in-cell installing in his country a sense of freedom and strength. heights my chin is yet on al-jazeera. the u.k. notifies the world health organization about a new strain of corona virus that submerged in the south east of england u.k. prime minister boris johnson is due to speak shortly about new lockdown restrictions. we will cut to that live event just assumes it kicks off in london you're watching al-jazeera from my name's peter davi also ahead the government of central african republic accuses the former president of attempting a coup before elections u.s. peacekeeping mission puts troops on high alert. harsh winter adds to the misery of

tens of thousands of syrians displaced by war. and we need to park rangers in zimbabwe who are using drones to protect animals from poachers. ok let's begin in the u.k. where the prime minister boris johnson is due to address the public in the next couple of minutes we understand he is expected to discuss courbet 19 restrictions over the christmas holiday and a new strain of the coronavirus which is emerged in the southeast of england that is causing worries amongst the medical community and the medical advisors working so closely with the u.k. government the chief medical officer says the u.k. has alerted the world health organization the cabinet in london has met to discuss what it can do what it should do to curb the rise in the number of infections in effect more than 35000000 people in england are living under tight restrictions

tier 3 is where they are at at the moment we strongly suspect mr johnson is going to announce a tear for northern islands we were reporting on this program this time yesterday on boxing day in northern ireland one of the 4 home nations that makes up the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland will announce or will start a 6 week locked in process similar scenes being reflected north of the border in scotland the scottish government has said all options are still up for consideration the scottish 1st minister nicola sturgeon is to hold a news conference at $1730.00 g.m.t. so that's in about 90 minutes as we wait for mr johnson let's talk to our correspondent following that developing story for us or a challenge joins us from our european broadcast center in the shard in central london so tear for if it comes to it rory it seems that it might be more rules and regulations that people have to get to grips with but is the government going to

disassemble this idea that you can do 5 days of christmas but you've got to stay within 3 bubbles. yeah i think that's pretty likely we don't have a show have to wait to see what boris johnson actually says but the speculation that rising around on these websites twitter the month more politically politically connected correspondence is that yes there is likely to be a tear for and the tear for which could well be imposed for london the southeast and the eastern part of the country where this new strain of the coronavirus as most prevalent is most likely i think to look like the 1st national lock down now the catchy for phrase for the 1st national look down at the government was easing was stay at home save lives protects the n.h.s. so it's the stay at home thing i think that is is going to be crucial and the

defying part of this here for if that's what's announced that as people have become more and more used to travelling around going back to work. visiting different cross the country etc going overseas again they've got used to great degrees of movement and i think the tafe or is going to bring that to a halt and of course that has an impact on christmas. day will be i think is being speculated for other parts of the country that stay in a 3 door to all one there are many private parts of the country it's all in say one i think that will be not state harun but state local so again it's going to have an impact on christmas this idea that you can spend 5 days of christmas mingling with 3 different family groups together mog not sure if that is going to survive this afternoon we were saying well we have been seeing over the last week or so that the spike rory we've seen in the united states came after the thanksgiving holiday

people travel people get together they sit around a big family groups but there's nothing like that in the. u.k. so the rise in numbers in the u.k. is that just because people relaxed and they for understandable to totally understandable reasons they began to get back to something that was recognizably normal they started going back to work we started socializing we started going back to the gyms etc the cinema or whatever and then the numbers just kept on climbing well i mean the of the u.k. has had this 3 to 8 system in priorities england has there are other parts of the u.k. scotland nor the nod and wales that have their own regulations. these different is have different restrictions and the toughest of the tears tears 3 basically means that non-essential shops and things of that have to have reduced

hours or closed that you your your limited to going into or you can go into other people's houses without a very good reason all these sorts of things so it's not that people have completely thrown off the shackles and gone back to the life they were living before there are still restrictions but it's not as tight as it was for the full national lockdown in the in the spring and into the summer but this relaxation being planned for christmas. many medical experts have been saying this is not a good idea this is this is how you walk into a new national lockdown because if you have all this mingling around as you said the place in the united states over thanksgiving then that's just the perfect way of transmitting the virus there is other impacts as well which of course is why we're having a pro press conference and in a few minutes time which is the new strain and this new strain. may not necessarily

be any more dangerous or deadly than than the existing strains of corona virus but it does seem to be more easily trams trends transmittable that you know you can catch it more easily composite on more easily and there could well be a correlation between the or causation between the parts of the country that have the fastest. increasing levels of crime the virus infections and where this new strain of corona virus is most prevalent as you're talking to us rory we're just getting some of the latest statistics at this end and i'm seeing the u.k. is reporting just over 27000 new cases of 19 as of today the number on friday was about 1500 higher than that so that's good news contained within the worse news but those figures do they tilt the government towards that scenario that we saw in february march april where they were literally building field hospitals

or when it comes to looking after people who've tested positive is it a case now because we're sort of half ahead of the curve to people have to just go into isolation stay at home look after themselves and phone the relevant hotline numbers. well i mean i will say in the in the in the 1st lockdown there was this mantra that the government was repeating every day every day every day stay at home save lives protect the n.h.s. so protecting the n.h.s. is now right back at the top of the government's agenda why because hospitalisations are almost at the level that we saw or the peak of the epidemic back in april and may so in england. take as an as an average 90 percent of hospital beds are full and they are filling at a rate of about $200.00 new ones a day with coronavirus patients so that is incredibly worrying at

a time of year which the n.h.s. already is under pressure because of other seasonal illnesses and things that happen in the winter when the visibility is less and the weather is wetter and colder and i see people fall over it cetera so all of this stuff puts a burden on the n.h.s. anyway adds on top of that seasonal flus and that sort of thing and then you have coronavirus and you can see why the warning lights are starting to flash for the n.h.s. again there is the safety valve of the water called the nightingale hospitals that were built to take the kind of overflow of coronavirus patients the most severely affected coronavirus patients they were built in in the summer or earlier in the in the in the year never properly used there is that possibility that if this gets significantly worse those could be drafted into action we haven't got there yet but

but yeah the worry is that the n.h.s. is again getting to that point where it can't really cope under the strain ok rory for the moment many things do stand by and come back to us just as soon as there are any developments you're looking at that. press room inside number 10. and in st we're waiting on boris johnson the u.k. prime minister coming out to take us through what we think he is about to do which is announce. an elevation of the tearing system if you will in england he does not govern or control policy in the other parts of the u.k. scotland wales and northern ireland but there are certain umbrella aspects of across the country the u.k. i mean health policy however the administrations in cardiff edinburgh and belfast have their own distinct policy implementation ideas as well we're also seeing that the u.k. has recorded 534 deaths within 28 days of a positive test result 489 on friday according to government dates and mr johnson

is expected there at the podium with his 2 main scientific advisors we don't think gentlemen called matt hancock the health secretary will be there mr hancock was talking in the house of commons what 67 days ago now maybe 910 days ago about this idea of a 2nd corona virus strain which they're not quite sure how it reacts to medication but they do think it's more transmissible than the cove it back scene that we've been talking about people most a year let's listen in to what mr johnson is saying briefed on the latest data that shows the virus spreading more rapidly in london the southeast in the east of england than would be expected given the tough restrictions that are already in place and i also received an explanation for why the virus is spreading more rapidly in these areas it seems that the spread is now being driven by the new variant of the virus which we spoke about earlier this week and learned about this

week. our advisory group on new emerging respiratory virus threats nerve tag has spent the last few days analyzing this new variant there is no evidence that it causes more severe illness or higher mortality but it does appear to be passed on significantly more easily nerve tags early analysis suggest a new variant could increase the are by not point 4 or more and although there's considerable uncertainty it may be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the old variant the original version of the disease this is early data and it's subject to review but it's the best that we have at the moment and we have to act on information as we have it because this is now spreading very fast the u.k.

has by far the best genomics sequencing ability in the world which means we're better able to identify new strains like this than any other country. the chief medical officer last night submitted our findings so far to the world health organization will continue to be totally transparent with our global partners the still much that we don't know why we're fairly certain the variant is transmitted more quickly there is no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness equally there is no evidence to suggest the vaccine will be any less effective against the new variant our experts will continue their work to improve our understanding as fast as we can so we're learning about it as we go but we already know enough more than enough to be sure that we must act now so i

met ministers on the covert operations committee last night and again 1st thing this morning cabinet met lunch time to agree the following actions 1st we will introduce new restrictions in the most affected areas specifically those parts of london the southeast and the east of england which are currently in tier 3 these areas will enter a new tier for which we broadly equivalent to the national restrictions which were in place in england in november that means residents in those areas miss stay at home apart from limited exemptions set out in law non-essential retail indoor gyms and leisure facilities and personal care services was close. people must work from home if they can but may travel to work if this is not possible for example in the construction and manufacturing sectors people who should not enter or leave tier 4

areas in tearful residents must not stay overnight away from home individuals can only meet one person from another household in an outdoor public space. but unlike the november national restrictions communal worship can continue to take place in tier 4 areas and these measures will take effect from tomorrow morning all tears will continue to be regularly reviewed in line with the approach previously set out with the next formal review taking place on the 30th of december 2nd were issuing new advice on travel although the new variant is concentrated in tearful areas it is nonetheless present at lower levels around the country so we're asking everyone in all tears to stay local people should catholic consider whether they need to travel abroad and they should follow the rules in their tear

those in here for areas will not be permitted to travel abroad apart from limited exceptions such as for work purposes 3rd we must i'm afraid look again at christmas and as prime minister it's my duty to take difficult decisions to do what is right to protect the people of this country. given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus the potential risk it poses it is with a very heavy heart i must tell you we cannot continue with christmas as planned in england those living in tearful areas should not mix with anyone outside their own household at christmas though support bubbles will remain in place for those a particular risk of loneliness or isolation across the rest of the country the christmas rules allowing up to 3 households to meet will now be limited to

christmas day only rather than the 5 days as previously set aside as before there will be no relaxation on the 31st of january so people must not break the rules that new year must know must operate rules and yet very very important to emphasize that i know you how much emotion people invest in this time of year and how important it is for instance for grandparents to see their grandchildren for families to be together so i know how disappointing this will be but we have said throughout this pandemic that we must and we will be guided by the science when the science changes we must change our response and when the virus changes its method of attack we must change our method of defense and as your prime minister i sincerely believe there is no

alternative open to me. without action the evidence suggested infections would saw hospitals but would become overwhelmed and many thousands more would lose their lives and i want to stress that we are not alone in this fight or in taking these types of decisions many of our european friends and neighbors are being forced to take similar action we're working closely with a devoted ministrations to protect people in every part of the u.k. and of course there is now a real real hope that we will soon be rid of this virus and that prospect is growing with every day that passes and every vaccine dose that is administered is you know the u.k. was the 1st country in the western world to start using a clinically approved that scene and so please if the n.h.s.

contacts you then get your vaccine and join the 350000 people across the u.k. who have already had their 1st dose. yes christmas this year will be different. very different but we must be realistic we're sacrificing the chance to see our loved ones this christmas so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so that we can see them but future christmases and this sure as night follows day will be back this virus will defeat it and reclaim our lives but i'm going to hand over to patrick who is going to go through some of the slides explaining these stories johnson the u.k. prime minister there confirming what we've been speculating about for the past for a couple of hours now i guess basically christmas in the u.k. was going to be 5 days operating within 3 support gobbles the bubbles the

planning was the bubbles as a stablished on day one of a 5 day christmas where the bubbles that people had to stay in the bubbles could be friends relatives older relatives younger relatives that has now been scrapped in the u.k. christmas in the u.k. this year this year of coronavirus and covert $1000.00 is one day and one day only that is christmas day the prime minister a very clear on the science at the top of that address saying that this is primarily about a spread is being driven by a new variant of covert 19 there is no evidence he said that it causes more severe illness or symptoms in people but it is passed on more easily he said it's 70 percent more transmissible he said the government has to act on information as it gets it will stay with his live pictures as we maybe decide to listen into what his

scientific advisors are saying but we're going to talk to rory chalons our correspondent who is monitoring that as well so rory we can see the headlines christmas is canceled and it's 70 percent more transmissible. yes yes no cheerful news really for many many people around the u.k. yeah you summarize it pretty effectively there he essentially confirms what i was saying earlier on at the top of the hour i think isn't a lot of the a lot of this this briefing would had already been leaked or or trials in the u.k. media over the previous few hours the big thing of course for the parts of the country to have the most incidences of this new variant of the current virus is that there is going to be a need to tear of restrictions tear for those parts of the country you're going to

be going into tear for so that's london that's the southeast i think is parts of the east of the country as well and to have for basically resembles the 1st national lockdown where everyone was told that they had to stay at home unless they had a very good reason for leaving it so also 'd what's going to be happening is that non-essential retail is going to be closing you have to work at home if you can you know allowed to enter or leave here for areas you shouldn't be going and staying away from your home overnight. that everyone in old say is not just here for whatever one and all tears should stay local that this will be reviewed on the 30th of december but begs the question how much longer is this tier 4 going to be around for how long is london going to be locked down essentially we don't have the answer to that at the moment boris johnson said he was doing all this with

a heavy heart but that it's absolutely necessary to protect the n.h.s. and to stop the hospitals being overburdened and the infection rate going through the roof because it has been increasing significantly over the last few days getting. he's going to get criticized though when when the newspapers and the commentators get to grips with this i mean think about what the daily mail etc will make of this you know his 2nd area of discussion on travel he said stay local and then straight away he said but carefully consider whether you should or could travel abroad i mean that's been something that's been a delivery style of mr johnson since this pandemic began hasn't it where he said one thing as a matter of government policy but then he's kind of underlaid it with with a fine tuning of oh but maybe if you really feel the need to do something else you can but you've got to consider doing the opposite of what you want to do but you can still do the thing you want to do in the 1st place yeah and he's also been very

mocking of care starmer the leader of the labor party the our main opposition party i think earlier in the week was asking. for a strong center in parliament. what the implications what the possible effects of having this relaxation over christmas was going to be i mean did he did he did he think that there was going to be a need for greater lockdown because of all the new infections that were going to result from families mingling over christmas and boris johnson's response was that case dhamma should just come right out and say that he wants to cancel christmas will embarrass johnson is pretty much just being forced into doing exactly that to pretty much canceling christmas yes that has been the criticism of the governments throughout the duration of this crisis this pandemic the it does everything too late that it likes to think that it can sail through it with with

a softer touch as possible but this isn't the kind of situation where a soft touch is advisable and there were many. medical experts there were medical journals in the u.k. that were saying that this christmas relaxation was a bad idea and that the government should be thinking very hard about whether it should roll it back now you can argue that this new strain of the virus does give and has given the governments a chance to roll back something which they may have been considering for the last few days might have been a mistake but say that you know in going for an extra tier tier for the you know this is being not just rolling something back it's actually being making a new level of restrictions much more severe than what the country has been exposed to over the last few weeks and months ok we're in thank you very much original and

our correspondent there in london if you just joining us you're an al-jazeera let's just sum up for you where we are when it comes to coronavirus qubit 19 as far as the u.k. is concerned so boris johnson confirming that london and large parts of the southeast of england one certified. a 1000000 people will probably go up will will definitely rather i should say go from being in 23 to being into a 4 that is primarily because they have identified and they are reacting to the existence of a new variant of the corona virus mr johnson being very clear he said there is no evidence that it does cause more severe illness but it is passed on a lot more easily 70 percent more easily christmas officially in england in the u.k. is one day christmas day that will be reviewed on december 30th more on that for you just as soon as we can you can also check more on that as well on our website al-jazeera dot com we move on. the u.n. secretary general and tunica tara she has called on armed groups in central african

republic to put down their weapons peacekeepers were deployed ahead of elections on december the 27th a number of armed groups band together to form an alliance the president forced to adela has been accused of planning electoral fraud to secure a 2nd term caucus covered the situation in ca our extensively a little earlier he gave me this update from senegal. we know that 11 armed groups some of the signature we have this of this statement against the president essentially have started deploying their troops have called on armed groups to head towards the capital of benghazi and as a result the 12000 strong un peacekeeping force have taken position on main arteries leading to the capital so has been deployed the central african republic army that was trained by the russians that is out in deployed to try to stop any of

these forces from entering the capital just one week before this much anticipated presidential election so why are they all marching towards the capital simply because they say the president is not respecting the agreement that they had signed in 2001000 in khartoum which was in effect to give these armed groups leaders a position in government but also funds so that they could disarm or remember these armed groups have control over large territories i mean we're talking about central african republic is the size of france there are some of these armed groups that have control of areas that are the size of wales or scotland and that's what's at stake in this election is to try to restart the rule of law in the government in places where it has retreated but also come to help to these millions of central african republic people who populations have seen little of their governments helping them. demonstrations are taking place in sudan's capital 2 years since

the uprising that removed the president omar al bashir from office some groups of voicing anger against the current transitional government despite the revolution millions of sudanese people are ensuring economic hardships and limited government services. morgan is with the protesters on the ground. it's not just the 2nd anniversary. president. it's also the adversity of the declaration of sudan's independence from parliament so it is quite a significant day the people here say that they will be. living in times of. a transitional government in place a transitional government that's 18 months old but that was brought to power by are of a. political parties that met the protest movement so they were. very disappointed at the fact that. have not improved their living conditions have not improved the economic situation in the country has not improved so

a lot of the anger. over the past 14 months as well. rights to the people here. to the. living conditions so still. justice for those who've lost their lives over the past. began more than 300 people have lost their lives. on. this. government makes the 1st. investigation. that is frustrating the people here. with your top stories here on al-jazeera in the last few min.