a warning that nhs staff are having to stay off work — because they can't get coronavirus tests. as nhs bosses in england say health workers with symptoms are being forced to remain at home — the government says it's dealing with the issues we have now carried out over 20 million tests were coronavirus in this country. as we expand capacity further, we are working around the clock to make sure everyone who needs a test can get a test. we'll be getting the latest from our health editor. also this lunchtime... unemployment hits a two year high — with young people particularly badly hit by the pandemic‘s economic fallout a lifeline for some small businesses — as the high court rules some insurers should have paid out over lockdown the former mp charlie elphicke is jailed for two years for sexually assaulting two women 0n the road to recovery — the first picture of poisoned

russian opposition leader alexei navalny in his hospital bed surrounded by family and 80 years on... remembering ‘the few‘ — the raf pilots who took to the skies in the battle of britain and saved this country from invasion and coming up on bbc news, the return of crowds to rugby union. 1,000 fans were allowed to watch gloucester against harlequins, in line with the government's latest rules. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. hospital bosses in england have warned nhs staff are having to stay off work because they can't get coronavirus tests. nhs providers said health workers with symptoms are being forced to remain at home as they wait for tests — and that's putting added strain

on the service as it gears up for winter. they want doctors and nurses to be treated as a priority. the health secretary matt hancock says officials are working round the clock to fix ‘operational‘ problems, amid widespread reports of people across england struggling to get tests. richard galpin reports. the town of 0ldham in north—west england has one of the highest infection rates in the but people wanting tests are being turned away at sites like this because of a lack of capacity. the frustration palpable. i'm doing my job! he's had a high temperature, he is supposed to be in school. what do you want me to be in school. what do you want me to do, leave him out of school, for indefinite? i've been trying for the la st two indefinite? i've been trying for the last two days, the message, the syste m last two days, the message, the system is currently unavailable. that's for the last two days. and what is happening here in 0ldham has been replicated across the country. critically the nhs itself is now being affected by the shortage of

tests. doctors, nurses and other staff in nhs england who think they may have coronavirus symptoms are unable to confirm if they have been infected. as a result, some are now staying away from work and potentially is not necessary. we are absolutely at full pelt in the nhs at the moment, trying to recover services for treatment was understandably but unfortunately delayed because of coronavirus a few months ago. we are trying to get through those cases as quickly as possible and we simply cannot spare members of staff, waiting for test. not being able to come into work. and this lack of testing capacity is also impacting schools which have only recently reopened. already there have been some outbreaks. without sufficient testing, these cannot be spotted in time to prevent the spread of the virus. my year four teacher percent on last wednesday because of coronavirus symptoms, persistent cough. no tests

available wednesday, he kept trying to be during the day and he was given the same place as some of my pa rents were given the same place as some of my parents were suggested to go to like aberdeen. apart from them being miles away they are also in scotland and wales and we are in lancashire. he managed to get a fairly local test on thursday after trying and trying again. according to the latest figures, the number of tests processed per day is getting close to the maximum capacity of 243,817. the latest figure for process tests is 227,465. the lack of testing capacity is partly because the big laboratories built to help deal with the epidemic are struggling with the level of demand. and there are reports of staffing shortages.” think we almost have a perfect storm of events that have come together to almost essentially crash the testing system. i think there is a surge in

demand, i think capacity is very different, stated capacity is different, stated capacity is different from actually how many tests can be run on a given day, it's very worrying that we seem to be in it's very worrying that we seem to beina it's very worrying that we seem to be in a situation now before it really we have come into autumn and winter, where we have maxed out the number of tests we can do in the country. the government insists the majority of tests are available within a ten mile radius. and that public health england is working night and day to bolster testing capacity. everyone in this house knows we are doing more testing per head of population than almost any other major nation. and i can update the house that we have now carried out over 20 million tests were coronavirus in this country. as we expand capacity further, we are working around the clock to make sure everyone who needs a test can get a test. the government has also

suggested that demand from people who did not have symptoms was partly to blame for the current shortages. richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, is here. there's clearly something going on, so there's clearly something going on, so what really is the problem? simon, there are a number of factors here but in essence, the demand for tests has grown a lot faster than the government expected. and a lot faster than the capacity, that is the laboratories, the ability to analyse the swards, a lot faster than that has been able to grow. backin than that has been able to grow. back injuly, than that has been able to grow. back in july, the than that has been able to grow. back injuly, the message from the government was basically anyone who felt u nwell government was basically anyone who felt unwell might as well go and get a test because they had quite a gap between the amount of tests being processed and capacity. well that gap, as we heard in that piece, is quite close to being closed, there isa quite close to being closed, there is a bit of headroom but not a great deal so why is that? more people coming back from holiday, going back to work, more children back at school. parents wanting to do the

right thing and also schools wanting children to be tested. now, you could argue why was this not foreseen by ministers? well, whatever the reason, it has happened and matt hancock in the house of commons spelt out that the government policy now was prioritisation. and he said that would cover social care, residents and staff, clinical care, patients and staff, clinical care, patients and nhs staff. and there was an implication that that once you have got those covered, it was going to be only a certain amount for everybody else, that would be the policy for now until more capacity comes on stream. that is what the government says is going to happen but right now, this is when you most need a testing system that everyone has confidence in, given that we have seen cases rising and winter is approaching. thank you very much for that. 0ur political correspondent, chris mason, is at westminster. given there is a problem, what are ministers doing? good afternoon, simon, it is becoming a colossal political challenge of the autumn, the government setting itself

incredibly ambitious targets for as $0011 incredibly ambitious targets for as 50011 as incredibly ambitious targets for as soon as december usually cranking up capacity to test and also crucially get test results back to people quickly. and yet, here we are, a couple of weeks into september before a lot of the autumnal sniffles kick in and perhaps the demand for tests goes up even higher. and already the system is straining. we heard briefly from the health secretary for england in that report a few minutes ago, still facing questions in the commons this lunchtime, he was hauled there via what is known as an urgent question byjon ashworth, the shadow health secretary, who made the charge that the government is losing control of the government is losing control of the virus because the testing system is not up to it. matt hancock acknowledging in his words that there are operational challenges and set himself a target of resolving them within a matter of weeks. now, thatis them within a matter of weeks. now, that is looser language than he was using just a couple of weeks ago when he said that it could be sorted relatively quickly. a really big challenge. 0ne relatively quickly. a really big challenge. one that the government

is acutely aware of given the ear—bashing that matt hancock is getting. and one that he won't be able to run away from and trying to resolve pretty quickly given how central it is to us operating, day—to—day lives, something approximating to normal. chris, thank you. tougher restrictions have come into force in birmingham, solihull and sandwell, to try to stop the spread of the virus. it means people are banned from meeting others who aren't part of their household — or support bubble — in their homes or gardens. kathryn stanczyszyn reports. for many in the west midlands, life is changing again. after a rapid rise in coronavirus cases, different households within three council areas must no longer mix at home. birmingham has been on a knife edge in terms of greater restrictions for weeks. now, authorities say residents must stick to the new rules or risk fines and maybe a future lockdown. from today, the entire city as well as the neighbouring boroughs of sandwell and solihull, 1.6 million people in total,

must not spend time in each other‘s homes or gardens. the exception, if you are a lone adult in a support bubble. it doesn't affect schools, workplaces, or social settings like parks and restaurants. i think it's necessary. even though it is quite sad but i understand why the decision has been made. anything that keeps this pandemic at bay is a good thing. you can go into a pub and mix but you cannot do it in your own house. i don't know. i think they don't know what they're talking about be honest with you. not many muslim people will go to a pub to meet their family. it is confusing, you can go shopping, eat out, but you cannot meet in the garden. there has been confusion here in the uk's second biggest city about why it's ok to meet people in social settings like pubs and big public open spaces like this, but not at home. public health officials say the data clearly shows the main culprit when it comes to transmission is domestic settings. what we are seeing in the majority of cases where we are able to identify transmission is that this is because people have

gathered behind closed doors, often for a celebration, most recently i have seen three children in different families and the actual way they caught it from each other was a child's party. that is where the transmission is happening at the moment. and it is childcare that will throw up one of the biggest issues with people back to work and schools subject to virus closures. liz martin has been looking after grandson seth so her daughter can teach. that is no longer an option. yesterday was the last game in the garden for what could be some time. if she wants to work we have got to break the law because we cannot think of any other way. we've been very careful. we are very careful. we've still got to get through this and live and i can't bear the stress on not only my daughter and her husband but the children as well. all three areas will ask government for an exemption for specific childcare issues in a letter today. for now, it's more tough times

for some when they were just getting back on their feet. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. the unemployment rate has gone up to 4.1 percent — with young people among the hardest hit. a further 156—thousand people aged 16 to 24 were added to the jobless figures in the three months tojuly. many fear worse is to come — when the government's furlough scheme ends next month. our business correspondent sarah corker reports. man: so, how close is this to the city centre? this family from liverpool are job hunting. michael and karen lost their work in retail. they are dropping daughter isabella off to university in manchester. she is looking for bar work while she studies. the economic fallout from coronavirus is affecting every generation. this is the first time i've ever been without a job. you remain optimistic but it gets tough, it is really hard. michael was a

senior retail buyerfor a big fashion brand. he was followed in march and made redundant injuly. you begin to question yourself, you say i have a lot of passion for what ido,a say i have a lot of passion for what i do, a lot of experience but do i need to retrain? am i in the wrong industry. like many young people, isabel is struggling to find a job in hospitality as hours are cut. just over the last couple of months i was applying for a 2—3 barjobs a day, hospitality websites, you might hear back from one or two of them. even then they still cannot guarantee the hours, i mean, they are just, you know, there is nothing really there. the unemployment rate, the blue line on this graph grew to 4.196 the blue line on this graph grew to 4.1% in the three months tojuly. up from 3.9%. butjust look at the rise in youth unemployment. now at 13.4%. the red line here. those aged 16—24 are bearing the brunt of this jobs

crisis. since march, nearly 700,000 jobs have been cut and as the furlough scheme winds down, coming to an end in october, more companies are now setting out their plans for redundancy. i think it will get worse before it gets better. i, personally feel it will peak because eve ryo ne personally feel it will peak because everyone is personally feel it will peak because everyone is nervous personally feel it will peak because everyone is nervous and you want to survive this so if you survive it, you can grow afterwards. today, the labour party renewed its calls for the furlough scheme to be extended 01’ the furlough scheme to be extended or replaced. millions of workers, towns and cities under restrictions, it just isn't possible towns and cities under restrictions, itjust isn't possible to get back to work on reopen businesses. that isn't a choice. it is the cold reality. of this crisis. so it makes no sense at all for the government to pull support away now. and the government has hinted there could be more targeted support for certain sectors once the furlough scheme ends. throughout this crisis i have

not hesitated to act in creative and effective ways to supportjobs and employment and will continue to do so. employment and will continue to do so. there are some positive signs as the economy opened up, job vacancies in the three months to augustjumped by 30%. a competition for rules remaining fears. sarah corker, bbc news. 0ur economics editor, faisal islam joins me now. pressure on the chancellor is the furlough scheme unwinds?m pressure on the chancellor is the furlough scheme unwinds? it shows this expected catch up of the headline rate of unemployment with the reality of what we see around us in the past few months, started to happen, unemployment number starting to turn up, important context that is still quite low in relation to our history, low in relation to our neighbours in europe. but if you dig down into this number, it shows in july and in the last week ofjuly, it was particularly higher, not far off 5%. that was very close to when the furlough scheme started its wind

down and so it will intensify the call from the opposition and from unions, from some conservative mps, for some type of continuation targeted in some sectors of the furlough scheme. that is not where i feel the government is at the moment. they think they want to endlessly extend the furlough scheme but they may be able to come up with other forms of support that provide boost to those creating newjobs. they are fearful of keeping people injobs that are they are fearful of keeping people in jobs that are going to be difficult in the new normal. it is also worth reiterating that in this, it is young people who have been headfirst although that may change. the government waiting to see who is affected the most before it comes up with further plans. rank give very much. the bbc‘s highest paid star, gary lineker, has agreed to take a salary cut of nearly a quarter, but he'll still earn more than £1.3 million a year. the announcement came as the bbc published its annual report.

0ur media editor, amol rajan, is here. what have we learned today? whatever the complexities and the caveats, we have learnt a lot in the annual report. at a time of suffering and hardship across the country, basically these salaries are quitea country, basically these salaries are quite a bad look for the bbc. the list of published names include sellers, some people are paid huge amounts of money and there were some huge pay rises, albeit for additional work. had huge pay rises, albeit for additionalwork. had been huge pay rises, albeit for additional work. had been three yea rs of reform additional work. had been three years of reform at the bbc where some individuals, especially that that exclusively men, had taken pay cuts and others, especially not explicitly women, have had writers. the pay bill has gone up by £1 million, but that is below inflation so it's a real terms cut. it was about addressing the outcry of the gender pay gap. the bbc has failed in its plan of eradicating that by 2020, it is around 6%, which is

below the national average of around 1796. below the national average of around 17%. the top salaries include four women. two otherfinal 17%. the top salaries include four women. two other final points, 17%. the top salaries include four women. two otherfinal points, one is that lots of these problems from the bbc arise because it is part public sector and part markets, lots of people who are paid a logically more if they left the bbc, that is important to get across. in this annual report the bbc has made clear it has made huge progress with the bbc sounds up and iplayer viewing but it has a huge challenge to attract money from a generation raised on the likely picture, anderson and whatsapp, and the optics of these salaries make that challenge bit harder. our top story this lunchtime. a warning that nhs staff are having to stay off work, because they can't get coronavirus tests. the government say it's working round the clock to address the problems. drinking during lockdown — how the number of people consuming dangerous amounts of alcohol has almost doubled during the pandemic. coming up on bbc news,

andy murray back on the clay. he's been given a wild card to play in the french open later this month, his first appearance in paris since 2017. small businesses have been thrown a lifeline after the high court ruled some insurers should have paid out for losses caused by the lockdown. when firms had to close their doors in march, many looked to their insurance to cover them. but some found their claims rejected, with insurers arguing their policies were never meant to include such restrictions. nowjudges have ruled the clauses in some policies should have meant they were covered. kevin peachey reports. like thousands of other owners of small firms, anna and robin smart thought their business interruption insurance policy would cover them for coronavirus—related losses. but when their insurer refused to pay out, their photography firm literally needed rebuilding. our best bet to save our business was to remove ourselves

from our business premises and build a studio at home, which would reduce our costs down massively, so that hopefully we could trade through whatever is coming next. insurers had argued that these policies were not meant for blanket measures such as a government—imposed lockdown. the debate led to a test case in the high court but nowjudges have given hope to many businesses who thought they would lose out. i am hoping that we get to that point of being able to move forward, progress our claim and just get on with things, because the stress that we are under, not us, collectively, businesses at the moment is absolutely immense. with these businesses desperate for clarity, the 150—page judgment is not entirely clear cut, but groups representing policyholders are delighted. i think it is a resounding success for policyholders. this is why we brought the claim, we have been vindicated, it was the right thing to do for hundreds of thousands of businesses. they will now have a lifeline,

we hope for making an insurance recovery from their insurers. insurers say more work is needed before drawing the debate to a close. needless to say, it has been an unprecedented event for the insurance industry. 0verall, firms have been paying out on claims to those customers who do have covid cover, they have paid out over £900 million. they are going to be sitting down with the lawyers and looking very carefully at this judgment indeed. the businesses affected can expect a contact from their insurer in the next week, although for some, it is too late. with insurers facing a bill of many millions of pounds, they may look to appeal against the decision. that should be fast tracked, but that could mean a further wait before people like the smarts are put fully in the picture. kevin peachy, bbc news. the former conservative mp charlie elphicke has been jailed for two years at southwark crown court for sexual assaults against two women. let's speak to our correspondent sangita myska.

she is covering the case for us. the judge entered a's case was absolutely excoriating in her sentencing remarks. she said the former mp was a sexual predator who had abused the trust of the women who had worked for him. women are entitled to feel safe at work, she said, these women were not safe. you suggested, she told him, this was something the women enjoyed. she said it was not. she hunted down a two year sentence, half of which will be served in prison and half unlicensed. she ended by saying, your behaviour was an abuse of power because you had influence over them. she told him that he had told the court a pack of lies. in the minutes after that sentence was handed down, charlie elphicke's team issued a statement in which he said i know i am innocent of any criminal wrongdoing and will continue to

fight to clear my name. within minutes, his wife, from whom he is no separated, natalie elphicke mp, issued a statement saying she is prepared to stand by charlie elphicke and help him fight to overturn his conviction. the number of people drinking dangerous amounts of alcohol has almost doubled during the pandemic — that's according to the royal college of psychiatrists. it estimates, in june, nearly 8.5 million people in england were drinking at what are considered to be high—risk levels. 0ur health correspondent, michelle roberts, is here. what else has it shown? they looked at survey data from england and people were asked about drinking habits. when you scale that up and look at the population, they believe as many as 8.4 million may now be drinking far too much for their health. that does not mean each one of those is addicted, but during lockdown particularly, sales of alcohol went up, people were

drinking at home, certainly lots of people use it as a stress reliever and that is really not a good idea. many people warning about this, including some charities. what do they say about how we deal with this? they agree, they have had many calls, the british liver trust had a rise of colds from people concerned about how much they all loved ones we re about how much they all loved ones were drinking. charities are worried that has been a backlog. the nhs has been prioritising coronavirus treatments, meaning other addiction services and parts of the nhs have had to wind down a page. we are seeing referrals going up again but they are concerned that every minute cou nts they are concerned that every minute counts with this sort of thing and it can quickly spiral out of control, you can go from what you think isjust a control, you can go from what you think is just a little control, you can go from what you think isjust a little bit control, you can go from what you think is just a little bit too control, you can go from what you think isjust a little bit too much toa think isjust a little bit too much to a dependency. more than 400 pupils at a school in somerset are self—isolating after two students tested positive for coronavirus.

children at bishop fox's school in taunton were told to stay home after a student in year seven and another in year 11, were infected. a statement on the school's twitter account said a deep cleaning process would be undertaken at the school before students return next week. russia's leading opposition figure, alexey navalny, has posted a picture of himself sitting up in hospital in berlin without the respirator that was helping to keep him alive. he was taken to germany for treatment last month, after being poisoned by what doctors say was a nerve agent. 0ur correspondent damien mcguinness is in berlin. he looks a lot better, obviously. what are his plans? that's right, and his family look delighted, you see his wife and two children. according to spokeswoman his plans are to return to russia, he is clearly defiant after what was, according to official information in germany, france and sweden, novichok poisoning. as you know, he is

russia's highest profile opposition character, he is a leader of quite a large movement in russia and probably the highest profile opposition figure in the country right now. german officials have called on russia to explain what has happened, so this poisoning, which happened, so this poisoning, which happened at the end of august on an internal flight within russia, happened at the end of august on an internalflight within russia, two days later he was brought to berlin for treatment, this poisoning is connected to a novichok nerve agents and officials here say that does point to some sort of russian official involvement, so that is why angela merkel‘s government has called on the kremlin to investigate this fully, explain what happens, the kremlin has reacted in an extremely irritated manner, accused the west of arrogance, saying western countries should not tell russia what to do in an internal investigation, so this particular case of what appears to be the poisoning of reiki opposition figure

is turning into a broader political row between germany certainly, possibly the rest of the eu, and russia. he says he wants to go back to moscow, i am not sure i would. his supporters would say he is very brave. he has also suffered what he says are other attacks on his life, other instances of poisoning, according to him and his supporters, he is clearly somebody with lots of support in russia. he does not stand a chance of being voted in as president, that is quite clear if you at the numbers, but some supporters of mr putin is a bit of a headache, that is why some of his supporters say he is a threat to lester pearson and that is why mr navalny‘s supporters are delighted he has posted on social media and looks to be on the to recovery. "never in the field of human conflict was so much owed

by so many to so few" — the immortal words of winston churchill as he paid tribute to the raf pilots who, exactly 80 years ago, took on the might of the luftwaffe, and saved britain from invasion. the last of those young men, john hemingway, who is now 101, has told the bbc what it was like to be part of that select band. robert hall has the story. they'd been expecting it for days, the final mass attack by hitler's luftwaffe ahead of an invasion. the plan was straightforward. hundreds of bombers would target london and the southern counties whilst fighters were waiting to trap the raf and wipe it out. exhausted young men who had fought and watched friends die for two months scrambled back into their cockpits. it would be about there. it was enough to turn you all over and do all sorts of things. and if you were fighting, you would be pressing this button as well.

john hemingway is the last of winston churchill's ‘few‘. now, 101, he'd already been shot down twice by september 1940. we were all in our early 20s, i was 20. we just didn't care. there was no right or wrong. the war was on, we were pilots. we were going to fight them all the time. not that we were brave or anything, but there was nothing else. the world was at war, and you couldn't go somewhere and say, "i am at peace, i don't fight wars." as the planes weaved in a web of smoke trails over kent, the few relied on the many. the fitters who endured the bombing of airfields and got them back into the air, the spotters, plotters and radar operators who steered them towards their next mission. by the end of september 15th, the tide had turned.

german losses had been twice that of the raf. the invasion would be cancelled. at dozens of airfields, the spitfires and the hurricanes came home. the main skill was luck, you had to be lucky. no matter how good you were, for instance my boss, dickie lee, was the best pilot i've ever seen. but he was shot down and killed. so he had no luck. i had bags of luck. i couldn't do that. but here i am. like so many events this year, battle of britain day will be a quiet affair, but this light show at the uk's first—ever radar station in norfolk is a reminder that we celebrate and remember a true team effort. robert hall, bbc news. time for a look at the weather — here's louise lear.