this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 7: a warning that the country is at a critical moment in the coronavirus pandemic as thousands of students prepare to return to universities across the uk. tighter coronavirus restrictions for bolton this evening as the council says the city's infection rate has risen to 99 cases per 100,000 people per week. that's the highest in england. government departments in england are told to get civil servants back into offices quickly, but unions say the attitude is outdated. borisjohnson criticises protests by environmental campaigners extinction rebellion targeting three printing presses owned by rupert murdoch. we'll have all the action from another thrilling day

at the british athletics championships in manchester. and at 7:30pm, click reveals the discovery of one of the largest collections of material belonging to the so—called islamic state group ever found on the internet. good evening. as thousands of students are preparing their return to university, data now shows the highest number of detected infections of coronavirus is in young people. a leading epidemiologist said today she believes the country is at a critical moment in controlling the spread of the virus. in the past hour, bolton has announced tighter restrictions.

the council says the town's infection rate has risen to 99 cases per 100,000 people per week — the highest in england. residents have been asked to only use public transport for essential purposes and not to mix with other households in any setting, but this doesn't apply to support bubbles. in leeds, young people are being urged to take responsibility for controlling the spread of coronavirus following an increase in house parties in the city. leeds was added to the public health england areas of concern as covid rates rose to 32.5 cases per 100,000 people. 0ur correspondent, richard galpin, reports. the new university year is approaching for students here in leeds. but it is feared the movement of thousands of students

to universities could lead to a surge of coronavirus cases. the virus has much less impact on the young, but they can spread it to other people. i'm a bit worried about the population, that they might bring something with them because they're from all over the uk and america and things, and we don't know if they're carrying it, so i feel like they need to be tested before they can be allowed back in universities. as long as i limit my interaction and use my mask and stuff, i'm not really that concerned about spreading it to anyone else. but experts believe it is likely there will be significant outbreaks. this is indeed a critical moment. we are seeing the highest numbers of infections, or at least detected infections, in younger people. universities are having to put in place important measures to make sure they have testing capacity and also thinking about how they teach their students.

leeds is already being seen as a coronavirus hotspot. it's now been added to the watchlist of areas of concern. 0fficials here are urging young people to take responsibility for controlling the spread of the virus. whereas we were focusing more on specific communities at the beginning, it's now clear that the pattern is changing, and a very strong message from us to avoid having further restrictions put on us. the watchlist of hotspots is growing. south tyneside, middlesbrough, rossendale, corby, kettering and norfolk are also now on the list after increases in cases. it is another busy day here at the flamingo's coffee house in leeds. social distancing, as in all cafes,

pubs and restaurants is vital. but the owner here says there are still people who ignore it. 99% of people want to do the right thing and they want to follow the rules and keep everyone safe. people are getting fatigued from coronavirus, everyone, me included, we slip up a bit, it's hard to keep everything going, and also there are some people that don't want to socially distance. and as long as that continues, then leeds like other affected cities and towns will not be rid of the virus. richard galpin, bbc news. corby in northamptonshire is one of the places added to public health england's covid watchlist as an area of concern. corby borough council's leader, tom beattie, says he wants to avoid a local lockdown. i think it would be very damaging. 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 in 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. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30pm and 11:30pm in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are political commentator jo phillips and nigel nelson, the political editor of the people and sunday mirror. the latest government figures show there were 1,813 new confirmed coronavirus cases across the uk in the latest 24—hour period. as you can see, the rate is continuing to slowly rise with the average number of new cases per day in the past week being 1,630. the deaths of 12 people were also

reported under new rules recording those who've died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. on average in the past week, seven deaths have been announced each day. that means the total number of people who have died across the uk is now 41,549. civil servants in england are being urged by the government to return to work in their offices. in a letter seen by the bbc, the government wants 80% of civil servants to be at their workplace at least once a week by the end of the month. unions have described the government's attitude as outdated. 0ur political correspondent, chris mason, has more. usually vibrant, bustling, dynamic, and yet for much of the last six months many of our city centres have looked like this. it's time for that to change, says the government. the head of the civil service,

sir mark sedwill, says the prime minister believes... this is whitehall, home to loads of government departments. it's actually relatively busy here today but still pretty quiet on weekdays. the government wants four in five civil servants in england to be back at their desks for at least some of the week by the end of this month with more and more people worrying that unless public and private sector workers return to the office there could be huge economic consequences. if we don't see workers coming back until the new year, and workers are a big driver of footfall in city centres, particularly on a monday to friday, then we might see a huge wave of closures and a huge wave of redundancies as a result. but some believe changes in where many people have worked in recent months will be permanent. what the government are doing are virtue signalling, using the civil service,

not because it's 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 which has, quite frankly, gone. in scotland, wales and northern ireland, the message is still to work from home if you can. but in england, the government is hoping that more people can be persuaded back to their workplace. and chrisjoins me now. we have got the union saying that this is an old style way of working. the bank of england saying, we will not let our staff back because of risks. so why is the government willing to put their employees at risk? we have had this supercharging of changes in our economic geography happening already so people able to work from the kitchen table or the back bedroom deciding to do so as opposed to being in the boardroom or office or at least some of the time,

and the government has acknowledged that that is a societal change, they are not likely to push back. but their argument is that our city centres where the economic ecology is dangerously close to extinction, that relationship that exists between the office worker and a sandwich shop, the hairdresser, the fish and chip shop, the restaurant, the cafe has broken down because so many of those office workers are not there, said they want to encourage people back into offices where it is safe and they have concluded that they have got to show as well as tell on the one element of the workforce they are directly responsible for, those working for the country in the civil service, so they have set up this timetable to haul more people back in. i was talking to a minister who said his tea m talking to a minister who said his team have been working long hours from home and they have been doing it well, but as soon as quite a few we re it well, but as soon as quite a few were back in the office face—to—face the benefits of human interaction

face—to—face are far greater than faffing about on your laptop and staring into your smartphone and ideas bounce around in a more organic way than they do when you are operating remotely so from the government's perspective it wants to encourage the civil to return to work in the hope that that encourages the private sector employers as well without being seen to mandate or tell people what to do when obviously in the private sector employers can decide and employees can decide what is best for them and their business. another union is a p pa re ntly their business. another union is apparently threatening legal action asa apparently threatening legal action as a last resort so what have we heard from business leaders? there is that threat from some unions. they will be watching very keenly when lots more people start arriving. tonight, an interview in the financial times with the leader of the cbi, they are saying they wa nt to of the cbi, they are saying they want to hear more from the

government about including —— encouraging people back into office environments for all of the reasons that the government is already making. she is also saying that with the thurlow scheme due to end at the end of next month, there is going to have to be some alternative support for the government for some sectors of the economy otherwise very soon we will see significant redundancies because of the notice period required for that and that could start happening now if businesses conclude that once the tap is turned off at the end of next month a job might be unviable. she said this is not about the government propping up jobs that are unviable because it would not be a wise use of taxpayer money, but in her view there will be a need for additional support to help those who might need it. this is an argument that has been made by the labour party for some time, it will be interesting to see what the government says in response because thatis government says in response because that is a hugely important economic moment, but a massive support

package that the government has had in place for several months now, the job retention scheme, stops as it is due to relatively suddenly, there has been a slight tapering of support offered but it will come to an end in a matter of seven or eight weeks' time with potentially profound economic consequences. thank you very much for that. the prime minister has condemned environmental activists for preventing the delivery of millions of newspapers this morning. extinction rebellion targeted newspaper printing presses in england and scotland, accusing the media of failing to report climate change. 80 people have been arrested. 0ur chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt, reports. what a turnout! it was late last night when vans containing dozens of extinction rebellion protesters blocked the entrances to three printing presses owned by rupert murdoch's news corp. some demonstrators locked themselves

into elaborate bamboo structures, others chained themselves together. as well as this plant in hertfordshire, activists targeted presses in merseyside and in north lanarkshire. the protest meant delays delivering millions of newspapers this morning, including the sun, the times, the daily mail and the daily telegraph. we are here because we feel the british media and political establishment have been complacent about the most existential threat britain has ever faced. 72 people were arrested as police cleared the roads. newspaper editors described the actions as an outrageous attempt to gag the press. the actions of these protesters are so absurd that it would be considered laughable if it wasn't so serious. they need a good lesson in history and how the world works to understand, and one presumes they don't understand, that these are the actions of totalitarian dictators and authorities throughout the world and history —

shut down the message, attack a free press, which is exactly what they have done here. this is the fifth day of protests by the environmental campaign group. on tuesday, perhaps 3,000 activist congregated outside parliament, blocking the roads, amongst them the former archbishop of canterbury, rowan williams. the police have begun to come into the crowd here at parliament square and arrest protesters. there were clear guidelines about how this protest could be conducted, and one of the rules was, do not go into the road, but right at the beginning of the demonstration when the protesters first congregated here in parliament square, they were encouraged to come into the road and block the streets. there have been more than 600 arrests in london alone.