tonight at ten — the huge impact of coronavirus on the nhs. almost 140,000 people have been waiting for more than a year for routine operations in england. it's the highest number for 12 years — and looks set to get worse as some hospitals start to cut back even more on non urgent surgery — to the distress of many patients. i'm in quite a lot of pain. some days are worse than others. sometimes i go into a spasm. you are just left in a sort of wasteland, sort of not knowing what's going on. it comes on the day of a record number of new infections in the uk — thought to be the result of people going out and mixing in the days before this latest lockdown. reasons to be cautiously optimistic, says the chancellor after a big rebound for the economy over the summer — but there are signs of another dip as the second lockdown bites.

trying to take the barriers away for care home visits — the pilot schemes to trial rapid coronavirus tests to help families see more of their loved ones. in nagorno—karabakh, the ethnic armenians burning their houses down to prevent them falling into the hands of their enemies. football fans return — temperature checks and disinfectant pods mean 1,000 in northern ireland can watch their team as they try to secure a place at next year's european championships. northern ireland faced slovakia in belfast — while scotland played serbia — but did the home nations do enough to get to the delayed euros? coming up in the sport — paul casey leads the masters in a weather—affected first round that won't get finished today, but the englishman is on seven under par after a 65 at augusta. good evening. the huge impact that coronavirus is having on the nhs

was made clear today, as new figures revealed just how many people have now been waiting more than a year for routine hospital treatments and operations — it's at its highest level in england for 12 years. by september almost 140,000 people had been waiting more than a year for non—urgent operations, like hip and knee replacements. compare that to the month before the pandemic hit, in february this year — whenjust over 1,600 people had been waiting that long. and it could get worse. some hospitals around the country have started to cut back non—urgent work even further in recent weeks. 0ur health editor hugh pym has more. it's another cruel consequence of covid — routine operations and procedures were cancelled to clear hospital beds for coronavirus patients earlier this year. that's meant long waits and increasing pain for many other patients. he said, "this isn't even up for discussion, "you need both hips replaced..."

since last year, helen has struggled with arthritis in her hips. she was told she needed a double replacement and went in for a pre—op assessment in september, but she's heard nothing since. i'm in quite a lot of pain, some days are worse than others. sometimes i go into a spasm. it's just the not knowing. i don't know if i should be walking or sitting down, resting... there's just nobody telling me what i should and shouldn't do and when it might happen. hospital leaders argue that since the summer, there has been a big increase in the number of patients getting non—urgent treatment as covid pressures eased, but it's been hard to bring down the backlog and cope with new work coming in. cancer treatment has been affected, too, partly because people might have been worried about going into hospitals. around 888,000 patients had checks for potential cancer between april and september, but that's down 27%

on the same period last year. the number actually starting treatment was 121,900 between april and september, that's down 22%. nhs england says cancer services for new patients coming forward to their gps and then needing treatment are back to where they were before the covid crisis, but charities and campaigners argue that a backlog of work has built up over the last six months and that has been harmfulfor some patients. it's incredibly serious, it's probably the worst cancer crisis in my lifetime, and the problem is cancer doesn't wait. there's data out now saying that even for a four—week delay, you can have up to a 10% reduction in survival. sarah had successful treatment for colon cancer and is in remission, but she needs restorative surgery. there have been delays, and she hasn't been told when the next operation will happen. being left in a state of not knowing, cos there isn't really anyone to call, because they're all too busy.

you know, someone like me, who is recovering from cancer, but, you know, it's not life or death, you are just left in a sort of wasteland with sort of not knowing what's going on. because of the surge in covid cases and admissions of more seriously ill patients, some major hospitals are having to postpone non—urgent surgery again. that can only mean waiting lists getting longer and more discomfort for those who have already faced frustration and delays. the latest government figures show 563 deaths were reported — that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. it takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 50,928. and there was also a big spike in new cases, with 33,470 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period — that's a record number. the average number of new cases per day in the last week is now 23,857.

and our health editor hugh pym joins us now. that big spike in new cases, it's thought to be between the gap between the lockdown being announced and people going out and about. there are caveats not to read too much into one day's figures, they are quite volatile but public health england who compile and for the uk say, yes, these are genuine new cases that have emerged over the last couple of days and just been reported, and if you go back five days or a week, that's the length of time it takes to develop symptoms and go fora time it takes to develop symptoms and go for a test, you get back to those few days before lockdown was imposed in england and presumably more people going out and about and the virus spreading more. we will have to see what happens in the next few days to the daily case numbers but a certain percentage of these people will become seriously ill, sadly, and end up in hospital. that will put yet more pressure on those

hospitals needing to find beds for covid patients, and of course less capacity to deal with routine operations and procedures, as we have been hearing, and may be more delays and a bigger waiting list developing. thank you. france now has 32,000 people in hospital with covid—19 — that's more than double the number in the uk — and more than they had at the peak in april. the french prime minister said there was one hospital admission for the disease every 30 seconds, and a patient is moved into intensive care every three minutes. 40% of those in intensive care are under 65 yeas old. the chancellor, rishi sunak, says there are "reasons for cautious optimism" after new figures showed record economic growth between july and september. the uk's economy grew by 15.5% as it came out of the first lockdown. but the economy still remains smaller than it was before the pandemic and it's expected that the second lockdown will cause it to shrink again. here's our economics editor, faisal islam.

in caerphilly, south wales, one example of how the pandemic shutdown has rebounded. a manufacturer of biodegradable stores saw demand collapse during the lockdown of restaurants and bars then adapted to manufacturing personal protective equipment and has recovered somewhat from the reopening of the economy. it was a proper interruption, like the business paused for this period of time, and then restarted to the same trajectory it had before. the economy grew over the three summer months like never before. it has now made up about three—quarters of its record loss during the first pandemic lockdown. this is more catch—up than, as yet, an assured recovery — as the chancellor explained. what the figures today show is that the economy was recovering over the summer, but, yes, that recovery is slowing down coming into the autumn, and it's likely that has continued as a result of the health restrictions that we've had to necessarily put in place

to suppress the spread of the virus. in a crisis such as this, history occurs very quickly indeed, so a record quarter of growth, the end of the technical recession, is positive and welcome. right now, it's almost certain the economy is shrinking again, and there is a further cloud in terms of the future of our trading relationship with europe. but there's also the prospect of a big ray of sunshine — a functioning vaccine. until now, though, all the world's major economies have been hard—hit by the pandemic lockdowns — spain and the uk with the worst infection rates, also the biggest economic impact. and while all have since started to recover, that has been stronger overall in the us, france and germany, down 3—4% overall this year — compared with the uk, nearly 10% down. we're not at the right end of sort of international comparisons. if we do get a double dip, won't that be down to specific

policy problems here? no, i think if you look underneath the numbers, hospitality, leisure, they comprise a larger share of our economy. that's obviously going to have an outsized impact. the pandemic‘s economic uncertainty also spreading to local authorities. croydon council declaring effective bankruptcy after difficulties with property investments. the cost of covid and the medium—term scarring effects on the economy will inevitably require broad—based tax increases. even though the government and the bank of england have already pumped billions more to supportjobs until the spring, the economy is not out of the woods. faisal islam, bbc news. a bbc investigation has found that staff at the safety watchdog felt they were leaned on by the government to make "factually incorrect" statements about ppe for nhs staff treating coronavirus patients. the government has been spending

billions of pounds to replenish stocks of protective equipment. 0ne company was given a contract to supply what are called isolation suits, but the firm was not given the correct safety specification. our special correspondent lucy manning reports. as coronavirus peaked in hospitals and care homes, there was a rush to buy more protective equipment. in the summer, we revealed how the government had wasted £150 million on masks the nhs couldn't use. now we reveal more — isolation suits that hadn't passed nhs safety tests and allegations of political pressure to hide that failure. pestfix, the small family—run pest control firm, won contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds to supply ppe to the nhs. the government is being taken to court to explain why it spent so much on the isolation suits from pestfix.

bbc news has seen e—mails that reveal a behind—the—scenes battle to prove that the protective outfits were properly tested. the hse, the health and safety executive, in june wrote that the isolation suits shouldn't be released to the nhs because they hadn't been properly tested to the right standards. it appears the government ordered suits to be tested as if they were medical devices, but not for their intended use as ppe. after weeks of delays, in august the suits were eventually re—tested to a standard acceptable for use in hospitals. but it appears as the legal action heated up, so, too, the political pressure. "we are being drawn into the legalities," wrote one health and safety official in september, saying they'd been asked to provide a statement that pestfix‘s products had the right safety documents. "this is not factually correct," the safety regulator wrote. "documentation provided did not

support the products." there was yet more political pressure — the following day, a health and safety executive official wrote, "that various colleagues in the dhsc were contacting inspectors asking for statements to the effect that the hse had assessed the products they were compliant. "not factually correct," the official wrote again. pestfix itself didn't want it known its isolation suits were not in hospitals but sitting in a warehouse, writing injune, "we do not want it to be made public knowledge that ppe from pestfix has not passed the hse inspection." in a statement, the company said, "pestfix delivered these products to the department for health and social care on time and in compliance with the dhsc‘s specification and applicable regulations."

the department for health and social care said, the government has been challenged on money wasted in the rush to get ppe — the problem is, we still don't know the details of around £3 billion worth of spending because the government hasn't published the details yet. lucy manning, bbc news. in northern ireland, ministers have finally agreed to extend coronavirus restrictions for another week. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy is at stormont for us. and i say finally — because there's been a lot of disagreement about whether to extend them or not? they got there in the end but it wasn't pretty. it took four days of

debate here and some really late nights and businesses really getting to the end of their tether, but what has been agreed is a weak extension of the current restrictions and in a week services like hairdressers and beauty salons will be able to open up beauty salons will be able to open up again along with unlicensed premises and then a week after that the rest of the hospitality industry, but in getting to this point the dup had vetoed two other proposals, they dug their heels in, not wanting to extend restrictions because of concerns about the impact it would have on businesses, but on the other hand, sinn fein and other parties wanted to take a more cautious approach and sinn fein voted against the proposals that we re voted against the proposals that were finally agreed. people in northern ireland have their answer about what the next two weeks are going to look like, but it came very late and of the events of the last few days have not painted politics up few days have not painted politics up here in a very good light. thanks for joining up here in a very good light. thanks forjoining us.

staff at four care homes in england are being trained to carry out and analyse rapid coronavirus tests which researchers say could be "game changing" for care residents and their families. the tests deliver a result in under an hour and a half. it's hoped the pilot — along with another starting next week involving 30 more homes — could mean families can finally have closer contact with their loved ones. 0ur social affairs correspondent alison holt reports. glimpses through windows and closed doors, barriers that keep the virus out of care homes, like this one in nottingham, but here they hope rapid testing could be the key to allowing more visits. i think it's three or four. i think it's number four. at the moment, 96—year—old janet can only see her family through the glass of a specially built pod. they can't touch, but it's a step forward from lockdown, which she found difficult. it felt as if you'd done something wrong and you had to be kept in prison.

and you knew you hadn't. and not to be able to see your family is dreadful. this is one of four homes trialling fast tests, which could be a game changerfor visiting. in an outbuilding, kelly, one of the nurses, prepares to check if i have covid. rapid testing is being trialled on staff here at the moment, but the hope is eventually it will be rolled out for relatives as well. rather than having to send swabs off to a laboratory, kelly has been trained to prepare the solution, then run checks on it in the machine provided. the care home staff have found the technology relatively easy to use, we have seen a very low error rate and the specificity of the tests, its ability to correctly identify a negative case, is 99% so that means it gets it right in 99 cases out of every 100 tests that are done. 85 minutes after my

test, i have a result. it's negative. many of the residents here have dementia and the home believes this technology is vital to balance people's safety with their need to see family. we've built pods at the minute, which are great, it means we are one step further on, but we're still putting people behind a barrier to see their relatives. if we could have testing whereby people could actually come in and be with someone, obviously taking precautions as need be, i think it would be a massive step forward. hi, mum! clare brown believes her mum helen, who has dementia, deteriorated in the weeks they were unable to visit, so she wants testing available quickly. for my mum in particular, and for people like her, to have access to her family who know her and love her best, is such an important part of her care. it can't really be ignored. the results of the trial are expected soon. it will then be for the government to decide whether rolling this out

will give care home residents, like helen, and theirfamilies, the safe contact they crave. # what will be, will be. # alison holt, bbc news, nottingham. senior ministers are downplaying reports of infighting at downing street, after the resignation of one of borisjohnson‘s key aides. the upheaval at the heart of government comes as ministers grapple with the pandemic and concerns over a post—brexit trade deal. and with 50 days to go until the end of the transition period, there's a warning from the irish taoiseach that the uk must "knuckle down" to agree a deal with the european union, as our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. boris johnson's in charge because of brexit. he wants to change how we deal with the rest of the world, but there has been meltdown among his band of brexiteers, and if there is no trade deal, there could be economic turmoil, too, so michael gove is warning business to be prepared — agreement or not.

by choosing to leave the european union, we became a sovereign equal, and it's absolutely important that the eu recognise that. i think the penny is dropping. it is, is it not, rather extraordinary that with only a matter of a few weeks to go, you cannot tell businesses, particularly in northern ireland, how they are going to have to trade? there are still things that do need to be resolved. this deal will set the terms of our relationship with the eu for years to come. that's why it's so important we get it right. you've got people in government fighting like rats in a sack. now, what impression does that give to people desperately worried about there maybe not being a trade deal? there is a complete focus in government on making sure we can work with business and work with citizens in order to deliver on the promise of brexit and to take advantage of the opportunities of being outside the european union. can you say that with a straight face when the prime minister cannot even choose a chief of staff? well, what i do every day, and what the prime minister does every day, is ensure that we're delivering on the manifesto pledges we were elected on last year. but there's a shakiness to everything, because there have been tremors and big moves in there.

watch this — the prime minister's longest serving brexiteer aide, lee cain, walking out of hisjob, in part because of the new press secretary, allegra stratton, enjoying arriving at the front. the position of the most controversial adviser, dominic cummings, is perhaps now in question. is it bad for the country to have tension in downing street, mr cummings? just as one of the most important moments for their brexit project arrives. ten days or so left to do a trade deal with the eu. patience! brussels' chief negotiator in london talks in stalemate with any time to go. 0thers leaders in the eu are urging boris johnson to budge to get a deal done, especially from dublin, where the effect of a bustup would be so acute. we've all had a significant shock to our economic system because of covid—19. the last thing we need now across all of our respective

economies is a second shock that a no—deal would cause. many people in the uk government just don't believe that the eu is ready to compromise enough. you know, in all negotiations, both sides take positions, both sides have to move in all negotiations. if i could respectfully say it, that's why the british government should head in that direction in my view. it should knuckle down and get a deal with the european union. 0n the 1st of january, whatever happens, the way we trade with and interact with our neighbours and the whole eu will change in some very big ways. if politicians can put aside their differences and do a deal, that transition will be significant but smooth. but if the politics fail and an agreement cannot be reached, there could be big disruption. an outline of the trade deal can be seen on both sides, but the final act of the brexit project isn't over. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. thousands of ethnic armenians are fleeing areas of nagorno—karabakh that are to be

handed over to azerbaijan, as part of the recent peace deal. there've been six weeks of violent clashes in the region, which is internationally recognised as azerbaijan's. the disputed region is internationally recognised as azerbaijans but has been run by ethnic armenians since 1994. according to the agreement, armenia must cede control of several districts within days. from the region, our correspondent steve rosenberg reports. in nagorno—karabakh, the exodus has begun. ethnic armenians are rushing to leave before much of this area is handed to azerbaijan. for the armenian soldiers, defeat is hard to swallow, but for these young men there is relief, too, that the war is over. translation: if this war had continued we would have all been killed. azerbaijan has more money, weapons, and military equipment than us. armenia was given less than a week to vacate this land. this man is packing up and taking

absolutely everything with him. he is stripping the house bare. he's even removed all the windows. nearby, silent prayers in an armenian monastery, but within days, azerbaijan will control the town. the ancient monastery in dadivank is proof, say people here, that this land was and is armenian. but history is complex in the caucasus. only 30 years ago dadivank was part of azerbaijan, until armenian forces captured it. and if they must leave now, some armenians are leaving nothing behind. this family are destroying their home, so that no azerbaijani can move into it. translation: i built this house from scratch. i can't leave it to anyone.

we've taken whatever we can and now i'm just going to burn it. if my children can't use this house, then no one can. there is nothing these people can do about this peace agreement. there is nothing they can do about losing this land. the only thing they can do is make sure they leave nothing behind for azerbaijan. a peace agreement may have ended war but the hatred keeps burning. steve rosenberg, dadivank, bbc news. let's take a look at some of today's other news. a nurse has appeared in court in cheshire charged with the murders of eight babies — and the attempted murders of ten others. 30 year old lucy letby was arrested following an investigation at the countess of chester hospital. she's been remanded in custody. a controversial plan to dig a road tunnel near stonehenge has been given the go—ahead by the government. highways england says the two—mile

stretch will remove noise and visual distraction from the historic landmark. but campaign groups and archaeologists are worried the world heritage site could be damaged. the olympic boxer nicola adams and her professional dance partner katya jones have been forced to pull out of strictly come dancing after katya tested positive for coronavirus. the pair — who made history as the bbc one show‘s first same—sex couple — are currently self—isolating. nicola adams said she was "absolutely devastated" to have to leave the show. a senior volkswagen executive has defended the company's decision to continue operating a car plant in xinjiang — a region of china under fierce scrutiny due to the treatment of the uighur ethnic minority there. the united nations estimates that at least one million uighurs have been detained in a network of detention camps — and there are widespread allegations of forced sterilisation, forced labour and torture occurring in the province. mounting international concern has led some multinational companies to cut ties with the region. but volkswagen has told the bbc

that there is so far no evidence that any of their employees have been through the camps, as our china correspondent john sudworth reports. volkswagen makes more than 4 million cars a year in china. its many factories here now a vital part of its global success story. except for one. in the louden t has found 0pened seven years ago in xinjiang, this plant has found itself at the centre of a major controversy. sharing the vast desert landscape with a network of detention camps that china has built in recent years. images said to show the mass incarceration of xinjiang's uighurs and other minorities, and their mass transport, have helped make this one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time. and now vw is having to defend itself.

we know about the allegation and it certainly very much concerns us and we have checked whether any of our supply chains are affected or any of our people are affected, and so far we haven't found evidence. can you be absolutely certain that none of your employees in that xinjiang plant has been through a camp? i would say no company could ever make sure. the only thing that we do, we apply the procedures. if you can't be sure, shouldn't you just not be there? i'm not sure. i guess we have a footprint all over the world in different countries. the situation is not always how we would like to have it in volkswagen. but xinjiang is notjust any other place, and the re—education camps and work camps, however much they are denied by china, raise tough questions for a company founded by the nazis and one which relied heavily on forced labour during the war.

0ne prominent german politician described your company as a company without a conscience, complicit in upholding a totalitarian hell in xinjiang. with comments like that, isn't it time to close that plant and leave? i would say leaving a plant is a serious decision and i guess our history here also in china has proven that for the benefit of people and the society, not only for the benefit of the company, we can mutually develop. and whatever the reputational damage from keeping the plant, volkswagen knows there would be a cost to closing it too — the anger of a government on which it is now so dependent. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. football — and both scotland and northern ireland have been in action tonight. at stake, a place in next year's european championship finals. 0ur sports editor dan roan is at windsor park in belfast.

not since the have all four home nations qualified for a major tournament —— not since the world cup of 1958. tonight we knew that if northern ireland and scotland could win their respective finals, that could finally happen next year at the euros, and in a moment we report ona the euros, and in a moment we report on a glorious night for scotland, but first we report from windsor park. a spray down before the showdown. the strangest of starts to the biggest of nights for the 1,000 northern ireland fans allowed inside windsor park. a disinfecting pod on arrival as football adapts to the covid era. but initially the hosts failed to adapt to the pressure. george saville's misplaced header punished byjuraj kucka, slovakia with the early lead. it's big trouble for northern ireland! northern ireland responded well, niall mcginn twice going close. and this is mcginn, who could be... just five months after taking charge, ian baraclough needed something special from his side.