this is bbc news, i'm geeta guru—murthy, the headlines at nine... growing pressure on the government for more clarity on coronavirus restrictions in the lead up to christmas after uk deaths hit their highest level for five months. but the environment secretary says the right measures are in place to give people a good festive season. i am sure we will be able to have a good christmas and families will be able to meet but they may not be able to get together in the sort of larger groups they normally would. leaked warning from government scientific advisors warns that 25,000 people could be in hospital with the virus by the end of november. we'll be speaking to a former chief government scientific advisor

later this hour but if you'd like to get in touch on this story or any of our other stories today, tweet me @geetagurumurthy or by using the hashtag #bbc your questions. a major search in the english channel continues after a migrant boat heading for the uk sinks killing two adults and two children — the authorites believe more people could be missing. heathrow airport is overtaken as europe's biggest airport as passenger numbers fall due to the pandemic. and coming up later this hour i'll bejoined by the head of the uk vaccine task force to hear about progress on a coronavirus vaccine. send your questions on this to yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweet us using the hash tag bbc your questions.

good morning and welcome to bbc news. there's growing pressure on the government for more clarity on coronavirus restrictions in the lead up to christmas after uk deaths hit their highest level for five months. 367 deaths linked to the virus were recorded, as were nearly 23,000 more cases. various papers are reporting new sage analysis saying 25,000 in hospital with covid by the end of next month. sage member and former chief scientific adviser sir mark walport says that it is "certainly not unrealistic." nottingham and the surrounding areas of rushcliffe, gedling and broxtowe are moving into the top tier of covid restrictions. the measures come in at one minute past midnight. about 8 million people in england will be living in the tier 3 "very high" alert level by the end of the week. meanwhile, the leaders of the uk's four nations are being urged

to agree on uniform guidance to allow people to celebrate christmas with family and friends safely. the liberal democrats and the alliance party of northern ireland say the governments have a duty to "explore workable solutions" for the festive period. but the environment secretary says the right measures are in place to give people a good festive season. the prime minister and also the health secretary have always been clear that they don't rule anything out. we keep all options under review. this virus moves very quickly, that is why we have to move and act in a timely way to make the appropriate interventions. at the moment we think we have got the right balance with that lower tier for those part of the country that had very low incidence, where they simply need to abide by the rule of six. tougher escalating restrictions for those with a higher incidence of the virus with particular problems of transmission. we think we are striking the right balance with that but we have always been clear that we rule nothing out and keep other changes and options on the table and under review. 0ur health correspondent

nick triggle is here. we have these front page report about a second deadly wave, worse than the first so what do we know about hospital admissions and mortality rates? a lot of modelling is going on behind the scenes feeding into the government decision making and obviously one reported by the papers is that the number of deaths per day will reach 500 and will remain at that level for weeks, maybe months, which would lead to a higher death toll than we saw in the spring peak, we are warned. at the moment we are seeing a gradual but sustained rise in hospital admissions and the number of people dying sadly and it's very different from the spring when there was a rapid surge with cases doubling every four or five days, now it every four or five days, now it every two weeks or so. lockdown brought down those numbers reasonably quickly. what is

happening now, with the government are trying to keep society going, is the rise is slow but much more sustained. at the moment we are seeing around 200 deaths per day on average and 1000 new admissions to hospital, with a total of nearly 10,000 patients in hospital with covid at the moment and this is what sirmark covid at the moment and this is what sir mark walport, one of the sage members, had to say. one way to look at it is to look at what is happening in similar countries. france, which has a similar population to us, currently has around 16,000 people in hospital, 2500 in intensive care beds compared to 852 here. and roughly half the icu beds in france are occupied. similar things icu beds in france are occupied. similarthings in spain. icu beds in france are occupied. similar things in spain. these are in spite of these countries taking strong in spite of these countries taking strong measures as in spite of these countries taking strong measures as well. the answer

is that with our current measures, which are similar but with variations in different parts of europe, there is still evidence that there is not as much social distancing as there was when we clamped down on the first wave. we know that the risk is significant and cases will continue to grow. so it is not unrealistic to think of 25,000 people being in hospital by the end of next month? it is certainly not unrealistic to think about that. as has been said re ce ntly about that. as has been said recently on television, if the reproduction number, the r rate stays at not, every infected person, it moment it is between 1.2 and 1.4 but varies widely in different age groups and in different parts of the country. the warning there could be 25,000 patients in hospital it's really start, that is higher than the numbers seen at the peak and if we are talking about having these

numbers for a sustained period of time, that would put the nhs under huge pressure. we are already seeing some hospitals cancelling some routine work but what i would say is that none of this is a given, it depends on how much infection there is in the community. what we have seen arejust some is in the community. what we have seen are just some signed the numbers of cases still increasing but it might be levelling off and that will translate in the coming weeks to admissions slowing and hopefully the numbers of deaths slowing as well. when we say 25,000, does that mean that hospitals are overwhelmed and cannot give everyone the treatment they need? perhaps those who are more vulnerable, what does it mean? the nationalfigures we talk about actually mask what is happening regionally around the country. in england for example, a third of the patient in hospital with covid are in the north—west so their hospitals are very busy and we

are seeing some having to cancel routine treatment to make space for covid patients. elsewhere in the country it's not that busy so it depends where the cases are distributed. 0f depends where the cases are distributed. of the nhs does have plans in place to work together with hospitals in different regions working together to share the load. clearly the nhs does not have a lot of wriggle room, not as many beds as other european health systems so the more covid patients we get from now on, the more impact that has on the non—covid treatment that can be done. thank you. just as we go further into winter and all the fears around increasing numbers we have been hearing about, everybody is also looking ahead to christmas. of course, it's notjust christmas, many more celebrations in the coming weeks and months will be affected by the pandemic. for lots of families in the uk, winter festivities usually start with halloween, which is this saturday. this year trick or treating is out of the question in many parts of the uk under tighter restrictions.

bonfire night is also looking very different, with organised displays cancelled, or operating as drive—thru events. diwali takes place on saturday 14th november. as it stands, families in most parts of the uk will be unable to come together to celebrate the hindu festival of lights. in december, millions of people in the uk celebrate christmas and the jewish festival of hanukkah. let's speak to our political correspondentjessica parker. there correspondent jessica parker. is there correspondentjessica parker. is a twin pressure or government, there is a twin pressure on the government, the fear of rising numbers as we are seeing but also people wanting to know how to celebrate christmas and all these festivals but is there any sign of a government plan or strategy in the coming days that they could announce? i think in terms of the warnings you refer to that have been reported, what i hearfrom downing street sources is that there are no imminent plans to have any kind of

significant change of approach, certainly no national lockdown for england. i think they are keen to give the regional restrictions, those tiered restrictions, time to bed in and see what impact they have although of course also stressed things are kept constantly under review. looking ahead to december and the height of winter when you also get a christmas of course, what we have heard today is a call from the liberal democrats for there to be some kind of national summit between the leaders of scotland, wales, northern ireland and england to kind of agree a consistent way forward , to kind of agree a consistent way forward, how many people will be allowed to meet, how people can travel safely, how will students get back from university to homes and we have heard from the lib dems leader, sir ed davey. we don't see borisjohnson's government reaching out across the english regions and the four nations of the united kingdom to plan for christmas. he really needs to do that and if we did that in a way which is cracking down on this virus properly, because it is increasingly

clear they have lost control. the second wave is here, the death rate is rising. they have not listened to the expert advice. if they can do that now and do that across the four nations, then there is still a chance that we can get this pandemic much better under control, get that r rate down so christmas can be as near—normal as possible. any signs of the government responding to that call? what i am hearing from the government is that it is too early. maybe in usual times people would be planning what they are going to do for christmas, maybe even doing some christmas shopping by this stage but i think government sources have indicated it is too early they think. boris johnson has said it is his ambition forfamilies to johnson has said it is his ambition for families to be able to spend christmas together but we have seen with covid that things can change pretty quickly and that is a point made by the environment secretary, george eustice, this morning. i am sure we will be able to have a good christmas and that

families will be able to meet but they may not be able to get together in the sort of larger groups that they normally would. hearing from george eustice that people might not be able to get together in the larger groups they normally would, a clear indication from a cabinet minister that where —— there will be restrictions in terms of the number of people that can meet at christmas time. thank you. sir david king is the chair of ‘independent sage‘ — a group of scientists who have been critical of the government handling of the coronavirus pandemic. what you make of the reports that we have seen about potentially 25,000 people in hospital by the end of november? i think we have been predicting this for some time. as everybody knows, more than a month ago now sage, the government's own science advisory group, advised going into a form of national

lockdown to reduce the incidence. that wasn't done. the current system, despite what i have just heard, is not operating. we are seeing an increasing number of deaths and hospital beds being assigned to people with covid and an increased number of cases per day. in order to manage this, the government needs to think about getting the trust of the people and at the moment, there is no trust at all because we don't see a strategy, and end strategy. in other words, yes, christmas is important. let's say we want to be able to have a good christmas, we all do put up the only way to achieve that is if we went into a national lockdown across england today and as we go into that national lockdown, give up putting this £12 million plus into the private companies that have com pletely private companies that have completely failed to deliver a test and trace system and put it in public health system, from gps to

the 44 molecular virology labs, all this is there and has not been used to. we need to hand this over to local directors of public health. we need to have a complete change in strategy. the government needs to demonstrate that it understands that what it has done is to simply repeat what it has done is to simply repeat what happened earlier this year in march when they delayed go into a locked out until the number of cases was far too large for the test and trace was far too large for the test and tra ce syste m was far too large for the test and trace system to manage to achieve what it should have done. what i'm saying to you is the national lockdown is a very lockdown process, not a desirable process, whereas the finesse of the test and trace, we ta ke finesse of the test and trace, we take people with the disease and in contact with those with the disease out of the public position so that they are not exposing the rest of

they are not exposing the rest of the population to the disease. given test and trace is still not fully working, you can't always get it on your phone is, people are not always following the advice to isolate, and we are seeing a slow and sustained transmission continuing, isn't it a rather blunt instrument, as you said, to put a full national lockdown on? you affect people in areas with low rates. the only way we will get this blunt instrument to work is if the population understands and is behind it and the only way to do that is to show this time we are not going to repeat the mistake of lost time and have a test and trace system fully operative by the time we come out of the lockdown. what that means, if i can really emphasise this point, is that we need to move away from these private companies that have failed us private companies that have failed us miserably. remember, when the death rate in july

us miserably. remember, when the death rate injuly was down at five per day? that is when they should have had the test and trace fully catching every new case within 24 a was but they have missed that. they cannot deliver even when the number of cases is low —— within 24 hours. what we need to regain the trust of the public is a completely new strategy and i'm very happy to offer the assistance of independent sage directly to the government. we have public health experts that have understood the problem from day one punter has there been any contact between people on —— has there been any contact between people on your group and sign advising government?m between people on your group and sign advising government? is there any dialogue on? yes, there is, we do have a behavioural scientist on our do have a behavioural scientist on u do have a behavioural scientist on ourgroup and a do have a behavioural scientist on our group and a behavioural scientist subgroup and that group is paralleled with a behavioural scientist subgroup in sage and we have an overlap of membership. and cani have an overlap of membership. and can i briefly ask you, if the

government continues with its current strategy which it feels is more flexible and nuanced, what do you think the next few weeks and months will look like? let me say why the strategy is wrong but if you ta ke why the strategy is wrong but if you take areas like east anglia and cornwall where the number of new cases per day is low, the number of new cases per day in those regions is increasing faster than in the north—west and north—east. we should stop it in its tracks now put up that's what i'm saying a national lockdown is the only way to do it. those people who say we need a nuanced approach are missing this point. the more cases we have, the more difficult it is to get the test and trace system catching every new case within 24 hours, getting people tested and isolated and all of their contacts. that means, for example, what do i need by support for those asked to isolate? find out if the people you are asking to isolate will not be able to get food for

theirfamily will not be able to get food for their family because they are on a weekly wage and two weeks without a wage will be very difficult and make sure they are subsidised. if the home environment is a multi—generational environment with older people there, that would be severely at risk see if they can be put into a requisition to hotels, for example. we need a full strategy and laid out to the public in an honest and transparent way. just to finish, you are suggesting a full lockdown and lift restrictions a little bit for christmas? how would you have christmas happen? allow six people indoors or more people? a couple of hours or all day? what do you say to people practically to allow people to gather safely?|j you say to people practically to allow people to gather safely? i say to you and everybody that if we went into a lockdown tomorrow, the kind i'm describing, it a modified

lockdown and of course we look at university student differently etc but if we went into this and developed a functional test and trace developed a functional test and tra ce syste m developed a functional test and trace system using molecular virology labs etc, and everybody could see it was operative, we could actually see that everybody is released for christmas who has not beenin released for christmas who has not been in touch with somebody with the disease. in other words, that is the way to have a good family christmas without the continuing spread of the disease. sir david king, thank you very much. many are wondering just how long we will have to wait before having access to a back seam. just after 9:30pm access to a back seam. just after 9:30me access to a back seam. just after 9:30pm i will bejoined by the head of the uk vaccine task force who will be answering some questions on the vaccine. send us your thoughts inforany the vaccine. send us your thoughts in for any questions you have.

a search operation is expected to continue in the english channel this morning, after a migrant boat sank off the coast of dunkirk yesterday. two children aged five and eight were killed, along with two adults. more than a dozen others were taken to hospital, but french authorities believe more could still be missing. andy moore reports. we can speak now to our news reporter simonjones, who is in dover. appalling tragedy, what is the latest on the rescue operation? there are some pretty grim conditions in the channel this morning, the wind whipping up and it was very much like that yesterday morning when this boat carrying around 20 people set out from northern france. it did not get very far before it began sinking. that prompted a huge response from the emergency services, managing to transport 15 people to hospital but sadly four people lost their lives. the big fear has been that other people might be unaccounted for the

search continued throughout yesterday, it was stood down at around 5pm when light faded put that we are hearing from french authorities that they are ready to react to any further information regarding missing people but i think the reality now is that we are now more than 24 hours on the boat capsized, so if there are more people missing, we are likely to be talking about a recovery rather than a rescue operation. politicians on this side of the channel such as the prime minister and home secretary priti patel have been talking about this terrible event, in their words, saying they will work closer than ever with the french authorities to try to tackle the people smugglers they believe are organising these crossings and today the club this time channel threat commander, dan 0'mahony, who has been given the task of trying to make this route unviable, is heading to france to talk to counterparts. much to discuss but charities are saying

this was a tragedy waiting to happen and they say that action is needed now to stop more lives being lost in the weeks and months to come. thank you. heathrow says it is longer europe's "biggest" airport, after announcing losses of £1.5 billion in the first nine months of this year. passenger numbers betweenjuly and september were down by more than 84% compared with the same period in 2019, and it has slashed the number of passengers it expects in 2021. our business presenter sima kotecha has more details. yes, we note the aviation industry had been hit incredibly hard by the pandemic —— we know. at the heathrow financial results reflect that picture. it has made a loss of £1.5 billion alone this year and passenger numbers have gone down by 84% in the three months to september

in comparison to the same period last year. chief executive has admitted this morning that it is no longer at busiest airport in europe, thatis longer at busiest airport in europe, that is now france's charles de gaulle airport which had 19.3 million passengers this year in comparison to 19 million at heathrow. to talk to me about all of this is the chief executive who is on the line now. thank you for coming on. your debts have gone up 17 million or so, the airport is in that much debt so can you recover? we are a very well funded company, we actually have enough financing in place for at least the next two years and even if we had no passengers we have more than 15 months worth of so it means we can survive the crisis and it's important we do because we are the uk's biggest port and if we are going to help the uk economy to

re cove r, going to help the uk economy to recover, which is heavily dependent on aviation, we need to be there to do ourjob. we are taking action now to make sure that heathrow will survive and help the uk economy re cover survive and help the uk economy recover but the key thing is for the government to move to testing for airline passengers to make sure we are not bringing covid in from high risk countries, to help get the economy moving again. how does it feel to no longer be the busiest airport in europe? we know that heathrow has loved saying that in the past and you can't say it any more. i hope it will be a temporary measure but i think it is an indicator that if the government does not take action to protect our economy, we are going to keep falling behind and heathrow is symbolic the potential decline of the uk. we are the fifth biggest economy in the world, or we were before the pandemic, and to do that

we relied upon our global trading network through heathrow, 40% of all uk exports go from passenger planes from heathrow but if you close your borders, your trade goes down, jobs get lost in the uk and what are the french doing in the meantime? they are investing in testing capacity, growing their trading network globally and stealing a march on the uk. the government has to wake up and smell this, realise that unless we take action, britain will fall behind and jobs will be lost that could have been saved. this should bea could have been saved. this should be a clarion call to fight for our place in the world and to fight for every single job here in britain. you are being very critical of the government and you have done so previously but are you passing the buck here? no, actually we have a lot of sympathy for the government, we don't criticise them because they have a difficultjob we don't criticise them because they have a difficult job to do but increasingly we are seeing this is

notjust increasingly we are seeing this is not just about health increasingly we are seeing this is notjust about health pandemic, it's a job is pandemic and unless we take action to protect the economy, we will be losing millions ofjobs here in the uk, many of which rely upon aviation. and it is notjustjobs in airlines and airports and companies like rolls—royce, airlines and airports and companies like rolls— royce, it's airlines and airports and companies like rolls—royce, it's also about the businesses that rely on exports, supply chain that comes in on planes. they rely on our services sector and tourism and education. this is a vital part of the uk economy. 0ther this is a vital part of the uk economy. other countries are moving ahead with testing put up ireland and canada, two very cautious countries, have done that in the la st countries, have done that in the last week, france and germany have been well ahead of us, the french started testing in june. been well ahead of us, the french started testing injune. but the uk has not yet moved to testing and the earliest grant shapps, the transport secretary, thinks he can do so is by the beginning of december. let's get on with it. notjust the beginning of december. let's get on with it. not just testing after you arrive but let's get on to

predeparture testing so that even before somebody can get on a plane, we know they are covid free and when they get to their destination they can travel without any form of quarantine. that would allow us to get the uk economy back up to some kind of normality in a world where we are living with covid for many years to come. ok, thank you, john holland—kaye, chief executive of heathrow who makes the point that if testing was regular as passengers arrived into heathrow, it would mean more people would feel confident to fly. we know that the aviation industry is one of the worst hit and i think many of us would not want to be in his shoes at the moment. thank you very much, a tough time for all ceos no doubt. there's been a second night of unrest in the us city of philadelphia after the fatal police shooting of a black man. police say officers opened fire on 27—year—old walter wallace

when he ignored orders to drop a knife he was holding. demonstrators say he was having a mental health problems. philadelphia is the biggest city in pennsylvania. that is a key swing state in next week's presidential election. mark lobel has the latest. philadelphia, burning, bleeding. and looting. with the white house's blessing, state authorities are welcoming in the national guard. after hundreds of protesters face down right police for a second night, injuring dozens of officers. with tensions high after another controversial police shooting. with tensions high after another controversial police shootingm with tensions high after another controversial police shooting. it is tiring, how much we have seen it. sincejune tiring, how much we have seen it. since june we have tiring, how much we have seen it. sincejune we have been saying we will tear the system down if we don't get change but it has been months and months and it's still happening.

on monday afternoon, in the neighbourhood of cobbs creek in west philadelphia, this happened. two officers respond to a report of a man with a weapon. he breaks free from his mother after she says she tried to shield him. police say they then tell the 27—year—old to drop his weapon. then this... he was pronounced dead at hospital. his father asked later why police did not first use a taser. philadelphia's mayor, jim kenney, called it a tragic incident, pledging a full investigation. this is not only a matter that is being carefully considered by the head of our special investigations unit and the assigned prosecutor, it's a matter that i am looking at personally and carefully. this office has made clear that we believe in fairness, we believe in an evenhanded justice. we are not out to cover for anybody and we are not out to get anybody.

ina in a statement released on tuesday, joe biden and kamala harris said... at the same time, they added addressing the looting, no amount of anger at the very real injustices in our society excuses violence. as walter wallace junior‘s family mourn the tragic early end of a father, twin and sun, they have come forward to call for a stop to the chaos and violence, pleading with philadelphians to show them and the city some kind of respect. mark lobel city some kind of respect. mark lobel, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. don't get soaked in the showers, heavy and thundery, a chance of hale, most frequent in the south and west, although some push further

east in the strong gusty winds and north east england and north east scotla nd north east england and north east scotland seem fewer showers compared to elsewhere. a cooler day into england and where is, winds gusting widely 30 to 40 mph, 15 era southern and western coasts, rough and high seasin and western coasts, rough and high seas in the west a to western scotla nd seas in the west a to western scotland where showers merge to give a long spell of rain into the first pa rt a long spell of rain into the first part of tonight. clear spells to the east overnight allowing temperatures to drop into low single figures. look at the rain coming into northern ireland, wales, south—west england by the end of tonight. this push north and east across the uk during thursday, some of it on the heavy side, just the northern isles stay dry. behind that, we dry up over parts of england and wales over the afternoon. we keep plenty of cloud, patchy rain and drizzle, but a milder day here. hello, this is bbc news with geeta guru—murthy. the headlines: growing pressure on the government for more clarity on coronavirus restrictions in the lead—up

to christmas, after uk deaths hit their highest level for five months. but the environment secretary says the right measures are in place to give people a good festive season. i'm sure that we'll be able to have a good christmas and that families will be able to meet, but they may not be able to get together in the sort of larger groups that they normally would. leaked warning from government scientific advisors warns that 25,000 people could be in hospital with the virus by the end of november. a major search in the english channel continues after a migrant boat heading for the uk sinks, killing two adults and two children. the authorites believe more people could be missing. heathrow airport is overtaken as europe's biggest airport, as passenger numbers crash due to the pandemic. and coming up shortly, i'll bejoined by the head of the uk vaccine taskforce to hear about vaccine progress. send your questions on this to ‘yourquestions@bbc.co.uk‘, or tweet us using the hash tag

bbc your questions. sport, and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's jane doogall. the cricket and the football is rarely off on television screens, annoyingly in my house, but it is getting my children through, anyway! yes, perhaps annoyingly for you, but not for me! it was a good night for manchester city and liverpool in the champions league, as they both made it two wins from two in europe this season. both top their groups in the competition, as andy swiss reports. searching for a spark. manchester city emerged in marseille with their domestic form stuttering and their injury list growing. but if they needed a boost, marseille promptly obliged. a defensive blunder allowing ferran torres to put city ahead. it was the least their early dominance deserved. and after the break, marseille's lingering hopes were snuffed out.

ilkay gundogan, and then raheem sterling, completing a 3—0 victory. for city, an impressive night's work. at anfield, meanwhile, liverpool were up against midtjylland. who? well, they're the danish champions, and they made life tricky for the hosts — until diogojota settled their nerves after the break. midtjylland had their chances, but gave away a late penalty and mo salah completed a 2—0 win. liverpool far from their best, but like city's champions league start, it's played two, won two. northern ireland women can still make the european championship play—offs after they beat belarus 1—nil, despite having their goalkeeper sent off early on. but wales's bid to qualify automatically for their first major tournament is out of their hands now, following a 1—nil defeat to norway in cardiff. they're still second in their group, but wales only have one game left to play.

scotland lost 1—nil to finland — that's their first defeat of the campaign. they're second in their group, with four games left to play. england have lost to world champions new zealand in the first of their three netball tests in hamilton. the roses were beaten 58—45. they've been through a lot to make this series. after the new zealand government gave the green light for them to enter the country, they went into an immediate two—week isolation period and took five covid—19 tests. the roses also had to leave behind head coachjess thirlby, who'd testest positive back in the uk. the lawn tennis association says a third of indoor tennis centres could close permanently, without further government funding. they fear the £100 million recently invested in leisure facilities will be spread too thinly to make a difference and they've questioned the logic of the latest restrictions. at the moment, you can have a group

exercise class for up to 30 people in one of these indoor tennis centres, but two people from different hoseholds cannot take part in a single tennis activity and that seems ridiculous, given the current climate these facilities are operating in. celebrity chef delia smith has added her voice to the call for spectators to be allowed back into football stadiums. she's the joint majority shareholder of championship side norwich — and last night, some fans were allowed into the bar at carrow road to watch their match at brentford live on a big screen, and smith told the local bbc station that made no sense. please, sir, can we have our football back? because, because, stewart, it is just shocking that we can't have our supporters in the stand. we can have them in here, butt we can't have them out in the fresh air,

well—spaced, tested. we did a wonderful sort of trial run and it worked like a dream, and we can't understand why we're not allowed to do it. frustrating for a lot of clubs and fans, of course. that's all the sport for now. more later. lovely, thank you very much. nottingham and the surrounding cou nty nottingham and the surrounding county will move into the top tier of restrictions, people in the city along with rushcliffe and broxtowe face the toughest restrictions, the measures come into force at one minute past midnight tomorrow. i am joined by holly madden, a second—year student at the university of nottingham, and grace, a first—year student at the university. thank you forjoining us. iam university. thank you forjoining us. i am sure it has been tough already, but moving into tier 3, how is that going to make a difference, holly? i think it is such, is that going to make a difference, holly? ithink it is such, it is that going to make a difference, holly? i think it is such, it will

impact people very individually. personally, my house had to eyesight a few weeks ago and we have still been very cautious moving out of our isolation back into the world. so my life for the past kind of month really hasn't really been too different to how tier 3 will be, i think. the biggest difference i think. the biggest difference i think that will impact students is the fact we currently see our friends from other households. it is all a bit friends from other households. it is alla bit up friends from other households. it is all a bit up in the air and i can see it impacting different people very differently. a big thing for me a society is and how we don't know how the restrictions will alter what we can and can't do. grace, you are a first—year student so you have just arrived, how has it been for you coming away from home presumably for the first time? obviously, it is quite difficult because you go to university expecting to meet lots of people and go to activities and socialise and it hasn't really been like that. we have mainly had to stay in our halls and try and meet

people just on the way to dinner and things. and going into tier 3, that is even brighter in terms of what you can and can't do. have you worked out what that will mean? for me, all of my lectures are online a nyway me, all of my lectures are online anyway so i wouldn't have to leave my room for any lectures. but a lot of my friends outside the uni, i can't visit them. sol of my friends outside the uni, i can't visit them. so i have a few friends in my holes, in my bubble, which is good. ok, so you have had friends in the few weeks you have been there. —— in my halls. holly, you have already had time at university so you have a set of connections, do you think after christmas, do you think university should return to the campus or should return to the campus or should students be learning online from home? i think a lot of students, as grey said, most of our courses are online. i think i have three hours in person, but socially distanced with novelli more than three others in the room —— as grey

said. it wouldn't be a huge alteration to a lot of lives. excluding courses that are very in—person and hands—on. i don't think it would make a huge amount of difference if we were online. would you prefer that? because we know that students have found it quite isolating, but they are also being blamed by a lot of people because inevitably, the numbers have gone up as people have met indoors from all over the country. yes, i do think in a way, students are being scapegoated in the sense that it is very easy to say that we are all seeing each other because for a while, we were and that is, a huge pa rt while, we were and that is, a huge part of that is eat 0ut while, we were and that is, a huge part of that is eat out to help 0ut. we were encouraged to go to the pubs and we were encouraged to go to the pubs a nd restau ra nts we were encouraged to go to the pubs and restaurants and we did. and i think that moving things online and after christmas will definitely be an interesting situation because there is a very high chance we could have another wave. it is just so up in the air. i think everyone is just trying their best, universities are

trying their best, universities are trying their best to put conditions infor us and trying their best to put conditions in for us and for the most part, i don't know anyone who has broken the rule of six or done anything stupid. i think house parties and things get a lot of publicity, but it is really the minority. grace, have you invite —— have you been invited to gatherings you have not gone to or have you seen people as well gathering in ways they shouldn't? yes, i have heard of a few people but like holly said, it is the minority. it is not that a lot of the students i have met, and you have got to brush those parties off and say, i just have got to brush those parties off and say, ijust don't want to be a pa rt of and say, ijust don't want to be a part of it. what proportion of stu d e nts part of it. what proportion of students are not following the rules, is it a very small minority? yes, i would say it is a really small minority. everyone i have met has stuck to it and has done what we have been told to do. presumably, you want to go home for christmas, after christmas, would you want to come back or would you rather learn at home online and pay reduced these? i think i would want to come

backjust to see everyone i have met and keep those friendships going because otherwise, whole first half of my semester has been a bit of waste otherwise. holly, do you feel you are getting the same level of education that you did in your first year of university when things were normal? it's so difficult to judge because obviously, we have lost contact hours. but i do english and the school of english in my personal experience has been fantastic. they have added extra hours in the week for online engagement so i am getting more contact hours than i would if we were in person and i do really appreciate that, but i am aware that is not the case for everyone. i personally feel like the standard of my education hasn't suffered at all. but i am not aware that every course is different and every module is different so it is a ha rd every module is different so it is a hard one tojudge every module is different so it is a hard one to judge across the board. that is good to hear, you are both a model of decorum, we wish you well,

thanks very much for your time today, holly and grace. some of the tightest restrictions have been lifted in the australian state of victoria. people can return to pubs and restaurants for the first time in months. in recent days, no new cases have been reported. 0ur australia correspondent reports. we now officially declare our restau ra nt we now officially declare our restaurant open for business. it is the moment they have waited months for. iam the moment they have waited months for. i am so excited to enjoy my first pint of guinness. it has been far too long. it feels really surreal. 0n the way here, we were just like. are we allowed to be here? usually, just like. are we allowed to be here ? usually, you just like. are we allowed to be here? usually, you are not allowed to go anywhere. so this is like, what are you doing? we hope we can hung onto this feeling, that we are

just grateful for even being able to come to our favourite restaurant or pub again. this was unimaginable only a few weeks ago. customers flooding into shops that have been closed since august. what an exciting day to be able to open up to our melbourne customers. we have really been a waiting list a for very long, so a big day for us. but getting here hasn't been easy. this was one of the world's longest and stricter slot downs. it devastated the local economy, but has been credited for containing the virus —— strictest lockdowns. it is not clear when people will be able to travel freely to and from victoria. the new south wales premier says the real proof will be what happens with case numbers now things are opening up. victoria was the epicentre of australia's second wave and it will bea australia's second wave and it will be a while before things get back to normal. for now, people are enjoying the simple pleasures they used to

ta ke the simple pleasures they used to take for granted. with the search for a safe and effective vaccine for covid—19 well under way, many of you are wondering how long you will have to wait before having access to one. the trial of a us—made jab by oxford university and pharmaceutical company astrazeneca is considered to be furthest ahead in the race, with phase 3 results expected by the end of the year. well, now the head of the uk vaccines taskforce has revealed she has volunteered for the trial and decided to go public with her experience to encourage others to sign up. and we can speak now to kate bingham. you have already had your trail vaccine, i gather? i havejust had the first jab and vaccine, i gather? i havejust had the firstjab and i have joined the novavax trail and i will go back shortly for my second jab which is the two days regime that most of these vaccines require. you are not worried about side effects given the

importance of the opposition if you are ill or unwell with the effects of it? no, these vaccines have been very widely tested so the safety testing has not been affected by the speed at which we have been developing vaccines so safety testing continues as normal. 0ur funding has been able to accelerate the large clinical efficacy studies and soi the large clinical efficacy studies and so i am entirely happy that the standards of safety are just as high as they always are and in fact, i have joined the novavax study enthusiastically, i didn't do it because i felt i had to, but i was keen to have at least a 50% chance of receiving the vaccine because i think these are going to be safe and effective vaccines. although we need to wait and see what the data tells us. just reading what you wrote in the lancet, you said the first generation of vaccine is likely to be imperfect, they might not prevent infection, they might reduce symptoms and not work for everyone

at fulham, that doesn't sound terribly optimistic. it's not that different from the flu vaccine. that is protective and not 100% protective. and the vaccines don't provide protection for more than seven months to a year. so i think what we are going to end up with is something where we can manage this disease. we need to stop it from being a lethal disease that is causing a global shut down to something that is manageable, where we can both prevent infection, as well as reduce the severity of symptoms if infection a chilly takes place. when do you think we will get the information that we need on weather vaccines are safe and weather vaccines are safe and weather they work. i wish i could give you a firm answer. what i can say is the frontrunning vaccines will have completed or have completed their clinical trial enrolment. so by november, we should have at least the frontrunning

vaccines, which does include 0xford and also includes the visor vaccine, where they will have completed the enrolment. the two parts we don't know is whether or not they have been sufficient infections in those clinical trials to be able to statistically show that people who have received a vaccine are protected versus those who haven't. and the holy grail question is, do the vaccines work? but i have to say, iam the vaccines work? but i have to say, i am optimistic. the vaccines work? but i have to say, iam optimistic. it the vaccines work? but i have to say, i am optimistic. it is important we do manage expectations, that this is not likely to be a silver bullet that will put everything back to rates immediately. but i do think, based on the data generated so far, we have room to be optimistic. and we must not rush it. we need to ensure that everything is done safely and properly. and we are in a good position. the uk is well positioned. when, realistically, can people expect to be offered vaccinations in the uk? well, if the first two

vaccines or either of them showed they are both safe and effective, i think there is a possibility vaccine roll—out will start this side of christmas. but otherwise, i think it is more realistic to expect it to be early next year. and who would be given them first as a priority? that isa given them first as a priority? that is a matter for the given them first as a priority? that is a matterfor the department given them first as a priority? that is a matter for the department of health, who works with an expert committee which are thejoint committee on vaccination immunisations and they advise the government and priorities. who should get it first. and they have put on their website their initial advice for prioritisation, in the absence of the final clinical data so that advice may change, but they had prioritised care home residents in care home workers, front line health care workers and those over 80 and then the priorities go down roughly in a juan guaido, 80 and then the priorities go down roughly in ajuan guaido, including those adults with severe underlying diseases. is there not a risk in rushing out to give vaccines to people who are already quite vulnerable if they are old or have

health issues, given this vaccine has been produced incredibly fast we just don't know what the long—term consequences are, a bit like we didn't know about long—covid at the beginning. as i said, the safety trials have not been compromised, they have not been rushed. no changes to the high standards of safety. they have not taken place in the development of these vaccines. again, iam the development of these vaccines. again, i am not concerned that the safety has been compromised. but we don't know, we might be able to do initial tests and side—effects, but we don't know what the side—effects are ina we don't know what the side—effects are in a year orfive or ten years? no, we don't know. and of course, we need to run those studies to see. that is why the jc need to run those studies to see. that is why thejc ba has recommended that the people that receive the vaccines, they are most at risk from infection. —— jcbi. receive the vaccines, they are most at risk from infection. ——jcbi. we don't know what the consequences might be in five or ten years but

the fact is, if these vulnerable people have risk of severe mortality or morbidity if they get the infection, then i think that is something that each individual person and the government and the jcbi need to consider. but you do need to think about if you take the mrna vaccine which is thejcbi vaccine, that is in the body for a very short time before it is degraded. so biologically, i think it is unlikely there will be lots of long consequences, but we can't say that until we have run the studies and we look at them. given there is a lwa ys and we look at them. given there is always that risk, can you explain briefly what the different vaccines are because they work with different mechanisms, are any of them live jabs as sometimes you get a reaction to the flu jab? yes, the two frontrunning vaccines, the two classes, one is a virus that gets into the cells. it gets in the spike

protein translated by the cells and thatis protein translated by the cells and that is how you make the protein. they are different ways of exposing the body to a viral covid protein. so that is the same of the oxford. that is a viral approach. the mrna approach, instead of bringing in the genetic material with a virus, and thatis genetic material with a virus, and that is literally just genetic material with a virus, and that is literallyjust injected in and the body makes their own protein. you could just have vaccines where you just inject the protein itself, so that is what the novavax vaccine is. and the gsk vaccine. and you can have inactivated whole virus where you literally grow up covid—19, render it inactive and that is the vaccine itself. so they are all different ways of exposing the immune system to the viral proteins in order to elicit an immune response. and we don't know which of any of these vaccine formats will be the most

potent and stimulating the strongest immune response, or which may provoke the longest lasting immune response. so that is why in the uk, what we have done is to build a portfolio of six different vaccines across these four different formats so that we can maximise our chances of having a successful vaccine that will work for everybody. and it may be that different vaccines will work for different people, so the older people's immune system is not as robust, it has got tired compared with a young person's, a health care worker's immune system, so we may have different vaccines for different people. that is really interesting, let me bring in questions from our viewers. i will rattle through them. starting with gle nys rattle through them. starting with glenys fox. "will a vaccine help to improve the health of those suffering from long—covid ? " that is a really good question. i

think it might do. so a vaccine interfering with early infection and disease might prevent that long—covid which is thought to be some sort of immune disease. we don't know enough about it, but i think it might just don't know enough about it, but i think it mightjust have some benefit. but again we need to run the experiment to see, but i think biologically, it could be possible, yes. thank you very much. anita asks. "is the virus mutating? and, if so, will the vaccine be off any use?" there are lots of mutations? there is one main mutation and that is the predominant form of sars—cov—2, which is covid—19. and we have not seen this virus mutate very rapidly. but equally, the virus isn't under pressure because we don't have drugs and vaccines at the moment trying to eliminate it. so it is possible it will mutate further, like the flu. but at the moment, we haven't seen a lot of mutations. if it does mutate

sufficiently far away from its current form, then we will need to child vaccines again. the fact is we are ina child vaccines again. the fact is we are in a very good position in terms of our speed of being able to develop vaccines because of the work we have put in on this pandemic. two viruses spontaneously progress and become less pathogenic? no, they will mutate across all aspects of the sequence, they will be mutated. it is darwin, survival of the fittest. they will mutate until they continue to reproduce. and not get eliminated by drugs or vaccines. but this is a very long virus. so i actually think because we haven't seen a lot of mutations yet, i am hopeful that this won't be a rapidly mutating virus. let me bring in this question. " if anti—body protection drops off over a short period of time,

what implications does this have for a vaccine, if any?" so that is a really good question. she is referring to this react study which shows neutralising antibodies, freely quite quickly. but the reality is, we do not know the rules of long—lasting immunity. we do know that antibodies to flute drops off, but we also know that even in of flu, people that get infected have reduced symptoms after their vaccine. so i think where we are going to end up is, it is highly likely we need both antibodies and t cells. antibodies are basically parts of the immune system that binds the virus and stop them from getting into cells and the t cells go in and mop up afterwards. anything where viruses have got into cells, they go in and eliminate the infected cells. so just looking cells, they go in and eliminate the infected cells. sojust looking at antibodies, probably not the full

picture. and you have got to the underlying cells that make antibodies and t cells, they are called memory cells. i think fundamentally, that is where we are to look as to, can we stimulate those memory b and t cells to make sure we can retain that recognition of the sars—cov—2 virus? sure we can retain that recognition of the sars-cov-2 virus? very interesting, i wish we had more time. this says, how come china is already using a vaccine, why are we lagging behind? china has three vaccines, two inactivated viruses and one is another viral based factor. the inactivated virus, i think they are likely to work. they are now in their phase three clinical studies and again, they have not reported any phase three efficacy data yet. but they have got ahead early in this form of vaccine

because they had the facilities to grow these nasty viruses. we have invested up in scotland and they will be producing whole inactivated viruses shortly. and so we will have our own from a virus like that. but the two chinese vaccines are definitely head on that type of vaccine. and then they have a viral vaccine. and then they have a viral vaccine derived from the virus that causes the common flu. 0r vaccine derived from the virus that causes the common flu. or the common cold. and the reason why that i think is less likely to be effective is that most people have had colds and therefore, most people have antibodies against that particular... ok. kate, sorry, we could have gone on for ages, but thank you very much for your time, fascinating talking to you, i hope we canjoin fascinating talking to you, i hope we can join you fascinating talking to you, i hope we canjoin you again, thank you so much. don't get soaked in the showers,

heavy and thundery, tense and pale, most frequent in the south and west although some push further east in the strong gusty winds. north east england towards north east scotland seeing fewer showers compared with elsewhere. a cooler day particularly into england and is, winds gusting widely 30 to 40 mph. 50 near a southern and western coasts. ruff and heiss sees in the west are particularly into western scotland where showers merge to give a longer speu where showers merge to give a longer spell of rain into the first part of tonight. clear spells to be used overnight allowing temperatures to drop into low single figures and look at the rain coming into northern ireland, wales, south—west england by the end of tonight. this pushes north and east across the uk during their stay, some of it on the heavy side. just the northern isles staying dry. behind that, we dry up over parts of england and wales into the afternoon, but keep plenty of cloud, patchy rain and drizzle, but a milder day here.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. growing pressure on the uk government for more clarity on coronavirus restrictions in the lead up to christmas after uk deaths hit their highest level for five months. but the environment secretary says the right measures are in place to give people a good festive season. i am sure we will be able to have a good christmas and families will be able to meet but they may not be able to get together in the sort of larger groups that they normally would. a leaked document from the uk government scientific advisors warns that 25,000 people could be in hospital in the uk with the virus by the end of november. in europe, leaders prepare to announce tighter coronavirus