that. We and other manufacturers are running flat out. We will keep doing that, we are making every provision to keep that volume going. If we manage this sensibly and in a calm and even way, flour will remain on the shelves. In these difficult times, its about keeping the lorries loaded. From the mill to the meal, the whole Food Industry is in overdrive, ensuring communities are fed. Emma simpson, bbc news, bishops stortford. Anyone buying or selling a property has been urged by the government to delay completion, even if thats meant to be happening today. Our personalfinance correspondent Simon Gompertz joins us now from west london. My my goodness, if you were meant to be completing today, simon, that is quite a tall order, to ask you to suddenly stop that. Yes, it is a tall order and also very worrying for people who are involved in chains of buying and selling houses. In normal times, if you sign and exchange contracts, you are committed to pay the money and to move on a designated date. But what the government is saying is the two parties, the buyer and the seller, should make an amicable agreement to extend that date to beyond a time when restrictions on human contact are lifted. Now, there will be exceptions. In some cases, they admit it would be unavoidable to change and they dont want to change critical house moves. Not clear what thatis critical house moves. Not clear what that is but it could be situations where key workers are moving, for instance, or where elderly people are moving out of a home into somewhere they can be cared for. And in terms of the wider property market, like so many parts of the economy, it had been slightly on the up economy, it had been slightly on the up in recent times but we can only speculate what this is going to do to it now. A huge impact, i think, because you have to take this alongside the fact that there can be no viewings of properties, so Estate Agents are closed. Removals companies are not taking on any new business and the impact is going to bea business and the impact is going to be a very sharp fall in transactions and in activity in the housing market. On the plus side, solicitors are getting together to design these new clauses to contracts to extend completion until after restrictions are lifted. The downside, of course, is anybody trying to move at the moment, it is incredibly worrying and those housing change could well fall through and people will be looking to pay less money, which is a challenge as well. Thank you very much for now, Simon Gompertz. During this time of crisis, many of us are trying to find a way to support elderly or more Vulnerable People in our community. Residents of a town in devon have had a system operating for some years every street in ilfracombe is covered by a network of volunteers. Jon kay went to find out how it all works. Bell rings. Oh, yea self isolation will not silence him. Ilfracombes town crier might be confined to his doorstep, but he still has a message to deliver. Stay safe, my friends. You know it makes sense its certainly different. Out of his robes and tricorn hat, 84 year old roy joined me for a video call. It sounds like everybody is coming together. Ilfracombe is absolutely brilliant. We have a really Fabulous Community spirit. Normally, youve only got to ask and it is done. We are very, very fortunate. Ilfracombe is a seaside town. Many of its 11,000 residents are elderly and vulnerable and will need protection in the weeks ahead. Bicclescombe park, ive got three volunteers. And this is how theyre doing it. Before they had to start working from home, we filmed at the offices of one ilfracombe, a pioneering project bringing the council, nhs, emergency services, charities and businesses all under one roof. Working together, theyve been able to organise an army of volunteers. What weve done is try to break it down into these kind of bite sized areas, so they become kind of their own micro community, so theyll start looking after each other. They are all communicating through facebook. After a shout out on social media, 150 people came forward to act as street coordinators, going door to door, leafleting every household, offering help. You always know you live in a Fabulous Community but its when things like this happen that you really start understanding and you get the goose bumps, when you feel that everybody is coming together to really help each other out. So even though the town is shut down, every single street is now covered by a volunteer and communities across the uk are watching to see how this north Devon Community is pulling together. Take mel. Her gardening and cleaning jobs have stopped because of the crisis. So, now, she has a new role. 0h, fantastic, its my order. Yes, i managed to get everything you needed. Shes one of the volunteers, shopping and collecting medicine for people like 86 year old mo, who lives alone. Its hoped every Single Person will now get the help they need. I dont know what i would do without the volunteers. Its absolutely fantastic. Otherwise, iwould not have anything. I started thinking about the people in my community who are vulnerable, who are elderly, and who might slip through the cracks, as this whole drama unfolds. Of course, these are still early days. No one knows how long this crisis will go on for or how badly a town like ilfracombe may be hit. The nearest a e department is half an hour away. But, for now at least, the Community Response is giving confidence and hope. When this is all over, i want to see all of you, and, then, we will party god save the queen. Jon kay, bbc news. Now, how are you keeping busy while at home . The former World Champion boxer Joseph Parker has kept himself occupied at home in new zealand by re enacting a famous scene from love actually, in which the Prime Minister, played by hugh grant, dances around to the girls aloud cover ofjump. Lets take a look. Music jump for my love by the pointer sisters. Listen, if the boxing didnt work out, id have been a dancer. It so exciting. I can feel you getting hotter. You know, david, the character who is played by, you know, hugh grant. I really liked how hugh played him. He was awesome and cool. Hes the original but i think im pretty close to it. And you want more. More, more. Thenjump. For my love. Jump in. I was going to throw the challenge out there to see if the likes of dillian orjoshua or even chisora, those uk fighters, if any of them wanted to give it a go. The only person i think will be close ill take you down. Where no ones ever gone. Hey what are you doing . Im training. Dressed like that . Yup. I still think about is the pointer sisters Joseph Parker there keeping spirits high. Time for a look at the weather. Heres alina jenkins. There has not been much change in the weather recently. For much of england and wales, blue skies and sunshine but, for northern ireland, parts of scotland,