Tom Burridge
Transport correspondent

Airlines say they will run enough rescue flights to ensure that British holidaymakers in Morocco can get home, after all scheduled flights between Morocco and the UK were suspended.

Easyjet will run four rescue flights today. British airways is also working-out how many flights are needed to ensure that everyone can get home.

Beth Marletta, who has been on holiday in Morocco with her partner for the past week and a half was due to fly back from Marrakech to Heathrow and then on to Edinburgh with British Airways this coming Saturday.

When she got through to British Airways earlier today she was told that the next available flight was in August, however the BBC has been told that British Airways will run rescue flights.

“We’re really worried”, Beth said. “We’re in limbo as we don’t know whether to turn-up to the airport and try and get on a flight.”

The BBC has spoken to another British woman who was supposed to fly with Easyjet back from Morocco. She is has also had trouble booking herself onto a rescue flight and says the situation is very confusing.

The British Ambassador in Morocco tweeted that there will be a number of rescue flights operated by British Airways, Ryanair, Easyjet and Tui over the next three days.

Ambassador Thomas Reilly tweeted that people should contact their airline.

Image source, Reuters

Almost 2,000 more cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours in Spain, with a big increase in the number of deaths - from 342 to 491.

After Italy, Spain is the European country worst hit by the pandemic: it has now seen 11,178 cases and 1,028 of the people involved have now recovered, says emergencies co-ordinator Fernando Simón.

The Madrid region has seen 43% of the infections and, with 355 deaths, the highest fatality rate in the country at 7%. Spain is under lockdown for all but essential travel and shopping and has closed its borders to most foreigners. Unlike France and Italy, people in Spain are not required to carry a permit to go from place to place.

The government in Madrid is planning a new package of economic measures to help workers who lose their jobs and self-employed people who lose their income. Mortgage payments are set to be suspended for anyone affected by the crisis.

Read more about the situation in Spain and elsewhere in Europe here.

Image source, PA Media

The Prime Minister's father has indicated he would ignore his son's advice to tackle the spread of coronavirus and still go to the pub.

Boris Johnson yesterday urged everyone to "avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues", saying it was particularly important for people over 70.

But Stanley Johnson, 79, said: "Of course I'll go to a pub if I need to go to a pub." Speaking on ITV's This Morning, he said landlords "don't want people to be not in the pub at all".

Happy St Patrick’s Day.

Traditionally, it is a day of parades, festivities and frivolity, as revellers descend of streets, bars, pubs and parties to celebrate Irish culture.

That’s not possible this year, as the coronavirus pandemic has led to the implementation of sweeping social-distancing measures. Those measures have forced organisers to cancel St Patrick’s Day events worldwide.

In the Republic of Ireland, Taoiseach (Irish PM) Leo Varadkar announced that all parades and festivals in the country would not go ahead this year. His government has advised against parties, too, with pubs and bars asked to close.

• Irish St Patrick's Day parades cancelled
• Pubs asked to close by Irish government

That includes the capital Dublin, where the streets will be largely empty.

Spirits have been far from dampened, though, as St Patrick’s Day cheer is being spread online instead.

Using the hashtag #StPatricksDayTogether, people have been sharing their St Patrick’s Day experiences on Twitter, posting pictures of parades and festivities from previous years.

RTE, the Republic of Ireland’s state broadcaster, has also encouraged a virtual parade.

Meanwhile, Tourism Ireland said the annual Global Greening project, which sees hundreds of landmarks in more than 50 countries bathed in green light, will still go ahead.

President Trump sent a tweet on Monday describing the new coronavirus - which causes the disease Covid-19 - as the “Chinese virus”.

China has reacted angrily, with the foreign ministry in Beijing saying it's wrong to stigmatise China and that the US should “take care of its own business”.

The first cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

Last week a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman shared a conspiracy theory, alleging the US Army had brought it to the region.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo then demanded China stop spreading “disinformation” saying it was trying to "shift blame” for the outbreak.

Read more on this latest war of words, here.

More on our breaking news - that the UK government is advising British people against all non-essential travel worldwide.

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) says in an exceptional travel advisory notice, external that:

"The Covid-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented international border closures and other restrictions. All countries may restrict travel without notice."

You can read the latest BBC News story here.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says no UK citizen should travel non-essentially anywhere in the world.

Giving a statement to Parliament on the coronavirus outbreak, he says the outbreak is "the worst public health crisis for a generation and unsettling for families... so there needs to be a united effort to tackle it effectively".

Mr Raab says UK citizens are now facing "widespread international border restrictions and lock downs", and the speed and range of those measures are "unprecedented".

He says these measures, and the moves taken domestically, has led to the advice "with immediate effect against non-essential travel globally for an initial period of 30 days and subject to ongoing review".

Mr Raab adds: "We want to reduce the risk of leaving UK citizens stranded overseas.

"We will keep this under review and amend as soon as responsibility allows."

Euro 2020 has been postponed by one year until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, says the Norwegian FA.

Read the latest on this breaking story here.

Image source, Getty Images

More now on the issue of whether venues in the UK can claim on insurance if they're not ordered to close by the government.

Pubs, restaurants and theatres in the UK are hitting out at Boris Johnson's advice to the public yesterday - telling them not to visit the venues, without ordering businesses to close.

Many from the entertainment industry say without a direct order from government, they will not be protected by their insurance.

But the Association of British Insurers claims most companies would not be covered anyway, even if there were to be a dictat from Downing Street.

In a statement, the organisation says: "Standard business interruption cover - the type the majority of businesses purchase - does not include forced closure by authorities as it is intended to respond to physical damage at the property which results in the business being unable to continue to trade.

"A small minority of typically larger firms might have purchased an extension to their cover for closure due to any infectious disease. In this instance, an enforced closure could help them make the claim.

"But this will depend on the precise nature of the cover they have purchased, so they should check with their insurer or broker to see if they are covered."

The UK's culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, has self-isolated after a member of his family started showing signs of coronavirus.

Katy Watson
BBC South America correspondent

Image source, Getty

The numbers of coronavirus cases in Latin America has not reached European proportions yet but judging by decisions taken in the last few days, governments here are not taking any chances.

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro announced that the whole country, already suffering from years of economic and political turmoil, would be under quarantine from Tuesday after the number of cases there rose from 16 to 33 in one day.

“We're facing a serious pandemic,” he told the nation in a televised address. “If we don’t stop it in time, cut it off and control it, it could bring us down.”

He was not alone in declaring drastic restrictions. Peru had already declared a national emergency, closed its borders and told everybody to self-quarantine for 14 days while Chile said it would close its borders after cases more than doubled there to 155.

Most of the region is introducing strict measures on movement and schools, shops and flights are shutting down. Yet coronavirus has only just arrived here - so have countries learned lessons from Europe? Or are they acting too soon?

Read more here.

Image source, Reuters

Hello and good afternoon. If you're just joining us, here are this morning's main developments:

• A nationwide lockdown has come into force in France, and anyone leaving home without paperwork faces a fine
• Borders are being closed all across Europe as governments ramp up their response
• In Italy the number of deaths has passed 2,000 and Spain has reported another 182 deaths, bringing the total there to nearly 500
• People in the UK are getting used to stricter measures. People have been urged to avoid "non-essential" contact. The government is set to unveil new financial measures to support the economy
• Also in the UK, the government's approach has come under fire, with criticism coming from the entertainment and hospitality industries, a teaching union, and the opposition
• The Australian government has urged its citizens to return home sooner rather than later, as it might be impossible to do so later
• There are now around 400 known cases in Africa

Image source, AFP/Getty images

As more measures come into place to limit contact in the UK, Parliament is considering making changes to protect its staff.

Visitors have already been banned from the historic building, but business for MPs is, for the moment, carrying on as normal.

The Clerk of the House of Commons has written to the Procedure Committee suggesting a number of possible moves that could come into force in the coming weeks or months.

They include:

• Using video-conferencing
• Allowing MPs to ask questions on behalf of others
• Deciding votes on voices, not going through voting lobbies
• Reducing the number of staff in the Commons
• Limiting the number of written questions MPs can submit

The BBC's assistant political editor, Norman Smith, says the weekly encounter the PM has with MPs in the Commons - known as PMQs - could be a real test.

"What will be interesting is if they manage to put this in place ahead of Prime Minister's Questions tomorrow, because that is the moment when the chamber is absolutely rammed and is precisely the sort of situation you want to avoid - all the more so given we know alarm bells are ringing much more loudly about the situation in London," he says.

"But what won't happen, I think, is any particular move to close Parliament, because the widespread view on all sides is that would send out a terrible symbol, a really negative message, at a time of national crisis."

Image source, Getty i

Many countries are closing schools as part of their efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus.

For now, the UK government is currently still advising schools to stay open.

You can read the latest advice about closures and what to do if you're worried about your child's health here.

Taftan, a small town on the border with Iran, is thought to be where most coronavirus cases in Pakistan originated. More than 6,000 people, the majority of them pilgrims who crossed over from Iran, have been identified as high-risk carriers needing to be screened. Many have been quarantined at Taftan in unsanitary conditions which have fuelled the spread of infection. There have been protests, as we reported in live coverage on 10 March.

Most of the 183 coronavirus cases in Pakistan so far have been traced to this so-called quarantine facility. The country has just reported its first suspected coronavirus death - but although the 50-year-old man had been in Iran, he bypassed Taftan, returning by plane to Lahore.

Image source, Getty

Image source, Getty Images

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is currently taking questions in the Commons ahead of giving a statement to MPs on coronavirus.

His opposition counterpart, Emily Thornberry, quizzes him on the reaction of US President Donald Trump to the outbreak.

"The truth is Mr Speaker, Donald Trump's lack of international leadership on the issue has been quite extraordinary," says the Labour politician.

"He started by calling the outbreaks a hoax, comparing it to winter flu and dismissing health advice, but now he is calling it 'the foreign virus', blaming Europe for its spread and today blaming China, saying he takes no responsibility at all.

"Does the secretary of state agree that it is shameful that this kind of behaviour is what we have come to expect from the current American president, even at this time of global crisis?"

But Mr Raab doesn't agree.

He tells Ms Thornberry: "I think we have done quite a good job in this House of trying to have a bipartisan approach, and whether it is domestically or internationally, it just doesn't help finger pointing in any shape or form."

Two tourists will be kicked out of New Zealand after failing to follow mandatory arrival rules about self-isolating for 14 days, government officials say.

"They are currently being quarantined," immigration official Stephen Vaughan was quoted by local media as saying. "If they fail to depart after quarantine, they will be arrested and detained under the Immigration Act."

A third tourist was also detained over her failure to have an adequate self-isolation plan in place, according to the NZ Herald newspaper, external.

New Zealand began implementing the strict new arrival rules on Monday. You can read more about what other nations are doing, including threatening fines and even jail time, here.

Dharshini David
Economics Correspondent

Some UK businesses will "inevitably" fail during the coronavirus outbreak, according to the outgoing head of the Office For Budget Responsibility.

Far from his usual approach of urging fiscal restraint, Robert Chote tells the Treasury Select Committee a temporary spike in borrowing would be sensible - saying it's better to spend a "little too much" than too little.

He says, "when the fire is large enough, you just spray water" (and worry about the clean up after).

Mr Chote highlights that the government ran deficits of 20% of GDP for five years during the World War Two era (vs just under 2% GDP last year), and says that was the right thing to do.

He also urges help for those working in the gig economy.

His words, coming hours before the Chancellor is expected to outline more support, helped limit the fall in the FTSE-100 this morning.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier we mentioned that the cinema chain Odeon was closing its doors until further notice - Cineworld and Picturehouse are doing the same.

The move comes a day after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised people to avoid public venues.

Theatres in London's West End and around the UK have already closed, and many concerts have been called off.

Read more about how the UK's entertainment industry is responding here.

Eamonn Brennan, the boss of pan-European air traffic control organisation Eurocontrol, has reported that Monday saw a rapid decrease in the number of flights being operated across the continent.

It was down by a third compared to the same operational day last year.