this is bbc news. the headlines. the prime minister says a new three—tiered system will come into effect in england on december 2nd, to replace the current lockdown. this will be still a hard winter. christmas cannot be normal and there is a long road to spring, but we have turned a corner and the escape route is in sight. there'll be an announcement later this week regarding what level all areas will enter. labour's leader sir keir starmer says there are huge in the current proposals. the prime minister proposes a return to the three tier system.

that's risky. because the previous three tier system didn't work. parts of the new system will be tougher, but gyms and shops will reopen and a closing time curfew for pubs and restaurants will be eased. still no firm plans for christmas — rules on gatherings, household mixing and travel restrictions over the festive period are yet to be confirmed. spectators will also be allowed into sporting events — with a maximum attendance of 4,000 permitted in the lowest—risk areas. the news comes as oxford university announces that its covid vaccine works. overall the vaccine is 70% effective and, in some dosages, 90%.

it's just gone five o'clock. in the last hour the prime minister has made a statement outlining his post—lockdown plans for england. boris johnson announced the current national lockdown restrictions will end on december 2nd. from next wednesday people will be allowed to leave their home for any purpose and can meet up to six people from other households in outdoor spaces. collective worship, weddings and outdoor sports can resume, and gyms and non—essential shops will be allowed to reopen. the prime minister also announced that outdoor and indoor sports venues in tiers one and two will be allowed to welcome a limited number of spectators after 2nd december, with a maximum of 4,000 fans allowed to attend outdoor events in the lowest risk areas. but there will be a return

to tougher regional tier restrictions — an announcement on which areas fall into which tiers is expected on thursday. those in tier1 will be encouraged to work from home where possible. in areas under tier 2, alcohol may only be served in hospitality settings as part of a substantial meal. and in tier 3, pubs and restaurants will only be able to offer takeaway and delivery services, while indoor entertainment and hotels will have to close. the prime minister warned that, based on scientific advice, stricter rules would be needed to keep the infection rate down. but he said that the end of the struggle was in sight for the country. 2020 has been, in many ways, a tragic year, when so many have lost loved ones and faced financial ruin. and this will be still a hard winter. christmas cannot be normal and there's a long road to spring.

but we have turned a corner and the escape route is in sight. we must hold out against the virus until testing and vaccines come to our rescue and reduce the need for restrictions. and everyone can help speed up the arrival of that moment by continuing to follow the rules, being tested and self isolating when instructed, remembering hands, face, space. and pulling together for one final push to the spring, when we have every reason to hope and believe that the achievements of our scientists will finally lift the shadow of this virus. that the shadow of this virus. was the prime ministers; to that was the prime minister speaking to the commons from downing street. the leader of the opposition, sir keir starmer, has given the prime minister qualified support but added that decisions on which areas will belong to each tier must be taken "very quickly". the vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel but the question today

is how do we get there, and protect lives and livelihoods along the way? the prime minister proposes a return to the three—tier system. that's risky, because the previous three—tier system didn't work. tier1 areas drifted to tier 2. almost all tier 2 areas ended up in tier 3 but those in tier 3 couldn't see a way out and we ended up in national lockdown. that was the sad reality of the tiered system. but nobody wants a return to that. now, i accept that the new tiers are different to the old ones but many of the questions are the same. they're not trick questions and i do acknowledge that none of this is easy, but if the prime minister is going to carry parliament and the country on this, they do need answering. firstly on the tier system. the prime minister touched on this but which local areas will be in each tier?

this is the red—hot question, the question everybody‘s going to be asking over the kitchen table tonight. i had a roundtable with business leaders this morning and it's the first question they asked me. the prime minister says it will be decided later this week, possibly thursday. ijust can't emphasise how important it is that these decisions are taken very quickly and very clearly so that everybody can plan. that's obviously particularly important for the millions who are in restrictions before the national lockdown, because the message to them today seems to be, you can almost be certain to be back where they were before the national lockdown, possibly with even stricter restrictions, and people need to know that so they can plan for that. i really emphasise how important that is. sir keir starmer, there. let's get some reaction to what's been said in the commons. let's speak to our deputy political editor vicki young. keir starmer they're saying what everybody in england really wants to know is which tier they're going to

be in under the new system. we know we won't get that information until thursday but we know that the tiers are going to be tougher than they were. that's right and i think eve ryo ne were. that's right and i think everyone wondering how it's going to be different to what we experienced earlier. for millions of people especially in the north, they've been under tougher restrictions for months and months. when you look at the criteria which the government has set out and how they're going to judge it people are going to be looking at some trepidation about whether they'll be put into tier 2 oi’ whether they'll be put into tier 2 or three, the highest tiers because the government has said that more regions of england will be in the higher tiers. what they're going to be looking at, they want the most up—to—date data on wednesday before they announce. we'll be looking at they announce. we'll be looking at the number of cases across all age groups with particular close looking at the over 60s who are most vulnerable. they'll be looking at the rate of increase and decrease,

the rate of increase and decrease, the r eight feet into that. the prevalence of cases per 100,000 people and nhs missions in that area. it's quite a complicated picture. greater manchester for example there are big reductions in the number of cases but from a much higher base than say london. so it's going to be a very difficult and controversial decision and i think the other interesting thing this time around, remember those big rows in greater manchester for example. there won't be this negotiation with councils this time round. they'll be told that they have to go into this area. some people say, look, what's the difference between what we have 110w the difference between what we have now and say going into tier 3? but there will be differences, for insta nce there will be differences, for instance gyms, nonessential retail, will all be open. sport will be allowed and the rule of six is going to apply outdoors. but it's worth emphasising that this, for most people on thursday in england, will

not be overturned to normal in any sense. of course not be overturned to normal in any sense. of course over not be overturned to normal in any sense. of course over the months we've all got used to these restrictions but bear in mind that for the millions of people, i think it will be millions on thursday who are going to be put into tier 2 and three, who can't mix with anyone beyond their household or bubble indoors and think about what a restriction that is on people's lives. that takes us to christmas and that's something else we'll have to wait a while to find out more about? yes, i've been told that the most likely option is going to be that three households will be able to mix over a five—day period. this hasn't been signed off. all four nations of the uk wants to agree because people will be travelling across borders, so that's what they're trying to work out. you can see some of the problems they're wrestling with. we've talked about models. some people have a household plus one other person, does that count as one or two? —— we've talked

about bubbles. and the mass movement of people, for instance we know about students wanting to return from university. imagine the day before christmas eve, potentially millions of people taking to their ca i’s millions of people taking to their cars 01’ millions of people taking to their cars or public transport, trying to get somewhere. they don't want to force people into crowded situations. that's the last thing they want to do. it's very interesting that nicola sturgeon, the scottish first minister, said today that they want to allow people today that they want to allow people to meet up in some way but to be extremely cautious. this isn't without risk. it will inevitably lead to a rise in cases and ultimately a rise in deaths. that's why there are many government scientists who are extremely anxious about all this but i think the government has decided that people wa nt to government has decided that people want to do it, some people want to and best to do it in as controlled a manner as possible. the prime minister was interrupted by a technical error. i don't know if he pressed the mute button but we lost

the connection between and his self isolation in downing street and the commons and matt hancock had to take over. i gather he's on his feet now. it's been quite a delay, more than 20 minutes when he suddenly went quiet. we heard him complaining that the sound had gone and then matt hancock had to suddenly step in without any notes in front of him. i think he was across most of the detail and of course the prime minister will be speaking again at around 7pm during a press conference and they want to make sure they have it sorted out by then. indeed. thank you. no technical problems with you! 0ur health correspondent nick triggle is here with me now. as vicky one —— vicki young was saying, people wanting to see which tier they will be in. what's the latest picture around the country? in terms of cases, lockdown has started to have an impact. a week ago we were seeing an average of

25,000 cases a day across the uk. it's now down to 20,000. today's figures are 15,000, so it is dragging the rolling average ever further down. we still have significant numbers of people in hospital. around 16,000 patients with covid in hospital. numbers of new admissions have started to slow but that's three quarters of the way towards what it was at the peak in the spring. as vicky —— vicki young was saying, it's a complicated picture. bases like yorkshire, the most people in hospital and the highest rates, their rates are falling the quickest. in london and the south—east there's a lot more capacity in hospitals and the rates are lower, but going up. some fine judgments to be made by thursday about which tears areas are placed into —— which tiers. about which tears areas are placed into -- which tiers. as vicki young was saying, the tiers are going to be tougher than they were?

absolutely, the main difference is on hospitality. in tier1 hospitality can remain open, cable service only. in tier 2 pubs and bars will have to close unless they are operating as restaurants serving meals and in tier 3, hospitality will be closed for everything but ta ke will be closed for everything but take a ways. that's a significant strengthening and the government's own advisers warned a couple of months ago that stronger tiers would be needed and over the last week we've seen ministers and officials hinting that this may happen. this is what has happened. it's a winter plan and we should expect these restrictions probably to be in place for another three orfour restrictions probably to be in place for another three or four months before the vaccines come to the rescue. which takes us on very nicely to the big news of the day, about the oxford vaccine. the prime minister described the new vaccine against covid—19 that has been

developed whilst at university and astrazeneca as incredibly exciting and a major step forward. trials have shown that it's 70 per cent effective — rising to 90 per cent if the dose is tweaked. england's deputy chief medical officer, jonathan van tam, says more work needs to be done, but he's delighted that there are now encouraging results from three 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. that light at the end of the tunnel has just got brighter. the news that the long—awaited 0xford 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 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—19. but if the amount of 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% protection. 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, 50,000 of them — great. but there is still work to be done to take all the data,

and there is more data to come in, to 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 in january, february, march, and we hope that sometime after easter, things will be able to start to get back to 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 vaccines out to those who need them most — a huge task still lies ahead. dominic hughes, bbc news. professor sir mark walport is a former government chief scientific adviser and is now a member of sage, the committee that advises the government. thank you for being with us. at the start of the pandemic did you think it would be possible that by this stage in 2020 that we'd have three vaccines? well, we hoped it would be the case and it was an ambitious task and it's been a remarkable achievement. a process that would have taken at least ten years has happened in less than a year. we still aren't quite over the line. it's important that the vaccines go

through the regulators who will look not only at the efficacy but also the safety very carefully indeed. and we can rely on the fact that not only the nhra but the american and european regulators are going to be looking at vaccines as well. i think what is surprising but in a good way is the strength of efficacy of the vaccines which appears to be much higher than people thought. the uk government has bought a lot of doses of the oxford vaccine. it's put a lot of its money on that vaccine. was that a wise decision? it is, from what we read, easier to store and distribute than the other two vaccines that we find a lot about as well. yes, i think we've got to congratulate the vaccine task forced on an amazing piece of work. they haven't put all their eggs in one basket. they've procured six different vaccines, potentially. the

fight that the first ones that are getting through the trials are effective is remarkable. as you say the oxford vaccine, which we aren't quite sure if it's as effective as the pfizer, beyond take and madonna vaccines, is easier to store and deliver and therefore it is easier as well —— moderna vaccines. deliver and therefore it is easier as well -- moderna vaccines. how quickly do you think these vaccines and others that may come through as well are going to change our lives? in this country and around the world in terms of ending the horrors that we've suffered because of the pandemic. are we talking about months? next spring? we are talking about months. the government hoped to be able to start rolling out the vaccine in a limited way next month and of course the approach will be to vaccinate the most vulnerable first and those that look after the vulnerable, the carers, and nhs

staff and that's the right thing to do. but to achieve the sort of population levels that will make a difference is going to take until the spring and it makes it even more important that we don't let our guard down at the end of this lockdown period in december.m terms of not letting the guard down, asa terms of not letting the guard down, as a member of sage, what would you say about the government replacement for lockdown in england, the three tiers, which we had before but are going to be beefed up? does that makes sense to you? it makes sense to toughen them up. we know that with the tier 3 measures, with some additions, they've worked especially in the north—west where case numbers and hospitalisations are starting to reduce which is very good news. we know that the lockdown measures in wales and northern ireland appear to be effective as well. but the tier 1 measures were not very effective and

tier 2, partial at best. measures were not very effective and tier2, partialat best. so measures were not very effective and tier 2, partial at best. so it is important that we maintain them. we must remember that the virus naturally, if you leave it alone and don't do anything, the reproduction number is about three, meaning that every 10,000 people are going to affect 30,000 on average. at the moment the number is down to slightly on the wrong side of one. we need to get it below one if we are going to get case numbers down and also to be able to use the test and also to be able to use the test and trace and isolate in the most effective way. given what you say, how worried are you about government plans for christmas, for relaxing everything around several days over christmas? we were talking to vicki young, our deputy political editor, about the prospect of millions of people crisscrossing the uk around christmas. does that concern you? people crisscrossing the uk around christmas. does that concern you ?|j think the government are taking a cautious approach to it and rightly so. cautious approach to it and rightly so. it can't be a free fall, all going out partying. —— it can't be a

free for all. we've got to be collectively responsible. it isn't oui’ collectively responsible. it isn't our own health, it is the people we might in fact. is there a risk associated with it? yes, there is inevitably an increased risk but we must recognise that people have had a very hard year and there are harms from the virus that go beyond the direct effects in terms of social isolation, problems with mental health, damage to the economy and jobs and so it's a very difficult balancing act. it is indeed. professor, thank you so much for being with us and sharing your thoughts. kate nicholls is the chief executive of uk hospitality — the trade body representing the interests of the hospitality sector. good to have you with us again on bbc news. i suppose a mixed picture,

isn't it, in terms of a relaxation of the curfews on pubs and restau ra nts of the curfews on pubs and restaurants from 10pm until 11pm but at the same time the new tiers are tougher, beefed up and that's going tougher, beefed up and that's going to hit the hospitality sector, isn't it? absolutely. on balance, today's announcement is bad news for the hospitality sector and the millions working in it. it will be undoubtedly more difficult for these businesses to remain viable over the next couple of months as we go through this crisis and crucially they are missing their busiest trading period, when they should be getting a quarter of their profits coming through, to be able to sustain them through the rest of the year. so it's pretty hard—hitting. the strengthening of tier 2 and three, we know 70—80% of our businesses will struggle to be viable in those tiers without additional support and we understand from what the prime minister said that most of the country will be in those tiers. effectively coming out

of one lockdown and into another and few if any premises being able to make the most of that christmas cu rfew, make the most of that christmas curfew, being changed to allow an extra hour for drinking up. curfew, being changed to allow an extra hourfor drinking up. i think on balance, not good news and many jobs are at risk unless we can get further support from the chancellor. just to spell out in more detail for anyonejoining us, just to spell out in more detail for anyone joining us, in just to spell out in more detail for anyonejoining us, in tier 2 just to spell out in more detail for anyone joining us, in tier 2 alcohol can only be served in hospitality settings as part of a substantial meal and settings as part of a substantial mealand in settings as part of a substantial meal and in tier settings as part of a substantial mealand in tier3, settings as part of a substantial meal and in tier 3, pubs and restau ra nts ca n meal and in tier 3, pubs and restaurants can only offer meal and in tier 3, pubs and restau ra nts ca n only offer ta keaway and delivery services. are you concerned that those cities and large areas of england may be under these tiers for quite a long period of time, potentially months?” these tiers for quite a long period of time, potentially months? i think the prime minister said today that the prime minister said today that the restrictions in these tiers could be in place until march. that's a very long period of time to be under such a level of uncertainty. not every pub, bar, restau ra nt uncertainty. not every pub, bar, restaurant and hotel, and let's not

forget that many hotels and guesthouses that would normally be accommodating people over christmas will also be closed, not many of them offer a takeaway or delivery service and it's a small proportion of their overall trade. many of these businesses are facing operating at 80% less than they'd normally be operating at at this time of year which isn't sustainable for a long period of time. we understand again that the suggestion was today that few parts of the country would move down a tier and we already had seen our major towns and cities, birmingham, london, manchester, liverpool, newcastle, leeds,in manchester, liverpool, newcastle, leeds, in the higher tiers, the highest two and subject to the most stringent restrictions. i think we can see large parts of the country facing a restriction where you can't go to the pub for a drink, you can only go to a restaurant and socialise with your family, and these businesses will struggle to be able to make a level and scrape by without additional support. great to talk to you again. thanks for your

immediate reaction to those government announcements. let's go back to the vaccine. the other big story of the day. the oxford university and their pharamceutical partners astrazeneca have published the preliminary results from their large scale trails which shows that their vaccine is 70% effective at preventing the disease. and in a subgroup of volunteers who received a half dose followed by a full dose, the effectiveness rose to 90%. in the last few weeks, pfizer and biontech and moderna published their results, which showed that their two—dose vaccines were 95% effective. however, the oxford vaccine is cheaper and easier to store that the other two vaccines, since it can be stored at fridge temperature.

sirjohn bell, is regius professor of medicine at oxford university, hejoins me now. he isa he is a member of the government vaccine task forces. you must be a very happy man this evening? yeah, we're very happy man this evening? yeah, we' re pretty very happy man this evening? yeah, we're pretty happy, this is a good result for this. we've been waiting from april to see what happens. just explain the figures i was giving, that 90% efficacy can be reached with a half dose on the first dose. people might be puzzled, why would that be? for vaccines you often see these variations. some of them we understand and some we don't understand. if you change the dose slightly you get a better boost. what you're doing is, you get the immune system tuned up with the first dose and then you are boosting it with the second dose. you can imaginea it with the second dose. you can imagine a variety of outcomes to that depending on the dose that you use. we were fortunate to have two

arms in the trial. 0ne use. we were fortunate to have two arms in the trial. one was the standard dose and the other one was low—dose and then standard dose. it turned out that the low—dose and standard dose was operating at 90% in terms of its efficacy. if you ta ke in terms of its efficacy. if you take the totality of the vaccine, people who had the different doses, it's still 70% efficacy which is a pretty good result for a vaccine like this. and most importantly, we didn't see anybody in the vaccinating group who got very sick. some people got a cough and a fever but there were no people who were very sick with serious disease. so i think that tells you everything you need to know. that means that at the least it will reduce or cut hospitalisations. just to put the 70% figure into some kind of context, i think the flu vaccine is around 60%. vaccines float around

all the time. to be clear, we were hoping to get a figure of about 70% and then when we heard about the pfizer and moderna at 90 we thought that there may be a chance that we could get a higher number than 70. and in that particular subgroup we have. we need to extend the numbers so have. we need to extend the numbers so we're absolutely sure but there is reason to believe that's probably true. and so this is a good result which ever way you look at it. also to put it into context, we know there are quite a lot of vaccines being developed around the world but it's important to stress that this isn't a competition because the world needs them all. what are the advantages with the oxford vaccine in terms of distribution, price, storage and so on? well, one of the things which we always saw as an advantage is that it's a vaccine for

the world. there are many bits of the world. there are many bits of the world, middle income and low income countries, many people having a lot of this disease where the volumes you need are very large. in total we probably need 5 billion doses, vastly more than all the companies can produce together. and you have to get that to all kinds of different places. 0ne you have to get that to all kinds of different places. one advantage of this vaccine is that it can be stored comfortably at room temperature... at 4 degrees, refrigerator temperature and it's very easy to move around and administer. it doesn't produce a lot of reactions when we get it. i think this will make it easier to use this for vaccinating. it's really a vaccine for the world and for that reason we're pretty proud of it. you should be very proud of it and just assess the scale of the scientific achievement. i think you started working on this injanuary and here

we are, november and you've got your first results which are very encouraging. did you everything at the start of this that you'd be so quick and how have you managed it? credit needs to go to the team that are doing that. sarah gilbert developed a vaccine and then andy pollard ran the trial. they started this project injanuary literally pollard ran the trial. they started this project in january literally as the sequence of the virus became available from china. and they worked assiduously for 100 days, which is a remarkably short period of time to go from starting to make a vaccine to the point at which you can put into humans. so the first 100 days were frenetic and then of course running and managing this trial through april until now has been a really challenging problem. not least of which in this country

ata not least of which in this country at a very low period for infections in the summer which was a good thing but nevertheless he did not get many events to be able to judge her vaccine. so we have been very lucky but a lot of it is due to really excellent science by the scientists and a lot of hard work from clinical trial managers, all kinds of people involved in the study. it's a very impressive british effort i have to say. a british pharmaceutical company has been a greatjob, alongside a british university, is a great story. yes, he really is. maybe they'll make it into a film one day. you've compressed would normally be years of work into months. the number and to be honest i don't know how true the number is but the number of people spray around as it takes eight years on average to make a vaccine. some vaccines it takes 30 years to make a mess of the vaccine for another respiratory virus has taken more

than 30 years. so this is normally a very long process and anthony found she, a great guy who is running some of the american efforts said in february done it for the vaccine until the end of 2021 as itjust cannot be done. —— anthony fauci. at the time i thought we would do it before. if we could do it we would do ita before. if we could do it we would do it a heck of a lot before then to get it done by the end of the year. so it was interesting. because the starting point was everybody was safe he will take forever. but it does make a difference because if we can get out of this epidemic by the spring, get back to normal, that's a huge advantage. it certainly is and talking about that, what is your particular timescale on this? do you think it will be possible for my uk point of view and i hear what you say about wanting to help with the global effort but in the uk when do you think most people will be vaccinated by? so i hadjust been

over some manufacturing details today. being able to use half the dose for the first injections is a bit ofan dose for the first injections is a bit of an advantage. you can give twice as many people the first dose. which is obviously a good thing. the intention is to roll this out from the very end of december, early january. and one might build that up so you are immunising three orfour or five so you are immunising three orfour orfive a so you are immunising three orfour or five a people a week. so you can cover a lot of ground. the flu vaccine, we get about 30 million doses of flu vaccine out the door in about 2.5 months so when he really get going on vaccination, you get a lot vaccines done. i'm optimistic in saying april. before we get enough people to really be sure that this disease will settle down in the population. that is not that far off andi population. that is not that far off and i think i know it's tough for people and i've heard your previous interviews with some of the

hospitality industry and everybody knows this is really hard. but i think the end is and everyone has just got to keep your eye on the finish line because we are going to get there. great to talk to you. you area part get there. great to talk to you. you are a part of getting us to that finishing light and nothing the premise to describe you as a scientific cavalry. so congratulations, the regents professor of medicine at austin university. many thanks. thank you. let's talk northern ireland. the northern ireland executive is to spend £95 million to give every household a pre—paid card which they can use at high street businesses. it's part of a wider financial support package for businesses forced to close because of restrictions coming into effect on friday. the full details are yet to be announced, but it's thought every household will get £200. let's get more on this from our ireland correspondent chris page, who joins us from belfast.

a christmas present really, £200 per household. that's right. this is the most eye—catching part of a big financial package from the devolved government here. early the afternoon, £95 million going to this voucher scheme so that works out and about £200 per household. the reason why say is the precise details of this including the exact amount which every house is going to get is being worked out still by officials in particular by the department economy. the economy minister diane dodd to the dup. but the idea is it will stimulate spending on the high street. northern ireland is giving into a two week lockdown on friday so all nonessential retailers are shutting. 0nce so all nonessential retailers are shutting. once again businesses had been very critical of the timing of this lockdown and the way the decision had been arrived at by ministers in the devolved government. they said they are being

very poor munication but today they been more elementary about what the executive has been doing. they think this is going to be a successful scheme. as regards resisting ethical people would spend it on, that will be part of discussions which will ta ke be part of discussions which will take place we are told over the next six weeks was about the length of time it will take to get this came up time it will take to get this came up and running. but it's on this is based on a very similar scheme that is been in place of sodom on the channel islands and in jerseys with tivoli. there every household to the car in the post in mid—september with a hundred points and they had to spend it by the end of october so it was time—limited and they were able to spend it more or less anywhere on the island but they were asked to spend in a way that they thought would most benefit the local economy. so as regards whether the car will be used in a retailers and hospitality businesses, for several of the retailers eligible will have a locally owned retailer over all those questions will be asked but i think the whole business is welcoming the decision and as you

say plenty of households in northern ireland will as well. thank you very much indeed, chris in belfast. fans will be allowed at outdoor sporting events in the lowest—risk areas when the national lockdown in england ends next week. in tier 1, up to 4000 spectators will be allowed to attend outdoor sports events. 2,000 fans will be allowed at outdoor events in tier 2. and in the highest risk areas, tier 3, there will be no supporters allowed in the grounds. mark palios is the tranmere rovers chairman and the former chief executive of the fa. good to have you with us. what is your reaction? most will say is a really positive move in the right direction. you have to start somewhere and this is a great thing which points to perhaps the beginning of the end. how do you

think tranmere will be affected in particular? the cash to make little difference to a lot of clubs and in fa ct difference to a lot of clubs and in fact in the short term it may actually pose problems. we were in two or three before loch ness we would not have any actual fans but evenif would not have any actual fans but even if we did in tier 2, we would probably be cash wise worse off because we already have the season tickets which 3000 ticket holders, we don't have them all out at 2000. while that may protect against potential claims to pay the money back, 2000 fans, we would have probably costs of opening the stadium and all the stadium costs going all the gates opened to social distance, so we probably would cost us distance, so we probably would cost us about £10,000 a game with no extra cash coming in because whatever cash we have from season ticket holders is already in hand. see you are suggesting may be more trouble than it's worth. no because of the end of the day there are

different aspects here. from a pure cash perspective it makes very little difference and we might actually damage certain clubs who had big stadium costs that they need even to have 4000 fans in. so that when i make a massive difference i think to the lower league clubs in terms of the cash that they get him but it does protect some of the vulnerability of season tickets. but also interesting aspects which is the sporting integrity because if we are to stay in tier 3, we don't have home advantage because we have no fa ns home advantage because we have no fans at home but if we play in tier 1 there is. having said that this is a positive step in the right direction can be any closer to normality because i can tell you if you are playing and if you stadium, it is difficult to really get what you get from the fans when they feel. this is a potato sport at the elite level and that's what is necessary for clu bs elite level and that's what is necessary for clubs to see and i think it's a step alone the what makes everybody think there is only slightly to the tunnel because it's permissible for a lot of clubs.

that's wise important because it is just the beginning of getting fans in large numbers back into stadiums. but i suppose people are talking about the spring is a time when we will have our people vaccinated and we will find a way of all this. in terms of football season, it is kind of ending around then. that may well be the case. one hopes of course of action is there and there is good news on that coming forwards and i think this is seen as not to saviour financially of the clubs what is the beginning of the route back to normality. i think what it does do importantly is whilst the cash for this season's ticket holders is being put into club accounts as part of the whole that they have got, to my wanted and partly does is give that sort of good feeling for 21—22 when club started to collect season tickets in the spring and i think

therefore that is one of the major impacts. there would not be this massive cash hole in the spring of 2021. because people will be much more positive around the prospect of returning to see these games again in the grounds. let me ask you, we are hearing the secretary of culture saying agreement is close on a bailout deal with english football league close. you have any information about that?” league close. you have any information about that? i don't have information about that? i don't have information other than that passed on the and generally. i don't know whether that means they have come to a conclusion with regard to the championship clubs with her is as an advocate cash problem. but there was in essence a deal and regarding league1 in essence a deal and regarding league 1 and two. so we have to wait and see how that is shared out so we don't know how that will be but supposedly some way of attributable to the gate and commute we have lost asa to the gate and commute we have lost as a consequence of having your grounds close. so that is the basis

was that we are all waiting for the analysis before we see what that will mean for all of us. and he spoke about this being a step in the right direction but it is going to be months before things get back to normal in the sporting sense. are clu bs normal in the sporting sense. are clubs going to the wall? are you hearing that english football league clu bs a re hearing that english football league clubs are in desperate trouble at the moment? we know they are in trouble but are they very close to going to the wall? difficult to know is what other clubs face but you are probably not go up in a number on number of close struggling to pay wages this month and will be next month but that will continue on. we see what the size of any pay—out is for individual clubs that will give us for individual clubs that will give usa for individual clubs that will give us a better view in terms of where clu bs us a better view in terms of where clubs are. clubs are reasonably resilient bill my big concerns it's a lot of this cash hole that has been filled by putting things forward. people use a term kick the can down the road. there are loans out there and they have to be

repaid. there are issues whereby future revenues are pulled forward to for the gap. all credible in terms of the gap but they had to be paid and there is an impact data on them. so for me what goes hand in hand with all of this is sensible wage restraint and the wage gap that was introduced is a crude but fairly fundamental step i think that needs to be taken by lee clubs in the medium—term. to be taken by lee clubs in the medium-term. 0k, thank you very much. former chief executive of the fam can get more reaction to the announcement in terms of government winter covid—19 plan for england. mike cherry is the national chairman of the federation of small businesses. i suppose a mixed picture for small business. some good news in this package and some not so good news. business. some good news in this package and some not so good newslj think there'll be a huge relief that businesses can reopen after the prime minister made his announcement

today. so you have shops and and hairdressers and beauty and leisure centre is all able to open irrespective of the risk and tear they are in. for other sectors as you point out rightly particularly hospitality and those in tier 3, this is going to be a very long, ha rd this is going to be a very long, hard winter because these tears are going to stay in place just over christmas but not even christmas and new year but up until the end of march. what we are calling for is the chancellor with the spending review announcement on wednesday to make sure that there is commensurate support in there for those businesses that are still going to struggle. and that's in the supply chains as well as the front line pubs, chains as well as the front line pu bs, restau ra nts chains as well as the front line pubs, restaurants and others that are pubs, restaurants and others that a re really pubs, restaurants and others that are really going to struggle in tier 3. of course we don't know is when is an area going to be put into tier 3so

is an area going to be put into tier 3 so planning for christmas lunch is at restaurants and pubs is going to be more difficult this year than he normally is. and we have a minute or so left to let me ask you about nonessential retail. shops reopening on december the 2nd, is thatjust in time in terms of so many businesses doing so much businessjust ahead of christmas that it at least gives them a few weeks of trading? gives them a few weeks of trading? gives them a few weeks of trading? gives them a few week of trading but it shortens the period dramatically and of course they are still going to have to make sure that social distancing takes place. now many thousands of businesses have spent a lot of money making sure that they are safe places so this current lockdown has been devastating for them in the run to the christmas period. wejust hope them in the run to the christmas period. we just hope the next three have been four weeks will give them a chance to recover some of that and enable as many as possible to get through those severe winter months that we all face come up injanuary

and february. a very tough winter indeed. thank you so much from the federation of small businesses. now on the bbc news channel, it's time for a look at your questions answered. you are investigator so where is your... what was your reaction?

the... we were aware that we were coming up to collecting the sufficient number of people that we required to be able to do this interim analysis and then on saturday night the independent safety a nd saturday night the independent safety and regulatory board discussed this with professor who is actually the investigator and... and we were told the next day and then today we have announced it to the wider group and of course the press release has come out. so we are alljust terrifically excited today. the smile says it all. i have so many questions, but i have some viewers questions for you first. this one from andrew says, "what is the covid vaccine efficacy of a single dose?" so, our vaccine is designed to be administered as two doses and given

between 4—6 weeks apart. so all the data that we have gathered and we are presenting today is based on our ideal vaccine of giving two different a prime dose and a booster dose. and most of our participants in our trial have received these two doses. we don't have very many who have received just one dose alone. and so we have not really got the statistical power in our study to be able to answer that, but that is something we will be looking at going forward as we collect more data. just for my ease of mind, can you explain the difference between the 70% and the 90%? because it's more effective if you were to give half a dose in the first of the two doses. is that right? and do we know why that is? so that's a really interesting observation that we have made and one we were not expecting. so in our participants, in our two groups of people who had a standard dose for their first

vaccine and then again a standard dose for their booster vaccine, and a separate group who had a low dose for their first vaccine followed by a standard dose booster. what we saw was in the standard dose group, we sawjust over 60%, over 60%, 62% efficacy so protection from infection. but in the low dose—standard dose group, we saw 90% efficacy. so that's really interesting. we don't quite understand why that is yet. the results that we are showing today are about efficacy so protection from disease. there's a huge amount of work that needs to go into unpicking the immune responses in these different groups to understand that a little bit more. picking up on that point, paul has a question from northampton, he says if someone gets the oxford

vaccine is in the 30% non—effectiveness group, how will they know that it has not worked for them? likewise if they are in the 70% effective group, how would they know they have been protected? that's a really good question. and what we don't have for covid yet is an understanding of some of the correlates of protection. that means exactly what degree the immune response correlates with protection from the disease. we do know that for some other diseases, for example for some sort of meningitis, we know that having a certain antibody level, if you've got that level, you are very unlikely to get the disease. we don't really know that for covid yet because it's relatively new disease and we are still finding out a lot about it and we and other groups are looking into developing protection. so we cannot take our participants and measure their antibody level and say you had

this number of antibody, this means you are to be protected from disease. we don't know that yet. and what we do know is that our vaccine overall is 70% effective at preventing infection. and that means that actually by reducing the amount of infection in the population, you are likely to catch the disease. so even if you were in that 30% who have not been protected, it is not a lot of disease because there is good herd immunity and because we have good roll—out and uptake of the vaccine, you would still get protection because of that indirect effect of there being reduced numbers of cases in the population. right, now patty says will the vaccine be effective in preventing reinfection for those already having recovered from covid—19? a lot people are asking that. do we know? we don't know that just yet. the participants that we recruited to this part of the trial were all individuals who had not had previous covid—19 tests. we tested them at the start of the trial to make sure they were antibody negative

and they were also unable to enrol if they had of previous positive. so these were a naive group of people who had never encountered covid as far as we know. of course it's crucially important to know whether it prevents reinfection and that is part of what we're looking at in the wider studies going forward and we will need time to get to that piece of information. how much time? so partly as we have, in the groups of people that we've enrolled more recently into the study, where we are of a people who have had previous covid infection, so we will have that data so we've got are people who have evidence of previous infection, they have received the vaccine and then we need to see what the rates of infection are in them. so we know that we're talking about months really.

but that will be a game changer, if there was a vaccination preventing reinfection? yeah, there is a huge amount of work that we need to do before we can feel confident about that, i'm afraid. so watch this space. we're looking at that very closely. sorry to keep the pressure on you, but as you know, there is a lot of pressure around for answers. i got this from rev, who says if someone has been contaminated with a virus, will they use the vaccine anyway or need to use another treatment? we've already discussed really, but that's important. so again that ties into that point. we don't know whether or not it will prevent reinfection. one of the things we have done back in on people with evidence of previous covid disease is make sure we are not causing any adverse reaction in people who previously had covid who were then given our vaccine. that's important to look at as well. and that's something that regulators are very keen that we look at going forward. to make sure that the vaccine is safe in people who've

had covid infection. remember that when we are deploying this on a mass scale across the population, we might not have data on individual people. we might not be able to say if an individual person has had covid previously or that may or may not have had a test in the past. so it's quite important to feel confident and can safely give our vaccine people who might have had covid of the past. but that is difficult because a lot of people simply have not had have not had a test. they think i might have had it but they don't know. that's right. and that's one of the things about our trial is that we are capturing that data right at the very beginning of the journey. we don't know whether or not they've had exposure to covid in the past and that is something we are looking at. one thing that springs to mind with the pfizer and the moderna vaccine seemed to be effective in the older and most vulnerable. are you getting similar results? this is all very hot off the press, so we have not gone back and looked

in detail at the age breakdown of our participants. we recruited older predicaments later on in our trial and so it's likely that the majority of the participants we looked at are probably in younger age groups than older age groups. but we have broadened recruitment to older age groups to answer exactly this question, to look at the effectiveness in the elderly. a lot of questions with the safety of this. this one from kay, who says vaccines can take ten years or more to develop. how safe can the new vaccines be when developed in eight months and is it safe after a flu jab? so two questions there. i will answer the second one first because that's a quick answer. so the ukjoint committee on vaccination and immunisation which sets the immunisation guidance for the uk has decided that it will be safe to have a flu vaccine within seven days of a covid vaccine if that is offered to you. going forward.

in terms of the first question about safety, i completely understand why people are anxious about safety. this is a new vaccine. that is a new vaccine, all have been around for less than a year. the vaccine trials have happened at pace and they have happened quickly but it's important understand that the safety procedures have not been rushed. what normally takes a really long time and vaccine trials is the set—up process. it's applying for funding and doing the very small studies looking for safety and then if there is no safety concerns and expanding to a trial and then to a large group and each of those stages if you are academic have to apply forfunding or go back to regulators and show data and that whole process can take years.

we were very lucky that we were provided funding early on in the development of this vaccine, which allowed us to recruit lots of people to tap into huge numbers of resources that allowed us to speed up that initial application stage. once the trial started, the safety checks and balances, the regulatory review of participants, the reporting to our independent data and safety monitoring board, to the regulators nationally, all of that has happened exactly as it normally would. so that has happened at the same pace as normal. what has sped up has been the pretrial work and that's because we were given the funding to tap into the resources we needed. hello. if you enjoy your mornings crisp and frosty, you'll enjoy what's coming our way later in the week, although the frost will be accompanied by some fog patches which could linger all day long. next few days, though, things are set to turn that bit milder and there will be some rain around. wettest of all across parts of western scotland,

northern ireland, where we've still got the rain around this evening after a fairly wet afternoon. the further south and east we are, we've got some clear skies to take us into the night. but temperatures in single figures to start with, actually climbing through the night as the south—westerly winds freshen. still bringing rain to scotland and northern ireland at times, drier the further south and east you are. clearest of the skies in northern scotland. single—figure temperatures here, but for most of you, as i said, temperatures climbing through the night into the morning, in double—figures as we start the day. as for tuesday, well, we'll have plenty of cloud around across the country. rain keeps on going across western scotland, northern ireland. a wetter day for northern ireland, in fact. there'll be some rain across other parts of scotland, north west england, too. the further south and east you are, better chance of some sunshine, and in that sunshine, temperatures up to around 13—14 degrees. bye— bye.

a breakthrough with a british covid vaccine — and it's cheap, easily stored and the government's pre—ordered 100 million doses. the oxford university vaccine is shown to be on average 70% effective — up to 90% if the dose is adjusted. i can definitely see a future beyond the pandemic. i think that we will be able to roll out vaccines in the first half of next year and have a big impact here in the uk. we'll be looking at when we might get the vaccine and when next year we can return to normality. also tonight... the national lockdown will end next week and england will be divided into three tiers.