tonight at ten, the latest steps to control the pandemic expose growing differences across the uk. in northern ireland schools will close from friday, and pubs and restaurants face new restrictions, the toughest in the uk. we fully appreciate that this will be difficult and worrying news for a lot of people. the executive has taken this decision because it is necessary and we discussed the impacts in great detail. in wales, there'll be a ban on people visiting from other parts of the uk, with the highest rates of infection. and in england, as the new three—tier system comes into force, the prime ministerfaces more calls for a short limited lockdown. we report from liverpool, at the heart of a region where the highest level

of restrictions are now in place. in france, there's a strict night—time curfew being imposed in paris and in eight other big cities. in florida, the hugely influential senior vote is in play, with just three weeks to the presidential election. commentator: two yellow cards in half an hour. and tonight's football, all four home nations have been playing, and england struggled against denmark. and coming up in sport on bbc news... premier league clubs reject ‘project big picture‘, but will work togther on a new plan for the financing of english football. good evening. the latest moves to contain the pandemic have exposed

even wider differences across the united kingdom. northern ireland is now set to impose the toughest coronavirus restrictions anywhere in the uk. wales is set to ban visitors coming from the worst—affected parts of england, scotland and northern ireland. and in england the new three—tier system has started with the liverpool region at the highest alert level. we start with northern ireland which in the past week has reported the highest rate of infection in the uk. from 6pm on friday all pubs and restaurants, hairdressers and beauticians, will have to shut their doors for a month. supermarkets and off—licences will not be allowed to sell alcohol after 8pm. schools will close for two weeks, one of them being the half—term break. it's not a full lockdown. ta keways are allowed, shops will be open, so will gyms for individual training, as well as childcare facilties. our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. nightlife no more. soon, the streets of belfast will again be subdued. i don't know if it is

the right move to make. the restrictions are kind of hard. i don't see how buying alcohol after eight o'clock is going to make a difference. but clap they might... an extended holiday is on the way for pupils — two weeks instead of one for the half—term break. but the restrictions have come with just a few days‘ notice for parents in northern ireland, who will now have children at home from monday. nobody knows what they're doing and they‘ re just changing the rules every single day. actually, for people who are going to school, people who have no childcare, people have to get people to mind their kids, i think it's terrible. it doesn't help, especially parents that can't help their kids properly. some need school and need the extra help, as well. it's always good to get a bit of notice so that you can make plans and contingency plans. you have a lot of children taking the free school meals, things like that that you have to check out in the background and make sure those children are going to be catered for. it can't be done just instantly. a return to tighter restrictions mustn't roll on indefinitely,

say political leaders but, after late—night disagreements at stormont last night, it took some time for all parties to agree just how far they should go. the tougher restrictions were a compromise, after sinn fein had pushed to go further, but the dup was holding back. these decisions will make a huge impact on people's lives, but they are for four weeks. we're very determined that this will be a time—limited intervention. the public health advice initially suggested six weeks would be the optimum, but clearly after discussion what we have arrived at is a two—week holiday for schools. that is very much based on the public health advice. this restaurant in belfast had only just reopened a week ago. now it's estimated the new closures will come at a cost of £700 million to northern ireland's economy. i just feel numb. i feel we've put so much into this and i feel hospitality are getting hung out to dry. hello, i'm amy, and i'm home, self—isolating for the next... in derry and strabane,

a lot of pupils are already off. this area has the highest rate of infections in the uk. spare a thought forjacob, into his third week of isolating at home, where his mother and brother have tested positive. how are you coping? it's very, very tricky. i have to wear a mask every time i leave my room. i have to disinfect the kitchen. i have to disinfect the bathroom, as well. the slow but steady creep of rising cases since august has seen medical advisers in northern ireland pushing to lock down much harder. too little, too late. we need to be stricter, we need to have more severe restrictions for a longer period of time because we have a real problem in secondary care in hospitals, and we don't want to be overwhelmed. once again, the wait begins to see whether these restrictions on the lives of people in northern ireland will have enough of an effect and whether larger

parts of the uk may follow. cases of the virus here have risen dramatically, and hospital admissions have risen as well. so today northern ireland reactivated its nightingale hospital, the facilities set up to look after covid patients, northern ireland being the first part of the uk to re—establish its nightingale facility, but really today the problem was that ministers had significant fears that northern ireland could be a short while away from those hospitals being overrun. thanks forjoining us. the latest official figures show that 19,724 new infections were recorded in the latest 24—hour period. it means the average number of new cases reported per day in the past week is 15,767.

hospital admissions are rising, on average 688 people were being admitted every day over the past week. this number doesn't include scotland. 137 deaths have been reported, that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. it means on average in the past week, 91 deaths were announced every day. it takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 43,155. in wales, the first minister mark dra keford has announced a travel ban on people visiting wales from parts of the uk with the highest rates of infection. mr drakeford said he'd gone ahead with the decision after the prime minister borisjohnson refused to impose travel restrictions in england. the ban is expected to come into effect at 6pm this friday but some critics are asking how the ban is to be enforced, as our wales correspondent

hywel griffith reports. a quiet country manor, sheltered so far from covid's second wave, but businesses here in mid wales now find themselves on the political front line. since talk of a cross—border travel ban started last week, customers have been cancelling. it is likely that tier 2 and 3 lockdown areas in england, the central belt of scotland and all of northern ireland will be included, but the details still aren't there. you know, i'm getting phone call after phone call, "can we come? are you still open? do we have to do this? what are your restrictions?" do we put a block on those people and protect our own or do we allow them to come and just take extra precautions? it is that really weird kind of limbo phase we are in at the moment. and where is home? travel restrictions are not new within wales. the police already carry out spot checks and issue fines. we are just stopping people to check the purpose of theirjourney. the police federation says this

extended ban will not be enforcea ble. extended ban will not be enforceable. the welsh government said they had to act because the prime minister wouldn't. no letter from the prime minister has been received in reply to my request. i have therefore asked for the necessary work to be brought forward which would allow for devolved powers to be used to prevent people from travelling into wales from high prevalence areas of the uk. this border won't be sealed. people will still be allowed to travel in and out for work and education or to give care to a loved one, but day trips and holidays won't be allowed if you are travelling from an area with a high number of covid cases. large parts of wales are already closed to tourists. llandudno has been under lockdown for almost a fortnight. with no visitors allowed in, many businesses have been starved of their customers, most of whom travel from over the border. it's heartbreaking. more than 70% of our trade is from outside the town,

so this 70% is gone, straightaway, it's gone. all the hotels will be shut so it will be a ghost town again. for how long? i don't know. the uk government says it is disappointed that wales is acting unilaterally. the ban, then, is a reminder that this border is also a political divide. hywel griffith, bbc news, powys. in england, borisjohnson has insisted his regional approach to tackling the virus is the best way to limit the rise in cases, and to avoid what he described as the ‘misery‘ of a full lockdown. within england there are different restrictions, depending on where people live or work. most parts of england are in tier 1, where the rule of six still applies and the 10pm hospitality curfew is still in place. people living in areas like greater manchester, leeds, newcastle and large areas of the midlands have now been placed in tier 2. that means there'll be no

household mixing indoors, and the rule of six applies outdoors. and the liverpool city region has been placed in tier 3, the highest level, which means no mixing of households indoors or outdoors. pubs and bars will close, unless they provide what's called a ‘substantial meal‘. but as our political editor laura kuenssberg reports, labour has again called for a short limited lockdown in england, a so—called ‘circuit breaker‘, to bring the virus under control. the rolling valley around glastonbury tor. around here in somerset, there have been 44 new cases of coronavirus in the last seven days. nottingham‘s old market square. in this bustling part of the world, nearly 3,000 people have fallen ill with the disease over the same time. why are you ignoring the science, prime minister? that difference — why the prime minister is resisting bringing in a limited lockdown across england. the opposition, though, has split

away, after the government‘s own senior scientist proposed a short, sharp period of closures. 0n the 21st of september, the government‘s own scientific advisers, sage, gave very clear advice. they said a package of interventions including a circuit breaker will be needed to prevent an exponential rise in cases. why did the prime minister reject that advice and abandon the science? he wants to close pubs, he wants to close bars, he wants to close businesses in areas across the country where the incidence is low, that's what he wants to do. what labour‘s proposing is not as strict as the lockdown from earlier this year, but downing street wants to avoid it and there is little appetite on the tory benches, too. i know that, for someone who has been an opportunist all his life, this is difficult, this is difficult to understand... but, having read and considered the sage advice, i have genuinely

concluded that a circuit break is in the national interest. the whole point, mr speaker, is to seize this moment now to avoid the misery of another national lockdown, into which he wants to go headlong, by delivering a regional solution. politicians don‘t like admitting it but there can be opportunity in crisis, and there have been conversations in government about bringing in a limited lockdown, to close pubs and bars everywhere, to slow the disease down. number ten is loath to press the button on a limited lockdown for england, notjust because of the harm that could do to the way the country makes its living, but also, why treat everywhere the same when the pattern of the disease varies from place to place? but avoiding a limited lockdown is a strong hope, not a guarantee. more parts of the country could soon fall under tighter rules. a limited lockdown is not a never,

but it‘s certainly not for now. some of the government‘s top scientific and medical advisers from thejoint security centre met earlier today to discuss whether to recommend placing much of the north of england and the midlands in the top level of restrictions, tier 3. let‘s go live to westminster and talk to laura. you detect signs that the tier three status will be extended? yes, but i would stress that have been no final decisions taken about what comes next but clearly at the meeting this afternoon, health experts and the health secretary concluded that large parts of england and the north—east and the north—west should be brought under tougher restrictions sooner rather than later. but there is a separate tract of this which is of course the attem pts of this which is of course the atte m pts of of this which is of course the attempts of downing street to reach political accommodations with local leaders, that process is not

something that is concluded yet. we understand tomorrow morning there will be a key conversation between the mayor of greater manchester andy burnham and downing street and similar conversations with leaders in other parts of the north—west and while i emphasise this is yet com pletely while i emphasise this is yet completely clear, there is a strong expectation in westminster tonight that if we speak tomorrow, by this time of today, that greater manchester and lancashire are both likely to been moved into tier three, the toughest category of limits which have been put in place right now, but of course there is still some water to flow under the bridge before that actually happens. we know from local leaders on the ground, especially andy burnham, there is a reluctance to go for that u nless there is a reluctance to go for that unless the government comes up with forms of compensation, but the question is, perhaps, not whether or not this will be agreed, but whether 01’ not this will be agreed, but whether or not the government is actually wedding to impose this. i think it

is evidence that the government is determined for how to stick to its regional approach but that may mean more nights like this where it is not quite clear what the map of england will look like by the morning. thanks forjoining us. as we‘ve heard, the liverpool city region is so far the only area of england to be placed in the highest level, tier 3. our special correspondent ed thomas has been to liverpool and the wirral to find out how the new measures have worked out. shutting down... time, please. can you drink up? saying goodbye... for anna, it‘s notjust her job, this is her home. it‘s my livelihood, the people who work for me have mortgages and kids. i‘m bitter and angry. could this be the end of you? can you last six months? i haven‘t got six months in me. this was repeated in pubs and bars across the liverpool city region last night, closing their doors for up to six months.

as an industry, as a city and a country, this is not good enough. joe is worried about his bar and his staff. it could bring cases down. of course, but the choices they‘ve made and the legislation they‘ve put in place doesn‘t work. we're all going to struggle so much. it's going to be such a dark place for so many people. we have been telling each other for months, "we will figure a way out", and now it's the end, there is no way out. it's done. this was the reaction from some at closing time last night, gone 10pm in liverpool city centre. this morning, open defiance... this gym on the wirral — like all gyms, ordered to close under tier 3 covid rules — has refused. it‘s illegal, why are you doing this? we‘re doing this for our members and our city. the best part of 100,000 people in merseyside use the gym. the potential health implications are drastic.

why put people at risk? we don‘t feel there is a risk. the stats suggest they are not at risk here. local leaders insist this was a government decision. the metro mayor here says he hopes gyms open soon but also warned people to follow the rules. nobody wants people to curtail freedoms but we have tier 3 restrictions in place from today, and they are the law. the alternative is to see our city region overrun with sickness and death. in march and april, there was a sense of togetherness felt across the country, but speak to many here on merseyside and it‘s not the same today. there is a sense of anger and mistrust, but the major problem is that covid cases are rising quickly, and so, too, are hospital admissions and deaths. when you do go out, you are totally on edge. that‘s a real worry for sue, blind and living alone.

am i going to be locked in here for the next six months? that‘s how i feel. if i got the virus, i‘m on my own. who is going to look after me? life is going to change. tier 3 covid rules are here, but the hope is that lives will also be saved. ed thomas, bbc news, merseyside. an international study has found that england and wales recorded one of the highest numbers of excess deaths from all causes at the height of the pandemic. weekly data between mid—february and the end of may showed there were almost 100 additional deaths per 100,000 people, putting the countries above most of europe, australia and new zealand. part of the ongoing crisis in the nhs is that some non—urgent procedures are being delayed in order to free up hospital beds for those suffering from the virus. 0ur health editor hugh pym looks at the challenge.

some hospitals are under pressure, intensive care and general ward beds filling up with covid—19 patients, and there is a need to find more space. the really tough decision for hospital managers is whether to postpone non—urgent work to free up beds for coronavirus cases. an intensive care specialist in the north west of england said that was now looking more likely. when your back is against the wall and you‘ve got patients coming in with severe covid infections and also you are getting staff, medical and nursing staff who are also suffering from not only covid infections but exhaustion, the planned activity will undoubtedly end up suffering. gordon, who lives south of glasgow, was due to have a hip replacement in march. it was postponed until this month and then postponed again. i received a text to say that the operation was cancelled because they required the beds because of the surge in covid cases. so far, only a few hospitals have

said they are scaling back routine surgery. nhs leaders are keen to avoid having to shut down all nonurgent work as they did during the first months of the crisis. the impact of people staying away from hospital, either because their treatment was postponed or because they were worried about the infection risk, has become one of the central issues of the pandemic. the key questions are, how much damage has been done, and how many excess deaths? that is the total from all causes above the average. much of the uk fares poorly on that measure. a new study looks at the numbers between february and may and finds there was no overall covid impact in this list of european countries. in others, the virus only had a low impact. there was a medium impact in france, the netherlands and sweden, and a high impact in belgium, italy, spain, england with wales and scotland. the health system pivoting to focus almost entirely on covid—19 in that first wave will have had impacts on mortality for patients with other

chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease and dementia. but what is also true is that the full effects of that will not be felt until six, 12 months and even years down the line. british hospitals are far from alone in considering cuts in routine medical work. in the czech republic, some general hospital wards are being converted by builders into covid—19 departments. hugh pym, bbc news. in france, president macron has announced a state of emergency to try control the rapid spread of coronavirus. people have been told to stay indoors from 9pm to 6am in paris and in eight other major cities across france. the curfew will come into effect from saturday, and last for at least four weeks. live to paris and our correspondent lucy williamson. to what extent do people there think the measures are broadlyjustified?

i think there is a growing sense that the current measures are not really u p that the current measures are not really up to the job. you had the head of the paris regional hospitals this week saying that he thought by the end of october, 70—90% of the intensive care beds in the paris region would be occupied by covid patients. for the government, region would be occupied by covid patients. forthe government, i think this is something of a trade—off. it wants to keep schools open and workplaces so instead, it is shutting everything else from 9pm in these nine major cities. restau ra nts, in these nine major cities. restaurants, cinemas, theatres. whether or not that stops student parties and other kinds of band activity is one question. it is certainly going to have an economic impact because some of these cities, not just paris but impact because some of these cities, notjust paris but marseille, toulouse, lyon, lille, are some of the big economic centres of france, and when you look at the map, not only that but how striking it is that they cover the length and breadth of the country. local cu rfews, yes, but breadth of the country. local curfews, yes, but this is not a problem that is confined any more to

one region or problem that is confined any more to one region 01’ one problem that is confined any more to one region or one of france. many thanks. lucy williamson with the latest on the measures in france, there. in america, the democratic presidential candidate joe biden has accused donald trump of treating elderly voters as "expendable and forgettable", because of his attitude towards coronavirus. mr biden was speaking in florida, a key state in next month‘s election, where the so—called "senior vote" backed mr trump four years ago. over a fifth of the population is over 65, and with less than three weeks to polling day, the democrats are sensing a change, as our north america editorjon sopel reports. upbeat music. it‘s the morning aqua aerobics class and these elderly ladies are being invited by the instructor... that‘s it. ..to join the love train. in, out. but once they get out of the water, it will be the incessant demands to board either the trump train or the biden bandwagon. but they don‘t seem happy travellers, as i discovered at an impromptu focus group.

how many of you just want this election to be over? cheering. they all live at the villages, america‘s biggest retirement community. and when i say big, i mean humongous. it has a population of 130,000. it covers an area bigger than southampton, and sprawls over five postcodes. the preferred mode of transport — golf carts. and early voting is under way. the grey vote is critical to donald trump‘s re—election but not all republicans are seeing it as black and white. i am thinking that biden is going to win. does that make you happy or unhappy? actually, i prefer the republican platform, so i am voting for the republican platform, is what i‘m voting for, not necessarily trump but the platform. this is a very, very important election and i made sure my democraticjoe biden vote got in early and on time. and are you confident he might win?

yes, can you be confident with a might? i'm confident he will. the parties know how they are doing in these postal votes, and democrats have a spring in their step. the votes that have been cast so far are all vote by mail, and the return is higher than ever before, and well over 50% democratic, and that says to me that the momentum that we felt building to this moment is still there and still growing. four years ago, donald trump won a huge victory here in the villages, but the latest polls suggest that joe biden is well ahead amongst the over—65s, and if that turns out to be true on polling day, that could be the difference between success and failure in florida. ..will have played over 3 million rounds of golf... butjust like four years ago, the republicans are saying don‘t believe everything you read in the polls. trump is a bombastic personality. there is a lot of people who really appreciate it. a lot of people like it if you ask

somebody a question, you get an answer, and donald trump will give you an answer and i think a lot of people appreciate that. not a blade of grass out of place. it looks genteel, but don‘t be fooled. there is a vicious and unrelenting fight going on that won‘t stop until november the 3rd. jon sopel, bbc news, florida. the new head of the security service m15 has warned of the challenges posed by china in the years ahead. speaking publicly for the first time since taking the job, ken mccallum has been setting out his priorities. he said terrorism was still a threat, but that hostile activity by some foreign states was on the rise. 0ur security correspondent gordon corera is with me. when we talk about priorities, what was he really listing? we got a sense today from ken mccallum, the 45—year—old representing a generational shift from m15 that there is a time of transition into

threats that the uk is facing right now, creating what he called a nasty mix. terrorism is still there, there have been some changes, a growing number offar have been some changes, a growing number of far right cases, covid—19 has complicated it in some ways, less crowded places for terrorist to attack but harder for less crowded places for terrorist to attack but harderfor m15 less crowded places for terrorist to attack but harder for m15 officers to follow them around empty streets. but overall, his message was there are these new concerns, some of them still relate to covid, for instance, there is a global race for a vaccine and m15 is having to do work to protect the research taking place in the uk from others who might want to steal or discredit it. but it was the concern about what spies call hostile state activity which stood out, that is other countries interfering with politics, stealing economic information and here, ken mccallu m economic information and here, ken mccallum said if you asked him which country at the moment caused him most aggravation, he said it was russia‘s spies. but, he said, if you looked over the next decade, what was the biggest challenge? no doubt,

china, he said. he described russia as providing bursts of bad weather but china presenting climate change when it came to security and i think working out what to do about that real, landmark shift insecurity will be the challenge, notjust for m15 but for the whole of government. thank you very much. gordon corera, there. a study has found that australia‘s great barrier reef has lost more than half of its coral since 1995, because of rapidly—warming waters. scientists found all types of coral had suffered a decline across the world‘s largest reef system, with serious damage occurring in 2016, 2017 and again this year. all 20 premier league clubs have decided not to go ahead with project big picture, a controversial plan put forward by liverpool and manchester united to radically reform english football. they will instead begin a review of the structure of the game. the premier league has also offered a funding package of £50 million to leagues one and two, whose members will meet tomorrow to consider their response.

in tonight‘s international football, all four home nations have been in action in the nations league. from wembley, our sports correspondent natalie pirks reports. a year to the day since england faced appalling racist abuse in bulgaria, players took the knee to reflect. they were fresh from beating the world number ones, belgium, on sunday, but their only meaningful movement in the first half came from beleaguered defender harry maguire, sent off for a second clumsy tackle, leaving england down to ten. the look of dejection summing up his horrible start to the season. it got immediately worse with denmark handed a penalty. and he does so emphatically. it was coolly dispatched by christian eriksen, a great way to celebrate his 100th cap for his country. england actually played better a man down. what a save by kasper schmeichel! but kasper schmeichel was alert to the danger and denmark inflicted