bringing that live as soon as it good afternoon. this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines: the european union lays out plans to keep road and air travel running with the uk — if there's no brexit deal. the two sides say they will keep negotiating until sunday. it is difficult. we are willing to grant access to the single market to our british friends, it's the largest single market in the world, but the conditions have to be fair. we will leave no stone unturned. we would like a deal if it's possible but we're not going to sacrifice the basic points of democratic principle. secondary schools and colleges in wales will move to online learning from monday in an attempt to reduce the transmission of coronavirus. a catalogue of failures in maternity

care is revealed at the shrewsbury and telford nhs trust. richard stanton‘s daughter died six hours after she was born. we had no idea that this trust would fail us and fail so many families in such a catastrophic way. the sky news presenter, kay burley, will be taken off—air for six months after an internal investigation found she and a small number of sky news staff had breached covid—19 guidelines whilst celebrating her 60th birthday. good afternoon. we're waiting for a downing street news conference on coronavirus which should start any moment. it's being led by the health

secretary, matt hancock, alongside nhs england's professor stephen powis and england's chief medical officer, professor chris whitty. the briefing comes after the latest coronavirus figures show a rise in the number of infections. 20,964 new cases have been recorded, that's the highest daily increase since mid—november. a further 516 new deaths within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test have also been reported. while we wait for matt hancock and his colleagues to come to the podium in downing street, let's speak to our health correspondent nick triggle. worrying figures. yes, there's been a lot of concern behind—the—scenes in government about the numbers of

positive cases. during lockdown from mid november onwards we saw the numbers are dropping the day on day but they picked on average around 25000 and then came down to an average of 15,000, so the fact we have seen over 20,000 infections in one day is a concern. it is one day's set of figures but what seems to have happened is the impact of reopening society after lockdown has meant those cases have plateaued and if these, if there are future rises in the coming weeks, that puts a lot of pressure going into christmas when of course the restrictions are going to be eased and we have been warned we will see a jump in the factions. if that is increasing before christmas, that is concern and next week we get the review on the current tier system, whether local areas will go up to higher tiers with tighter restrictions or

come down. these rises come at a crucial time with that in mind. 0bviously lots of areas of the country of england hoping to come down a tier but actually indications like london may go up from two to three. a lot of talk of london. the cases are rising in london. they are not yet at the levels we saw in places put into tier 3 last month, so places put into tier 3 last month, so not yet at their levels. hospital capacity, still a fair amount but it is still finely balanced. i don't think we will see a lot of these using of restrictions because close to christmas that would send the wrong message. we will see some areas in to go up to tier 3 but of course there is a lot of hype with the vaccination programme starting and we will hear little bit about

that today. —— hope. and we will hear little bit about that today. -- hope. we heard from the common words of caution. yes, we are seeing people vaccinated but that cannot allow people to be tempted to take their foot off the pedal as it were and to ease up on obeying restrictions of. it was a huge boost for the country to see the first patients and health and ca re the first patients and health and care staff getting their vaccinations this week and that will continue next week. the vaccination programme will be expanded out into gp surgeries. we will see between 200 to 300 gp centre is starting to do vaccinations may be tuesday or wednesday of next week, so there will be progress. thank you. here is matt hancock and chris whitty and professor stephen powis. good evening. i am joined by chief medical officer professor chris

whitty and by professor stephen powis, the medical director of nhs england. the start of our covid—19 vaccination programme on tuesday was the latest in a long line of firsts for the nhs. the nhs was the first health care system in the world to roll out the vaccines for other deadly diseases like tb, measles, mumps and rubella, and meningitis c so mumps and rubella, and meningitis c so i'm proud that we can now add covid—19 to that list. before updating you on vaccine deployment, i would like to go through the latest coronavirus data. the average number of new cases each day is now 16,236 and that has arisen over the last week. today there are 15,2112 covid patients in hospital across the uk which is slightly less than last week. sadly 516 deaths were

reported yesterday. the fall in the number of cases has flattened off and is rising in some parts of the country. like kent and essex and some parts of london. and this shows us some parts of london. and this shows us that this fight is not over. and how we must all play our part and stay on our guard now and through christmas. we have help on the horizon, we can all see that with the vaccine, so don't blow it now. and of course this shows why the deployment of the vaccine is so important. i just want to take a moment to thank everybody involved in the roll—out so far which has been done with such professionalism and skill. today i want to pay special tribute and thank pharmacists who are working with such a tricky vaccine, must be kept cold at —70 degrees, and they have done so much work to get ready for

this moment at such pace. as of today we are vaccinating in 73 hospitals across the uk, tens of thousands of people have had the jab andi thousands of people have had the jab and i want to set up the next steps. we will shortly expand our vaccination programme further to ten more locations in england and from next week, we plan to begin vaccinations in gp led sites and vaccinate in care homes by christmas. we will keep on expanding this roll out to more people. as more vaccines come on stream we this roll out to more people. as more vaccines come on stream we will open vaccination centres in larger venues like sports stadium and conference halls next year and that's when most people can expect to get their jabs. that's when most people can expect to get theirjabs. when the time comes the nhs will get in touch with you so you don't need to come forward and get into contact with the nhs. 0n forward and get into contact with the nhs. on tuesday in milton keynes it was great to meet some of the patients and staff involved and i

loved what barbara, who is 82, said when she got herjab. she said, i would much rather get the vaccine than covid—19 itself. i am with barbara. it is free according to need and it is the best way to protect you and those around you and when enough people get vaccinated, and we see those hospitalisation numbers going down, we can then start lifting the restrictions which have made this year so tough. i felt really proud when i saw mohammed hassan and i sat with him as he got hisjab, he is hassan and i sat with him as he got his jab, he is a doctor at milton keynes hospital who volunteered to treat covid patients and himself caught covid and he said the jack was painless but he talked about the challenges we face right now whilst we roll out the jab right across the country. even with this mass

programme under way, from the next few months we will not have sufficient production through the vaccination programme and this is a lwa ys vaccination programme and this is always the most difficult time for the nhs anyway in the winter months. and with the number of cases rattling again we have all got to do our bit not put more pressure on the nhs. to do that we must keep respecting the rules where we are. and take those sensible steps that we can all take, like washing our hands, covering our face we can all take, like washing our hands, covering ourface and making space between people, respecting that social distancing and the rules that social distancing and the rules that come with it. we cannot stop doing that now just that come with it. we cannot stop doing that nowjust because the vaccine is here and even if you have had the jab you are not immune because the vaccine will not fully protect you until seven days after you have received the second dose and we don't yet know if it. you from passing on the disease to others. we have two or keep acting

as if we can still pass it on and thatis as if we can still pass it on and that is the safest way to get the number of cases down and keep people safe. i am number of cases down and keep people safe. iam particular concern number of cases down and keep people safe. i am particular concern about the number of cases in london, kent and essex. cases are rising and in many areas already high. looking into the detail the testing results and surveys show us by far the fastest rise is amongst the secondary school aged children, 11-18 secondary school aged children, 11—18 years old while the rate amongst adults is broadly flat. but we know from experience that a sharp rise in cases in younger people can lead to a rise amongst more vulnerable age groups later. we have seen vulnerable age groups later. we have seen that happen before so we need to do everything we can to stop the spread amongst school aged children in london right now. we must not wait until the review which will ta ke wait until the review which will take place on the 16th of december. we need to take targeted action

immediately. having spoken to the leaders of london's councils and to the mayor, we have decided to put in place an immediate plan for testing all secondary school aged children in the seven worst affected boroughs of london, in parts of essex that border london and parts of kent. we wa nt to border london and parts of kent. we want to keep schools open because thatis want to keep schools open because that is both right for education and rightful public health. we therefore surging mobile testing units and we will be working with schools and local authorities to encourage these children and their families to get tested over the coming days. more details will be set out tomorrow. i wa nt to details will be set out tomorrow. i want to urge all those involved to step forward for the testing. it's important that 11—18 —year—olds get tested in these boroughs irrespective of the have symptoms. because we know that you can have covid and you can still pass it on even without symptoms. around one in

three people with covid had no symptoms at all but they can still pass it on to others and i know that nobody wants to be responsible for endangering those around them, so i urge everybody involved to get a test. researched testing in leicester, search testing in liverpool. we note that community testing can work and it requires a collective spirit of determination and of resilience and of people coming together to do the right thing. something i have confidence that everybody involved will find in the days to come. this sort of community testing deployment is not just available in kent, essex and london where cases are rising but also across the country to help keep cases coming down where they are. we are now working with over 100 local authorities across england and with the three devolved administrations to help get cases down using community testing. this includes

manchester, kirklees, lancashire, lancashire are planning to mobilise community based testing in their areas before christmas as are manchester and kirklees and this offer remains available all across the uk. to be done in partnership with local authorities and devolved administrations. we can deploy this sort of massive testing because of the work that nhs test entries have done so effectively to build our vast testing capacity. 0ur done so effectively to build our vast testing capacity. our new nhs business plan sets out how we will grow this further and today's figures on testing and tracing show that thanks to the improvements in the way that we do contact tracing, by reducing the number of repeat calls that are made to individual households, which has been one of the pieces of feedback we received, our contact tracing receives 86% of contacts. our contact tracing receives 86% of co nta cts. i

our contact tracing receives 86% of contacts. i want to pay tribute to the contact tracing team working under dido harding for delivering this very significant improvement. and from today, i can confirm that people instructed to isolate by the covid—19 app and are eligible can claim the £500 test and tray support payment directly through the app also. even as we work to overcome these challenges, i am determined that we also lose no time in modernising our hospitals so today i can also announce 1800 projects which are being funded from the £600 million package to upgrade and refurbish hospitals across 178 nhs trusts this year. this will include projects for fixing roofs for new mri machines and these projects that will be completed over the winter will be completed over the winter will make a real difference for staff and patients alike and help the nhs to build back better. these announcements that i am making today

show just what a massive effort announcements that i am making today showjust what a massive effort is needed every day to tackle coronavirus. even with the vaccine on the horizon, i am grateful to all those working in schools, in local authorities, delivering the vaccine roll—out, our pharmacists, nhs test and trace in the hospital improvement programme for all the effo rts improvement programme for all the efforts that they need to deliver on all of this. it shows that every pa rt all of this. it shows that every part of our nhs from gp surgeries to hospitals, every part of government, local and national, is all playing its part in the battle against this virus. we have to remember in this battle that we are all on the same side. and especially with christmas coming, there is something that we can all do which is to respect the rules and all of us at all times do all that we can to stop the spread of the virus. this is a marathon not a sprint. we had to keep going, the finish line is insight and we know

together we get there. we now go straight to questions from the public and then questions from the media to professor chris whitty, professor steve pa rris media to professor chris whitty, professor steve parris and myself. if we turn to phil who is coming by video from south london. good afternoon. what are the exit criteria that will see the end of the tier system if it is vaccination? what percentage of the community or population need to be vaccinated for us to exit the tiers miss thank you. thank you. this is a great question and one i am asked a lot, so i will try to answer it at high level and then turned to the chief medical officer high level and then turned to the chief medical 0fficerfor high level and then turned to the chief medical officer for more detail. the simple answer is we will keep looking at the five indicators that we have for deciding on which tiers areas need to go into and

whilst we roll out the vaccine, we will look at the impact of people having been vaccinated, the impact that has on reducing the number of hospitalisations, the number of cases, the number of cases in the over 60s, the positivity in testing and the trajectory of all those indicators because it is by reducing the number of people in hospital and by reducing the number of people who die from coronavirus that the vaccine will help us to get out of this. i cannot answer the part of the question which is what percentage of the community need to be vaccinated for us to exit the tiers because we don't know yet the impact of the vaccine on how much people can transmit the virus. what we will do is watch the data that we look at now and the vaccine will of course, i hope, suppress that data in the months to come as we roll the

vaccine out to more and more of the population. what i'd add is the vaccine will over time as it spreads through a greater percentage of the most vulnerable population, the vaccine will take the risks slowly down. firstly we will start to see some of the mortality falling because the most vulnerable would be vaccinated first but that won't leave a lot of people who if they catch covid come a significant proportion will end up in the nhs and potentially could become unwell, severely unwell, end up in intensive care. to get through all of those people will take some time. this assumes the vaccine just protects people from severe disease and from covid infections themselves. as the secretary of state has said the thing we don't know is will this vaccine reduce the transmission on?

0ur expectation is that it well but thatis 0ur expectation is that it well but that is not certain yet and we can't be absolutely sure of that and depending on whether it does and what percentage it does, will lead to trying to work out what percentage of people need to be vaccinated for us to make significant forward steps but and as the final but in this, we won't have a situation where we are in the tiers we are at the moment and then suddenly everything stops. the risk will gradually go down and down, we will gradually go down and down, we will walk backwards for many of the things we're doing at the moment, possibly at different rates in different parts of the country and ata different parts of the country and at a certain point the risk will be at a certain point the risk will be ata at a certain point the risk will be at a level which society, represented by our political leaders and in parliament, will say, look, this level of risk is one we are prepared to tolerate. as we do for example with flu. with flu there are in any given years, about 7000 people die a year or flu, that's the

reason we vaccinate but we accept there is some risk. at the end of this there will be some risk but we will have brought it down to a level where the mortality rates are much lower, there isn't a risk of the nhs being overwhelmed, when people feel it is the right moment to take them to low levels in terms of the restrictions but it will be a gradual process not a sudden process. thanks for asking that question because i know a lot of people have been looking for the a nswer to people have been looking for the answer to that question and i think the chief medical officer set it out brilliantly. the next question is from kate from dudley. kate asked, new year's eve is a special time for some people as much as christmas is. will we be able to spend it with our close family members? the answer to the question is yes, if you live with them in your household but we are not bringing in special sets of

rules for new year as we have for christmas. i know this has been such a tough year for so christmas. i know this has been such a tough yearfor so many christmas. i know this has been such a tough year for so many of us, 2020, and so we brought in the rules around christmas to make sure people have that opportunity to be able to see some members of their family who they haven't been able to all year. but we have got to be careful. and let's not blow it, especially with the vaccine on the horizon. let's make sure that we will take the actions we need to to look after other people and to look after especially those who are vulnerable to the disease over christmas. we therefore haven't put in place a set of specific rules for new year or indeed for lots of other holidays, special occasions throughout this crisis. just for christmas. i know

thatis crisis. just for christmas. i know that is frustrating but u nfortu nately that is frustrating but unfortunately it is necessary to keep the virus under control. i don't know if you want to add anything? thanks very much. we now turn to hugh pym from the bbc. question for you and professor chris whitty first. how concerned are you about this increase in cases in the south—east which relate back to infections a week or so ago when lockdown was still in place orjust ending? how likely is it that you will need london and essex into the top tier when you carry out your review next week? in answer to the second part of the question, we will look at the data, the most up to date data we have on the 16th, so next wednesday. of course we are looking at it all the time but that's the moment we will take a formal review and a formal decision. i don't think it's right to pre—empt that decision. we publish all of the

data we are going to be looking at and we have explained the five indicators, and these decisions are what we think is necessary to keep the virus under control on the broader strategy of suppressing the virus until the vaccine can make us safe. having set out the strategy and setting out the data we look at, you will understand it six days to go until that formal decision has been taken and i don't want to pre—empt that by saying more about the specific decision on the 16th. however, we do look at the data daily and as i said in my opening comments we have seen daily and as i said in my opening comments we have seen those worrying rises in not just comments we have seen those worrying rises in notjust london, in other parts of the south—east and east of england as well. of course we are concerned and of course i think anybody who is living in those areas is going to be concerned. throughout

this is this difficult balance where if we don't do a sufficient number of things at the rates start to go up of things at the rates start to go up and this is the third of the year when for all respiratory voices, rates go up. we see this across europe, this is across the whole of the continent. in the areas in the north and the midlands in particular where people have done a remarkable job of coming together to meet the restrictions, stop doing social activities that are not necessarily reducing contact, they have managed to bring the rates are down, they have been falling quite consistently in the north—west and north—east and bits of the midlands but they have not been falling in some of the areas where we have had lower restrictions in place, in particular north east london, bits of essex and kent. this is also true in some parts of lincolnshire as well. therefore we need to look seriously at these areas and asked, are there

enough measures going in or do we had to have more? that is something ministers will have to look at next week, but if these rates are going up week, but if these rates are going up towards the tail end of lockdown, thatis up towards the tail end of lockdown, that is quite a concerning situation so that is quite a concerning situation soi that is quite a concerning situation so i think we need to keep quite a close eye on that because we all know the christmas period, if people go too far in the christmas period it will be a period of risk everywhere. if you are the rates going up, difficult time of year, christmas period and then going to the toughest time of year for the nhs, that does paint quite a concerning picture. i will ask if i ama concerning picture. i will ask if i am a professor powerless to comment on the nhs side as well. in the same way we have seen this fantastic reduction in daily case rate in parts of the north of england and some parts of the midlands and indeedin some parts of the midlands and indeed in the south—west around

bristol, i just indeed in the south—west around bristol, ijust urge everybody to stick at it because they have been doing a greatjob and i know there have been sacrifices in those areas but the pressures on the nhs are coming down and everybody should feel that they have been playing their part in bringing their case rates down. we are now seeing them go rates down. we are now seeing them 9° up rates down. we are now seeing them go up in other parts of the country and obviously having to address that, including the pressures that brings to the nhs. as you know hospitalisations follow infection rates very closely and so in those areas of the country as the secretary of state have said where we see rates fall over the last month or so, so the north east, north west, liverpool, we have seen hospitalisations for the number of people in hospitalfor but hospitalisations for the number of people in hospital for but we have also seen in parts of the country where infection rates have not fallen or are raising, pressure and remain on the nhs will start to rise and that is particularly in parts of london, the east of england and

parts of the south—east and when infection rates are at the highest, such as in the northern parts of kent, we are seeing a lot of pressure on the nhs. yes there is concern when infection rates stay high orare concern when infection rates stay high or are rising because that will lead to more hospitalisations, more people in itu and more deaths. it is critical that we continue with the measures to bring infection rates down and ensure those numbers start to fall. thank you. next question from tom clarke at itv. thank you. given what we have just heard from professor whitty, is it not inevitable that we are going to see a dangerous third wave in cases now? and if that is going to be the case, shouldn't we rather than wait until next week to make a decision on further restrictions? if i could also ask about the testing

programme. i don't believe you specify the type of test going to be used. if it is lateral flow test, there have been questions about how effective they have been in reducing cases, so are you effective they have been in reducing cases, so are you confident the school testing programme will make the difference you needed to make? ina way the difference you needed to make? in a way and then asked professor whitty to respond as well. we are doing everything we can to try to keep the case rates down and that does include sending in community testing and in particular because we are seeing this very specific rise amongst a particular age group, 11, and particularly, we are sending in mobile testing units and they are targeted testing and we look forward to working with the schools and we are working with local authorities in that part of london to try to

find and then isolate those who are tested positive. that can help us and can play a part in keeping case rates down, but only as part of an overall package where it is individuals who can make the biggest difference to keeping case rates are down. these decisions are not inevitable, the decisions on tiers and the measures that need to be taken depend on how people respond and how they behave. we have seen in parts of the country where people have really responded to the need to tackle very high case rates. professor powis mentioned liverpool, it is also true that in other parts of the north of england, case rates are of the north of england, case rates a re really of the north of england, case rates are really coming down sharply. manchester, we are rolling out community testing there as well and

on specific types of testing, and the first instance we will be using pcr tests in london because the mobile units are ready to roll and we will also be rolling out lateral flow tests. they are both effective, they have slightly different characteristics, can be used in different ways and the lateral flow isado different ways and the lateral flow is a do not need to be sent off to a lab, so they have that advantage. the pcr tests do but they tend to pick up more of the disease even before people are symptomatic. we will be using a combination but in the first instance, what we will be doing this week and next week in north—east london is largely with the lab —based pcr tests. i would reiterate the point that a third wave is not inevitable but the way that we prevent it is by all of us coming together and actually deciding we want to try and stick to the guidance that is there and

accept that christmas is a period when we can do things, that's the reason why the rules have been relaxed, that doesn't mean we should do things. people really should be very sensible over that period and over this whole period of risk because this is a very risky period for us but it is definitely not inevitable that things will get substantially worse. that's something we need to all work together on. on testing, as you imply, the key question is notjust testing, it is how they are then used and how people respond to them. a testing programme is a useful addition to other things. 0n a testing programme is a useful addition to other things. on its own it is not capable of turning the tide if things are going very badly, but as an additional thing to all the other measures, all of the social distancing measures, all of the npi measures, all of the things people have to do in terms of keeping their distance and wearing a mask indoors. if you add it to those things it adds an additional bit of heft and that's what we have seen in many places around the world but it means the right people need to come forward for testing because it is only useful when it picks up people

who are positive and those people don't have to take the garden seriously, self—isolate, make sure that if they have contacts they also know about it and they also self—isolate and if we do that it pulls out of the system people who currently a re pulls out of the system people who currently are infectious and means they don't go on unknowingly to pass this on, because the thing where it helps, this kind of testing, is that there are some people who have no symptoms at the moment, they don't realise they have covid, it is not theirfault, but realise they have covid, it is not their fault, but they have got covid and fora their fault, but they have got covid and for a period of time before they have symptoms or even if they don't have symptoms or even if they don't have symptoms or even if they don't have symptoms they can pass it on and what the testing can do, it says, look, if you feel fine, that's good, but actually if you have this virus, please isolate because if you isolate for a period of time that protects everybody around you and it helps to break the chain of transmission. testing is very useful but only if people then act on the results. thanks very much. next question from victoria macdonald at channel 4. question from victoria macdonald at channel4. thank

question from victoria macdonald at channel 4. thank you, secretary of state. today we have seen the publication of the interim findings of the 0ckenden review into the maternity care at shrewsbury and telford nhs trust. it makes for a painful read but equally importantly it calls for immediate action at maternity units across england. will you personally... agree that the these need to be acted on immediately? yes, the 0ckenden report is shocking reading. we have already taken the actions that were proposed in an earlier part of the report and we will of course study the proposals that have been made in the proposals that have been made in the report very closely. i will ask stephen powis to set out more details and i know how monitoring this to make sure that we take the

actions that are needed to make sure that maternity services are safe. thank you, victoria, and i also welcome donna 0ckenden's report published today. i knowjust how painful and harrowing it has been for all the families who have suffered from the shortcomings in maternity care at that trust and i clearly offer my sympathy to all of them. i met some of the families la st them. i met some of the families last year and that meeting really moved me had really affected me, and i understand just what they have gone through. although it is of course impossible for anybody who has not been affected to know exactly what they have gone through, i should say that, but as donna said in the report, there are two things predominantly that they want out of this. firstly it is to understand what went wrong and secondly to ensure that the learning from what we nt ensure that the learning from what went wrong can be acted upon. i do

hope that donna's first report today goes some way towards answering those two questions although clearly she has more work to do and will publish a final report next week. and yes, i do think it is very important that the recommendations for the trust are acted upon immediately. and i know the trust has been working hard to improve maternity services but they have further work to do. there are also seven recommendations for the wider syste m seven recommendations for the wider system when it comes to maternity ca re of system when it comes to maternity care of nhs england, and we have been working on those already, we haven't waited for the report but clearly there is more work to be done as well. sol clearly there is more work to be done as well. so i think this is an important step. but clearly we now need to act on all those recommendations. thank you very much. the next question is from the guardian. hello, secretary of state. this question is for you. your

former neighbour alex vaughan is supplying millions of test tubes for nhs covid—19 test kits after sending you a personal whatsapp message offering his services. did you discuss his offer of help with anyone in your office or your department? and if so, would you be be prepared to release any of your communications with him? thank you. thank you. i've read about this in the guardian. i had absolutely nothing to do with that contract. what i'd say more broadly is that i'm very pleased that so many people came forward during the spring of this year when we really needed the nation... the nation needed the support of huge numbers of people,

whether they came forward to supply ppe, or in this case, to supply some of the supplies that go into the testing kits, and i'm very grateful to all of them. but i'm afraid i can't answer any more other than to say i had nothing to do with this particular contract at all. thanks very much. next question is from the metro. hello, health secretary. if, as seems possible, the failure to reach a brexit agreement britons are banned from travelling to europe undertheir banned from travelling to europe under their coronavirus regulations from january one, will britain reciprocate and what bearing would that have an infection rates? and secondly, if i may, a doctor at the royal college of nursing told mps today that at the height of the crisis ppe was routinely relabelled with new use by dates, much had

rotted in its boxes, and she herself opened a crate of gowns to find a load of insects creeping out. would you like to apologise to front line staff for what they had to work with? firstly on the international travel question, we make judgments and decisions on what international travel can be recommended and how many people, and from what countries or parts of countries you have to quarantine based on public health advice. that's the approach we have and that's the approach we will be sticking to. on the second question about ppe, look, there was a massive effort, as in fact the previous question implied, there was a massive effort involving a huge number of people, including the rcn, actually, who did brilliant work coming forward and helping to ensure we could get the ppe supplies that we could get the ppe supplies that we needed. and i'm really, really

pleased that so many people contributed and there was never a national outage of ppe. that doesn't mean that it wasn't difficult at times and there were undoubtedly challenges. but we had to move heaven and earth to deliver the amount of ppe that we did to the system. and now, i'm glad to say, we have over 30 billion items of ppe and we also have developed the domestic manufacture so that we will not be reliant on getting it in from abroad so much in the future. very significant proportion of the future supplies of ppe, for instance the sort of gowns you mentioned, be manufactured domestically to make sure that we are in a much better place for any future crisis like this one. the final question is from city am. thank you, secretary of

state. is there any plans at the moment to reopen the nightingale hospital at the excel centre, considering london's surging covid rates? and secondly, is there any point in putting london hospitality sector in tier 3 for what would be just four days in the lead up to the christmas period considering the damage this would have on a sector thatis damage this would have on a sector that is already on its knees? busily i understand the impact of the decisions we make and the tiering decisions we make and the tiering decisions we make on different sectors of the economy. —— obviously i understand. we have to make them to keep the virus under control and we have all seen the consequences of what happens if the virus gets out of control in other countries. tha nkfully of control in other countries. thankfully here we have protected the nhs all the way through so the nhs has always been there for you if you have needed it and that has been absolutely at the heart of our goals. i will ask professor stephen powis to explain what is happening

in london to make sure that the nhs in london to make sure that the nhs in london can deal with the pressures that it is under. but that's the approach that we take. look, i get it from the point of view of the hospitality sector, of course i do. the christmas rules specifically don't actually affect the approach to the hospitality sector. they are about who you can meet up with in your own home. so it is about the rules about who you can meet with rather than about rules about whether hospitality is open or not which continues to follow the approach in your local tier over christmas which is unchanged by the rules. the nightingale hospitals have been our insurance policy throughout this pandemic to ensure that if nhs capacity is stretched that if nhs capacity is stretched that we have additional capacity on stream to be able to use. and again, in the first wave in the spring we

used the nightingale in the excel ce ntre used the nightingale in the excel centre in london. those nightingale hospitals have been kept over the course of the summer and into the autumn, and indeed, as i announced a numberof weeks autumn, and indeed, as i announced a number of weeks ago we stood up the ones in the north of the country as we saw infection rates rise in that pa rt of we saw infection rates rise in that part of the country in particular, and of course the pressure on the nhs and we have been using the nightingale hospital in manchester. in london we are seeing a worrying rise in infections. we are seeing pressure in the nhs, particularly in the east of the city. but we are not at the levels that we saw in april, and therefore, we can manage within existing hospitals in london. and of course, existing hospitals in london. and of course , our existing hospitals in london. and of course, our first step in managing capacity is mutual aid between hospitals. we have the ability to move patients between hospitals, from hospitals under pressure to hospitals that have less pressure and we can also move staff and

equipment too. but the nightingale is important. we are keeping it under review and of course we are also keeping under review different uses for the nightingale in london. so it is really important that we don't see further rises of infection rates in london and we don't see pressure rising on the nhs. but the nightingales will be there as that insurance policy if we need them. thanks very much, everybody. that concludes today's coronavirus briefing from downing street. thank you. studio: that was matt hancock, the health secretary leading that latest coronavirus briefing there in downing street. let's bring you up—to—date with what he said in that news conference. he was saying that tens of thousands of people in the uk have been given the new pfizer covid vaccine at 73 hospitals around the uk. he said the vaccination programme will be

extended next week to another ten vaccination sites in england. he also said the government is particularly worried about the rising number of coronavirus cases in the south—east in london, kent and essex. he said that by far the biggest rise amongst secondary school age children between the age of 11-18. school age children between the age of 11—18. he said there is an immediate plan to test pupils in the worst hit areas of the south—east. one of the development to tell you about while we were listening to that briefing, the government has now taken the canary islands off the travel corridor list so that people are returning to england from the ca nary islands from are returning to england from the canary islands from 4am on saturday must self—isolate for 14 days. but good news for people who want to come in from botswana or saudi arabia because they will no longer have to quarantine. let's speak to our health correspondent, nick triggle. let's pick up on what matt hancock was saying there about london, kent

and essex, really worried about secondary school age children in particular. yes. i've been looking at the figures and they show that rates are rising, but rising most quickly in children aged 11—18. the concern is then, and we have seen this previously in this pandemic, that once you start seeing the virus circulating in high numbers in younger people it naturally gets passed on to older people who are then more vulnerable to serious illness. if we look at some of the figures in kent and in parts of east london, they illustrate how acute the problem is there. in manchester which is in tier 3 at the moment, the highest tier, 170 cases per 100,000 people over the last week. it is twice that in kent and also twice as high as that in waltham forest, in hay veering and barking and dagenham, so those areas of east london and also kent are seeing high rates, and so the government are

going to have mass testing of school—aged children to try and break those chains of transmission. —— havering. they will announce more about that tomorrow, they say. when it comes to the tiers, kent is already in tier 3, london is in tier 2, so those figures would indicate kent would stay in three and london could go up to tier 3. yes, they would. the interesting thing with london, they have tried to treat london, they have tried to treat london is one area, which makes a lot of sense the way people travel around london for work, school and to socialise, but there is a real difference between some of the rates in east london and some of the rates in some of the southern boroughs that are much lower than the national average. so it is quite a difficult call. and clearly the government is due to announce its new tiers and what will be happening on wednesday so there will be a lot of attention on what happens in london because it is a complex picture. the good news on the banks

income and matt hancock was spelling out the thousands of people who have had the jab now at 73 hospitals and more vaccination sites are being opened up in the next few days. yes, another ten hospitals will start vaccinating in the coming days. next week we will see the vaccination programme spread into general practice. but there is a hugejob on here. there is more than 12 million people over the age of 65. and if you take the priority groups that they have listed down to the over 50s there is 25 million people, so there is huge numbers to vaccinate. we have been promised 5 million doses of the pfizer vaccine, the one approved, by the end of the year, but people need two courses so that's enough for 2.5 million people, so that's why what will be crucial is the oxford vaccine, the second vaccine that the regulators are currently assessing the data for. there is already 5—10,000,000 doses of that available. it is made

in britain and it's a lot easier to distribute. so if we get approval for that vaccine that will really allow hospitals and gps to go full stea m allow hospitals and gps to go full steam ahead in the early part of next year to get as many vulnerable people vaccinated as possible and that will then start having a significant impact on the numbers ending up in hospital and the numbers dying and that's when the government can really start relaxing the restrictions we are living under. one last question about the nhs app. there is an addition to that as well now. yes, there is. the app will now allow people to claim the self—isolation grant. if someone is asked to self—isolate they are entitled to a £500 one—off payment. to date only people contacted by the call handlers themselves, the nhs test and trace system, are entitled to that grant. those alerted by the app to self—isolate were not entitled to that money, and of course, for people who have to leave

home to work that was a significant issue that has now been changed. the government will hope that that will lead to more people self—isolating and breaking the chains of transmission more. yes, it was a bit ofa transmission more. yes, it was a bit of a discrepancy. nick triggle, thank you very much. our health correspondent just talking thank you very much. our health correspondentjust talking us through some of what came out of that downing street briefing with matt hancock. secondary school and college pupils in wales will be taught online from home for the last week of term, in order to reduce coronavirus transmission. the welsh government announced the move after pressure from teaching unions and the decision by several local authorities to end in—school teaching early. our correspondent in cardiff hwyel griffith has more details. well, it has come after mounting pressure. we have seen individual councils make their own minds up about this. blaenau gwent, for example, an area with very high covid case rates over the last few weeks, has already closed its doors to the schools and pupils already learning online.

then councils like bridgend announcing that they would close a couple of days early. so the pressure had been mounting from councils, but also from the teaching unions who'd said to the welsh government it probably wasn't sustainable to have different schools in different areas take different decisions. and so, added to that, the fact that the r rate in wales is thought to be 1—1.25 at the moment. 1—1.25 at the moment, the education minister has announced that learning for all secondary school aged pupils will go online next week. it's important to point out that primary schools will remain open for that final week. however, i know lots of parents now looking at, well, why would it be safe for them to take their primary school aged children to school, but not their secondary school aged children? as you indicate, the authorities in wales are struggling to get that r number down at the moment. yes, you think backjust a month ago when the welsh

national firebreak ended, the welsh government was very keen to point to graphs showing a downward trend in case numbers but for the last two weeks, that trend has been reversed and we are seeing coronavirus case rates rise above what they were before the lockdown, so the virus is out there and is spreading rapidly. the welsh government is under pressure to do more. it has already introduced some measures, controls on alcohol sales, the closure of things like cinemas and bowling alleys. we are yet to see the impact of that filter through but this will be seen as another possible measure to slow the spread of the virus ahead of christmas. i should add that part of it is based on scientific advice given to the welsh government last week that said that by isolating children ahead of christmas, it might protect the older generation, the grandparents, because remember, ahead of everyone in the uk is five days over christmas where the rules will be relaxed considerably. so some will see this as a way

of isolating and protecting children from spreading the virus ahead of that christmas period. that's hywel griffith in cardiff. back to our top story this afternoon. the failure so far of the eu and uk to come up with a trade deal. sunday has been set as the deadline for reaching agreement on that. the labour leader sir keir starmer has suggested that he and his party would support a free trade agreement should the government present one to parliament. he said a post brexit trade deal with the uk was better than no agreement at all. it's very important there is a deal in terms of our trade with europe and a relationship with europe. but i think for most people, year on from the election, they are going to be scratching their heads and saying, look, this is the prime minister who promised us a deal. he told us he'd actually got a deal, another unready deal, and i think most people will be saying, get on and deliver that promise because the

truth is most people are very worried about the pandemic, about covid, they want us to focus on that. they know we have the worst death toll in europe, tragically, from covid. they know that economically we are one of the hardest—hit economically we are one of the ha rdest—hit countries, of economically we are one of the hardest—hit countries, of the major economies and they will say to the prime minister you'd promised you'd got a deal, get on and deliver it, and let's focus on the things that really matter to us most are just at the moment. that is sir keir starmer, the labour leader. the irish foreign affairs minister, simon coveney, says there is increasing pessimism and frustration within the european union. he was speaking to my colleague lucy hockings earlier today. clearly, there had been hopes that the dinner last night between ursula von der leyen and borisjohnson would have resulted in at least a suggestion of a breakthrough but that clearly hasn't happened. and so instead what they have

decided to do is ask their negotiating teams to re—engage but they have also set, i think, for the first time a very definitive timeline and they have both agreed now that there needs to be clarity and a firm decision, the language is, on sunday, so we have a couple of days now to find a way of closing gaps that are really quite big in the context of the difference between the two sides. there is an increasing pessimism within the european union but also an increasing frustration that it has come to this. because the eu's position has been consistent and clear for the last 12 months, certainly since the withdrawal agreement has been agreed, and the insistence on the eu side that there has to be free but also fair competition between these two big economies is something that is not new. it certainly doesn't threaten british sovereignty. dominic raab said this morning that level playing field issues are the key stumbling blocks at the moment and he says

the eu has hardened its position in recent days. do you disagree with him? i don't know where he is coming from on that. i mean, a year ago both sides agreed in writing on a political in writing in a political declaration that there had to be an agreement on a level playing field and fair competition, between the eu and the uk, if they were going to put a trade agreement in place without quotas and tariffs. so, unfortunately the british side is seeing this as somehow undermining british sovereignty which is not the case at all. the eu recognises that the uk outside of the eu is a sovereign independent country and we respect that, but if you are going to have free trade and the absence of tariffs between two economies right next door to each other, it's not unreasonable to ask for what has already been agreed in principle, which is that we would have a level playing field for fair competition now and in the future. really, that is all the eu

is looking for and for some reason the british government sees that as an undermining of british sovereignty and the choices that a future british government may or may not be able to make. hello there. sunshine was in pretty short supply during today. most of us were stuck with a lot of cloud. this was how it looked earlier on in abersoch in west wales, a fairly typical scene, i have to say. there was a little bit of brightness, that was the north—east of scotland before the end of the day. but on the satellite picture you can see extensive cloud and plenty more where that came from. and actually, this developing stripe of cloud here has been bringing some rain into western areas, and that rain will continue to push its way eastwards through the evening and overnight. some of that rain will be pretty heavy. behind it, still a lot of cloud, some clear spells, but also some heavy showers, these could even contain the odd rumble of thunder across parts of wales and south—west england. not a cold night, certainly not for the time of year, with lows of between 4—9 .

tomorrow morning we will start off with this band of rain across eastern areas. across eastern england the rain should tend to move away but i think it will stay across the eastern side of scotland, some quite persistent wet weather here with the risk of some disruption. further west, again, a lot of cloud, but some brighter spells, some sunshine here and there, equally the chance of some heavy showers. temperatures between 7—11 . as we head into the start of the weekend, this is when we might get to see a proper slice of sunshine, high pressure just trying to build its way in, a very temporary ridge of high pressure but it will bring with it a zone of brighter weather, so after a cloudy and damp start we should see sunshine working in from the west. there will still be some showers around at times, those temperatures still in the range between 8—11 . but into the second half of the weekend, things will cloud over once again because low pressure will be approaching from the west. this frontal system will bring some pretty heavy bursts of rain. it's going to be quite windy

but the wind will be coming up from the south so that is a mild wind direction, a wedge of mild air working its way across many parts of the country. but with a lot of cloud, with some outbreaks of rain, some of that rain will be heavy and maybe cold enough for some snow mixing in across the very highest hills of scotland. those are the average wind speeds we can expect. gusts will be stronger than that, particularly in exposed spots, but with those winds coming from the south it will be mild. temperatures as high as 13 degrees.

tonight at 6pm: borisjohnson says leaving the eu without a trade deal is now a strong possibilty. after failing to break the deadlock in brussels last night, borisjohnson tells the cabinet and public to prepare for no deal. looking at where we are, i do think it's vital that everybody now gets ready for that australian option. we'll have the latest from westminster. also tonight: in wales, all secondary school and college pupils will be home schooled from monday, to try to halt the surge in covid cases. tens of thousands of secondary school children in parts of london, essex and kent are to tested for coronavirus after