On twitter its Annita Mcveigh or bbcyourquestions. Strict new rules in madrd residents will only be allowed out of the restricted zones for work, doctors visits and shopping, as the authorites fight a resurgence in coronavirus cases. The European Commission president is about to make an announcement about taking legal action against the uk over its brexit withdrawal plans. New measures are promised in an attempt to avoid repetition of tuesdays angry and disorderly encounter between donald trump and his challenger, joe biden. And is there a canine way to combat covid . New Research Suggests dogs can detect the disease through their sense of smell. Hello and welcome if youre watching in the uk or around the world, and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. The growth in cases of coronavirus may be slowing down in england, according to the largest study of its kind, in one of a series of developments this morning. The react study, at Imperial College london, analysed samples from 84,000 random people. It found that the r number appears to have fallen to around 1. 1 since the rule of six was introduced. In late august to early september, it was estimated to be as high as 1. 7. Merseyside, in north west england, could be the next area to face new local lockdown measures. There are now more than 200 cases per 100,000 people in the region overall. In liverpool, the figure stands at 258. And as of this evening, around a third of the uk population will be subject to extra restrictions, as new rules will come into force in wales across conwy, denbighshire, flintshire and wrexham at 6pm. In europe, madrid and nine towns around it have been given 48 hours to impose a lockdown amid a rise in infections, but the spanish capitals regional president says the order isnt valid. Italy is bucking the trend however, with just over 37 positive cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks among the lowest rates in europe. This report from anna 0neill begins with the emerging situation in merseyside. Liverpool city centre last weekend after the pubs closed at ten no masks, no social distancing, and seemingly nowhere else to go. This is a city where covid 19 cases are rising fast, and which later today might be the next to see stricter lockdown measures. And many people in the city would welcome them. I think it needs to happen because when all the students come back, it has gone higher. Yeah. We are going to pull away from that and where the the European Commission, ursula von der leyen, is making a statement about the brexit withdraw agreement. Good faith laid down in the withdraw agreement. Moreover, if adopted as is, it will be in full contradiction to the protocol of ireland and Northern Ireland. The deadline lapsed yesterday. The problematic provisions have not been removed. Therefore, this morning, the commission has decided to send a letter of formal notice to the uk government. This is the first step in an infringement procedure. The letter invites the uk government to send its observations within a month. Beside this, the commission will continue to work hard towards a timely implementation of the withdrawn agreement. We stand by our commitments. Thank you. So a very brief statement from the president of the Eu Commission, ursula von der leyen,in of the Eu Commission, ursula von der leyen, in regards to the withdrawn agreement, the full implementation of the withdrawn agreement, including the island and Northern Ireland protocol which she is calling from. Ireland Northern Ireland protocol. A few weeks ago, the eu president said that Boris Johnson and his government had agreed to implement the withdrawn agreement in full, including that protocol, and that was agreed by the government less than a year ago. The Eu Commission said it has a legal obligation and the eu said it also expected the letter and spirit of the agreement to be fully respected. Violating the terms of the withdrawn agreement, they said, would break international law, undermine trust and put at risk the ongoing future relationship and negotiations. You may remember that the government here in the uk said it was going to break parts of that agreement in a specific and limited way. Ursula von der leyen saying that a letter of formal notice to the uk government, which she said was the first step in an infringement procedure, has been sent to Boris Johnson an infringement procedure, has been sent to borisjohnson and the uk government and she says the government has a month to respond. With me now is brussels correspondent nick beake. Just give us correspondent nick beake. Just give us your assessment of what ursula v011 us your assessment of what ursula von der leyen had to say there. She is clearly indicating that the eu means business when it comes to the withdrawn agreement and its full implementation. I think there are two things we need to look at, the politics of all of this but also the pragmatism. The eu, in a way, had put themselves in a situation where they had to Say Something because they had to Say Something because they gave the uk until the end of september to withdraw what they saw as the offending part of the brexit deal being torn up, in effect. In one way, this is not unexpected. Clearly, it is quite dramatic, what we are hearing, in one respect, the fa ct we are hearing, in one respect, the fact the eu is taking legal action but it indicated that it would be doing this. I think the big question is whether this torpedo is the ongoing trade talks, and i dont think it does, largely because any kind of legal action will take months. It is unlikely it will be concluded before the end of the year end before the end of the transition period that we are currently in. And before the end. The eu is in a way saving face but also buying a bit more time for some of the differences to be resolved during the trade talks which again are ongoing in brussels today. Nonetheless, is this in effect the precursors to legal action or is it the first stage of legal action, if you like, if you can explain exactly what this means . I think that is probably one for the lawyers because the detail of this, and we saw quite legal advice from the eu lawyers, which was leaked to us 2a hours after the uk indicated the path it wa nted after the uk indicated the path it wanted to take, i think on the one hand, there is an immediate breach, the eu is saying, a breach of good faith, so in other words, the uk, by coming up with this new idea which would override parts of the brexit deal, as we know, concerning Northern Ireland, they would say there is an immediate grounds for some kind of implementation of legal action. The other, wider point is that if this goes all the way to the European Court of justice, that if this goes all the way to the European Court ofjustice, then this becomes a lot more complicated because you are looking at possible fines but this would be months ahead will stop of course, it changes the whole process, and the whole process changes once the uk has left the transition period at the end of the year. It is one that the lawyers will take on, i think but from what ursula von der leyen was saying, the process is now under way. Nick beake, thank process is now under way. Nick bea ke, thank you process is now under way. Nick beake, thank you from brussels. Just to recap, we havejust heard beake, thank you from brussels. Just to recap, we have just heard from the president of the Eu Commission that they have sent a letter of formal notice to the uk government with a month for the government here to respond, which they say is the first step in infringement proceedings. This is with regard to the withdrawn agreement around brexit and you will remember a few weeks ago, Withdrawal Agreement. The government decided to cover many government members admitted this was a breach of International Treaty obligations, to basically change some of the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement with regard to the island and Northern Ireland protocol so we will get more information about what this means in terms of the eu side on bbc news as the day continues. Returning to our main story now that the growth in cases of coronavirus may be slowing down in england, according to the larger study of its kind. Largest study. Professor paul elliott is chair of epidemiology and Public Health medicine at Imperial College london and the director of the study that suggests the growth in coronavirus cases may be slowing. He said despite signs of a slowdown, the public still need to take all precautions. It is really important to differentiate between the numbers with the virus, which has gone up substantially, which is why we are in a really critical phase right now, and the rate of rise of the virus, which was going up exponentially from the beginning of september, and that rate of rise seems to have slowed down in the very recent data but there is some uncertainty around that value because it is based on very recent data, in the last nine days of sampling. It is that rate of rise which is slowing which is good news but the rate we have reached in the population is high and that will translate to unfortunately hospitalisations and ultimately some deaths going forward. So there is no contradiction between what you are saying and what we had from professor chris whitty and sir Patrick Vallance yesterday, that the numbers are going in the wrong direction . Absolutely. The r value is still above one, the best estimate, although there is a lot of uncertainty around that, which means the rate of increase of the virus is still positive, which is not what we want. We have got to very high levels because that value was even higher back at the beginning of september. But if you like, the Silver Lining is that there may be a downturn in the rate of increase. What we need to see is not onlyjust a downturn in the rate of increase but the virus decreasing again from the high levels. That is really important. I would completely endorse what was said yesterday. We need a redoubling of our own efforts as individuals and at the population level to follow the guidance. That is the key takeaway, isnt it . No room for complacency, everybody has to remain very careful. Absolutely, we are at a critical phase now. We have just got to follow the guidance on social mixing and distancing, hand washing, face covering, and if we do get symptoms, get a test and then isolate as well, and if you are a contact. It is really important now, we are at an absolutely critical phase of where the virus has got to because it has gone up so much, because we detected this high r value at the beginning of last month, september. To westminster now for more on the expected announcement on further local restrictions on merseyside. 0ur Political Correspondent is leila nathoo. Weve heard from the kane of liverpool a couple of weeks ago, mayor liverpool, a couple of weeks ago, calling for restrictions then and it is not the only place where the call has come at a local level but there has been a delay before they have had the authorisation from Central Government to introduce these measures. Yes, it looks likely 110w these measures. Yes, it looks likely now that we are going to see some additional restrictions in place in the north west of england, merseyside, the liverpool city region, we know some of the citys mps had meetings with the Health Minister last night to discuss any additional restrictions. Remember, the government is very keen to avoid any more Strict National measures, and the idea is they can target outbreaks in local areas. But these local lockdowns are now fanning out across the country. Up until now, about a quarter of the uk population are about a quarter of the uk population a re covered by about a quarter of the uk population are covered by local lockdown restrictions and today, potentially, many more as well. So the idea that they were supposed to be targeted to small areas, to control outbreaks, now what you are seeing is local lockdowns being introduced in a much wider area when cases start to spike. No confirmation yet of what the restrictions will be that could be brought in in liverpool and on merseyside but we know that in the north east of england, there are now more strict restrictions, so it could be Something Like that, banning households from mixing in homes, gardens and in hospitality venues, and advised against a meeting outside in any situations. It could be something along those lines. This is what the mayor of liverpool told us earlier. We know that theres a covid coordinating meeting taking place sometime this morning, chaired by the Prime Minister. And it will be looking into the serious increase in Covid Infection rates in liverpool and the wider region here. So we expect some announcements this morning. We suspect, weve already been told, for instance, there will be similar restrictions and regulations put in place, similar to newcastle. Those in the local areas that are under restrictions have been saying that they need to have some idea of whether they are working. It is something labour has been pressing, too, how lots of the areas that have seen increased restrictions have remained under those stricter restrictions for many weeks, with no sign of how they might be lifted and what threshold, for example, the authorities are working towards in order to be able to say you can come out of those lockdown restrictions. There has also been criticism of the government that the message has been confusing because the restrictions va ry confusing because the restrictions vary from region to region and in the different nations, so people in individual areas are having trouble understanding what rules apply to them. This is what the environment secretary George Eustice said earlier. The evidence shows that once the disease gets past a Tipping Point, we talk about the r value, the infection rate, it is now about 1. 5 across the country which means there is a velocity to this virus and once it gets going, then you need to take action to try to dampen it, otherwise itjust rises exponentially, and that is what happens. There can be a range of factors that contribute to the virus getting above that Tipping Point in a particular city, and then you need to act fast to sampen it. Ministers are clear they want to avoid another National Lockdown of what that would entail but by mr borisjohnson said yesterday what that would entail but by mr Boris Johnson said yesterday we what that would entail but by mr borisjohnson said yesterday we are ata borisjohnson said yesterday we are at a critical moment in the outbreak, urging everyone to abide by the rules and saying he would not hesitate to introduce broader National Measures to try to curb the spread of the virus but at the moment, the strategy is to try to isolate outbreaks, even though they are in very wide areas across england at least but the strategy seems to be a target further restrictions, tighter restrictions at areas, and hope that through isolation and testing and people abiding by those stricter regulations in those places, they can contain local outbreaks. Thank you forjoining us. And for viewers in the uk, this afternoon well anwer your questions on the final month of the furlough scheme and its replacement, the job support scheme. At 3. 30 ill bejoined by michelle 0vens, director of Small Business britain. You can send in your questions by emailing yourquestions bbc. Co. Uk or tweet us using the hashtag bbcyourquestions. Breaking news now from West Midlands police who have launched a double Murder Investigation as two men have been found shot dead in a car on a Black CountryIndustrial Estate. The men were discovered inside a vehicle which was parked outside units of more street in Brierley Hill in dudley, just before half past three yesterday afternoon. The victims have not yet been formally identified. It is thought they were killed shortly after 1pm. The men we re killed shortly after 1pm. The men were discovered at around 3 30pm. It was at an Industrial Estate units in moore street in Brierley Hill in dudley. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. The police are appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time who saw or heard anything is positions anything suspicious to get in touch with them. West Midlands Police have launched a double Murder Investigation. Italy was for some weeks the global epicentre of coronavirus, the first country in the west to be deeply affected by the pandemic, and the first in the world to impose a National Lockdown. But now its infection rate is considerably lower than others in europe 38 cases per 100,000 people, compared to more than 100 in the uk, 230 in france and 330 in spain. So how has it managed to stay on top of the virus . 0ur rome correspondent mark lowen reports. Covids once global epicentre is not letting down its guard. Spot checks by It