this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm: 11 million people in london, essex and hertfordshire will move to tier 3 — the highest level of coronavirus restrictions — because of a sharp rise in infections. in some areas, the doubling time is now seven days. and this rise has been amongst people of all age groups, notjust school—aged children, and i'm particularly concerned about the rising rates in the over—60s. the government says the increase in infections in south east england may be linked to a new variant of the virus. there's nothing to suggest that the symptoms are different, that the testing is different or that the clinical outcome is different from this variant. the main reason we are raising it to people's attention is the question about, is it spreading more quickly?

in half an hour, we'll be putting your questions about the new covid variant to virologist professorjonathan ball. also tonight: that's it, sharp scratch! coronavirus vaccinations are under way in care homes in scotland and in gp surgeries in england. both the eu and britain say progress is being made in negotiations over a future trading relationship but warn the talks could yet fail. more money to victims of the windrush scandal — the government is to increase its minimum compensation payment from £250 to £10,000. and footage emerges of a near miss between two cars and a train at a level crossing in east anglia last month.

good evening, welcome to bbc news. greater restrictions will be imposed on parts of england as a new variant of coronavirus has been identified in the uk. the health secretary says it has been found in more than 1,000 cases, mostly in the south east, and it may be linked to the virus spreading faster. it has also been identified in other countries and at the moment a vaccine is thought to be effective against it. matt hancock has told mps it may be what's driving what he described as an exponential rise in cases in the south east of england. as a result, greater london and parts of essex and hertfordshire are to be placed in tier 3 from wednesday. this will bring a total of 3a million people in england

under the most severe restrictions. there can be no socialising indoors with anyone other than the people you live with or who are in your support bubble. bars, pubs and restaurants can only do takeaways, but shops will stay open. our health editor hugh pym has more. the run—up to christmas just won't be the same across a swathe of south—east england, with new restrictions on meeting members of other households outdoors, though shops will remain open. the move to tier 3 is a response to a significant rise in virus cases in london and parts of essex and hertfordshire, and that's putting more pressure on hospitals. cases were moving up anyway, but the health secretary told the commons of a new development. we have identified a new variant of coronavirus which may be associated with the faster spread in the south—east of england. initial analysis suggests that

this variant is growing faster than the existing variants. we have currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant, predominantly in the south of england, although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas, and numbers are increasing rapidly. he said there was nothing to suggest the new variant made people sicker or that it was resistant to vaccines. labour said the picture around england was now less encouraging. overall, the increasing areas are rising faster than the decreasing areas are falling. and as things stand, we are heading into the christmas easing with diminishing headroom. the buffer zone these tiers were supposed to provide is getting much thinner. of the top 20 virus hotspots in england, all but two are in the south—east. the london boroughs of havering, enfield and southwark, with case

increases of more than 50% in the most recent week, and brentwood and thurrock in essex even more — around 80%. the health argument for tighter restrictions has been made on the basis of sharply rising case numbers, but there is of course an economic impact. tier 3 means bars, pubs and restaurants having to close to customers apart from takeaways and deliveries, and it should have been their busiest time of the year, especially in london. this restaurant only reopened recently after the lockdown. now they'll have to stop serving customers indoors again, and it's not clear whether there will be any compensation. it's a joke. we opened one week ago and we close down this week again. and it doesn't work like that. i'm sure if it goes like that, we are all going to close down and find a differentjob. there's been no change to the planned relaxation of the rules over christmas around the uk, though scotland's first minister made a plea for people to be cautious. just because we can visit people indoors over christmas on a limited

basis doesn't mean that we have to. any indoor meeting between different households obviously creates a risk. the virus will not take a break over the christmas period. civic leaders in some areas of england at the highest alert level, tier 3, are hoping to be brought down — for example in manchester, where case numbers have fallen. but in wales, there have been calls from nhs staff for a pre—christmas lockdown because of mounting pressure on hospitals. hugh pym, bbc news. stay with us. just to remind you, coming up at 8.30pm, we'll be answering your questions on what is known about the new variant of coronavirus to virologist professorjonathan ball. you can email your questions to yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweet them to this hashtag, #bbcyourquestions. and we will put as many of them as

we can to professor ball. this evening, the health secretary held a briefing inside downing street alongside the government's chief medical adviser, chris whitty. he was asked whether the new restrictions would mean that plans to loosen the measures over christmas would now be reviewed. the relatively modest, actually, relaxation over christmas will undoubtedly put upward pressure on the virus. we know that. that's been clear from all statements that everybody has made, all ministers and all the people who have commented from these press conferences, but the feeling was this is a very important time for many families, but — and the big, big but on this is — the level of impact this will have entirely is related to how many people choose to do this in a very minimalist, responsible way and those who wish to choose to come together and do all sorts of things which they otherwise wouldn't be doing if it wasn't christmas. that's where the risks start. so people have just got to take this very seriously. this is an ability for families to come together within the law, within the rules, and people have been incredibly good at sticking to the rules

and sticking to the guidance. and this is, in a sense, a limited relaxation which will have some impact on the upward pressure on the coronavirus, but the key thing is people have just got to be sensible. and they've got to be really sensible going in because we want the rates to be as low as possible during and on the way out. really, really critical. chris whitty. the latest government figures for coronavirus here in the uk show there were 20,263 new infections recorded in the past 24—hour period. a further 232 deaths have also been reported — people who have died within 28 days of a positive covid test. that takes the total number of deaths in the uk to 64,402. meanwhile, london's mayor sadiq khan has urged the government to ask all secondary schools and colleges in the capital to shut early ahead of christmas — unless pupils can undergo mass testing — due to rising cases

in ten to 19—year—olds. the boroughs of greenwich and islington have already advised schools to close this week and switch to online learning. with more, here's our education editor branwenjeffreys. arriving for what could be their last day, parents told schools were being advised to move online, leaving them facing a sudden childcare crisis. it's just too short notice to get any sort of childcare arrangements in place, so you would either be taking the day off unpaid, coming up to christmas, which is just not doable. they have to do what they have to do. it's a shame, though, that things have been left till the last minute. this is something that should have been done ages ago. schools in greenwich are the first to get this advice from the council, but ministers insist schools must stay open. schools have found themselves caught up in a political battle, and in the end, they have to make their own decisions,

so this primary school has told parents that learning will move online from the end of today. but some secondary schools who are academies and have much more freedom from the local authority have told parents they will be staying open until the end of term. at a testing centre, london's mayor warned of rising cases, calling for all secondary schools to shift to remote learning. if you can't keep these schools covid—safe in the last few days before christmas, it's better to err on the side of caution and revert to online teaching for these few days, make the schools covid—secure over christmas, so in january, they can reopen. within hours, another london labour council went further, asking schools to move online after tuesday and stay shut after christmas, continuing online learning for an extra week.

schools in wales stopped classroom teaching last week. today, a promise of mass rapid testing there injanuary. testing likely to be extended in england, too. but one union leader told me schools are caught between ministers, councils and parents. head teachers and their teams are caught between a rock and a hard place. parents are voting with their feet, and we are having decreasing numbers of students in school anyway. and that means that there is a toxic mix of problems for head teachers to deal with. a few days before classrooms empty across the uk, a pause for weary schools, fearful of more cases after christmas. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. in a moment, we'll speak to the shadow minister for schools, but first, as we've been hearing, london and parts of essex and hertfordshire are to be put into tier 3 from wednesday, placing 11 million more people under the most stringent covid

restrictions in england. so let's just recap what data the government considers before moving any areas into higher restrictions. first, the total number of cases. then case rates in people over the age of 60. the rate at which they are either rising or falling. the number of positive cases relative to the number of total tests. and finally, the amount of pressure on the local nhs. to talk about london moving to tier 3 from wednesday, we can speak to the labour mp for ilford north in london, wes streeting. he's also the shadow minister for schools. thanks forjoining us here on bbc news. we will talk about schools in a minute, but do you support this move into tierfrom a minute, but do you support this move into tier from wednesday?” think it was inevitable what you see the infection rates in the —— and

the infection rates in the —— and the pressures london hospitals are under. bear in mind, we've had restrictions from the start. you look at the hospital admissions, the number of deaths, levels of deaths we have not seen since the first lockdown, there is a real human tragedy. we know, let's acknowledge, by the way, lots of the country has beenin by the way, lots of the country has been in tier 3 for a while now, and they will be saying, welcome to our world. we know from their experience, lots of businesses, particularly hospitality, creative industries, this is going to come as a real blow before christmas. they have been working hard to get their business up and running in the economic support from government has not been enough, so of course we have to do what is right by public health, but the health of the country and the health of the economy are inseparable in the government has not been enough to support businesses affected by tier 3 measures and we are calling on

them to do so. the tory covid recovery group would argue that what this shows is that the strategy is not working, the tears strategy is not working, the tears strategy is not working, the tears strategy is not working —— the tiers strategy. there are lots of lessons the government need to learn, and the need to learn them fast. there were too slow to go to like on the second time, and by delaying on those decisions, they have ended up costing the economy more in terms of effect on businesses, but also there's a constant from the public health and lives too, so the government have got to get this right, and i'm afraid... we want to focus on the future and think about how we do things better, and in the middle of a national crisis, not get ina party middle of a national crisis, not get in a party political monk about, but this government has failed to act swiftly into cicely and it has common stomach swiftly into cicely and it has common stomach come swiftly into cicely and it has common stomach come with a cost to

-- it common stomach come with a cost to —— it has come at a cost. common stomach come with a cost to -- it has come at a cost. how does it make any sense when you go into tier 3 now with all the restrictions and then suddenly, come christmas, this could all be relaxed, three household bubbles, people can get together? can that make any sense now? it is a reasonable question and one we've been asking ministers public lien privately today. no one wa nts to public lien privately today. no one wants to be the grinch that stole christmas and the whole objective is to provide a window of opportunity for people to seek close family and loved ones who they are desperate to see. it is not a free—for—all, it is not five days off, and i think lots of us, myself included, are weighing up of us, myself included, are weighing up her own plans and considering whether it is the right thing to do, and government ought to keep a close eye on infection rates over the coming days and come to a judgement about whether they want to go ahead... labour does not want to be the grinch at christmas, but the medical advice seems to be that this is not a sensible thing to be doing,

chris whitty and others have been saying this. would labour, if the numbers rose again further, be calling for a tighter restrictions for the christmas period ? calling for a tighter restrictions for the christmas period? when it comes to public health measures, we have tried as far as possible, and we have not always been able to, when the government has broken off scientific advice and the guidance of the chief medical officer, we have tried as much as we can not to turn the restrictions into a party political monk about, because we wa nt to political monk about, because we want to be object with one voice and to get the message out and to give people clear instructions, help people clear instructions, help people do the right thing, we are keeping a close eye on these numbers, as we've from keir starmer before, if he thinks it is in the national interest to go further, he will say so. we have been talking to ministers about this notjust public in the commons chamber today but privately also. the government has got to have a clear christmas travel plan and so far, what they published

i think falls short of what people need to make sure people can get about, if they are going to get about, if they are going to get about, safely as possible over christmas period. 0k, what about schools? should they be shutting now? we have been clear all along, we wa nt now? we have been clear all along, we want to keep pupils in school, keep them learning. when there out of school, there's a risk to their education and health and well—being. i think it's a part of the country, schools are under real pressure, and blu ntly, schools are under real pressure, and bluntly, leadership from the apartment of education has been nonexistent, and rather than getting into a row with local authorities... you are calling for leadership, so what would you do? you have islington and greenwich going online, would you call for more schools to go online before school ends? that is not the right thing to do. we have been calling for government to get mass testing to schools, which should happened the

side christmas, to make sure the support is there to get the right covid support measures in place. that is up and happening. if that is not happening, do get students la pto ps. not happening, do get students laptops. that has been happening. i'm afraid it has been an afterthought in this pandemic, the deferment of education for why does gavin williamson not pick up the phone and give leaders the support they need to keep schools open, safe and keep people learning? what about and keep people learning? what about a lengthy start of the term after christmas? would you do that? we would rather not. kids have missed out on a huge amount of schooling this year, it is going to have a huge impact on their education, and the fact we are at this point our schools are struggling to stay open or struggling to return at the start of january, that is a massive failure on the part of government ministers, and they need to step up to the plate and start providing the support schools and been crying out for, as have we, prickly for months

now. this is happening on their watch and i think, ultimately, they respond supposed to record —— they are responsible for. wes streeting, thank you forjoining us on wes streeting, thank you forjoining us on bbc news. the mass roll out of the coronavirus vaccine across the uk has begun. care home residents in scotland have started to receive the pfizer coronavirus vaccine from today and they'll be joined next week by care home residents in north wales. around 100 gps surgeries in england have received deliveries of the vaccine today. our science editor david shukman has the details. all done! applause for annie innes, aged 90, as another momentous step is taken against covid. protecting other people, aren't you? annie lives in hamilton in scotland. she is the first resident of a care home to be vaccinated and she is very relieved. it's been a terrible year, terrible. i'd like to see it a lot brighter for everybody else.

care homes are now the priority in scotland. covid has claimed 20,000 lives in british care homes so far, roughly one third of all coronavirus deaths in the uk. and the isolation has been hard as well. here you are. not being able to have contact with your families at times of distress, not being able to have contact with your families at points in your life that you would normally share — birthdays, anniversaries — has been absolutely devastating. this vaccine now gives us hope. it's a challenge to keep the vaccines frozen and delivered in time to be useful. the aim is to reach the most vulnerable. 90% of covid deaths have been among the over—65s, so the elderly are first in line. thank you very much. a batch arrives at a gp surgery in halesowen in the west midlands. a scene being repeated at hundreds of other locations.

it's been such a difficult year for everybody. we've all been stuck in a dark tunnel, and finally we can see light at the end of the tunnel with the arrival of the vaccine, so i'm delighted to be able to sit here and say that we have the vaccine today. there are larger vaccination centres as well, this one at epsom racecourse opens tomorrow. but it's one thing getting everything ready, quite another making sure there's enough vaccine to go round. and some gps are warning that deliveries which they've been promised have yet to turn up, so bookings are being cancelled. an uncertain start to a project with so much hope. david shukman, bbc news. in other news... the head of the eu commission, ursula von der leyen, has sounded a slightly positive note about the ongoing brexit talks, welcoming what she's called "some movement". but a government source has told the bbc within the past hour that the talks "remain difficult"

and the two sides had not made "significant progress in recent days." time is fast running out to finalise an agreement before the uk's brexit transition ends in just over two weeks. here's our political editor laura kuenssberg. how long can this go on? vital talks grinding on to agree a new way for the uk and eu to do business. whether there is a deal or not, the status quo disappears and time will run out in 17 days. he's the one who's always said the clock is ticking. the eu negotiator seems to have softened brussels' position a little since last week, when the uk said there was just no way they could agree. it will be when we reach an agreement both on fair and free competition and reciprocal access to water and markets. the brussels cliche is nothing's agreed until everything is agreed. months of talks have stumbled over how much fish the uk and eu can catch in each other‘s waters, how to share rules to do business

smoothly and who's in charge if something goes wrong. but the eu chief is no longer emphasising the gaps in public. first of all, there's movement. that is good. we're fine about the architecture itself, but the details in it, do they really fit? and these are crucial points because, again, it's a matter of fairness. lord frost, are you feeling confident? the uk deal—makers are in brussels, but aren't willing yet to claim it's done. and while the prime minister claimed it would be wonderful, ministers want to avoid the huge possible costs of no—deal disruption with potential taxes and tariffs on goods, serious uncertainty for business. obviously, there are a number of areas where we still need to make quite significant progress. but as the prime minister said, we need to make sure that we go the extra mile. it's what businesses want, it's what people in our country want, and that is precisely what we're doing. we're not going to be walking away from these talks. whether in brussels or here in the uk, the signals around the deal are cheerier than they've

been for quite some time. both sides appear to be willing to budge a bit, particularly over sharing rules and regulations in future. and the political desire of both to avoid the chaos of no—deal is very strong. but number ten is still adamant the most likely outcome right now is no agreement at all. and government sources have told the bbc tonight there's been no significant progress and no backtracking on their side either. neither the uk nor the eu wants to be the first to give up, nor the only one to give in. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. h20 8.24pm. the government is to give more money to victims of the windrush scandal, which saw thousands of people who'd been invited to post war britain wrongly deported or threatened with deportation and many left

unable to work. the home secretary, priti patel, has announced that the minimum compensation payment will rise from £250 to £10,000. it will apply restrospectively, meaning those previously given less will receive top—up payments. our community affairs correspondent adina campbell reports. you've got quite an allotment here. time in the garden looking after his allotment has been a welcome escape for lebert mcleod. despite living in the uk for more than 50 years, he was almost deported back to jamaica and hasn't had a stable home or employment for many years. he, like many other windrush victims, have had their lives turned upside down and forced to live without a passport. it's been difficult, you know? my dad is 90—something. he's lost one of his legs. i can't get to see him. my stepmum died in the process, i can't get to go to her funeral. my bigger brother got a stroke at the moment.

i can't get to visit him. despite applying for compensation months ago, he hasn't received a penny. a system he says has been too slow and too complicated. some have also died whilst waiting for the money. but today, the government has announced new plans promising those affected will receive much more money more quickly. i'm increasing the minimum payments for the impact to life to £10,000, with payments starting this week. i'm raising the bar on the amount someone can claim for the impact on their life to £100,000, with exceptional cases able to receive more. the compensation scheme has been open for more than 18 months, but one of the main criticisms has been the number of people who've actually received any money. latest figures up until october this year show there have been just over 1,600 claims, but only one in seven people or theirfamilies has received compensation.

after years of campaigning by victims and their families, the home office has paid out £2.1 million so far. but the overall budget for the compensation scheme is thought to be around £200 million. employers are very reluctant to hand over evidence because they think they might be complicit and they might be sued, and there are all manner of problems. even getting data out of the dwp has proved almost impossible, so it is very problematic and we want to know how those things will be addressed. lebert now has all his official documents to prove he is a british citizen, but isn't hopeful of getting money any time soon. i'm not getting nothing. how do you feel about these immediate payments the home office have promised to give people like you? well, as i said, it would help. it's not a lot, but it would help.

adina campbell, bbc news. footage has emerged of a near miss at a railway level crossing near norwich three weeks ago. barriers at the norwich road crossing near new rackheath lifted as a passenger train was approaching. the images released by the rail accident investigation branch show two cars clearing the tracks just half a second before the train passes through. my my goodness! the train's driver had slammed on the brakes, slowing it to a0 miles per hour as it went over the crossing. it was found that a weakness in the crossings electronic control equipment had caused it to misinterpret the train's position. a lucky escape there. right, it is time for us to catch up with some whether, ben rich. hello. there was sunshine to be had today if you managed to dodge the downpours. there were plenty of hefty showers

around, more rain in the forecast for the rest of the week. it will often be windy, but it will be mild. we've had some persistent rain moving across parts of eastern and southeastern england. that will tend to clear. then it's a story of clear spells and showers through the night, the showers most plentiful in western areas. still the odd heavy one. not as many showers getting into the east and temperatures generally holding up between 4 and 8 degrees. it stays quite breezy through the night as well. and then into tomorrow, well, really, it's a day quite similar to today, with some spells of sunshine but some showers as well, some of these on the heavy side, especially in the west. not as many showers further east, with some spells of sunshine. these temperatures, again, just a touch above the norm for this time of year, 8 to 11 degrees. wednesday looks like being a very wet and very windy day. something a little drier, at least for a time, on thursday. that's all from me for now. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines...

11 million people in london, essex and hertfordshire will move to tier 3 — the highest level of coronavirus restrictions — because of a sharp rise in infections. in some areas, the doubling time is now seven days. this rise has been among people of all age groups, not just school age children. i am particularly concerned about the rising rates in the over 60s. the government says the increase in infections in southeast england may be linked to a new variant of the virus. there is nothing to suggest that the symptoms are different, that the testing is different, or that the clinical outcome is different for this variant. the main reason we are raising it to people's attention is the question about — is it spreading more quickly? relax your arm for me. that is it. sharp scratch. all done! coronavirus vaccinations are under way in care homes in scotland and in gp surgeries in england. the department for education

begins legal action against greenwich council after the local authority urged all its schools to close early, citing rising covid infections. both the eu and britain say progress is being made in negotiations over a future trading relationship, but warn the talks could yet fail. more money to victims of the windrush scandal — the government is to increase its minimum compensation payment from £250 to £10,000. theatres in london will have to close following tuesday evening performances as the capital faces tougher coronavirus restrictions. the decision to move london into tier 3 from wednesday has been branded as a ‘disaster‘ by the theatres trust. venues in the west end had been allowed to open from the 3rd december, with reduced capacity to allow for social distancing. now performances will be

suspended with no clear route back to reopening. jon morgan is the director of the theatres trust and joins me now. you see a disaster, which of course it will be economically, but in terms of the science and doubling of cases, surely this is the right thing to do? absolutely. the government i do not think had any choice but to move london and other parts of essex and hertfordshire into tier 3 because of the rise in cases. that does not undermine the fa ct cases. that does not undermine the fact that it is disastrous news for the sector. theatres have been investing lots of effort and money into making their venues covid safe and rehearsing their cast in a safe way. at the moment, it is impossible to get insurance for those productions and these are absolute losses that will be incurred. are very famous theatre producer said that this smacked of panic, is that

right? as i say, i think the government did not have a choice. we need to recognise that the government have been very supportive of the theatre sector. 1.57 billion has gone into the sector as a whole. and the extension of thejob retention scheme has been helpful. still there have been thousands of redundancies and thousands of freelancers out of work. even with all that help, we are going to need more help to support those theatres in tier 3. there are lots of theatres in the north—west, north—east, yorkshire and the midlands and south west that are still into your three who are hoping for good news at the end of this week. we will see what happens with that. all those theatres, all over the uk really need support from the government. on the insurance side, we need a government backed insurance scheme so that we can ensure these productions so that people are prepared to take the rest

to go ahead. there is one in place forfilm and to go ahead. there is one in place for film and television so we would like to say something similar for theatre. this must be one of the busiest times for theatres, pantos and all the rest of it. is that where most of the money is made for small independent theatres? absolutely. for most theatres, particularly regional theatres, the pa nto ca n particularly regional theatres, the pa nto can be particularly regional theatres, the panto can be anything up to a0—50% of their turnover. it is a really important time of the year. even under covid, a lot of theatres were hoping this was their chance to start to bounce back. when you think about the social importance of the light stay with panto. so many young kids, theirfirst light stay with panto. so many young kids, their first experience of theatre is a show. in terms of social cohesion and community, what impact is that having?” social cohesion and community, what impact is that having? i think that is right. we have all suffered hugely under lockdown, under covid.

as human beings, we need to gather together, we need to come together and tell stories. it is one of the wonderful things that theatre can offer. a chance to be uplifted and enjoy something communal together. theatres have been finding ways of doing that, they are put in place really stringent ways of doing that. as you say, panto is the moment in the year when really cultural diverse audiences come together. last year, i enjoyed a panto hugely. different generations have come together, a lot of young people, it is their first experience. you are right, theatres do notjust play important role culturally and economically in terms of the high street, but also in terms of community and bringing people together. a lot of theatres who you speak to, how they spend significant amounts of money and putting social distancing requirements in place? presumably, all that money has been

lost now, as well. that is right. that is why we along with others have been offering grants to theatres to help them with some of those social distancing measures. but what we have to offer is a drop in the ocean compared to what they need. there have been lots of measures, temperature testing measures, temperature testing measures, covid safe surfaces, queueing systems, separating out seats, use of masks and hand sanitiser and all the things you would normally expect. many theatres have done all those things, those who have chosen to reopen over christmas, have had to invest money. and also rehearsing their shows and a covid safe way, which is also a logistical challenge. keeping everything separate so that if anybody falls ill in one team it does not affect the other. jon morgan, we wish you every success with your organisation over these difficult few months. thank you very

much indeed. lots of you have been sending in your questions about the new variant of coronavirus. now it's time for your questions answered. a new variant of coronavirus has been detected in parts of england that may be linked to the rapid rise of cases in the south—east. in a moment, we'll be answering your questions on the new variant with a virologist. and also doctor andrew preston from bath. we are hoping to speak to jonathan ball from the university of nottingham, as well. but first, at today's downing street press conference, england's chief medical officer, professor chris whitty, explained what's known so far about this variant. in terms of the new variant,

the reason this has been picked up is because there is a good surveillance system in the uk, wider than in many other countries, and it does appear to be in an area of the country, particularly kent and bits of london, which are increasing rapidly. we do not know what is cause and effect. is it getting more frequent because it is a part of the country at which the rate of increase is going faster anyway and therefore inevitably it is a higher proportion, or is it that this virus itself is possible to transmit more easily? that isn't really yet clear. there are two other things you always want to worry about with a new variant. the first one is... three things, actually. the first one is — is there any evidence this is actually more dangerous? and there is no evidence for that at the moment. there is no evidence that if you catch this variant, you are more likely to have severe disease than if you catch different variants. the second question is — is it invisible to the tests we have? the short answer is no, the current tests work against this variant.

they might have... some of them might have one bit of the testing might be slightly less effective, but most of the tests will work completely normally, and the other ones will work, we think, normally as well. and the third question, given that we now have a vaccine around the corner, is would we expect this to reduce the effectiveness of a vaccine? and i think the thing to remember with this is we do not yet have a vaccine deployed and there is relatively little, still quite a small proportion of the population currently have immunity due to prior infection. so there isn't a huge selection pressure on this virus, and therefore it would be surprising, not impossible, but pretty surprising if this would actually have evolved to be able to get around the virus. as time goes by, with any infection, then there is selection pressure, what is called selection pressure, when a very high proportion of the population has been vaccinated. at that point, the new variants that emerge, and new ones

will emerge the whole time, are more likely to be ones which actually are able partially to escape from a vaccine. there is no reason to think that would be happening at the moment. but that is being tested at the moment in porton down and other specialist centres, and we will be able to give more hard data on that relatively soon. we will obviously do so once we have it. professor chris whitty speaking an hour or so ago. let's put some questions you've been sending on the new variant to dr andrew preston, from the department of biology and biochemistry at the university of bath. he may bejoined by another. good evening, thank you doctor preston for joining evening, thank you doctor preston forjoining us. a lot of questions already. what is the difference between a variant and a mutation? they are the same thing essentially.

changes in the genomic sequence of the virus and therefore they give rise to a variant in that sequence. they are pretty much synonymous. are the symptoms of the variant talked about today different from the existing symptoms? we do not believe so. existing symptoms? we do not believe so. there is no data to suggest that. no signal coming through from the areas where this virus is being detected that there is any different disease manifestations associated with the covid infection. can a person suffer from the original and the new variant simultaneously or will they exhibit different symptoms? no, we do not think there is any evidence to suggest that they display different symptoms. actually, there is remarkably little data about whether people are being infected by more than one virus simultaneously. there is nothing to suggest that one would block the other, so it is perfectly possible,

depending on the exposure people have, that they could have two different variants within their respiratory tract. we do not think there would be a consequence of that at the moment. stewart is 60 years old and he was seriously ill with a covid in april, spent 26 days on a ventilator, is a question about immunity. will i be immune to the new variant discovered today after already being infected covid initially? this is a lingering question. as to exactly what level of immunity someone who has suffered from covid might expect anyway regardless of the variant with which they were infected, the honest a nswer to they were infected, the honest answer to that is we do not know. again, there is no evidence to suggest that this particular variant has any ability to escape from either immunity from either previous infection or the vaccine. when will we know that? chris whitty today

we re we know that? chris whitty today were saying that it is already being tested. they have known about this for a while, haven't they? it looks as if the first signs of this variant where around october time. it was starting to be detected in the uk. obviously, there is a couple of mutations that seem to be causing some greater level of concern than other variants. this is again one of a panel of viruses that we tested against the immune response produced by the virus at porton down in wiltshire. after several more weeks, probably yet. what level of confidence is there that the current vaccines will be effective for the new variant? how long will it be before this is known? again, there is nothing to suggest at the moment that this is a variant that has been selected by any aspect of immunity.

these viruses mutate all of the time. several thousand mutations have been detected and these vaccines have been tested. trials we re vaccines have been tested. trials were being conducted on populations where lots of different variants we re where lots of different variants were circulating. the efficacy data that we have the vaccines is actually against all of the naturally circulating covid virus in these populations. again, there is nothing to suggest that this one particular mutation that has been noted is sufficient to change the virus sufficiently that it will evade an immune response directed against the entire covid virus. andrew, can you stay with us because professorjonathan ball andrew, can you stay with us because professor jonathan ball has just p°pped professor jonathan ball has just popped up. we have six or seven more questions, let's see if we can get through them. professor paul, well the current pfizer/biontech vaccine

make is immune to the newly discovered variant of covid—19? apologies for missing the earlier discussion. i think it is important to stress that at the moment we have seen to stress that at the moment we have seen lots of different variants emerge since this virus appeared around one year ago. those different variants have spread in different parts of the world and there is very little evidence, there is some evidence, but it is not too convincing or powerful, that these variations are changing the way the virus behaves. in particular, we do not think there is significant evidence to suggest that any of the viruses that are in development —— like any vaccines in development will be impacted by the variations we are seeing at the moment. there have been some reports of some variants having some effect on antibodies. again, because of the way vaccines work, we know that the

vaccines will generate lots of different flavours of antibodies, and so it is quite difficult for a virus to simultaneously change and escape from the activities of all those different antibodies. we would hope that any of the vaccines that are in development would still be able to fight off the virus. can i give the next one you, as well? is the latest variant of the virus related to be meant variant, and if so, how significant is that? —— mink variant. we know that it has had a genetic change in part of its surface proteins. the surface proteins are important because it is those proteins that allow the virus to attach onto a sell and gain entry into the cell. what has happened with the mink virus is we think the virus has genetically modified to be

able to use the mink version of the receptor more efficiently than the human. that is what we would expect a virus to do. we need to disentangle all these different variations and variants that we are seeing, they arise through different mechanisms and they potentially have different impacts on the way that the virus behaves. i think we need to be cautious about how insignificant this particular variant matt hancock reported in the commons today. we do not fully understand its biology, so i think it is incredibly premature to assume that it it is incredibly premature to assume thatitis it is incredibly premature to assume that it is going to change its behaviour, and certainly it is distinct from the sorts of variants that we saw emerging in those mink firms in denmark. you can see how confusing it is for us, members of the public, if you questioning this as well. andrew, you are nodding your head with whatjonathan was saying. why has this mutation of the virus happened so quickly and why

has it shown up in london and not anywhere else? it has not really happened quickly. we have had thousands and thousands of mutations and variants happened throughout the pandemic. this is just and variants happened throughout the pandemic. this isjust one in the latest continuing ongoing process of mutation of the virus. it is quite possible that it actually originated in the south—east of england. the big question then is is it really spreading fast and that is why it it showing up or did it happen to arise ata time showing up or did it happen to arise at a time when perhaps infections we re at a time when perhaps infections were slightly lower so at the time when restriction started to ease and people started to interact and transmission increased, it was one of the viruses in circulation that was in the right place at the right time to write that wave of increasing transmission over recent weeks? viruses will pop up,

mutations throughout the genome, different places, and then there is a variety of factors as to notjust increased activity as to whether they become dominant in that particular region. a couple more. professor ball, this is from christine. is it a possibility that the new coronavirus variant could be caused by the winter weather? no, we would not expect the weather to influence the rate of change of the virus. these are, as andrew has pointed out, sporadic chance events. sometimes those chance events are beneficial for the virus. more often than not, they have little impact, or they may even be damaging for the virus, when we see those sorts of genetic changes disappear from the virus population. the comment about the fact that often these variations that arise by chance, just so happens that they are seeded or planted into a particular of the

country and then get propagated as that virus is spreading. it is not particularly because they have an advantage, it is just particularly because they have an advantage, it isjust because that is the virus that first arose in that particular area, and therefore that particular area, and therefore that then becomes the virus that is most frequently transmitted. we cannot ignore virus change, it can impact virus behaviour, and that is why it is important that we do monitor the emergence of the strains. but also more importantly that we work whether out or not these changes do change the virus behaviour because that is what is important. final one for you andrew preston. are we speeding up the virus mutation process by implementing on—again, off—again restrictions making it more difficult for the virus to spread, thus forcing it to adapt more quickly to survive? the speed at which the mutations arise is pretty much fixed for many viruses and other microbes. we cannot really

speed up that process, but we can influence the selection that acts on those variants, asjonathan has just pointed out. they arise all the time and then there will be sets of circumstances that promote the transmission of some. i do not think it is necessarily going to be the easing of restrictions that is really having the impact. i do not think we have had severe enough restrictions, certainly since this new variant has arisen, to really impactand new variant has arisen, to really impact and create a selection pressure on it, so again i think we are still waiting. the bottom line is we do not really know why this particular variant might be increasing in proportion of all of the cases in the south—east. but i do not see anything from the recent lockdown. this first arose during october, so i would be surprised if it was anything that we have done to impact at this early on. really good to have you both on. thank you so much for going through some of the

questions that have been sent in. we will be speaking to you again no doubt over the next few weeks, thank you very much indeed. just an update on the schools situation in london. the department for education has begun legal action against the borough of greenwich in south east london — after the council leader urged all schools to close, citing rising covid infections. in a statement, the education secretary said shutting schools is not in children's best interest and says he's issued a direction to greenwich council saying it must withdraw its instruction to close schools. the council says its decision was based on information from public health england. google applications — including youtube, email and docs — have suffered a rare service outage, with users unable to access many of the technology giant's services. the outage happened around midday.

google said the problem hit its authentication system — which is used for logging in and similarfunctions — and lasted about 45 minutes. we can speak to the futurist and technology expert tom cheesewright. he join us live from manchester. 45 minutes outage, not an attack. do you have any more information, tom? you are just like the rest of us, google runs things on computers rather than magic. someone got something wrong, it basically ran out of space on a hard disk. just as you and i might have many to many songs or photos on our computer. and no one picked it up until the whole system fell over. that can happen quite easily, can it? it is like a wrong code which infects and causes everything to shut down. these are big platforms, aren't they? they are

enormous. that is the big message from today, just how reliant we are ona from today, just how reliant we are on a small number of companies who power a huge proportion of our experiences, whether at home or at work. lots of people left without the ability to turn their lights and heating on and off, companies unable to communicate or work on documents. looking at the people, companies that rely on them, giants, behemoths. oogle is used by uber, netflix and twitter. will there be a big loss of revenues for these big companies relying on this?” big loss of revenues for these big companies relying on this? i think you could put probably put a team of economists on it for six months. once they worked out all the lost ad revenue, people not playing games, not able to communicate, missed meetings, they will find a pretty dramatic number. i could not tell you how many zeros, but there will bea you how many zeros, but there will be a lot of zeros. will they chase google for its? no, ithink be a lot of zeros. will they chase google for its? no, i think that is

unlikely. the real lesson perhaps is should we be putting all our x in a single basket, like we clearly do?” am afraid we have had some issues with your sound, but we have picked up with your sound, but we have picked up around 90% of it. we will leave it there. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. hello, good evening. there was some sunshine to be had today if you managed to dodge the downpours. we had plenty of hefty showers, even some longer spells of rain, and there is more rain in the forecast for the rest of this week. it will often be windy, but as so often at this time of year, with wet and windy weather comes mild weather. temperatures above the norm for this time of year. so on the satellite picture, you can see all these different clumps of cloud circulating around an area of low pressure. showers or longer spells of rain. we've had some more persistent rain moving across parts of the south—east, that will continue to drift its way through. behind it, plenty of showers packing in through tonight, especially across western areas.

more in the way of dry weather with some clear spells further east. not a particularly cold night, temperatures generally between 4—8. and then tomorrow, another sunshine and showers day. the showers again will be focused across western areas, where you're exposed to this fairly brisk south—westerly wind, whereas further east, parts of eastern england and particularly through the afternoon in north—east scotland, not too many showers, more in the way of dry weather, and some spells of sunshine. temperatures again a little above average, 8—11 celsius. now, as we head through tuesday evening, the showers will for a time fade. we will see a quieter, drier interlude, but it will not last long, because for wednesday, we've got this area of low pressure which is going to be pushing very close to the republic of ireland, quite a deep low that will bring some very strong winds indeed for parts of the republic of ireland. but the low close enough to bring some windy conditions to the west of the uk with some outbreaks of rain heaviest in western areas, the rain tending to become lighter

and patchier as it pushes further east. but these are wind gusts we can expect through the day, could see gusts up to 50, possibly 60 mph for exposed western spots. from the far south—west of england and perhaps northern ireland as well, the strong winds could combine with high tides to give some coastal flooding. again, temperatures pretty mild, 9—11 celsius. moving into thursday, this little bump in the isobars, a very brief transient ridge of high pressure. so something a little bit drier for many of us on thursday, with some spells of sunshine, but some rain into the west, and for friday, heavy rain for most of us, brisk winds, but it will be mild.

this is bbc news. the uk has discovered a new variant of the coronavirus and it spreads even faster than the original. the health secretary tells the who that over 1,000 cases of it have been found in england. london and nearby areas move into the tightest covid restrictions as infections rise, but will it stop the christmas shopping crowds? the biggest inoculation programme in american history begins — the first covid—19 jab is given to a front line health care worker, as america passes 300,000 deaths. also in the programme: in the coming hour, california's state electors will cast their votes, which will pushjoe biden past the 270 he needs to win the presidency — the moment he formally becomes president—elect, more than