Your morning briefing: What you should know for Wednesday, February 26

UK steps up coronavirus action plan as Europe hit with more cases

Preparations for a severe outbreak of coronavirus in Britain are being stepped up as the deadly illness continues to spread across Europe.

The Foreign Office advised last night against “all but essential travel” to the 11 locked-down towns at the centre of the Italian outbreak.

And officials said surveillance system involving GP surgeries and hospitals aims to establish whether the virus is spreading in the UK.

Schools in the UK are also taking action to protect against Covid-19 amid fears of a global pandemic.

Some have closed while others have sent pupils home for fear they may have sent pupils home for fear they may have caught he virus on ski trips to Italy.

Harry returns to UK ahead of final round of royal engagements

Prince Harry has returned to the UK ahead of his final round of official engagements as a senior royal.

The Duke of Sussex was pictured arriving at Edinburgh's Waverley Station last night for a summit focused on his sustainable tourism project.

Today’s conference marks the beginning of his last stretch of public events before he and his wife Meghan Markle officially give up their royal duties.

The Sussexes’ lives as working royals will end on March 31, when they stop representing the Queen and become financially independent.

Flood defences breached in Worcestershire after days of holding back rising River Severn

Flood defences were finally breached in the Worcestershire town of Bewdley last night after holding out for days against the rising levels of the River Severn.

Low-lying areas on the river are to be hit by more severe flooding today, with the potential of the over-topping of defences in Ironbridge, Shropshire.

Ongoing flooding is forecast over the next few days, with England having seen more than 200 per cent of its average February rainfall.

PM launches 'biggest foreign policy review since Cold War'

Boris Johnson has launched what he claims is the biggest review of Britain's foreign and security policy since the Cold War.

The cross-Whitehall review will cover all elements of foreign, defence, security and international development policy.

It comes as the Government seeks to redefine its long-term strategic aims and objectives.

Downing Street said it would go beyond the parameters of a traditional strategic defence and security review by looking at the "totality of opportunities and challenges" the UK faces.

Alex Jones: I won't have more kids for environmental reasons

The One Show’s Alex Jones has said that she is unlikely to have more children for environmental reasons.

The TV presenter, 42, shares sons Teddy, three, and Kit, nine months, with husband Charlie Thomson.

“And I think I’m too old to have another child now, anyway,” she added.

On this day...

1531: About 20,000 people died in an earthquake in Lisbon.

1797: £1 notes were first issued by the Bank of England.

1815: Napoleon escaped from exile on the island of Elba and returned to France.

1839: The Grand National was first run at Aintree.

1935: Radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) was first demonstrated in Daventry by Robert Watson-Watt.

1936: The Volkswagen car factory was opened in Saxony by Adolf Hitler.

1983: Irishman Pat Jennings became the first footballer to play in 1,000 first-class football matches.

1989: Burke's Peerage reported that King Arthur's Round Table had been found near Stirling, Scotland, on the banks of the Carron River.

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