and we have also had new parents who just cannot get out to the house for covid reasons or disability reasons. they absolutely love the service that we are providing. it feels a bit weird to take parcels off people when we are normally giving them, so to take them off them is a bit ofa change, but it's a nice change for the customers as well as us. since the advent of e—mail, the number of letters this sorting office has has halved. we were always looking at change before covid hit and we were very much slowly becoming a parcel company. now, since covid, as you can see, we have lost a lot of letters and we are now moving into what are classed as parcels. it will give the customer many more options for us to come and collect it direct from them and we can

obviously now put it into the system and we will send it on itsjourney. but royal mail isjoining an already crowded market, with rivals like dpd, hermes and dhl offering collections as well. it has been a very wet morning and end of the night with localised flooding and a number of weather station rainfall amounts from last night threw this morning across southern england. nearly an inch of rain and the rain still falling in parts of north—western scotland being very wet over the last couple of days. you can see where the wet weather has been, quite windy in western scotland, and this cloud and rain affecting a proportion of england and wales which contains the re m na nts of england and wales which contains the remnants of storm barbora. continuing wet across central and southern areas with gale force winds

running through the english channel affecting the far south—east for a while and wait across scotland as well. for many of us it is going to be quite mild, not as mild as yesterday. tonight the rain starts to peter out across england and wales and leaves a legacy of showers. it stays quite wet and windy across much of central and northern scotland but single figure values in the north and double figure values in the south with another fairly figure values in the south with anotherfairly mild figure values in the south with another fairly mild night to come. this starts to move away on thursday and allows a bridge ridge of high pressure to nudge in which will settle things in. a few showers dated around but it stays cloudy for northern and eastern scotland. slowly improving later in the day but for northern ireland and much of england and wales increasing amounts of sunshine and the wind is turning lighter. a slightly cooler air mass but in the sunshine in the south—east we could see 15

or 16 degrees. as we head through thursday night we start to see the next frontal system pushing into western areas. you can frontal system pushing into western areas. you can see frontal system pushing into western areas. you can see it pushing an off the atlantic, the wind is going to increase. it will be bringing some patchy fairly heavy rain to northern and western areas as it continues to miss eastwards and will tend to fizzle out to patchy showers. sunshine and showers and longer spells of rain and it will be a windy day with winds in excess of 30 or a0 miles windy day with winds in excess of 30 or40 miles an windy day with winds in excess of 30 or a0 miles an hour. into the weekend, it looks very windy indeed with widespread gales for saturday. quite mild with a little bit of sunshine but heavy rain and showers around. sunday turns a bit cooler, still windy but not as windy on sunday as on saturday. a reminder of

our top story. millions more face tier 3 restrictions: south yorkshire will face the toughest covid rules from saturday. flanker will connors and wing hugo keenan will make their test debuts when ireland host italy in saturday's six nations match in dublin. it's the game that was called off on march the 7th when the coronavirus pandemic hit the sporting calendar. johnny sexton will captain the side after shaking off recent hamstring troubles. he said his poor individual performance in their heavy defeat to england has been playing on his mind for the past eight months. south africa—born duo duhan van der merwe and oh kebble will make their scotland debuts

in friday's meeting with georgia at murrayfield. van der merwe starts and kebble will be on the bench. glasgow hooker fraser brown will captain the side for the first time, in the absence of stuart hogg, who's still on club duty with exeter. it'll be brown's 51st cap. and finn russell returns to the bench for the first time since he was sent home from the six nations injanuary for breaching team protocol. it's been confirmed that wasps will be allowed to play in this weekend's premiership rugby final, despite seven players and four members of staff testing positive for coronavirus in the past week. premiership rugby reported that there were no more positives in the latest round of testing. wasps said they were "delighted" they could take their rightful place in the match against exeter on saturday at twickenham. england will play the republic of ireland in a friendly next month, after the irish filled the gap left when new zealand pulled out.the game will be played behind closed doors at wembley on november the 12th. new zealand withdrew over concerns about travel

and availablity in the pandemic. england's last meeting with the republic finished in a goalless draw in dublin five years ago. there's been strong criticism of the fledgeling plan to create a new breakaway league, involving the top sides from across europe. it apparently has the backing of fifa — and five premier league clubs have been approached to take part. joe lynskey reports. english football is at a crossroads. the grounds are closed, the games are silent. now those at the top could look elsewhere for more. reports say english clubs are in talks about a european premier league. 18 teams from five countries forming a super competition. any plans could replace the champions league, but even uefa, who run european football, aren't on board, and the club know that these are sensitive

times. i have absolutely no time to think about that, i'm not involved in this, i have no idea about it. iam here, ideal with the daily star. these plans may reveal some of the thinking behind a project big picture, the proposals that were put forward but then rejected by premier league clubs. that offered money to the lower leagues but on the proviso it would free up more dates on the calendar, possibly for a new competition like this. and it showed a european premier league go ahead, the clubs could stand to split more than £a billion between them. and should a european premier league go ahead, the clubs could stand to split more than £a billion between them. it is a strange set of priorities at the best of times but particularly now, it is sickening to think there are clubs that mean so much to communities who are really worried about whether they will be able to continue in existence, and yet all these people are worried about is the glamour of global television rights. the lower league clubs are vulnerable. a bailout from the top

could come with conditions. but a super tournament brings a possibility the super rich aren't used to. in a league of the best, one team still has to finish last. well, there is more hope for clubs further down the english football pyramid this morning. clubs in the national league — the fifth tier of the game — will receive £10 million from the national lottery to help them through the pandemic. seven teams recently relegated from the football league will be given £95,000 a month, with the rest getting slightly less. that's all the sport for now. more on the bbc sport website, including build—up to tonight's champions league and europa league matches. more from me in the next hour. thanks very much. the mayor of the sheffield city region, dan jarvis, has said the move for his region to tier 3, or "very high",

is "the right course of action". south yorkshire has become the latest area to be moved to the highest level of coronavirus restrictions. mrjarvis said a £a1 million support package will provide some help, but "understand that it will also mean sacrifice". mrjarvis was speaking in the house of commons after labour challenged the health minister, edward argar. this virus remains a serious threat. over this virus remains a serious threat. 0ver1 million people have tested positive for coronavirus in europe over the past week. here in the uk yesterday, we recorded 21,331 positive cases, one of the highest recorded daily figures. average daily hospital admissions in the uk have doubled in the past 1a days. and yesterday we recorded the highest number of daily deaths, 2a1 since earlyjune. we must keep working hard together to keep this virus under control. mr argar was challenged by the shadow health secretary, jonathan ashworth. today we have another great swathes

of the north put into lockdown. now, sheffield went into two tier restrictions last wednesday, so did ministers make the wrong judgment a week ago, or has new evidence come to light that wasn't apparent last wednesday? and how many of areas in tier two today are facing the same fate as a sheffield? such as those areas neighbouring that area, such as nottinghamshire or south derbyshire. the secretary of state couldn't answer how long south yorkshire would be a lockdown. could the minister today tell us how long south yorkshire will be in lockdown? does the nationwide r—rate have to fall below one, is the prime minister said the other day, or whether the regional r—rate is

to be below one? in an area like doncaster, if they get the r—rate below one will they be able to leave lockdown? the prime minister at the dispatch box earlier talked about hospital admissions. can he tell us what level hospital admissions have to come down to for an area to exit lockdown? i said yesterday my dad worked in casinos in salford, my mum worked in casinos in salford, my mum worked in casinos in salford, my mum worked in bars, i know people will wa nt to worked in bars, i know people will want to do the right thing, and will understand that further measures are necessary to contain the spread of the virus. but families shouldn't face financial ruin. he wants congratulations for the package he has allocated to south yorkshire, but why is contact trace funding subject to these negotiations and deals? the virus is out of control because of the failures of the £12 billion test and trace system. if local areas had been given these resources months ago to put into place effective contact tracing we wouldn't be in this situation now.

those failures on contact tracing are impacting directly on peoples lives. this afternoon, families across south yorkshire, who work in hospitality, whether in doncaster or sheffield, or places like penistone, rather valley, or don valley, will be asking why if it was fair to pay 80% of wages in march, why should they now be expected to get by on just two thirds of their wages in the run—up to christmas. this matters to families everywhere, mr speaker, because we no further —— we know that further restrictions will be needed. plans are in develop for a three week lockdown more widely next month. perhaps he could confirm that his officials are now working on plans for a three week national lockdown next month. the communities secretary said this morning there was now a nationalformula secretary said this morning there was now a national formula for areas under local lockdown, but ministers say they want a targeted local approach because circumstances vary.

yet when an area says our circumstances are different, like greater manchester who have had restrictions since july, greater manchester who have had restrictions sincejuly, the prime minister says, tough, hard luck, you can't be treated different income and vindictively refuses manchester just £5 million extra to get a deal over just £5 million extra to get a deal over the line. this is playing politics with peoples jobs and peoples livelihoods, and we cannot defeat this virus on the cheap, nor should it be broken on the backs of the lowest paid. public health restrictions must go hand in hand with economic support because as night follows day, falls in employment levels lead to rises in chronic illness. the chancellor must pay out to help out, and deliver a fair deal to supportjobs pay out to help out, and deliver a fair deal to support jobs and livelihoods under lockdown. i'm grateful to the honourable gentleman, my constituency neighbour up gentleman, my constituency neighbour up in leicestershire. i have to say, he was, as usual, typically reasonable and measured almost until the last moment when i am afraid the only person playing politics was him. to address

his points, we are taking these steps now because we are taking them at the right time as the infection rate has continued to go up. in respect of other tier two areas, or neighbouring tier two areas, or neighbouring tier two areas, it is only at this point that we are making this announcement. it's the only move that has been announced. and it is being currently considered. he asked about criteria, a lot of his questions were how long for, how will it be judged. they are fair questions. areas in tier two or three will remain in those areas as long as is necessary to protect the health of the local people and the nhs in that region. he asks about the sort of things which will be releva nt to the sort of things which will be relevant to when an area both enters it and comes out of it, infection rate per 100,000, the impact on the nhs in terms of hospital capacity,

and how full they are in hospitalisation rates, as well as relying on and listening to knowledge from local public health officials, which he would expect us to do. he touched on contract tracing and the way that is working. what i would say to him is what we have in this country is a blended system which brings the scale of a national approach blended with the local knowledge provided by local public health teams. he has seen in his own city of leicester how effective that can be, where both parts of that are absolutely vital. he finished i think by talking reasonably about the need for economic support and full support for people who are affected by this. asi for people who are affected by this. as i set out in the statement, the support scheme, the job support scheme, coupled with universal credit for those eligible for that, will ensure people receive at least 80% of their wages. 0n

will ensure people receive at least 80% of their wages. on his broader point about the big picture in terms of economic support, i would remind him that this government and this chancellor have provided an unprecedented package of economic support over recent months to businesses and to individuals. this government is very clear in its commitment to protect the health of this nation, and the economic health of this nation. let's head up to barnsley to visit the mayor, no less, danjarvis. thank you very much, mr speaker. as mayor i think this is the right action for south yorkshire. the financial support will provide some help for our people and our economy. but we all understand it will mean sacrifice. families will be separated, workers will suffer, and businesses face uncertainty. i need to the minister and the government to the minister and the government to repay that sacrifice by working closely with us, with our local authorities, and with our nhs. together we need to do everything we can to get a grip of this disease so that our region can move out of

these restrictions as soon as possible. mr speaker, i reiterate the tribute ipaid to mr speaker, i reiterate the tribute i paid to the honourable gentleman for his approach throughout this. it is abundantly clear that he, like all of his colleagues, have the best interest of his region at heart. and have worked constructively throughout this process to get the right health and —— right help and economic support in that area. i look forward to working in close co—operation with him as we move forward to beat this disease in his area. nicola sturgeon has said she is looking at a five—tier system of restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus in scotland. the first minister said the middle three tiers would broadly align with the system in england. but it was also necessary to have a lower level of controls. she said they would be the closest to normality which was possible before a vaccine was available. ms sturgeon said the highest level would be close to the full lockdown put in place in march.

confirming the new framework, she said the current temporary lockdown restrictions would be extended by a further week. the timescale for introducing the new level system leaves us with a short—term decision about the current temporary restrictions on hospitality. these are currently due to expire on monday coming, the 26th of october. however, following a meeting of the cabinet this morning ican meeting of the cabinet this morning i can confirm that we have decided to extend these measures for a further week. this is first and foremost a public health decision, although we have grounds for cautious optimism that the restrictions are having an effect. the clinical advice to cabinet is that it would not be safe to lift them as early as monday. secondly, them as early as monday. secondly, the extension allows us to transition more smoothly to the new level system which we hope will be introduced on the 2nd of november. the current temporary restrictions will now apply until

6am on monday the 2nd of november, and that includes the tighter restrictions which are currently in place across the central belt. let me run through what those restrictions are. but before i do so, let me take the opportunity to remind everybody the rule against visiting other peoples houses also remains in place for now, because that is the best way of limiting transmission from one household to another. let me run through the wider restrictions. firstly, with the exception of the five central belt health areas i will come unto in a moment, the restrictions mean pubs, bars, restau ra nts, restrictions mean pubs, bars, restaurants, and cafes can only operate from indoors from 6am to 60 m. these places cannot serve alcohol indoors at any time, though they can serve indoors at any time, though they can serve alcohol outdoors until 10pm. —— 6am to 6pm. hotels can serve residents indoors beyond 6pm but not with alcohol. we also introduced much tighter restrictions on the fife health board regions

where numbers have been especially high, thatis numbers have been especially high, that is la narkshire, numbers have been especially high, that is lanarkshire, ayrshire and arran, and glasgow. in these areas, all licensed bars investments must remain closed indoors and outdoors, although take a ways are permitted. —— the five health board regions. cafes, whether unlicensed or licensed, must not serve alcohol. snooker and pool halls, indoor bowling alleys, casinos and bingo halls will remain closed. sport centres will be closed with special provisions for professional sports teams. gyms and pools can remain open for individual exercise. outdoor live events are not permitted in those five regions. finally, we continue to advise people very strongly who live in

these central belt areas not to travel outside the health board area they live in if they don't need to do so. similarly, people in other parts of scotland shouldn't travel to these areas unless it is absolutely necessary. old age, being female, and having experienced more than 5 symptoms in the first week of having coronavirus have all been named as risk factors in getting "long covid". a new study by kings college london aims to develop a "warning signal" system which can warn patients who may need to take extra care if they test positive for coronavirus, or who may benefit from early treatment. the study used data collected from people who inputted their coronavirus systems into the covid symptom study app. tim spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at king”s college london, who led the study spoke to joanna gosling earlier and explained the benefits for patients. firstly, predicting who is going to get it will improve diagnosis. and also be able to categorise people

into risk groups. because there is also an overlap, particularly in the over also an overlap, particularly in the over 60s, with people who get long covid and the likelihood of getting hospital treatment. these risk factors we can start building into the app so that when people log their symptoms we give them an alert and tell them to contact their gp, who would then know whether to visit you more often, or see how your breathing is getting on. and preventing people from going to hospital when it is a bit too late. for younger people, it could well be important trials such as steroids or antiviral treatments which could be started early to sort of break the vicious circle which means to happen, because there might be a immune reaction. we desperately need to get to these people early to

start the trial is to see if we can start the trial is to see if we can start preventing it rather than waiting six months down the line. i think that's one of the key thing is we are learning. i was going to ask you next, can it be prevented, do you next, can it be prevented, do you think, with early treatment? is ita you think, with early treatment? is it a case that these symptoms have been prolonged because there hasn't been prolonged because there hasn't been treatment early on, because it was inaudible less serious. we think the people who have the multiple symptoms in the first week, more than five, based on our app, they are the ones at risk. it involves the immune system, we think. if you could interfere with this immune reaction, which might be like an autoimmune thing, with something like steroids early on, there is a good chance, looking at other diseases which are similar, you could break this up and prevent the long—term symptoms. that is the home. nobody knows yet but we need to start somewhere. i think this is the first step in that

direction to give people hope, as well as the psychological support that many people have, because many people are depressed because they are not working, and they are feeling like people haven't listened to them, so that's another important aspect here. it seems like a really basic question, but what is covid, how would you now describe it? initially we thought it was something like flu, but is anything similar with these particular symptoms? it's unlike any other i've seenin symptoms? it's unlike any other i've seen in 30 years plus of studying medicine. i was a rheumatologist initially. i studied medicine. i was a rheumatologist initially. istudied many medicine. i was a rheumatologist initially. i studied many different weird diseases. it is like a mixture of many of them put together but we are seeing at least 25 different symptoms people can have when they develop it. this can run over lots of different bits of time. we will probably find that it is

some groups, subgroups, some will be really severe, some mild with different immune reactions. we may end up having different treatments for all of them which are quite different. we are all learning. it isn't just like flu. it will affect everybody differently. we need to find out, you know, how we deal with that, and how to improve all of our immunity asa that, and how to improve all of our immunity as a general population going forward for the next year or so. iceland's capital reykjavik has been shaken by a magnitude 5.6 earthquake. mps in the country's parliament building froze during the quake and they stopped work for around fifteen minutes. the tremor lasted several seconds, with the impact being felt across the north atlantic island nation. iceland's prime minister was being interviewed by the washington post online at the time and here was her reaction: the health system... we

are able to have... loud rumbling. goodness, there was an earthquake. there was an earthquake just now. yes, there was an earthquake. there was an earthquakejust now. yes, i'm perfectly fine. the house is still strong. no worries. oh! chuckles sorry! now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. it has been another very wet day for northern scotland but also very wet weather across a good swathe of england and wales with gusty winds in places. heading into thursday, a ridge of high pressure will move in and it'll turn drier for ridge of high pressure will move in and it'll turn drierfor many ridge of high pressure will move in and it'll turn drier for many of us with sunny spells. there will still be some showers and patchy spells of rain around. as we head through the latter pa rt rain around. as we head through the latter part of today, we can see this area of low pressure containing the remnants of storm cool. a lot of

cloud further south, some showers around, but also some clear spells developing by the end of the night. —— storm barbara. it'll be mild thursday night. a complex area of low pressure slips away to the norwegian sea. still a handbag over the northern half of the country which will see further spells of rain and wind. —— we start off with quite a bit of cloud around thursday morning, a few showers dotted around, cloudy skies generally across scotland and the far north of england without breaks of rain. gusty winds which will ease down. then increasing amounts of sunshine will building from the west as the high pressure moves in. it'll as the high pressure moves in. it'll a cooler air mass for all on thursday, generally the low teens for many, could make 17 given the good spells of sunshine in the south—east. the next frontal system will work its way

off the atlantic ocean for friday, initially pushing into northern and western areas with the wind is increasing here, as well. we could see a band of fairly heavy rain working its way eastwards through the course of the day. behind it, blustery showers, some merging into longer spells of rain, but there will be sunshine afterwards. it'll be a windy for everyone. over the north—west of scotla nd everyone. over the north—west of scotland it'll be very windy. temperatures on the cooler side again, single figures across the north of scotland, the low teens for much of england and wales. heading into the weekend, it stays u nsettled, into the weekend, it stays unsettled, low pressure bringing a widespread windy day, gales on saturday, spells of heavy rain. mild on saturday and things turn cooler again on sunday.

this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines — south yorkshire will face the toughest covid rules from saturday — pubs and bars which don't serve food will close — and there are tight restrictions on households mixing. the prime minister says there will be money for greater manchester. the mayor of greater manchester was offered a further £60 million, which he turned down, mr speaker, with no encouragement i may say to support from the honourable gentleman, so i can tell the house today that that cash will be distributed to the boroughs of greater manchester. labour accuse him of pitching region against region. i really think the prime minister has crossed a rubicon here, not just with the miserly way he has treated greater manchester, but the grab—it, take—it—or—leave—it way his local deals are being done.