role. a person who does not wear a mask could be arrested and prosecuted. south africa to tighten its code restrictions from midnight imposing a curfew a ban on the sale of alcohol compulsory mosque wearing in public. and russia has reported a shop rise in corona virus related deaths there with more than $25000.00 people dying in the month of november alone. below i maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the

program. it's a record high after president donald trump finally signs the covert relief bill. a saudi court sentences women's rights activists and jane i have moods for more than 5 years in prison during international condemnation and as ballots are counted in central african republic most is appraised for defying threats of violence to turn out in big numbers. well we begin in russia when you data indicates the actual number of coronavirus related deaths could be much higher than previously reported according to the official figures russia recorded more than 25000 deaths related to coded in november alone it's confirmed just under 55000 coronavirus deaths overall since the pandemic began well here in the u.k. government has reported a new daily record of more than 41000 coronavirus cases hospitals are almost as

full now as in april at the peak of the crisis after a surge in cases largely driven by that new much more infectious mutation and in south africa the president has just announced stricter measures to combat a different fos breading variant after it became the 1st african country to pos and 1000000 cases all gatherings in the sale of alcohol will now be banned and a 9 pm curfew enforced failure to wear a mosque correctly in public has also been criminalized a person who does not wear a mosque could be arrested and prosecuted. on conviction there would be liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 6 months or both. a fine and imprisonment i must admit that this is addressed to measure but it is not necessary to ensure

compliance with the most basic of preventative measures. let's get the latest now from harm in port elizabeth tell us about what other restrictions are on a certain elst. or some of the other restrictions include extending the nighttime curfew it also means a bad in all public gatherings except for funerals it was many of the doctors and health workers who called for more strict restrictions to be put in place this saying that they are not surprised that the number of infections are high and what surprised them is how quickly it happened speak to most of africans will tell you that they also not surprise for a couple of days dodging the theft of season thousands of people are traveling up and down the country to visit family and friends many attending big parties many seen not wearing mosques or practicing social distancing now we are in the eastern cape province this is one of the provinces in the country where this new variant

was identified in port elizabeth is a hearts what i can tell you people are feeling the effects of covert 19 it feels very real to them we made a family member who lost 7 people from one family in the village there was talk of a funeral of a prominent person almost the entire village lanes to that funeral and many of them came back sick it is a big concern and of course many people were watching what the president was saying so much advisable what they think about what he thought some thought he was a bit too heavy handed but some do say they feel many south africans avoid being reckless and they have to do what he did. and he spoke quite poignantly about the way hospitals are struggling more and more doctors becoming infected and then link that not just this new much more contagious mutation of the virus but also irresponsible behavior. yes doctors are the ones who've been raising they're saying that their main concern is that as

the numbers increase the hospitals are struggling spacy government hospitals and rural hospitals is saying in some places they just struggling to find enough i see nothing to eat as they aren't enough there's enough oxygen one doctor said they have to make some difficult decisions sometimes as to who to give an i.c.u. to bed and who not to give an i.c.u. beds to and then of course they seeing their own colleagues health workers who are falling sick some of them have even died they say they are dissolved so they are traumatized they simply are trying to get by because they're trying to save lives what's interesting is that they're saying with this new variant that's been identified in south africa so unlike in the 1st wave with the other strain. that we're falling sick and dying they're saying this time around they see more and more younger people in the age of 30 and 40 also falling sick some of them also dying they're very very concerned they hope in these new districts and they just put in place by the president well that's the achieve something on the ground and bring

down the number of infections thank you very much harm and important. as we had earlier russia has admitted that its death toll is actually much higher than previously reported this is the situation continues to deteriorate in many countries around europe as well and he reports. extending the vaccination program under pressure of a new figures russia is now offering its own sputnik free vaccine to frontline workers such as doctors and teachers over the age of 60 as well as to younger colleagues according to data from the national statistics agency around 26000 people die due to the corona virus in november alone in response the deputy prime minister has said all thirty's have never hidden any day to uncovered 90 mortality rates. in portugal was one of many health workers getting a job. lisbon's largest hospital the country hopes to vaccinate nearly 10 percent of its population joining the 1st phase. of the of this i think it's part of our

civic duty to try to prevent the pandemic as with measles and other viruses like influenza that said. in spain monday's front pages were all about the start of the vaccine rollout but phases perspire on the delivery of a new batch by a day due to what the government's calling a logistics hurdle spain's health minister says vaccines will be available to the public and she's day morning and predicts 70 percent of the population will have been immunized by the end of summer 2021. the main worry for people arriving at this ski resort in central germany was getting stuck in the snow not the coronavirus but the national vaccination campaign is facing delays in several cities because temperature records showed hundreds of doses may not have been kept cold enough during transit it comes as u.k. health care officials sound the alarm. hospital admissions for coverage 19 are approaching levels seen during the 1st peak in april the government says reopening

schools in january will involve trade offs with other restrictions but its own scientific advisors have reportedly said any national lockdown in january would have to include all schools to prevent the virus spreading exponentially and asked whether teachers will soon get the vaccine cabinet minister michael gove was noncommittal that we prioritize those who are most vulnerable the eldest and those with other challenging conditions and then we then make sure that the vaccine can be distributed. in the u.k. is hoping to get approval for a 2nd vaccine developed by astra zeneca this week so it can started administering it early in the new year but it knows that it will only be a part of the solution to a still growing crisis. al-jazeera. elsewhere a 3 week partial lockdown has started in poland in an effort to avoid further infections only shops selling essential items are open and anyone a riving in the country from abroad it's to quarantine for 10 days people have also been asked to limit gatherings on new year's eve

a travel ban will remain in place from will be in place from 7 pm on december 31st until 6 the next morning when hundreds of british holidaymakers of broken quarantine rules fleeing a swift ski resort from where they are presumed to have sneaked home so it's media says around $200.00 persons have disappeared from the alpine resources. so it's in and impose the 10 day quarantine period from december 21st for anyone who derives from the u.k. or from south africa in the proceeding week in response to the new mutations of the virus found in those countries. japan has banned the arrivals of all nonresident foreigners until the end of january to stem the spread of new coronavirus variants prime minister you she de suga says the ban is necessary to save lives after more cases were found of a contagious variant 1st detected in the u.k. japan is struggling to contain a recent surge in infections with more than 221000 cases confirmed so far in the nisha has also banned international visitors for 2 weeks all in all the

stories we're following wall street has hit record highs in response u.s. president donald trump signing a long awaited coronavirus relief bill previously refused to sign up bill which he called a disgrace he said the $100000000000.00 aid package was insufficient or wanted direct payments to americans increase from $600.00 to $2000.00 bill restores unemployment benefits for millions of americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic partly because of what's been happening but it comes too late for 14000000 people who've missed out on payments this week. so let's go live now to let alan fischer is on this story from washington and so what happens to can anything be done for those people we were just mentioning allan he missed out on the money they were supposed to get donald trump took too long to sign the bill he held out hoping for better terms didn't get them and by the time he signed it late on sunday many

of those provisions had already a lot nancy pelosi has a leader of the democrats in the house of representatives well the next few hours she intends to raise a motion in the house that would give every adult who qualifies $2000.00 for a check she knows that it's unlikely to get through the senate but she's certainly going to put up in the house she has a majority there it will go through there but when it gets to the senate mitch mcconnell who's the leader of the republicans there and remember the republicans have more numbers in the senate there are likely to vote for it he's not a big fan no nancy pelosi knows this but she's putting up anyway because one the president supports it but 2 she knows that if the republicans don't support it then she can use that as a political weapon to salute the republicans don't want to do what the president does and also they don't want to support americans during a pandemic that's important of course because on january the 1st there is

a runoff in georgia 2 senate seats up for grabs and nancy pelosi would dearly like to deliver them for joe biden the incoming democratic administration so she's going to raise this motion but she knew is that it's not going to get through the senate but she thinks it could still give her a political win if not a win for the people across the united states. and allan in law looks to be yet another clash with congress president trump is now telling a defense bill. that's right he's already done it and it's been passed for 59 years in a row and this time it was passed with a veto proof majority donald trump got the bill it's a big defense bill but he decided that he wasn't going to put his signature to one 1st of all because he said that there was a provision in the bill that would rename base is named after confederate generals remember they were on the losing side of the civil war people want those bases

renamed he said he wasn't going to stand and see that happen and he also wanted another provision inserted into the act which would remove legal protections for big tech firms now we know that he's been battling against facebook and twitter but he wanted this in the bill didn't really make sense so he vetoed it now nancy pelosi in the next few hours is going to raise a motion again in the house to to override that veto and she's likely going to get it and it will go to the senate where the should get is well but of course republicans are reluctant to be seen to be voting against the president this time they've got a little bit of cover they can say look this bill is important because one it gives cyber security protection to the united states but 2 it also means that those in the military will get peeresses this year so they've got that little bit of protection but it's almost certain that both houses will vote to override donald trump's veto the 1st time that's ever happened he's issued 9 ve towards him in 4

years this time it looks as if the senate and the house are going to get together and say not this time mr president but it could take until january the 3rd before that's finally don thank you very much and fresh air in washington. still ahead on the program a look at why iran is having to develop its own homegrown corona virus vaccine. and a relocation or ethnic cleansing more hang the refugees a sense of cox's bizarre to a remote low lying island land here yes. how we've got more very wintry weather proper winter weather across a good positive here now we still have the remnants of still umbrella swirling away around southern parts of england is easing its way across the channel faders

a very cold air across the northwest of europe digging down into france now more than areas of spying not seeing pleasure either not a disturbance over towards the age reality central parts of the med chasing some one significant snow fall just around the balkans as we go through the next day outside of the temperatures struggling to get to $34.00 maybe 5 degrees i simply it's really cold weather and that northerly blast continue to rattle low snow showers in across parts of the u.k. they standing across into scandinavia too we push on and see where the state doesn't get a whole lot better hopefully things will quieten down as we move into the 2nd half of the week having said that further south really gets a 7 celsius in madrid and a nasty little circulation still spinning away across central parts of the met there we go or snow over the age riyadh take that western weather we have in the central med also bringing some showers into northern parts of algeria northern areas of iraq i will say seeing some showers over the next few days further south it is generally fine in try still warm enough in lagos with

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a come back a look at the headlines now south africa's president as an out stricter measures to combat a surge in coronavirus cases driven by a fast reading variant gatherings in the sale of alcohol will now be banned and 9 pm curfew enforced. new data indicates the actual number of coronavirus related deaths in russia could be much higher than previously reported close 226000 deaths related to covert have been officially reported in november alone. and wall street is it record highs in response u.s. president donald trump signing a long awaited coronavirus relief bill $900000000000.00 aid package restores unemployment benefits for millions of americans. well india's government is carrying out a test of its coronavirus vaccination program with a population of more than a 1000000000 people it faces massive logistical challenges so

a 2 day drive on of the vaccine campaign is now underway across 4 states officials are running checks on the country's transport arrangements and cold storage facilities in the hopes to provide 300000000 vaccine doses in the 1st phase of its immunization campaign meanwhile iran is about to begin human trials of its own domestically produced coronavirus vaccine its struggle to obtain vaccines from abroad because an international sanctions led by the united states restricting its ability to pay for them dosage of buyer ports now from to iran if it is a race against time for these scientists at a lab near the capital tehran they're working on developing a covert 1000 vaccine a job made more important because of u.s. let sanctions against iran pharmaceutical companies shuffle farm and started registering volunteers for human trials after tests were successfully carried out on animals to the point you care in the 1st stage we have candidates who get 2 doses of the vaccine and we have 56 people to test on that will do it in small

groups once we're successful with the 1st dose then we'll carry out the 2nd phase since the beginning with observed all world health organization and us f.d.a. protocols as we deliver our results to the health ministry never while the work continues here the head of iran's medical council is urging the world health organization to take measures against u.s. sanctions that have prevented iran from purchasing covert 1000 vaccines. doctors after andy says millions of iranians need the vaccine soon but. ponder the pandemic is a global issue no country should be isolated when it comes to a pandemic if there isn't a fair distribution of the vaccine and the chain of infection does not break no country will be safe and. president hassan rouhani is blaming one man for iran's shortcomings in fighting this pandemic us president donald trump. and our people should know that for any action we plan to carry out for importing medicine

vaccines and equipment we should coast 100 times. iran is the worst affected country in the middle east with more than a 1000000 covered $1000.00 cases and nearly $55000.00 people killed severe restrictions on its banking sector has made it difficult for iran to pay for the vaccine this isn't the 1st time that iran has faced such restrictions in buying medicine from the broad over the years it's become increasingly difficult to find for medicine in the country so in local pharmacies you can usually find the rainy and version of the medicine you're looking for and officials hope that will soon be the case for the covert $1000.00 vaccine as wall. but there is the issue of public trust and health officials we randomly asked 10 people in the city if they would trust an iranian covert 1000 vaccine have said yes while the other half have their doubts that i want to get the iranian made vaccine because i don't believe in

a rainy and made products but then. yes sure all use it because it's made domestically and manufactured based on w h o standards i don't think there's a problem while the politicians look to buy foreign coverage 1000 vaccines by circumventing sanctions back in this lab scientists continue to work on producing their own version officials hope by spring they will be able to roll out the rainy uncovered 1000 vaccine to millions of people or such a pari al-jazeera tera a chinese citizen journalist has been jailed for 4 years for her life stream reporting of the early days of the corona virus outbreak in the city of han young videos were widely shared on social media platforms in february she's among at least 8 whistleblowers facing charges of picking quarrels and provoking trouble for their coverage of the outbreak 37 year old former lawyer was arrested in may and is currently on hunger strike in jail. so governments and when the official unveiled

the evidence we as lawyers had no chance of producing evidence to the contrary so this was one likely reason behind why it was a speedy rushed hearing so. what i'm most worried about is that she's such a determined person she still thinks she's innocent and we both pleaded her innocence in court and the court gave such a harsh sentence she's probably more determined to continue her hunger strike until the very end so i'm very worried about her health and her life 12 pro-democracy activists from hong kong the facing another night in chinese detention after a mainland court gave no verdict on the 1st day of the trial are accused of trying to flee to taiwan in august to avoid jail sentences sarah clarke has more now from hong kong. pro-democracy activists deliver a petition to beijing's liaison office in hong kong they want the group of 12 held

on the mainland of china to be released after more than 4 months in detention is a secret trial you know people are not allowed the family member are not allowed to go or to hear a trial out and also they have not met with a member over the 128 days that they are detained so there are no transparency no visitation by family is all harassment tight security is surrounded a court in the southern chinese city of shenzhen as 10 of the 12 activists attended the 1st day of the trial they're facing criminal charges relating to last year's and a government protests in hong kong and one of the accused has been charged under the national security law in august they were caught by chinese authorities trying to flee hong kong by boat they've now been accused of illegally entering mainland waters family members say they've had no contact since their wrist and were denied permission to attend monday's court hearing in change and they now fear for their

safety. back the courts give the verdict as soon as possible i want to see my send again ferry much. the families of the 12 have been great throughout it is tension they are not only asking for the safety of to choose to return to hong kong the united states has demanded the accused be returned to hong kong to face trial but china has rejected that request accusing the u.s. of interfering in their domestic affairs hong kong's chief executive says it's a matter for the mainland. hong kong residents who were arrested for bridging mainland offenses then they have to be dealt with according to the mainland laws in accordance with their jurisdiction before any other things could happen another not people in hong kong have been arrested suspected of helping the group flee the city in august they've been accused of arranging transport and the police

here haven't ruled out making more arrests sir al-jazeera hong kong. a saudi court has sentenced a prominent women's rights activist to 5 years and 8 months in prison during international condemnation jane of how fluid has been held since 2018 after being arrested along with at least a dozen other women's rights activists relatives say she's been sexually assaulted and tortured while in prison she campaigned against a ban on women driving and for an end to saudi arabia's male guardian guardianship system. the national security adviser of president joe biden has responded to the sentencing jake sullivan tweeted saudi arabia sentencing of the jane i'll have to look for simply exercising our universal rights is unjust and troubling as we said the biden house administration will stand up against human rights violations wherever they occur and human rights watch says that they are deeply concerned

about the verdict. it is absolutely shocking to see the saudi authorities conviction and sentencing regina have through today on that under the terrorism law what they have done is to now state to the world that they consider women's rights activism to be an act of terrorism now the saudi authorities have done this in the past with human rights activists which we have seen in centers of being treated as terrorists but now we are seeing the same thing being dug women's rights activists the government of bangladesh has started relocating a 2nd group of rango refugees who fled there for me and maher around 1500 refugees have been moved from their camps in cox's bazaar to bus and char an island in the bay of bengal that's prone to flooding 30 buses are taking a group by the city of chatham ground where they are staying overnight before then arriving at the isolated island on cheese day the united nations and human rights

groups have condemned the reader cations arguing that they amount to ethnic cleansing as a divide in the camp between refugees who welcomed the move but there are also those that fear what it could mean for the safety of their families. and going to the island because i believe that my life will be a peaceful where more peaceful than here whatever the bangladesh government is doing i think it's for our betterment that the reason we shouldn't go to the island is because it's low lying and if a storm hits that island we'll have no we're safe to go and save our lives election officials in the central african republic say about $800.00 polling stations failed to open on sunday because of armed rebels attacking voters and barring star that's more than 14 percent of them despite u.n. observers saying the poll was successful for the most part with a massive turnout present foulston archons to darrell hopes to win a 2nd term but accuses his predecessor francois busy day of sending rebels to try

and disrupt the vote. population decided to safeguard democracy which is why they mobilized in the capital on a massive scale to go and vote so it's a relief. for the among the children are afraid because our area is the blizzard neighborhood that's the problem to a new threats. catherine sawyer has been following the story from the capital bangui and has more on the feedback from international. there was a press conference today by the u.n. the interior minister defense minister the electoral commission and they all say that voting was by and less successful they say that in the country the process went on smoothly but they did up knowledge problems in some towns and villages in the provinces in some areas for example polls could not open at all because of the security situation in other people polls open but people could not

come out to vote because they were hiding out in other areas. groups came in and around polling stations shooting in causing massive panic and in other places voting materials were delayed palls delayed to open because of the security situation when it came to counting in some polling stations when counting was going on people would come in and take boxes and ballot papers and barn them by the u.n. says that they send reinforcements to try and secure some of the material so they say overall voting went on smoothly and now the next stage securing the results they say many of these papers are to be airlifted to. not just because of the security situation but also because of the very poor road network. now subzero temperatures have done nothing to deter swimming enthusiastic

in siberia dozens braving the freezing cold water in the russian city of almost square daytime temperatures don't rise above minus 20 degrees celsius at this time of year swimmers donning santa hats as they completed what is for some a daily ritual the cold water is thought to boost immunity though or take the body against disease and even the own set of dementia so it's perhaps not as crazy as it looks. or minor of the headlines this hour south africa's president as an out stricter measures to combat a surge in cases driven by a different fast breading variant of the corona virus after it became the 1st african country to supply a 1000000 cases gatherings in the sale of alcohol are going to be banned and a 9 pm curfew enforced failure to our moscow wrecking public there's also been

criminalized a person who does not wear a mosque could be arrested and prosecuted.