this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. russian opposition leader alexei navalny is receiving treatment in berlin after being airlifted out of russia, where he fell seriously ill. hundreds of thousands of people in north west england are told not to socialise with anyone outside their household to stem coronavirus infections. the coronavirus pandemic could be over in less than two years — that's the prediction from the head of the world health organisation. more large protests expected in belarus — as reports emerge of torture and abuse in detention centres. and the manchester united captain, harry maguire, appears in a greek court — in connection with an alleged altercation with police.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world 7 and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. the russian opposition leader, alexei navalny, has arrived in berlin and is receiving hospital treatment after collapsing during a flight earlier this week. he's in a coma after a suspected poisoning. he was flown to germany after russian doctors suddenly allowed him to be moved, having insisted for most of yesterday it was impossible to transport him. our correspondent in berlin, damien mcguinness, told us more about mr navalny‘s condition. according to an ngo based in berlin which organise the logistics for this flight, he is in a stable condition.

that is what they say. it seems he is still in the coma and i think we will not know for quite a while what caused this because he will treated by german doctors at a hospital around the corner from here. doctors have indicated they will not breach any confidentiality with patient—doctor agreements and they will also be very careful what they say to the press because this is an explosive issue. on the one hand, we have the supporters of mr navalny who say he has been poisoned and on the other we have the russian authorities who say there is no evidence of poison. this is not something german officials will want to turn into a political row. what german doctors so far have said is he was fit to fly and that now they will be doing tests to find out exactly what the cause of his condition is,

so without more from german officials we do not know the cause behind this. the difficulty for the german government is that they do not want to be drawn into a row over how opposition activists are potentially being oppressed in russia. the german government is going to be cautious about expressing opinion. give us some context. there may never be firm answers, when we look at the last case of a suspected poisoning victim who was treated at the same hospital but no firm diagnosis was given at the end? yes, that was two years ago. the man in question there, a member of the opposition punk group pussy riot said this case reminds him of what happened to him two years ago. we never found out what exactly happened.

opposition forces said that was a case of poison two years ago. he was treated at hospital and brought back to health but it was never fully proven what happened to him, so it is a very difficult situation. so far officials in germany and angela merkel have said they are shocked about what happened to mr navalny. they have offered medical help to mr navalny. one or two politicians here who are critical of russia have expressed outrage. they have said it looks like poison but the official line will be more cautious. it is likely we will never know exactly what happened. the organisation which organised this is a private ngo, so the german government was not directly involved. they are expressing the same words as you're hearing from france and other countries, support for mr navalny and hope he will get better without making

assumptions or even accusing anyone of having caused this. the last thing anyone in germany wants is for this to blow up into a huge political row. thank you very much. the journalist and author misha glenny — who covered central and eastern europe for many years on the bbc, and wrote the best—selling mcmafia book — says the evidence points, in his opinion, to foul—play. it looks to me, very sadly, like a poisoning. until there is actual proof of this, we cannot be definitive but this is something that there is a pattern of over many years. i remember, in 2004, the journalist anna politkovskaya, when she was covering the atrocity in beslan, she was poisoned on an aeroplane — a very similar event to what happened to mr navalny.

then we had the case of alexander litvinenko here in london who was poisoned with polonium and of course the skripal case in 2018. this is something which is clearly in the arsenal of the security services in russia and it has been deployed. it is shocking that mr navalny has been chosen as a target, if this is true, because he really has been the single most important figure in russian opposition over the past ten years. so, it is sending out a real sign to president putin's opponents. one can see reasons why the family and supporters of mr navalny would not trust the russian government, but what about the hospital in omsk? is the medical service in russia under the political thumb

so the decisions made yesterday can be doubted on political grounds? i would not say it would be on political grounds specifically, i would say it would be on grounds of fear. i feel very sorry for the staff at the hospital in omsk because they will be fully aware just how tense this whole situation is and how important mr navalny is and how important the case is. so, i think, someone may have had a word in their ear but i think it was probably sheer panic that made them be as noncommittal as possible as to what this might or might not be. i think that is the only explanation which is realistic. people living in the english town of oldham —

and parts of blackburn and pendle — will no longer be allowed to mix with anyone from outside their household from this weekend. the extra restrictions are to stem the spread of coronavirus, but workplaces, childcare facilities and businesses, including restaurants and pubs, will remain open. our news correspondent yunus mulla has been in oldham this morning for us and explained how people in the town are reacting to the extra measures imposed. what people feared the most here was they could end up in the town with a full lockdown, similar to the lockdown imposed on leicester. that has not happened today. what they have got are restrictions mainly based around socialising and not economic. so, nonessential businesses have not been affected and that is a huge relief to people here — they can still go to work and still go shopping, for example. the leader of oldham council had warned it would be an economic

catastrophe if nonessential businesses were included in this lockdown. there is a huge sigh of relief among people and business leaders. having said that, i have spoken to a number of people today who are quite weary about the constant changing of rules and are frustrated. they are also concerned some people might not stick to the new guidelines. the authority here say the message is a lot clearer around who you can and cannot mix with. they have been working with the government to come up with a local, targeted solution and they feel that is what they have now with these restrictions that are in place today. they have been doing a lot of work in the communities, trying to get the message across, putting various campaigns on social media and over channels to try and get that message across.

the head of the world health organisation says he hopes the coronavirus crisis will be over in less than two years. mr tedros said the spanish flu pandemic of 1918 took years to come to an end, but covid—19 should be overcome more quickly. so we hope to finish this pandemic before — less than two years. especially if we can pull our efforts together and with national unity and with global solidarity, that's really key, with utilising the available tools to the maximum and hoping that we can have additional tools like a vaccine, i think we can finish it in a shorter time than the 1918 flu. british holidaymakers returning home from croatia, austria or trinidad and tobago are facing new quarantine restrictions. an increase in covid—19 infection rates in these countries has led to a mandatory two—week

self—isolation period, as gavin lee reports. when you look at the figures for croatia, go back to may and june, they were barely registering any cases. they were registering about zero to six cases for a six—week period. in the last six weeks they have gone from 80 cases, 150 cases, in the last couple of days to 250 cases. compare that to germany, spain, france, who have seen up to 3000, 5000 cases a day and that might not look quite so big. in the uk they look at how many cases per 100,000. so, for croatia it is 39 per 100,000 so that is a big rise, and the government acknowledge this. but the government say specifically on this island, split, the young people are circulating together.

also saying the nightclubs have not been enforcing the rules effectively. other european countries have said they have clusters of cases springing up from tourists returning back from croatia and that links in, which is why the government has allowed 2a hours to go home. it was a bit of a scramble yesterday, the flights were full, they put on two additional flights. i am told 1,500 people attempted to make it. others could not afford it or the flights were full. it is notjust the uk. other countries have announced quarantine regulations for those returning from croatia? yes, in the past few days you had slovenia, austria, italy, you also have germany. but germany has imposed specific restrictions from split and zagreb. grant shapps, the transport secretary, said it would not work

forjust specific regions, you have got to have a blanket system in place. i think the other issue here is actually nightclubs, we're told there will be a government announcement in the next few days possibly closing nightclubs in split. at the moment they can open until midnight. we were walking around here today. i have spoken to people from different parts of europe. it is interesting to see that people are a lot closer together than i have witnessed in spain and brussels. mask wearing is not mandatory here. there is talk that early next week that could be imposed too. the manchester united captain, harry maguire, is facing greek prosecutors in connection with an alleged altercation on the island of mykonos. the england defender, and two other britons, were arrested by police following an apparent disturbance between them and another group outside a bar. he denies the allegations against him. our reporter is in athens, and gave us this update. what the prosecutor is trying to do right now is to assess what really kind of happened,

so he is hearing the testimony of maguire, and it remains to be seen what charges he will lay against him and what charges he will face. the charges, if all of them kind of rack up and the prosecutor decides to press charges for all of them, they may lead to a criminal investigation. if they are dismissed as misdemeanours, then we may see a quick trial, as soon as later on today, and potentially see his release. but there are a lot of things kind of happening. he was brought in in huge secrecy. we saw him whisked from the back and brought in to the prosecutor's office, as the other two britons who were arrested with him were brought in from the front side.

we also haven't seen his greek lawyers attending the prosecutor's hearing there, there are reports that perhaps they may have resigned. he is being represented, though, by attorneys from manchester united, and he has denied all these accusations that have been put forward against him, and we expect a public apology to be made by maguire later today. the headlines on bbc news: russian opposition leader alexei navalny is receiving treatment in berlin after being airlifted out of russia, where he fell seriously ill. in less than two years — that's the prediction from the head