this is bbc news. the headlines at 5: a warning that the country is at a critical moment in the coronavirus pandemic. figures show the highest number of detected infections is in young people as many students prepare to return to universities. several more areas of england have been added to the government's watchlist of places with high rates of coronavirus. they'll be closely monitored and restrictions may be reimposed. government departments in england are told to get civil servants back into offices quickly following the coronavirus lockdown, but one union has described the government's attitude as outdated. in france, the highest daily rise in coronavirus infections is recorded since the start of the pandemic.

in australia, tensions on the rise as anti—lockdown protestors clash with police. here, the prime minister criticises protests which saw environmental campaigners extinction rebellion target three of the uk's printing presses owned by rupert murdoch. and coming up at 5:30pm, a behind—the—scenes look at preparations in italy as some of the biggest names in opera gather for a glittering night under the stars at the verona arena.

good afternoon. the government is being warned that the country is at a critical moment in controlling the spread of coronavirus as thousands of students prepare to return to university. dame annejohnson, who is a member of the government's scientific advisory group, says she is particularly concerned by a rise in infection rates among young people. in leeds, people have been urged to socialise sensibly and responsibly this weekend after the city was added to a government watchlist of areas with high rates of infection. council leaderjudith blake said there had been an increase in music events, house parties and illegal raves and said fines of £10,000 were being given. 0ur health correspondent, richard galpin, reports. it is amongst young people now that there is mounting concern about coronavirus infections. although the virus has much less impact on the young they can

spread it to other people. we will be able to see our friends and family but they have availed themselves rather more than the older people who have protected themselves more so it's not surprising this is where we are seeing upturn. soon thousands of students will be travelling to start winter term at university. they will be travelling to parts of the country that may not necessarily be seeing outbreaks and they might be carrying infection with them and may potentially infect more elderly relatives who may also be more at risk. now council in areas regarded as hotspots are ramping up preparations to get young people to take risks more seriously. more young people are testing positive and they are spread around the city. it is now clear that the pattern is changing and a very strong

message going out from us to avoid having further restrictions put on us, everyone has a responsibility. leeds is already being seen as a coronavirus hotspot. it has been added to the watchlist of areas of concern. that list is growing. south tyneside, middlesbrough, rossendale, corby, kettering, norfolk are also now on the list after increases in cases. it is a particularly big challenge the country faces as winter approaches — ensuring young people stick to the rules to prevent infections rising will be critical. let's talk to tom beattie, leader of the labour—run corby borough council — corby is one of the addtions to public health england's covid watchlist as an ‘area of concern‘.

how damaging do you believe another lockdown would be for corby?” how damaging do you believe another lockdown would be for corby? i think it would be very damaging. it would affect business confidence, it would affect business confidence, it would affect the ability for local businesses to get back on their feet after having spent time in lockdown already, and it would be a knock to the confidence of people in the town if we had to go on lockdown again, so if we had to go on lockdown again, soi if we had to go on lockdown again, so i would want to avoid that very much, and we do see it as a damaging thing and we are trying to avoid it. why do you think corby has been put on this watchlist? it is because the incidence and corby have risen and they have been rising for the last couple of weeks. this week we will put on a watchlist by the government because the case numbers have actually increased to the position where the government to consider as an area of concern, and there is

still some time for us to improve the situation before we need to move to what would be the most draconian sanction, a lockdown. you have been put on that list, your numbers have been going up, why have they been going up? it's difficult to pinpoint. the people of public health have not been able to say one particular reason why, there has not been an outbreak in a factory for insta nce been an outbreak in a factory for instance not far from us recently in northampton. —— there has been. but it's a number of smaller outbreaks, so it's a number of smaller outbreaks, so it's difficult in that case to try and understand what needs to be done directly to address it. we are seeing an increase in the number of young people that are getting

infected, people between the ages of 20 and 29. that is a group of people who tend to socialise more than others, they go out more, they play sports, they share cars, that type of thing. so what we are saying to people is, we have been providing some clear guidance of the last couple of weeks about what people need to do so that we do not get to the position where we consider a lockdown. we would ask people to reinforce those regulations and continue to observe them. do you think people will listen? the number of people being tested in corby, the highest in the country, if not the highest, indicates people are listening. they need to listen more. they need to understand that this is not over. this virus is with us and will be with us for some time, and they should not become complacent. that's the sort of message we are

trying to get across, let's get on top of this, we have time to do that. then we will not have to move towards a local lockdown, which is what no one wants. the government has reported a further 12 deaths in the uk of people who'd died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. that takes the total number of deaths across the uk to 41,549. the government is urging civil servants in england to return to work in the office. in a letter seen by the bbc, it wants 80% of civil servants to be at their workplace at least once a week by the end of the month, but unions have described the government's attitude as outdated. 0ur political correspondent, nick eardley, has more. just a few months ago, this was almost unthinkable, but now, quiet, sometimes deserted office districts have become a common sight.

many people have got used to working from home. now, though, ministers want that to change, encouraging more of us to think about returning to the office and the government is seeking to lead by example with the head of the civil service saying government staff should be back where possible and quickly. he writes that the prime minister believes that increasing both the number of people in the office and the amount of time those people spend in the office will be hugely beneficial for our workforce. in a letter to permanent secretaries, he adds, the prime minister is also clear that getting more people back into work in a covid secure way will improve the public services we deliver and will also provide a significant boost to the local economies where they are based. by the end of the month, ministers want four out of five civil servants back in the office

some of the time, using a rota system to limit numbers, but there are warnings that if there isn't a return to the office, many businesses may close. you don't see those coming back until the new year and that is a big driver of footfall in the city centres, particularly on friday, then we might see a huge wave of closures and redundancies as a result. the government has had some success in tempting people back into city centres. eat out to help 0ut saw 100 million meals claimed, which ministers say protected 2 million jobs, but some believe the workplace is changed forever and ministers should spend more time preparing for the consequences. and so what the government are doing are using the civil service not because it is a more efficient way of operating but because they want to send a signal to the private sector. they are dreaming about a world of work that has, quite frankly, gone. in scotland, wales and northern ireland, the message is still to work from home where possible.

but in england, the government is hoping that more people will be persuaded back their workplace. france has registered its highest daily infection rate since the start of the pandemic. the latest figures, over 2a hours between thursday and friday, show almost 9,000 new coronavirus cases. transmission is mainly among young people, which means hospital admissions aren't nearly as high as what they were back in march. the increase is partly a result of more testing, but there are concerns after 12 million children in france went back to school this week. 0ur europe correspondent, damian mcguiness, explained more about what had led to the situation in france. schools have gone back, dozens have had to close again because they have had a couple of outbreaks there as well. as life has got back to normal in france and people have gone back to work, infection rates have risen. it is a very worrying record.

back in march, at the height of the pandemic, at the strictest point of the lockdown, there were 7,500 daily infection rates. this is a sharp increase in daily new infections. that is partly because of a sharp increase in testing as well. we are seeing a more realistic view of the figure. we are also picking up in france a lot more people who are possibly not showing any symptoms, so it is showing a more realistic view of the situation. the other thing happening is a lot more younger people are transmitting the virus between them — that is serious because it means it is spreading throughout the population, but the good news is they are less likely to suffer severe complications, so, even though we are seeing a slight rise in hospitalisations, it is not as dramatic as the total rise in infection rates. it is a more realistic picture but it is a worrying trend because we are seeing across europe a sharp rise in daily

infection rates. travellers returning to scotland from portugal now have to self—isolate for 1h days. the country was added to the quarantine list after a rise in infections there. wales imposed its own restrictions yesterday. there is no change for travellers returning from portugal who live in england and northern ireland. india has confirmed more than 4 million cases of coronavirus, making it the third country in the world to pass that mark, following the united states and brazil. dr ramanan laxminarayan is director of the centre for disease dynamics, economics & policy in delhi. he's been explaining how the virus has been spreading around the country. the first cases were mostly in urban areas where people are living cheek byjowl and things transmit quickly, but over a period of time the disease has also spread to rural areas, and you have to remember that most of india lives in rural areas

where health care facilities are poor, testing facilities are not great and for a while it is going to be an invisible epidemic in rural india, but it will show up in the form of hospitalisations when these are possible and obviously a very large caseload as well. the medicaljournal the lancet has published data on the phase one trial of the vaccine for covid—19 developed by russia. russian researchers say early tests showed signs of an immune response and that every participant developed antibodies with no serious side effects. professor peter 0penshaw from imperial college london told us these findings are reassuring to some extent. i think this is a perfectly credible vaccine. it is based on similar sorts of technologies to the vaccine that has been developed in oxford and which has recently published similar phase one results.

the thing about this one is that they have been getting two doses separated by a few weeks of some very potent virus, and they have inserted a bit of the sars coronavirus into it so that it generates a powerful reaction. the headlines on bbc news: a warning that the country is at ‘a critical moment‘ in the coronavirus pandemic. figures show the highest number of detected infections is in young people — as many students prepare to return to universities. several more areas of england have been added to the government‘s watchlist of places with high rates of coronavirus — they‘ll be closely monitored, and restrictions may be re—imposed. government departments in england are told to get civil servants back into offices ‘quickly‘ following the coronavirus lockdown, but one union has described the government‘s attitude as ‘outdated‘.

hundreds of people have joined anti—lockdown protests in melbourne as tensions rise over the state‘s handling of the pandemic. at least 15 people were arrested as some demonstrators clashed with police. freya cole reports. chanting: freedom! chanting for their freedom, which these protesters say has been taken away from them. in return, police form a barrier, pushing back against a crowd which has no regard for the coronavirus lockdown in place. it is not safe, it is not smart, it is not lawful. in fact, it is absolutely selfish for people to be out there protesting. the only protest we should be engaged in, the only argument, the only fight we should be engaged in, is against this virus. it didn‘t take long before things turned ugly. more than a dozen people were arrested. in some cases, there was violence.

melbourne is coming to the end of its second six—week lockdown. covid cases have fallen dramatically. there were 89 new cases in the last 2a hours. the restrictions are due to end next week, but the premier hasn‘t ruled out an extension. human rights matter! divisions are growing deeper — a bitter rift between anti—lockdown protesters and those willing to comply. hundreds of people have demonstrated in edinburgh against the wearing of face masks and coronavirus lockdown restrictions. the rally was organised by a group called saving scotland. they said the way covid—19 is being dealt with is an overreaction, which is killing and harming more people than the virus and is destructive to the economy. scotland‘s national clinical director professorjason leitch described their actions are irresponsible.

the government has announced more than £7 million worth of funding to help some of the world‘s most vulnerable communities deal with the impact of the coronavirus. some of the cash will be used for remote healthcare access for patients in nigeria. the science minister, amanda solloway, said something as basic as ppe would make a big difference to the countries affected. i can‘t emphasise as an example how life—changing it will be. that will be significant in the way that people are able to work and carry out their day—to—day life. things that we do seem very basic to us but something like ppe will have a significant impact. president trump says he hasn‘t yet seen proof that the russian opposition leader, alexei navalny, was poisoned with a deadly novichok nerve agent. germany — where mr navalny

is being treated in hospital — says it has "proof beyond doubt" and is asking the russian government for an explanation. 0ur correspondent, nomia iqbal, reports from washington. alexei navalny‘s supporters claim he was poisoned on the kremlin‘s orders, which russia denies. germany says a novichok agent was used — similar to the one that almost killed a former russian spy and his daughter in salisbury two and a half years ago. that assessment received support from some trump administration officials, including the head of the white house national security council. president trump, who had been criticised for not speaking about the case earlier, said that he would study the evidence. i don‘t know exactly what happened. i think it‘s tragic, it‘s terrible. it shouldn‘t happen. we haven‘t had any proof yet, but i will take a look. it is interesting that everybody‘s always mentioning russia — and i don‘t mind you mentioning russia, but i think probably china,

at this point, is a nation that you should be talking about, much more so than russia. he went on to say that no—one has been tougher on russia than him, but he stopped short of criticising president vladimir putin, which has been a constant pattern throughout mr trump‘s presidency. protesters from the environmental campaign group extinction rebellion have blockaded printing presses in england to stop some papers reaching news stands today. they accuse the newspapers of failing to report on the climate emergency. 63 people have been arrested. on twitter, the prime minister said, "a free press is vital in holding the government and other powerful institutions to account on issues critical for the future of our country, including the fight against climate change. "it is completely unacceptable to seek to limit the public‘s access to news in this way."

earlier, a spokesperson from extinction rebellion explained why they were there. we feel the british media have been complacent about what britain faces. in 2018 the un general secretary said in this we cut emissions, by the end of 2020 we face an existential crisis. the government‘s response is to pour hundreds of billions of pounds into the old economy. we are borrowing money from the future. we felt we had to make a dramatic statement. i‘ve been getting the thoughts of ian murray, who‘s the executive director of the society of editors. it‘s quite absurd. it would be laughable if it was not so serious. these people need a good lesson in history and how the world works. you‘re attacking a free press. those are the actions

of totalitarian dictators and horrible regimes the world over — in other words, we are going to close down the message. to say that the media, the printed press, broadcasters, have not covered the climate issue, and particularly the messages coming from extinction rebellion, in copious amounts, from all angles, is quite absurd. what they are saying is that it has not been covered the way they want it. cabinets like this or remotely shut you down. you are not allowed to blackmail a free press in this way. you could point out that the media has led on campaigns against plastic, switching the lights off and governments departments, all kinds of initiatives. at the heart of it, there is the absurdity that by attacking a free press, a free press is essential to

ensuring you have a free democracy. a liberal democracy is what you need to allow people like extinction rebellion to make their protests and get their point across. they did have a point to get across, to be fair, and they have done it. they have done it, of course, but in doing so they have been attacking the free press and what they were saying was, you heard the spokesman, there has not been sufficient coverage, there has not been the kind of coverage that we wanted. that‘s absurd. you do not stop people from reading newspapers, going about their businesses, to make a point like that. how big an impact did this actually have in the distribution of those papers today? i believe it had an impact to start off with. the papers were delivered later. millions of newspapers were delayed.

it‘s annoying to the media and it is annoying to the press, very annoying with all the hard work that has gone in to producing them. the harm is to readers, they are not getting their papers, they are not getting the papers delivered on time. they have every right to make peaceful protests, but once again it is the public who are being affected. this time, they are saying, if these people do not say what we want them to say we are going to stop them talking to you at all, that is not on in a liberal democracy. if you were extinction rebellion, how would you get your point across, make the headlines, in the way they have today? they could get their protests across, make peaceful demonstrations, they have done that before. they have plenty of plenty of ways of doing it the same way as other organisations do. the media has taken their message across. what you do not do, and people were arrested on this kind of thing, and it is the thing that we only pandemic, what you do not do is harm the public and harm a free press

and harm democracy. you can still get your message across. that is why we have a free press in this country. it is absurd to say they have not been able to get their message across. they have. police and anti—immigration protestors have been involved in clashes outside dover harbour. nine people have been arrested. a large group assembled to demonstrate against the arrival of thousands of people in small boats. traffic on the a20 was at a standstill in both directions for a short time. and a rally to show solidarity with refugees and migrants also took place. both protests have now ended. an image of a nhs worker with a face mask and screen visor is one of the hundred winners of this year‘s portrait of britain award. the picture was captured on shift at the whittington hospital during the pandemic. the pictures celebrating the faces of modern britain will be displayed on digital screens at airports, rail stations and high

streets across the uk. earlier, the photographer slater king told us more about the portrait. that picture there is a guy called ryan. he is about to go into one of the rooms. he has put it all on, makes sure it is working, then go and do the stuff that he is going to do in the room. it‘s quite an intense thing that they have to do. that does come across in the picture. absolutely. tell me about the access you got to the hospital. this was in june. were you worried about being there? how did it all work out for you? yeah, i was totally worried about being there. when i got there, the professionalism and the way that the people there were reacting put me at ease. but before i got there, yeah, i was really worried about it.

but it was nothing compared to what they had to do. physiotherapists in intensive care, for example, taking out the gunk from people‘s lungs. it‘s a really serious and dangerous thing. talking to people, a lot of them were affected by it and still are. it‘s just such an intense time. they have to put their own self and well—being to one side and forget about that and go and help the people that they are there to help. it‘s quite something that they have done. before you walked into the hospital, did you know what you wanted to achieve, what story you wanted to tell with the photos or did you go in there with an open mind? i totally went with an open mind. what i was trying to do, i was thinking a bit like a seed bank — i was trying to collect people‘s stories so that at a later date, when we have all forgotten about it and it has been washed over

as much as we can, that those people‘s stories were not forgotten. i went in just to try to photograph everybody from top to bottom. the consultants who had been there for years, to the porters, the housekeepers and the nurses. i photographed quite a lot of people, i will be turning it into a book with all the proceeds going to the hospital, obviously. it‘s interesting how know no one particular person spoke for everybody — everybody had their own experience. some people were really in the thick of it, some people were not. the thing that bound them all together was the passion that they had for putting people in front of them. i wasn‘t looking for anything in particular. i wanted to be more of a translator and more of a facilitator

to get their story out. i was not trying to tell my story, i was not trying to put anything of mine on them, butjust trying to get from them what they thought about it and what it meant to them. when a family from lincolnshire adopted a baby hare before releasing it into the wild, they thought they would never see it again. more than two months on, however, clover, as she‘s been named, is a regular visitor. simon spark reports. sometimes, nature both surprises and rewards us, from cool misty mornings to fiery sunsets. bird box to fledgling. for the terry family, you could say they now have a new wild member of their family thanks to their own rescue mission. mark was out mowing the lawn and he phoned me

from outside, saying, come out with gardening gloves and a bucket. this baby hare was crying at him so we picked here up and took her inside. the previous evening, we had found a dead hare in the garden, so we realised she was orphaned. it was lockdown. we could not take her to a hare rescue or anything. i started googling what we could do and how to look after her. she had to bond with us to take the milk because they are notoriously difficult to hand rear. every four or five hours, bottle—feeding a tiny hare? we were weighing and measuring it, letting it run round the lounge so it was quite good. she was getting milk off us, on her own free will, she would sit on our lap, almost as if to say, where is my bottle? it was fun because i could cuddle her and i gave her milk a couple of times. we had her eight weeks in the house, hand rearing her, and, after eight weeks, got her ready for release day, got the kids to say goodbye.