subscribe to. al-jazeera english. this is an amazing moment for this country we have our freedom in our. ringing in the new year brigs it becomes a reality as britain formally leaves the european union single market. jordan the saudis iran live from doha also coming up england's 19 year old hospitals are put on standby as the u.k. battles a 2nd wave of corona virus infections. my next worst nightmare is not getting out of this nightmare without having

a lot more suffering in death caught between politics and a raging pandemic we speak to the man in charge of the u.s. coronavirus response. does not talk turns midnight muted celebrations in some countries while others celebrate. as millions around the world welcome in the new year britain has marked the end of an era officially breaking its decades long relationship with the european union the u.k. is no longer a member of the single market or customs union and the brig's the transition period has formally expired the prime minister bars johnson has hailed it as a new beginning this is an amazing moment for this country we have our freedom in our hands and he's up to us to make the most of it. and i think it will

be the overwhelming instinct of the people of this country to come together as one united kingdom england scotland wales and northern ireland working together to express our values around the world leading both the g 7 and the cop 26 climate change summit in glasgow under some and reports now from london on how the changes will affect people and businesses. finally the bells of big ben bring bricks it in with the trade deal taking the u.k. out of the european union and a relationship that dates back nearly half a century brussels had set the time midnight in belgium 11 o'clock here in the u.k. e.u. had already made its other adjustments with only a day to spare the trade treaty had been signed and sealed within the shores of this island nation british politicians say sovereignty has been fully restored the

political slogan we must take back control had gone down well with the majority of voters now it's going to be put to the test it's good to be better we need to govern ourselves and be our own bosses but it's going to be a lot of stress between everyone anyway because it's a very unknown people don't do a change. in legal terms it was 11 months ago that the u.k. left the e.u. nearly a year of transition followed with the trade deal now in place brics it is set to show its true colors. the u.k. may have its bricks it done but there's still a lot of haggling ahead the fisheries agreement seen by many in the industry as a sell out come to proper fruition for 5 years and that will be subject to negotiations decisions still have to be made in the services sector which makes up 80 percent of the economy leaving kluges financial services and data sharing that

won't be any new taxes. to play on exports at the border but there'll be plenty of bureaucracy in delays are likely everyday freedoms will also end new rules on travel immigration mobile phone use bank accounts to name a few and there are big implications for the future of the united kingdom the scottish national party promise to restore e.u. membership to largely pro e.u. scotland if it becomes independent northern ireland is the only part of the u.k. that will continue to follow many of the e.u.'s rules that's to avoid the return of a contentious hard border with e.u. member the republic of ireland but that means new checks on goods entering northern ireland from the rest of the u.k. unionists fear isolation i think the dealers made northern ireland apart we wanted to come out of the european union the same terms arrestee dedekind of sadly that. before and a half years bracks it split the country even dividing families those tensions may

well have subsided but now the clock is ticking on the news year and what boris johnson describes as a new beginning with a global britain more power a more influence but could the opposite turn out to be the case a diminishing level of power and a diminishing influence by the end of 2021 we may have an idea under simmons others or london. or julian how as an expert in european politics he believes the decision to leave the e.u. will have a negative impact on the u.k. . we just have to look at the fact that boris johnson is prime minister and if all intents and purposes this was all about mobile chances of elements and brags it was all about what was best for him and it has worked out for him for the u.k. in general leaving the e.u. in any state in any deal was always going to be negative for the u.k. negative for the british also negative for the e.u.

however as we saw for the last few years the e.u. were constantly preparing and came out of this looking better than u.k. house it's true that's all political entities are always going to cry victory in any circumstance in any event the reality is the e.u. does come out still on top because the e.u. is still one of the most integrated markets in the world with u.k. has just left the e.u. still has mass free movement of goods services and people which is a benefit city european economy and to european citizens whereas the u.k. has effectively isolated itself from its nearest neighborhood based on a very idealized notion of what sovereignty is and i think it's very important to note that's why you came activists in westminster even in scotland in some places and across the commentary twitter r.t. sphere the reality is that while these people harp on about sovereignty the fact

that's the negotiations they refused to focus on the what was in their best economic interest and decided they wanted as hard to break with the us possible this has led to damage states for the u.k. economy even with the fact that this deal as we all know is better than no deal. well as the u.k. faces the reality of bragg's it it's also dealing with an escalating coronavirus pandemic surging infections in england forcing all 3 days to reactivate emergency hospitals that was set up when the pandemic began most notting hill hospitals have been largely on use but officials say they're now being prepared to admit patients if other medical centers reach capacity or a challenge has more the situation in the u.k. from outside the royal london hospital. wednesday had some good news didn't it with

the announcement the oxford astra zeneca vaccine has been cleared for use in the u.k. and it will be rolled out from january the 4th thursday there was a case of do you want the bad news or the worst news 20000000 more people in england started the day here for they join 24000000 people already living under the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions now that is 3 quarters of the english population hospitals in london and the southeast the saying that there i see use intensive care units operating at more than 100 percent capacity this one is the royal london hospital in recent days it's been in the eye of the storm with ambulances of patients queuing up outside the emergency wards it begs the question why aren't the nightingale hospitals being used properly now these were the emergency field hospitals set up all around the country at the peak of the 1st wave by and large they have stood empty now the government says they're

being ready ready for use as backups but i've just been down to the london one and had a look inside and was told that it's been temporarily closed and that most or some of the equipment at least. moved out the government's position is that it would prefer code patients to be treated in proper hospitals like this one and not in the emergency field hospitals as well equipped as they may be but the sounds of the calls that are coming out from frontline n.h.s. staff is that things are getting dire and something soon has got to give. more than 25000 coronavirus related deaths have been recorded in the us state of california in los angeles one person's dying every 10 minutes medical workers are struggling to cope and the housing patients in the hallways conference rooms and gift shops fewer than 3000000 people across the u.s. have been vaccinated against code 19 and that's far short of the government's

target of inoculating 20000000 by now robert mills joins us live now from los angeles rob so the death toll continues to surge in california what's the latest there. well it seems that every day almost every hour terror in california. a grim new record or as you mentioned 25000 deaths in the state now reported since the beginning of the pandemic 10000 of those are here in los angeles county it's the largest most populous county in the united states actually with 10000000 people and for the past week county has averaged 13000 new positive cases of covert 19 just 2 months ago it was 10 times fewer than that the hospitals as you mentioned are overstressed many have i see you're intensive care units that have no further

capacity whatsoever for patients they're completely full we're even hearing reports now from the directors of mortuaries and funeral homes saying that tragically they have to turn away grieving families who want to bury their dead because there is no more room for the remains at the funeral home the l.a. county director of public health care warned that there will be a further surge in january with even higher case numbers and that she said will be due to gatherings and travel over this winter holiday period. well there you think that given what we've just been talking about if you had any brains at all you'd stay home but people are apparently planning to attend parties there's been sort of underground social media. notifications to people raves and

things like that elected officials and public are both begging people to stay home tonight. new year's eve and also threatening them with police action or fines if they do go out to party the l.a. public health director again barbara put it very graphically in a briefing she held earlier today christmas or on new year's eve saying one slip up one gathering and the next thing you know grandma is in the hospital and the mayor of l.a. . eric garcetti said police are going to be out in force tonight sure they break up any large gatherings house parties raves or anything of that sort. in a message directed towards younger people who might be inclined to minimize their risk of serious illness from covert 19 he said a negative test is not a passport to party. thank you. for the united

states top infectious disease expert. that coronavirus prevention measures are not a political issue nor a matter of individual rights he says it's simply about public health. the issue is that science has been very successful in doing something that was unheard of or unimaginable years ago is to go from the identification of a new pathogen in this case this mysterious virus that just broke the harness and then we identified it in anywhere e of this here in less than an 11 month it actually now is going into someone's on's into a lot of people's arms and it has been proven to be highly efficacious and say that is a very successful coup de force of science my concern is that there is

a lingering anti science feeling in this country that is sort of mixed in with an anti vaccine feeling that we've got to overcome by being transparent about what we've done and what we want to do with science and you can see the full interview with dr anthony fauci on the bottom line on friday at a 530 g.m.t. right here on al-jazeera. time for short break when we come back as rich countries hold vaccines there are concerns developing countries may take years to get enough supplies and it's the end of the road for an international peacekeeping mission in sudan is darfur region stay with us. it's time for the perfect gentleman the winter sponsored plan qatar airways still we have the cold and the cold wind coming across the sea the sea of japan

generating snow showers and they hit the western side of honshu and hawkeye to give some depth to snow once more and keep the temperatures well below where they should be and that's true for the northern half of china as well it's warming up again in hong kong up to about 16 degrees in the sunshine so is about 4 degrees below average maybe 5 degrees and slowly we're going to. go freezing nights at least you've got sunshine by day for the sas this and hearts once the showers in the central philippines and this orange top mass here is the same sort of thing which i think will end up going down towards singapore in the next day or so takes away some of the impetus of the biggest showers over borneo and i still see this year pretty good spread throughout the whole of indonesia during this next couple of days there is rain just going cross the southern tip of india but in the north fog has been more typical this is new delhi again fog in the cold wave temper has been

down below where they should be by both day and night the way to disrupt that is to just churn the air over a bit and generate showers and guess what that's in the forecast for saturday and sunday. sponsible qatar airways. in the far reaches of the new siberian islands gold rush fever is in the air and. hunters searching for priceless woolly mammoth tusks of on earth the holy grail. an incredible journey into the realms of science fiction where cloning and synthetic biology have scientists playing god. witness genesis 2.0 the hunt for the woolly mammoth on al-jazeera. to talk more.

welcome back a quick amount of our top stories here on al-jazeera the u.k. has formally completed its split from the e.u. after formally leaving the bloc single market and customs union prime minister bars johnson hailed it as an amazing moment saying the country would make the most of what he called its new freedom. the royal london hospital says it's operating in disaster medicine mode as the u.k. reports 964 deaths nearly 56000 cases in a single day surging infections in england are forcing authorities to reactivate emergency hospitals. and the number of covered 19 deaths in the u.s. state of california has exceeded 25000 struggling hospitals housing patients and always conference halls cafeterias and even gift shops. that mexico has recorded more than 1400000 cases of the virus and at least 123000 that's the 4th highest in

the world john home and reports now from mexico city and spoke to people whose lives have been turned upside down. the last time we saw a paramedic who did he come on or she was hurtling around the working class suburb . that was back in may when the al jazeera mexico team was filming ambulances intensive care units and hotspots to document the viruses rampaging through the capital. now we've returned to visit the people we met them and see how they and mexico city is doing in the doughty's case not great she's been seriously ill with coded the way the leather that the truth is i felt the same as my patients that i was going to lose my life that i would never see my family again and almost everyone in her team has had the virus now it's not surprising in a country where more medical workers have died than anywhere else in the world. we

wanted to follow up too with the man we film a daughter of rushing to hospital jose luis montagnier. a month later we met him again as he finally made it back home. but this december when i showed him our poor family reunion it was tough for him to war his gaze was fixed on one person you. see that's my dad and he's not here with me now but soon will be together. he told me his father had been hooked up to a ventilator for days before seriously ill with coded now he's trying to focus on the one positive at least his dad was able to get a bed there are very few left in the capital's hospitals which are over well now in a way they weren't in the summer. many people have been reduced to queuing outside shops for oxygen tanks to treat their relatives at home. critics say things are worse now because mexico never significantly reduced its number of cases and when

they searched again this winter the government declared a long time in the capital. for their part your thirty's question how they could have a low down but almost half the country lives in poverty and needs to get out and work and that's especially because government aid for them and for the rest of the economy has been minimal now a vaccine has arrived in mexico but not in time to dent the current death toll all save the country from what could be a difficult january john home and how does it or mexico city. well i made all this death and destruction vaccines are the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel there's been a global race to develop or procure a job as part of operation what speed the united states has spent $18000000000.00 and these are just some of the drug makers it's deals with for vaccines and treatments to speed up clinical trials governments have given almost $9000000000.00

to drug companies not for profits like the bill gates foundation has provided an additional $2000000000.00 the world health organization hopes to raise $35000000000.00 to ensure vaccines reach low income countries it aims to deliver $2000000000.00 doses by the end of next year well kate o'brian is director of immunizations at the w.h.o. she says the organization's kovacs program will ensure poor and middle income countries won't be left behind. we have a global facility that kovacs facility that is designed and has the and balm and over $190.00 countries and economies around the world to deploy with equity and with speed of vaccines that are available to the world and so the intention of the kovacs facility is to deliver $2000000.00 doses of vaccine by the end of 2021 and that includes the $92.00 lowest income countries that are that are part of kovacs so our aim is really to get vaccines out as quickly as possible to all countries

around the world where we're working in unprecedented times for an unprecedented and amec and the way that the kovacs facility is working is by securing both donations of doses but primarily through funding of doses for the 92 countries that are the ones that will require support in order to to to have the vaccine we're also working day to day and night to help countries get ready for the deployment of vaccine we've seen even in the high income countries the challenge of deploying these vaccines both in the speed and the scale that people are trying to deploy them and to the groups of people who need the vaccine most so all countries are going to need substantial support and especially low income countries now the pentagon has decided the u.s.s. nimitz its own the cough carrier operating in the middle east will head back to the united states the move reduces american firepower in the region and signals

a possible of the escalation of tensions with iran while in the gulf the ship provided a cover during troop withdrawals in afghanistan. an african union united nations peacekeeping mission in sudan's darfur region is ending after operating for 13 years that helped bring an end to a conflict which saw 300000 people killed and more than $2000000.00 displaced even more with reports now from the all in south darfor where many say they're worried about their safety once the mission and. it's the last patrol for these peacekeepers and for the african union united nations mission in sudan's western region of darfur after more than 13 years the mission and its mandate to protect civilians and stabilize the region is ending it follows a decision by the un security council in late december to halt operations by the end of 2020 because it said security in the region had improved but here in darfur

many are worried. not the right time for the human made to withdraw if they leave genocide against us because a with the terror. attacks and eye protection. you know it was established and conflict in the region and has been in darfur since 2007 when the fighting between mainly non arab rebel groups and the government started in 2003 and left 300000 people dead and more than 2000000 displaced it was deployed under a chapter of the u.n. charter that gave it the right to use force when needed it was also the un's biggest operational peacekeeping mission before it began downsizing in mid 2017 you know that has about 4000 peacekeepers last incident and over the next 6 months to hand over its business to either the government or having an organization i don't want to call much and has been authorized by the u.n. security council set to start in january with no military force or demanded to protect civilians and that responsibility will pass on to the transitional

government and members of the campaign that is the biggest chunk of sudan's government says a combined force from the police and military as well as the paramilitary rapid support for says it will be responsible for securing displaced people until they return home but those displaced say they are the same forces responsible for forcing them out of their homes to begin with. you know. we understand the fears of displaced people and we are working on ways to protect them. more than 230 peacekeepers have been killed throughout the missions existence it's also been criticized for sometimes failing to protect civilians from attacks the mission has done its level best to serve the people of darfur and provide physical and. other forms of protection to them whether in terms of humanitarian facilitation of delivery of humanitarian assistance physical protection of i.d.p. crimes that we have done thousands and thousands of these activities over.

the 13 years we have been here the end of the you name it is seen as a test for whether sudan's transitional government can protect its civilians those displaced in camps say they remain wary of any government force. and just put in place to keep them and their property thief until they return home even more going on is there room in the south tower for. well concerns about coronavirus meant most countries held subdued celebrations to welcome in the new year. but there were large celebrations in new zealand one of the few nations able to hold relatively normal festivities after gaining control over the spread of the virus dubai rang in the new year with fireworks and lights display at the burj khalifa the world's tallest building even the residents of view from all sides of the city. and in wu han where covert 19 originated thousands gathered in the city

center to celebrate by releasing balloons into the air. on his 2020 draws to a close we're reminded of its defining moments the coronavirus pandemic brought it started last but also global solidarity away from code 90 protests war in the fight for justice affected the lives of millions on jazeera takes a look back now at the year that was 2020. let's look at the tea party. generated 31st 21. no longer took your. lead on my hospital i'm working for comic book one total mystery buyers are. going to be 19 to be cut up tonight because of funding me.

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are absolutely strict laws a few so long it will all look like they'll be killing. time for a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera the u.k. has completed its 5th from the e.u. out of form in leaving the bloc single market and customs union prime minister bar as johnson hailed it as a new beginning of the 4 years of political drama this is an amazing moment for this country we have our freedom in our hands and he's up to us to make the most of it and i think it will be the overwhelming instinct of the people of this country to come together as one united kingdom england scotland.