large areas of northern england are placed under strict new coronavirus restrictions, as cases rise. with parts of the north west, the midlands, and west yorkshire affected from tuesday, it means more than ten million people across the uk are now under stricter measures. it comes as the government considers further nationwide measures for england — a so—called circuit break of short—term restrictions. the hope that we have as a nation, of avoiding a full blown national lockdown, is that everybody comes together, and follows the rules that are in place now. new figures suggest that on average infections are rising by 6,000 per day in england. we'll bring you all the latest.

the other main stories this lunchtime care homes in england are to get more free protective equipment, as part of new plans for social care to deal with infections. the 90—minute covid test that doesn't need a lab for analysis. and the return of gareth bale — he's on his way to tottenham, on loan for a season from real madrid. and coming up in sport on bbc news... ahead of their premier league opener, manchester united say they asked for mason greenwood to be rested and not called up by england for the nations league. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. further large areas of the north of england and the midlands are to face tighter coronavirus restrictions, to try to tackle

rising infection rates. people in the north west, including merseyside, warrington, halton and lancashire will face limits on socialising, and a 10pm closing time for hospitality and leisure venues from next tuesday. in parts of the midlands, such as wolverhampton, there will be new restrictions on socialising with people outside your own household or support bubble, and similar measures will be enforced in west yorkshire, in bradford, kirklees, and calderdale. well, the measures cover a wider area than had been expected, and come amid increasing evidence of a rise in coronavirus cases across the country — with new figures suggesting an average of 6,000 new cases a day in england between the fourth and 10th of september. jon donnison has more. in spennymoor in county durham, the fear is lockdown is coming back. from today, across much of the north—east, people are now banned

from mixing with other households indoors and pubs have been ordered to shut at ten o'clock, after a rise in coronavirus cases. i think it should have be done a lot earlier than what it been. definitely. but nobody adheres to it, all of the pubs are back open, the kids are running around the streets. you know, there is nothing in place. you very rarely see a policeman. sandra clayton very rarely see a policeman. sandra clayto n ru ns very rarely see a policeman. sandra clayton runs the local sweet shop. she welcomes the new restrictions, and is worried any further measures could badly affect her business. it's very, very difficult. i only opened a year ago, and i've been closed for three months of that year. so it's just... closed for three months of that year. so it'sjust... a matter of plodding on, and see what happens. they've got to do something to get rid of it. it's like fighting a war again something you can't see. just down the road, the cancer charity shop that mark runs has also been

hit hard. he agrees tighter local restrictions are needed, but says people are confused about all of the different rules. all of our volunteers, we are making them wear masks. but if you go into other shops, the staff don't have to do. i think the public are looking at, well, what do we need to do? some people are, some people aren't. that's the problem, its mixed messages. the government has to say, you have to do this and everybody has to follow it. the north-east is farfrom alone. this morning, the government mark lowen and similar restrictions will be introduced next week in parts of merseyside, the midlands, west yorkshire and lancashire. the measures are in response to what officials say are major increases in covid—i9 rates. there is no getting away from it, nearly every single borough and district in lancashire, it is spiking. the numbers are scary. it does appear it is getting out of control. clearly, something has to be done. the numbers don't lie. it's

particularly the last two weeks, since the schools have gone back, people going back to work, there has been a significant increase. so, while much of the talk today is of the possibility of a second nationwide lockdown across england coming, and increasingly large chunk of the country is already living under tighter local restrictions. jon donnison, bbc news. let's speak to our correspondent michael cowan who's in liverpool. michael, how has this news been received? early reaction from local leaders to this news this lunchtime has been largely positive. many of them have been warning for several weeks of spiralling cases across the region, and, crucially for them, they say implementing measures now will mean less restrictive measures further down the line. those measures could be damaging to the economy. their instructions are

coming in place from tuesday. that is going to be across parts of the north—west, the midlands and west yorkshire. and they are going to be similarto yorkshire. and they are going to be similar to the north—east. that means residents can't socialise with people outside their homes or in gardens. hospitality venues will have table service only and public transport can't be used except for essential journeys. we transport can't be used except for essentialjourneys. we know that the rate here is substantially higher than the north—east. newcastle, for example, has 67 cases per 100,000. here, it is 106 per 100,000. this news has received well by local leaders. it is now up to them to see how locals respond to the restrictions. michael, thank you. as well as the widening of local restrictions, the government is considering tougher measures across england, due to the rise in cases. the so—called circuit break would involve temporary measures such as restrictions on hospitality. the health secretary matt hancock said the government is prepared to do what it takes to protect

lives and livelihoods, but that it wants to avoid a second full—scale lockdown. our health correspondent richard galpin reports it was hoped pictures like these patients in hospitals fighting coronavirus was something the past. but the number of hospitalisations is again increasing. at a much lower level than before, but still doubling around every eight days. the government, now considering reintroducing nationwide restrictions for several weeks to try to slow down this second surge of the virus. we want to avoid a national lockdown, but we are prepared to do it if we need to. the hope that we have as a nation is that everybody comes together and follows the rules that are in place now. the rule of six, and then the local restrictions where they are, and the basics of hands, face and space. if these new restrictions are

implemented in the coming days, it could hit the hospitality industry in particular. some parts may have to close. ba rs in particular. some parts may have to close. bars and restaurants could have their opening hours are limited. for those in this industry, even just limited. for those in this industry, evenjust raising this limited. for those in this industry, even just raising this issue limited. for those in this industry, evenjust raising this issue in public is already damaging.“ evenjust raising this issue in public is already damaging. if you are talking about national restrictions on hospitality, every time ministers talk about national restrictions, it further dense consumer confidence, so we can see a dip in football, we can see a dip in revenue. all of these businesses that are clinging on by their fingertips at the moment. all this, the labour party says, the result of the labour party says, the result of the government's mishandling of the crisis. particularly this, the crucial testing system for the virus, which is currently under considerable strain. the demand for tests, 32 four times greater than capacity. if those restrictions come m, capacity. if those restrictions come in, i'm afraid it is because the government failed to fix testing and tracing. before the summer, we were

warning the government that as we head into autumn and winter, unless we have an effective testing and tracing system in place, we could be heading into a very bleak winter indeed. we don't need to be in this situation. the government would want schools to remain open if the new restrictions are implement it. but according to a snap survey by the school leaders union, more than four in five schools have children isolated because they cannot access a test, and a similar portion who can't attend because they are waiting for test results. in scotland, tougher restrictions have also been imposed in recent weeks, particularly in the glasgow area. the scottish government is watching carefully what is happening in england. across the uk, this is particularly the case in england right now, hospital admissions are rising. icu admissions are rising, too. while this is in england now,

it should sound a warning signal for us it should sound a warning signal for us in scotland, too. today, the latest sign of how much the viruses affecting our lives, it's been announced the traditional new year's eve fireworks display has been cancelled. 0ur political correspondentjess parker is in westminster. it feels like it is a crucial few days ahead. yes, i think it is clear that government ministers and scientists are deeply worried and are weighing up their options, including the possibility of further restrictions across england. that is not the same as a national lockdown. but it is different to what we have been seeing, which is local restrictions. i say local, been seeing, which is local restrictions. isay local, local been seeing, which is local restrictions. i say local, local has increasingly become regional, affecting vast swathes of the country and millions of people. in terms of the government priorities going forward with these restrictions, i don't think there will be prioritising people's social lives on social interactions.

ministers have been pretty clear that schools, and more broadly the economy, will come first. across the uk in the last hour we have heard from the snp first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon. she described this weekend is critical. she is calling for an emergency cobra meeting between the four nations. that call has been echoed by the labour first minister of wales, mark dra keford, by the labour first minister of wales, mark drakeford, who wants to discuss issues including challenges over testing. in westminster, discuss issues including challenges overtesting. in westminster, no final decisions get made. ministers poring over the latest data, including the impact the rule of six has had. but more broadly, after a loosening of the reins to some extent over recent months, they are beginning to tighten again and more and more of us are going to feel it. many thanks. nearly 60,000 people in england had covid—19 in the week between september four and ten, according to new figures from the office for national statistics, which also suggest an average of 6,000 new cases a day.

the figures do not include people in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings. with me now is the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe. just put into some perspective, how bad is this? those figures are probably up about half in a week, but that is still nowhere near where we we re but that is still nowhere near where we were at the start of the summer. we can show the data to the audience now, we can remind ourselves that the data are so important because they are swabbing people at random. the changes that they see here, it is not going to be driven by the number of people coming forward to test or slow is a testing turnaround times. when we look at the charge, we are seeing 60,000 people in homes in england infected in the most recent data sets, compared to 40,000 a week before, up about 50%. that is a week before, up about 50%. that is a sharp increase. it is still way below where it was a while ago. but the debate isn't now about whether we should expect cases to go up, it is about how fast they go up from now on. we are seeing the number of new infections, the daily number of

infections, that has nearly doubled ina infections, that has nearly doubled in a week. we have seen hospitalisations rise quite sharply in england, although not necessarily in scotland, wales or northern ireland. it is this data that we will be looking at closely. there is good reason to hope that the increase in infections will not translate into more very sick people or more people dying as quickly as they did in the past, but we should expect rises to come, it is just a matter of how quickly and what we need to do to control them. many thanks. scientists say a rapid coronavirus test has been developed which can accurately diagnose an infection within 90 minutes — without needing a specialist laboratory. the device, which has been called a lab—on—a—chip, is already being used in eight nhs hospitals and the government has ordered more. 0ur health correspondent james gallagherjoins me now. is this a potential gamechanger? well, the glory of this test is that

ican do well, the glory of this test is that i can do it, you can do it, anybody who can get a sample from up the nose of the back of the throat can use this technology. 0nce nose of the back of the throat can use this technology. once you have your sample, you put it inside a little cartridge, and the lead researcher at imperial college london explains how it works. this is the cartridge, and we take a test in the normal way — it would be a swab that goes directly into a port within the cartridge. inside the cartridge there are a number of chambers which have the reaction that would normally take place in a lab. but it all happens within the cartridge, so that is secure, it is put into a box, and the box can sit in a&e, close to the patient, and it means that we can get the result within 90 minutes, and potentially introduce the treatment for the patient rapidly, and with more confidence than we could do it before. now, this study, which has been published in the lancet, compared to this test against the standard laboratory this test against the standard la boratory tests this test against the standard laboratory tests that already take place. and it showed that the a ccu ra cy place. and it showed that the accuracy is roughly the same. now you asked the really important

question, is this a game changer? you have to think quite carefully about how you use the test in order to a nswer about how you use the test in order to answer that. if you are a doctor and a patient comes into your hospital and they are coughing and spluttering everywhere, and you need to know quickly, is this a coronavirus patient or not, it's incredibly useful. but if you are running the government's test and trace programme and struggling to keep up, this is not your salvation. each one of these boxes can only perform 16 tests a day, if they are running 24 hours a day. they are not going to be able to do the mass population screening that the test on trace programme needs. the time is 1:15. our top story this lunchtime... tighter restrictions are to come into force in lancashire, merseyside, parts of the midlands and west yorkshire after significant increases in covid—19 cases. sales of household goods, particularly diy and home improvements, drive up retail sales. coming up on bbc news...

spurs fans are looking forward to gareth bale making his way back from real madrid to tottenham, the club he left seven years ago for a world record fee. israel has become the first developed country to return to a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, after a surge in new cases. the restrictions are due to last for three weeks, and will cover the jewish holiday season. israelis are now banned from travelling more than 500 metres from their homes, and there are tight restrictions on the number of people allowed at indoor gatherings. the prime minister benjamin neta nyahu has warned that he won't hesitate to impose harsher restrictions if necessary. 0ur middle east correspondent yolande knell reports. getting ready for the jewish new year. and a new lockdown. crowded ultra—0rthodox neighbourhoods in israel are among the hot spots where covid cases have

jumped, pushing the infection rate up to one of the highest in the world. synagogues are at the heart of religious communities. we are only allowed to have sometimes ten, sometimes 20, depending on the regulations. but strict rules now mean few can gather inside. it's a remarkable time of the year, the most exceptional time of the year in thejewish calendar, and people are not going to be able to pray in their usual prayer areas, in their synagogues, they will not be able to be with family. shalom! soldiers have been drafted in to lead the battle against the virus. this is the new war room in tiber, an arab town. trained for very different security threats, israel's military is taking over testing and contact tracing. same system that goes with the missiles from gaza, the same people are working in assessment every day in order

to bring all the information as quickly as we can to the city, in order to stop all the sicknesses and the covid—19. stay at home is again the message here. but the new lockdown to deal with the public health emergency is only going to deepen israel's economic crisis. unemployment is at a record high — many businesses are failing, leading to mounting criticism of the government. this closure, i hope they are going to end this story once and for all. this new mother, who has already lost herjob, does not believe it will. it's going to be worse than now. it didn't work in the first time, it's not going to work in the second time. earlier this year, when israel's tight controls quickly stopped the first wave of covid—19, it was seen as setting

a world example. now, as it heads into another painful shutdown, many other countries will be hoping to avoid following its lead. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. sales of household goods, particularly diy and home improvements, drove up retail sales between july and august, new figures show. retail sales are now 4% higher than in february, when the pandemic was declared. i'm joined by our economics correspondent dharshini david. a rare glimmer of good news? take a look at that picture you can see what has been going on, people in lockdown thinking we need a bit of a make over, so that has helped us to push retail sales but there is a serious reason we need the lock carefully at the monthly look into the shopping baskets, that is because retail sales make up a quarter of the economy, so let us look at what has been going on, as you say what we have seen is that massive dip where we had the

lockdown earlier in the year end a recovery so we are back above what we we re recovery so we are back above what we were prepandemic, so encouraging news overall, but if we break it down more, winners and losers, clothing sales for example, down by almost 16% there. on the other hand and this one is not going to surprise you at all, online sales, almost 50% up where we were in february, so a real change there. but if you are a retailer or if you area but if you are a retailer or if you are a policy maker in government, what you are worried about is not how much we are spending or buying, by why? take clothing for example. isn't the case we do have the funds to buy more but we are reluctant to go out or frankly don't want to buy if we can't try on. in that case there is hope for the economy. 0n there is hope for the economy. 0n the other hand, if we are not spending on the extras because we are worried about finances orjob, we may need more support. that means the chancellor look closely uart shopping bills a#40e6d the budget to work out whether he needs to give us that little bit extra. thank you.

thank you. the royal mint says it's not planning to make any new two pence, or two pound coins in the next ten years, as demand has dropped. with more of us using contactless payments, the mint says there is a "mountain" of unused coins in storage. three in ten purchases were made using cash in 2019, compared to six out of ten a decade earlier. but there are warnings of access to cash becoming harder for those who rely on it. harvey weinstein has been stripped of his honorary cbe, following his conviction for rape and sexual assault earlier this year. the former hollywood film producer had been awarded the title for his contribution to the british film industry in 2004. he was sentenced to 23 years in prison in march. next week the controversial internal market bill is due to return to the commons. the bill overrides part of the brexit withdrawal agreement reached with the eu. at the heart of this latest escalation, is the thorny issue

of where customs checks should be between the uk and the eu. but as ros atkins explains, it's about much more than customs paperwork. 0ne puzzle has been there from the start of the brexit story. theresa may lost her job trying to solve it. borisjohnson wants to break international law to address it. and everyone is taking an interest. don't mess with the good friday accords. with peace in northern ireland at stake, let's look at why the irish border question won't go away. the challenge has always been to reconcile three things. the first is the eu single market. it allows free market of goods, people, services and capital, and the eu protects it. anything coming in or out is tracked. the second thing was captured by borisjohnson in 2016. i believe that this thursday can be our country's independence day. for some of its supporters, brexit is an assertion of national sovereignty. and leaving the eu single market is part of that. which leads us to the third thing.

and this is the complicater. if the uk leaves the single market, the question is, where to put the checks. and this then becomes about history and about geography. northern ireland is part of the uk. for years, a violent conflict played out between nationalists, who wanted to be part of the republic of ireland, and unionists, who wanted to stay in the uk. in 1998, the good friday agreement ended that conflict. it also ended military checks on the border. and ever since, checks of any type on the border are politically unthinkable. which brings us to the geography. if there can't be checks on the irish border, well, the map points you towards checks perhaps in the irish sea. would the uk government agree to that? well, in 2018, the eu floated the idea. theresa may famously replied, no uk prime minister could ever agree to this. instead, mrs may proposed a backstop, a plan where the uk remained aligned to the eu single market until a new trade deal was done. no, said brexiteer mps. and soon, theresa may was gone. and borisjohnson arrived with a big

shift a few saw coming. in 2019, he met ireland's leo varadkar and offered to accept some checks on the irish sea. it stunned uk politics. but he got a deal with the eu, forced an election, won the election. it was a huge political coup. from there, brexit happened and trade talks began. but as they struggled to progress, boris johnson delivered his second big shift. during the election campaign, he told us his brexit deal was oven—ready. but mrjohnson's view of his deal changed, and he directed his government to do this. this does break international law in a very specific and limited way. uk is now seeking to override parts of the withdrawal agreement, and accuses the eu wanting a border in the irish sea, even though the withdrawal agreement which the uk agreed explicitly creates a regulatory border in the irish sea. and so, we have the government attacking a deal that it sold to the country, and we return right to where we started. the square may get circled, but if there was an easy answer,

someone would have thought of it by now. free personal protective equipment for care workers, and a new role of chief nurse are among measures the government will introduce as part of a winter action plan for social care. what more do we know about this? we know the headlines from the government but as yet the report itself, the plan hasn't been published so we haven't been able to scrutinise the detail but we are told it will include free protective equipment for social care, notjust ca re equipment for social care, notjust care homes, home care and supported living and we have seen the costs of providing that equipment raise very high over the last months, so that will be welcome, the chief nurse is there to provide leadership for the sector, and care providers will be

told that they must limit the movement of staff between homes and other settings to reduce the spread of infection. now, the money that you and i discussed yesterday, the infection control fund money was there to help ensure that staff are paid properly, if they have to limit their work. that is the carrot. today we will hear about the stick, which is the government saying it will strengthen regulation and monitoring, and that it will take strong action where improvements are required or staff movement isn't happening. directors of council care services say this is welcome, but they haven't seen enough extra funding come in to help with increased demand, which is expected over the winter, particularly in home care, and the other burning issueis home care, and the other burning issue is family visits to care homes, it is really upsetting a lot of people, who aren't seeing enough of people, who aren't seeing enough of their relatives, there is a suggestion there may be guidance on this, we are not clear when. my

understanding is that it is likely to be around clarity round what you can do according to the risk level ofan area, can do according to the risk level of an area, again, this can do according to the risk level ofan area, again, this is can do according to the risk level of an area, again, this is still being discussed and we are not clear when we will hear more about it. ok, many thanks alison. gareth bale looks like he's on his way back to tottenham hotspurfrom real madrid. the wales international is set to sign a season—long loan at the north london club. it's understood he's currently on his way to spurs' training ground. 0ur sports correspondent joe wilson has more. 0lder, richer — sure. better? well, spurs can hope. here's a chance for bale to seal it. and gareth bale! cardiff born and raised, tottenham is his second home. his performances there first time around convinced real madrid that bale was the most valuable player on earth. worth 100 million euros in 2013. how much magic is left? he's just a special player.

i think this is an amazing signing for tottenham. i mean, i was looking at tottenham a week ago and thinking i can't see any way they're going to make the top four this year. i thought they would do well to finish top six, and suddenly this has changed everything. gareth coming in, now i'm looking at tottenham and thinking, yeah, certainly you would be disappointed if they didn't make the top four. step to the right, chest puffed out and strike, and strike brilliantly. bale inspired wales to new heights in 2016. his pride and passion has always glowed for his country. for madrid, well, man of the match in a champions league final. remember him that way. what about that? but along with the trophies and the goals, things soured. bale said he enjoyed his nickname, the golfer. he struggled to impress his manager, paid millions on the sideline, in madrid the adoration was over. in tottenham? it's just resuming. i'm finally wearing my bale shirts again. it is so exciting. like, oh, i think we are all so excited to finally get those off and all the memories that he brings

back, and hopefully we can build new memories with an even bigger squad, a better squad. he'll definitely feel the love from us, and hopefully we can go back to a stadium and start singing his name again, and that would be amazing. spurs have a stadium which is the envy of the world — a stadium of of course currently without fans. covid may be wrecking sport's finances, spurs will still invest in gareth bale's wages. if it brings success and smiles in, football logic, he will be worth it. joe wilson, bbc news. let me show you these live scenes outside the training ground for totte n ha m , outside the training ground for tottenham, all these people waiting along with the world's media, waiting for gareth bale to arrive. and we will of course bring you more on the bbc news channel.

have you ever heard an alligator breathe in helium to speak in a funny voice? you're about to. listen to the second pair of sounds here. grunting. scientists did this experiment to try and understand how the reptiles communicate with each other, and won an ig nobel prize for it. they're awarded for research that seems ridiculous, but is also thought—provoking. time for a look at the weather. here's ben. good afternoon, not a bad afternoon for drying the washing, most dry with sunshine and across the southern half of the uk there is a decent breeze blowing. it stays breezy into the weekend otherwise plane sailing for most, there is just the chance of a shower across the south, because of this swirl of cloud, an area of low pressure, that