nearly two million people in the north east of england are set for tougher coronavirus restrictions from midnight, after a rise in cases. from tonight the north eastjoins a second county in wales to face tougher rules. the health secretary told mps why. we must follow the data and act. we do not take these decisions lightly. we agree with the local councils that we must follow the data and act. and the data says that we must act now. it comes as official figures show the highest weekly number of people testing positive for covid—19 since may. also this lunchtime. a sharp decline in the turnaround time for testing. are laboratories to blame? the demand is what is actually causing the problem because demand has completely outstripped capacity. joe biden intervenes in the brexit row, saying he won't allow peace

in northern ireland to become "a casualty of brexit" if he's elected us president. and the right result — how these passengers at rome airport will be boarding a covid—free flight. and coming up on bbc news... packing his bags — gareth bale is set to fly to london tomorrow, to complete his move on loan from real madrid back to tottenham. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. almost two million people in the north east have had tougher coronavirus restrictions imposed, after a spike in local cases. people living in northumberland, newcastle, sunderland, north and south tyneside,

gateshead and county durham will now not be able to socialise with other households outside their own homes or support bubbles. leisure and hospitality venues will have to close between the hours of 10pm and 5am. and restaurants and cafes will be required to provide table service only. the health secretary matt hancock told mps the government did not take these decisions lightly, but the data said they must act now. it comes as new figures show the uk has recorded its highest daily covid19 cases since may. our correspondent fiona trott reports. northeast night out. during the pandemic. like many towns and cities gci’oss pandemic. like many towns and cities across england, enforcing social distancing has been hard and now it seems there are consequences. unless we act now, act swiftly and decisively, we are going to see ourselves in the kind of really challenging position that we were in

march and april, with exponentially rising cases and hospitals packed to capacity with a very ill people. none of us want to see that. these are the local authority areas who asked for tougher measures. newcastle, gateshead, north tyneside, south tyneside, sunderland, northumberland and cou nty sunderland, northumberland and county durham. it will affect almost 2 million people. and these are the measures being introduced at midnight tonight. residents will not be able to socialise with anybody outside of their own household or support bubble. bars will be restricted to table service only and all leisure and entertainment venues have to close after 10pm at night.” know, the whole house knows, that these decisions have a real impact on families, businesses and local communities. and i can tell everyone affected that we do not take these decisions lightly. this bar in newcastle is at its busiest after ten o'clock at night. in a city where the night—time economy is said

to be worth around £340 million per year, at ten o'clock curfew will hit them hard. i think we will definitely see closures, which will mean redundancies. pubs and restau ra nts, mean redundancies. pubs and restaurants, bars, cannot survive closing at ten o'clock. newcastle and a whole and the whole of the north—east predominantly take a lot of their turnover after 10pm. here in newcastle, most people say they are willing to follow the new rules. if it saves getting worse, you know, it's just one of those things, you've got to put up with it.|j think we should all keep our distance, and hopefully get out of lockdown quicker. i think they should club down the pubs, clubs, that's where it spread. i think the young people being blamed, but i can see people in their 405 and 505 with a nose hanging out of their face ma5k a nose hanging out of their face mask and they go to the pub5 a5 well. a region bracing themselves for tougher measures and which

cannot afford a full lockdown. the council say these temporary measures have to work. the owner trot, bbc news, newcastle. —— fiona trott. the county of rhondda cynon taff is to become the second area in wales, after caerphilly, to return to lockdown today. from 6pm this evening, its population of nearly a quarter of a million will have strict rules imposed on their daily lives. tomos morgen reports. a brand—new mobile testing centre in abercynon, rhondda cynon taff, full this morning after it was announced that from 6pm this evening this local authority will be back under local lockdown. we are we a re really we are really disappointed we have got to this point because over the last week to ten days, we have tried to ta ke last week to ten days, we have tried to take measures and encourage people to do things differently. but u nfortu nately over people to do things differently. but unfortunately over the last few days and five days, the number of cases and five days, the number of cases and the positive rate in rhondda cynon taf is growing. the rate of transmission in walk—in centres here is now at 7% and part

of the blame for the higher rate of transmission is down to members of this social club going on an outing to doncaster last week. another factor being blamed is the lack of safety measures in some pubs and bars. they will now have to close at 11pm as part of stricter measures, a source of frustration for other landlords that feel they're being tarnished by the same broad brush. it obviously is very frustrating. we are part of it but i am not aware of anybody with covid at all. i know there are terrible area5 elsewhere which is very unfortunate, and our city is quite a big area and i think it could have been localised, possibly. as well as a curfew on closing times, friends and families will no longer be able to meet indoors. overnight stays are also banned and masks are recommended to be worn in all busy outdoor spaces such as the high street. the main guidance is that people will be banned from leaving

and entering rhondda cynon taff, but there are some exceptions. the local university, for example, will remain open for students. teachers will be able to travel in and out of the county, as will essential workers, but everyone that can work from home must do so. it also means that any holiday plans have to also be put on hold. it was less than a week ago that people in this area were given their final warning. follow the rules or risk being put under local lockdown. since then, rhondda cynon taf has recorded the highest number of positive covid tests across the whole of wales so the welsh government felt they had no other option but implementing these measures. measures that will be in force for at least another two weeks. tomos morgan, bbc news, rhondda cynon taf. we can speak now to our political correspondent jonathan blake at westminster. further regional restrictions now in place, how does this affect the government's national response?

well, i think these are the latest local restrictions are another sign of just how local restrictions are another sign ofjust how much pressure there is on the government, and on the country in general, posed by coronavirus. it's a sign that there isa coronavirus. it's a sign that there is a resurgence in the number of cases, and large parts of the uk are now living under tighter restrictions than they were. now, not back to the darkest days of lockdown when people's movements we re lockdown when people's movements were heavily restricted, but we are no means back to anything like life as normal. we had more bold claims from the government today about increasing capacity for testing to 500,000 per day by the end of october, 2.5 billion extra pounds funding for the health service over the winter to help it cope. no saw footage of bold ambition for the government in the hope of tackling the virus but as we have seen that has not always matched reality and there are more signs today that the

situation around testing is getting worse, not better, with waiting times increasing. you only have to look at the health secretary matt hancock's comment in the house of commons this morning saying that the battle against coronavirus is not over, and the prime minister's warning is the only way we can enjoy christmas is getting tough now to see that the situation is only certainly going to get worse before it gets better. fewer coronavirus test results in england are coming back the next day, according to official nhs figures. only one in three tests carried out in community—based testing centres were returned within 24 hours in the week until september 9th, that's down from two in three the week before. it comes amid reports of laboratories being overstretched. here's our correspondent richard galpin. with winter now approaching, and coronavirus cases already increasing, its no surprise demand

for two tests is shooting up. but there is a serious problem. —— demand for covid tests. these tests are processed in these mega laboratories built in eight of the virus to cold in the country. there are currently five but they cannot test if someone has contracted the virus quickly enough and there is now a backlog leading to delays of people waiting for test results. the demand is what is actually causing the problem because demand has com pletely the problem because demand has completely outstripped capacity. it is an unprecedented demand. we are seeing five or ten times the demand that we had just two weeks ago. the work at these labs needs skilled staff and vital equipment will stop insiders say they are difficult to get hold of. the academic and postgraduate students working in the la bs postgraduate students working in the labs have now reportedly returned to their institutions. in many of the te5ting 5ite5, their institutions. in many of the

te5ting sites, they actually have capacity to swap more people but there is unfortunately no where to 5end there is unfortunately no where to send it to because there is such a backlog of testing. inju5t introducing more testing 5ite5, backlog of testing. inju5t introducing more testing sites, that will not solve the problem. we have got to figure out the lavatory level. the government says more of these labs will be brought online, one in newcastle and another in bracknell, and claims it is the largest network in diagnostic testing facilities in british history. it is a matter of using the record capacity we have got for the prioritised people who really need it, and making sure that it is protected for those who do really need it. but latest figures show turnaround times for receiving test results are getting longer in england. the situation in this country very much in contrast to germany, which has had a large network of laboratories to deal with the crisis for years. the germans have been using a network of about 200 labs and each individual region

has responsibility for testing in that state, and there are 16 federal states in germany. so it's much less ofa states in germany. so it's much less of a top—down approach, like we have seenin of a top—down approach, like we have seen in some other countries including the uk. but it's unlikely this german approach is something the uk government would consider. richard galpin, bbc news. with me now is the bbc‘s head of statistics robert cuffe. we've seen a big increase in cases, how is the system holding up? that increase in demand has really stressed the testing system, the walk in and the drive—through system. the contact tracing system looks like it is holding up. we have seen the number of people testing positive more than double in england in the course of two weeks according to the data released today from test and trace. the number of people tested had only gone up by about a quarter, not including the people who tried to get a test but could

not. it might have gone up a little bit but not enough to explain this massive rise in cases. the number of people getting their test back, once they get an appointment at one of they get an appointment at one of the walk—in or drive—through centres, has gone up. the number of people getting it within a day has gone down from two in three to one in three. a contract tracing looks to be holding up because a number of people testing positive have more than doubled through the week, and the number of contacts passing through the system has almost doubled within a week. we are still seeing the same kind of performance, reaching almost three quarters of the contacts who are identified and reaching a little bit more than 80% of the people who were infected originally. they are roughly the same as last week. despite a doubling of demand, the contact tracing system is holding up but it will not be a surprise to anyone to hear that the testing system is struggling. thank you, robert. the us presidential candidate,

joe biden, has intervened in the brexit row. he warned any future american trade deal with the uk would depend on respecting the good friday agreement. a new bill is going through parliament, which government admits breaks international law. james landale reports. the border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland has lain at the heart of disagreements over brexit, above all how to keep that border open as required by the good friday agreement. now there are fears that government's decision to revisit the brexit divorce deal could threaten peace and stability here. fears expressed now by the man who could be president. in a tweet, the democratic candidate joe biden said, "we can't allow "the good friday agreement that brought peace "to northern ireland to become a casualty of brexit. "any trade deal between the us and uk must be "contingent upon respect "for the agreement and preventing the return "of a hard border, period." the foreign secretary

is in washington having talks with his us counterpart and he attempted to pour oil on troubled waters. the threat to the good friday agreement as it's reflected in the northern ireland protocol has come from the eu's politicisation of the issue, and to be clear on how that's happened and why that happened, our commitment to the good friday agreement and to avoid any extra infrastructure at the border between the north and south is absolute. the trump administration for now seems willing to take that at face value. in the end, this will be a set of decisions with respect to this that the united kingdom makes and i have great confidence they will get this right in a way that treats everyone fairly and gets a good outcome, for what it was the people of the united kingdom voted for now several years back. but this is notjust a matter for the white house. the speaker of the house of representatives, nancy pelosi, has made clear that congress will block a uk—us trade deal if there's any threat to peace in northern ireland.

here's the problem. the legally binding withdrawal deal, agreed by the uk and the eu, allowed for some customs checks down the irish sea. the government is giving itself powers to override that treaty unilaterally, ostensibly to stop the eu imposing tougher customs controls, but critics fear this could lead to a hard border with the republic of ireland. for the prime minister this is all high—stakes stuff. on the table is britain's relationship notjust with the eu, but now also the united states. james landale, bbc news. the government has confirmed that care homes in england are to receive extra funding of more than £0.5 billion to help them tackle coronavirus over the winter. ministers say they want to give "peace of mind" to the sector. our correspondent alison holtjoins me now. what's this money for? well, this is

a £546 million extension to an existing infection control fund. that was introduced in may and it was due to run out at the end of this month, and it has been really important in terms of allowing staff who are self isolating to be on full wages and also to limit movement of staff between ca re wages and also to limit movement of staff between care homes. we are expecting a government went to plan for social care. when that arrives it will be scrutinised very carefully because care homes obviously had such a tough, terrible time losing so many residents in the height of the pandemic. they felt neglected and forgotten at the time, so they will want to know that there isa so they will want to know that there is a plan but also action following

it. it's not just is a plan but also action following it. it's notjust care homes, it is also home care, supported living, where for instance people with learning disabilities are living. they will also want to know that there is a plan for how they will be protected at a time when we are seeing infections rising in the community. alison holt, thank you. our top story this lunchtime. nearly two million people in the north east of england are set for tougher coronavirus restrictions from midnight, after a rise in cases. and coming up — catching up with the backlog of operations cancelled because of covid. coming up on bbc news... winged foot awaits — one of the world's hardest courses hosts the us open, starting today. the first groups are already under way in new york. a spanish charity which rescued 277 migrants from the mediterranean

is waiting to hear whether the boat carrying them can dock in the italian port of palermo, following 10 days at sea. five years after the migrant crisis began, the eu is due to announce next week a long—awaited policy on migration amid accusations it's failed to tackle the crisis adequately. but rescue crews say more help is needed now, as fears grow that more people could attempt the journey to europe from africa and the middle east to escape further waves of covid—i9. our brussels correspondent nick beake reports. saving lives in a time of covid. the virus has changed so much, but it hasn't stopped those who are desperate for a better existence. soon, they spot another precarious boat. jubilation from those crammed on board. thinking he's been saved, one man

jumps in, before he's called back. but there is a lifeline for those who feared this day could be their last. many others will not make it. it was five years ago that europe's migrant crisis exploded. more than 3000 drowned in 2015 alone, trying to cross the mediterranean. now, farfewer are risking the deadly voyage, but still charities say more than 500 people have died this year, and are demanding european countries do much more. we will take a human and humane approach in our principles. saving lives at sea is not optional. the problem is that europe is split on how to tackle this ongoing crisis. the likes of germany say there's a moral obligation to help those in need. countries on the front line,

italy and greece, say they can't be expected to shoulder the responsibility. they want other countries to take their fair share of new arrivals, even if it's unpopular with their voters. back at sea, off the coast of malta, they clamber to the relative safety of a bigger boat, operated by a spanish charity. this week, they've picked up 270 migrants from more than a dozen african countries. some say traffickers forced them towards the shore. the man, the man says we should run. if we didn't run, he would shoot us. but their ordeal is not over yet. the captain of the rescue boat says no country will let them dock, so this vessel of despair journeys on, aimlessly. this ship has spent already eight or nine days at sea. as you can see, very bad sea conditions. the sea conditions are deteriorating

by the hour, and we need to solve this problem as soon as possible. europe's migrant crisis never went away, and the misery covid threatens to wreak in the poorest places in africa and the middle east means many more may feel they have nothing to lose. nick beake, bbc news, brussels. the bank of england's monetary policy committee has unanimously voted to keep interest rates at the historic low level of 0.1%, saying the recovery is broadly in line with expectations. let's get more from our business correspondent, dharshini david. what does this say about the bank of england's expectations for the economy? well, you know, this, we should start with the good news, which is that frankly we've seen no change in policy from the bank of england, exactly what was expected and what they are saying is after

that monumental shock we saw for the economy earlier this year things are actually getting on track a bit sooner, a bit faster, than they possibly expected before. in fact, if you look at data on the payments that we make day—to—day, they are saying, they are suggesting consumer spending, that backbone of our economy, may be back where it was prior to the crisis. that bid could be doing quite well but we worry about what the bank of england thinks because it sets the policy of interest rates, which determines our fortu nes interest rates, which determines our fortunes and economic fate and there are three things concerned about that are coming up. the easing of macro by thejob that are coming up. the easing of macro by the job support scheme by the government, what will that mean for unemployment, spending power and livelihoods? secondly, we know there is the increased risk of a new deal when it comes to brexit at the end of the year. how will that impact the economy? we'll hear more from the economy? we'll hear more from the bank at the beginning of november on how that might fare. also it has monitored the fact we

are seeing a rising number of cases of covid, that could derail the economy. we could see interest rates going negative, in fact that means they will be charging us to save, but that's a way off but it's a risk out there. plenty to watch out for. dharshini david, many thanks. john lewis staff will not be paid a bonus this year for the first time since 1953, after lockdown forced many stores to close permanently. while sales did increase marginally, they were in less profitable lines and the company posted a £55 million loss for the first half of the year. its chairwoman told staff on thursday the announcement "will come as a blow". moorfields eye hospital in london is quadrupling its number of cataract operations, in an attempt to tackle the backlog caused by covid—i9. over two million people have waited more than 18 weeks for surgery, the highest number since records began in 2007, so the hospital is aiming to perform nearly 1,000 cataract removals in just six days. this from our health correspondent, lauren moss.

this is an example of what brenda's vision has been like for the last several months. the 77—year—old grandmother has a cataract. it's where the lens of the eye, a small transparent disc, develops cloudy patches. not seeing so well, the glaring at night and driving, is awful. brenda's one of almost 1000 patients having cataracts removed at moorfields eye hospital in london this week. she's isolated for three days and had a covid test before being admitted. cataract surgery is one of the most common planned operations that's been affected by coronavirus. during surgery, the cloudy film is cut away and replaced with a clear plastic lens. usually the team performs 140 of these a week. now they're aiming to do nearly that many nearly every single day by using private theatres, and extra staff and volunteers are working around the clock in covid—free bubbles. doing four times more than we were doing before will assure that our waiting list, which has gone up to four months because of covid, will be hopefully cut down significantly.

also, we don't know what the future lies ahead, as we all know, especially at this historical moment in time. so we want to learn from this experience and then perhaps repeat it or find other ways that will work. we need to be adaptable. there's a huge drive to clear the backlog of patients before the winter. delays during the pandemic mean 2 million people have been waiting longer than 18 weeks for routine operations in england. it's hoped some of the templates used here to carry out four times the number of cataract surgeries in a week could be followed elsewhere in the nhs. trusts have been told to return to 90% operating capacity by the end of october, and getting ready for what's likely to be a difficult winter is also an ongoing challenge. clearly if you're waiting to access 5ervice5, your levels of anxiety are going to increase, your levels of distress are being increased. there's a lot of pressure on the nhs at the moment and there's a lot of pressure on hospitals like mine and the reason the pressure exi5t5 is, it's self—driven. our clinicians, our non—clinical staff, we want to care for patients.

we want to relieve their suffering. brenda was in and out of theatre within an hour and is happy with the results. well, it's weird to have a lump of plastic stuck on your face. and of course i can't put any make—up on. but other than that, everything's in focus. there is nothing that i can't see. everything is completely in focus. i can see it, everything's bright. bright and cheerful. if the cataract drive is a success this week, the model could be adapted to catch up with other surgeries over the autumn. lauren moss, bbc news. as the travel industry tries to recover from the damage caused by coronavirus restrictions, the search is on to find ways to allow people to travel safely. one solution is being tested in italy, where at rome airport they are trialling new compulsory covid testing before some domestic flights and for certain international arrivals. as our rome correspondent mark lowen reports, it could mean mass quarantines could be avoided.

announcement: only passengers who test negative for covid—19... tickets, passport and compulsory negative test result — welcome aboard europe's first covid—free flight. all these passengers from rome to milan have been tested either at the airport, before the flight, or within the previous 72 hours, before being allowed to travel. this is my negative test. an all—clear from the virus — and to fly. i think it's better like this than just going inside an aeroplane without knowing if other people are positive or negative. it is faster and i have to come to the airportjust two hours before the flight. translation: it's by chance my flight turned out to be this one. i didn't know it was. the airline called me yesterday. i think it's a good idea. it calm5 everyone down,

me and the other passengers. for now, two of alitalia's seven daily rome—milan flights demand the negative result to board, using government—run rapid testing at the airport. these are the guinea pigs of europe for a scheme designed not only to reassure passengers but also help air travel to recover and, if successful, this could be rolled out to other domestic and international routes. could this be a model to help passengers avoid quarantine rules in britain and elsewhere? we think this is a concept which can be applied throughout europe. one of the things that didn't work out during the last few months is much lack of co—ordination, so it's very important to join forces and to make a step ahead, again, forming, as i said, clean, sanitised, covid—free corridors, which do not observe any other restrictions on arrival. rome's airport testing unit has been running for a month already for arrivals from croatia,

spain, greece and malta, and now for passengers to milan. the result from a swab comes after a quick, half—hour wait. translation: this was a political decision that italy made to protect the health of our population as much as possible and to stop positive cases coming through the border and, until there is a vaccine available, this will probably be the future. an industry crushed by covid is trying to make us all feel safe again. italy, once the global epicentre, is hoping to lead the way to pandemic—safe skies. mark lowen, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's nick miller. it's a glorious september day out there. blue sky, wales and indeed much of the uk, as you can see. on the satellite picture, just north

and scotland theme more cloud