oxford university announces that its covid vaccine works. boris johnson says its fantastic news. overall, the vaccine is 70% effective, and in some dosages 90%. it's also cheaper and easier to store than those already announced. it really looks as if there's a vaccine which has the potential to protect against the disease. and importantly, in anyone who had the vaccine, there were no admissions to hospital, no severe disease. we'll be getting reaction from our medical editor. also this lunchtime: with one more week of lockdown in england, borisjohnson prepares to tell us what's coming next. daily coronavirus tests will be offered to close contacts of people who have tested positive in england to reduce the current 14—day quarantine. we report from melbourne, the australian city which accounted for 90% of the country's covid deaths,

on the success of its "hard and fast" lockdown the hero of london bridge tells us how he fought the attacker with a narwhal tusk. this has impacted me, i've gone through bouts of depression and sleep is the challenging one, where my brain won't shut off. and coming up on bbc news, jurgen klopp urges broadcasters to fix their schedules, warning liverpool may not make it to the end of the season with a full team if fixture congestion isn't addressed. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. " fa ntastic" — not the usual first word of a news bulletin these days,

but the one used by prime minister borisjohnson to describe the results of the oxford vaccine trial. data shows it's 70% effective — that's better than the average flu vaccine — and if the two doses required are given in a particular way, it could be as high as 90%. it's also cheaper and easier to store than the pfizer and moderna vaccines. the uk has already ordered 100 million doses, and if it passes all safety checks, it could be available by the end of december. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. first light at the end of the tunnel has just got brighter. the news that the long—awaited oxford vaccine is safe and effective brings the end of the pandemic one step closer. what we've found is that, overall in the trials across the uk and brazil, we managed to prevent about 70% of infections, but, importantly, in people who were vaccinated with the

new coronavirus vaccine, no—one people who were vaccinated with the new coronavirus vaccine, no—one was hospitalised or had severe disease. 70% is a highly effective vaccine, it's better than the flu vaccine is in most years. so how effective is the oxford vaccine? in a trial of more than 20,000 volunteers in the uk and in brazil, it found the vaccine was about 70% effective in stopping people from developing covid—i9. but if the amount of vaccine is tweaked so that volu nteers vaccine is tweaked so that volunteers were given a low dose followed by a higher one, that figure rose to 90%. the results of this trial will be seen as a triumph, even though two other vaccines, pfizer and moderna, showed 95% prediction. but the oxford jab is far cheaper, it is easier to store, and also to transport to every corner of the world. the results have delighted global health experts. congratulations to all involved, the scientists, the volunteers, great. but there is

still work to be done to take all the data, and there is more data to come in, for the regulators so they can decide whether they are ok to give an emergency—use authorisation for the uk. plans for rolling out the vaccine have already been stepped up. drive through centres, like this one in greater manchester, are already being used to deliver flu jabs. this could be one way to distribute a covid vaccine to the entire adult population. the uk government has already pre—ordered 100 million doses of the oxford vaccine. assuming it is approved by regulators, vaccinations could start within weeks. we hope to be able to start vaccinating next month. the bulk of the vaccine roll—out programme will be injanuary, february, march, and we hope that sometime after easter, things will be able to start to get back to

normal. a process that normally ta kes normal. a process that normally takes many normal. a process that normally ta kes ma ny yea rs normal. a process that normally takes many years has been completed in months, and over the past two weeks, the pandemic landscape has been transformed. now the challenge will be to get the vaccine is out to those who need them most — a huge task still lies ahead. dominic hughes, bbc news. our medical editor, fergus walsh, is in oxford. huge excitement about this, and 70% isa huge excitement about this, and 70% is a good result, but 70, 90, which is a good result, but 70, 90, which is it? ok, so all the volunteers got two doses of the vaccine, but the ones who got a half dose first time round and then a booster dose as the normal dose, that was a 90% effectiveness did not subgroup. now, were not quite sure why, but it might be something to do with the way in which the immune system was gradually primed and then posted, thatis gradually primed and then posted, that is what the theory is, anyway. but it would also mean there would be more vaccine to go around,

because that first dose could be divided in two. fergus, thank you very much. huge interest in this story, and lots of questions, and later in the programme we'll be putting some of those questions to our health correspondent michelle roberts. at 3:30, borisjohnson will outline plans for england when the national lockdown ends next wednesday. he'll confirm a return to a three—tier system, with a regional approach of different rules for different parts of england. but we won't get details of christmas plans for the whole of the uk yet — they are still being finalised. our political correspondent chris mason reports. vaccines may be on the way, but at the dawn of winter, in downing street and beyond, the challenge remains the same — keeping out of the way of the virus. we do think that we can replace the lockdown with a tiered system, but that system, whilst lighter than lockdown, will have to be stronger than the previous tiers that were in

place. so here is what is expected in england. gyms and shops will be allowed to reopen in all areas. the 10pm curfew will be abandoned, last orders will be at ten, but you will have an extra hour to sup up. but pubs could be limited to a takeaway service only in areas with the highest coronavirus levels. when manchester was in tier 3, when we went into lockdown, we have seen some really encouraging infection rates coming down in manchester. having said that, in the old tier 3, only half of our pubs could open, cos they were serving substantial food, and the idea that people would go to pubs to buy takeaway is is frankly ridiculous. we are saying that we need to be sure that whatever measurement you would measure the cut proposes deals with the virus, an example is the 10pm curfew, closing covid save nonessential retail, that certainly killsjobs nonessential retail, that certainly kills jobs but it

nonessential retail, that certainly killsjobs but it is not at all clear that it deals with the virus, and also, secondly, that for every measure proposed, we want to see an analysis that demonstrates the measure saves more lives than it takes. and then there is the question of christmas. governments around the uk are trying to agree to around the uk are trying to agree to a joint plan to allow us to see family and friends for a few days, but nothing is signed off yet. we are trying as hard as we can to reach a sensible balance, so it is possible, likely in fact, that some households may be able to form slightly larger bubbles with each other for slightly larger bubbles with each otherfor a short period slightly larger bubbles with each other for a short period over christmas. nicola sturgeon added that the virus won't take christmas off—a that the virus won't take christmas off — a point some nhs leaders are acutely aware of. ijust think off — a point some nhs leaders are acutely aware of. i just think we are really nervous about, if you relax the rules too much, you can just see the virus flaring up again exactly as it did in the second phase, so let's hope we don't relax the rules too much and then trigger a third wave. there are big

decisions to come, and there is plenty to debate. it resumes here this afternoon. our deputy political editor, vicki young, is at westminster. chris mason, bbc news. a lot of good news around, and the risk for the government is that leads to complacency. that's right, and we are going to hearfrom borisjohnson not just ones today, are going to hearfrom borisjohnson notjust ones today, in the commons, but we are told there will be a press co nfe re nce but we are told there will be a press conference at around 7pm, and that will also be attended by professor chris whitty and andrew pollard, the director of that oxford vaccine group. i think that tells us, as we know, the prime minister does like to have positive news to tell people, he doesn't want to concentrate on the gloom, and i think the news about the vaccine will be something, of course, that he wants to focus on, as well as some success with mass testing as well. but it isn't all going to be positive, looking at these beefed up tiers system, we know that every tier, whichever region of england is put into, will mean tougher

measures. that will bad be news for the hospitality industry and warnings, as we know, about more businesses going bust. there is also, then, the issue of christmas. again, ithink also, then, the issue of christmas. again, i think bodger will want to give people hope, those who want to spend time with family and friends, that will be able to happen. —— i think borisjohnson will that will be able to happen. —— i think boris johnson will want that will be able to happen. —— i think borisjohnson will want to give people hope. but no doubt there will be difficult weeks beyond that. and if we look ahead to wednesday, the cost of this who want to spend time with family and friends, that will be able to happen. —— i think borisjohnson will will be able to happen. —— i think boris johnson will want to will be able to happen. —— i think borisjohnson will want to give people hope. but no doubt there will be difficult weeks beyond that. and thenif be difficult weeks beyond that. and then if we look ahead to wednesday, then if we look ahead to wednesday, the cost of this to the economy will be laid bare in well, the prime minister is also expected to announce an expansion of rapid testing. the close contacts of people who test positive for covid in england are to be offered the chance to take daily tests, instead of going into isolation.

it comes after the success of a mass testing pilot in liverpool in recent weeks. richard galpin reports. isolating for two weeks if you come into co nta ct isolating for two weeks if you come into contact with someone with coronavirus is an effective way of stopping the spread of the disease. but it can cause many problems for those required to do it. people don't understand the mental health issues. as a result, compliance with self—isolation is not high. now the government is piloting a new scheme which would replace self—isolation with daily tests, which it says can pick up if you are positive even before you show covid symptoms. pick up if you are positive even before you show covid symptomslj think, before you show covid symptoms.” think, if a lot of people are doing tests and that is telling us about people who have got the virus who didn't realise they had the virus, overall that is likely to reduce the amount of virus transmission going on in the population. also today,

the government has been speaking about mass testing more broadly, particularly here in liverpool, where there has been a pilot using rapid tests. the result, it says, of this, along with the restrictions, a dramatic fall in cases. a number of cases in liverpool is now down by more than two thirds from when we started that process. it has gone down far more than i would have hoped for, frankly. and so we will be rolling out the mass testing as well into the areas that have to go into tier 3 well into the areas that have to go into tier3 in well into the areas that have to go into tier 3 in order to bring the case right down. but not everyone agrees with this. some critics question how reliable the mass testing results are. despite this, the government will be introducing mass testing in all tier 3 areas in england — the highest alert level. richard galpin, bbc news. our health editor, hugh pym, is here.

on the face of it, this looks like a big deal. yes, simon, the most important bit of this package on testing for england which is going to be announced as this contact tracing change. currently, if the app contact you or you get a call is app contact you or you get a call is a newer recently in contact with someone who has tested positive, thatis someone who has tested positive, that is it, self—isolation for two weeks, which is a big ask, and there have been questions raised over compliance, whether people are really doing it, particularly if they risk losing income and not getting support. the idea with this plan that is being piloted, not definitely being rolled out, but they're going to pilot it at least, if you are told you were recently in contact with someone who has tested positive, you don't have to self—isolate, but you have to go in every day for seven days for a test, on your way into work, say, a rapid result test, and as long as it is negative, you can go about your business. the minute you test positive, you will have to self—isolate. now, that is a big

change. if it goes well, we are told it will be rolled out across england sometime in the new year, but as we have heard, there are one or two sceptics who feel these rapid tests, lateral flow test, as they are called, are not as reliable as they might be. also in this package of measures, plans to allow everybody to visit a relative in a care home at some stage, probably by the new year, with a test at the front door to allow indoor visits. that is already being piloted. the roll—out of mass testing as experimented in liverpool to other areas where there are high levels of infections, and also adding people to a list to get regular testing. already care home staff and nhs staff are being tested twice a week, this is being extended to food manufacturing employees, those delivering the vaccine, prison staff, all pa rt those delivering the vaccine, prison staff, all part of quite an ambitious plan for england. thank you very much. councillors are holding an emergency meeting this lunchtime after latest figures showed the borough of swale in kent, which includes sittingbourne and faversham,

now has the highest coronavirus infection rate in england. let's speak to our correspondent simonjones. why, simon? this part of kent has overta ken why, simon? this part of kent has overtaken hull in terms of whip fiction rate and it has shot up. just a couple of months ago, the rate per 100,000 people in the local population was only 13. now that has risen to more than 630 per 100,000 people, over a one week period. so, a dramatic rise, the local council is very concerned is and they too are asking that question, why is swale now top when it comes to infection rates? they say they can't put theirfinger on a infection rates? they say they can't put their finger on a single reason, but various theories put forward include high levels of deprivation in certain areas here, there is also a high prison population, there are three prisons and there have been outbreaks at the prison and also on

top of this, there is a feeling that people just haven't been following the rules, so that is why the local council has organised this meeting which is taking place right now, it has invited people from the prison service, it has invited the county council, the police and voluntary sector, to try to discuss the reasons behind this rising rate and also, what can be done about it. but the local council leader roger truelove hasn't minced his words, he says people are not wearing face coverings, or sticking to social distancing and glorifying in their noncompliance. thank you simon. our top story this lunchtime: oxford university announces that its covid vaccine works. boris johnson says it's fantastic news. coming up — the social media sensation that's hit a new benchmark. coming up on bbc news, after winning the atp finals, the biggest title of his career, russian daniil medvedev casts doubt on next day's australian open and whether players will be willing to take part.

it'll be some time before we know which countries had the most effective ways of dealing with covid, but the hard and fast lockdown approach seems to have paid off in australia. after some of the world's longest and toughest measures, things are now easing up. the border between new south wales and victoria has reopened, and flights have resumed to melbourne — unthinkable just a few weeks ago, as nearly 90% of australia's coronavirus deaths were in that city. shaimaa khalil reports. this is the flight they've been waiting months to board and, for antonia curic, this moment could not have come fast enough. today is the day i get to meet my four—month—old grandson for the first time. how does that feel? my heart's jumping out of my chest. fantastic, absolutely fantastic. before the pandemic, melbourne to sydney

was one of the busiest air routes in the world. now, with the borders open, victorians can visit once again. i've missed my friends, i've missed my home. we're flying to see my husband who we haven't seen for four months. we are so excited, we are so excited. after one of the world's toughest lockdowns, it's another big moment for a victoria. moment for victoria. busy streets were unimaginable in melbourne even just a few weeks ago. this was the epicentre of australia's second covid—19 wave. but for more than three weeks now, there have been no new cases recorded in the whole of victoria and, around the world, people are asking how they did it here. masks became mandatory in the whole of the state. melbourne's five million residents were put under a night curfew as part of the stringent lockdown. a so—called ring of steel patrolled by the army and police separated melbourne from the rest of victoria. and other states closed their borders to victoria, effectively sealing it off. health experts say this was the only way

to get the virus under control. a lesson to the rest of the world. to go hard and to go fast, that's the real message here. if you don't get started early enough and do it in a co—ordinated way, with really clear communication, because you've got to have the community on side, then i think you wind up with rolling lockdowns that don't really have the effect you want, but start to undermine community buy—in. but this success has come at a huge cost. the state has lost $70 million a day during lockdown. tens of thousands ofjobs disappeared and demand for mental health services soared. there were days where we just didn't want to get off the couch. ijust wanted to stay home and cry. since reopening her cafe, melissa says it feels like she's starting from scratch. we've lost a lot of our regular customers, our corporate customers in the area. a lot of the residents moved. so we're literally rebuilding from the start. so the weekends we're fortunate — there's definitely an appetite for people to go out.

but, during the week, it's a different story. covid—19 may have been crushed here, but so too has the economy. it will take months, if not years, for one of the world's most liveable cities to fully come back to life again. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, melbourne. the supreme court has started to hear an appeal by the government against the possible return to the uk of shamima begum. she was one of three east london schoolgirls who joined the islamic state group in syria in 2015. she's currently barred from the uk after being deprived of her citizenship, but wants to be allowed back to challenge that decision. later this week will mark the first anniversary of the london fishmonger hall attack, when a convicted terrorist killed two people at a prisoner rehabilitation event. for those who survived, the memories of that day are still vivid. civil servant darryn frost was one of the people who fought the attacker, using a narwhal tusk to try to stop him.

in his first tv interview, he's been speaking to graham satchell. you may find some of the details of this report upsetting. london bridge a year ago. a confusing, terrifying scene. convicted terrorist usman khan is being tackled by three men. one of them, holding a narwhal tusk, is darryn frost. he had this protective kind ofjacket on. he had, the knives were strapped to his hands with duct tape, but when he raised his arms up to come towards me, there was this tiny little bit on his midriff that was exposed, and somehow, i managed to aim this two metre long tusk and stab him with it. other people came and started kicking khan in the head, so i had to shift my body to cover his head and protect him, and i said "don't hit him, don't hit him, take the knives off him." for me, that was more important than hitting him,

was removing the knives. then as people got off, i was the last person on khan, and the police arrived and the police were shouting, they had hair guns pointing at me and khan's head, and they were shouting "move away, move away," and everyone got off except for me. and i was holding him, because i believed he still had this bomb he could set off, and he would kill everyone, it doesn't matter if i move away, and i didn't want to let him set off this bomb so i held on. the suicide vest khan was wearing was fake, but darryn didn't know that at the time. here, you see the police pull darryn away and khan is shot dead. 25—year—old jack merritt and saskia jones, who was 23, both died in the attack. they'd helped organise the event at fishmonger‘s hall on rehabilitating offenders. both believed strongly in helping criminals turn their lives around. darryn, a civil servant at the ministry ofjustice, now wants to follow in jack and saskia's footsteps.

i saw a lot of sadness in that guy's face, i saw a man who was depressed. he had nothing live for any more. we have such an oppressive way of dealing with people who have offended that we take away their hope. a few weeks after the attack, darryn returned to london bridge. he took with him a card. in it, he had written a message to usman khan. i leave you a rose from me, which i hang upside down, as i try to be as compassionate as saskia and jack were. i have done all that i can to extinguish hate. i will show, and hopefully the world, the power of love. back now to our top story, the news that trial results have shown that the oxford university vaccine has proved highly effective. lots of people have been sending the bbc questions about vaccines. our health correspondent michelle roberts is here to try and answer some of them. the first one from brian, after

vaccination how long before we achieve some protection it kicks in quite quickly, this is given as two doses you get, yourfirst quite quickly, this is given as two doses you get, your first dose and another one a month after that, in the trial they tested two weeks after that second dose and found that it was 70% effective. that doesn't mean you would have to wait the full six weeks for it to work at all, we know that the body starts reacting but it builds up over weeks, you will get a bit protection from the first jab. this question from the first jab. this question from coleen, lots of people asking this, can you still carry the virus and infeat after you have had the vaccine. it is not clear how much protection natural immunity, so if you caught coronavirus, you would get some protection against it but we don't know how long that lasts so it doesn't mean someone who has had it doesn't mean someone who has had it before or thinks they might have shouldn't get the vaccine. obviously, it will depend what at risk group you fall into, how soon you might get an offer of the jab

but if you have had it in the past, coronavirus, it doesn't mean you should ignore it. will people who have already contracted and recovers from covid—19 need the vaccine, that isa from covid—19 need the vaccine, that is a question from margaret? that is the same sort of thing, where we are talking about if you have got this immunity from the vaccine, from the infection, we don't know how long that will last for, so, booster doses might be needed. tom, why are there different numbers for how effective the astrazeneca vaccine is? the 70 figure, is the average, in this trial, they looked at slightly different dosing regimes, so, they gave a full dose, two full doses, all they —— or they gave a slightly weaker dose and then a stronger one, that gave the 90% coverage. the 70 percent was for the

average across the whole trial. that would mean there would be more doses available if they work on the basis half a dose the first time, wass. it needs the look at the data and be confident that might be the way to go to give a weaker does and then a stronger one then you have more bang for your buck. one more question from terry. can the oxford vaccine be given to immunocompromised patients? we know that some people who are on cancer treatments, or on different drugs for other thing, like hiv, their immune system might not be working as sort of quickly as other peoples, you shouldn't give a live vaccine for those sorts of things but this one is not a live vaccine, so there will be data looking at all the different at risk groups and seeing how well it works but there are lots of vaccine, lots of different types and hopefully all should help different groups. thank you michelle

now, could you sum up 2020 in just one word? well, the team behind the oxford english dictionary couldn't — so instead of a word of the year, they've come up with a list of 16. the bumper crop of new expressions reflects the fact that we've had to get used to so many new situations and experiences this year. our media editor, amal rajan, has more. we need people to start working from home where they possibly can. and announcing an effective lockdown. .. ..but are furloughed and kept on payroll. supplies of face masks for key health workers could be put at risk. adults who are living alone will be able to mix in their support bubbles. language evolves, but this year it's grown and changed faster than ever. that's why, for the first time, oxford languages are publishing words of the year — plural — rather than a single word of the year. the main driver of change is the pandemic, of course. words like furlough, staycation, and coronavirus are all among the words of the year.

usage of the words "remote" and "remotely" are both up by more than 300% since march. and covid is a new word for 2020. the other big reason is that this is the "too much information" age. i know nothing about qanon. with social media spouting words every second of every day, particular words spread and gain currency faster than ever. though intriguingly, usage of the word brexit is down by 80%. i think the words really that have had the most impact have to probably be for everybody the covid type words, as we are calling them, so either things to do with the pandemic itself, and the disease or treatment, or also the ways that we have had to adapt to life, and fascinating for me, certainly, is that these words have gone almost from — we probably didn't think we'd ever use these words before, and suddenly, almost every conversation we are having is peppered with these words.

it is notjust the pandemic, we've had acute social and racial protests and racial injustice, we've had a pivotal election, we've had raining bush fires and wild fires, we have had a savage economic recession. you know, you've got all of those on the table, and i thinkjust using one would generally do an injustice to the year that we've just had. never before in human history has so much language been around us, but 2020 always had the feeling of a landmark year, and the words we've used have provided evidence aplenty. amol rajan, bbc news. finally, this lunchtime — when lockdowns are eased, one of the simplest pleasures is to go out for a walk and perhaps sit for a moment on a park bench. well, one man's made himself a viral sensation — doing just that. from parks to high streets, sam wilmot has rated over 200 of them. it started as a bit ofjoke, but now it's become a hit around the world. i started it as something that's just a bit of fun for friends,

and over the last sort of 18 months it hasjust become more popular. all the benches are marked out of ten, the final one's ones for a wow factor, but i give sort of up to three marks for the location. there is one mark for armrest, one for curvature in the seat, one for a decent back support. and then obviously the tenth mark is sort ofjust a wow, and something i really enjoy. i remember one time, newport train station, i asked a chap just to take a photo and he had laughed about it, he said his friend reviewed hand driers and it wasn't the weirdest sort of request he had had. there's a bench that looks out across my home town, but as, sort of strictly speaking bench terms go, that is definitely my favourite. it's really big and bulky and it's really well treated. it's a really lovely bench. when the lockdown first came around, the use of public benches