this is bbc news, i'm simon mccoy. the headlines: a second wave of coronavirus — the country's top scientists say failure to act could lead to 50,000 cases a day by the middle of next month. you cannot just take you cannotjust take your own risk, u nfortu nately you cannotjust take your own risk, unfortunately you're taking a risk on behalf of everyone else. it is important we see this as something we have to do collectively. boris johnson will update mps on the situaiton tomorrow amid mounting expectation that he will announce new measures to curb the spread of the virus. the secret banking reports that reveal how the uk is a hub for international money laundering. and the leaked documents show the husband of a conservative party donor who got to play tennis with top tories received millions from an ally of president putin. the ultimate in sportsmanship — the spanish triathlete who stopped at the finish line to let a british rival through after he's gone the wrong way

good afternoon. "we've got to get control of this". that was the uncompromising message from the country's top scientists as britain enters a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. at a televised briefing, professor chris whitty and sir patrick vallance said the country could see 50,000 new coronavirus cases daily by mid—0ctober if the infection rate isn't brought down. but they stressed that outcome is not inevitable as long as people follow the rules to stop the spread of the virus. on that, the prime minister had meetings with senior ministers at the weekend to discuss whether further restrictions are necessary, and within the past hour, it's emerged that there will be a meeting of cobra tomorrow morning.

richard galpin reports. six months after the government ordered a full lockdown across the country to try and stem the rapid spread of the virus, it's now clear we are facing a serious second wave. case rising rapidly. this morning, the uk government's chief medical adviser warning it could lead quickly to a large number of deaths, he called on everyone to stick to social distancing rules. the problem with a pandemic or an epidemic infection like this is if i as an individual increase my risk i increase the risk to everyone around me and then everyone who is a contact of theirs. and sooner or later the chain will meet people who are vulnerable are elderly or have a long—term problem from covid—19. so you cannot in an epidemicjust take your own risk, unfortunately, you are taking a risk on behalf of everybody else. already the spread of the virus has led to local lockdown is being imposed in several areas of the country including glasgow, newcastle, belfast, manchester, liverpool and birmingham.

more restrictions are due to come into force in the north west of england tomorrow. a graph released this morning by the government advisers shows just how quickly the virus can get out of control. this graph which is not a prediction, is simply showing you how quickly this can move if the doubling time stays at seven days and of course, the challenge therefore is to make sure the doubling time does not stay at seven days. there are already things in place which are expected to slow that. and to make sure we do not enter into this exponential growth. the government is clearly trying to avoid a second national lockdown to prevent further damage to the economy. but there has been speculation there could be a two—week mini lockdown in england to try and slow infection rates. so far, though, no confirmation of this. personally, i'm expecting there to be another lockdown.

to keep us safe so i'm all on board, to be honest, totally on board. i don't think people have seen enough evidence to back up the data and i think they've allowed to be built almost return to normal so i think people will continue to do that, unfortunately. it would be better if there were more restrictions, that way we could actually minimise the risk, of course. absolutely, nobody wants to go back to lockdown but having said that, we concluded a meeting in preparation for another lockdown. the government is warning people there could be further measures if people do not stick to social distancing rules. we do need to make sure we are applying all these measures are indeed we are at the tipping point where we need, we may need to go further and that is something we would like to avoid but the data is the all—important thing. a national lockdown will be hugely, hugely catastrophic for the economy, for people, we have got to do everything we can, urgently, to avoid a national lockdown. it's been described now as a critical moment for the country. whether infections can't be brought

down or will increase. and that depends on how all of us behave. richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent, jessica parker, is in westminster. so we have had the warning and it is a pretty bleak warning from the scientists, the question is what will the politicians do? what they're doing this afternoon, we have learned in the last hour that the prime minister will be speaking to the various leaders of the devolved administrations one by one in separate phone calls, so speaking to the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon n wales mark dra keford and the nicola sturgeon n wales mark drakeford and the first minister in northern ireland. that is indicative that things are moving. it is still not clear in which direction. as has been reported, the government doesn't want to at this time go

anywhere near anything like that full lockdown that we saw earlier this year. what seems to be under discussion whether some sectors may have to see restriction o's to try and put a pause on the transmission of the virus. what we have learned todayis of the virus. what we have learned today is that there will be a cobra meeting, an emergency cope ra meeting, an emergency cope ra meeting, tomorrow morning. it seems if there will be movement it is imminent. is the impression that we are going to be talking about some national action, what to we think is on the agenda? national action is an option that has been on the table. as means of trying to slow the virus as laid out, what could happen if

nothing was done. they did qualify the worst case scenarios, saying there are some things already in place, including i presume they were referring to the rule of six. i think the thing is ministers are pouring over data, trying to see what is happening and the trajectory of the virus. i think their previous strategy over the summer and into autumn was go for local restrictions, where you would see different parts of england and the uk as well going under sort of local restrictions. the thing is recently the local restrictions have become more regional in some cases covering large parts of the country, affecting millions of people and the virus more broadly has spread and they were quite clear today when they were quite clear today when they were quite clear today when they were outlining it in the press conference, chris whitty and sir patrick vallance, while some age groups see a higher spread, it is

spreading throughout different age groups, as that ends up in more hospitalisation. four more counties in south wales will be placed under a local lockdown, following what the welsh government describe as "a worrying and rapid" rise in coronavirus cases. the health minister vaughan gething made the announcement at the daily government briefing. the rise in cases in bridgened, merthyr tydfil and newport means we have made the difficult but necessary decision to introduce local restrictions in all of these areas to protect people's health, and to prevent the spread of coronavirus. these measures will be the same as those that are already in place across rhondda cynon taf. they will come into force from 6 o'clock on tuesday evening. and they will apply to everyone living in

bridgened, merthyr tydfil and newport. hywel griffith is in cardiff. we heard those that are already in place across rhondda cynon taf. they will come into force from 6 o'clock on tuesday evening. and they will apply to everyone living in bridgened, merthyr tydfil and newport. we heard there will be a phone call between borisjohnson and mark drakeford phone call between borisjohnson and mark dra keford and phone call between borisjohnson and mark drakeford and a more national approach is something presumably they will be discussing? yes, we have seen more and more local lockdowns in wales and from 6am tomorrow, more than a quarter of the population will be under restriction, so the question is should there be something national in wales and all four nations. the welsh government doesn't want a repeat of the uk—wide lockdown we saw in marsh but there may be further restrictions coming within the next 2a hours. also we know the welsh government is looking at other local authority areas in wales, including in cardiff. tomorrow there will be a meeting of the heads of ten council areas. six are already

in local lockdown. would we see most of the south wales under a local lockdown? thank you. nicola sturgeon has said that additional restrictions will almost certainly be put in place in scotland within days. the first minister was speaking in edinburgh. because of our collective efforts over the summer, which suppressed the virus to very low levels, we are ina much the virus to very low levels, we are in a much stronger position than we would otherwise be and it is important not to forget that. those collective efforts meant that many people who might otherwise have suck comed to this virus —— succumbed to this didn't get it and we saved a lot of lives. however with the virus on the spread again in scotland, across the uk and europe and still accelerating in much of the world, doing nothing in the face of this rapid spread is not an option. lorna gordon is in glasgow.

in scotland this is all about a trade off isn't it? yes it is. nicola sturgeon has been signalling for a couple of days that more restrictions will be on the way. but she has been pointing out that the trend in terms of number of positive cases in scotland and the positivity rate has been going in the wrong direction. 255 scots tested positive today and that rate was at 6.3% of those who were newly tested. remember the world health 0rganisation level for considering the virus to be under control is 5%. so these are just a snapshot, a daily snapshot, but there is trend and it is going in the wrong direction. covid, she said, is spreading again in scotland and this was a serious moment for the country. her underlying message was that doing nothing is not an option.

now she is having that conversation with the prime minister this afternoon, her point being that viruses don't respect borders and westminster controls she said most of the economic levers in terms of supporting people through this virus. she said there is a range of options that the scottish government is considering, they're keen to give more support to people who are asked to self—isolate, particularly those who are on low incomes. but she said outside of that they will be looking at more can be done to restrict household spread and what can be done with hospitality. she said a four nations approach would be possible, but she said whatever restrictions come in scotland will come into force in the next a8—hours. come into force in the next 48-hours. given that scotland does seem to have been ahead of curve on a few of the moves, would it be welcomed if borisjohnson is urging a four nations approach, we are all

going to do this together? well, i think nicola sturgeon was clear she would like there to be this four nations approach. she said there has been conversations over if weekend with michael gove and there is this cobra meeting tomorrow morning. and for the reasons just mentioned, cobra meeting tomorrow morning. and for the reasonsjust mentioned, the economic levers, the fact that virus doesn't respect the border, i think she this it makes more sense to do this together. but she is very clear that she will do what she thinks she has to do to get the r number here in scotland below one. these figures, she says, are worrying, the trends are worrying and of course where the numbers increase, the hospital admissions albeit from a low base will follow. so not entirely clear what the restrictions will be in scotland, a lot of speculation they might involve

cu rfews and travel speculation they might involve curfews and travel restrictions, but i think all will become clear over the next couple of days and after that conversation with the prime minister. thank you. a reminder that at 2.30 on the bbc news channel, we'll answer your questions on testing. joining us will be virologist and lecturer in global health dr elisabetta groppelli and university of brighton virologist dr sarah pitt. send your questions using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions or email them using yourquestions@bbc.co.uk a leak of financial documents has revealed the uk is a hub for international money laundering. the secret bank documents — which register suspicious activity — name more than 3,000 british companies, more than any other country in the world. the leak also reveals the us treasury deemed the uk "a higher risk jurisdiction". ministers say the uk is internationally recognised for the way it tackles money laundering. richard bilton reports.

the leaked documents show britain is open to dodgy business and criminality. i'm on my way to an office just to the north of london and in our leaked documents, it is quite clear that the us treasury thinks the place that i'm about to visit is one of the dodgiest addresses in the world. this office blockjust off potters bar high street might not look much but billions of dirty dollars go through companies registered on the second floor here at suite 2b 175 darkes lane. i want to understand how it works. there is here at suite 2b, i am guessing that is them. let's give them a ring, see who runs this place, see how it operates. this is a place where hundreds of companies have been registered but nobody is in, nobody is answering. it isjust a dead end.

the man who runs the office later told us he simply offers a registered address and only conducts basic checks. it is notjust here. we found more than 3,000 british companies in the suspicious activity report, that's more than any other country in the world. one type of company is particularly popular with money launderers. the uk offers a secretive type of company called a limited liability partnership, or llp, and llps can be used by crooks to move vast sums of cash without being caught. i don't know whether i am delighted or sad to tell you that we are one of the world leaders in providing vehicles for laundering money because every major money—laundering scheme i've ever seen has had uk companies at their heart. on friday, the government announced plans for new company

rules to combat fraud. it said the uk is internationally recognised as having some of the strongest controls worldwide when it comes to tackling money—laundering. but this secret us treasury report from the files refers to the uk as a higher riskjurisdiction such as cyprus. why is money—laundering something that our viewers should care about? because it is actually the very fuel of crime. if we continue to launder money, criminals will continue to commit the crimes, to kill people over drugs, supply drugs that kill, you know, people in our community. it is perhaps the most shocking conclusion from the leaked files, the uk is at the heart of global money—laundering. richard bilton, bbc news. the leaked documents have also revealed how the husband of one of the conservative party's biggest donors was secretly funded

by a russian oligarch with close ties to president putin. lubov chernukhin has given £1.7 million to the tories and has paid to meet three successive tory prime ministers. lawyers for mrs chernukhin say her donations to the conservative party have never been tainted by kremlin influence. the conservative party says british russians, "have the democratic right to donate to a political party". andy verity reports. this unprecedented leak reveals some of the international banking system's most closely guarded secrets. in one example, a payment of $8 million, flagged as suspicious, was sent to a russian businessman living in britain, vladimir chernukhin, in 2016. it initially came from this man, suleyman kerimov, a billionaire ally of president putin. in 2018, he was sanctioned by the us who were targeting those they said played a key role in advancing russia's malign activities. mr chernukhin‘s wife, lubov chernukhin, has become famous for donating large sums

to the conservative party in exchange for tennis matches with david cameron and borisjohnson and paying £135,000 for a night out with theresa may. in total, she has donated £1.7 million, most of it since her husband received the $8 million from kerimov. the chernukhins, pleasant people though they may be, are not fit and proper people to make donations to a british political party and it looks and feels and is really troubling if you see that people are paying money into the conservative party coffers and getting this level of access and therefore presumably influence as a result. the conservative party said british russians have a democratic right to donate to a political party. the chernukhins‘ lawyers say mrs chernukhin never received money deriving from mr kerimov, and mr kerimov says he has had no dealings with mrs chernukhin, but neither disputed the $8 million payment to her husband. andy verity, bbc news.

let's speak now to labour mp dame margaret hodge. not something to be particularly proud of that london is the centre of world money laundering? we have been talk about this for a number of yea rs now been talk about this for a number of years now and this is yet another set of documents, yet another set of lea ks, set of documents, yet another set of leaks, that confirms some of our worst fears. i think what is different about this set of leaks is in the past it has been related to one particular solicitor‘s firm or an hsbc branch in switzerland. this cove rs a an hsbc branch in switzerland. this covers a whole range of banks, household names from barclays to hspc. it is huge. the other thing which is of concern, particularly to our all party

which is of concern, particularly to ourall party group, which is of concern, particularly to our all party group, is most of the files relate in some way or other to the uk and one in five of the files relate to a company that has been incorporated in one of our tax haven overseas territories. so this is a british problem. it is something that the uk government has to address. we have been on and on at them and they have not doning enough. when you say you have been on and on on them, you can sort of see why there isn't the transparent circumstances pa rency because see why there isn't the transparent circumstances parency because of what it uncovers. quite! i com pletely what it uncovers. quite! i completely agree. that let's talk about it a bit. we had a long battle in parliament when we had the hung parliament, which we won, which will lead to there being public registers of beneficial ownership, who owns a

particular company, in our overseas territories. that is a victory. we have been having a hugely long battle about what information is owned about companies that are incorporated. the film will show one address in potters bar, where there area address in potters bar, where there are a thousand company ps registered there and we have no idea whether there and we have no idea whether the names on the registration are real people, or whether they really are the people who benefit from the creation and own the company. so we need much better information in companies‘ house about who own it is companies and that should be vetted. the government put forward, surprise, surprise, a paper on friday, i think they must have known this programme was coming, in which they said they would do that. i welcome that. but it has taken too

long. you need transparency, but you need tough regulation and tough enforcement. there is a lot of agencies whosejob it enforcement. there is a lot of agencies whose job it is to enforce here, whether you‘re talking about the police, whether you talk about hmrc, the serious serious fraud 0ffice, hmrc, the serious serious fraud office, the serious crimes agency, there are a lot of agencies, all of them are understaffed, done do a properjob of pursuing the money launderers and those bringing money into the uk to impact on political and public life. and i canjust give you one example, when i chaired the committee, we look at this leak we got from hsbc‘s swiss branch. there we re got from hsbc‘s swiss branch. there were 6,800 documents, they related to 3,600 individuals who lived in the uk. hmrc told us about third of

those had, were using the secrecy of switzerland in a suspicious manner. at the end of five years of having documents, hmrc managed just one case going before the judges documents, hmrc managed just one case going before thejudges in documents, hmrc managed just one case going before the judges in the courts. that is just not tough enough. i suppose my final point is that the banks too are complicit and i have always said that, all the people who advise companies, rich individuals, whether it is banks, whether it is a accountants or lawyers, they all are complicit in devising these opaque structures that then lead to money laundering and financial crime and they‘re never held to account and always get off scot free and we should have much laws to hold them to account. you as chair of that committee and this committee are in a position to

try and find out what is going on, it is not just try and find out what is going on, it is notjust down to this government, it has been going on for a long time. if not you and not senior politicians, who will sort this out? well, it's a mix. has got to be government and i have say i have been working on this for many yea rs have been working on this for many years and i have got as a labour politician, i can tell you i got a better response from the cameron government than from any subsequent conservative government and that is very worrying. then i think also there has to be international agreements between all tho countries that get affected. we don‘t work well enough together and everyone is a lwa ys well enough together and everyone is always concerned, that the race to the bottom on trying to attract dirty business into our country that they would rather forego the rule and have the money. you will never

sus stain economic prosperity and growth and wealth through dirty money. it is unsustainable. it may help short—term, but doesn‘t get us to where we need in the long—term. thank you. and you can see the full story on the leaks on panorama: the banking secrets of the rich and powerful, this evening on bbc one at 7pm, and later on the iplayer. labour has accused the government of mismanaging billions of pounds spent in response to the pandemic. in a speech to party members at its virtual annual conference, the shadow chancellor, anneliese dodds, accused ministers of a "cavalier" approach to public spending during the crisis. 0ur political correspondent, ellie price, was listening and is in westminster. what else were they saying? well this was a party conference with a difference, no big auditorium, no big audience and no standing ovation. but instead it was done

remotely, which changed the atmosphere a bit. annelise dodds, it was her first speech as shadow chancellor. she accused the government of mismanaging vast amounts of public money and gave exa m ples of amounts of public money and gave examples of ppe and of testing kits that had been bought but then couldn‘t be used, because they were not deemed to be safe. she reiterated the test, trace and isolate scheme was not working. it was an interesting line of attack, it is one that the conservatives often level at labour, the idea of being cavalier with public money. she said there would be a cautious approach with the economic in mind. as chancellor, i would ensure that public money was always spent wisely, targeted where it is needed

most, not splurged where it isn't. new leadership, with proper oversight of government contracts, so oversight of government contracts, so they deliver value for money every time. testing every single budget line against the goal of net zero carbon emissions, because the evidence is clear, investment that favours our climate also favours jobs in the short and long term. now the shadow chancellor said labour‘s priorities would be based on the free r, recover jobs, priorities would be based on the free r, recoverjobs, retrain workers and rebuild businesses. she talked of how the furlough scheme could be affected so so workers go go back part—time in sectors that are suffering particularly badly and called for the government to bring forward the £3 billion of national skills to fund and talked about

businesses that have taken out covid loa ns businesses that have taken out covid loans over the last few years that would need to be repaid in spring and said extra support would be needed for many businesses, because business has not been able to pick up. it was an unusual conference and more of a get together and something the top team would not necessarily have chosen, because covid has dominated not just the have chosen, because covid has dominated notjust the delivery of the message was the contents and it will be keir starmer‘s turn tomorrow. thank you. now the weather. most of us can look forward to sunny skies today and it will feel warm in the sunshine. for northern ireland, staying cloudy and scotland, well, we have some rain around. particularly in shetland, but a few patches in the hebrides and 0rkney as well. the highest temperatures in south—east england. 25 degrees. 20

in aberdeen. tonight rain turns heavier in north—west scotland, moves into highland later in the night. for england and wales some mist and fog patches forming. that low cloud, mist and fog will ling for a time. the afternoon brighter with sunshine. ahead of this front that will bring rain into the north—west some strong winds for northern ireland, scotland and the far north of england as well. highest temperatures in east anglia of 26. but then turning cooler for all of us midweek. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines:

a second wave of coronavirus — the country‘s top scientists say failure to act could lead to 50,000 cases a day by the middle of next month. you cannot in an epidemicjust take your own risk. unfortunately, you are taking a risk on behalf of everybody else. it is important that we see this is something we have to do collectively. boris johnson will update mps on the situation tomorrow amid mounting expectation he will announce new measures to curb the spread of the virus. and the leaked documents show the husband of a conservative party donor who got to play tennis with top tories received millions from an ally of president putin. sport now, and a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here‘s jane. hello the bbc sport centre, here‘s jane. there. we start news hello there. we start with breaking news in the last few minutes. leyton 0rient‘s match tomorrow night is in doubt after the club announced stadium and training facilities have had to close to a number of

facilities testing positive for coronavirus. in a statement, they said they had informed the efl and totte n ha m , said they had informed the efl and tottenham, who they are scheduled to host tomorrow night in the third round. they have also told their three most recent opponents in the lead. the players who tested positive self isolating, but the clu b positive self isolating, but the club has confirmed that the stadium and training facilities will be closed until further notice. and training facilities will be closed untilfurther notice. we and training facilities will be closed until further notice. we will keep you up—to—date on this story. manchester city have confirmed that midfielder ilkay gundogan has tested positive for covid—19. the club say he‘ll self—isolate for ten days in accordance with government guidelines. it means gundogan will miss three matches for manchester city, including tonight‘s premier league game away at wolves. he‘s also likely to be left out of thursday‘s carabao cup match against bournemouth and sunday‘s game against leicester city. queen‘s park rangers‘ director of football, les ferdinand, says the message behind taking a knee has been lost. the qpr and coventry city players didn‘t take a knee before their game in the championship on friday, the first time it‘s happened in a televised match since football restarted in june.

ferdinand says the taking of a knee has "reached a point of ‘good pr‘ "but little more than that", adding that taking the knee will not bring about change in the game, actions will. premier league champions liverpool beat chelsea in a comfortable 2—0 victory yesterday. sadio mane scored both goals, but the second involved another mistake from cheslea goalkeeper kepa arrizabalaga. the club are thought to be close to signing another goalkeeper and, speaking on match of the day 2, alan shearer said kepa looks to have lost his confidence. well, they‘ve got no chance of winning the title with him in goal, u nfortu nately, winning the title with him in goal, unfortunately, because his confidence is shot. i actually feel sorry for him, and i‘m slightly surprised that frank, after last week, because he should have saved one last week. at brighton. at brighton, and i thought to try and protect the club‘s investment, you‘d

be better off not playing him. i mean, that ball has just got to go there. if you are under pressure anyway. just get rid of it. trying to play out, superb from mane again, but he is shot, he has gone to pieces, and as i said, i am surprised frank is playing him. wa nted surprised frank is playing him. wanted cricket now. —— onto cricket now. england women start their t20 series against the west indies in derby this evening. it‘s the first time they‘ve played international cricket since march because of the pandemic. captain heather knight says it‘s been "a long time coming", and is pleased that one of the games will be free to air. the reach of the bbc can give is obviously slightly different, so yes, that‘s hugely exciting, and to have that kind of primary slot on saturday as well is great, and hopefully we can go out and inspire some young girls. that is such an important thing to be able to do. i think that visibility of women‘s sport hasn‘t been as visible this summer, because of the pandemic, so it is hugely important that women

sport continues to be visible and people are able to see it. now, we don‘t always see this in competitive sport — sportsmanship! this is british racerjames teagle, who was on course for third place at a triathlon in spain, when he made this mistake near the finish line. he was overtaken. a spaniard called diego mentrida overtook him, but noticed the mistake and stopped to allow teagle to cross first, saying he deserved it. the organisers awarded him honorary third place and the same ?300 prize money as teagle. i shook his hand straight afterwards, and once i realised that that was the finish line and we had gone over it, and yes, just thanked him, thank you very much. it was an absolutely incredible thing to do. and we were whisked away by the covid security measures, so actually, next i spoke to him was on instagram, andi actually, next i spoke to him was on instagram, and i sent him a couple of m essa g es instagram, and i sent him a couple of messages saying, thank you,

that‘s incredible. and then obviously, they world got hold of the video and it has gone viral. just lovely to see, isn‘t it? that‘s all the sport for now. now it‘s time for your questions, answered. national measures which could see hospitality businesses shut are being considered by the uk government to slow the surge of coronavirus cases. a short period of tighter restrictions, lasting a few weeks, could be announced this week. schools and most workplaces are likely to be kept open during those weeks. health secretary matt hancock has said the government is prepared to do what it takes against covid—19. to answer all your questions, we‘rejoined by dr sarah pitt, a virologist from the university of brighton, and dr elisabeta groppelli, a virologist and lecturer in global health at st george‘s university in london. thank you both forjoining us once again. i will go straight to the questions. we have this one from judith, who says, if we had a mild

form of covid, would we be infectious generally, or when experiencing this recurring is macro would we have immunity? sarah? yes, you would be infectious, and even a mild form of covid, you are still actually shedding virus, which means you could pass that onto other people, and in of immunity, actually, the evidence suggests that the milder you experience the infection, the less likely you are to produce a lasting protective immune response, so the answer to the question about immunity is possibly not, although it is not terribly clear—cut. you are less likely to make a good immune response, because part of the symptoms of the more serious disease is related to your immune response to the virus rather than the virus itself. we have all heard of the term herd immunity, yet we hearfrom the

scientists today that nine out of ten people still have not had this virus? absolutely, yes. in some places, it is actually only 8% or maybe a little bit higher, which means that this is the antibody test that can tell us if people have been exposed to the virus, and that is quite a small minority. 92% of us are still susceptible, and we can obviously get infected and transmit the virus, so it is absolutely important that we tackle the spread and transmission right now. when i use that phrase herd immunity, you reacted, sarah? sarah, it was just saying, when reacted, sarah? sarah, it wasjust saying, when i used the phrase herd immunity, you reacted to it. yes, could i interject? herd immunity is really misunderstood. people are using it in completely the wrong way. herd immunity is something which is only used in a very specific context,

which is by epidemiologists who are deciding what level of vaccine to give to people. it is not relating to... it cannot be applied to natural infection of anything, so whatever it is we are talking about here, it is not herd immunity, and it definitely cannot be achieved by natural infection for anything, but it definitely will not be achieved for this coronavirus, because as we have seen, at the moment, even in hot spots in places like spain where they have actually gone and done antibody testing of people, health ca re antibody testing of people, health care workers and so on, in retrospect where up two maybe about 10% of people who have evidence of antibody, and some of that will be lost a nyway antibody, and some of that will be lost anyway over the months. but evenin lost anyway over the months. but even in something like measles, we still have to vaccinate against measles, and measles is very infectious, and much more infectious than covid—19, and you actually do produce long lasting lifelong

immunity from measles, and even then, you don‘t do herd immunity from natural infection. so i would really appreciate if people stop using that term, because they are misusing it. i'm glad we cleared that up, because i saw how you reacted when i used it, so forgive me! let‘s go to another question. no, it is not your! jason barker has asked, iam no, it is not your! jason barker has asked, i am shielding because i have got covid. my question is, what is happening to the shield as of this country? —— the shielders. -- the shielders. yes, the guidance has only recently been updated. shielding was advised during the early stages of the pandemic but has not been required right now, however, there was quite a lot of attention about the fact that the situation is quite dynamic. of course, as we know now, this situation right now is quite critical, so there is the

possibility, of course, about shielding advice might change. also, nhs digital has a nice secure list of all the people who have been asked to shield during the peak of the pandemic, so the idea is that, should the guidance change, they will be immediately informed about the increased risk, and of course, the increased risk, and of course, the need of shielding. the increased risk, and of course, the need of shieldinglj the increased risk, and of course, the need of shielding. i have this question from someone anonymous, who i suspect has some knowledge about this. how do we ensure that the pcr swa p this. how do we ensure that the pcr swap testing is not picking up non—infectious people who still have dead virus rna in their nose or throat from being infected some time ago? perhaps we should start by explaining exactly what the pcr swab is. a very interesting question. pcr stands for preliminary raise chain reaction. that is the technical name for the test they are doing. they have a swab collected, it goes to a lab, and that is just the technical name of the test they used to detect

the virus. is this questioner says, they are mentioning rna, which is they are mentioning rna, which is the genetic material of the virus. rna does not tend to hang around for too long in the human body. we tend too long in the human body. we tend to have processes which will make it decay, so you are unlikely to have virus or evidence of virus hanging around from infection from a long time ago, that if you are at the very, very end of your fortnightly or three weekly infectious period, it is possible that you might have a low level of virus that the test will pick up that you might not be infectious to other people. however, they get around that by setting the para meters they get around that by setting the parameters of the test so that if they decide something is positive, one or two copies of the genetic material or the virus would not be

reported as a positive test, so it is the way they set the test app which makes sure that does not happen, or is less likely to happen. but also, the person can rest assured that rna does not hang around for months and months, so thatis around for months and months, so that is also kind of unlikely as well, but that‘s what they do. they set up this test in a technical way to account for that possibility. i hope that helps. the testjust tells you if you have got it or hasn‘t there would haven‘t, doesn‘t it? it doesn‘t tell you how strongly or how infectious you might be? well, it can do. we could do that. we don‘t, because at the moment, we are just deciding do you have it or do you not. but the way the testing system works is the same way, it is the same works is the same way, it is the sa m e test works is the same way, it is the same test were used to test whether someone with something like hepatitis b or hiv, whether the drugs they are and are actually working, and we do look for a thing. some of your viewers might be aware ofa some of your viewers might be aware

of a term called viral load, which is the amount of virus you actually have. the pcr test can actually look at that, but in the case of covid—19 testing, what we‘re doing at the moment isjust, you either have it all you do not. we can set a threshold to make that decision, so if there are a couple of copies it hanging around, we might call that negative. thank you for that. and this one from david johnson. if immunity to coronavirus faded over months, how will this impact the potential success of vaccination? a very interesting question, and yes, a natural infection might generate a short—term immunity, but the vaccines might actually work differently, and also, because they are specifically designed to generate immunity, they tend to take that into consideration. so without going into the details, the vaccine is actually very different

genetically, and also looks a little bit different, and it is often administered with some chemicals that actually can boost an immune response, and also, there are two types of immunity that are actually required against the coronavirus, and it's very important that the vaccines do stimulate both arms of the immune system, so actually, both of them are involved in what is called the memory, so immunity can build up when we come into contact with the virus after vaccination. so different technology, natural immunity, not necessarily long lasting. sometimes, when it comes to virus vaccines, unfortunately, the vaccines are not that good and need to be administered every year, for example, and this is the case for the flu vaccine. it is notjust about the virus as being different, but also needing to boost. so there is good hope, certainly, for all the

technologies for the vaccines that are being developed, but only one thing will tell, which is actually time, if we want to know how long something biological lasts. we are going to have to wait. sarah, you we re going to have to wait. sarah, you were nodding. yes, and i think it is worth bearing in mind it is quite likely, i think, worth bearing in mind it is quite likely, ithink, that worth bearing in mind it is quite likely, i think, that we may have to have annual boosters or six monthly boosters, at least in the short term while we‘re waiting for the virus you kind of settled down and hopefully go away altogether. just because of the very nature the vaccines themselves and the body‘s immune response to them. let me pick up immune response to them. let me pick up on that, because the next question from stephen evans asks, will the virus ever die out naturally of its own accord? well, you see, the 2002 sars did, and the reason for that was we had very stringent infection messes which actually stop transmission of the virus from person to person, and we managed to get rid of it that way.

so it is entirely possible that we could stop it passing from person to person, but what that requires is for us to be really strict about our social distancing measures and to stop the transmission spreading around and also, because we know now that some people are infectious but do not have any symptoms, they can spread it to other people, which in sars one was not very common whereas in sars two, it seems to be common. and also, sara is one did not spread around the whole world to the same extent that this one has. —— sars one. so it is entirely possible, and i think it is in humanity‘s hands to do that, but whether it is actually logistically possible is another question, i think. logistically possible is another question, ithink. but logistically possible is another question, i think. but i would like to see us get rid of it altogether. yes, looking at how things are at the moment, that isjust looking like a wish? yes! unfortunately,

that seems to be the case. the thing about this novel coronavirus is that it spreads very efficiently, and as sarah has pointed out, you can also spread before or without symptoms, and that makes it very difficult to tackle, and a public health threat. and i would point out that the only two times, actually, that we have managed to make two viruses disappear are smallpox at and an animal virus, which was because we had fantastic vaccines and also a global vaccination campaign which was very, very efficient. sol certainly hope, but right now, it doesn't look like it is the case, so we are bunkered down to the good old measures of keeping distance and washing hands. doctor pitt, this one from ray. can the covid—19 test distinguish between types of flu and covid, and if so, how? well, ithink it is worth bearing in mind that

covid—19 is not a type of flu, and in terms of the viruses, they are com pletely in terms of the viruses, they are completely different, so the covid—19 test that we are using at the momentjust tests covid—19 test that we are using at the moment just tests for covid—19 and nothing else. so, as we said earlier in the programme, it is looking for the genetic material which is like the unique bar code of that virus, and it will only pick that virus, and it will only pick that up, so if the person has a flu or another type of respiratory infection, it won‘t come up positive on the covid—19 test as it stands at the moment. as we go forward into the moment. as we go forward into the winter, what the hospital laboratory certainly will be doing is, they have a form of the pcr test where you can test for lots of different viruses all at once, and this is standard practice. we have been doing it this way for quite a number of years now, that you have one swab or one throat swab or sample, and you put it in a test tube and you can test for lots and lots of different respiratory

viruses all in one go. and because you are looking for the unique bar code of each virus, it can tell the difference between influenzas, various, influenza a, influenza b, and it can tell another respiratory virus which is particularly common in children, and it would be able to tell the difference between the covid—19 virus. some setups will also distinguish normal common cold coronavirus is as well. so the question can rest assured that we can tell the difference in the laboratory between all these different viruses quite easily now. the technology is there and the science and the expertise is definitely there to do that.|j science and the expertise is definitely there to do that. i have a question here from chris which i don‘t think he has finished. he says, is it not highly irresponsible for universities, especially ones located in special measures areas... and that is it. i think it probably means to open this weekend to bring eve ryo ne means to open this weekend to bring everyone from around the country into an area that looks fairly

risky. yes, i would interpret it in that way as well! there are certainly reasons to be concerned, and to be very attentive about what happens on campus. actually, this is not novel. we know when students come back to campus, all sorts of viruses, respiratory viruses especially, go up in terms of cases and infections, so certainly this year, we also have the major threat of this novel coronavirus, but we also need to take into consideration that universities have spent the summer months making things covid secure, and most universities have actually adopted a combination of lectures online, but also maintaining, giving the possibility to the students to come onto campus to the students to come onto campus to do the practicals that are still important for many degree courses, including medicines, for example. but of course, university life goes beyond teaching and learning, and

this, i think, beyond teaching and learning, and this, ithink, is beyond teaching and learning, and this, i think, is when it is very important to give the responsibility of reminding individuals of their responsibility to every single student. covid reminds us that it is notjust student. covid reminds us that it is not just about us as individuals, but also the potential transmissions and defects that we have onto our peers and the rest of society, so on campus especially, it will be important for universities and their authorities to play their part, but also for the individuals to behave absolutely fantastically, because as we know, even if you are still young, and experience only mild symptoms, you could still be part of the transmission chains.” symptoms, you could still be part of the transmission chains. i have not been to brighton for a while... i have not been young for a while! but there is particularly an issue with fresher‘s week, isn‘t there? there is particularly an issue with fresher's week, isn't there? well, is, but as was said, universities have made the campuses as covid secure as possible, and we are giving our students all the guidance

and all the support they would need to stay safe, and i think we do have to stay safe, and i think we do have to trust them. we have to understand that if we give them all the information and explain to them what they can and can‘t do what they should and should not do, then allow them to make this kind of decisions, i think them to make this kind of decisions, ithink in them to make this kind of decisions, i think in the long term, it is better if we then say this is what you should be doing, and allow them to get on with it, and intervene if we have to if something has gone wrong somewhere, rather than assuming it is going to go wrong because they are not going to be able to follow the rules, because they are young and they are going to just come down to have fun, because there is nothing wrong with having fun, but all of us are having to have fun in a covid secure kind of way, and at the moment, the situation is the rule of six, so we‘re socialising with six people, and we are all having to do that. have you intervened, sarah? have you had to go up to a group of students

and say, you should not be doing at? 0n, and say, you should not be doing at? on, no, idid and say, you should not be doing at? on, no, i did not mean that! have an infection control, sort of if there is an outbreak somewhere, we would have to do public health intervention. sorry, that is what i meant. if this week, you go back to the university campus and there are seven or eight people breaking a couple of rules, what would you say? imight go couple of rules, what would you say? i might go up to them and explain to them, or sort of ask them what was happening and may be explained to them in a... i have actually been known to tell students for talking outside examination rooms, and it surprised me, actually, that they actually listened and thought, oh, yes, sorry, and moved away. so i a lwa ys yes, sorry, and moved away. so i always think i don‘t have the sort of gravitas that people will take notice of me, but they do occasionally. 0h, notice of me, but they do occasionally. oh, come on! if! notice of me, but they do occasionally. oh, come on! if i feel strongly about it, sometimes they

will listen to me. if they ask, who do you think you are, you could say iam do you think you are, you could say i am doctor sarah pitt, biologist! yes, i think i would be confident about that. let's move on. this from laura. what are scientists‘ views on the current use of masks, and could it be made more effective? the masks are a topic, and i feel as a scientist i should start with possibly an apology, because we have been caught on the back foot when it came to masks. we have never had to properly put them in a context of large—scale infection prevention and control. at right now, actually, the evidence is that masks do play a part. face coverings to play a part, and we should absolutely put it in place. —— face coverings do play a part. in terms of making that effective, one of the best ways to make a mask effective as wearing it properly, wearing it correctly, which means it needs to fit, and also that you should not touch it. but also, wearing it properly means

it actually has to cover the nose and the mouth, and unfortunately, there have been examples on campus and in hospitals as well of different alternative ways of wearing a mask, so definitely, definitely a reminder, the most effective ways covering both nose and mouth and not touching it, and washing hands before and also after you have to take it off, and store it or change it frequently.” you have to take it off, and store it or change it frequently. i have time for one very quick one. for you, sarah. could there be other factors of the immune system that need to be considered other than antibodies? yes, i mean, ithink it is quite clear that another bit of the immune system... there is a type of cell in the blood called white blood cells, and a particular type of white blood cell is involved in the immune response called a t cell, and that is clearly involved in immunity to coronavirus in a way that perhaps we had not quite realised at the very beginning, because we normally concentrate on

antibodies when we are looking at trying to protect ourselves against infection. so, yes. we will end with a yes. good. doctor sarah pitt and dr elisabetta groppelli, really good to talk to you both, and fascinating. thanks for your time this afternoon. thank you. a quick look at the weather from chris fox. hello there. most of us have sunny skies to look forward to the rest of the day today. this is how it looked earlier on. that is in west cornwall. looking at the weather picture of the next few days, although we have sunshine today, things will take a turn. it will turn much cooler as we head towards the middle part of the week. temperatures well up into the 20s today, and for some of us tomorrow. but as we head through the autumn equinox and into the middle of the week, we see that colder air

arriving, northerly winds, and by the end of the week, temperatures much lower, just 9 degrees for some in scotland and 11! towards parts of south—east england. so enjoy the warmth while it lasts. you can see the extent of the sunshine through the extent of the sunshine through the day today. always a bit more cloud across the north west, and for the scottish islands, particularly into shetland. they will be some persistent outbreaks of rain here. top temperature is about 211—25 across eastern england, an overnight, outbreaks of rain turn heavier for overnight, outbreaks of rain turn heavierfor a time across overnight, outbreaks of rain turn heavier for a time across northern areas of scotland. the rain edges into highland as well through the night. further south, if into highland as well through the night. furthersouth, if you into highland as well through the night. further south, if you missed in fog patches to watch out for, and some low cloud to start the day and tuesday. for many of us, it will brighten up as the day goes by, but we see more rain affecting the north of scotland, and through tuesday afternoon, it will become windy into the east of the pennines and generally for northern ireland and scotland, quite a blustery day coming up here through tuesday. top temperature is about 26 degrees across east anglia, so still feeling

one. however, this cold front is going to be pushing its way eastward through tuesday night, and it is this that will really start to drop the temperature is. so, through tuesday night, we see that cooler air arriving across scotland and northern ireland. england and wales at this stage still relatively mild with temperatures overnight around 12-15, but with temperatures overnight around 12—15, but into wednesday, colder airwill 12—15, but into wednesday, colder air will continue to swing in. for scotla nd air will continue to swing in. for scotland and northern ireland, it should be a fine day on wednesday with some sunshine. 0utbreaks should be a fine day on wednesday with some sunshine. outbreaks of rainfor with some sunshine. outbreaks of rain for england ny is, and on this weather front, we expect low pressure to develop, meaning the rain is slow to move away from eastern england and it could turn quite windy later in the day as well. as that clear through, we are left with a mixture really have sunshine and showers, but much cooler conditions across the whole uk.

this is bbc news, i‘m simon mccoy. the headlines: a second wave of coronavirus — the country‘s top scientists say failure to act could lead to 50,000 cases a day by the middle of next month. you cannotjust take your own risk, unfortunately you‘re taking a risk on behalf of everyone else. it is important we see this as something we have to do collectively. boris johnson will update mps on the situation tomorrow amid mounting expectation he will announce new measures to curb the spread of the virus. in other news — the secret banking reports that reveal how the uk is a hub for international money laundering. and the leaked documents show the husband of a conservative party donor who got to play tennis with top tories received millions from an ally of president putin. the ultimate in sportsmanship — the spanish triathlete who stopped

at the finish line to let a british rival through after he‘d gone the wrong way. good afternoon. "we‘ve got to get control of this." that was the uncompromising message from from the country‘s top scientists as britain enters a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. at a televised briefing, professor chris whitty and sir patrick vallance said the country could see 50,000 new coronavirus cases daily by mid—0ctober, if the infection rate isn‘t brought down. but they stressed that outcome is not inevitable — as long as people follow the rules to stop the spread of the virus. on that, the prime minister has been considering whether further measures are necessary — he‘s holding a cobra emergency meeting tomorrow morning, and will make a statement in the commons at lunchtime. richard galpin reports.

six months after the government ordered a full lockdown across the country to try and stem the rapid spread of the virus, it‘s now clear we are facing a serious second wave. case rising rapidly. this morning, the uk government ‘s chief medical adviser warning it could lead quickly to a large number of deaths, he called on everyone to stick to social distancing rules. the problem with a pandemic or an epidemic infection like this is if i as an individual increase my risk i increase the risk to everyone around me and then everyone who is a contact of theirs. and sooner or later the chain will meet people who are vulnerable are elderly or have a long—term problem from covid—19. so you cannot in an epidemic just take your own risk, unfortunately, you are taking a risk on behalf of everybody else. already the spread of the virus has led to local

lockdowns being imposed in several areas of the country including glasgow, newcastle, belfast, manchester, liverpool and birmingham. more restrictions are due to come into force in the north west of england tomorrow. a graph released this morning by the government advisers shows just how quickly the virus can get out of control. this graph which is not a prediction, is simply showing you how quickly this can move if the doubling time stays at seven days and of course, the challenge therefore is to make sure the doubling time does not stay at seven days. there are already things in place which are expected to slow that. and to make sure we do not enter into this exponential growth. the government is clearly trying to avoid a second national lockdown to prevent further damage to the economy. but there has been speculation there could be a two—week mini lockdown in england to try and slow infection rates. so far, though, no confirmation of this. personally, i'm expecting

there to be another lockdown. to keep us safe so i'm all on board, to be honest, totally on board. i don‘t think people have seen enough evidence to back up the data and i think they‘ve allowed to be built almost return to normal so i think people will continue to do that, unfortunately. it would be better if there were more restrictions, that way we could actually minimise the risk, of course. absolutely, nobody wants to go back to lockdown but having said that, we concluded a meeting in preparation for another lockdown. the government is warning people there could be further measures if people do not stick to social distancing rules. we do need to make sure we are applying all these measures are indeed we are at the tipping point where we need, we may need to go further and that is something we would like to avoid but the data is the all—important thing. a national lockdown will be hugely, hugely catastrophic for the economy, for people, we have got to do everything we can, urgently, to avoid a national lockdown.

it‘s been described now as a critical moment for the country. whether infections can be brought down or will increase. and that depends on how all of us behave. richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in westminster. so we know what the scientists think, but this is a political decision how we counter this. yes, this was the scientists laying out what they say is the problem, they didn‘t go into specifics about what think should happen, but something should happen, talking about action and speed and in one way specifically about breaking the transmission between households. whether the politicians decide to go down that route, we don‘t know, but it is clear something is clear and a house of commons statement tomorrow from the prime minister, an

emergency meeting, so—called cobra meeting, in the morning. we know from last week, suggestions that one idea being looked at and nothing is signed off yet, is a so—called circuit breaker that. would be a shorter period of more restrictions. that may mean closing down some aspects of hospitality industry. some think closing pubs and restau ra nts might some think closing pubs and restaurants might be one way to do. the but the problem is you close down and once you open up again, you‘re trying to suppress the virus, but it will come back if you then go back to normal behaviour. it is possible there could be more longer term measures, whether it is restricting households to not seeing each other as must. but all the time thinking about that impact on the economy, we do know they don‘t want to close schools, they will be the last things to close this time and they‘re mindful of trying to keep as

much of the economy open as possible. there has been criticism over the mixed messaging that we hear one thing from scotland, another from wales and another from england and boris this time and they‘re mindful of trying to keep as much of the economy open as possible. there has been criticism over the mixed messaging that we hear one thing from scotland, another from wales and another from england and boris johnson another from wales and another from england and borisjohnson is hitting the phones this afternoon? yes, he is having conversations, separate conversations, with the first ministers of the devolved nations. they may try to come up with something together, i don‘t know if thatis something together, i don‘t know if that is necessarily going to happen. they do have the right to approach it in they do have the right to approach itina they do have the right to approach it in a way that every country feels is appropriate for them. if they get to some agreement or not, who knows? but there has been the allegation of mixed messaging over the summer, encouraging people to go out and to keep the economy going and keep people injobs, but it seems keep the economy going and keep people in jobs, but it seems as keep the economy going and keep people injobs, but it seems as if that has gone too far. people in downing street have felt if people followed the rules, that element of

opening up is still workable, but you have covid secure environments such as office spaces, if pubs and restau ra nts such as office spaces, if pubs and restaurants follow the rules and make sure people are kept apart, it can 0rkney. work. but they think people haven‘t been following the rules and that has led to an increase in cases. thank you. professor karol sikora is the founding dean and professor of medicine at the university of buckinghamshire and former director of the world health organisation‘s cancer programme. he‘s co—written a letter to the government, urging a "re—think to find a better balance". hejoins me now. good afternoon to you. good afternoon. you supported i think the first lockdown, what has changed in terms of how you think the government is dealing with this? well, of course we don‘t really know. we got the shock today that it could be 50,000 new cases a day within a month and the threat that that could be associated with hospitalisation, deaths, swamping of

the nhs, the urge story. what after wards when questioned, they agreed it was not a prediction, butjust one possible scenarios, there are other scenarios. it is sort of scare tactics and tomorrow we will see what the prime minister will come forward w obviously a committee decision. we wrote, a group of us, including ep deem idemiologists to point out no need to panic f you look at the data, the number of people actually becoming ill and ending up in hospital has gone up very slightly. now the cynics would say that is because it is too soon, you wait until next week. i would say let‘s just tighten the rules... we can‘t afford to hold off, to accuse the scientists of scare tactics is patently unfair, given

everything they have said so far has come to pass. it has, but you know the numbers are going up, there is no doubt, they are running between 3,000 and 4,000 new cases a day, with good testing now. what will happen is they will go up. but as long as the hospitalisations are flat, there is no need to panic. if the hospital numbers are going up, it is because people getting ill. a lot of the people who get infected don‘t have symptoms, over 50%. it is really a puzzle. we don‘t want to go back. anything such as closing schools, closing hospitality industry, closing offices, is going back. two weeks won‘t make a difference. what will happen will just be we will be two weeks further forward and we will be where we started. we have got to ride through this somehow and protect all the other patients in the system, cancer patients, heart disease, mental health so, they can get decent care

this time and not to close the whole thing down again. it is a huge challenge, but we can do it. this letter you have written to the prime minister, you said we want to rebalance our approach, how? minister, you said we want to rebalance ourapproach, how? nobody knows how to deal with this, we are all dealing with something new, what do you think borisjohnson should be doing? i think the problem was until this morning, we thought this was going to be doom and gloom and close everything down. that would be such a retrograde step. forget the economy, from a health view point it would be a red row grade step —— retrograde step. i think boris has to look at the facts and come up with ways of dealing with this that would in a balanced way, not rush into things. we have not, society as a whole, has not been great about all this. not all obeyed the rules

and certain factions have not obeyed the rule. we have got to get people and persuade them and make sure we tailor the vulnerable and the older people from getting them away from the virus, make them secluded from society. there is no need to make schools shut for example, there is no need to close down pubs, this is not the way forward. let‘s obey the current rules and we will get out of this. but that is a lovely idea, and we would all like that to be the case, but you know and i know people behave in different ways, and the government has got to take that into account and if they‘re saying they have got to be guided by the science, if it was my decision, listening to the scientist this morning, i think i would shut everything down. but that represents to you the most pessimistic view, there are more optimistic views of what will happen. look at france and

spain and they‘re about three weeks ahead of us in the cycle and it is not running away there. sure, they have gone up. they have had their little second peak and it seems to be going down. what they haven‘t seen is significant increase in illness in hospitalisation. there has been an increase, but it is relatively minor. certainly the critical care units, the intensive ca re critical care units, the intensive care beds have not been swamped and hospitals in those countries have carried on doing routine operations as though nothing was going on. it isa as though nothing was going on. it is a very fine balance and we have just got to get it right. thank you. news coming in from boots. 0ne news coming in from boots. one of the fears about the covid pandemic is that we are approaching a time when flu becomes more of a problem

and boots are confirming that there isa and boots are confirming that there is a shortage of flu vaccines that they worried about. they said we know this year our customers have been more conscious about protect gt their health and as a result we have seen more people book early to get their flu vaccinations and we have been monitoring our stock and decided to pause, taking more bookings for our private and under 65 service. that is to make sure we can vaccinate the people who have booked appointments. we can continue to support the nhs over 65 service. so, at the start of the flu period, a warning from boots that people are book more conscious than ever they

say about protecting their health and that is causing some problems, issues with vaccine shortages. we will keep an eye on that and try and speak to someone from boots and find out why they have come to that decision later on. you‘re watching bbc more. four more counties in south wales will be placed under a local lockdown, following what the welsh government describe as ‘a worrying and rapid‘ rise in coronavirus cases. the health minister vaughan gething made the announcement at the daily goverment briefing. the rise in cases in bridged, merthyr tydfil, blaenau gwent and newport means we have made the difficult but necessary decision to introduce local restrictions in all of these areas to protect people‘s health, and to prevent the spread of coronavirus. these measures will be the same as those that are already in place across rhondda cynon taf. they will come into force from 6 o‘clock on tuesday evening.

and they will apply to everyone living in bridgend, merthyr tydfil, blaenau gwent and newport. nicola sturgeon has said that additional restrictions will almost certainly be put in place in scotland within days. the first minister was speaking in edinburgh. because of our collective efforts over the summer, which suppressed the virus to very low levels, we are in a much stronger position than we would otherwise be and it is important not to forget that. those collective efforts meant that many people who might otherwise have succumbed to this didn‘t get it and we saved a lot of lives. however with the virus on the spread again in scotland, across the uk and europe and still accelerating in much of the world, doing nothing in the face of this rapid spread is not an option. labour has accused the government of mismanaging billions of pounds spent in response to the pandemic. in a speech to party members at its virtual annual conference, the shadow chancellor, anneliese dodds, accused ministers of a ‘cavalier‘ approach to public

spending during the crisis. as chancellor, i would ensure that public money was always spent wisely. targeted where it‘s needed most, not splurged where it isn‘t. new leadership with proper oversight on government contracts, so they deliver value for money every time. testing every single budget line against the goal of net zero carbon emissions. because the evidence is crystal clear, investment that favours our climate also favours jobs in the short and long term. the headlines on bbc news... a second wave of coronavirus — the country‘s top scientists say failure to act could lead to 50,000 cases a day by the middle of next month boris johnson will update mps

on the situation tomorrow amid mounting expectation he will announce new measures to curb the spread of the virus. and the leaked documents show the husband of a conservative party donor who got to play tennis with top tories received from an ally of president putin. the leaked documents have also revealed how the husband of one of the conservative party‘s biggest donors was secretly funded by a russian oligarch with close ties to president putin. lubov chernukhin has given £1.7 million to the tories and has paid to meet three successive tory prime ministers. lawyers for mrs chernukhin say her donations to the conservative party have never been tainted by kremlin influence. the conservative party says british russians "have the democratic right to donate to a political party". edward lucas is a journalist and security specialist. hejoins me now. how surprised were you by these revelations? i was surprised at the bredth of the

lea ks we have i was surprised at the bredth of the leaks we have seen. this is an enormous quantity of documents and shows a huge amount of complicity, mental and moral laziness on behalf our banks in the way they deal with suspicious transactions all over the world. i was less surprised to find out that the... conservative party finances had come under question, because i have been warning about this for some time. we don‘t want to be in this for some time. we don‘t want to beina this for some time. we don‘t want to be in a situation where rich people, particularly rich people with foreign links, can buy our politics. what are they doing wrong? because asi what are they doing wrong? because as i said earlier, as british russians, they‘re entitled to donate to the conservative party? yes, they‘re entitled to offer a donation. they‘re not entitled to haveit donation. they‘re not entitled to have it accepted. i think the prime object of criticism should not be mr and mrs chernukhin, it should be the

chairman of conservative party. i think if i was the conservative party i would give back that money and other money from russian sources and other money from russian sources and suggest we need a new law on party political financing, with a cap at say a thousand pounds that any individual can give. we are talking about mrs chernukhin. yes, i don‘t want to get into too much detail about ms chernukhin, but one can ask the question of did the conservative party ask exactly she had made her money and did they make sure there was no question that this money might have reached her from some sources in russia that might be close to the kremlin. it doesn‘t seem to me the conservative party asked those questions. maybe there will be more in the course of the day. but i made it clear in my evidence to the intel swrenls and security committee this time a year ago, that came out in the report,

that our political system is under attack from foreign countries and there is lots of ways they do it, but money into political party is one way and we need to be more dill jentd diligent in protecting our system. how much damage can be done with in a tennis match with david cameron and boris johnson? its is about building relationships, i think the appearance of complicity is sometimes worse than anything that‘s actually happened f you give an impression that a political party is upforgrab, an impression that a political party is up for grab, it corrodes faith in democracy and the kremlin‘s message is british democracy is a sham and there is no difference between it and it is rubbing our nose on our dependence on rich people donating to the political system. it builds

relationships, creates channels of influence and if you play tennis with someone, you can expect democracy is a sham and there is no difference between it and it is rubbing our nose on our dependence on rich people donating to the political system. it builds relationships, creates channels of influence and if you play tennis with someone, you can expect they will take your phone call the next time you phone them. thank you. and you can see the full story on the leaks onpanorama, the banking secrets of the rich and powerful, this evening on bbc one at 7pm, and later on the iplayer three british friends who have been kept in isolation in an italian coronavirus facility for a month say they are desperate to get home. rhys james, quinn paczesny, and will castle had been teaching in northern italy, before they tested positive for covid—19. the three of them join me now. now, let‘s start with you, rhys, just tell us the story. why are you still there, what happened on that day you all tested positive? yes, basically we arrived in florence on august 17th. we had a week off from

teaching and we had been travelling around and me and quinn both had the symptoms of virus, we had the dry cough and the fever and when we lost our sense of taste and smell, we thought it was coronavirus. went into a hospital in florence and we expected to get tested and then go back to our apartment to self—isolate. but they have kept us in the hospital, moved us into three different fa sisties and —— facilities and haven‘t seen each other since. what has that been like? very challenging, just being in these four walls without being able to see the other two guys and anyone for that matter unless it is anyone for that matter unless it is a doctor or a cleaner. it is quite draining and exhausting. will, i can see you nodding, how about contact with home, how has that been?

see you nodding, how about contact with home, how has that beamm see you nodding, how about contact with home, how has that been? it has varied, one facility didn't have wi-fi varied, one facility didn't have wi—fi and for that week the inter action was home was nothing. now matter unless it is a doctor or a cleaner. it is quite draining and exhausting. will, i can see you nodding, how about contact with home, how has that been? it has varied, one facility didn't have wi-fi varied, one facility didn't have wi—fi and for that week the inter action was home was nothing. now can i talk on the phone and sometimes by face time. it isjust frustrating, because everyone is looking for something to like get us out of this situation and there is just something to like get us out of this situation and there isjust nothing that we physically ourselves are able to do, or our families. rhys, the foreign office said it is assisting you. is it? we haven't had eve ryo ne assisting you. is it? we haven't had everyone is looking for something to like get us out of this situation and there is just nothing that we physically ourselves are able to do, or ourfamilies. physically ourselves are able to do, or our families. rhys, the foreign 0ffice or our families. rhys, the foreign office said it is assisting you. is it? we haven't had any e-mails or phone calls from the foreign office. it is through media sources we have seen them saying they have been in skabgt us with. we —— contact with us. we have been in contact with the em—bazy and all they have done is give us some extra food. quinn, the only sense of you get of the outside world is sticking your head out the

window. yes that has been the same for all the facilities. in this one we have a balcony and we are fortunate we can poke more than our heads out. until now it was a tiny window to get some fresh air. will, what about the people there, they‘re looking after you? i mean, it depends how you define looking after. rhys dislocated his shoulder and it took a week to look at it and listen to him. i have had my air pods go missing from a room i can't leave and no one will investigate it at all. so it depends how you look at all. so it depends how you look at it. even quinn has an ear infection and they take three days to get him antibiotics. rhys this sounds all pretty miserable? yes, to be honest, it isjust

sounds all pretty miserable? yes, to be honest, it is just these four walls, your bathroom and for guys like us, quinn is went to be in his final year, willis like us, quinn is went to be in his final year, will is trying to find jobs in london. this pandemic has been you know a surprise for everyone. but this is really put a halt on stuff. mentally it is a huge challenge. quinn, i don't know how often you all talk together, i suspect that might be difficult, you must feel low at times, you must be thinking can‘t we just go? must feel low at times, you must be thinking can't we just go? yeah, i mean we tried to talk to each other as much as possible, just to keep each other's spirits up and make sure no one is feeling too low. that is an important thing among all three of us and our families. but like i think we do always think why can't we go? we have been told by health care professionals that we are not contagious and the positives

are not contagious and the positives are probably false positives, so that make it is situation even more frustrating to be in, when we are potentially not contagious and receiving false positives. rhys, a lot of people watching, are in similar positions and trapped in a four—walled room and can‘t go out and they‘re probably saying, you‘re going to have to deal with this? you going to have to deal with this? you go on social media and read this comments, we are trying to grin and bear it. the main thing that is hard it is so indefinite. by the law, we could be here at christmas time, all the way through to the new year, until we get two negative tests, we are stuck here. at least if i knew in one week or two weeks i could leave, i could think, 0k, in one week or two weeks i could leave, i could think, ok, but we don‘t have any confirmation as to when we can leave. that is what is really ha rd. when we can leave. that is what is really hard. i can see you nodding,

will, it is a real struggle? yes it is the indefinite part of it. all three of us went through lockdown in the uk and it is really makes you, for me, it has made me see how much itook for me, it has made me see how much i took for granted, even the ability to go for a walk with my dog, like just to do that, because we can't leave our rooms at all. so like, yeah. what are your families saying? they must share the frustration? they must share the frustration? they have sympathetic and have been contacting the embassy and been a big part of helping get a media push behind us to get attention to this. but i think they're almost more frustrated, because they're not experiencing it, they only get it through what i see and it is difficult for them, because they wa nt difficult for them, because they want to help, but there is so little

they can do. quinn, a lot of people watching will say, you are looking in good health, you know, it is one of those things, what is your message to the authorities perhaps here in the uk, if you are wanting them to do something?” here in the uk, if you are wanting them to do something? i mean, yeah, just help us, like we just want some kind of olive branch or get in contact us with, at least have a chat us with, call us or e—mail us and discuss what our options are. because as of this points that discussion is yet to have happened. it soundses as if you all feel a bit fo rg otte n ? it soundses as if you all feel a bit forgotten? one of the words that describes it is neglected, by the british embassy, the foreign office, the italian health care system. we have had plenty of people reach out and help us and we are very grateful for that. but we do believe there is more that could be done and we don‘t understand why we are still in this mess. explain why you can'tjust get

into a... car, put your masks on and get to an airport, who is stopping you? the italian authorities. you also at the same thing at the same time! it is the authority is? well, stay strong, and it is good to see you are at least looking fairly strong and fit in well. good to talk to you. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello there. most of us have sunny skies to look forward to the rest of the day today. for northern ireland, fairly cloudy, for scotland, we have some rain, particularly into shetland, but if you patches in the hebrides in 0rkney as well. the highest temperatures toward south—east england, 25 or so, temperatures toward south—east england, 25 orso, but temperatures toward south—east england, 25 or so, but 20 temperatures toward south—east england, 25 orso, but 20 in

aberdeen will feel quite pleasant, with hazy sunshine. 0vernight, rain turns heavier across north—west scotland, moving into the highland later tonight as well. for england and wales, with light winds, some mist and fog patches will form as well, and poor visibility into the first part of tuesday morning. low cloud, mist and fog will linger for a time during the morning, the afternoon looking brighter with sunshine. ahead of this weather front, that will eventually bring rain into the north west, there be strong rain for the far north of england as well as scotland. highs of 26 in eastern england, but it will turn cooler in midweek. the headlines on bbc news: a second wave of coronavirus. the country‘s top scientists say failure to act could lead to 50,000 cases a day by the middle of next month. you cannot in an epidemicjust take

your own risk. unfortunately, you are taking a risk on behalf of everybody else. it is important we see this is something we have to do collectively. boris johnson will update mps on the situation tomorrow amid mounting expectation he will announce new measures to curb the spread of the virus. and leaked documents show the husband of a conservative party donor who got to play tennis with top tories received millions from an ally of president putin. an update on the market numbers for you. we are keeping an eye on what is happening in the house of commons and expecting the health secretary matt hancock to make a statement as to what the government is doing to combat covid—19, disunity gets to his feet we will return there. in the meantime, as we have reported, borisjohnson in the meantime, as we have reported, boris johnson is in the meantime, as we have reported, borisjohnson is to update mps tomorrow amid mounting expectation he will introduce new measures to curb the spread of the virus. the statement comes on a day when he will also chair cabinets at the meeting of cobra.

it follows a live televised briefing by the uk government‘s most senior scientific and medical advisers, who have warned there could be 50,000 cases of coronavirus a day by mid—0ctober, and 200 deaths a day in november, if the current rise in infections continues unabated. they said if the uk does too little then the virus will become out of control. at the moment, we think that the epidemic is doubling roughly every seven days. it could be a little bit longer, maybe a little bit shorter, but let‘s say roughly every seven days. if, and that is quite a big if, but if that continues unabated, and this grows, doubling every seven days, then what you see, of course, let‘s say that there were 5000 today, it would be 10,000 next week, 20,000 the week after, 40,000 a week after, and you can see that by mid—0ctober, if that continued, you would end up with something like 50,000 cases in the middle of

0ctober per day. 50,000 cases per day would be expected to lead a month later, so the middle of november, say, to 200 plus deaths per day. so this graph, which is not a prediction, is simply showing you how quickly this can move if the doubling time stays at seven days, and of course, the challenge, therefore, is to make sure that the doubling time does not stay at seven days. there are already things in place which are expected to slow that, and to make sure that we do not enter into this exponential growth and end up with the problem is that you would predict as a result of that. that requires speed, it requires action, and it requires enough in order to be able to bring that down. 0ne be able to bring that down. one final word on this section. so, as we see it, cases are increasing,

hospitalisations are following, deaths unfortunately will follow that, and there is the potentialfor this to move very fast. a word on immunity. next slide, please. when people have an infection, the vast majority of people get an antibody response, and we know that some of those antibodies are so—called neutralising antibodies. they do indeed protect against the virus. we also know that they fade over time, and there are cases of people becoming reinfected, so this is not an absolute protection, and it will potentially decrease over time. what we see is that something under 8% of the population have been infected as we measure the antibodies. so about 8%, 3 million or so people, may have been infected and have antibodies.

it means that the vast majority of us are not protected in any way and are susceptible to this disease. there may be other forms of protection that increase that number a little bit. straight to matt hancock‘s statement to the house of commons. continues to advance across the world. the world health organization has confirmed that the number of new cases in europe is now higher than during the peak in march. here, the latest 0ns figures indicate 6000 new infections a day, almost double the previous week. as the chief medical 0fficer previous week. as the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser said earlier today, we are seeing a rise in cases across all age groups. this pattern is emerging across the entirety of our united kingdom, and earlier this afternoon, the prime minister held discussions with the first ministers of the devolved administrations and the deputy first minister of northern ireland to make sure that wherever possible, we are united in our effo rts possible, we are united in our efforts to drive this virus down. we

know that the epidemic is currently doubling around every seven days, and that if we continue on this trajectory, we could see 50,000 cases a day by mid—0ctober, so there can be no doubt that this virus is accelerating, and we must all play our part in stopping the spread. mr speaker, i would like to update the house on decisions the government has taken so far. the first line of defence is, of course, the social distancing that every single one of us has the responsibility to follow. this includes the basics, hands, face and space and the rule of six, and a crucial part of this is people self isolating if they are at risk of passing on the virus. people who have tested positive and their close contacts must self—isolate. this is the primary way that we together break the chains of transmission. i

know that self isolation can be tough for many people, especially if you are not in a position to work from home, and i don‘t want anyone having to worry about their finances while they are doing the right thing. so we will introduce a new £500 isolation support payment for people on low incomes who cannot work because they have tested positive or are at last to self—isolate by nhs test and trace. it will start next monday, it will apply directly in england, and the uk government will be dividing funding through the barnett formula to the devolved administration so that similar support can be offered to people in scotland, wales and northern ireland. mr speaker, just as we are strengthening our support for those who self—isolate, we propose to strengthen the sanctions for those who do not. the vast majority of people who are asked to self—isolate do, but these rules are so important that we must ensure

that nobody breaks them. we therefore propose a new legal duty to self—isolate, again for people who test positive or who are asked to do so by nhs test entries. this is backed by fines of up to £10,000 for repeat offences in serious breaches. —— nhs test and trace. we will step up enforcement ambien. nhs test and trace will make regular checks on those who are self isolating and are —— they will be crackdowns on those making staff flout the rules. with winter ahead, we will support everyone to do what is right to help stop the spread of the virus. the next line of defence is testing and contact tracing. we are doing more testing per head than almost any other major nation. 0ur daily testing capacity is now at a

record high, 253,521, and it continues to grow. 0n record high, 253,521, and it continues to grow. on thursday, we announced that two new lighthouse la bs announced that two new lighthouse labs will be set up in newcastle and bracknell, increasing capacity further. but as the house knows, alongside this record expansion, demand has gone up too, and so we need to prioritise the tests from those who need them the most, to save lives, protect the most vulnerable, and make sure our health and care services and schools can operate. today, we have published our lists of where tests are being prioritised, setting out how we will make sure tests are allocated where they are needed most. first, to support acute clinical care, second, to support and protect people in ca re to support and protect people in care homes, third, nhs staff, including gps and pharmacists, fourth, targeted testing for outbreak management and surveillance studies, fifth, testing for teaching staff with symptoms so we can keep

schools and classes open, and then the general public when they have symptoms, prioritising those in areas of high incidence. and i want to reinforce this important point, that the system relies on people coming forward for tests if and only if they have symptoms of coronavirus or have been specifically advised to buy a health professional. the testing capacity we have is valuable, and we must together prioritise it for the people who need it the most. the next part of our defence is the local action. we have been vigilant in monitoring the data and putting in place targeted local measures so we can come down ha rd local measures so we can come down hard on the virus wherever we see it emerging. in the summer, when the virus was in retreat, we were able to relax some of the measures we had put in place, but now, as the virus is spreading once more, we have to act. 0n is spreading once more, we have to act. on thursday, i updated the house and the changes we‘re making it part of the north—east, and on friday, we introduced new rules for parts of the north west, west

yorkshire, and the midlands. we have seen some concerning rates of infection in these areas. liverpool, for instance, mr speaker, now has over 120 cases per 100,000 population, and in warrington, it is about 100. as a result, working with local councils, we are putting in place stronger restrictions to protect local people. in parts of lancashire, merseyside and warrington, and holton, we are putting in place new measures from tomorrow, as with our strategy overall, our goal is to protect education and employment as much as possible while bearing down on the virus. residents should not socialise with people outside their own households or support bubble. hospitality will be restricted to table service only, and operating hours will be restricted, so venues must close between ten and five. from tomorrow, in wolverhampton, wigston, and the whole of bradford, kirklees and calderdale, people

should not socialise outside their household or support bubble. we know from experience that local action can work when local communities come together to follow the rules, tackle the virus and keep themselves safe, and they know how hard this is. we are constantly looking for how we can ensure measures bear down on the virus as much as possible while protecting both lives and livelihoods. and i have heard the concerns about the impact of local action on child care arrangements. for many, informal child care arrangements are a lifeline without which they could not do theirjobs, so today, i am able to announce a new exemption for looking after children under the age of 14 or vulnerable adults where that is necessary for caring purposes. this cove rs necessary for caring purposes. this covers both formal and informal arrangements. it does not allow for play dates or parties, but it does mean that a consistent childcare relationship that is vital for

somebody to get to work is allowed. i would like to thank colleagues from across the house, including the right honourable member for berwick—upon—tweed and the honourable members for sunderland central and north west durham for working with us on this important issue, and i hope this change will provide clarity and comfort to many people who are living with these local restrictions. it shows the benefit of cross party working across the house and listening to concerns as we all do our best to tackle this dreadful disease together. mr speaker, the virus is spreading. we are at a tipping point. i set out measures the government has taken so far. we are working right now and what further measures may be necessary, and the prime minister will update the house tomorrow with any more action that we need to take. this is a moment where once again must come together to tackle this deadly disease, and i

commend this statement to the house. i now call shadow secretary of state jonathan ashworth. i welcome advanced state of the statement, and i particularly welcome the action he has taken on childcare. —— advanced site. there can be no doubt that the presentations we saw today from the chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser were deeply stuck in concerning. the secretary of state described this yesterday and repeated it today as a tipping point. i agree we are at a perilous moment. the exponential growth in the virus cannot be ignored. this virus takes lives and leaves many with long—term debilitating conditions. every reasonable action must be taken to save lives, minimise harm, and keep our children in school. that means a suppression strategy to drive infections down. so will he reject those siren voices who are telling him that the virus has lost potency, or that we should let it rip through the herd while the vulnerable shield ? let it rip through the herd while the vulnerable shield? we support the vulnerable shield? we support the local restrictions that he has

had to impose, including in chorley, mr speaker, and we understand why he has made that decision. neither he nor i came into politics to place upon individuals a heavy burden of curtailment on our freedoms. and while i, as the official opposition, would always welcome greater parliamentary scrutiny of these restrictions, we will continue to work constructively on a cross—party basis where restrictions are necessary to arrest the spread of this virus. but can i also say to him, ever so politely, this virus. but can i also say to him, everso politely, of this virus. but can i also say to him, ever so politely, of course, that the tone of his remarks yesterday rather gave the impression he was blaming people for breaking the rules and allowing the virus to grow, but the reality is that people have done everything they were asked to do. they have missed birthday celebrations, weddings, funerals. they have sent their children back to school, quite rightly. they have gone back to work. they have done what they were asked to do. in return, ministers were supposed to

fix test and trace and isolate so we could, in the words of his own government adverts, get back to the things we love. in the summer, it was modelled at the r value could rise to 1.7 was modelled at the r value could rise to1.7 in was modelled at the r value could rise to 1.7 in september, which is what the payload is currently estimated to be, and they recommended significantly expanded the capacity of the test, trace and isolate programme to cope with increasing demands of the winter. ministers were warned, but pillar one and pillar two testing capacity did not increase significantly over the summer. in recent weeks, only half of all tests have been received in less than 24 hours. he has repeated his point about asymptomatic people asking for tests. can he publish the pillar to date which breaks down how many asymptomatic and how many were asymptomatic and how many were asymptomatic in asking for those tests ? ma ny asymptomatic in asking for those tests? many parents report going to walk in centres with their six children when they themselves had no symptoms, and being given a test. was that a national policy, and has

that national policy been abandoned? we welcome the recognition that people need financial support to isolate. we have been saying that for months. but as i understand it, it is only available to those low—paid workers who are also on benefits, and not all low—paid workers. so will he consider expanding the eligibility criteria? we have always said that when testing breaks down and testing brea ks testing breaks down and testing breaks down, the virus gets out of control, and we are now facing a second wave of infection. —— and tracing breaks down. we do not want a second wave of ministerial mistakes. all of us want to avoid a further national lockdown. not downs or circuit breaks enact a heavy social and economic price, especially on the poorest are more vulnerable. but controlling the virus and protecting the economy are linked objectives, not in conflict with one another. so i understand he will tell us we have to anticipate the prime minister‘s statement, but can he confirm he will use a lockdown if we have one, that he

will use the time wisely, that he will use the time wisely, that he will expand nhs load capacity, that he will put public health teams to lead and contact tracing, that he will quickly assess the university pilots on saliva testing, that he will validate pc apple testing so when there lockdown restrictions are lifted, we can contain the virus? —— pcr testing. i welcome what he set about prioritising nhs staff, care workers and teachers today, but can you clarify why he has issued guidance to hospital trusts placing restrictions on the number of tests they can carried out, and how will he protect care homes that according to reports today, many care homes have to wait over two weeks for their test results, data from public health england showed that over 200 ca re health england showed that over 200 care homes have had an outbreak in the last two weeks? and will he ensure that no one is discharged into ca re ensure that no one is discharged into care homes without a covid test? given where the viruses, what support will he... 0r test? given where the viruses, what support will he... or what is his advice to the shielding community, and what protections as he putting in place for those from bame

communities, given that we know there is a disproportionate amount of those communities and i see you today? and others want to see it at a lockdown or circuit break, but of course, we understand if one becomes necessary for stock —— none of us wa nt to necessary for stock —— none of us want to see that. but test, trace and isley should have been fixed. that failure leaves us vulnerable and exposed. we must now act with speed to save lives and minimise harm. secretary of state. thank you very much, and i‘m grateful to the honourable gentleman offers it for the constructive approach in which he is approaching these difficult times. —— the honourable gentleman opposite. he andi honourable gentleman opposite. he and i agree that the strategy to suppress the virus while protecting the economy and education is the right one, and i think that in so doing, it is important to act fast so as not to have to act bigger later. i also agree with him that no one in this house came into office

to have to put in place restrictions like these, and he asked about the importance of people following the rules. the truth is, it is vital that all people follow the rules that all people follow the rules that we have put in place. the vast majority have throughout, but critically, enough have not followed them that we need to make them mandatory in many cases rather than asking... relying on people‘s civic duty. that is the fundamental judgment behind making self isolation mandatory, as i have announced in the statement today. he asked about testing. of course, we have that record testing capacity right now, a record 233,000 tests we re right now, a record 233,000 tests were done of that capacity on friday, and that lab capacity will continue to grow. he also asked about the nhs testing capacity, and that will continue to grow also. in fa ct, that will continue to grow also. in fact, i had a meeting with simon

stephens, the head of nhs england, on that earlier today. he asked about pool testing and using pool and saliva testing, and these are just two of the many new testing capabilities that we are bringing to bear. and he also asked to ensure there would be no admissions to social care, to care homes, without a test. that is our policy. notjust no discharges from hospital, but no admissions from anywhere into care homes without a test, and that was reiterated in the social care winter plan that we set out on friday. but i suppose at the heart of the response of the official opposition and my response to him is that we are united in wanting to tackle this virus and in sending the message to eve ryo ne a cross virus and in sending the message to everyone across the country that it is critical to follow the rules and for everybody to play their part in making sure that we can suppress this virus well protecting as much

as possible the things that we love. jeremy hunt. i support the measures outlined by the health secretary, which are regretfully both necessary and proportionate. last week on world patient safety des, it was announced that there was a charter for health health worker protection, which asks all member states to commit notjust which asks all member states to commit not just adequate which asks all member states to commit notjust adequate supplies of epa and mental health support, but also to make sure there is zero tolerance for violence against health workers. —— adequate supplies of ppe. will he commit the government to sign up to this charter, so that as we go into a second wave, all our brave front line workers know that this government and this house stands. —— stands a full square behind them. yes, i will gladly stand up to those -- i will yes, i will gladly stand up to those —— i will gladly sign up to those proposals. as he

his long—standing work on patient safety is impressive, and we must make sure that in these difficult times, we protect our care workers and front line staff, including, if i may say so, the staff at our testing centres, and make sure that we reiterate once again our commitment to patient safety. snp spokesperson doctor philip whitford. thank you very much. as the chief medical and chief scientific officer said this morning, the uk is in danger of losing control, as we have seenin danger of losing control, as we have seen in many countries in europe. —— philippa whitford. we could be facing 50,000 new cases a day by mid—october, which would lead to about 200 deaths a day by mid—november, and nobody should be in any mistake to think that the virus has changed and it will not kill people if we get back to where we we re kill people if we get back to where

we were in april. i agree totally with the secretary of state that we need to take action now, and that action is personal. every single person has responsibility to stick to the rules, to wear a face covering, to wash their hands and to keep their distance, covering, to wash their hands and to keep theirdistance, and covering, to wash their hands and to keep their distance, and i would remind members in this house, because i have been watching it from outside, that that is not always what is on show in this chamber, and we all have a responsibility to set an example, and that responsibility extends to self isolating, whether we have symptoms, whether we are proven, whether we are contact, or whether we have returned from a high—risk country. if we are meant to be isolating, we need to do it, andl to be isolating, we need to do it, and i really welcome that the government is finally putting in place this financial support for people on low incomes who might be tempted not to isolate because they simply don't have any other opportunities to feed their family. however, it is critical that we have

a fast and responsive test and trace system, and therefore, i have a couple of questions for the secretary of state. in recent weeks, he has talked about aiming to have 500,000 tests a day by the end of october. so with the surge we are facing, does he envisage being able to accelerate that and bring it forward ? to accelerate that and bring it forward? and secondly, on the eighth and 15th of september, he committed to me that he would be increasing funding to expand nhs testing, but as we heard from the shadow secretary, nhs trusts in england have been told that funding is capped and they are not to expand covid testing. surely this is resource that we want to use and make available ? resource that we want to use and make available? thank you very much. i wholeheartedly agree with the honourable lady‘s comments about the need for action across the uk, and we have seen in scotland, as in

england, wales and northern ireland, that the number of cases, sadly, has risen sharply. and i welcome her physically back to the chamber in demonstrating this unity of purpose across the four nations of the uk. if we can bring forward the goal of 500,000 tests per day from the end of october, then of course we will, and we are pushing that as hard as we can. we are on track to meet that commitment. as she says, that is across the uk, so it includes tests done by the scottish nhs, and i know there have been conversations between the nhs in scotland and in england to work on making that happen. and as for nhs testing, yes, we are expanding that, including the funding, and in the funding letter that went out to the nhs for the second half of the financial year, so, covering winter, that includes the commitment to support

financially the testing that is done in the nhs in england. we now come to chris grayling. can i welcome the measures he has announced today? he seems to be getting the balance absolutely right, andl getting the balance absolutely right, and i praise him forthejob he's doing, but we do have to remember that there are huge regional variations of the impact of the virus at the moment. many parts of the country have much lower infection rates. given the huge consequences of this virus for people in our communities on their mental health, particularly the younger generation who are paying a very heavy price, can i say to him that given its regional variations, in the full knowledge of all the pressures he is facing, i do not believe the case for further national measures has been made. thank you very much. mr speaker, there is an important balance between the measures that we need to ta ke a cross between the measures that we need to take across the country as a whole, and then the further and stronger measures in local areas, and my right honourable friend will have seen over the past week especially

that we have expanded those local interventions to cover bigger geographies, but he is absolutely right, there are parts of the country where the number of cases are still thankfully very low, and so the balance between what we do nationally and what we do locally is as important as the balance in terms of what we do overall. thank you, mr speaker. i'm sure the secretary of state will agree with me that one of the gas tragedy is the first wave is the loss of life and impact on our social care sector of this virus. —— one of the biggest tragedies of the first way. we must learn the lessons from that. while he emphasises testing of care homes in the media today, can he explain why a in the media today, can he explain whya numberof in the media today, can he explain why a number of care homes are still reporting a two—week delay in receiving test results, it will he clarify whether his prioritisation also includes staff providing care in people's residential homes?

the care home testing is incredibly important. we have brought down some of those response times, and i‘m glad to report to the house that since last week, when we debated or discussed the very sharp rise in demand, including amongst asymptomatic people, that demand has come down somewhat, and the pressures a re come down somewhat, and the pressures are a little lower. on the testing system as a whole. that does not mean we do not want to increase capacity further. 0f not mean we do not want to increase capacity further. of course we do. and it is very important that we have tests available for all vulnerable people, whether they live at home or in a care home. the chair of the select committee. thank you. perhaps i could ask the scientific evidence is that covid is detectible by test within she seven days of someone who has been

infected. why shouldn't people be tested seven days after a reaction and released if they test negative? the incubation period is still estimated to require a 14—day self—isolation. if we can bring that figure down, i‘d be the first to be pleased to do so. as we took to ten days the period in which somebody wh has tested positive must self—isolate, this is a point that is critical on which we must rely on the scientific evidence. if he has further scientific evidence i would be happy to look at it. thank you mr speaker. can i ask the secretary of state if he thinks £10,000 fine will act as a disen—sentive to poorer — disen—sentive for people getting a test. we have put in the £500 in

addition to other people on low incomes to support them to do that self—isolation. i think that it is, if people want to know if they have the virus, if they have symptoms and the virus, if they have symptoms and the result of having a positive test is that you get the money, the extra £500 if you‘re on low incomes and you have to self—isolate. i‘m confident that people will come forward , confident that people will come forward, of course, do the right thing for society, but also the right thing for them to find out what the cause of their illness is if they have symptoms. thank you, cani if they have symptoms. thank you, can i thank the secretary of state for the extra 2.5 million for the worcestershire acute unit and the social care system in worcestershire. can i clarify what is the advice for people who would normally have fetched up at a&e, is

it to call 111? yes the advice is to call 111 first and then go to a&e or call 111 first and then go to a&e or call an ambulance if it is an emergency. that system will help people to be triarranged to right treatment. but it also helps the emergency department to know that people are coming. it is the combination of the two that is critical. we are rolling it out over the next, the forthcoming couple of months, and we aim to have it in place by the 1st december. despite what the secretary of state has said today, we are still hearing stories of people being unable to get, to be tested. i heard a story of a constituent who was told to travel

600 miles to aberdeen. why is that the case when we are told by ministers that there is no problem? nobody‘s... ministers that there is no problem? nobody‘s. .. addressed ministers that there is no problem? nobody‘s... addressed the problems and the challenges that we have got in the testing system more than me. what we need to do is are esolve the problems, as we have in the problem of people bei sent long distances. i‘m told that problem was fixed last week, if there is a more recent problem i would want to know about it. i welcome the commitment to expanding testing, it is key to identifying the virus and stopping the spread, i would point him to an article in the times about private businesses expanding testing rgs ba is testing 6,000 employees on a wee kly

is testing 6,000 employees on a weekly basis and are keen to expand that into the community. i would emergency my honourable friend to do everything cut through any red tape to expand this as quickly as possible and use every tool at our disposal. of course we support businesses and others who want to get tests outside of the nhs test and trace system. and we published a paper last week on how they can go about doing that and we encourage businesses to do that for their employees. the critical thing is if people test positive that, data must flow and by law that must flow to public health england scotland that we can then do the contact tracing thatis we can then do the contact tracing that is necessary and so we can enforce the isolation that is going to be mandatory from next monday. but we support this sort of action from employers or cambridge university. liverpool incidents

rates have increased and there has been an increase of 247 cases on the previous week and the latest weekly rate is 120 per 100,000, previous week and the latest weekly rate is 120 per100,000, as previous week and the latest weekly rate is 120 per 100,000, as already mentioned. what additional resources does the secretary of state plan to provide to liverpool and other local authorities to assist them with dealing further localised outbreaks. the honourable lady asks an important question, we are putting more testing into liverpool, not withstanding the challenges, because it is the sort of place where we need to put that testing. and of course we are bringing in the support for everybody who is on low incomes, who has to self—isolate, the £500. whether you have tested positive yourself or you‘re a contact positive yourself or you‘re a co nta ct of positive yourself or you‘re a contact of somebody who has tested positive and has been contacted. i support the honourable lady in her

work to explain to, as the local representative, to her constituents in liverpool, about how important it is to follow these rules. simon clarke. the whole country will recognise the choices facing the government, whatever further measures are in contemplation, can i ask for a plea for proportion nationality and people must have a right to some social contact even at this difficult time? i agree with that 100%. for those who live alone or lived alone during lockdown, we put in place the support bubbles for single households for this reason. i remember, having a... zoom with a lot of people and somebody said, i haven‘t seen anybody for four months. in person. ithought, this is, you know, this... that can‘t be good. we have put in place support

bubbles for that purpose. and of course we bear these impacts in mind when we take the decisions that we do. now the member more huddersfield. i'm sure that the secretary of state will agree with me that we in west yorkshire are working hard to meet the crisis that we have and of course these uncertain times, with tens of thousands of students now moving across our country, could he bear in mind our system relies on fit and healthy nhs staff, because the crisis is getting worse. and if we get a flu virus, this winter coming soon and knocks out a large amount of nhs staff, we are going to be in serious trouble and a very large percentage, a significant percentage of our staff are refusing to get a

flu jab. what can we do about that? the honourable gentleman and i have occasionally tangled across these dispatch boxes, but i agree with him entirely. it is policy that everybody in the nhs should get a flu jab. that flu programme within the nhs has started to roll out already and will shortly roll out more broadly. i can, whilst this year that is not mandated, i can see no good reason why somebody in the nhs, unless they have a specific clinical condition, does not get a flu jab. with look to all nhs staff to provide that leadership in their communities by getting the flu swrab. it is —— flu jab. it is free for people in health care and they

should get it. it has been brought to my attention by parents that some schools in my constituency are telling the parents if their child has an upset stomach, they need to go home and not come back until they have had a negative test. this ills not is not the advice of public health england and they should get a grip of this immediately? i'm afraid ido grip of this immediately? i'm afraid i do agree with that. all councils should make clear that if students have coronavirus symptoms, and we all know what they are, a new continuous cough, it is a temperature and a, or a loss of taste and smell, if people have coronavirus symptoms they should come for a test. if they have symptoms of another illness, they should not have coronavirus and they

should not have coronavirus and they should not have coronavirus and they should not come forward for a test, we have set out this very clearly today in the prioritisation document, once again, and i hope that everybody will follow it. james murray. schools have become aware of a covid—19 case have been encouraged to take swift action and contact the advice service introduced by public health england. but several primary schools heads have reported the syste m schools heads have reported the system appears to be overwhelmed. can the secretary of state tell me what the average waiting time is between a school contacting public health england and a receive receiving the advice they need?” don‘t have those figures, but i would be happy to look into the specific cases. because the speed of turn around there is very important. my honourable friend and his advisors are right that the virus is

not getting weaker bgs but doctors have made progress in the treatment of coronavirus and social distancing means viral loads are less for the cases. can maldives tell he tell me the result of this. my honourable friend represent one of the finest hospitals in the country and the world. the doctors at adam brookes and right across the country have improved the treatment of coronavirus. we know, because of dexamethasone that has reduced the death rate and because of earlier oxygenation and later intubation, that has reduced the death rate and there are also progress with remdesivir. but while this has

reduced the mortality from those going into hospital, this virus remains deadly and therefore we u nfortu nately remains deadly and therefore we unfortunately do have to take measures to stop its spread. not least because we can either take measures now or we will end up with a bigger problem and still having to ta ke a bigger problem and still having to take measures later. top weighted medical research has linked vitamin b levels with covid incidence n norway where they have high amount of it cases are rare. but most brits are deficient and the main source, sun light, is about to disappear with the winter nhs crisis. could he follow the science and look to a project. vitamin d is one of the

many things we have looked into to see whether it reduce it is incidence or the impact of coronavirus and i have seen reports that it does. so we put it into a... trial and unfortunately the results we re trial and unfortunately the results were that it doesn‘t appear to have any impact. that is the latest clinical advice, which is always kept under review. does my honourable friend agree that balancing the measures to tackle covid with the other health consequences such as cancer patients going undiagnosed or not treated in time, and the economic and social consequences is a politicaljudgment and does he further agree with me that political judgments are improved by debate and vut? -- scrutiny? yes i do and i do come to

this dispatch box as often as possible, i regret! this dispatch box as often as possible, i regret i wasn‘t able to come on friday. but the house was not sitting. i agree with my right honourable friend that essentially the more scrutiny the better is my attitude. and i‘m very happy to continue to work with him and you mr speaker to ensure that scrutiny can be done at the speed these decisions have to be made. finally on the substantive point he raises, of course minimising the impact on the economy and education is critical. there are impacts on the nhs of covid cases going up, notjust of course the need to try to minimise the negative impact on restricting other treatments like cancer that happen in the first peak, but also the problem that high levels of

covid cases means that it is harder for if nhs to operate. within the nhsa for if nhs to operate. within the nhs a higher number of cases has an impact on the care available for the other conditions we need to frite. i look forward —— treat. i look forward to working with you if we need further scrutiny. stella creasey. i'm delighted to have heard the secretary of state's previous answer, ina the secretary of state's previous answer, in a former lifetime we served on the public accounts committee and i know he willry taxpayer in a community facing a lockdown or unable to get the test deserves a straight answer as to whether his department has imposed a financial penalty or withheld payment for the many voided tests undertaken by randox. women he give —— will he give an answer to that

question. they deliver a significant number of tests every day and they‘re outperforming the allocation we have asked them to deliver and i pay tribute to every person at randox for the work they have done and the part they have played. everybody who gets a randox test result has more information with which they can keep themselves safe and we have more information with which we can try to keep the whole of society safe. i thank secretary of society safe. i thank secretary of state for his allocation to scunthorpe hospital of state for his allocation to scu nthorpe hospital and of state for his allocation to scunthorpe hospital and wish him well with fund fog for goole hospital. for tests for school, well with fund fog for goole hospital. fortests for school, i have heard thins positive about the tests, can he continue to seek to grow that numberand tests, can he continue to seek to grow that number and look at a lot of rural schools where getting access to a test is difficult, due to transport issues? yes, given ten

tests to all schools has proved, the feedback i have had is that has been popular and i‘m glad to hear that is true in his part of the world as well and of course we will continue that. with the right level of tests sent out to the right schools in the right place and we will take into account location. thank you mr speaker. on friday, the department for work and pensions informed job ce ntre for work and pensions informed job centre staff that from today they have to reintroduce face to face work search interviews with customers. in light of the rising numberof customers. in light of the rising number of case customers. in light of the rising numberof case s, customers. in light of the rising number of case s, is it a sensible approach to be taking? one of the good things about where we are now, compared to where we were in march, is that in many areas we are better

prepared. we are better prepared in the nhs and in social care with the winter plan, and many employers and services likejob winter plan, and many employers and services like job centres have been able to develop covid—security approaches, which means that they can get on with things that they need to do. the specifics of the question are for the work and pensions secretary, but the principle of how we have managed as a society to do more things while keeping ourselves covid—secu re a society to do more things while keeping ourselves covid—secure is one we have been able too develop: welcome the approach to not only save lives, but protect livelihoods. i acknowledge and welcome his announcement on the new exemption for child care. can he just confirm what those new arrangements are and confirm that grandparents and others

in my constituency, part that goes into restrictions tomorrow, will be pa rt of into restrictions tomorrow, will be part of that exemption? yes i can confirm that. the exemption meanthat for instance if grandparents look after children, in order to provide child care, where that is a continuous child care relationship, thatis continuous child care relationship, that is the legal definition, that will be exempt in the same way that paid for child care will be exempt. this therefore doesn‘t allow for people to have children staying with others and, as i said, party and play dates, it allows for where a family member or other undertaking unpaid child care that is akin to paid child care and they can be exempted and i know how much many people rely on this in order to be able to get to work and i‘m glad we have been able to make this

progress. those of us who represent areas that will face additional restrictions as of tomorrow are happy to reinforce the messages, but we need his help, don't we? the difference between instruction of households that they must not go and visit each other, as opposed to they should not go to the pub together, is one of the ambiguities that my honourable friend high lighted from the start of this crisis. it is exploit bed ed by the virus and a small but important minority of people in this country. will he clear up these am ambiguities? the message that he should be putting

out and that i will set out, is that where we say that people shouldn‘t socialise outside their household, thatis socialise outside their household, that is what... that is the approach that is what... that is the approach that people should #25ibg. ensuring —— should take. he makes a detailed point, but the top line message to all of his constituents, is no, they shouldn‘t be socialising with people outside their household. . there are a large numberof outside their household. . there are a large number of people in retail tail settings that are not wearing face coverings, what support can he give to ensure we can enforce these rule and ensure that we are all in this together and stop the spread together? i agree with my honourable friend that more endorsement is sadly necessary to ensure that these

rules are followed across the board. if people follow the rules, it will be easier to get a grip on the virus and the impact on the economy, on education, will be lower. and so thatis education, will be lower. and so that is approach we are taking in the example he cites and more broadly. the secretary of state spoke about a four nation approach, but there hasn't been a cobra meeting since 10th may and it has taken the first minister of scotland to push for this. that undermines the four nation approach. does he agree a form nation partnership means scotland needs the powers to be able to implement its own local decision such as targeted furlough support and help areas under lockdown? i would urge the honourable gentleman to take the

lead from his, from the snp spokes man on the front bench. since the prime minister had discussions with the first ministers of all the four nations this morning and i have regular and treatment engagement with all the other health ministers. i think that the most important thing is that we take as united an approach as possible and that is the approach as possible and that is the approach that the scottish government is taking and we are working with them. i would like to also welcome the statement that the secretary of state has brought to the house and particularly the emphasis he places on fighting this common enemy as one united front. could i ask my right honourable friend what assurances he can give the house that our care homes will be protected with lessons learned from the first wave? i agree with my

honourable friend. right across the board it is critical that we are learning about what went well and what didn‘t go well. and the social ca re what didn‘t go well. and the social care winter plan that was published last week has been developed with the sector. i visited a care home on friday and heard from them about what they have learned about how policy has developed to protect people in care homes. last year was faced with every parent's nightmare asi faced with every parent's nightmare as i rush my honourable friend baby to a&e. the doctors saved his life. the same a&e will now be closed because of pressure that covid—19 will put on the nhs overwinter. i would like to ask the secretary of

state to give me a cast iron guarantee that our local nhs will be given all the resources it needs, to that closure is temporary and children's a&e service can be restored. i would be happy to work with the honourable lady on this. on this question. we do have to make sure that our hospitals are covid secure and i would be happy to meet her and discuss the specifics. the trubl with authoritarianism it is against civil liberties and relies on acquiesce and if you tell a student not to go to a pub, they will congregate in rooms. if the secretary of state doesn‘t listen to me, would he listen to profess mark

wood house, he said it is disappointing having rejected every alternative, we coming back to lockdowns and he suggests and i‘m trying to be conductive, he suggests we rely on encouraging people to look after themselves, protect the vulnerable and take responsibility for their own lives. that is the conservative way. as a conservative, i believe in as much freedom as possible, consistent with not harping others. one of the sad things about the virus is because of si transmission if you get put yourself at risk of, you‘re not only putting yourself at risk, you‘re putting yourself at risk, you‘re putting others at risk. that is the conservative principle behind protecting the nation in the face of this. the secretary of state will

acce pt this. the secretary of state will accept that a one—week turn around for tests for people working in care homes is not looking after our elderly. when will we get that 24 hour turn around that we have got to haveif hour turn around that we have got to have if we are to keep the elderly safe in those homes? mr speaker, we have protected the number of tests in care homes. the challenge is when the system is running hot and the number of tests going through is very close to capacity, that can have an impact on turn around times and we saw in in the last couple of weeks. thankfully the times are coming down as well as protecting the 100,000 tests a day that go to social care. while some may call for other areas to be prioritised, such as the tests of children, the most

important thing is that we protect those who are most vulnerable to this virus and the most vulnerable live in our care homes. i know the secretary of state is very keen to get more tests. sure stream in my constituency have developed a test thatis constituency have developed a test that is ready in 15 minute and they will ramp up production to one million by november. would my right honourable friend look at the test and make use of this expertise? but also could i remind the secretary of state he will be going into a cobra meeting, could he explain to the prime minister that we live in a democracy, not a dictatorship and we would like a debate in this house? absolutely there will be a debate on the measures in, that we have to use. we have to move very fast and

i‘m very happy to talk to my honourable friend about sure stream. in south wales, rhondda cynon taff and caerphilly are in local lockdown, and people in these boroughs cannot leave the borough to go on holiday. these areas will be joined by four other areas tomorrow evening. the welsh government has said that these will be holiday— makers — — would— be holiday— makers — — would— be holiday— makers should have a full refund if they are prevented from going on holiday. will the secretary of state say emphatically that they must have a full refund of the cost of their holidays as a policy of central government?” of their holidays as a policy of central government? i am very happy to work with the honourable gentleman and others to make sure people get the fair treatment they deserve. we now come to sir bernard jenkin. ata time jenkin. at a time when we know that we haven't yet got the world beating track and trace system, and we have

not got enough test because of logistical problems, why is the government excluding senior military commanders from the key decision—making that would enable them to bring to bear their logistical capabilities? on the country, mr speaker, we have military support who have been absolutely brilliant in expanding the testing system, test and trace, and indeed, they are engaged in the development of our vaccine roll—out plans. —— on the contrary. and i think that the work that has been done by senior military personnel is absolutely first rate. 33 and obtainable. straight to 34 with duncan baker. we will leave the commons there, where we were hearing health secretary matt hancock announcing, amongst other things, that people on low incomes who need to self—isolate with covid—19 will be eligible for £500 payments from next monday. in the meantime, let‘s get more on the

latest news on the figures that are just coming into us in terms of coronavirus we are seeing quite a steep rise in the last 24 hours, compared to 3899 on sunday. the daily number of cases rising sharply, of course, in recent levels, compared to what we saw over the summer, and the reason that the government are so concerned, and we heard those warnings from the government‘s chief scientific officer a little earlier that the number of cases could continue to rise very significantly. that is sir patrick vallance, who warned that more than 200 coronavirus deaths a day could happen by the middle of november unless action is taken to slow down a rise in cases. he was

speaking alongside the government‘s chief medical officer chris whitty, who said that the country needs to change course by breaking the necessary links between households. the prime minister will make a statement on all of this tomorrow. let‘s talk to dr margaret harris from the world health organisation. thank you very much for being with us. on the steep rise we are seeing in cases in the uk is being mirrored around europe? good evening. yes, we have certainly seen the situation in a number of countries, notably spain and france, that have seen a very steep rise following really a lot of relaxation during the summer. in this country, the government is clearly on the verge of announcing new restrictions. there is talk, conceivably, of some sort of second lockdown, although maybe not as stringent as the first national lockdown, but what kind of measures would you advise the government here should take? we would really ask the

government to emphasise with people that the things we have been saying all along, the distancing, the wearing of masks when you are in close contact, they are looking at whether you can be safely indoors with good ventilation, not crowding, but all those things should really be done, and people must understand, it‘s not just be done, and people must understand, it‘s notjust a motto or a phrase, it‘s notjust a motto or a phrase, it‘s something we need to do, we need to do it all, and we need to do it all ways. there are, of course, people who are saying and arguing that we need to learn to live with this virus. it is going to be here with us may be for a very long time, and we maybe don‘t need more restrictions. that is the argument some foot, and of course, there is the example of sweden, which never had a lockdown. we have certainly been saying this right from the start. this is about learning to live safely with this virus. so you don‘t want the virus to be around,

you learn to live safely in a way that prevents it from being transmitted from person to person. if it can‘t go from person to person, it has nowhere to go. you can suppress it. countries have suppressed it, and it is not necessary to keep on putting in a massive restrictions. you do want to keep your economy and your society working. of course, one of the ideas is what‘s called a sort of circuit break lockdown, where you have some relatively strict measures for maybe a couple of weeks, and hope that that breaks the increase in transmission. what would you say about that? other people argue that, 0k, about that? other people argue that, ok, you have that many lockdown, if you like, but as soon as you ease those restrictions, the number of cases shoots back up again. so, exactly. it‘s about targeting where your transmission is, and indeed, your transmission is, and indeed, you may have to have tighter restrictions if you have transmission going on. you also have to look at what you have got transmission going on. do you have groups of people who don‘t think this is real, who don‘t think this

is important? you also need to listen to what those people think, why they are doing what they are doing, and help them to do better, to do better by everybody in society. so why do you think the number of cases has been rising so steeply in places like spain and france, but also now here in the united kingdom? certainly, i think we have had this conversation before. in the summer, people seem to have had the fixed idea in their mind that there wasn‘t coronavirus in the summer. we were a lwa ys coronavirus in the summer. we were always saying there is transmission, there are cases every day, and if you go back to the old ways, the close physical contact, they are all sitting around the table having a lovely time, talking and laughing, it is going to come back, and u nfortu nately, it is going to come back, and unfortunately, that is exactly what has happened. but isn't it more than that? governments here in the uk have been asking people to go back to it, trying to get the uk restarted, and so people have been going back to work on public

transport, schools have reopened, universities are reopening and so on. so, exactly, this is where the tricky bit comes, and i know my colleague doctor mike ryan has made this clear over and over again. when you have been in lockdown, the ha rd est pa rt you have been in lockdown, the hardest part is coming out, because once you start to open up, if people think it is all over, again, they think it is all over, again, they think it is normal, so when you are on public transport, you are going to be ina on public transport, you are going to be in a closed space, close to people. you have to be able to live distance or where that mask can be serious about it. you have to be able to wash your hands, you have to be able to ensure you never touch your mouth, nose or eyes with wash hand. and that is hard. i have been saying it all year, but i can say it. i do know how hard it is to do that all the time. doctor margaret harris from the world health organization, many thanks for being with us. universities are welcoming students onto campuses this week for the first time since the lockdown.

social distancing measures are in place but the movement of so many people around the uk is causing concern. jayne mccubbin reports. forjodie. .. i was so sure it wasn‘t going to fit in. and forjosh and nathan... today is independence day. their first day of a new life in leeds. oh, i can't wait. instead of counting down for it for three months, i've been counting down for it for six ever since our exams got cancelled, so ijust can't wait for it to really get started now. i've been waiting for years for this! you want to get rid of him? that's it! no, we will miss him...| think. really excited, yeah. she's going to hopefully do well. how many people will you be living with? i just live with three others. the problem is, they‘re your bubble now. mm. what if you don‘t get on with them? i have a group chat with them already, i‘m already chatting with them, it‘s going to be ok. it‘s going to be ok! when they're that age, they're just eternally optimistic, aren't they, so... there are nearly 40,000 students moving in to leeds this week, a city which hasjust recorded its biggest ever increase in covid infections.

for families like these, there are more than the usual worries as they prepare to wave their kids off. yeah, there‘s a little bit of concern but they seem to have a lot of things in place around here which are safety oriented. you‘re reassured by that? yeah, i think it‘s pretty reassuring, yeah. could do with having a bit more teaching time but i don't know whether that's going to happen. it's a bit annoying because it's harder to meet people if you're trying to meet people in a course, you can't go to lectures and sit next to new people. sebastian‘s mum says she‘s packed all the essentials. hand gel, lots of masks everywhere we go, as you can tell, he‘s not wearing a mask. laughs. so much of what happens now will depend on students following all the rules and regulations. mohammad tells me the council is working with bars and pubs to make sure they police their venues. people have been given information and if somebody isn't obviously doing their bit, isn't playing their part, then we could actually take further action which could actually lead to closure of the premises.

the worry isn‘tjust about what happens in bars and pubs but in homes and halls. aston tells me most students are complying. yes, obviously been impacted by the new rule with six people, so you can‘t really plan to do big things, you have to keep it quite low—key. more than 19,000 fines have been issued for non—covid compliance so far. david says bars like his won‘t be the problem. i'd like to think everybody will be really on it. normally at this time of year, you would get house parties on in every house on every street within probably a mile radius of us. any so far? there's certainly been a few. getting infection rates back down requires everyone to act. matt hancock yesterday warned, follow the covid rules or they will get tougher. donald trump‘s move to replace the late supreme courtjustice ruth

bader ginsburg with a ‘very brilliant woman‘ — as soon as this friday or saturday, but certainly ahead of the presidential election — is an "abuse of power". that‘s according to his election rivaljoe biden. as the appointment is for life, many fear republicans will try to tilt the court firmly to the right for a generation or more. gary o‘donoghue is at the supreme court in washington. yes, this promises to be a huge political battle in the six weeks in one day leading up to the november the 3rd election. joe biden, of course, has said it would be an abuse of power. various republicans have said that the party has a duty to ta ke have said that the party has a duty to take up the president‘s nomination, which he plans to announce on friday or saturday. now, of course, there is already a conservative majority on the supreme court. if the president gets his way, that could turn into a 6—3 majority, which would build on that

conservative majority for years and yea rs conservative majority for years and years to come. many democrats believe that would threaten things like universal health care, the right to an abortion, and voting rights laws, which they are very opposed to. so there are all sorts of things at stake. it could change the dynamic of this election in the next six weeks. gary o‘donoghue speaking earlier to us from washington. a leak of financial documents has revealed the uk is a hub for international money laundering. the secret bank documents ? which register suspicious activity ? name more than 3,000 british companies, more than any other country in the world. the leak also reveals the us treasury deemed the uk "a higher risk jurisdiction". ministers say the uk is internationally recognised for the way it tackles money laundering. richard bilton reports. the leaked documents show britain is open to dodgy business and criminality. i‘m on my way to an office just

to the north of london and in our leaked documents, it is quite clear that the us treasury thinks the place that i‘m about to visit is one of the dodgiest addresses in the world. this office blockjust off potters bar high street might not look much, but billions of dirty dollars go through companies registered on the second floor here at suite 2b, 175 darkes lane. i want to understand how it works. there is here suite 2b, i am guessing that is them. let‘s give them a ring, see who runs this place, see how it operates. this is a place where hundreds of companies have been registered, but nobody is in, nobody is answering. it isjust a dead end. the man who runs the office later told us he simply offers a registered address and only conducts basic checks.

it is notjust here. we found more than 3,000 british companies in the suspicious activity report, that‘s more than any other country in the world. one type of company is particularly popular with money launderers. the uk offers a secretive type of company called a limited liability partnership, or llp, and llps can be used by crooks to move vast sums of cash without being caught. i don‘t know whether i am delighted or sad to tell you that we are one of the world leaders in providing vehicles for laundering money because every major money—laundering scheme i‘ve ever seen has had uk companies at their heart. on friday, the government announced plans for new company rules to combat fraud. it said the uk is internationally recognised as having some

of the strongest controls worldwide when it comes to tackling money laundering. but this secret us treasury report from the files refers to the uk as a higher risk jurisdiction such as cyprus. why is money laundering something that our viewers should care about? because it is actually the very fuel of crime. if we continue to launder money, criminals will continue to commit the crimes, to kill people over drugs, supply drugs that kill, you know, people in our community. it is perhaps the most shocking conclusion from the leaked files — the uk is at the heart of global money laundering. and you can see the full story on the leaks on panorama: the banking secrets of the rich and powerful, this evening on bbc one at 7pm, and later on the iplayer. the headlines on bbc news:

a second wave of coronavirus — the country‘s top scientists say failure to act could lead to 50,000 cases a day by the middle of next month. boris johnson will update mps on the situation tomorrow amid mounting expectation he will announce new measures to curb the spread of the virus. and the leaked documents show the husband of a conservative party donor who got to play tennis with top tories received millions from an ally of president putin. prince charles has warned that the climate crisis will "dwarf" the impact of coronavirus. in a recorded message, released to mark the start of climate week, the prince of wales said the pandemic gave a "window of opportunity" to reset the economy for a more sustainable future. billions of people around the world are waiting and longing for

concerted action to right the balance of this planet that we have so rashly disrupted. millions of younger employees of countless companies and corporations are desperate for action, not more words. aston martin has made some memorable cars over the decades, but perhaps nothing as stunning as the experimental bulldog. unveiled in 1980, with gull—wing doors and the latest technology — back then — only one example of the 192mph "hypercar" was ever made. the cash—strapped company sold it to a collector in the middle east and it disappered from view for decades. now it‘s back and being painstakingly restored by classic car experts in shropshire. phil mackie reports. using a turbo—charged v8 engine, the bulldog can reach over 170 mph... they say it was the first hyper car,

a word used only describe the most desirable vehicles on the planet. because you just press the button... and you are released into the outer world! it was launching a blaze of publicity, but only one aston martin bulldog was ever made. the planned production run was cancelled, and the castle to a buyer the middle east. —— the car sold to a buyer in the middle east. now back in the uk, they are six months into a restoration project that could last another year. it is painstaking work. spare parts aren‘t exactly easy to find, so they are having to make some from scratch. when it is finished, it will look like this, and the man overseeing it all is the son of the man who ran aston martin backin son of the man who ran aston martin back in 1980. for this spaceship design, with its gull—wing doors, and incredible design where the bonnet drops down when everyone was

doing pop—up headlights, dramatic noise when the doors open, and real—world performance, that is the thing to understand, that the real world performance was far above any other car available to use on the road at the time. the workshop in shropshire specialises in classic car restorations. five centrally mounted lights... but they've never seen anything like this, nor had the motoring public 40 years ago. seen anything like this, nor had the motoring public 40 years agom seen anything like this, nor had the motoring public 40 years ago. it was massively ahead of its time. when you think about what was on the road backin you think about what was on the road back in 1979, 1980, so, you know, the average joe driving around in an austin allegro or something, compared to a 700 horsepower mid—engined gull—wing doors at hyper car, which is exactly what bulldog is. once fully restored, they hope to test it at the speed it was designed for more than 200 miles an hour. it has not been driven at all for 30 years. it cost £150,000 in 1980. now it is worth millions.

straight to stormont, the northern irish parliament, where the first minister arlene foster is speaking. in the last 48 hours, nearly 4000 new cases have been reported, we are seeing substantial increases across large parts of the province now. in armagh city, newry, town and belfast, and we are seeing outbreaks in every county. while there are some variants in the levels of infection across areas, it is clear that without the right action right now, there is a real risk of a continued and increasing spread. as we are all aware, an increase in cases will mean an increase in rates of hospitalisation and inevitably of deaths. the executive has today

considered a range of options. we have considered a variety of actions to ensure we take a balanced approach. now we have an opportunity to suppress the rate of infection before it takes further hold. that isa before it takes further hold. that is a concern that is shared across the uk. we are continuing to have close discussions with the leaders of all four nations, and this will include the consideration of urgent collective actions by the four nations. we have spoken today with the prime minister and we will do so again at cobra tomorrow morning. for now, the executive has determined that the restrictions that will pertain to the areas with highest areas of coronavirus, particularly belfast and the ballymena areas, will be extended across all of northern ireland have 6pm tomorrow. this will mean that for every home across northern ireland, they will be no mixing of households in doors, with exemptions for bubbling with

another household, caring responsibilities including child essential maintenance, supported living arrangements, visits required for legal or medical purposes, or marriage or civil partnerships where one partner is terminally ill. also, there are to be no more than six people gathering in a private garden from no more than two households, but exempting children 12 and under. it is clear that it is in the environments where we feel safe and relaxed that we drop our guard, and that the mixing of households indoors presents one of the best opportunities for the spread of the virus. we continue to be advised that it virus. we continue to be advised thatitis virus. we continue to be advised that it is gatherings and domestic situations where most virus transmission is occurring, and other environments away from home can be better controlled and regulated. i understand that this decision today will be disappointing, but i would say to you, we are not, and i have

heard various descriptions of what we are involved in, this is not returning to lockdown. doing nothing was not an option, but neither is returning to full lockdown. these are limited restrictions which i hope by acting upon at this early stage mean we can‘t prevent the need for more draconian measures. acting early ca n for more draconian measures. acting early can provide the greatest protection for our economy in the medium term champion, but to make it work, we all have to pull together, and if we do, we can take control of the spread of the virus. we all know we can do this because we have done it already. by strong collective action, we were able to flatten the curve of this virus earlier in the year, and we are now in a much better place then we were back then. we know more about how the virus operates, we have better treatments to deal with it, and our test, track and trace system can tell us where it is and how it is spreading. so we are living through challenging times, and! are living through challenging times, and i know that there have

been much —— there has been much heartbreak and sadness for many, and i want to take a moment now to reflect on those who have lost loved ones, and indeed, offer my sincere sympathies. i also want to say thank you to our health and care workers for your continued service. we still have a long road to go with this virus, but we are up for the challenge. it will take a lot of self—discipline, and of course, compassion for those who are most vulnerable to the virus. i am sad to say, however, that these words do not apply to those who have lost the run of themselves a little bit, whether they ran onto the pitch at a gaa match, partied in bars afterwards, swarmed the streets of belfast holy lands, or indeed, crowded into house parties. that sort of behaviour isn‘tjust a risk to those present, but of course, for eve ryo ne to those present, but of course, for everyone they subsequently come into contact with. it is a risk to your family, a risk to your friends and

neighbours, to your colleagues, and indeed, to your customers. so i am putting you on notice that we intend to ta ke putting you on notice that we intend to take this matter very seriously. our enforcement group, led by our junior ministers, are working with partners across the community, which include local government, the police, the universities, governing bodies, to ensure that we do not see any repeat of this, and i welcome the words of ulster gaa this afternoon. so we‘ll need to work together to keep each other say. we need to follow the health guidance by washing our hands, maintaining social distancing, and where it is not possible to do all of that, to wear a face covering. and i really wa nt to wear a face covering. and i really want to reinforce the of face coverings, particularly in retail environments. compliance was very good a week ago, a few weeks ago, but it is not a novelty. we have to continue wearing face coverings in those settings, and i also want to encourage people to download the

covid—19 app if you haven‘t already done so, and if you are advised to get a test, do it promptly and follow the quarantine advice to the letter, because we can do this and we can all work together to combat this deadly disease. thank you. thanks, and good afternoon to everyone. thanks, and good afternoon to everyone. i'm very sad to say that over the last 72 hours, another two people have lost their lives to coronavirus, and obviously, we want to send our sympathies to the families and loved ones at this very sad time. we weren't expecting to come back in front of you so soon after announcing further restrictions over the transmission of covid—19 last week, but unfortunately, the situation unfolding is fast moving and moving in the wrong direction, and it is certainly very concerning. the pandemic continues to escalate globally, and we have consistently said that our response to the pandemic needs to be flexible, and that we would be prepared to take

action if the circumstances call for it. the current situation we find ourselves in requires action. over the last weekend, across this island, well over 1000 people tested positive for covid—19, and this should be a wake—up call to everyone. should be a wake—up call to everyone. it is in the context... this context in which we have had to convene an urgent meeting of the executive this afternoon. we have between 2—3 weeks from now to suppress substantial transmission, otherwise we risk even more cases by mid—october. over the last week, regulations came into effect introducing localised restrictions across a number of geographical areas where the increasing rate of positive cases was of particular concern. we said that we would keep the situation under review, and the data is showing very clearly that the numberof data is showing very clearly that the number of areas of concern are multiplying rapidly. the executive has agreed that given the worrying high level of community transmission, the best course of

action at this point is to extend the restrictions and to every household across the north. it's important that everyone understands what exactly these restrictions mean for you. so i will take a moment just to set that out. there can be no mixing of households in homes. this means you should not visit other people's houses or allow them to visit you at home. there are some exceptions to this, the following will be permitted. single person households can bubble with another household, carrying out caring responsibilities including child care, essential maintenance, or supported living arrangements, visits required for legal or medical purposes, and marriage or civil partnership ceremonies where one partnership ceremonies where one partner is terminally ill. you can meet outdoors in a private garden, but this is restricted to a maximum of six people for no more than two households. —— from no more than two households. —— from no more than two households. i appreciate this is not easy news to hear, and i know people

will be anxious this evening, but these are not decisions we have taken these are not decisions we have ta ken lightly. the these are not decisions we have taken lightly. the measures are a necessary step to stop the spread of the virus on to save lives. the increasing rate of infection on the steps ta ken by increasing rate of infection on the steps taken by the executive should shake people from any complacency or miss belief that we are through the worst of this pandemic. covid—19 has been allowed to get a foothold in our communities, and we need to take action now to make sure it's grip doesn't tighten. we are well aware of the social and emotional impact of the social and emotional impact of limiting contact between loved ones, friends and families in their homes, so we will not keep these restrictions in place for any longer than necessary. i get there and understand that people are tiring of covid—19. it has been a tough six months, they know that the further prospective interruption to our lives is unwelcome. there is no easy solution and certainly no quick fix or quick wins for overcoming covid—19 until we have a vaccine. so

this is a fightback. the months ahead will be difficult. it will require a balanced response between implement restrictions and coexisting with covid—19 as we live our lives. where we have had success in preventing widespread community transmission since march, is where the community and public authorities have worked in partnership. every individual's actions matter in controlling transmission. i have said before that the virus does not spread itself. people spread it. so we are in a period where we need to have each other's backs. this is about saving lives, about protecting the most vulnerable, and about looking after granny and grandad. this is about looking after mummy and daddy. even if you are fit and healthy, think about those who are more vulnerable and more likely to become seriously ill, or even lose their life if your actions lead them to contract covid—19. we urge everyone please comply with

these restrictions, keep washing your hands, keep your distance