this is bbc news. the headlines... new restrictions announced for parts of the north—west, the midlands, and west yorkshire from tuesday. around 12.5 million people around the uk will be 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. 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. further large areas of the north of england and the midlands are to face tighter coronavirus restrictions, to try to tackle rising infection rates. the stringent measures are in response to what ministers say are "major increases" in covid—19 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. the measures cover a wider area than had been expected. latest figures suggest an average of 6,000 new cases a day in england between the 4th and 10th of september. the uk's reinfection or r rate is up to 1.1 to 1.11. that's up from 1.0—1.2 last week, and is increasing evidence of a rise in coronavirus cases across the country. jon donnison reports. 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 had been.

definitely. but nobody adheres to it, all of the pubs are back open, the kids are running around the streets. you know, there's nothing in place. you very rarely see a policeman. sandra clayton runs the local sweet shop. she welcomes the new restrictions, but 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'sjust... a matter of plodding on, and seeing what happens. we have to do something to get rid of it. it's like fighting a war against something we can't see. just down the road, the cancer charity shop mark solen 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 make them wear masks.

but if you go into other shops, the staff don't have to. so i think the public are looking at, well, what do we need to do? some people are, some people aren't. i think that's the problem, it's mixed messages. the government needs to say, "right, you have to do this and everybody has to follow it." and the north—east is farfrom alone. this morning, the government anounced similar restrictions will be introduced from 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—19 rates. unfortunately, there's no getting away from it, nearly every single borough and district in lancashire, it's spiking. the numbers are scary. it does appear it's getting out of control. clearly, something has to be done. the numbers don't lie. it's particularly the last two weeks that we've seen it start to increase significantly, 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, an increasingly large chunk of the country is already living under tighter local restrictions. jon donnison, bbc news. 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, of patients in hospitals fighting coronavirus, was something the past. ready, steady, 90. 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're 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, while bars and restaurants could have their opening hours are limited. for those in this industry, even just raising this issue in public is already damaging. if you're talking about national restrictions on hospitality, every time ministers talk about national restrictions, it further dents consumer confidence.

so we can see a dip in footfall, we can see a dip in revenue for these businesses that are clinging on by their fingertips at the moment. all this, the labour party says, the result of the government's mishandling of the coronavirus crisis. particularly this, the crucial testing system for the virus, which is currently under considerable strain. the demand for tests, three to four times greater than capacity. if those restrictions come in, i'm afraid it's because the government failed to fix testing and tracing. back in the summer, or 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. so we didn't need to be in this situation. the government would want schools to remain open if these new restrictions are implemented. but according to a snap survey by the school leaders union, the naht, more than four in five schools in england have children

isolating because they can't access a test, and a similar portion who can't attend because they're 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's happening in england. across the uk, this is particularly the case in england right now, hospital admissions are rising. icu admissions are rising, too. and while this is particularly the case in england right now, this should sound a warning signal for us here in scotland, too. in wales, ceiling criticism of boris johnson in wales, ceiling criticism of boris johnson in this most difficult week there has been no meeting offered to first ministers of any sort. since the 20th of may, months ago now, there has been just

the 20th of may, months ago now, there has beenjust one brief telephone call from the prime minister. i think that is simply u na cce pta ble minister. i think that is simply unacceptable to anyone who believes that we should be facing the coronavirus crisis together. today, in the latest sign of how much the viruses today, in the latest sign of how much the virus is affecting our lives, it's been announced the traditional new year's eve fireworks display has been cancelled. richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent jessica parker told me that the moves that are being taken was a sign that there is worry in westminster about how the fight against the coronavirus is going. i think it is clear that government ministers and scientists are deeply worried and they are weighing up their options, including a possibility of further restrictions across england. now, that is not the same as a national lockdown. but it is different to what we have been seeing,

which have been 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's priorities going forward with these restrictions, i don't think there will be prioritising people's social lives, their social interactions. ministers have been pretty clear that schools, and more broadly the economy, as well, 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 drakeford, who wants to discuss issues including challenges over testing. here in westminster, no final decisions yet made. ministers poring over the latest data, including the impact the rule of six, which came into force in england on monday, 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. we've had an update this afternoon about the r number, that's the rate at which people get infected with the virus. it's estimated the r number for the whole of the uk is now between1.1 and 1.11. 0ur health correspondent lauren moss is here. just put this into some context for us. just put this into some context for us. what does it mean? it's another indication that the rate of infection is growing, more people are confirmed as having the virus and to remind you of what that r number is, it's the number of people and infected person can pass the virus on to. estimated between 1.1 and 1.4that virus on to. estimated between 1.1 and 1.4 that means on average every ten people will go on to infect between 11 and 14 other people. to put this in context more widely, it was estimated last week to be between one and 1.2. that was the first time it had gone above one since march but before locking it was much higher than that, more than

three, trebling in that sort of thing, it really does go hand—in—hand with what we are seeing in terms of case numbers. more than 3000 confirmed cases again yesterday and the health secretary matt hancock said this morning that he is seeing hospitalisation doubling every eight days. the r number is worked out by the scientific advisory group for emergencies in the data tends to have a bit of a large on it because it's looking at cases, patients that need ventilated treatment and the number of deaths as well. there is a three—week delay roughly on those new case numbers, infections, being passed on in people becoming really a leading metric might as well. so that number is estimated between 1.1 and 1.4 for the whole of the uk, certain areas where the little bit, this data is not bang up—to—date for today, there isa not bang up—to—date for today, there is a few weeks delay on it. always lots of that come out on a friday and we have had otherfigures from the office of national statistics will support picture do they paint?

the same sort of thing? yes basically. this is what we have seen for the last couple of weeks. the 0ffice for the last couple of weeks. the office for national statistics is the household infection survey for england and wales and last friday estimated there were around 3200 new cases in england every day. today the estimate that has gone up to 6000 new cases a day in england so by roughly half in terms of the numbers when you break them down further, they think roughly 60,000 cases in the last week it is measuring up to the 10th of september. so again another week delay on that and these figures putting further into context based on 136 positive tests from 290,000 swa bs ta ke n on 136 positive tests from 290,000 swa bs ta ken over on 136 positive tests from 290,000 swabs taken over the last weeks so it's not all of england —— 2009000. it does show that looking likely to be one in 900 people have coronavirus with as last week it was one in 1400 sow their numbers

steadily climbing and again that's why more restrictions have been introduced in certain parts of the country where the infection rate is higher. and at half past three this afternoon, we'll be trying to answer your questions on the coronavirus pandemic with our experts, linda bauld, professor of public health and tim spector, professor of genetic epidemiology. dojoin us then if you can. the headlines on bbc news... new restrictions will come into force for parts of the north—west, the midlands, and west yorkshire from tuesday, to tackle rising coronavirus infections. it comes as the government considers further nationwide measures for england, a so—called circuit break of short term restrictions. new figures suggest that on average infections are rising by 6,000 per day in england.

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. i asked our health correspondent james gallagher if this was a potential gamechanger. the glory of this test is that i can do it, you can do it, anybody who can takea do it, you can do it, anybody who can take a swab and put it up their nose or get a sample from the back of their throat can use this technology. 0nce of their 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, a swab which 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 happens within the

cartridge, so that is secure, put into a box in the box can sit in a&e, close to the patient and it means we can get the result within 90 minutes and potentially introduce treatment for the patient rapidly with more confidence than we could do before. this study which has been published compared this test against the standard laboratory test which ta ke the standard laboratory test which take place and showed the accuracy is roughly the same. that's a really important question, is this a game changer, you have to think quite carefully about how you use the test in order to be able 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? then it's incredible useful. but if you are running the government test and trace programme and are struggling with capacity and to keep up, then this is not your salvation. because each one of these boxes can only perform 16 tests a day, if they are running 24 hours a day, if they are running 24 hours a day, so they are not going to be

able to do the mass population screening the test and trace programme needs. 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 netanyahu has warned that he wont 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. 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

sales of household goods, particularly in the diy and home improvements sector, drove up retail sales betweenjuly and august, new figures show. retail sales are now 4% higher than in february, when the pandemic was declared. 0ur economics correspondent dharshini david gave me more details about the figures. look at that picture, you can see what has been going on. people looking at walls thinking we need a makeover so that has pushed retail sales but there is a serious reason why we need to look carefully at the monthly look into the nation shopping basket and that's because retail sales make up a quarter of our economy, thereabouts so let's look at what's been going on because as you say, what has been that massive dip earlier in the year and then a recovery so we are back above pre—pandemic so if we break it down winners and losers, clothing sales down by almost 16% and this one,

almost 50% online sales where we we re almost 50% online sales where we were in february so a real change there but if you are a retailer or policymaker in government what you are worried about is notjust a much we're spending or what we're buying but why. take clothing for example, is it the case we do have the funds to buy more but simply reluctant to go out and face restrictions or frankly don't want to buy if we cannot try on, in that case there is hope for the economy. 0n the other hand, if we're not spending on is because we are worried about finances orjobs we may need more support. that means the chancellor will be looking very closely at our shopping bills ahead of that budget to work out whether he needs to give us to work out whether he needs to give us that bit extra. 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. i asked our social affairs correspondent alison holt what more we know about this action plan.

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, not just care homes, home care and supported living and we have seen the costs of providing that equipment rise 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 issue is family visits to care homes, it is really upsetting a lot 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 of an area, but again, this is still being discussed and we are not clear when we will hear more about it. experts are warning of further distru ption to cancer services should the government introduce more stringent restrictions. figures from the charity cancer research uk suggest that in the 18 weeks since the start of the first lockdown in march, around 3 million people have missed out on cancer screening. the data also says that there have been 315,000 fewer urgent suspected

cancer referrals and nearly 40,000 fewer cancer treatments in that time. professor gordon wishart is the chief medical officer of the early cancer detection company check for cancer and a visiting professor of cancer surgery at anglia ruskin school of medicine. good afternoon. if you are having less, many fewer people being screened, then inevitably there are going to be fewer referrals and treatments. but has screening not started up again in this intervening time between march and now? to my knowledge, screaming still remains suspended in scotland, wales and northern ireland and i think only very early steps have been taken to restart it in england. and we are now close to six months since the start of lockdown and we normally offer screening to over 10 million patients a year, so we're talking

about millions of patients who have not received their end invitation during the last six months and he are quite right to say the principle of screening is to pick up cancer as early as possible before symptoms arise and that contributes to improved survival and less treatment for those patients. so what can be done about coping about doing something about this backlog?|j think something about this backlog?” think one of the problems is that the government hasn't really acknowledged the enormity of the backlog. far less, but the plan to do anything about it. i don't think we can expect the nhs to cope with this massive backlog while trying to restart cancer services. we know the productivity is down in the nhs because of the increased safety measures that have to be taken. and i think measures that have to be taken. and ithink in measures that have to be taken. and i think in order to clear the backlog the nhs would have to work at 135% productivity to clear that backlog over the next six months so

i think, i would like to see this become a government priority. we know that they can move quickly with funding if they need to and they showed that with building the nightingale hospitals and with creating extra laboratory capacity. but i think left of the nhs alone, i'm just concerned the patients will be abandoned. are you suggesting using private services as well? the nhs still has access to a proportion of the private hospital network and we know the money has been allocated to the nhs to work with the private sector over the next few years, something like £10 billion but i would say that money is needed right now because otherwise we are going to see an enormous amount of excess cancer deaths, which if we go into any kind of second lockdown, will only get worse. so i got a feeling that something needs to be done about this now, otherwise patients that missed out on screening or

diagnosis as you said, during the last six months, will feel abandoned and will feel there is no plan being activated to look after them. we have also heard repeatedly of patients being worried about going into hospitalfor patients being worried about going into hospital for treatment that is not covid—19 related because of the fear of catching covid—19. not covid—19 related because of the fear of catching covid-19. yes, i think that has been a huge fear about seeing your gp and going to hospital. we know based on the figures for march to june hospital. we know based on the figures for march tojune of this year that there were 13 7000 fewer cancer admissions so this is a huge scale, people are missing out on treatment, having treatment delayed, they cannot access further investigations and scans if they have warning signs, so we are really ina cancer have warning signs, so we are really in a cancer crisis and it could be catastrophic if this is allowed to continue. and for somebody who has developed a cancer in these months

where they haven't been screened, how important is it for them to have got early treatment? yes, i think that differs from cancer to cancer, we currently screen in the nhs for breast, bowel and cervical cancer and while the delay of 3—6 months in diagnosis may not make a huge difference to breast cancer it can have a really overpowering effect on the outcome for bowel cancer for insta nce the outcome for bowel cancer for instance and 3—6 months could delay could be the difference tina bowel cancer being curable or not curable or —— difference between. 0r inoperable or operable. so it varies between cancers but for cancer like lung cancer, bowel cancer which tend to present late in any case, further delays could really make a big difference to those patients. 0k, very good to talk to you. thank you very good to talk to you. thank you

very much. thank you. now it's time for a look at the weather. a brisk breeze across england and wales but for most looking dry and settled with sunny spells. just the risk of a shower down towards the south. through the rest of the afternoon rather breezy across central and southern england, parts of wales just taken the edge of full—size of 22, further north and good spells of sunshine although thicker cloud will persist across northern scotland with the odd spot of drizzle and that cloudy murky weather could slide a bit further inland as we go through tonight. at the same time some showers start to show their hand across the channel islands and as we go through tomorrow those showers could drift into southern counties of england, possibly south wales, for most drive through the day with spells of sunshine although thick cloud will continue to affect some parts of north—east scotland. 17 in aberdeen, 23 in london, go for the north sea

coast, the wind in the south—eastern by sunday and it looks dry for the vast majority.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... new restrictions announced for parts of the north west, the midlands, and west yorkshire from tuesday, to tackle rising coronavirus infections. 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 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. care homes in england are to get

more free protective equipment, as part of new plans for social care to deal with infections. a rapid coronavirus test has been developed which can accurately diagnose an infection within 90 minutes — without needing a specialist laboratory. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's chetan. we're waiting for news of gareth bale's return to tottenham. he's set to complete his loan move from real madrid today in the last hour or so he arrived at tottenham's training ground. spurs fa ns tottenham's training ground. spurs fans eagerly awaiting his return to the club seven years after he left. he could feature on sunday, as long as the deal gets over the line on time. it is no surprise the supporters can't wait. it is going to make the team better and bring a

lot of joy. what to make the team better and bring a lot ofjoy. what he brought to the club, all the memories and goals, i can't wait... it is really exciting. irememberseven years can't wait... it is really exciting. i remember seven years ago can't wait... it is really exciting. i remember seven years ago when he we nt i remember seven years ago when he went i was gutted. but you can't blame him, it was real madrid, relay, but now he has come back, it is brilliant. you will walk in and everyone will look at him, he's a superstar. you can't deny it. he will left us. from one transfer to another — thiago alcantara's move to liverpool may not have been officially announced yet, but he's said an emotional goodbye to bayern munich fans in a video on social media. he describes the german club as "marvellous" and says leaving was the most difficult decision of his career. the spain midfielder won the champions league with bayern last season, as well as seven consecutive bundesliga titles, four german cups and the club world cup. he's due to have his medical at liverpool today, after agreeing a four—year deal. manchester united manager

0le gunnar solskjaer says he asked england not to pick mason greenwood for the recent nations league games in iceland and denmark — a trip that led to greenwood being dropped from the england squad. he made his international debut in the victory over iceland, as did manchester city's phil foden, but video footage emerged of the pair breaching the squad's bio—secure bubble and they were both sent home. solskjaer says he warned england that greenwood needed a break before the start of the premier league season. i have to be honest enough to say i tried my best to give him a rest over the summer. the club, we are specifically and we pointed out he should have had a rest. he needs it mentally and physically after that season he had. first thing that happens is one he's called up, to his right there in the press. we've done whatever we can to protect him andi done whatever we can to protect him and i will keep on helping him.

tennis legend billyjean king has been speaking of her excitement at having the international, women's team competition, the fed cup, renamed after her. it's the first time such an honour has gone to a woman. the billiejean king cup finals, are scheduled for april in budapest. 0n the court we have equal prize money so that is taken care of, but really when you take a hard look, we don't have enough women coaches in our sport, line judges, administrators, executive positions for girls administrators, executive positions forgirls and administrators, executive positions for girls and women. we need to do that because, i fight for everyone, and whena that because, i fight for everyone, and when a woman fights for equality, that mean she is fighting for everybody. the early starters are on the course for the second round of the us open golf at winged foot in new york. lee westwood has made a poor start, he found a bunker at the first and two—putted from 50 feet for a bogey slipping down the leaderboard.

belgium's thomas pieters has a one shot lead. just ahead of the overnight leaderjustin thomas who'll get going later. you can follow the latest now on the bbc sport website. i'll have more for you throughout the afternoon. 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. there have been more than 15,000 fires in brazil's pantanal wetlands so far this year — triple the number recorded in the same period last year — that's according to data collected by brazil's national institute for space research. the fires have caused widespread destruction in one of the world s most bio—diverse areas, as mark lobel now reports. fires crackling. the world's most enviable wildlife — up in flames.

fires visible to astronauts in space, ripping apart one of the most biologically diverse habitats on earth. flames spreading at record rates from often deliberate fires amidst a devastating drought — causing carnage, killing thousands of rare creatures, some at risk of extinction. sandwiched between the country's rainforest, vast grasslands and paraguay‘s dry forests, brazil's pantanal should be a haven for animals. there was one rescue to smile about. this armadillo pup, with burns to its body, seen fleeing from a fire. it's a race against time for others to save the wounded wildlife, catching jaguars and porcupines before it's too late. but it's also a sad story of creatures desperate to cool off,

instead, consumed by the flames. environmentalists are blaming cattle farmers and ranchers, changing ocean temperatures have also contributed to dry conditions, as has accelerated deforestation in the amazon. all catastrophic news for the world's largest wetlands, home to animals, birds and plants, that thrive off the annual flooding that usually follows torrential rains. translation: the rains we get in the state of matto grosso, including the pantanal, comes from the amazon. with increasing deforestation in the amazon, other regions in south america will also suffer, as we are seeing this year, this extreme drought has caused many more fires than we have ever seen. brazil's president has been accused of not doing enough to put out the fires in his country. he's depowered environmental groups and called them "a cancer", hitting out at accusations he's not doing enough.

translation: brazil is the country that preserves the environment the most. some don't understand that. it's the country that suffers the most attacks from abroad regarding its environment. but there's no doubt he is presiding over an ecological crisis, with economic development being prioritised over environmental protections, and now, for many residents of this former sanctuary, it's too late. mark lobel, bbc news. joe biden has condemned donald trump's handling of the pandemic as "close to criminal", during one of his biggest televised events since becoming the democrats' candidate for us president. speaking at a drive—in campaign event in pennsylvania, he accused mr trump of deliberately playing down the impact of the virus, leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths. he does not want to see anything happen, it is all about his real action. it should be about the

american people, and they are in trouble, and by the way, his own cdc director contradicted him recently and said if you just wore this mask you would save between now and january another 100,000 lives. and so we have to be honest with the american people, they are tough, as a franklin roosevelt said, things get worse and worse before they get better and better, what you've got to level with the american people, there has never been a time when they have not been able to step up. this president should step down. this evening marks the start of thejewish new year, rosh hashanah. forjews around the world, it will be a very different holiday with socially distanced prayer and smaller family gatherings as they look back on the past year. special measures are now being taken to make sure the holiday is covid safe. let's talk now to rabbi bentzi sudak from the organisation chabad lubavitch uk which provides jewish education and social welfare and social welfare throught the uk.

good afternoon to you. for viewers who don't know, tell us more about rosh hashanah. what is all about and what usually happens? rosh hashanah is the jewish what usually happens? rosh hashanah is thejewish new what usually happens? rosh hashanah is the jewish new year. what usually happens? rosh hashanah is thejewish new year. the word roche doesn't mean you, the word is the head of the year. rosh hashanah commemorates the creation of humankind and our relationship with god and each of our individual purposesin god and each of our individual purposes in this world. rather than being a typical new year atmosphere, a party, thejewish new year atmosphere is one of introspection, prayer, specialfamily atmosphere is one of introspection, prayer, special family gatherings with special foods and in the synagogue itself it is almost like a wa ke synagogue itself it is almost like a wake up call. there is a rams horn thatis wake up call. there is a rams horn that is sounded. it is very important for people to hear and

even people who do not regularly attend the synagogue, the one day a year they will come in one of the two days they will come will be rosh hashanah, two days they will come will be rosh hasha nah, the two two days they will come will be rosh hashanah, the two days of rosh hashanah, the two days of rosh hashanah, tonight through to sunday and the day of atonement. there will be lots of changes this year and the family homes and synagogues. yes, everything is change. like i said, it is the one day everyone comes, the pillows they in any synagogue. because of social distancing synagogues have much smaller capacity. before the new regulations came out people are going to have a smaller many gatherings, outdoor gatherings in marquees of up to 30 people. now that is no longer possible because the minimum you need is ten and the government guidelines are six. a number of

people cannot make it to the synagogue and the other important pa rt synagogue and the other important part of the festival is the family gathering, the one time of the year we re gathering, the one time of the year were grandparents, cousins, everyone comes together and there is a maximum of six, so there are a tremendous amount of changes that people are having to adapt to very quickly. what people saying to you? are they coping with these very strict restrictions on what is a very important day? like everything else we have to adapt very quickly. what we have done is, one of the things we are prepared as a kit, a holiday kit that comes into peoples homes. and there there is a guide on to do on your own. 0ne homes. and there there is a guide on to do on your own. one of the customs are the special new fruit, there is a pack of that, the candles that you have to light and some

sweets because we want the year to be sweet. that's one of the ways people are dealing with this. this is called a chauffeur and we have this programme which brings gatherings and soundings to people outside their homes on as many streets as we can work people have requested and we have volunteers going round doing so so people can hear the without having to put themselves in danger or break the restrictions. you giving us a very vivid illustration there ofjust what is possible. what your message to people this year? the message to people this year on rosh hashanah especially s, our belief is that this world is like a garden rather than a jungle. and any garden, which is well landscaped, every flower has its place and purple to be there. ——

purpose to be there. at any given moment, wherever you are, you have been chosen to be in this world at the time that you are and the circumstances that you are for a specific purpose, and that's why you are here. it was in previous generations, it was you and it was i. we are all part of that carton. at any given time, there is a purpose each of us have to fulfil. —— part of the garden. the question on our minds shouldn't be of worry or anxiety, but what does the world need of me now? how can i help someone else, my family, myself? 0r what is the next action i must take? that will be a very comforting message to a lot of people. thank you forjoining us.

leaders in the north west of england have welcomed new lockdown restrictions but expressed disappointment at the government's handling of the pandemic. measures announced on friday for merseyside, lancashire and parts of cheshire will mean more than five million people in the north west of the country will be subject to lockdown restrictions, as measures are already in place in greater manchester. the mayor of liverpooljoe andersonjoins us now. do they welcome these measures? yeah, we do welcome them. we have to wait until tuesday for them to be enacted here and across the north west, so disappointing in that regard. it was expected because our infection rates are higher than the north—east. with the north—east restrictions being put in place yesterday, we expected similar for

liverpool and the liverpool city region, but also the north—west today. so it was well predicted. i welcome them because we have a real concern here about the infection rates climbing high, that it has given us some anxious moments. what is your understanding of why they don't come in until tuesday? is your understanding of why they don't come in untiltuesday? that is a question i think the government can only answer. we haven't been given any information as to why we are waiting until tuesday. i expected it to be from midnight tonight. we talk about the north—east was the day before and i think they were given round about 24 hours notice before that came into effect. i would have much rather have seen, as i said, midnight tonight being because of point. what worries me is people actually going and carrying on as normal, if you like. 0r and carrying on as normal, if you like. or some people possibly having, if you like, the last hurrah

and going out and if they have the virus and are mingling with other people who have the virus, the infection rate climbs. we have a people in hospital, around about 530 people in hospital, around about 530 people infected with covid in the city and, as i said, we have real concerns and anxieties about the number spreading. if it continues to spread, it means we will place further restrictions. as i believe probably the whole country well in the next couple of weeks. are you then asking residents to start taking these precautions now even though they won't have the same legal force as they do on tuesday? yes, absolutely, that is our message loud and clear here in liverpool, that we want individuals to take responsibility and families, communities, themselves, to actually follow the guidance now. it is the impact on their families, their

communities and schools, for instance, but also in the wider city economy. and the city is going to be impacted on if we don't arrest the increase of coronavirus infections here. my message to people is please follow those rules now and please start to respond in the way that we are urging you to do. we have been giving strong messages for the past couple of weeks, but unfortunately people have felt that they can carry on and, if you like, not this regard, but certainly not follow those guidelines and that is when we have seen the increases we have seen. a 500% increase in around about ten days is really not something that we expected and it is something that we expected and it is something that we expected and it is something that really worries us. and you are a university city, you've got university students arriving in the city now. do you have fears about what this might do

to the covid—19 situation? absolutely, we've been talking to the university, vice chancellors, staff at the university, talking to our public health director and his tea m our public health director and his team and asking them to engage with the universities and higher education institutions here. we have freshers week next week and we will see students return next week and the week after it. we have 20,000 stu d e nts the week after it. we have 20,000 students are expected to come to the city and that is a massive worry for us, because these students will go into communities, some of them will come from abroad and we are... from our point of view, doing as much as we possibly can. the fact that we haven't got test and trace facilities or the laboratory capacity to actually produce the results of those tests as quickly as we would like, that in itself is also a real concern for us. thank

you very much. nicola sturgeon has said scotland is facing the risk of ‘exponetial growth‘ in covid—19. speaking at today‘s press conference, the first minister said although cases were rising there was still time to prevent the virus getting out of control. the bottom line here is this virus is on the rise again. case numbers are not yet rising as fast as they were in march, but they are rising again and they are rising quite rapidly. the percentage of tests coming back positive is also not anywhere near as high as march but again it is rising. as i reported yesterday, the are number we believe is now above one. across the uk, this is particularly in england, hospital admissions are rising, i see you admissions are also rising and while this is particularly the case in england right now they should sound a warning signal

for us here in scotland as well. while for the past few weeks people might have taken comfort from the low levels of old and more vulnerable people contracting the virus, that picture is also beginning to change. our most recent data shows the percentage of cases in the older population is now beginning to rise as well. and looking more widely, we can observe that in broad terms, we might now be on, at an earlier stage on a similar path to that the first minister of wales has accused borisjohnson of a lack of engagement with other uk nations over coronavirus restrictions. mark drakeford said he‘d had just one phone call with the prime minister since the end of may. and in a daming conclusion, he said there was a "vacancy at the heart of the united kingdom". he was speaking at today‘s press conference in cardiff. they have been numerous problems this week with a lighthouse lab

system, people experiencing problems of booking ties and delays in getting the results. all of these issues need to be discussed at a uk level. by the four governments working together. but as far too often in this crisis, that opportunity has not been there. today, once again, i repeat my calls to the prime minister for proper engagement with the devolved governments of the united kingdom. in this most difficult week, there has been no meeting offered to first ministers of any sort. since the 28th of may, months ago now, there has been just one 28th of may, months ago now, there has beenjust one brief 28th of may, months ago now, there has been just one brief telephone call from the prime minister. i think that is simply unacceptable to

anyone who believes that we should be facing the coronavirus crisis together. buckingham palace has said that any decision made by barbados to remove the queen as its head of state, is for the island s government and people. the barbadian prime minister has said she wants the country to become a republic by november next year, when it will celebrate the 55th anniversary of its independence from britain. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell has this report. when prince harry visited barbados nearly four years ago, he brought a message from his grandmother. he said the people of the caribbean island had occupied a special place in the queen‘s heart since her visit at the time of its independence from britain in 1966. yet now, it appears, barbados is set to remove the queen as its head of state. after years of debate, the island‘s prime minister is determined to press ahead. we want to be able to control our own affairs by ensuring that

a barbadian child can aspire to be head of state. we believe the only reason it hasn‘t happened is because this is a vestige our colonial past. without rancour, without divisiveness, we are going to remove that. but we continue to accept that our relationship with the royal family, our relationship with the united kingdom, matters. in the same way that we are family to persons who come out of ghana, we are family to persons who come out of the united kingdom. and family still matters. and an island which has produced its share of notable figures is confident, according to its prime minister, of maintaining and enhancing its status as a republic with its own head of state. barbados has produced people who have been accomplished globally. we have had sir garfield sobers, who i think you know well. we have had sir everton weekes, he still holds records in cricket today that no other person has beaten. we have rihanna. we have dame nita barrow, who was head of the eminent persons group, the dismantling of apartheid

and the release of nelson mandela back in the early 1990s. we have had founding leaders like sir grantley adams and errol barrow, who were regarded in their time as among the best of emerging leaders from developing countries. so, i don‘t think that this is an issue that ought to concern anyone. within buckingham palace, officials are being diplomatic. this is a matterfor the government and people of barbados, they say. but, in a changing world, and with the inevitable transition at some point to a new monarch, they will be watching to see whether an island in the caribbean is a harbinger of wider changes among the nations which share the head of state with britain. nicholas witchell, bbc news. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with ben rich. good afternoon. a relatively quiet and settled we kind of weather is on the way. it will be breezy for parts of england and wales, mostly dry with sunny spells. just the chance of a shower towards the south because of an area

of low pressure that has been spinning close to iberia. this could throw one or two showers in and on the northern flank we‘ve got some brisk winds across england and wales in particular, southern areas — gusts of 30 or 40 mph. not as windy further north. hazy sunshine for most, thicker cloud for northern scotland with some patchy rain. through this evening and tonight we will see low cloud working its way through north—east scotland, perhaps the odd patch of low cloud for north—east england. further south is fine with clear spells although for the channel islands we could see one or two of the showers creep in and they will push further northwards tomorrow. for most, tomorrow is a fine —looking day. cloud over part of scotland tomorrow but that rolls north—eastwards and it brightens up. showers start to move northwards, some across the south—west of england, perhaps further east along the coast as well.

there could be the odd rumble of thunder. the spells of sunshine further north. rather cool next to the north sea coast with a brisk breeze. back to 15. largely sunny for northern ireland and much of scotland but some areas of low cloud for northern and eastern coasts and certainly across parts of shetland. through saturday night, we will see more of the low cloud feeding into the central belt of scotland and into parts of northern england. that will slowly clear as we go through sunday. elsewhere it‘s largely dry with sunny spells and still the potential for one or two showers across the channel islands. a warm day in the south, not as breezy by this stage, further north you are it will be cooler. next week starts off with high pressure in charge. but it will not last. things are set to change. there is a frontal system expected to spin into quite a deep area of low pressure.

at times next week there will be some very wet and very windy weather, and eventually it will turn much cooler.

this is bbc news. the headlines... new restrictions announced for parts of the north west, the midlands, and west yorkshire from tuesday, to tackle rising coronavirus infections. 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. 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 a warm welcome for the return of gareth bale, who‘s set to sign on loan to tottenham from real madrid. further large areas of the north of england and the midlands are to face tighter coronavirus restrictions, to try to tackle rising infection rates. the stringent measures are in response to what ministers say are major increases in covid 19 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. there will be new restrictions on socialising with people outside your own household or support bubble, in parts of the midlands

such as wolverhampton. and similar measures will be enforced in west yorkshire, in bradford, kirklees, and calderdale. the measures cover a wider area than had been expected. latest figures suggest an average of 6,000 new cases a day in england between the 4th and 10th of september. the uk‘s reproduction or r rate is up to 1.1 to 1.4. that‘s up from 1.0—1.2 last week, and is increasing evidence of a rise in coronavirus cases across the country. jon donnison reports. 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 had been. definitely. but nobody adheres to it,

all of the pubs are back open, the kids are running around the streets. you know, there‘s nothing in place. you very rarely see a policeman. sandra clayton runs the local sweet shop. she welcomes the new restrictions, but 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'sjust... a matter of plodding on, and seeing what happens. we have to do something to get rid of it. it's like fighting a war against something we can't see. just down the road, the cancer charity shop mark solen 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 make them wear masks. but if you go into other shops,

the staff don't have to. so i think the public are looking at, well, what do we need to do? some people are, some people aren't. i think that's the problem, it's mixed messages. the government needs to say, "right, you have to do this and everybody has to follow it." and the north—east is farfrom alone. this morning, the government anounced similar restrictions will be introduced from 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—19 rates. unfortunately, there‘s no getting away from it, nearly every single borough and district in lancashire, it‘s spiking. the numbers are scary. it does appear it‘s getting out of control. clearly, something has to be done. the numbers don‘t lie. it‘s particularly the last two weeks that we‘ve seen it start to increase significantly, 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, an increasingly large chunk of the country is already living under tighter local restrictions. jon donnison, bbc news. we have had some news in from birmingham, the nightingale hospital there is back on a high alert footing. the chief executive of the university hospital birmingham trust has confirmed that the hospital is being put on this high alert footing which means it can be opened up again ina which means it can be opened up again in a maximum of 72 hours, possibly within 48. the person who was speaking has said that he has seen high anxiety levels amongst staff as many are worried they might be returning to circumstances similartoa peak be returning to circumstances similar to a peak of the virus in april. at the same time, the numbers although they are going up to remain small, he said there are currently 113 impatience with the virus and 14

in intensive care. —— inpatients. still nothing like the cases seen backin still nothing like the cases seen back in the height of the pandemic. 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, of patients in hospitals fighting coronavirus, was something the past. ready, steady, 90. 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‘re 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, while bars and restaurants could have their opening hours are limited. for those in this industry, even just raising this issue in public is already damaging. if you're talking about national restrictions on hospitality, every time ministers talk about national restrictions, it further dents consumer confidence. so we can see a dip in footfall, we can see a dip in revenue for these businesses that

are clinging on by their fingertips at the moment. all this, the labour party says, the result of the government‘s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis. particularly this, the crucial testing system for the virus, which is currently under considerable strain. the demand for tests, three to four times greater than capacity. if those restrictions come in, i'm afraid it's because the government failed to fix testing and tracing. back in the summer, or 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. so we didn't need to be in this situation. the government would want schools to remain open if these new restrictions are implemented. but according to a snap survey by the school leaders union, the naht, more than four in five schools in england have children isolating because they can‘t access a test, and a similar portion who can‘t attend because they‘re 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‘s happening in england. across the uk, this is particularly the case in england right now, hospital admissions are rising. icu admissions are rising, too. and while this is particularly the case in england right now, this should sound a warning signal for us here in scotland, too. in wales, searing criticism of borisjohnson. in this most difficult week there has been no meeting offered to first ministers of any sort. since 28 may, months ago now, there has beenjust one brief telephone call from the prime minister. i think that is simply unacceptable to anyone who believes that we should be facing the coronavirus crisis together.

today, in the latest sign of how much the virus is affecting our lives, it‘s been announced the traditional new year‘s eve fireworks display has been cancelled. richard galpin, bbc news. leaders in the north—west of england have welcomed new lockdown restrictions but expressed disappointment at the government‘s handling of the pandemic. measures announced for merseyside, lancashire and parts of cheshire will mean more than 5 million people in the north—west of the country will be subject to lockdown restrictions, as measures are already in place in greater manchester. the mayor of liverpool, joe anderson, welcomes the measures but is encouraging residents to start following them from today. yes, we do welcome them. disappointing we have to wait

until tuesday for them to be enacted here in liverpool and across the north west, so disappointing in that regard. but it was expected because our infection rates are higher than the north—east. with the north—east restrictions being put in place yesterday, we expected similar for liverpool and the liverpool city region, but also the north—west today. so it was well predicted. but i welcome them because we have a real concern here about the infection rates climbing high, that it has given us some anxious moments. what is your understanding of why they don‘t come in until tuesday? that is a question i think the government can only answer. we haven‘t been given any information as to why we are waiting until tuesday. i expected it to be from midnight tonight. the talk about the north—east was the day before and i think they were given round about 24 hours notice before that came into effect.

i would have much rather have seen, as i said, midnight tonight being the cut off point. because what worries me is people actually going and carrying on as normal, if you like. or some people possibly having, if you like, the last hurrah and going out and if they have the virus and are mingling with other people who have the virus, the infection rate climbs. we have about 150 people in hospital, around about 530 people infected with covid in the city and, as i said, we have real concerns and anxieties about the number spreading. if it continues to spread, it means we will place further restrictions. as i believe probably the whole country will in the next couple of weeks. and you are a university city, you‘ve got university students arriving in the city now. do you have fears about what this

might do to the covid—19 situation? absolutely, we‘ve been talking to the university, vice chancellors, the staff at the universities, talking to our public health director and his team and asking them to engage with the universities and higher education institutions here. we have freshers week next week and we will see students return next week and the week after it. we have 20,000 students are expected to come to the city and that is a massive worry for us, because these students will go into communities, some of them will come from abroad and we are... from our point of view, doing as much as we possibly can. the fact that we haven‘t got test and trace facilities or the laboratory capacity to actually produce the results of those tests as quickly as we would like, that in itself is also a real concern for us.

0ur political correspondent jessica parker said the moves that are being taken was a sign that there is worry in westminster about how the fight against the coronavirus is going. it is clear that government ministers and scientists are deeply worried and they are weighing up their options, including a possibility of further restrictions across england. now, that is not the same as a national lockdown. but it is different to what we have been seeing, which have been 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‘s priorities going forward with these restrictions, i don‘t think they will be prioritising people‘s social lives, their social interactions. ministers have been pretty clear that schools, and more broadly the economy, as well, 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 drakeford, who wants to discuss issues including challenges over testing. here in westminster, no final decisions yet made. ministers poring over the latest data, including the impact the rule of six, which came into force in england on monday, 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. and at 3.30 this afternoon, we‘ll be trying to answer your questions on the coronavirus pandemic with our experts, linda bauld, professor of public health and tim spector, professor of genetic epidemiology. dojoin us then if you can. the headlines on bbc news... of the north—west, the midlands, and west yorkshire from tuesday, to tackle rising coronavirus infections. it comes as the government

considers further nationwide measures for england, a so—called circuit break of short term restrictions. new figures suggest that on average infections are rising by 6,000 per day in england. 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. i asked our health correspondent james gallagher if this was a potential game changer. the glory of this test is that i can do it, you can do it, anybody who can take a swab and put it up their nose or get a sample from the back of their 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, a swab which 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, put into a box in the box can sit in a&e, close to the patient and it means we can get the result within 90 minutes and potentially introduce treatment for the patient rapidly with more confidence than we could do before. this study which has been published compared this test against the standard laboratory tests which take place and showed the accuracy is roughly the same. you asked areally important question, is this a game changer? you have to think quite carefully about how you use the test in order to be able 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? then it‘s incredible useful. but if you are running the government test and trace programme and are struggling with capacity and to keep up, then this is not your salvation. because each one of these boxes can only perform 16 tests a day, that‘s if they are running 24 hours a day, so they are not going to be able to do the mass population screening the test and trace programme needs. 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 netanyahu has warned that he wont 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. 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, countries will be hoping to avoid following its lead. we‘ve had an update this afternoon about the r number, that‘s the rate at which people get infected with the virus. it‘s estimated the r number for the whole of the uk is now between1.1 and 1.4. earlier i spoke to our health correspondent lauren moss. it‘s another indication that the rate of infection is growing, more people are confirmed as having the virus and to remind you of what that r number is, it‘s the number of people and infected person can

pass the virus on to. estimated between 1.1 and 1.4 that means on average every ten people will go on to infect between 11 and 14 other people. to put this in context more widely, it was estimated last week to be between one and 1.2. that was the first time it had gone above one since march but before lockdown it was much higher than that, more than three, trebling and that sort of thing, it really does go hand—in—hand with what we are seeing in terms of case numbers. more than 3,000 confirmed cases again yesterday and the health secretary matt hancock said this morning that he is seeing hospitalisation doubling every eight days. the r number is worked out by the scientific advisory group for emergencies and the data tends to have a bit ofa lag on it because it‘s looking at cases, patients that need ventilated treatment and the number of deaths as well. there is a three—week delay roughly on those new case numbers, infections, it being passed on and people passed on and people becoming really ill

and needing that treatment. so that number is estimated between 1.1 and 1.4for the whole of the uk, certain areas where the little bit, this data is not bang up—to—date for today, there is a few weeks delay on it. always lots of figures that come out on a friday and we have had other figures from the office of national statistics, what sort of picture do they paint? the same sort of thing? yes, basically. this is what we have seen for the last couple of weeks. the office for national statistics is the household infection survey for england and wales and last friday estimated there were around 3,200 new cases in england every day. today the estimate has gone up to 6,000 new cases a day in england, so by roughly half in terms of the numbers when you break them down further, they think roughly 60,000 cases in the last week. measuring up to the 10th of september. so again another week delay on that and these figures putting further into context based on 136 positive tests from 209,000 swabs taken over the last six weeks so it‘s not six weeks

so it‘s not all of england. it‘s a random survey. it does show that looking likely to be one in 900 people have coronavirus with as last week it was one in 1400, so those numbers steadily climbing and again that‘s why more restrictions have been introduced in certain parts of the country where the infection rate is higher. here, sales of household goods, particularly in the diy and home improvements sector, drove up retail sales betweenjuly and august, new figures show. retail sales are now 4% higher than in february, when the pandemic was declared. 0ur economics correspondent dharshini david gave me more details about the figures. 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 look 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, because as you say what we have seen is that massive dip where we had the national lockdown earlier in the year and then a 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. 0n 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 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. is it 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 the other hand, if we are not spending on the extras because we are worried about finances or job, 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. 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. i asked our social affairs correspondent alison holt what more we know about this. we haven‘t been able to scrutinise the detail but we are told it will include free protective equipment for social care, notjust care homes, also home care and supported living and we have seen the costs of providing that equipment rise 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 issue is family visits to care homes, it is really upsetting a lot 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 of an area, but again, this is still being discussed and we are not clear

when we will hear more about it. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with ben rich. a brisk breeze across england and wales but for most looking dry and settled with sunny spells. just the chance of a shower down towards the south. through the rest of the afternoon rather breezy across central and southern england, parts of wales just taking the edge off those highs of 22, further north and good spells of sunshine although thicker cloud will persist across northern scotland with the odd spot of drizzle and that cloudy murky weather could slide a bit further inland as we go through tonight. at the same time some showers start to show their hand across the channel islands and as we go through tomorrow those showers could drift into southern counties of england, possibly south wales, for most it‘s dry through the day with spells of sunshine although thick cloud will continue to affect some parts of north—east scotland. 17 in aberdeen, 23 in london, rather cool for the north sea coast,

the wind in the south easing by sunday and it looks dry for the vast majority. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... new restrictions announced for parts of the north west, the midlands, and west yorkshire from tuesday, to tackle rising coronavirus infections. 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. a rapid coronavirus test has been developed which can accurately diagnose an infection within 90 minutes — without needing a specialist laboratory.

sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here‘s chetan. good afternoon. gareth bale is at tottenham‘s training ground as he nears a return the club he left seven years ago. he was greeted by spurs supporters as he was driven into the training complex earlier this afternoon. bale, who‘s 31, is set to join on a loan deal having scored more than a 100 goals for real madrid, where he‘s also won four champions league titles. he could feature against southampton in the premier league on sunday as long as the deal gets over the line in time: it is going to make the team better and bring a lot ofjoy. what he brought to the club, all the memories and goals, i can‘t wait... it is really exciting. i remember seven years ago when he went i was gutted.

but you can't blame him, it was real madrid, really, but now he has come back, it is brilliant. he will walk in and everyone will look at him, he's a superstar. you can't deny it. he will lift us. from one potential transfer to another — thiago alcantara‘s move to liverpool hasn‘t been officially announced yet, but he‘s said an emotional goodbye to bayern munich fans in a video on social media. he describes the german club as "marvellous" and says leaving was the most difficult decision of his career. the spain midfielder won the champions league with bayern last season, as well as seven consecutive bundesliga titles, four german cups and the club world cup. the 29 year old‘s costing liverpool at least 20 million pounds on a four year contract. manchester united manager 0le gunnar solskjaer says he asked england not to pick mason greenwood for the recent nations league games in iceland and denmark — a trip that led to greenwood being dropped from the england squad.

he made his international debut in the victory over iceland, as did manchester city‘s phil foden, but video footage emerged of the pair breaching the squad‘s bio—secure bubble and they were both sent home. solskjaer says he warned england that greenwood needed a break before the start of the premier league season. i have to be honest enough to say i tried my best to give him a rest over the summer. the club, we asked specifically and we pointed out he should have had a rest. he needs it mentally and physically after that season he had. first thing that happens is, one he‘s called up, two he‘s right there in the press. we‘ve done whatever we can to protect him and i will keep on helping him. tennis legend billyjean king has been speaking of her excitement at having the international, women‘s team competition, the fed cup, renamed after her. it‘s the first time such an honour has gone to a woman. the billiejean king cup finals, are scheduled for april in budapest.

0n the court we have equal prize money so that is taken care of, but really when you take a hard look, we don't have enough women coaches in our sport, line judges, administrators, executive positions for girls and women. we need to do that because, i fight for everyone, and when a woman fights for equality, that mean she is fighting for everybody. that‘s all your sport for now. you can follow the early starters for the second round of the us open golf in new york on the bbc sport website. justin thomas, the overnight leader who gets going later, is on five under, one shot ahead of belgium‘s thomas pieters who is 4 under par thru 13 in his second round. england‘s lee westwood is currently in action, he‘s four shots of the lead thru 10. i‘ll have more for you throughout the afternon. that‘s all the sport for now.

now on bbc news it‘s time for your questions answered. you‘ve been sending in your questions on the infection rate, a potential national lockdown and lots more. here to answer them is the professor of public health, linda bauld and professor of genetic epidemiology, tim spector. good afternoon to you both. thanks for joining good afternoon to you both. thanks forjoining us, good afternoon to you both. thanks for 'oinin us we‘ve good afternoon to you both. thanks forjoining us, we‘ve had loads of questions. can i address the first test him. —— the first 210. she asked the infection rate is high but the death rate is low, is this because a bee time—lag because of

different populations being infected or because of better treatment? all of the above. there is an increasing lag between death and infection and because our treatments are much better than they were in march and april and because people are spending longer in intensive care, averaging often about four weeks now. there is also a suggestion that there is a milder virus being passed around and there was in the spring and so far the rates of deaths compared to infections have been lower than we saw earlier in the spring. we are keeping an open mind and that it could be that the dose of the virus being passed round is less and it could be that people being affected are slightly younger than they were initially and a lot of the vulnerable people are still shooting or being isolated from the

virus. i think it is a combination of things, but firstly now we are seeing an uptick in the death rates as well. unfortunately we are going to see deaths coming after these infections anyway, hopefully it will be less than inspiring. linda, sharon from blackpool is asking why blackpool is exempt from the new restrictions, although surrounding areas are not? a there are obviously over a million people not allowed to go into other households and have had those local restrictions applied. i think we need to recognise that when these local restrictions are applied, they do need to be targeted. it looks like the rates of infection cases per 100,000 are a little lower in blackpool and that is why they are not being imposed on that area at the moment, but why would emphasise as these things can change very rapidly and it may be that that area is then included in these new

restrictions. as you were saying earlier, with the survey showing we have over 6000 cases estimated a dealer in england, i think all parts of the country need to be aware that new restrictions may be added —— 6000 cases a day in england. wright rates remain high despite is not being allowed to meet in homes garden since june, why will today's new measures for other areas were? it isa new measures for other areas were? it is a good question. looking back, when we had a national knock—down and everything was in force, rach dropped rapidly —— locked down. we do know that lockdown is work —— rates dropped rapidly. it‘s hard to know from the surveys whether cases are holding steady because there is

more tests being done. people who know are already logging on our covid symptoms have an 4 million people have downloaded. this allows us to doa people have downloaded. this allows us to do a consistent service that just for testing and this is showing us that places that wear high like leicester have actually reduced compared to other areas. we believe those measures did work. clearly it is not a complete lockdown, so it won‘t be as effective, but i think all the evidence today is that these measures are effective. the question is if they are effective enough to really change the new infection is coming along, given that rates are rising of the value of 1.4 now to our calculations. linda, a related

question from len in stockport in cheshire who is asking, our local lockdown is effective? what are the experience that my experiences of the measures when they were first used? we are two groups of interventions, pharmacological interventions, pharmacological interventions, they are limited, we don‘t have vaccines yet, and then we have health measures. those are essentially about restricting the spread of infection through restricting the movements of people. that‘s what local resections are about. as tim hasjust that‘s what local resections are about. as tim has just said, that‘s what local resections are about. as tim hasjust said, we can see that when those restrictions are applied, its eu low is the rate of increase or they drop significantly. -- it increase or they drop significantly. —— it slows the rate. we had an 18 day local lockdown in aberdeen. i‘ve seen the data from test and protect and as you implemented that, it was very clear that about a week and into the second week the case

numbers went way down just because those movements were restricted. nobody wants to see these types of interventions applied but they do have an impact. ten, colin from shropshire is asking, is the present increase related to reduced daylight hours and related to uv light? there are many factors that will alter the virus. i think daylight is one of the smaller ones. it probably has a very mild effect, but it is much less tha n very mild effect, but it is much less than the other effects, people getting together more, transferring person—to—person and probably also colder weather putting more people inside and pops or wherever. i think

there is many factors in direct sunlight is one of them, but i wouldn‘t have thought just sunlight is one of them, but i wouldn‘t have thoughtjust changing the exposure to sunlight is going to change it very much. it would be lovely if it was, we could all of sunlamps and be protected by don‘t think that would work. most viruses do behave in a wavelike pattern anyway. this is anyway going along a predictable pattern in a first wave and second wave of people who weren‘t infected the first time round. linda, a question from martin in lancashire about the rules and restrictions. he asked if a pub or bar has a confirmed case of the virus, either staff or customers, bar has a confirmed case of the virus, eitherstaff or customers, do they have to close and if not what action is required with twom

they have to close and if not what action is required with two it is all about the case itself. it is not the case that uniformly pubs into because of if they have a customer that test positive. what is key is that test positive. what is key is that the pump engages with the test and discuss what has happen with the public —— the public. if there is clusters, of course it will have to close. but not a single —— it is also important that pub think about their staff. if one team member test positive, perhaps they can restrict having to

make everyone not work. tim, why has it been a surge in demand for tennis? i wonder if i can interject, —— for tests. —— tennis? i wonder if i can interject, —— fortests. —— is tennis? i wonder if i can interject, —— for tests. —— is there a way for adults and children being able to know from their symptoms whether or not they should request a test or not? can one distinguish between the symptoms of the common cold and those of covid—19? symptoms of the common cold and those of covid-19? yes, you partly a nswered those of covid-19? yes, you partly answered his question. when kids went back to school after not reaching for months, there is a surge in common cold virus that went around, that can pass between kits, the teachers and their parents. a lot of children were sent away because they felt feverish or had a slight cough. a national panic took

up slight cough. a national panic took up that everyone thought they had covid. you have to realise first of all that the common cold at the moment in time is very much more comment than covid, particularly in children and young people. perhaps 50 toa children and young people. perhaps 50 to a hundred times more likely —— more common. having a runny nose, swollen glands and sneezing is absolutely not a sign of covid—19. you should not get tested on that basis. even if you feel a little feverish, have a slight cough, if it is not meeting the exact criteria which is a very persistent cough and it definitely raised of over 38 is lasting, then you don‘t get tested. there is still great areas and some people feel a bit shivery and cold and may have a mild cough. those people should, there is extra

information, 80% of children with covid who test positive also have quite severe headaches and severe fatigue. i‘d say to anyone, including adults, if you don‘t have severe fatigue and headaches and you‘re unsure, our data suggest you don‘t really need a test at this point in time. it was the surge in the last two weeks, particularly in patients and children requesting tests that has fully caused this major problem in the testing process. it‘s going to be another couple of weeks before we get out of it. it is important that people understand the difference between a holding covid. if you have the classical symptoms of a cold, even if you have a slight cough, don‘t worry about it, just wait for that call to get better and chances are you will be fine. linda, richard

from essex is asking, what is germany doing right? their infection rates in death rates are low compared to the rest of europe in the secularall of us in this era that bacteria looking at the experiences of our colleagues. germany is an interesting case study. germany is in a much better position. they have a number of pillars to their response. the first is data, a data driven response to inform the government. they were very early in getting the testing capacity built up. they were one of the first countries able to develop pcr testing at scale. importantly

for me, and public health, there are public health response is very robust. there are 400 local public health teams, have been able to do contact tracing very effectively. they now some technology apps to add to that, i think that's part of the success story. germany has had a multifaceted response. they have had the violation haven't deaths, sadly, but looked to have performed any more concerns “— but looked to have performed any more concerns “ in a more comprehensive way than others. more concerns “ in a more comprehensive way than othersm there a likelihood shielding can happen again? unfortunately, yes. i think that is quite likely. because our estimates for our app for that we are back at the levels we were at

the end of may and that rates are doubling every week. i think it‘s likely people will have guidance extended back to those days. what i‘m hoping for is that shielding will be a bit more intelligent. a lot of people were told to shield you probably didn‘t need to shield, just because they were on some drug like a low dose of steroids or other ones. some of these medications are suggesting might actually protect you from the virus. there was a blanket approach that went out to say that anybody on any kind of drugs or with any long—term disease relating to the immune system or cancer or anything else should really shield and i think we need more refined advice. that may be overreacting and interfering with a lot of people‘s lives where there is

no evidence they are particularly at risk. we are seeing the r value of 1.4, ithink risk. we are seeing the r value of 1.4, i think it is inevitable things will get tougher and we are going to wa nt to will get tougher and we are going to want to isolate the very important high risk groups. we need to redefine who they are and you may or may not be in them. thank you very much to you both. we‘ve got some news just coming in. amal clooney says she is resigning from her position as uk special envoy on media freedom. married to the actor george clooney, has just quit herjob as the uk‘s special envoy on media freedom and protest

at the government‘s plans to, as it admits, breach international law. buckingham palace has said that any decision made by barbados to remove the queen as its head of state, is for the island s government and people. the barbadian prime minister has said she wants the country to become a republic by november next year, when it will celebrate the 55th anniversary of its independence from britain. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell has this report. when prince harry visited barbados nearly four years ago, he brought a message from his grandmother. he said the people of the caribbean island had occupied a special place in the queen‘s heart since her visit at the time of its independence from britain in 1966. yet, now, itappears, barbados is set to remove the queen as its head of state. after years of debate, the island‘s prime minister is determined to press ahead. we want to be able to control our

own affairs by ensuring that a barbadian child can aspire to be head of state. we believe the only reason it hasn‘t happened is because this is a vestige our colonial past. without rancour, without divisiveness, we are going to remove that. but we continue to accept that our relationship with the royal family, our relationship with the united kingdom, matters. in the same way that we are family to persons who come out of ghana, we are family to persons who come out of the united kingdom. and family still matters. and an island which has produced its share of notable figures is confident, according to its prime minister, of maintaining and enhancing its status as a republic with its own head of state. barbados has produced people who have been accomplished globally. we have had sir garfield sobers, who i think you know well. we have had sir everton weekes, he still holds records in cricket today that no other person has beaten. we have rihanna. we have dame nita barrow, who was head of the eminent persons group, the dismantling of apartheid

and the release of nelson mandela back in the early 1990s. we have had founding leaders like sir grantley adams and errol barrow, who were regarded in their time as among the best of emerging leaders from developing countries. so, i don‘t think that this is an issue that ought to concern anyone. within buckingham palace, officials are being diplomatic. this is a matterfor the government and people of barbados, they say. but, in a changing world, and with the inevitable transition at some point to a new monarch, they will be watching to see whether an island in the caribbean is a harbinger of wider changes among the nations which share the head of state with britain. nicholas witchell, bbc news. this year‘s london fashion week begins today. the event will include both physical and digital events. regulations banning gatherings of more than six people

which are currently in place in england do not apply to the performing arts. it will feel different but easy step forward from the event injanuary. there are lots of events happening online, 22 physical events and it will feel very different from something where there is normally over 70 physical events for an international audience to go to. has been very difficult to put it together? it has been definitely a unique set of challenges, very different from coordinating international attendance from over 50 different countries. instead it is focusing on platform amplifying, to domestic and international audiences. equally it is enjoying

the creativity coming out of the businesses, who are really adapting to these unique set of circumstances their income in terms of being able to create and sell collections that will be in the stores at the beginning of next year. what about the fashion itself? has a pandemic and lockdown had any effect on trends? it is very early to say, we had the burberry show yesterday which was digital, no audience and, as you said, we are in the full flow of it today. seeing the collection coming through, that they are very different. we are saying they are very focused in terms of collections and really thinking about the reduced bite of those international stores. and the kind of events that are going to be happening next year and the kind of product people are going to be buying. it has been such a difficult time for businesses generally, what effect has a pandemic and looked and had on this

particular industry? with the stores closing and very much only operating online, whether it is dinner parties, weddings to red carpet events a re parties, weddings to red carpet events are being closed down, the industry has been affected significantly. we are expecting to see a significant number of businesses go, sadly, and that will meanjob losses. businesses go, sadly, and that will mean job losses. it is great that london fashion week can take place evenin london fashion week can take place even ina london fashion week can take place even in a limited form to make sure we are keeping businesses going and looking at protecting those jobs where we can. the organisation you work for, the british fashion council has announced a diversity and inclusion committee. what are you hoping that will achieve?” think like every business and individual, following the death of george floyd, and the black lives matter movement, we are looking at diversity on catwalks, which is in the mere thought of it for many yea rs, the mere thought of it for many years, but also looking at barriers

of entry to the industry, the make—up of the businesses, everything from entry—level to support level. we want this committee to focus on business policy, to look at education, mentoring and talent id. in the communications that goes around the industry. whether that be campaigns, events, fashion shows all the way through to the written word. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with ben rich. good afternoon. a relatively quiet and settled weekend of weather is on the way. it will be breezy for parts of england and wales, mostly dry with sunny spells. just the chance of a shower towards the south because of an area of low pressure that has been spinning close to iberia. this could throw one or two showers in and on the northern flank we‘ve got some brisk winds across england and wales in particular, southern areas — gusts of 30 or 40 mph.

not as windy further north. hazy sunshine for most, thicker cloud for northern scotland with some patchy rain. through this evening and tonight we will see low cloud working its way through north—east scotland, perhaps the odd patch of low cloud for north—east england. further south is fine with clear spells although for the channel islands we could see one or two of the showers creep in and they will push further northwards tomorrow. for most, tomorrow is a fine —looking day. cloud over part of scotland tomorrow but that rolls north—eastwards and it brightens up. showers start to move northwards, some across the south—west of england, perhaps further east along the coast as well. there could be the odd rumble of thunder. the spells of sunshine further north. rather cool next to the north sea coast with a brisk breeze. temps for some back to 14—15.

largely sunny for northern ireland and much of scotland but some areas of low cloud for northern and eastern coasts and certainly across parts of shetland. through saturday night, we will see more of the low cloud feeding into the central belt of scotland and into parts of northern england. that will slowly clear as we go through sunday. elsewhere it‘s largely dry with sunny spells and still the potential for one or two showers across the channel islands. a warm day in the south, not as breezy by this stage, further north you are it will be cooler. next week starts off with high pressure in charge. but it will not last. things are set to change. there is a frontal system expected to spin into quite a deep area of low pressure. at times next week there will be some very wet and very windy weather, and eventually it will turn much cooler.

this is bbc news. the headlines... new restrictions announced for parts of the north west, the midlands, of the north—west, the midlands, and west yorkshire from tuesday, to tackle rising coronavirus infections. the mayor of liverpool expresses his concern. a 500% increase in roundabout ten days is really not something that we expected and it‘s something that really worries us. 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. 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 a warm welcome for the return of gareth bale who‘s set to sign on loan to tottenham from real madrid. further large areas of the north of england of the north of england and the midlands are to face tighter coronavirus restrictions, to try to tackle

rising infection rates. the stringent measures are in response to what ministers say are "major increases" in covid—19 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. there will be new restrictions on socialising with people outside your own household or support bubble, in parts of the midlands such as wolverhampton. and similar measures will be enforced in west yorkshire, in bradford, kirklees, and calderdale. the measures cover a wider area than had been expected. latest figures suggest an average of 6 thousand new cases a day in england between the 4th and 10th of september. the uk‘s reproduction or r—rate is up to 1.1 to 1.4. that‘s up from 1.0—1.2 last week, and is increasing evidence of a rise in coronavirus cases across the country. the latest restrictions means that millions of people

across the uk are now living under tougher restrictions. 0urfirst report comes from jon donnison. 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 had been. definitely. but nobody adheres to it, all of the pubs are back open, the kids are running around the streets. you know, there‘s nothing in place. you very rarely see a policeman. sandra clayton runs the local sweet shop. she welcomes the new restrictions, but 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'sjust... a matter of plodding on, and seeing what happens. we have to do something to get rid of it. it's like fighting a war against something we can't see. just down the road, the cancer charity shop mark solen 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 make them wear masks. but if you go into other shops, the staff don't have to. so i think the public are looking at, well, what do we need to do? some people are, some people aren't. i think that's the problem, it's mixed messages. the government needs to say, "right, you have to do this and everybody has to follow it." and the north—east is farfrom alone. this morning, the government anounced similar restrictions will be introduced from 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—19 rates. unfortunately, there‘s no getting away from it, nearly every single borough and district in lancashire, it‘s spiking. the numbers are scary. it does appear it‘s getting out of control. clearly, something has to be done. the numbers don‘t lie. it‘s particularly the last two weeks that we‘ve seen it start to increase significantly, 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, an increasingly large chunk of the country is already living under tighter local restrictions. jon donnison, bbc news.

news just newsjust in, the news just in, the latest figures for daily confirmed cases of covid—19 across the uk. the uk records for thousand 322 new confirmed cases of covid—19 —— thousand 322 new confirmed cases of covid-19 -- 4,322. that thousand 322 new confirmed cases of covid—19 —— 4,322. that compares with 3945 yesterday so a rise of almost 1000. 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. 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, of patients in hospitals fighting coronavirus, was something the past. ready, steady, 90. 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‘re 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, while bars and restaurants could have their opening hours are limited. for those in this industry, even just raising this issue in public is already damaging.

if you're talking about national restrictions on hospitality, every time ministers talk about national restrictions, it further dents consumer confidence. so we can see a dip in footfall, we can see a dip in revenue for these businesses that are clinging on by their fingertips at the moment. all this, the labour party says, the result of the government‘s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis. particularly this, the crucial testing system for the virus, which is currently under considerable strain. the demand for tests, three to four times greater than capacity. if those restrictions come in, i'm afraid it's because the government failed to fix testing and tracing. back in the summer, or 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. so we didn't need to be in this situation.

the government would want schools to remain open if these new restrictions are implemented. but according to a snap survey by the school leaders union, the naht, more than four in five schools in england have children isolating because they can‘t access a test, and a similar portion who can‘t attend because they‘re 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‘s happening in england. across the uk, this is particularly the case in england right now, hospital admissions are rising. icu admissions are rising, too. and while this is particularly the case in england right now, this should sound a warning signal for us here in scotland, too. in wales, searing criticism of borisjohnson. in this most difficult week there has been no meeting offered to first ministers of any sort.

since 28 may, months ago now, there has beenjust one brief telephone call from the prime minister. i think that is simply unacceptable to anyone who believes that we should be facing the coronavirus crisis together. today, in the latest sign of how much the virus is affecting our lives, it‘s been announced the traditional new year‘s eve fireworks display has been cancelled. richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is in westminster. let‘s talk about this so—called circuit breaker. what we think that might involve? basically it involves trying to slow down the progress of the virus. there was a meeting on

wednesday night attended by the chief scientific adviser and chief medical officer and what they said was in effect at the death toll could rise by the end of october u nless could rise by the end of october unless swifter action was taken u nless unless swifter action was taken unless there was further interventions by the government. no firm decisions have been made but up for discussion and i think likely to be announced next week will be the kind of restrictions across england we are seeing in some of the regions at the moment in northeast of england for example and today in lancashire. that would include for example either deciding to have a cu rfew example either deciding to have a curfew on pubs and restaurants or possibly going further than that and deciding that it being reduced to a ta keaway deciding that it being reduced to a takeaway service only but the key thing about circuit break and the key idea behind that terminology is less. basically the belief is that people that you know, families, close to you, that‘s how the virus is spreading rather than in

covid—secure workplaces for is spreading rather than in covid—secu re workplaces for example. so the key restriction would be making sure people could not socialise outside of their own household to nsn struck the rule of six, the rule of six days will be superseded for a short time of up to 2-3 superseded for a short time of up to 2—3 weeks, that‘s the thinking at the moment and more restrictions effectively socialising inside the home or even in your own garden, the aim is to try to break the cycle of transmission and get these numbers down to a more acceptable level whilst still balancing the need to keep the economy open, schools and workplaces would remain open in other words it would be as it were more work and less play but that would be the message again the government say for a short period. i wa nt to government say for a short period. i want to reemphasise that no final decisions have been taken but as you have heard, there‘s been criticism from the devolved administrations about a lack of engagement from the government on this, nicola sturgeon and scotland said this weekend would be crucial for and scotland said this weekend would be crucialfor her and scotland said this weekend would

be crucial for her and they want to have more discussions and keir starmer the labour leader saying it should now be a cobra meeting to address this crisis. the government would say of course having lots of meetings on covid—19 virtually everyday in various committees but he says now the need to be a national focus on this and they also have to sort out the test, track and trace system. good to talk to you, thanks for that. we have had an update about the r number. that‘s the rate at which people get infected with the virus. it‘s estimated the r number for the whole of the uk is now between1.1 and 1.4. 0ur health correspondent lauren moss is here. a slew of figures first discussed at let‘s start with that are great which is the reproductive rate. put that into context, is it a big rise? the r number is the number of people who have the virus thence goes on to effect, estimated across the uk to

be1.1 and 1.4 effect, estimated across the uk to be 1.1 and 1.4 so that works out on average every ten people infected could go on to infect between 11 and 14 other people. and it sort of shows as we have seen with other factors which we can talk about that cases are doubling every week but if we talk about pre—lockdown measures the r number was estimated around three and was doubling every three or so days. so we are not where we we re or so days. so we are not where we were in march. march or april at all, but this is increasing, and the scientific advisory committee is saying basically this shows its widespread now growing in the community. so that‘s what the r number indicates and if you put that alongside all the other figures we are getting today and the number of positive cases you mentioned a few moments ago, lab confirmed cases we can see the number of coronavirus cases and getting infected is increasing. let's remind people about that. this news broke in the

last ten minutes or so. the uk recorded 4322 new confirmed cases of covid—19. 0utta that confirm with the day beforethat's up from 3395 yesterday so quite substantial increase but we know they are testing and that‘s the number of cases are increasing, so this is quite an increase on yesterday and it‘s the highest increase we have seenin it‘s the highest increase we have seen ina it‘s the highest increase we have seen in a single day since may but we cannot confirm them like for like because if you look at april or may testing was mainly taking place in hospitals, not quite as widespread in the community and we know now that there‘s lots of testing taking place in hotspot areas, places identified as having increased rates of infection like bolton for example, other areas of the north—west and north—east which are pa rt north—west and north—east which are part of these restrictions have been announced over the couple of days are more concentrated testing is taking place in those areas, therefore more cases but that‘s not

saying the only reason for this rise, it‘s definitely rising. when two really good to talk to you, thanks so much. scientists say a rapid coronavirus test has been developed which can accurately diagnose an infection within 90 minutes — without needing 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. was a potential gamechanger. the glory of this test is that i can do it, you can do it, anybody who can take a swab and put it up their nose or get a sample from the back of their 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, a swab which 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, put into a box in the box can sit in a&e, close to the patient and it means we can get the result within 90 minutes and potentially introduce treatment for the patient rapidly with more confidence than we could do before. this study which has been published compared this test against the standard laboratory tests which take place and showed the accuracy is roughly the same. you asked areally important question, is this a game changer? you have to think quite carefully about how you use the test in order to be able 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? then it‘s incredibly useful. but if you are running the government test and trace programme and are struggling with capacity and to keep up,

then this is not your salvation. because each one of these boxes can only perform 16 tests a day, that‘s if they are running 24 hours a day, so they are not going to be able to do the mass population screening the test and trace programme needs. as the number of coronavirus cases rises, many people are struggling to book tests. one person who has tried multiple times to get a test for her son is claire penketh, who joins us now. thanks for being with us. tell us what has happened to you and your son? my son is 15 years of age, a couple of days ago, woke up and had a sore throat, was generally under the weather and what worried me most was that he had a loss of taste. slight loss but nonetheless i was pretty concerned, so i tried to book. it took me two hours, between 8am and 10am i was trying to get on

the app and book a test. and ijust couldn‘t get through so what was interesting was when i try to book initially i had to put my postcode in and it came up and said no sites. i thought that was odd because i know there is a site in gloucester so why was there no site? i kept trying and in desperation i‘m sorry to say i put a different postcode in in cheltenham and up comes redditch. redditch is 65 miles away, there we re redditch is 65 miles away, there were tests so i thought great i will book, i knew they would be sent to my phone number or e—mail address. i booked on and redditch, here we come, 64 miles, we got there, one hour and 15 minutes, it was hot, my son was not very well, we got there and to my what can i say, anger, sadness, whatever, the guy at the gate said you can‘t come in, you haven‘t got a qr code, where‘s your confirmation e—mail, i said we haven‘t had one. so he set i‘m very sorry but you will have to go. so i

saidi sorry but you will have to go. so i said i did a screen grab because i had a feeling something wasn‘t quite right because i didn‘t get a confirmation so i did a screen grab andi confirmation so i did a screen grab and i said i have a screen grab and he said it‘s no good, you‘re not in the system, you can‘t come in. he said it‘s no good, you‘re not in the system, you can't come in. sorry to interrupt but just the system, you can't come in. sorry to interrupt butjust to check, they we re to interrupt butjust to check, they were conducting tests? they were, in front of me there were two other cars, it didn‘t seem particularly busy at the site, i was quite exasperated so i said what can i do? he said you try phoning 119 and get a test that way, i tried that, no joy, a test that way, i tried that, no joy, they kept saying go back to the website. so we gave up, went home andi website. so we gave up, went home and i tried again the next day. this timei and i tried again the next day. this time i put in my correct e—mail address, postcode and sure enough i got one locally, off we went. got there and the same thing happened again. by this time my son was looking to put it mildly very picky. he was very distressed, because we had to do yet another car trip and another time turned away. had you

got a another time turned away. had you gota qr another time turned away. had you got a qr code that in? no not that i‘m either. so i thought we will give it a go. i got there and the quy give it a go. i got there and the guy said no, you can‘t come in so i said, is this happening a lot? and he said yes, this has happened a few times today. and i said so why? he saidi times today. and i said so why? he said i don‘t know. but it had say that had been the case that day. quite a few people had not gone in because of whatever reason they did not have a code or whatever else. so have you tried again there i asked? yes, i tried again today and i got one in bath, but i didn‘t go because ididn‘t one in bath, but i didn‘t go because i didn‘t get a qr code on my son specifically said to me because yesterday he was just really purely, today he has picked up but specifically said if there is no qr code, no confirmation e—mail i don‘t wa nt to code, no confirmation e—mail i don‘t want to go any don‘t want to put him through that again.” want to go any don‘t want to put him through that again. i can understand that i guess. presumably he cannot go to school at the moment, is he

isolating? this is the difficult thing. i rang the skill up on the thursday and said he‘s not very well, he has a cough, a bit of a sniff and they said if it‘s just a sore throat, then bring him in but see what how you feel. so i took the decision to see how we felt and i thought i just didn‘t want to take the risk. but the thing is i don‘t know if it‘s just a cold, it may be called, if that‘s the case then great. but i don‘t know if it is not andi great. but i don‘t know if it is not and i don‘t want for him put others at risk, i don‘t what i‘m supposed to do, should i self—isolate for 14 days? i don‘t know. what do we do? to do, should i self—isolate for 14 days? i don't know. what do we do?” think a lot of people will be asking the same question. what are you going to do now? for the moment i'm keeping an eye on him and he seems to be ok. i don‘t know. is the

honest answer. i really don‘t know. what to do. because it could just be called... are you going to keep trying for a test? no, because to be on i‘m fed up with it. i‘ve got to the critical mass point where i‘m thinking what‘s the point if i can‘t get a thinking what‘s the point if i can‘t geta qr thinking what‘s the point if i can‘t get a qr code? this is now day three that he has not been very well, so i could try again and it would be day four, you‘re supposed to get a test within five days i think. so when i get a test tomorrow? will keep trying, well—equipped us through even more over the past few days or just look at him and listen to him and what he says which is basically don‘t put me through it again. if i got a don‘t put me through it again. if i gota qr don‘t put me through it again. if i got a qr code and had confirmation then certainly yes i would go for it but it‘s not looking good at the moment, is it? good luck, really good to talk to you, thanks for your time andi good to talk to you, thanks for your time and i hope your son perks up. thank you.

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. it follows the government‘s announcement of an extra half a billion pounds to help with infection control in care homes. the money will help to pay care workers theirfull wages when they are self—isolating, and ensures carers only work in one care home. mike padgham runs four care homes in the north yorkshire region. he says more help is needed. in terms of being able to encourage staff not to come in if they have symptoms, because they know they are going to get full pay, that is a good thing. the challenge for us is that social care has always had a shortage of staff. if we can‘t get more agency staff in because they have to work in one particular home, and many staff are self isolating, where do we go to the future and social care?

that‘s the difficult bit. we need more people that don‘t work and social care work and social care to come and work in our sector. at the minute, it is low paid. we have to address the pay so we can recruit more people. that is a fundamental issue. the infection control fund is a good start. but we have to overstaff the homes with agency staff, that doesn‘t help, because the fund will not last for ever. 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 netanyahu has warned that he wont 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. 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 countries will be hoping to avoid following its lead. amal clooney, the high—profile human rights lawyer, has resigned from her position as the uk s special envoy on media freedom in protest at the government s intention to breach international law through the internal market bill. in her resignation letter to the foreign secretary dominic raab, she said she was dismayed by the bill which the government admits would break international law and stated it is lamentable for the uk to be speaking of its intention to violate an international treaty signed by the prime minister less than a year ago." she also added, it has become untenable for me, as special envoy, to urge other states to respect and enforce international obligations while the uk declares that it does

not intend to do so itself. gareth bale is expected to complete his season—long loan from real madrid to tottenham this afternoon. the player left spurs seven years ago and went on to win four champions league titles with real madrid, as well as scoring more than 100 goals for the club. but the wesh international fell out of favour, making only 20 appearances last season. but the wesh international fell out of favour, making only 20 appearances last season. he was greeted by spurs supporters as he was driven into the training complex earlier this afternoon. he could feature against southampton in the premier league on sunday as long as the deal gets over the line in time. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. a brisk breeze across england and wales but for most looking dry and settled with sunny spells. just the chance of a shower down towards the south.

through the rest of the afternoon rather breezy across central and southern england, parts of wales just taking the edge off those highs of 22, further north and good spells of sunshine although thicker cloud will persist across northern scotland with the odd spot of drizzle and that cloudy murky weather could slide a bit further inland as we go through tonight. at the same time some showers start to show their hand across the channel islands and as we go through tomorrow those showers could drift into southern counties of england, possibly south wales, for most it‘s dry through the day with spells of sunshine although thick cloud will continue to affect some parts of north—east scotland. 17 in aberdeen, 23 in london, rather cool for the north sea coast, the wind in the south easing by sunday and it looks dry for the vast majority.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines...

new restrictions announced for parts of the north west, the midlands, and west yorkshire from tuesday, to tackle rising coronavirus infections. 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. care homes in england are to get more free protective equipment, as part of new plans for social care to deal with infections. a rapid coronavirus test has been developed which can accurately diagnose an infection within 90 minutes — without needing a specialist laboratory.

leaders in the north west of england have welcomed new lockdown restrictions but expressed disappointment at the government‘s handling of the pandemic. measures announced for merseyside, lancashire and parts of cheshire will mean more than five million people in the north west of the country will be subject to lockdown restrictions — measures are already in place in greater manchester. the mayor of liverpool, joe anderson, welcomes the measures but is encouraging residents to start following them from today. yeah, we do welcome them. we have to wait until tuesday for them to be enacted here and across the north west, so disappointing in that regard. it was expected because our infection rates are higher than the north—east. with the north—east restrictions being put in place yesterday, we expected similar for liverpool and the liverpool city region, but also the north—west today.

so it was well predicted. i welcome them because we have a real concern here about the infection rates climbing high, that it has given us some anxious moments. we haven‘t been given any information as to why we are waiting until tuesday. i expected it to be from midnight tonight. the talk about the north—east was the day before and i think they were given round about 24 hours notice before that came into effect. i would much rather have seen, as i said, midnight tonight being the cut—off point. what worries me is people actually going and carrying on as normal, if you like. or some people possibly having, if you like, the last hurrah and going out and if they have the virus or are mingling with other people who have the virus, the infection rate climbs.

we have 100 people in hospital, around about 530 people infected with covid in the city and, as i said, we have real concerns and anxieties about the number spreading. if it continues to spread, it means we will face further restrictions. as i believe probably the whole country will in the next couple of weeks. nicola sturgeon has said this coming weekend will be ‘critical‘ in the fight to slow the spread of coronavirus in scotland. the first minister said the virus was on the rise and was spreading "quite rapidly" — but she said there was still time to prevent the virus getting out of control. she has also called on the prime minister to convene a cobra meeting this weekend. the bottom line here is this virus is on the rise again. case numbers are not yet rising as fast as they were in march, but they are rising again and they are rising quite rapidly.

the percentage of tests coming back positive is also not anywhere near as high as march but again it is rising. as i reported yesterday, the r number, we believe, is now above one. across the uk, this is particularly in england, hospital admissions are rising, icu admissions are also rising and while this is particularly the case in england right now this should sound a warning signal for us here in scotland as well. while for the past few weeks people might have taken comfort from the low levels of old and more vulnerable people contracting the virus, that picture is also beginning to change. our most recent data shows the percentage of cases in the older population is now beginning to rise as well. and looking more widely, we can observe that in broad terms, we might now be on, at an earlier

stage on a similar path to that. which has been taken in recent weeks by france. four weeks ago france to broad where we do today but now they have around 10,000 new cases per day. hundreds of people in i see you and deaths in france are already rising now as well. our task is to make sure, if we can, that we interrupt the and we don‘t end up where they are now. what lies behind this is the simple reality, we are facing the risk again of exponential growth in covid and we all know from our experience earlier this year what that looks like and why it is important to avoid it. i want to talk briefly about what we need to do. we need to act to interrupt the exponential growth, no one wants to see another full—scale lockdown. above all, we want to keep schools

and childcare open, because we know how important that is to the education and broader well—being of children and young people. right now, and i mean right now today over the weekend and into next week, that means following all of the rules and advice currently in place. the labour leader — sir keir starmer — joined scotland‘s first minister nicola sturgeon in calling for the prime minister to call a cobra meeting. the leader of the opposition says it‘s important for the government to set out their plan to deal with the rise in the number of cases of coronavirus. i'm deeply concerned by the rising infection rates, as we all are and equally concerned about the failure of testing. i think there is a real concern now that the government hasn't got sufficient control over what is going on and, so, i think what is going on and, so, i think what the prime minister needs to do is convene a cobra meeting, that's what the first ministers in scotland and wales have already asked for,

thatis and wales have already asked for, that is urgently needed. he needs to ta ke that is urgently needed. he needs to take swift and decisive action at national level to deal with this. we cannot afford to be slow. i want to be cleared if the payment does take action, the labour party will support it and do what we can —— i wa nt support it and do what we can —— i want to be clear if the prime minister does take action. the first minister of wales has accused borisjohnson of a lack of engagement with other uk nations over coronavirus restrictions. nations over the coronavirus crisis. mark drakeford said he‘d had just one phone call with the prime minister since the end of may. he was speaking at today‘s news conference in cardiff. many will have turned their radios on to hear there are new restrictions imposed on have heard speculation the prime minister is considering a national two—week lockdown in england. as many people will have known, there have been numerous examples of problems this

week with the uk wide lighthouse lab testing system, people experiencing problems picking tests and delays in getting the results. —— getting tests. all of these issues need to be discussed at a uk level. by the four governments working together. but as far too often in this crisis, that opportunity has not been there. today, once again, i repeat my calls to the prime minister for proper engagement with the devolved governments of the united kingdom. in this most difficult week, there has been no meeting offered to first ministers of any sort. since the 28th of may, months ago now, there has beenjust one brief telephone call from the prime minister. i think that is simply unacceptable to anyone who believes

that we should be facing the coronavirus crisis together. i say isay again i say again as i said many months ago, we need a regular and reliable rhythm of engagement. even a single meeting once a week would be a start. i make this argument not because i think we should all do the same things, but because by being around the same table together, each one of us is able to make the best decisions for the nations we represent. there is a vacancy at the heart of the united kingdom and it needs urgently to be filled. so that we can talk together, share information, pool ideas and demonstrate a determination that the whole of the country can face these

challenges together at this difficult time. more than 40,000 people have died from coronavirus in the uk since the start of the pandemic. now a group of 1600 bereaved families is calling for an urgent public inquiry into the government‘s handling of the crisis. 0ur reporter alex forsyth has been speaking to two of the families involved. she had a really infectious laugh, everyone — that‘s how everyone knew her. brilliant grandmother. she would do anything for anyone. kerry‘s mum went into hospital in january for an operation to try and treat cancer. but there were complications. her mum, caroline, ended up in intensive care for months, then kerry got a phone call, in april. the doctor called me and said, there was no easy way of saying it, that my mother tested positive for covid, and that we‘re going to have to withdraw her treatment. she sobs. oh, sorry... you can see how tough that was.

erm, and i think it‘s because we couldn‘t go and say goodbye, you know, it‘s thinking of her being alone. kerry has nowjoined a group campaigning for an immediate independent inquiry into what happened at the start of this pandemic. fearful that cases are climbing up again, they want to meet the prime minister to set out their experience of what happened in hospitals, care homes, with ppe and testing, to make sure the right systems are now in place. i would like him to meet up with us. to listen. everyone has got a different — there‘s different story to each relative. they‘re not just numbers, these people that have died, they‘ve all got families that are heartbroken. they‘ve all died in different ways. and there‘s lessons to be learned. they can be forgiven for making mistakes the first time around, but they can‘t be forgiven for making the same mistakes again. the prime minister initially said he would meet anyone who‘d been bereaved by covid—19, but later said he couldn‘t meet this group now because they are in litigation with the government.

but the group say that isn‘t the case. they have sent a letter saying there might be court proceedings if there is no immediate public enquiry, but they‘re not under way yet. downing street said the prime minister is acutely aware of the suffering of those who‘ve lost someone, and will meet the group after any legal proceedings. number 10 has also said there will be an enquiry, but during the pandemic isn‘t the right time. for campaigners like jane, though, learning from what has happened can‘t come soon enough. if it had already happened, we would have learned lessons for now, because at the minute, it‘s not looking good, again. and to me, i‘m hoping it‘s not going to go down the same route as it did in march. because i wouldn‘t want thousands and thousands of people to go through what me and my family have gone through. jane‘s dad and her sister both died in the same week. her dad, vince, had been in a care home. he was taken into hospital after developing a temperature in march.

a week later, he died. it was just such a shock because he‘d been in hospital many times and always bounced back. i stayed with my dad, obviously, until he died. it was really upsetting. i couldn‘t believe it. i was in shock, i was angry. he passed away on thr saturday morning. later that same day, jane‘s sister was taken unwell. jocelyn was just 53, with underlying health conditions — she died in hospital, five days after her dad. jane says her loss has been hard to comprehend, but she‘s pushing for any lessons to be learnt for the sake of her dad and her sister. how will you remember them? happy, funny, jelly people who everybody loved. and as much as we cry, we laugh just as much because we‘ve got so many happy memories of both of them. that was jane roche ending the report by alex forsyth.

the headlines on bbc news... new restrictions will come into force for parts of the north west, the midlands, and west yorkshire from tuesday, to tackle rising coronavirus infections. it comes as the government considers further nationwide measures for england — a so—called circuit break of short—term restrictions. new figures suggest that on average infections are rising by 6,000 per day in england. the number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world have now risen beyond 30 million. more than 940,000 people have died with covid—19 since the outbreak began in china — according to figures from johns hopkins university. the worst hit nations are the us, india and brazil,

although infection rates across europe are rising rapidly. in the united states, joe biden has condemned donald trump‘s handling of the pandemic as "close to criminal", during one of his biggest televised events since becoming the democrats‘ candidate for us president. speaking at a drive—in campaign event in pennsylvania, he accused mr trump of deliberately playing down the impact of the virus, leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths. he does not want to see anything happen, it is all about his re—election. it should be about the american people, and they are in trouble, and by the way, his own cdc director contradicted him recently and said if in fact you just wore this mask you would save between now and january another 100,000 lives. and so we have to be honest with the american people, they‘re tough. as franklin roosevelt said,

"things get worse and worse before they get better and better", you‘ve got to level with the american people, there has never been a time when they have not been able to step—up. this president should step down. portugal‘s government has approved legislation which will make large employers re—organise working hours to reduce contact between employees. the plans come as the country reports a further 770 confirmed cases on thursday — the highest daily figure since april — at the peak of the outbreak. if current trends continue, the country is on course to reach 1000 new coronavirus cases a day by next week. 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.

the united nations human rights council has agreed to a resolution submitted by the european union to launch closer monitoring of alleged rights violations in belarus. the belarus opposition leader svetla na tikhanovskaya — speaking via videolink — told the meeting in geneva that the repression by the security force demands immediate international attention. she said peaceful protesters had been mistreated for rejecting president lukashenko‘s re—election. this demands immediate international attention. peaceful protesters are being illegally detained, beaten and raped. some of the protesters have been found dead. belarus needs fast and resolute decision. it is very

important that standing up for democratic principles and human rights is not interfered with by internal affairs, it is a question of human dignity. meanwhile daily demonstrations against president lukashenko are continuing — with frequent clashes between protesters and security forces. jonah fisher reports from the capital — minsk. president lukashenko has tried to crush the protests against him using groups of masked men. it has not worked, the demonstrations are still continuing but, every day, in the streets around here, in central minsk, people have been dragged off the pavement and put into unmarked minivans. reporter: why did you detain these people? it is a scene we have witnessed countless times, the men operate in complete secrecy and act with impunity.

but this last week the tables have been turned. groups of female demonstrators have started grabbing at the masks that hide the men‘s faces. what is the message these women are sending to these security forces, when they take the masks off? we will know you and we will know your face, and everyone should know your face, and who is doing such things to peaceful people. so you can identify him by his eyebrow... the pictures and videos of the exposed faces are shared on telegram channels. kirill says he does not do the identification himself but monitors it closely. so here, a guy is kidnapping a woman. this woman tried to fight her back and these two guys... so that is him, with his mask pulled down. that is him — his name, date of birth.

they have identified him but they do not know where he works. so he might not be a police officer? may not — when belarus will be free again, we will have normally working courts and this guy will face justice. this is the mother of yulia, the mask—puller in that last video. she is waiting for news of her daughter. this was yulia committing her crime. she was then dragged off and spent several nights in a detention centre. we are with yulia‘s mother when she is reunited with her daughter. yulia will have to go to court and could face up to five years imprisonment. translation: they threatened me, they told me i will be criminally charged with attacking a policeman. if yulia wants to go on another demonstration again, what will you say?

"i will go with her," she says. the national crime agency has made one of the biggest seizures of heroin to date in the uk. 1.2 tonnes of the drug were found hidden in bags of rice on a container ship bound for belgium which had docked at a port in felixstowe. the drugs are thought to have a street value of £120 million and investigators believe the vast majority of them were intended for distribution in the uk. buckingham palace has said that any decision made by barbados to remove the queen as its head of state, is for the island‘s government and people. the barbadian prime minister has said she wants the country to become

a republic by november next year, when it will celebrate the 55th anniversary of its independence from britain. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell has this report. when prince harry visited barbados nearly four years ago, he brought a message from his grandmother. he said the people of the caribbean island had occupied a special place in the queen‘s heart since her visit at the time of its independence from britain in 1966. yet, now, itappears, barbados is set to remove the queen as its head of state. after years of debate, the island‘s prime minister is determined to press ahead. we want to be able to control our own affairs by ensuring that a barbadian child can aspire to be head of state. we believe the only reason it hasn‘t happened is because this is a vestige our colonial past. without rancour, without divisiveness, we are going to remove that. but we continue to accept that our relationship with the royal family,

our relationship with the united kingdom, matters. in the same way that we are family to persons who come out of ghana, we are family to persons who come out of the united kingdom. and family still matters. and an island which has produced its share of notable figures is confident, according to its prime minister, of maintaining and enhancing its status as a republic with its own head of state. barbados has produced people who have been accomplished globally. we have had sir garfield sobers, who i think you know well. we have had sir everton weekes, he still holds records in cricket today that no other person has beaten. we have rihanna. we have dame nita barrow, who was head of the eminent persons group, the dismantling of apartheid and the release of nelson mandela back in the early 1990s. we have had founding leaders like sir grantley adams and errol barrow, who were regarded in their time as among the best of emerging leaders

from developing countries. so, i don‘t think that this is an issue that ought to concern anyone. within buckingham palace, officials are being diplomatic. this is a matterfor the government and people of barbados, they say. but, in a changing world, and with the inevitable transition at some point to a new monarch, they will be watching to see whether an island in the caribbean is a harbinger of wider changes among the nations which share the head of state with britain. nicholas witchell, bbc news. the chief executive of university hospitals birmingham trust has confirmed the region‘s nightingale hospital has been put back on a ‘high alert‘ footing. dr david rosser were speaking at the west midlands combined authority weekly coronavirus briefing. it may sound like it is insignificant but it is not. about two or three months ago —— it would take a week to stand back up. we have put it

back on its previous higher alerts was now within 48 —— 72 hours first to stand up. i say now, by next monday we will be on the trigger. we are not looking to open in the near future. everything remains the same if not more so, given the staff issue that talked about. the nightingale doesn‘t come with more staff, so it would involve taking start out the currently overstretched hospitals and putting them there, so as not a good thing we have to do by any stretch of the imagination. —— that we would have to. now it‘s time for a look at the weather.

try and settled with a chance of a shower down towards the south. rather we see across central and southern england, parts of wales, taking the edge of the highs of 22 degrees. further north, spells of sunshine although thicker cloud will persist across scotland with the odd spot of drizzle and that claudia and wacky weather could side a little further in mind as we go through tonight. at the same time, some server stored to show their hand across the channel islands. there are tomorrow, those showers could well drift into southern counties of england, possibly south wales. thicker guy will continue to affect some parts of north—east scotland. temperatures 17 degrees in aberdeen, 23 in london, rather cool for some of the north sea coasts. it looks bright for the vast majority.

this is bbc news. i‘m rebecca jones. the headlines — new restrictions announced for parts of the north west, the midlands and west yorkshire from tuesday to tackle rising coronavirus infections. the mayor of liverpool expresses his concern. a 500% increase in round about ten days is really not something that we expected, and it‘s something that really worries us. 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