this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. coronavirus cases are rapidly rising in some parts of the uk. in wales a computer issue means case numbers last week could be twice as high as previously thought. the welsh first minister says the authorities had always been aware of the issue. we know that the numbers were being underreported but we had said that all along. every day this week we have been saying that and been saying that once the update was complete those numbers would be added into the data. millions of people living across england will find out this morning if they'll be moved into a different tier of coronavirus restrictions.

we'd love to hear your thoughts on the tier review. are you hoping your area is moved down a tier? what effect would moving up a tier have on you? should the government be reviewing the tiers at all? do get in touch with me on twitter @annita—mcveigh and use #bbcyourquestions, and i'll try to read out some of your comments. the french president emmanuel macron tests positive for covid—19 after showing symptoms and will isolate for seven days. the world health organisation is given the green light to visit wuhan in china to investigate the origins of the virus. 32 years after the lockerbie bombing, authorities in the us are understood to be preparing fresh charges. and toy shops in britain face stock shortages beause of delays at uk ports. some orders will now miss christmas, costing businesses thousands of pounds in sales.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. coronavirus appears to be spreading even more rapidly in parts of the uk than previously thought. it's emerged that thousands of positive test results have been left out from official figures in wales. 11,000 covid test results were missing from officialfigures because of a computer problem with a system recording lab results which had been undergoing routine maintenance. it means the total number of cases from the last week could be twice as high as previously thought. meanwhile, at 11:30am millions of people across england will find out if a change to their local coronavirus restrictions is on the way, when the health

secretary addresses mps. it comes after london, most of essex and parts of hertfordshire moved into tier 3 — the highest level of restrictions — yesterday, after a surge in infections. more than 3a million people are now under the toughest rules in england. over 21 million are in tier 2. and 700,000 are in the lowest level, tier 1. it's thought more areas could be added to the tier 3 list. simonjones reports. just over a week until christmas. the decorations are up, but for many businesses what sort of festive period they will have remains unclear. this hotel in burnley is fully booked for the big day, but unless the area goes from tier 3, the highest level of restrictions, into tier 2, nobody will get to stay and it will remain closed. we've probably lost 7 million

in sales this year and the problem is we have no certainty that we can start to trade again in january, february or march. many areas of northern england believe infection rates have come down enough to justify easing restrictions, but hospital trusts are warning that they are still treating a high number of coronavirus patients. in hornsea on the yorkshire coast, opinion is divided on whether the area should move down into tier 2. no, stay in tier 3. tier 3. safe for everybody, without a doubt. a coastal area like this, people keep their distance like everyone else is doing, i hope and pray we do go into tier 2 for the economy and industry, really. this the red areas on the map show the places that have been in tier 3 since the last lockdown ended. already this week, london, large parts of essex and parts of hertfordshire have been added and towns like hastings on the south coast, where infection rates have risen by 1a0% in the past week, fear they are heading the same way.

tier 1 was manageable. we could actually manage to work with that, where people could meet up and be sociable, but in a controlled way. but tier 2 has been very difficult and tier 3 will be awful, but at least we will know what we are doing. government officials met last night to decide. their conclusions will be revealed today. simon jones, bbc news. as we heard, 11,000 positive covid tests are missing from the latest official figures in wales. the discovery means that cases in the last week could be double the number previously thought. public health wales has blamed the error on "planned maintenance" of some it systems but the first minister of wales, mark drakeford, said it isn't down to a "computer problem". one point to make, if i could — this isn't a computer problem. this was planned upgrading of the computer system. none of the data is missing.

everybody who had a positive test was told that in wales last week. everything was uploaded onto our tpp system, but the figures do indeed demonstrate just how serious the position here in wales has become and underlines why we made the decisions yesterday, both in the lead up to christmas, during christmas and once christmas is over. the welsh government was aware that there were tests that had been carried out which were not being loaded onto the system because that is what we had already announced. we were getting information through our tpp system every day, so we knew that the numbers were being underreported but we had said that all along. every day this week we have been saying that. and every day this week we have been saying that once the upgrade was complete those numbers would be added into the data, so it's no surprise to us and, as i say, the decisions we made yesterday to strengthen restrictions leading up to christmas, to reduce the number of households who can meet in wales over

christmas to two and to go into a full level 4 set of restrictions immediately after christmas, that decision was driven by the numbers we are seeing here, the number of people in hospital beds, the number of people needing critical care in wales — all of which demonstrates the seriousness of the position we are facing. well, as we heard the first minister mark drakeford say, the rules for christmas have been tightened in wales, as covid cases there rise. 0ur correspondent cemlyn davies explained what exactly has changed. the first minister says he is completely committed to the four nations statement that was issued yesterday, calling on people across the uk to have a smaller, safer christmas. but here in wales, there will be one big difference compared to other parts of the uk, because here it will be illegal for three households to come together over the festive period. by law, only two households and one person living alone will be allowed to spend time together

over christmas. now initially, it had appeared that would only be guidance but then mark drakeford said he was making it law in order to bring the rules into line with what he was asking people to do. 0pposition parties have accused him of some confused messaging in the way he went about it. in the meantime, we now also know that wales will go into a full national lockdown on the 28th of december, although nonessential shops will close on christmas eve and hospitality businesses will close at 6pm on christmas day. the uk health secretary matt hancock is due to announce any changes to the tiered system in england at 11.30am in the house of commons. 0ur political correspondent, helen catt, says the expectation is that very few areas will be moved downwards. it is unlikely we will see any major changes downwards. we might see some areas

going into tier 3. there have been calls from some leaders in the north of england saying we have been in these restrictions for many months. we believe some areas have met the criteria to be moved down to tier 2. we will have to see if any of those are but the expectation is we will not see a huge amount of movement downwards because all the messaging that has been coming from government has been about caution and the fact rates have started to rise very rapidly in recent days in some areas and we saw the government move ahead of this review to put london and parts of hertfordshire and essex into tier 3 this week so the expectation will be there will not be huge amounts of movement downwards and the tiers that are set today will be the tiers that are in place over christmas for england. there will be a relaxation to allow three households to form a bubble over the five days of christmas but the other restrictions will stay in place so

if you are in an area that is in tier 3 pubs will stay closed over christmas and the home secretary priti patel spoke earlier about the importance of the tiering system. tiering is here for a reason and of course in the light of christmas, the regulations and laws, we would absolutely advise people to stick within their tier. do not travel across tiers. you know, be very respectful of the guidance that has come from government around tiering. the other thing to watch out for is there have been calls for could some areas move down, smaller areas to be moved out of the counties in which they are set. the government was resistant to that last time but it has done that with parts of essex and hertfordshire which have been split off from the rest of the county. it will be interesting to see if we get more of those later today. to see if we get more of sharon

to see if we get more of says they shouldn't bring anyone sharon says they shouldn't bring anyone down a tier when relaxing the rules over christmas. it makes no sense to under the progress made. someone says hospitality venues are left in limbo as to how to operate, giving the industry next to no notice to get ready is not good enough. sebastian says i do not understand why so many people want their area to enter a lower tier when tier1 and tier 2 represents useless measures. it is asking for an exponential rise. i want a tier 1l an exponential rise. i want a tier 4. and someone says the largest city between leeds and edinburgh has seen a decrease in infection levels. we should not suffer because other areas have not shown a decrease. good to get your thoughts. keep them coming into me on twitter. we will try to eat out a few more. french president emmanuel macron has

tested positive for covid—19, his office announced this morning, adding he would now self—isolate for the next week. these are pictures we saw of mr macron yesterday — when he received portugal's prime minister antonio costa at his official residency in paris. well, his office issued a statement this morning saying mr macron tested positive for covid—19 today — and that he took the test after the "onset of the first symptoms". mr macron will now, in accordance with national regulations, self—isolate for seven days. he will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely, the office of the presidency has said. a team of ten international scientists will travel to the chinese city of wuhan next month to investigate the origins of covid—19, according to the the world health organization. beijing has been reluctant to agree to an independent inquiry and it has taken many months of negotiations for the who to be allowed access to the city.

paul hawkins reports. did it come from bats? did it use a host to jump to humans? were the wuhan wet markets where the first outbreak happened? just some of the key questions who scientists will try to answer when they arrive in the city next month. their goal is to find the truth about where the virus came from and how it started. what we know so far is that on the third ofjanuary china investigated a virus infecting dozens of people in the city. a week later, chinese media reported the first known death. two months later, the who declares a world—wide pandemic. september saw worldwide deaths pass one million, half of which were in brazil, india, and the us, which in november became the first country to pass 250,000 deaths.

finally this month, british woman margaret keenan became the first person in the world to be vaccinated outside trials. but the truth about the virus' origins has, until now, been somewhat elusive. last december a chinese doctor at wuhan central hospital, li wenliang, warned his colleagues about the spread of a new mysterious disease but was told by police to stop making false comments and was later investigated for spreading rumours. he died a few months later after contracting the virus. but china's initial attempts to downplay the outbreak, plus its reluctance to open up to the who, have led to accusations like this... china's secrecy, deceptions and cover—up allowed it to spread all over the world. there were also accusations that the virus was accidentally leaked from this laboratory in the city. no—one knows for sure. in the summer, a two—man who team that visited china had difficulty negotiating access to wuhan. i think it will be very important

for the chinese government to have transparency so that the scientists can look at everything. so i think it will be important for everybody to have open, transparent communication. scientists say finding out the truth about how the virus started will be key to stopping future outbreaks. just how helpful the secretive chinese authorities will be this time remains to be seen. paul hawkins, bbc news. authorities in the united states are believed to be close to filing charges against a libyan man suspected of making the bomb that blew up pan am flight 103 over lockerbie in 1988. us media says prosecutors will soon press for the extradition of abu agila mohammad masud, who is reportedly being held in libya. here's our washington correspondent lebo diseko. 270 people were killed in a terror attack over the scottish town which took days place before christmas and all 259 people on the flight were killed,

most of them americans returning home for the christmas holidays. a large section of the plane's fuselage fell to the ground, destroying homes and killing a further 11 people. the suspect is said to be a libyan intelligence officer by the name of abu agila mohammmad masood. he is alleged to have helped build the bomb that brought the plane down. the victims' families have found themselves caught up in one of the world's longest and most sprawling terrorism investigations. masood is a long—time suspect in the case and is said to have been the subject of discussions among us and foreign officials since at least 2015. it is not clear what the likelihood is of him being brought to the us for trial. neither the us justice department or the libyan authorities have publicly commented on the issue. so far only one man, the libyan abdel basset ali al—megrahi, has been sent to prison for the bombing. he was convicted in 2001 but subsequently allowed to return home after it emerged that he had terminal cancer.

he died in 2012. drjim swire's daughter flora died in the lockerbie disaster. he has long been sceptical that mr megrahi was guilty of involvement in the bombing, and — as he told bbc breakfast this morning — remains to be convinced about mr masud's involvement. i can't see how a connection can be made to the lockerbie bombing with this guy, but it's quite possible there may be because one of the things that has made life even more difficult than the life of bereavement might otherwise have been has been the fact our own government in this country has been sequestering files concerning lockerbie out of reach of public information requests so that we are denied what knowledge our own government may have about this particular case. the latest us figures on the spread

of coronavirus have set new records, as in the last 2a hours it's reported the highest daily number for new infections since the pandemic began — as well as the most deaths in a single day. new coronavirus cases were put at a quarter of a million and deaths at more than 3,600 — nearly 500 more than the previous highest total only a week ago. it brings the total number of deaths across the united states to 307,000. on monday, the first pfizer—biontech vaccine injections began to be administered as part of a nationwide vaccination campaign and later today an american food and drug administration panel is due to meet to discuss whether they should authorise a second vaccine — from moderna. but the vaccination programme is facing strong opposition — and, as aleem maqbool reports from washington, surveys show that mistrust appears highest among african americans.

a black doctor inoculating a black nurse. the first us coronavirus vaccination in front of the cameras is also clearly a message to african—america ns that the vaccine is safe. the vaccine that you are going to be taking was developed by an african—american woman. some feel this need to convince black people in the us to get immunised, and for good reason. surveys show nearly 60% of african—america ns say they are unlikely to get the vaccine, even though black people have died from the coronavirus at a rate nearly three times that of white people in the us. this man lost a cousin to covid but still says he won't take the vaccine. i don't think it has reached the level of confidence for me to overlook the history and apprehensiveness

of my community's concerns with vaccines. what does that mean? that means that america doesn't have a good track record in the black community of being concerned about our health and wellbeing. the massive disparity in coronavirus deaths has exacerbated mistrust, but it is mistrust that is deep rooted. one of the most shameful chapters in american medical history was a syphilis study, carried out over a0 years on hundreds of poor black men without their knowledge, in alabama. it came to an end in the 19705 but still has reverberations today and is the reason many give for why they don't want the vaccine. we've got to think first, it's a trick. is this a trick or population control? do you think a lot of people feel that way? yeah, man! population control,

all those kinds of things. you don't have to go all the way back to alabama, so many years ago, to understand why people are distrustful of the healthcare system. you can go sit in an emergency room or a doctor's office today and see how someone who is poor, someone who is black, might be treated differently than someone who is not. consequences of not being able to turn around that mistrust now are grave. low uptake of a vaccine by african—americans will inevitably mean many more deaths in some of america's most vulnerable communities. with christmas fast approaching, governments around europe are having to make tough decisions on whether to ease coronavirus restrictions in time for the holiday period. germany has started a hard lockdown after a surge in infections, whilst the netherlands and italy have both imposed stricter measures. in a moment we will hear from anna holligan in the hague and mark lowen in lombardy, but first our berlin correspondent,

jenny hill, explains the situation in germany. the authorities are hoping to reverse what is increasingly a very serious situation in germany. the figures speak for themselves, nearly 700 deaths and 27,000 cases in the last 2a hours. germany is in lockdown. we are allowed to go out and about here but in addition to bars and restaurants which closed six weeks ago, shops, schools and hairdressers are closed. i do not think any german expected to enjoy the trappings of a traditional christmas given the situation, but the current restrictions mean that festivities will need to be limited to the very small family gathering. at the moment you are allowed to get together with one other household, a maximum of five people excluding children. over the three days of christmas. germans celebrate christmas on what we see as christmas eve.

you are allowed to invite an additional four people to that gathering but they must be close family members. it is going to be a very different christmas for people here. some scientists are really worried that even that small relaxation of restrictions might see a spike over christmas itself. very different this year. one of the things most germans will miss the most are the pop—up mulled wine stores which at this time of year are very commonplace, you just nip out and have a mulled wine under the stars. there is a ban on consumption of alcohol outdoors. we can go to the netherlands and speak to my colleague. the message in the netherlands is stay at home and work from home. until a few days ago city centres were packed while infection rates were surging so perhaps not surprising we are looking at this crackdown. measures beyond what this country

has experienced before. nonessential stores closed. it is interesting to see how the dutch are interpreting that because our local florist, the bike repair shop, the off—licence, delicatessen, are open, but the toy and clothes shops are closed. restaurants, cafes can keep on serving takeaways. things like museums, swimming pools, amusement parks, that parents might enjoy doing with their children over the extended christmas break, are also closed for five weeks. schools, primary and secondary, are closed until the 19th ofjanuary and in terms of the christmas bubble here it is slightly different so the dutch are encouraging a pick and mix system with family and friends so you can have a maximum of three guests a day for the three days over christmas and travel—wise the government has advised against booking any foreign

excursions until at least march 2021. we can go to my colleague in italy. here in italy the government is still deciding exactly what restrictions to impose over the christmas period. we already know there will be a ban on movement between regions from this sunday the 21st of december until the 6th of january. anybody coming into italy from abroad will be subject to a two—week quarantine. ski resorts are closed and the christmas mass on christmas eve will be brought forward from midnight earlier in the day so as to comply with the night—time curfew, but the government has been locked in meetings over the last couple of days with coalition partners to try to agree on tightening restrictions. they will probably impose a national lockdown between the 24th and the 27th of december

and the 31st of december and the 3rd ofjanuary, closing shops, restaurants and banning nonessential movement. they were trying to avoid that. italy was the first country in the world to impose a nationwide lockdown in march during the first wave and they were trying a regional tiered approach this time to try to salvage the economy but the infection rate is still too high. it is not coming down quickly enough and even though new infections are down by 17% in the last week they feel they need to tighten restrictions even more and we will probably get an announcement on that later today. it has been a very tough year in italy, the first country in the west to be crushed by the virus, the highest death toll in europe, over 66,000. they are hoping with compliance with the christmas measures that they will have a happier and easier 2021.

we have had a tweet from michel barnier reading the negotiating team for the eu in the trade talks with the uk as we first approach the end of the transition period on the 31st of the transition period on the 31st of december. a brief update from michel barnier, talks continuing in an effort to get the trade deal but key sticking points remain encoding fishing and a level playing field, the desire to have fair competition once the transition period ends. an australian ombudsman has found that the rushed lockdown of nine tower blocks in the city

of melbourne, due to a surge in coronavirus cases, breached human rights laws. injuly, about 3,000 people were confined for up to two weeks under police guard. the residents were given no notice, meaning many were left without food or medicine. 0mbudsman deborah glass said the lockdown itself did not breach human rights but the decision to rush it through was not based on public health advice. new research has revealed that millions of people across the uk have missed out on medical scans because of the pandemic. in england, at least 4.4 million fewer scans were performed between april and september this year compared to the same period in 2019. cancer charities are worried about patients who have been diagnosed late, or are still waiting for a scan — one in seven people are still waiting more than three months, but nhs england says some services are now back to the same levels as last year. hundreds of vehicles have been trapped overnight on a motorway injapan as heavy snow hit a wide area to the northwest of tokyo.

some areas of the country have seen record snowfall with mina kami in gunma prefecture having nearly two metres of snow in the two days to thursday morning. the government has set up a special task force in response to the extreme weather. a major winter storm is predicted to bring deep snow and power outages on the east coast of the united states. more than 60 million people are expected to be affected in an area stretching from colorado to maine. the national weather service is warning "dangerous, if not impossible, travel conditions and isolated power surges" in the worst—affected areas. a chinese space craft has returned to earth with the first samples from the moon in more than a0 years. the chang'e—5 spent three weeks in space, sampling rocks and soil, and touched down in the northern region of inner mongolia on thursday. tanya dendrinos reports. a return from the moon carrying

precious lunar cargo. chang'e—5‘s descent to earth captured on infrared cameras. landing in inner mongolia on thursday, the flag promptly planted as china submitted itself as a key player in the space race. this is a pretty big dealfor china, they have been catching up on space and this is the biggest mission they have done. they ran a whole rehearsal for this in 2014 so they have been preparing for this moment for a long time and the fact that it went off so successfully is going to give them confidence to do even more ambitious missions in future. the mission was launched at the end of november, a probe sent into orbit around the moon. part of it landing to drill and dig up samples, with around two kilograms expected to have been collected. you can do a tremendous amount with a very small amount of material, so they don't need tons of material to do a lot of science.

these samples are also very interesting because they are from a different spot where apollo went and the lunar probes from the soviet union went and it is also what we believe is a younger spot, maybe about a billion years old instead of 3—4 billion years old. and while the samples will offer scientists an opportunity to discover more about the evolution of earth and the solar system, it is also a significant marker for the new era of deep—space missions. there is a maturity of those programmes, we are also seeing the return of an asteroid sample from a japanese probe. we are seeing a united arab emirates probe heading to mars so deep space is becoming much more international, as well. a global take on unlocking the secrets of the planets beyond. let's return to the growing pressure from doctors and scientists to abandon the relaxation of covid restrictions over christmas. the four nations of the united kingdom have broadly

agreed to stick to plans to allow some household mixing over the festive period. with the number of infections rising sharply, leaders say people should show "extreme caution". the rules initially agreed for all of the uk between the 23rd and 27th december allow three households in a "christmas bubble" to mix indoors and to stay overnight, but only if that's unavoidable. wales now wants to limit the mixing to two households, but those households can be joined by a single person who lives alone. that is going to be written into law. nonessential shops will close on christmas eve, and all of wales will return to a form of lockdown on 28th december. scotland is urging that any interaction with other households should ideally be outdoors, and that contact should be limited to one day. in a moment we'll talk to our correspondent alexandra mckenzie in glasgow. first to chris page in belfast.

we already have the announcement of bubbles for christmas in northern ireland so we are looking for the details on what will happen in the period after christmas, will we be expecting something on that today? it is a strong possibility. there is a particularly important meeting of ministers in the devolved government today. the health minister robin swann has said he is going to put forward proposals for new restrictions. he has not said exactly what they are but he has said they will be extreme and robust. it feels unlikely that there will be any significant certainly tightening of the rules around the christmas period itself, that five—day bubble period which is allowed, a maximum of three households can get together and there is no upper limits here on the number of people that can be involved in that. also in northern ireland, basically because of the simple fact of geography, if people are going elsewhere in the uk, it might take

a bit longer to get there than people living in england, scotland so the 22nd in december and 28th, the days either side have been set aside as travel days. you can travel to the place you are spending christmas but you can't go into your christmas bubble until the 23rd and by the 27th, you have to be out of the christmas bubble. the big question is what happens in the days after christmas. things seem to be pointing towards certainly a strong possibility that new restrictions could be brought in that will apply some time between christmas and new year period. there has been a very alarming series of figures this week in connection with the coronavirus, for example yesterday, more than 500 new cases were recorded, so for a place with the population of northern ireland, that is a very big number and also we have seen signs of the pressure on the health service. earlier this week at one hospital, the antrim area hospital, 17 ambulances were parked outside the main doors and doctors and nurses were treating patients

inside them because there were no beds left in the hospital. there certainly seems to be a consensus that new restrictions are needed to curb the spread of the virus. nonessential shops, pubs and restaurants, hotels, hairdressers, beauticians, all reopened just last friday after a two—week lockdown and there is certainly an expectation that come the period between christmas and new year, we could be looking at more closures but it is all down to what politicians decide. they will be hearing from their scientific advisers at the meeting and then an announcement is not guaranteed today but it is understood that certainly, people in the devolved government in stormont recognise the importance of reaching a decision quickly and communicating it clearly. chris page in belfast, thank you. now alexandra in glasgow. so restrictions for christmas tightening in scotland, alexandra, tell us more? that is right, the guidance has been tightened already. people are being advised just to spend christmas

within their own home and not to be mixing with other households. but obviously, that is very difficult for a lot of people. it has been acknowledged by many people and the first minister that loneliness is an issue and some people just don't want to be alone at christmas. some people don't want their friends and family to be alone at christmas. so legally, you can still have a christmas bubble of three households, but that is not being recommended. that is to be seen as the absolute maximum, and the recommendation is two households but even that, the first minister has said, only if that is essential. legally, you can have a christmas bubble of up to eight people aged over 12 but again, that is not being recommended. the advice is to keep your bubble as small as possible and in terms of the five days, the advice is very strong not to go

and spend five days in someone's house over christmas. the advice is possibly to spend one day at the most but it would be preferable to spend that day outside if you were meeting up with friends and family. and the advice is not to spend an overnight with another family unless it is absolutely necessary but there also travel advice. the advice is not to travel very far and not to travel from an area like glasgow, where there are many cases, into an area where there are fewer cases, like the highlands or orkney, shetland. so yes, very strong advice from scotland's first minister. she did say it was a very difficult decision to make, to give that advice, with only a few days to go until christmas, when people may have already made

plans and are in that difficult dilemma of wondering whether they have made the right decision or whether they should actually be changing their plans now with just a few days to go. alexandra, thank you very much for that update, alexandra mackenzie in glasgow. some of your comments on the announcement that is expected in less tha n announcement that is expected in less than an hour about the tier system in england, chelsea says she is in nottinghamshire but he does not believe any of these middens should move down a deer because it would be chaos and the cases will go straight up again especially with the relaxation of rules over christmas. —— anywhere in the east midlands should move down a tier. martin says put the whole of england into tier 3 as with the restrictions lifting for the festive period, there is that again, here comes the third wave and then a new national lockdown forjanuary, third wave and then a new national lockdown for january, anyone third wave and then a new national lockdown forjanuary, anyone can see it. martin says he is staying at home because he has lung problems and is not taking the risk. thank you for your comments. ten years ago today,

a young tunisian who sold vegetables from a barrow set himself on fire to protest against police harassment. his act of desperation sparked a wave of unrest across the middle east which toppled many regional rulers. bbc arabic have beeen investigating whether the hopes and dreams of those who took part in the arab spring have been fulfilled.

let's return to the growing pressure from doctors and scientists to abandon the relaxation of covid restrictions over christmas. in england, there are a number of regions currently in tier 3 — the highest alert level — that are hoping to be moved down to tier 2 and see their restrictions eased from saturday. let's take a look at some of the numbers that are taken into consideration when making these decisions. stratford—upon—avon in the midlands was at one point considering legal action against the government after being placed into tier 3. it has one of the lowest covid infection rates in england, with its latest seven day figure

rate of 87.6 per 100,000. compare that to stratford in newham, east london, which untiljust this week was in tier 2, until yesterday when it was moved to tier 3, and it has a an infection rate of 372.4 per 100,000, one of the highest in the capital. greater manchester's mayor andy burnham has been arguing the case for manchester to be taken out of tier 3. it has an infection rate of 178.5 per 100,000. until yesterday, the south and west of essex had been in tier 2 and has since moved to tier 3. the coastal town of southend—on—sea has an infection rate of 331.5 per 100,000, significantly higher than manchester. west yorkshire is expected to remain under tier 3 restrictions, despite big cities such as leeds having an infection rate of 136.8 per 100,000.

compare to the north london borough of enfield, which only got put into tier 3 yesterday, despite having a much higher infection rate of 387.7 per 100,000. the conservative mp andrew bridgen has been lobbying to have his north west leicestershire constituency taken out of tier 3. he wants it to be decoupled from the city of leicester, which has a higher infection rate. the city, as you know, has been troubled throughout the pandemic. they were the first city to go into local lockdown and their hospitality businesses unfortunately have not been out of lockdown since march. i am not now full of hope. i bumped into michael gove this morning, i presume on his way to the quad meeting to decide the tiers and i can't say my interaction with him gave me confidence. i think the government are very worried with the christmas break coming up that infection rates are rising and i think they will be

very reluctant to release anybody from tier 3, although the figures in my constituency certainly would support that and... you sound very like what andy burnham was saying to me a short while ago. he thought that perhaps today in the decision—making process, the government might overcompensate, was his word, for the fact that they are allowing people still to get together at christmas over a period of five days, certainly at least in england. is that what you believe? i am afraid that is my concern as well. and i do have deeper concerns about the lockdown and how we are effectively shutting down the hospitality industry. people i have seen in the hospitality industry have gone to huge lengths to make their businesses covid compliant. they are cleaning down, socially distancing and i honestly believe that what these measures are doing is encouraging people to break the rules and have interactions in their homes where they are drinking alcohol and i believe

that is where the virus is now spreading. that is interesting. again, very similar to what andy burnham has been saying to us as well. he thinks it would be safer in some areas to come out of tier 3, to encourage people to gather socially if that is what they want to do in the hospitality setting and with the hospitality industry rather than gathering privately at home. when we look at what doctors and scientists have been saying, given that 612 people died yesterday, or rather, 612 deaths were recorded for people who had tested positive for covid in the previous 28 days, should anyone be asking to move to fewer restrictions at this point? well, i wish the science was stronger, when the chief medical officer says there is no science behind closing hospitality, it is a hunch, obviously, that does not fill me with confidence. i came back to my point earlier, i think that hospitality businesses

have invested so much time and money in ensuring that their businesses were fully covid compliant and effectively now we are going to have bubbles in people's houses where they will interact where there are not those measures, and that is not going to be a recipe for suppressing the virus. so is the tier system simply not working as far as you are concerned? you voted against it initially, didn't you? i voted against it, i think the system can work but we need the science to demonstrate and give the public confidence in those measures. the reason i voted against the tier system being introduced was it was going to link my constituency of north west leicestershire with leicester, which meant there was never any hope of getting my constituency, whatever we do in suppressing the virus and we have done it very successfully, out of tier 3 while we are linked to leicester, who have got an appalling track record in dealing with the pandemic, despite having millions and millions of pounds of support from public health england, the department of health, the nhs, over many, many months, they have never

got theirfigures down to get out of tier 3. well, a lot of places have been asking for the test and trace system to be run locally, for example, and it is run centrally, isn't it? picking up on the point... it does not help when the mayor of leicester and all of his deputies are caught out breaking the rules and flouting the rules themselves on social media, on video, on a regular basis. it does not send out the right message to the people of leicester. their hospitality businesses have not been out of lockdown since march. many of them will never reopen. and now my hospitality businesses are dependent on the actions of the labour administration in leicester and that is not fair. well, you know, clearly political leaders have to set an example, don't they, but i am just making the point that it is a conservative government and a centrally run test and trace system. but to pick up on the point you are making about people in your constituency, how concerned are you that if people there, you know, don't see any sign they can get out

of tier 3, that they are going to start to lose the motivation if you like to stick with the restrictions? or do you think people will continue to be sensible? i am sure most will continue to be sensible but clearly there's going to be a feeling that it is out of our hands, we are going to stay in tier 3 and if people lose hope, hope sustains, you know that and if they lose hope... i would be really disappointed if we lost the discipline we have shown throughout the pandemic which has been a great source of pride to me and i am sure that is true across many constituencies, if they think they are condemned to tier 3 until the vaccine is completely rolled out, people may lose hope. andrew bridgen, the mp for north west leicestershire. we area we are a health secretary —— expecting the official announcement for the uk health secretary at 11:30am in the house of commons to see if there is any movement on the shia system in england. before that, we are hearing from our lancashire

belittle reporter mike stevens that local leaders have been told that as expected, lancashire is remaining in tier 3. lancashire will remain in tier 3. lancashire will remain in tier 3, just finding that out ahead of the official announcement coming up of the official announcement coming up soon. the united states says a cyber attack on federal government systems discovered in recent days was both significant and continuing. a joint statement by the fbi and security agencies said they were working to understand the full extent of the hacking campaign, which apparently began as long ago as march. officials believe the attack probably originated in russia. the chairman of the federal reserve, the us central bank, has called for steps to stimulate the american economy, which is struggling to cope with the effects of the coronavirus crisis. jerome powell said the case for deploying government finances was very, very strong. the england footballer marcus rashford's mum has spoken out for the first time about the work her son has been doing throughout the pandemic

to help hungry children. opening up to sally nugent, mel maynard has been speaking about the struggles she faced to feed her family when marcus was growing up. meet marcus and his mum, mel. do you want a cup of tea, marcus? as a young single parent, mel worked round the clock in a bid to keep food on the table for the future star. have you got a mask to go in here, marcus? it's a table. i had threejobs. and if i didn't do that, we just wouldn't have been able to cook a pot of food. it was just a bit difficult. so marcus is only telling the story from how he sees it, and the words that he's been saying, they obviously come from the bottom of his heart. sometimes, it was really bad. i'd rather give the food to the kids than to give it to myself.

sometimes, i didn't get anything to eat and they'd ask me, "have you had yours?" and i'd say yeah, but i didn't. sometimes we didn't even have a loaf of bread in the house. it's embarrassing to say, but we didn't. all them little struggles and the sacrifices that you made, it helps you appreciate everything like ten times more. so i don't see it as a weakness, cos i think in sport you have to have something behind you that's pushing you. when you come from a place of struggle and a place of pain, a lot of the time it switches and it becomes your drive and motivation. that is a struggle that marcus rashford hasn't forgotten. throughout this year, he's worked to highlight the difficulties faced by children growing up hungry. when marcus was 11, his mum had to make a difficult decision. she asked the manchester united academy to sign him a year early. they took him in digs. i mean, it's sad to say, but he went in digs at the age of 11.

but it's the best thing that could have happened to him. i missed playing football in the house. no, i did, cos when i, erm... ..when i moved, you have to change the way you behave, because i probably weren't quite as comfortable as i was at home. it wasn't easy, but ijust knew what would happen if he's left out there on the street. today is a special day for mel. they're travelling to fareshare, the food charity marcus has been working with. oh, it's changed down there, marcus, hasn't it? that's the estate that your nana used to live at. i know. around the back. yeah. that's what i've got tattooed on now. hi, there. hello. food from this depot will be sent to vulnerable families living nearby. do you have food going out all throughout the day? yes, every day. monday to friday, mainly. last year, we gave out

95 tonnes of food. this september? 339 tonnes. so you can see, it's been massive. as his mum, watching him load a car full of breakfast stuff for other kidsjust like him... brilliant. it actually brings tears to your eyes, doesn't it? and even with a bad back! i was just going to say! just watch that back, marcus — and your head! but it's notjust about marcus. this new building is being named after mel, for everything they've done together to help families in need. thank you so much. start your own, erm, your own trophy cabinet. yeah. what's it like then, to be in this building that's named after you, after all that you and marcus have achieved over the last several months? i'm overwhelmed. and i don't know what to say,

but all i can say is thank you. i think i'm going to cry! for us, and my mum especially, we were concentrated so much on, like, the people that we was trying to help. so the reaction and the response to things, a lot of itjust simply goes over our heads, because we're still focused on helping people. and i think we've gained a massive understanding of how the struggle, you know, ten or 15 years ago, compared to now, has completely increased. and that's why i think that she doesn't quite, erm, like, know what to say in these situations, because she's more about how people are actually feeling and, you know, how we've helped them in that way. and then, everything else sort of goes over our heads! no problem. can ijust do one with marcus? yeah, definitely. you need to grow a little bit.

marcus rashford and his mum, mel. toy shops say delays at british ports and across the international supply chain means thousands of gifts might not arrive in time for christmas. retailers and food manufacturers want mps to urgently investigate the disruption, which has been blamed on a number of issues, including brexit stockpiling. the united nations has added the north african dish couscous to its list of the world's intangible cultural heritage. tunisia, algeria, morocco, and mauritania submitted couscous to unesco together, in a joint bid. their arab maghreb union, which also includes libya, has not met since 1994. a unesco statement describes the listing as part of its efforts to bring peoples and cultures closer together. it's very rare to find new plants and funghi in the uk, but a humble toadstool growing by heathrow has topped the list of kew gardens' discoveries from across the world. most new species are from remote parts of the rainforest, but this toadstool was discovered

by chance on a walk by the airport. other highlights on the list include this orchid, dubbed the ugliest in the world, which was found in madagascar. you're watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood. hello again. after yesterday's rain, today is much quieter weather—wise. more of us having a dry day and seeing some sunshine with fewer showers. bright and breezy sums it up quite nicely. what is happening is, we are between two weather fronts. there is one in the north sea and one at the atlantic and in between, as you can see from the slight bump in the isobars, we have a transient ridge of high pressure so that is keeping things settled until the fronts arrive from the atlantic later. quite a bit of sunshine around today. fewer showers than yesterday although there are some showers around and breezy. through the afternoon, we will see the clouds thicken up towards the west and the arrival of some showery outbreaks of rain.

the wind will also start to strengthen. temperatures today, eight in aberdeen, 12 in plymouth and st helier. through this evening and overnight, here comes the rain and the wind strengthening. it will be very gusty through the irish sea and areas adjacent to it and the rain sweeps across, some of it heavy across south—west england and also wales. there will be a lot of cloud and hill fog as well across the moors, into wales, cumbria and the southern uplands. it is going to be a very mild night, nine to about 13 degrees the overnight lows, similar to the maximum temperature today. tomorrow, the weather front moves from the west towards the east. it is still going to be a windy day. gusts wherever you are. we start off on a fairly cloudy note with some fog and then here comes the rain. you can see this arc of it, wherever you see greens and yellows, it's telling you there will be

some heavy bursts. these are the wind gusts. wherever you are, you will notice them. this cloud in the south—east will be thick enough to produce some drizzle from time to time. temperatures, 10—13 degrees but we could see 14 or indeed 15 for example across north—east wales, way above average for the time of year. as we move on through the weekend, friday into saturday and sunday, we have an array of weather fronts crossing us, connected to low pressure and also an array of isobars. after a very mild day on friday for the time of year, things start to cool off a touch on saturday and sunday, with temperatures returning to roughly where they should be at this stage in december. as for the weather on saturday and sunday, well, sunshine and showers, with a lot of the showers in the west.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 11... coronavirus cases are rapidly rising in some parts of the uk, in wales a computer issue means case numbers last week could be twice as high as previously thought. the welsh first minister says the authorities had always been aware of the issue. we know that the numbers were being underreported, but we had said that all along. every day this week we have been saying that and been saying that, we have said once the update was complete those numbers would be added into the data. millions of people living across england will find out soon if they'll be moved into a different tier of coronavirus restrictions. the french president emmanuel macron tests positive for covid—19 after showing symptoms

and will isolate for seven days. 32 years after the lockerbie bombing, authorities in the us are understood to be preparing fresh charges. lawyers representing nine recently retired international rugby players, who say they're suffering brain damage, have officially notified a number of governing bodies of their intention to sue for negligence. and toy shops face stock shortages because of delays at uk ports, some orders will now miss christmas, costing business thousands of pounds in sales. coronavirus appears to be spreading even more rapidly in parts of the uk previously thought. it's emerged that thousands of positive test results have been left out from official

figures in wales. 11,000 covid test results were missing from officialfigures because of a computer problem with a system recording lab results which had been undergoing routine maintenance. it means the total number of cases from the last week could be twice as high as previously thought. meanwhile, at 11:30 this morning millions of people across england will find out if a change to their local coronavirus restrictions is on the way, when the health secretary addresses mps. it comes after london, most of essex and parts of hertfordshire moved into tier 3— the highest level of restrictions— yesterday after a surge in infections. more than 34 million people are now under the toughest rules in england. over 21 million are in tier 2. and 700,000 are in the lowest level, tier 1. it's thought more areas could be added to the tier 3 list. simonjones reports. just over a week until christmas. the decorations are up,

but for many businesses what sort of festive period they will have remains unclear. this hotel in burnley is fully booked for the big day, but unless the area goes from tier 3, the highest level of restrictions, into tier 2, nobody will get to stay and it will remain closed. we've probably lost 7 million in sales this year, and the problem is we have no certainty that we can start to trade again in january, february or march. many areas of northern england believe infection rates have come down enough to justify easing restrictions, but hospital trusts are warning that they are still treating a high number of coronavirus patients. in hornsea on the yorkshire coast, opinion is divided on whether the area should move down into tier 2. no, stay in tier 3. tier 3. safe for everybody, without a doubt. a coastal area like this, people keep their distance like everyone else is doing, i hope and pray we do go into tier 2 for the economy

and industry, really. the red areas on the map show the places that have been in tier 3 since the last lockdown ended. already this week, london, large parts of essex and parts of hertfordshire have been added, and towns like hastings on the south coast, where infection rates have risen by 140% in the past week, fear they are heading the same way. tier 1 was manageable. we could actually manage to work with that, where people could meet up and be sociable, but in a controlled way. but tier 2 has been very difficult and tier 3 will be awful, but at least we will know what we are doing. government officials met last night to decide. their conclusions will be revealed today. simon jones, bbc news. let me tell you that we are expecting at 1130 the statement from matt hancock, that is when officially there's going be notification of what happens with

different areas, whether they will change tiers. it is expected some areas may go up to deer three, others that are in tier 3 will hear whether they stay there or whether they go down. some areas, according to theirfigures, indicate they go down. some areas, according to their figures, indicate that they may go down. we're just hearing that lancashire, which has been in tier 3 and was expecting to stay in tier 3, we are hearing now that local leaders and lancashire have been told that this area is going to stay in tier 3. so that is the worst that we have heard of what they are being told in lancashire about what will happen. we are expecting all of the details of how this will be affected at 11:30 a:m.. we will have full coverage of that statement from matt hancock as soon as it starts. let's get more on those 11,000 positive covid tests missing from the latest official figures in wales. the discovery means that cases in the last week could be double the number previously thought. public health wales has blamed the error on "planned maintenance" of some it systems,

but the first minister of wales mark drakeford said it isn't down to a "computer problem". one point to make, if i could — this isn't a computer problem. this was planned upgrading of the computer system. none of the data is missing. everybody who had a positive test was told that in wales last week. everything was uploaded onto our ttp system, but the figures do indeed demonstrate just how serious the position here in wales has become and underlines why we made the decisions yesterday, both in the lead up to christmas, during christmas and once christmas is over. the welsh government was aware that there were tests that had been carried out which were not being loaded onto the system because that is what we had already announced. we were getting information through our ttp system every day, so we knew that the numbers were being underreported, but we had said that all along. every day this week we have been saying that.

and every day this week we have been saying that once the upgrade was complete, those numbers would be added into the data, so it's no surprise to us and, as i say, the decisions we made yesterday to strengthen restrictions leading up to christmas, to reduce the number of households who can meet in wales over christmas to two and to go into a full level 4 set of restrictions immediately after christmas, that decision was driven by the numbers we are seeing here. the number of people in hospital beds, the number of people needing critical care in wales — all of which demonstrates the seriousness of the position we are facing. we are going to get a reaction a little later this half—hour. well, as we heard the first minister mark drakeford say, the rules for christmas have been tightened in wales, as covid cases there rise. our correspondent cemlyn davies explained what exactly has changed. the first minister says he is completely committed to the four nations statement

that was issued yesterday, calling on people across the uk to have a smaller, safer christmas. but here in wales, there will be one big difference compared to other parts of the uk, because here it will be illegal for three households to come together over the festive period. by law, only two households and one person living alone will be allowed to spend time together over christmas. now, initially, it had appeared that would only be guidance, but then mark drakeford said he was making it law in order to bring the rules into line with what he was asking people to do. opposition parties have accused him of some confused messaging in the way he went about it. in the meantime, we now also know that wales will go into a full national lockdown on the 28th of december, although nonessential shops will close on christmas eve and hospitality businesses will close at 6pm on christmas day.

we are expecting a statement from matt hancock in about 20 minutes' time. let's talk to our political correspondent, nick eardley. i don't think will see huge movement today, i wouldn't expect there to be many areas which have moved down from the top tier to tier 2, although it is possible that some mightjust although it is possible that some might just make the although it is possible that some mightjust make the cut. we have heard already that lancashire is going to stay in tier 3, i think the expectation and greater manchester is that it will remain in tier 3 as well, having heard from the mayor of greater manchester this morning. a couple of things to watch out for, whether any areas go from tier 2 up to tier 3, we know there are somewhere cases are really going up. particularly parts of the south of england, looking at east and west sussex and parts of brighton, sang potentially they could go up a tear.

that has not been confirmed yet, and we also seeing there might be an announcement in matt hancock's statement on the school holidays in england. again, the details aren't com pletely england. again, the details aren't completely clear, but i think that the overall picture this morning is very similar to the one we heard from the prime minister at that press co nfe re nce from the prime minister at that press conference yesterday. he is concerned about the rising number of cases, there is a lot more caution than we have been expecting when we came out of locked down at the start of this month, and with that backdrop, think it is very unlikely that many people in england are going to see a relaxation of the restrictions out of christmas. thank you very much, let's go to lancashire. there maybe some areas that could go and lancashire may well, sorry, port smith may be one of those. we can speak to the leader of portsmouth city council, councillor gerald vernon—jackson.

thank you forjoining us. portsmouth and lancashire are quite a long way apart. but we have been keeping an eye on them, ijust mentioned that lancashire has already heard that they are going to be staying in tier 3, and! they are going to be staying in tier 3, and i know that you're obviously waiting to see what happens with you, might you go from tier 2 to tier 3. have you heard? we were told yesterday that we would get an hours early warning at 1030, we have had an e—mailto say early warning at 1030, we have had an e—mail to say that we will not getting in early warning. so what are you expecting? i do not know, for the last ten days, numbers have been rising, not just for the last ten days, numbers have been rising, notjust portsmouth, but the surrounding area of southeast hampshire, it's notjust done on the numbers, the raw numbers, or even the numbers of elderly people who have got positive

test coming, but also pressure in the hospital. i think here in portsmouth, the hospital has been doing a brilliant job, portsmouth, the hospital has been doing a brilliantjob, they are under a significant pressure, so evenif under a significant pressure, so even if the numbers are below some of the places, the government may decide to try to save the hospital and put us up to tier 3. but we do not know, we have not been given an early warning. what do you think would be the right choice?” early warning. what do you think would be the right choice? i think it is difficult, i think with christmas coming up there is an inevitable wish to see families. and people have been so isolated and restricted in seeing people that i think there is a natural desire to do something slightly normal, but i think it is important to crackdown in the affection to make sure more people don't get ill and die. over the next few weeks and months, with vaccinations rolling out, that people are most vulnerable will get protection. at that is not happening

yet, only the very first few people are getting vaccinations, so the primary important thing to do is to make sure that we protect those vulnerable people. and if that means that we have to be in tier 3 to make sure that we protect those people, thatis sure that we protect those people, that is what has to happen. you came out of the lockdown and went into tier 2, out of the lockdown and went into tier2, and as out of the lockdown and went into tier 2, and as we are discussing, cases have been going up, there's pressure in the hospital, do you think that was the right decision, or would you have preferred for restrictions to have continued at that earlier stage so that we weren't in this position this close to christmas now? might be at the time was we came out of national lockdown to early —— my view at the time, we should've stayed in for another week. the numbers of infections in a portsmouth and the surrounding areas were falling every single day, we had been going up for the last ten days, as people have relaxed, and maybe we should not have come out of the national lockdown as soon as we did. how much ofa lockdown as soon as we did. how much of a voice have you had? none. we

are told by officials what the decision is, but we are not consulted, we have no influence over it, we are not involved in any decision—making. it, we are not involved in any decision-making. and how do you feel about that? i think in some ways thatis about that? i think in some ways that is right, the government have to look after the whole country. i think it is probably best to consult and involve people so that they are supportive of the decisions made, but the government have decided not to consult, that they will just but the government have decided not to consult, that they willjust do to consult, that they willjust do to us what they think is right. wishing you a very happy christmas. thank you forjoining us. we will hear from matt hancock in 15 minutes, for coverage. french president emmanuel macron has tested positive for covid—19, his office announced this morning, adding he would now self—isolate for the next week. these are pictures we saw of mr macron yesterday when he received portugal's prime

minister antonio costa at his official residency in paris. well, his office issued a statement this morning saying mr macron tested positive for covid—19 ‘today‘ — and that he took the test after the "onset of the first symptoms". macron will now, in accordance with national regulations, "self—isolate for seven days. he will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely," the office of the presidency has said. our paris correspondent hugh schofield joins me now. as we are seeing there, he has obviously been engaged in activity, wearing a facemask, right up until that moment prior to testing positive this morning. so how much potentially is affected by this? positive this morning. so how much potentially is affected by this7m addition to himself having self—isolate, there are various leaders of europe oregon have self—isolate. if you look at his darfur last week, he has been very full, the portuguese prime minister yesterday, on monday there was a big celebration to mark the 60th

anniversary and a lunch at which there was the spanish prime minister pedro sanchez and the president of the european council. so they are going to have to self—isolate, and on tuesday he saw the speaker of the french parliament and heads of the various parties in parliament, and they are going to have to self—isolate. so this does have a kind of knock on effect in various important areas. his wife is going to have to self—isolate also, so it is important. but with the message is important. but with the message is that there is no cause for alarm, off the record they are saying he is fine. he is not feeling bad, there we re fine. he is not feeling bad, there were symptoms, but they can't have been serious ones. and there's a lot of speculation about when he would've got it, and with that, the weekend, he had various things over

the weekend which were not quite clear on. maybe it was then. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news... coronavirus cases are rapidly rising in some parts of the uk. in wales, a computer issue means case numbers last week could be twice as high as previously thought. millions of people living across england will find out soon if they'll be moved into a different tier of coronavirus restrictions. lawyers representing nine recently retired international rugby players, who say they're suffering brain damage, have officially notified a number of governing bodies of their intention to sue for negligence. authorities in the united states are believed to be close to filing charges against a libyan man suspected of making the bomb that blew up pan am flight 103 over lockerbie in 1988. us media says prosecutors will soon press for the extradition of abu aj—aila mohammed masud, who is reportedly being held in libya.

here's our washington correspondent lebo diseko. 270 people were killed in a terror attack over the scottish town which took days place before christmas, and all 259 people on the flight were killed, most of them americans returning home for the christmas holidays. a large section of the plane's fuselage fell to the ground, destroying homes and killing a further 11 people. the suspect is said to be a libyan intelligence officer by the name of abu agila mohammmad masud. he is alleged to have helped build the bomb that brought the plane down. the victims' families have found themselves caught up in one of the world's longest and most sprawling terrorism investigations. masud is a long—time suspect in the case and is said to have been the subject of discussions among us and foreign officials since at least 2015. it is not clear what the likelihood is of him being brought to the us for trial. neither the us justice department

or the libyan authorities have publicly commented on the issue. so far only one man, the libyan abdel basset ali al—megrahi, has been sent to prison for the bombing. he was convicted in 2001, but subsequently allowed to return home after it emerged that he had terminal cancer. he died in 2012. drjim swire's daughter flora died in the lockerbie disaster. he has long been sceptical that mr megrahi was guilty of involvement in the bombing, and — as he told bbc breakfast this morning — remains to be convinced about mr masud's involvement. i can't see how a connection can be made to the lockerbie bombing with this guy, but it's quite possible there may be because one of the things that has made life even more difficult than the life of bereavement might otherwise have been has been the fact our own government in this country has been sequestering files concerning lockerbie out of reach

of public information requests so that we are denied what knowledge our own government may have about this particular case. police in bristol are urgently looking for an eight—year—old girl, who officers fear may have been abducted. tiolah — also known as tillie — was declared missing last night after being taken to a mcdonald's in bedminster with a family friend and a second individual yesterday afternoon. she was expected home within an hour, but didn't return. new research has revealed that millions of people across the uk have missed out on medical scans because of the pandemic. in england, at least 4.4 million fewer scans were performed between april and september this year compared to the same period in 2019. cancer charities are worried about patients who have been diagnosed late, or are still waiting for a scan. one in seven people are still waiting more than three months, nhs england says some services are now back to the same levels as last year.

toy shops say delays at british ports and across the international supply chain means thousands of gifts might not arrive in time for christmas. retailers and food manufacturers want mps to urgently investigate the disruption — which has been blamed on a number of issues, including brexit stockpiling. let's return to the news that 11,000 positive covid tests are missing from the latest official figures in wales. the discovery means that cases in the last week could be double the number previously thought. we can speak now to helen maryjones, member of the senedd for plaid cymru. what is your reaction to this? mark dra keford says what is your reaction to this? mark drakeford says they knew because of a computer issue the number of cases was being underreported, this is now the culmination of that process. was being underreported, this is now the culmination of that processm is very worrying, i mean, we have to have accurate information. if we're going to ask the public to comply with tighten restrictions to do

things at a difficult, especially over the christmas period, they have to be able to trust information that they're being asked to base their actions on. i think we need more clarity from the welsh government about how this happened and some reassurance that it won't happen again. because otherwise people will come to doubt the process, and that may put their complaints at risk. and we all know how serious the situation is in wales, and the tighten restrictions are necessary. so we needed clear explanation about how this came out to the people can be reassured it won't happen again. now the picture is clear, and it is that basically there was a week that it was thought there was 11000 and now it seems there were 22000 and now it seems there were 22000 and now it seems there were 22,000 in our most recent week. do you think the right decisions have been taken on what should be happening in the days ahead ? on what should be happening in the days ahead? we think the restrictions are necessary, but not enough, the welsh government needs to do more to get the testing and tracing system fully fit for purpose. the tracing is bad, the

tests are very slow coming back, we need more support for people who are being asked to isolate. if you're working on a minimum—wagejob being asked to isolate. if you're working on a minimum—wage job an hourly basis or a zero—hours contract, it could be difficult. there is some support for people on the very lowest incomes, but we think that lisa be extended and expanded. we also think that the welsh government needs to think about the business support. it has made positive steps, but hospitality businesses particularly are saying to us now that some of them need to be told that they can't open again until the spring, and any support to be able to do that so that they are there when they can reopen. because there when they can reopen. because the opening and shutting all the time isn't good enough, it is impossible for them to run a business on the basis and they are talking about the need to hibernate. so we do reluctantly support the restrictions, potentially we could have avoided this if we hadn't come out of two week fire break so quickly and in such a drastic way, if we had loosened the restrictions

more slowly, but we are where we are. the restrictions are necessary, people need clear communication to explain to them why that is the case, and we need more support. and obviously you have said they that you support the restrictions, albeit that no one wants them, but obviously your concerns around practical support. wales went further than any of the other nations yesterday in reducing, legislature reduce the contact that can happen over christmas. and also explaining what will be happening immediately after christmas without lockdown that is going to be reviewed every two weeks. —— every three weeks. what do you think about that? to your respect mark drakeford for taking the initiative? it is an incredibly difficult decision. we would have preferred the government to look at this on a regional basis because there are parts of the north and west of wales where the transfer is still very low, and it could've been safe for three families to meet

in those communities. but the truth is that we are in a very difficult situation. at this hope that he made it clear where we stand, but the process has been a bit shambolic. at lunchtime yesterday this was going to be advice and guidance, by tea—time it was going to be the law common disease kinds of metal m essa 9 es common disease kinds of metal messages that don't help people. but in the end —— it is these kind of confusing messages that don't help people. i spent yesterday working out with my family how we are going to message love manage christmas because we are going to see family members, but it is necessary. the question is how we got to this place, that will be revealed later on, but the welsh government has to be clearer in the messaging the people, it has got to support businesses that cannot open and long term and it has got to support people who are isolating better. otherwise we could go through the spirit of lockdown and find ourselves in another one, that will be intolerable. thank you very much.

a total of 109,167 people tested positive for covid—19 in england at least once in the week to december 9, according to the latest test and trace figures. this is up 12% on the previous week, but is still below the peak weekly total of 168,535 recorded in the seven days to november 11. news that's broken in the last few minutes is that lawyers representing nine recently retired international rugby players say they have officially notified a number of governing bodies of their intention to sue for negligence. our sports correspondent, chris mclaughlin, is in our glasgow newsroom. the legal process begins, just remind us of what this is all about. this is something we were very much expecting. remember last week we had some harrowing stories from recently retired rugby players, including the

england world cup winner steve thompson, that they are suffering from the early signs of dementia. also included, the wales international, former international, alex popham and stevejohnson's team—mate. what they say is they are suffering from the early signs of dementia due to repeated blows to the head during matches and during training. so what they are doing now is gathering other players and are being represented by this law firm who have now notified the rfu and the w are you and world rugby to say, we believe that you are negligent, you should have done more for the players, and they had given the governing bodies three months to respond to the initial claim. and thatis respond to the initial claim. and that is then a legal process, so i don't expect them to comment now, but have they commented previously at all? the governing bodies or the players? the governing bodies have said, yes, they take player welfare

very seriously and that they have procedures in place based on the very latest scientific and medical advice. we would expect more from the rfu and world rugby, given this is now an official position by these players. thank you very much. just a few moments ago i was neither news about an eight girl that was missing after yesterday being ta ken about an eight girl that was missing after yesterday being taken to go to mcdonald's with a family friend. we are hearing that she was acquired missing yesterday evening after being taken with the family friend and a second individual yesterday afternoon. police officers feared she might have been abducted. a man and a woman have been arrested. hello again. today is going to be much drier for most of us

than it was yesterday. yes, there are still some showers in the forecast, most of which are in the west, but more of us will see some sunshine with just breezy conditions. however, through the afternoon, the cloud thickens out towards the west and we will start to see the winds strengthen as a weather front brings in some showery outbreaks of rain. temperatures today ranging from eight to about 12 or 13 degrees. if we pick up this rain in the west, through the evening it moves eastwards. gusty winds, especially through the irish sea and areas adjacent and the winds will pick up inland as well. some of the rain will be heavy and there will be some hill fog in some western areas and also in southern scotland. one thing you will notice is it is going to be very mild overnight for the time of year. tomorrow we start off on a cloudy, murky, damp note, then we have the next band heavy rain, you can tell from the greens and yellows, moving in and it arcs up across scotland, too. ahead of it, a lot of cloud and some drizzle but very mild.

hello. this is bbc news. the headlines... coronavirus cases are rapidly rising in some parts of the uk. in wales, a computer issue means case numbers last week could be twice as high as previously thought. the welsh first minister says the authorities had always been aware of the issue. millions of people living across england are about to find out whether they'll be moved into a different tier of coronavirus restrictions. the health secretary will be speaking in the commons any moment. the french president, emmanuel macron, tests positive for covid—19 after showing symptoms and will isolate for seven days. 32 years after the lockerbie bombing, authorities in the us are understood to be preparing fresh charges. lawyers representing nine recently retired international rugby players, who say they're suffering brain damage, have officially notified a number of governing bodies of their intention to sue for negligence.

sport now, and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. here's gavin. good morning. in the last hour, lawyers representing nine recently retired international rugby players have officially notified a number of governing bodies of their intention to sue for negligence. the group includes the england world cup winner steve thompson. they say they're suffering permanent brain damage caused by repeated blows to the head. they also say a further 30 former professionals have come forward after they went public with their stories last week. this is about the guys who have fallen through the cracks when it comes to the rugby family, so to speak, so there are a lot of guys who haven't been involved in the game for a decade, and if they have early onset dementia, for example, by the time they are in their 50s and 60s they might be unable to work any more, they may require considerable health care, and those

quys considerable health care, and those guys who are taking money from the game still absolutely need damages to support their young family going forward. football clubs will be allowed to trial the use of concussion substitutes from next month. it means that teams will be allowed to make extra substitutions when a player gets a head injury. the plan is for it to be trialled in the third round of the fa cup, which starts in early january, and the idea is expected to be discussed at a premier league meeting today. daniel parslow is a former york city defender, and was forced to retire from football last year after suffering a head injury in a match. lots of concussion injuries are delayed and in my circumstances, it was exactly that. ifelt fine, i passed all the initial checks and it was not until two, three, four minutes later that the nausea, dizziness, unease on my feet and it was at that stage that we knew it was very serious. jose mourinho has criticised jurgen klopp's behaviours on the touchline, after his spurs side lost to liverpool in the premier league. it was a decent game too,

in front of 2,000 fans — 1—1 as the game edged into the 90th minute, and that's when roberto firmino lea pt for liverpool's winner. it finished 2—1, and liverpool are now top of the league. elsewhere last night, arsenal ended their awful recent run of defeats with a 1—1 draw against southampton. arsenal are still way down in 15th place in the league. the rest of the night's results and reaction are on the bbc sport website and app. staying with football, and edinson cavani could be banned for up to three games after being charged with misconduct by the fa. it's after the manchester united striker posted a message on social media which contained an offensive spanish phrase. cavani deleted the message and apologised when the potential meaning of the post was pointed out to him. more sports have been deciding their schedules for 2021. the start of the australian open tennis has been delayed because of the pandemic. the first grand slam event of the year was supposed to start in melbourne on the 18th january. it'll now begin three weeks later, on 8th february, and that will allow the players to complete a two—week quarantine period, which is currently

required in australia. and get ready for the longest formula one season in history. there will be 23 races next year, starting in australia on 21st march and running right though to abu dhabi on 6th december. all the details are on the bbc sport website and app. that's all the sport for now. we are still expecting matt hancock will go to the commons. while we wait for will go to the commons. while we waitfor him, will go to the commons. while we wait for him, let's go back to the growing pressure from doctors and scientists to abandon the relaxation of covid restrictions over christmas. the four nations of the united kingdom have broadly agreed to stick to plans to allow some household mixing over the festive period. with the number of infections rising sharply, leaders say people should show "extreme caution". the rules initially agreed for all of the uk

between the 23rd and 27th december allow three bubble to mix indoors, and to stay overnight, but only if that's unavoidable. wales now wants to limit the mixing to two households, but those households can be joined by a single person who lives alone. that will be written into law. nonessential shops will close on christmas eve, and all of wales will return to a form of lockdown on 28th december. scotland is urging that any interaction with other households should ideally be outdoors, and that contact should be limited to one day. in a moment we'll hear from our correspondent alexandra mckenzie in glasgow. first to chris page in belfast with the latest on the expected proposals for northern ireland. the health minister has said he is going to put forward proposals for new restrictions, he hasn't said exacting what they are, but he has said they will be extreme and robust, so it feels unlikely there will be any significant tightening of the rules around the christmas

period itself, that five—day bubbling period which is allowed, a maximum of three households can get together, and there are no upper limits on the number of people that can be involved in that. in northern ireland, because of the fact of geography, if people here are going elsewhere in the uk, it might take them longer to get there and people in england, scotland and wales, the 22nd and 28th of december, the days either side of that bubbling period, have been set aside as travelling days, so you can travel to where you are spending christmas but you can't go into the bubble until the 23rd. by go into the bubble until the 23rd. by the 27th, you have to be out of your bubble. the big question is, what happens in the days after christmas? things seem to be pointing towards certainly a strong possibility that new restrictions could be brought in that will apply some time between christmas and new year period. there has been a very alarming series of figures this week in connection with the coronavirus,

for example. yesterday, more than 500 new cases were recorded, in a place with the population of northern ireland, that's a very big number. we have also seen signs of the pressure on the health service. at one hospital earlier this week, antrim, 17 ambulances were parked outside the doors and doctors and nurses were treating people inside the because there were no beds left in the hospital. there seems to be a consensus that new restrictions are needed to curb the spread of the virus stop nonessential shops, pubs and restaurants, hotels, headdresses and restaurants, hotels, headdresses and beauticians all reopened just last friday after a two—week lockdown, and there is certainly an expectation that, come the period between christmas and the new year, we could be looking at more closures, but it's all down to what politicians decide. they will be hearing from their scientific advisers at that meeting, and an announcement isn't guaranteed today but it's understood that people in the devolved government in stormont

recognise the importance of reaching a decision quickly and communicate it clearly. the guidance here has been tightened already. people are being advised just to spend christmas within their own home and not to be mixing with other households. but obviously that is very difficult for a lot of people. it's been acknowledged by many people and the first minister that loneliness is an issue, and some people just don't want to be alone at christmas. some people don't want their friends and family to be alone at christmas. legally, you can still have a christmas bubble of three households but that is not being recommended. that is to be seen as the absolute maximum. the recommendation is to households, but even that the first minister has said if that is essential. legally, you can have a christmas bubble of up you can have a christmas bubble of up to eight people over 12, but again that is not being recommended.

the advice is to keep your bubble as small as possible and, in terms of the five days, the advice is very strong for the not too spent five daysin strong for the not too spent five days in someone's has over christmas. the advice is possibly too spent one day at the most, but it would be preferable to spend that day outside and, if you are meeting up day outside and, if you are meeting up with friends and family, the advice is not to spend an overnight with another family unless it's absolutely necessary. there is also travel advice. the advice is not to travel advice. the advice is not to travel very far and not to travel from an area like glasgow where there are many cases into an area where there are fewer cases, like the highlands orkney, shetland. very strong advice from scotland's first minister. she did say it was a very difficult decision to make, to give

that advice, and with only a few days to go until christmas, when people may have already made plans, and in that difficult dilemma of wondering whether they have made the right decision or whether they should actually be changing their plans now, with just should actually be changing their plans now, withjust a few should actually be changing their plans now, with just a few days to go. some breaking news. we were talking about emanuel macron going to self isolation in paris after testing positive for covid—19 to stop the president was meeting yesterday on an visit the portuguese prime minister, antonio costa, who is also going into isolation for the let's show their meeting yesterday. they had masks on, but in the light of emanuel macron testing positive for covid, they were touching each other, quite close, so he has now gone into isolation as well. we were talking to our correspondence, hugh

schofield, in paris, say he has had a busy schedule this week, so it is expected other leaders might have to go into self isolation for the vle say palace says he is doing well and he will be carrying on working through that seven—day period isolation. while we wait for matt hancock to give his statement in the commons on what is going to be happening with the tiers in england, let's go to our health correspondent, nick triggle. he will be outlining whether there was going to be any change. what are you expecting? i don't expect to see many areas come down a tier. we know there is mounting concern about rising infection levels, largely driven by what is happening in the south—east. if we look at the whole picture, it's a remarkable change to where we were a month ago, talking about high rates in the north of england and parts of the midlands. those cases are generally falling in many areas, but i still don't think

we will see a huge shift in terms of areas moving from three down to two stop one to watch will be manchester, where rates are around 150 cases per 100,000 over the last seven days, below the national average, half the rate we are seeing in london. manchester is in tier 3. it might move down to tier 2, but ministers are obviously concerned about, with christmas coming, the easing of restrictions there, if we open up hospitality, which happens when you move down to tier 2, that could see a rebound in infections, and some of these places in northern england that have got cases down. the other thing to watch is in and around london. we know london is now in tier3, and around london. we know london is now in tier 3, and some of the surrounding areas, but there has been a lot of talk about the home counties, surrey, berkshire, what will happen in those areas? they still have relatively low rates but they are rising. hospital capacity is beginning to fill up. will they move from tier 2 to tier 3? i think

thatis move from tier 2 to tier 3? i think that is one question we will be eager to see the answer to later. what happens with moving between tiers? nobody wants to be in a high tier, but it will have a material impact on people's plans in the run—up to christmas. impact on people's plans in the run-up to christmas. absolutely fed up run-up to christmas. absolutely fed up ifan run-up to christmas. absolutely fed up if an area moves into tier 3, the most obvious thing is that hospitality closes for all but a takeaway. into entertainment, cinemas, theatres closed. in london, the west end theatres having to close. there are also restrictions on ability to meet up with people. in tier2, you on ability to meet up with people. in tier 2, you can meet up with a group of six in your garden, all—you—can—eat out outside at a restau ra nt all—you—can—eat out outside at a restaurant in a group of six, but once you move to tier 3 you can't do that. you can only meet up with

people in public parks and open spaces, so those are the key differences if you move from tier 2 to tier 3. lets look at what is happening in the commons. they are just going back in, as they wait to settle down for matt hancock to make that statement. we will keep an eye while we continue to talk. you mentioned manchester. actually, i am going to stop speaking because i can see lindsay hoyle on his feet. i think he's going to speak any moment. order. i call the secretary of state for health and social care to make a statement. thank you, mr speaker. as we enter the coldest months, we must be vigilant and keep this virus under control. yesterday, 25,161 cases were reported, and there are 18,038 people in hospital with coronavirus in the uk. we must keep suppressing this virus. this is

not just a matter for keep suppressing this virus. this is notjust a matter for government or this house, it's a matterfor every single person. these are always the most difficult months for people's health and the nhs, and especially with the vaccine already here, we must be cautious as we accelerate the vaccine deployment, as per the winter plan. we have come so far. we mustn't blow it now for the when we reintroduce the tiered system, we resolved to review the data every two weeks in each area. the sophisticated covid surveillance system we now have in place means we can act swiftly and decisively when needed. at the weekend, we held an emergency review for london, essex and parts of hertfordshire, where cases are accelerating fast. yesterday, we held the first formal review, and i must report to the house that, across the world, cases are rising once more. in europe, restrictions are being reintroduced. in america, case rates have

accelerated. in japan, in america, case rates have accelerated. injapan, cases are rising once again. yesterday, the welsh government made the decision to tighten restrictions across the whole of wales. no one wants tougher restrictions any longer than necessary , restrictions any longer than necessary, but where they are necessary, but where they are necessary we must put them in place to prevent the nhs from being overwhelmed and protect life. even ina overwhelmed and protect life. even in a normal year, this is the busiest time for the nhs. as chris hopson, the chief executive of nhs providers, reminded us this morning, controlling infection rates is about limiting patient harm, and this is a moment when we act with caution. in the south—east of england, cases are up the south—east of england, cases are up 46% in the last week. hospital admissions are up by more than a third. in the east of england, cases are up two thirds in the last week, and hospital admissions are up by nearly half. it is necessary to apply tier 3 measures across a much wider area of the east and

south—east of england, including buckinghamshire, berkshire, peterborough, the whole of hertfordshire, surrey, with the exception of waverley, hastings and rob are on the kent border of east sussex, and portsmouth, gosport and havantin sussex, and portsmouth, gosport and havant in hampshire. these changes will take effect from one minute past midnight on saturday morning. i know that tier 3 measures are tough, but the best way for everyone to get out of them is to pull together, not just to follow the rules but do everything they possibly can to stop spread of the virus. where we have seen places get the virus under control and come out of tier 3, it's where everyone has taken responsibility on themselves to make that happen. we have seen case rates fall across large parts of england, andi fall across large parts of england, and i know many places in tier 3 have seen their rates reduced. in most places, i have to tell you we are not quite there yet, and the

pressures on the nhs remain. but we are able to move some places down a tier 2. test down a tier for that we assessed these measures according to the five indicators, test rates, rates of change hospital pressure. today i'm placing in the house library and assessment of each area and publishing the data on which we make these decisions. for the majority of places currently in tier 3, we are not making a change today. however, i am pleased to say that some places can go down a level. in bristol and north somerset, rates have come down from 432 per 100,000 to 121 and falling, and i can therefore announce that bristol and north somerset will come out of tier 3 into tier 2 on saturday. rates in herefordshire have also come down to 45 in 100000 and falling, and we can therefore herefordshire out of tier 2and into

therefore herefordshire out of tier 2 and into tier 1. i want to pay tribute to everyone who has been doing the right thing and getting rates down, whether or not your area has been coming down a tier today. it's so vital that everyone sticks at it and does the right thing, especially over this christmas period. it's important to remember that this can be a silent disease. one in three people who has the disease has no symptoms but can still pass it on foot up everyone therefore as a personal responsibility to play their part in keeping this pandemic under control for top i know that other areas are so eager to move down tiers, and the best thing we can all do is to act with responsibility to get the virus under control. these restrictions are thankfully not the only tool we have now to fight the disease. we are further expanding our testing programme and later today the education secretary will set out further action on school testing in the new year. the vaccine roll—out is accelerating. i can update the

house that over 200 vaccination sites are now open in all parts of the uk with more opening their doors and bringing hope to communities. i know everyone will be as thrilled as iam know everyone will be as thrilled as i am every time they are contacted bya i am every time they are contacted by a friend or a loved one getting the jab. it was a wonderful sight to see the global map of vaccine deployment, with the uk proudly standing out as the site of the first vaccinations. it is a huge logistical challenge, but the vaccine offers of a better year ahead and, until the great endeavour of vaccine deployment which is enough people to make this country safe, we must keep doing what it ta kes to safe, we must keep doing what it takes to protect our nhs and those we love. that means all of us doing our bit, following the rules and taking personal responsibility to help contain the spread of the virus, so we can get through this safely together and i commend this

statement to the house. safely together and i commend this statement to the houselj safely together and i commend this statement to the house. i called the shadow secretary of state. statement to the house. i called the shadow secretary of statelj statement to the house. i called the shadow secretary of state. i think the secretary of state for advanced sight of his statement. these past 12 months have seen covid spread with speed and severity. over 65,000 have died in the uk. at least 620 of them health and care workers making them health and care workers making the ultimate sacrifice in line of duty. over 240,000 been treated in hospitals with the disease and, as the secretary of state reminded us, gives this virus lethal advantage is that people who appear healthy can go about their lives and aware they are transmitting the virus to others. —— unaware. we accept and understand what he has had to move areas into higher tiers today, even though this means tens of millions of people across england are now living under the toughest restrictions, and we are grateful he is placing in the library details on each local authority area. but, two

weeks ago, he did say that we have the virus under control, and he also said we can't risk letting cases right again, especially into christmas. i am afraid that is exactly what is now happening, isn't it? yesterday, england reported 23,000 cases, the highest numbers in a month. hospital admissions on the 14th of december were the highest since the 16th of april. the number of people in hospital with covid is now the highest since the 22nd of april. the nut has risen 20% since the end of lockdown for top if it goes up by another 20%, we are back at the same peak we saw in april. these numbers should be sounding all the alarm bells there are, and it's why clinicians are pleading with him to put robust arrangements in place to put robust arrangements in place to keep people safe through christmas. we saw in canada and the us huge spikes in infections

following thanksgiving. we will see a spike here. this isn't about cancelling christmas. santa will still deliver his presence, but is he really telling us that allowing indoor mixing of three households across regions and generations for five days is sensible, given the virus is raging with such ferocity at the moment? the devastating tragedy is that those who will be most impacted by this virus spreading through the easing are those who will be at the front of the queue for the vaccine in the next month or two. will he look again at the christmas arrangements? on vaccination, with more than 130 thousand vaccinated in the first week, that's a good thing is we celebrate and congratulate all involved, but to vaccinate every older person, vulnerable person and key worker by easter, we will need to do something like double that every day. the national audit office this week said 11.7 billion for the programme will be needed, alongside

46,000 extra staff, so how much is actually allocated to the vaccine programme at the moment, and how many programme at the moment, and how ma ny staff programme at the moment, and how many staff are being taken on and trained to support the vaccination programme, and when will we see the mass vaccination centres open? there have been warnings today about vaccine roll—out in primary care taking longer than planned because existing software systems keep crashing, the system doesn't elect gps ifa crashing, the system doesn't elect gps if a patient on their list has already had it in the hospital, and gps are forced to turn to pen and paperfor gps are forced to turn to pen and paper for data capture, so gps are forced to turn to pen and paperfor data capture, so when gps are forced to turn to pen and paper for data capture, so when will there be a national recall system forgps, and why there be a national recall system for gps, and why wasn't it ready for the roll—out this week? he mentioned the roll—out this week? he mentioned the secretary of state for education is to make a statement on schools for that i don't know if that is coming to the house. with schools coming to the house. with schools coming back in january, coming to the house. with schools coming back injanuary, can he provide some clarity around testing in schools? there is some speculation that the opening of schools will be delayed by a week in january. could he give us an update on what is happening on that front? finally, this has been a dismal year

for our national health service, for all of us, but our nhs workers and our care all of us, but our nhs workers and our ca re workers all of us, but our nhs workers and our care workers have, as always, done us proud, so can i put on record my thanks to all of them, many of whom will be working through the christmas and new year period, and can! the christmas and new year period, and can i also thank all those working on the response to covid, is departmental officials, medical and public health teams, and can i wish you, madam deputy speaker, and all working in—house, and the secretary of state, a safe christmas and a hgppy of state, a safe christmas and a happy new year. the honourable gentleman rightly asked about the arrangements put in place for christmas. the prime minister set those out yesterday very clearly. christmas is a very special time of year, and that is why we have put in these arrangements that we have and it is arrangements that we have and it is a matter of people's personal responsibility to ensure that they

act and they see their loved ones in act and they see their loved ones in a way that is safe and careful, and i think people understand that, and what is more i think people will abide by it. we know that it is safer to see older people, especially if they are older 70 or clinically extremely vulnerable, if you have taken the care to reduce social contact beforehand. we also know that, after christmas, being able to reduce social contact will be important for keeping this under control, and i think that aspect of personal response ability is important. sometimes in this house it feels to me like the debate is as if we don't in government put in place concrete rules then nobody will take any action. actually, it's down to individuals, each and every one of us, to take responsibility for our actions, within the rules, of course, but also being cautious. this is a massive team effort, and it is my experience of the last few

months that, when a community has come together to get case rates down, that is when it has happened and when it has worked, and even with the rules in place, it is only when the community essentially comes together to get this under control that you get the cases coming down and the pressure on the nhs. i regret having to take the action that we have to take. i deem it necessary , that we have to take. i deem it necessary, and there is a strong view right across government that these actions are necessary, but i also plead that personal responsibility is absolutely central to how we as a society should respond to this pandemic. he asks about the mass vaccination roll—out. the mass vaccination sites are for the oxford astrazeneca vaccine, should that come through and be approved by the regulator, so it is

some weeks until we will see those rolled out. however, we are every day putting more and more primary ca re day putting more and more primary care sites coming on board with the roll—out of the pfizer vaccine, and it's very good to see that happening, and i expect the numbers that are vaccinated to accelerate. the team have made a very, very good start, and there is a long way further to go. he asks about the data systems. they have largely been working effectively for any large logistical roll—out like this has nicholls, but they are small, and they have been lately dealt with locally on the ground. he asks about the roll—out of testing in schools. asi the roll—out of testing in schools. as i say, the education secretary will set out more details about offering all secondary schools, colleges, special schools and alternative religion settings they help, support and facilities to test

as many secondary age and fp stu d e nts as many secondary age and fp students as possible as they resume their education in january, and students as possible as they resume their education injanuary, and i thank in advance all the work of teachers and support staff in schools, who will no doubt lean in and support this task to make sure that school return can be done as safely as possible. finally, may i echo the words of the honourable member and wish him a happy christmas and a safe christmas, and i look forward very much to seeing him again injanuary. i look forward very much to seeing him again in january. and now we go to the chairman of the select committee. in the last week, i have received a unexpectedly joyful e—mails from residents of southwest surrey who have been amongst the first in the world to receive a clinically approved vaccine for coronavirus. so can i clinically approved vaccine for coronavirus. so can i thank him for that early christmas present? and also thank him for the energy and

the endless media rounds and the dedication that he has shown in the last year, which must be one of the toughest imaginalfor last year, which must be one of the toughest imaginal for health secretary. and i'm also grateful that waverley has been excluded from the surrey white moved to deer creek and recognition —— to tier 3, but we will remain vigilant. i want to ask about christmas, just a week away. personal responsibility matters, but ina personal responsibility matters, but in a pandemic, sodas clarity. in respective —— sodas clarity. in respective —— sodas clarity. in respect to the law, should we or should we not have indoor social gatherings with elderly and vulnerable family members smack madam deputy speaker, people should act with great caution, and this pandemic because it protects them, it protects their families, it protects their love ones. we have set up the rules, but they are not a limit of two which we should push. we could all act within those rules

to limit the spread. and by reducing social contact in the days up to meeting a family member who may be, over 70 for instance, or any other family member, it is reasonable and responsible to take that sort of action. i am very grateful for what he said about the vaccine roll—out. i have been cheered by messages i get from constituents and others now that they are receiving the vaccine. and we have just got to make sure we get this deployment out as fast as the vaccine can reasonably be produced, as fast nhs can deploy it, so that we get people the safety of the vaccine so we can get through this and out of this as soon as possible. now we go to scotland to the s&p spokesman. it is important

that the best of days ahead do not become a five day must get together. therefore we should use as little of the flexibility as possible, spread over several days, to make sure that no one is facing christmas alone. the concerns for medical professionals at the christmas covid relaxations are not to be dismissed lightly, and with the minister agree with me that if people are to form a bubble, that it should be kept as small as possible? and if so, would it not be better to follow the scottish approach which says a strict maximum limit on the numbers of up to three people from households, rather than the potentially unlimited numbers in english bibles. this has been a difficult —— in english bibles. english bibles. this has been a difficult -- in english bibles. -- bubbles. this has had a particular impact on large families, so i think we have taken a balance and the

right approach, but madam deputy speaker, i understand the urge of caution. i understand that from the nhs colleagues and others. i also understand that people want to see their children, they want to see their children, they want to see their loved ones, and christmas is an important time of year and we have got to find balance. maia joined with my right honourable friend and wishing or nhs staff and everyone in the crisis a happy christmas, but the essex council and local authority of essex i'm happy christmas as well because they are contributing to the test, track entry system since the nhs system is now sharing data more quickly. and most of them have now started doorknocking to start up following up doorknocking to start up following up contacts and cases, and the case contacts rate or around now 87%, and

90% respectively, what he joined me in congratulating the authorities in essex on this tremendous effort is? i think this is a first of the dozens i think this is a first of the d oze ns of i think this is a first of the dozens of statements i have done this year when the honourable member opposite hasn't mentioned track and trace. and i'll tell you why, it is because the latest statistics show that where communications were available, 96.6% of people were reached and told to self—isolate. and that it's because of the huge improvements in contact tracing and the testing that had been delivered this year. including, of course, local authority partners, but also with the brilliant national nhs test entry system, which we should all congratulate. i think that getting those contact rates and those... order, order! this is not a moment

for shouting, listen to the secretary of state. i think the moment when we see contact rates over 90% should be a moment when everybody should come together and say thank you and well done to everybody at nhs test and trace, and all of their partners, whether they are in the public sector or the brilliant private sector who we all support. now we are going to bradford tojudith support. now we are going to bradford to judith collins. happy christmas to you and yours. the secretary of state will know the significant effect the pandemic has had on nhs dentistry. there is a backlog of more than 19 million appointments. it is therefore shocking and unacceptable that nhs england has just decided shocking and unacceptable that nhs england hasjust decided to impose a new target on dentists in england, which many will simply not be able to meet under new covid restrictions. nhs anglin's ten to show that 60% of dental practices

will be hit with severe financial penalties. dentists will now need to prioritise checkups rather than deal with a backlog of patients meeting treatment. a straight choice between staying financially viable or treating those in pain and more complex problems. will the secretary of state reversed this decision, which threatens patient safety access and could lead to the demise of nhs dentistry as we know it? madam deputy speaker, i'm very glad to be able to reassure the honourable lady that this agreement that has been reached with the dentist is all about making sure that whilst we support our nhs dentist, we also course want to see them doing as much as i can —— as they can to look after people and get the treatments that they need. so this is a good balance programme and i'm sure it will be implement it

well by the dentist. may i say how delighted i am that north somerset is moving down into tier 2, which is a just reward for the efforts of my constituents and the whole community and the measures they have taken and also offers great potential help for our hospitality industry as we go into the christmas period. and on the question of balance, can i completely agree with my right, honourable friend, is notjust about the numberof honourable friend, is notjust about the number of people and the number of households, it is also about the age and vulnerability of those poor meeting that we have to consider. cani meeting that we have to consider. can ijust meeting that we have to consider. can i just say meeting that we have to consider. can ijust say echoing the words of one of my colleagues, happy christmas to my right honourable friend and his team of ministers, who have done the most difficultjob imaginable in rather exceptional way. and we hope that they get some breaks over the christmas period. thank you very much, the people of north somerset, who he represents,

and also of nearby weston—super—mare have done a remarkable job of bringing case rates down to 120 for eve ryo ne bringing case rates down to 120 for everyone hundred thousand, i am very pleased that we are able to take north somerset out of tier 3 into tier 2, but i would also say to everybody the point about repairs person will responsibility which —— the point about personal responsibility still applies. coming out of tier does make life easier, we do not want them in place longer than absolutely necessary, but it is still on everyone in north somerset to do their part, and in bristol and herefordshire, to do their part and to keep those case rates down. and now we go to carl turner. thank you, the lead up to christmas is the busiest period for hospitality

businesses, with some people making up businesses, with some people making up to businesses, with some people making uptoa businesses, with some people making up to a quarter of their annual profits which are now lost in my constituency. it the efforts to control the virus are effective, they must go hand—in—hand with business support. to protect lives and livelihoods, what is he going to do to make sure businesses, forming the back bone of my community, get the back bone of my community, get the financial support they desperately needed?” the financial support they desperately needed? i think that eve ryo ne desperately needed? i think that everyone in hull, ifeel gratitude to them for the work that they have done to get the case rates down as far as done to get the case rates down as farasi done to get the case rates down as far as i have. they have done well as “— far as i have. they have done well as —— along with the humber area, so the support that comes along with tier 3, we have put in record sums to support hospitality, but i appreciate that this is tough. especially in the run—up to christmas, so i can commit to keep

working with the honourable gentlemen and with other colleagues across hull, humber, the other areas in tier3to across hull, humber, the other areas in tier 3 to do everything we can to get a hospitality everything we can. i want to pay tribute to the work in staffordshire county counsel in rolling out rapid and large scale a symptomatic community testing, my constituency. the director of health has raised a number of concerns with his department about the lack of clarity over funding for the test. will my right honourable friend reviewed the three letters that have been sent to his apartment on this issue in order to provide the clarity which is urgently needed to allow this testing to continue? yes, i will get onto it right away. i am really glad that staffordshire have done such... they really worked hard on getting this community testing going. stoke—on—trent was one of the first places in the country to get going on it, and now to wider areas.

i will absolutely pick up the point that she raises and get back to her straightaway. thank you, madam deputy speaker. the secretary of state tells us about personal responsibility, does he recognise that he has responsibility to be honest with the public about what is happening as well? this week, witts cross hospital had to turn away ambulances because dic was full, as ambulances because dic was full, as a direct result of the rising covid infections in the local community. in the hospital had to move to early discharge of patients. the secretary of state says he is publishing data, will he commit to publishing real—time data about any fire breaks, i see you capacity and what elective surgeries, plan surgeries have been cancelled by hospitals of the public can see the truth about why and how we need to protect the nhs and what impact it has on their

outcomes wood —— outcomes? nhs and what impact it has on their outcomes wood -- outcomes? the impact of the virus on nhs in northeast london, whips cross hospital is under significant pressure, the case rate in her local authority is 431 per 100,000, we have got to work together to get the cases down. especially in east london where it is very significant. we publish a cure amount —— a huge amount of data on hospital admissions and the impact of nhs publishing further data on this today and putting it in the library. i'm glad to see that three areas are coming down a tear, and i think that is vitally important for compliance going forward, because the general public needs to see that if they do follow the rules, get their cases under control, then there will be

payoff. you're watching bbc news with coverage of the comments, coverage will continue here on the bbc news channel, if you have been watching us on bbc two, goodbye and have a lovely afternoon. it is critical that we take the public, including the young with us.|j critical that we take the public, including the young with us. i agree with every word that my audible friend has just with every word that my audible friend hasjust said, i strongly agree that the best way to get out of tier 3 is by everybody coming together to comply with restrictions, but notjust to comply with them because they are the law, but to take that responsibility to ensure that we don't spread the virus. which each one of us unwittingly can do because of it's a symptom attic nature. so i think my honourable friend for her question. and also for the message that it sends that we can get areas out of tier 3, they can get out of tier 2 into tier 1, we can all work at it. i asked the secretary of state via a

written question the estimate his department had made of the proportion of the population not registered for the gp, to which the answer was no such estimate has been made. i found this concerning, given how important gps are to the roll—out of the vaccine, not least for vulnerable populations such as homeless and those who move around a lot. so could be secretary of state please explain what plans and provisions are being made to ensure the vaccine is available to those who aren't registered with gps? sheep brace an incredibly important point, because it is a matter whether you're registered with anybody or not, you can still spread the disease. and so the reason for the disease. and so the reason for the answer that she states is that we have to try to get the vaccination programme out to everybody, no matter their status, and there are people who don't have any status and paperwork at all. we need to make sure that we support

the roll—out to them as well, we are working with the communities apartment, who are best placed along with local authorities to do this. and they to make sure that the vaccination programme bridges anybody who fulfils the criteria set out by thejoint anybody who fulfils the criteria set out by the joint committee on vaccinations and immunisation. can i welcome the fact that gloucestershire is remaining in tier 2 miss can i think the secretary of state for the engagement he had with me and my colleagues this week. i very much appreciated it and it was a team effort to get to where we are. cani a team effort to get to where we are. can i press them a little on what he said about vaccines? in the data that is going to be publish from next week, can he confirm that we will have enough detail in it so that we can see clearly the vaccination roll—out by age and by area? and can he set out early when we return in january area? and can he set out early when we return injanuary to government's

thinking about how far the vaccination programme needs to have gone, the level of risk we will have produced the country by —— we will have reduced the country by, so that we can start releasing the restrictions that are so burdensome on our population? yes, we are committed to setting out weekly updates on the vaccination programme. the first data we release it was yesterday, and also increasingly in the sorts of brea kd owns increasingly in the sorts of breakdowns that he asks for, as more and more groups are reached. and the calculus that he asked for in terms of the proportion of the population to be protected in order to be able to be protected in order to be able to bring down restrictions is exactly how we are thinking about the next days. we don't yet affect the next days. we don't yet affect the next days. we don't yet affect the next phase. we don't yet know the next phase. we don't yet know the impact of the vaccine on transmission, so we don't have a

concrete answer, but it is precisely the question we are asking. and within the next few weeks we should know much more. recent studies have shown that vaccine resistance is highest among the boehm community and groups that be are that these groups are being deliberately targeted with misinformation? so can the secretary of state tell us how this department is going to counter this department is going to counter this so that people can make informed choices to avoid this going forward ? informed choices to avoid this going forward? he is quite right to raise this, and! forward? he is quite right to raise this, and i was talking about the vaccination programme to my, today s&p health secretary this morning, making sure that we reach all you need vaccinations according to clinical need is absolutely critical, but also then to persuade them to take the vaccine. so there isa them to take the vaccine. so there is a huge amount of work on tackling this information, but the most important thing is at the positive information out there. and i want to

thank all of those who have gone public with their vaccine so far. we all saucer in mcallen, a wonderful photograph, i went to thank proulx east who went public with her vaccination. it is wondered and see —— wonderful to see people getting their vaccination and i encourage other people to do the same. the statement will be graded with dismay, where we have had severe restrictions for nine months, where in nine of the ten boroughs rates are below the national average, can i tell him as my constituents have acted responsibly and that our rates are acted responsibly and that our rates a re lower acted responsibly and that our rates are lower than they are in neighbouring warrington or neighbouring warrington or neighbouring cheshire, which had been put in to tier 2, and also lower than bristol, which has been moved from tier 3 to tier 2 today.

what exactly do we have to do to be moved out of tier 3? madam deputy speaker, i understand my right honourable friend's disappointment at this decision. we look very closely at trafford and stock for an tameside nearby high peak, and the proposal to take a different decision for them with respect to their near neighbours. the challenges that each time that we have done in the past, we haven't seen cases rebound, and there continues to be significant pressure on the nhs in the northwest, including in manchester. so i know that my right honourable friend and i have proposed different approaches on this one, and i look forward to working with him and people right across manchester to get this

sorted. we need to make sure that schools continue to be a safe environment for students and staff, andl environment for students and staff, and i would like to take this opportunity to thank all school staff and had teachers across luton who have done so much to make their schools as covid—secu re who have done so much to make their schools as covid—secure as possible. the point made by the secretary of state around the announcement later around testing in schools, but will the government be publishing this evidence to support the use of lateral flow tests for serial testing students, as this is outside of the licence use and requires a change to the legal duty to get isolate? we are working on exactly that proposal because they need to use testing and use the easily available and rapid return, lateral flow, devices is incredibly important. they have an important role to play being used in the right settings, and the same way that the pcr test have an important role to

play, but it takes longer to get the result back. so i look forward to working with her, with the council and all those across bedfordshire to try and get this sorted. clearly case rates are shooting up in a very worrying way, and i thank herfor her efforts and for her public health messaging to say to everybody right across bedfordshire, including in luton, let's work together to get this sorted. i asked my right honourable friend to consider restrictions on a more local level then countywide, and i'm grateful that he has done not across the country today. infections in temperature wells, whilst much lower than the average for the —— tunbridge wells, but they are rising and there is pressure on the local nhs. i understand why there is no change from tier 3 today. but will be secretary as they commit to apply

test fortnightly and reduce the level of restrictions as soon as they are met? and will have a word with the chancellor to see what extra support can be given to businesses in the hospitality sector who have just lost what is the most important part of the trading year in what has been a miserable year for them? yes, of course i will, and i will talk the chancellor about the point that he raises. of course, we do already have a significant amount of support for hospitality businesses, but i understand how difficult this is. and on the point about looking at local areas, absolutely we will look at local areas. and we have demonstrated that in the decisions taken today, for instance, just over the border in east sussex, we have had but hastings into tier 3. tunbridge wells today has a case rate of 288 per 100,000, and wells today has a case rate of 288 per100,000, andi

wells today has a case rate of 288 per100,000, and i would wells today has a case rate of 288 per 100,000, and i would say to everybody right across can that we —— across kent, we need to act with serious responsibility, no matter which part of the kent year—end, we have a serious problem in kent. and the only way that we can get under control is for people in kent to essentially behave as if they have the virus and are trying not to pass it on to somebody else. to be really cautious in kent, this area the country which has the biggest problem, both in terms of case rates and terms of therefore the huge pressures on the nhs. i want to thank everybody working in the nhs in kent for what they are doing, and we will be putting in as much support as we can and i look forward to working with my colleague and the district councils are trying get this under control. other parts of the country have done and brought the country have done and brought the case rate down, and some support that we have been able to take into

tier 2. i that we have been able to take into tier2. iam that we have been able to take into tier 2. i am sure we can get there in kent, but we really have to work ha rd to in kent, but we really have to work hard to make that happen. on monday i also secretary of state when care home residents in county durham would get the vaccine and he didn't answer the question. i have now been contacted by gps in my constituency who were first promised a vaccine on the 16th of december, this was then put back to the 21st of december. having done all of the work, they have now been told the vaccine will not be available until the new year. cokanasiga to not be available until the new year. coka nasiga to restate not be available until the new year. cokanasiga to restate tell me when residence in my constituency will get the vaccine? and can i say to the secretary of state, i don't want generalisation, ijust the secretary of state, i don't want generalisation, i just want the secretary of state, i don't want generalisation, ijust want a straightforward answer for those constituents. we are opening more and more gp vaccination hubs every day, so the answer specifically on this area, as soon as we practically

can, but it has to be done in a safe way. and that is out of my hands come out of his hands —— out of my hands, out of his hands, and that is important sector procedure that needs to because there to openness, it is complicated. i will look at his specific example, i will write him with details, but he will understand, as well i'm sure people will, that we are trying to get the vaccine rolled out as quickly and safely as possible, but safely is an important part of that. can my honourable friend confirm that a people in carrboro continue to drive down infection rates locally, the different areas in leicestershire can be pretty different tiers if the data supports at? and kittyjoin me in congratulating the local nhs enrolling alta vaccine across the

cou nty enrolling alta vaccine across the county — — enrolling alta vaccine across the county —— in rolling out the vaccine across the county? we looked at leicestershi re across the county? we looked at leicestershire in great detail, i wish we could've taken a county in the city out of tier 3, but u nfortu nately, the city out of tier 3, but unfortunately, the data did not support our conclusion is not grateful to everybody across leicestershi re grateful to everybody across leicestershire because i know this has been a long, hard spot with measures out are been in place for a long time. can i start by thanking the people of my constituency and across gateshead who have worked really ha rd across gateshead who have worked really hard to get the figure down? covid—19 review published this week shows that this pandemic has only exposed long—standing health inequality, particularly in the north. public health teams play a vital part in this pandemic and our cord to addressing those longer—term health inequalities. one has a secretary of state john to make sure the public health team are —— what

has a secretary of state done to make sure they are properly funded and can we build it back there are? “ more and can we build it back there are? —— more fair? and can we build it back there are? -- more fair? we are determined to build back better, and that will need to involve tackling long—term underlying health inequalities. and there is a huge programme of work thatis there is a huge programme of work that is going to be needed to do that is going to be needed to do that after they have been demonstrated by this pandemic. people in gateshead have done a greatjob of getting the case rate down, as with other areas, stillon tier 3, we down, as with other areas, stillon tier3, we are down, as with other areas, stillon tier 3, we are not quite there yet. and i know that my team and her director public health have been talking about gateshead and the rest of the northeast getting them into tier 2 when we can, and i hope that we can do that, but for now, let's be cautious, let's keep this under control. thank you, madam deputy

speaker. there will be disappointment across yorkshire as many areas stay in tier 3. and i appreciate that the position will be affected by the current virus picture, but can answer secretary of state which of the five criteria is the city of york will have to improve on to send a good chance at living down a tear at future reviews? and willis depend to a significant extent on how our neighbouring local authorities perform against these five criteria? we do look at the human geographies because many people commute from north yorkshire into york, but york and many of the local authorities around it have done an absolutely fantastic job of bringing around it have done an absolutely fantasticjob of bringing the virus under control. new york, the case rate is 65 per 100,000, —— in york, a little bit higher than we typically take places into tier 1.

herefordshire is 45, the same level cornwall was when it was put into tier 1, but it is moving in the right direction. in the over 60s case rate is also low and there has been some pressure, as he knows, on the hospital. but that is abating. so york and large sways of north yorkshire are moving in the right direction, and i would urge everybody right across north yorkshire to stick to it. is the secretary of state has agreed meet me and my constituent kelly shares to discuss the issues she has had access and cancer services during the pandemic. during the pandemic, kelly worked on the front line with the ambulance service in greater manchester, despite her history of breast cancer, but she couldn't have her checkup and mammogram when it was due. she had it, the cancer had returned and spread to her bones.

she is now having chemotherapy and might need surgery. i understand secretary has many demands on his time, but can he ensure this meeting can go ahead in earlyjanuary, as these matters are time sensitive? yes, ican, i these matters are time sensitive? yes, i can, iam these matters are time sensitive? yes, i can, i am very sorry that meeting hasn't happened yet, and we will get onto it for early january. the changes announced by my honourable friend for bedfordshire will be disappointed to residents and businesses, but! will be disappointed to residents and businesses, but i think it will be helpful for them to understand that in setting out the tiered system my right honourable friend has set out clear criteria and has said he will be open to regular reviews. on those criteria, when it comes to the issue of hospital pressure on the nhs, that is not a data driven criteria. it comes with state m e nts data driven criteria. it comes with statements that the nhs is under considerable pressure, which is difficult for people to understand, because we always hear, pre—covid times, hospitals are under pressure from the well my honourable friend commit to producing projections of

occupancy commit to producing projections of occu pa ncy rates commit to producing projections of occupancy rates and acute bed occupancy rates and acute bed occu pa ncy rates across occupancy rates and acute bed occupancy rates across the nhs and, if possible, on a local hospital system basis? yes, we are working exactly system basis? yes, we are working exa ctly o n system basis? yes, we are working exactly on how to demonstrate that ina exactly on how to demonstrate that in a numerical rather than a narrative form, not least for the reasons that he sets out. i would say to him that, across bedfordshire, we have seen this very sharp rise in cases, especially in the more rural areas, including north—east bedfordshire, so it's so important that people across bedfordshire take that personal responsibility, follow these new tier 3 rules, and i hope we can get it to come down as fast as it's gone up. thank you, madam deputy speaker. people across chesterfield will be disappointed that, with the work

they have done, and with chesterfield having lower transmission rates than some of those areas in tier 2, but they remain in tier3, those areas in tier 2, but they remain in tier 3, and they will be particularly disappointed by the health secretary's suggestion that those communities who worked hardest and been most disciplined are the ones in tier 2. we know that isn't the case. doesn't the health secretary realise that, if the government could offer a support package that would support our hospitality sector, if the government were at the last minute announcing changes to our schools, just two days before they break up, there would be more credibility to there would be more credibility to the sense that it's personal responsibility that is the problem, rather than the ineptitude of this government. no. on behalf of my right honourable friend foretell poland and deepens, can i thank the secretary of state or meeting us and promising us he will adopt a more granular approach, and we can ensure

him will work hard in lincolnshire to try and get our tier down the top cani to try and get our tier down the top can i thank him and the prime resisting pressure from the opposition and wales and scotland to change the rules on christmas. this is entirely the right approach. i thank him for the tone he has adopted today that, in order to defeat this, it's a matter of self responsibility and personal ownership of our health. that's right, and i think we looked very closely at the southern end of lincolnshire, which is a long way from where the rates are incredibly elevated around lincoln and the coast and west lindsay. u nfortu nately, coast and west lindsay. unfortunately, it wasn't possible to bring any of the lower tier local authority areas in lincolnshire out of tier 3, authority areas in lincolnshire out of tier3, and authority areas in lincolnshire out of tier 3, and unfortunately, over the border in peterborough, we have seen a very sharp rise, so we are not there yet, but i hope that we can make significant progress, especially if everybody listens to

my right honourable friend and takes personal responsibility for their action to try and do everything they can look to pass this disease on. jean loach is a great champion of her community. her dad died of covid for her sister, jocelyn, died five days later. they are two of the nearly 10,000 in the west midlands who have died of covid. jane and her family are devastated. they grieve for the loss of their loved ones, who will not be with them this christmas. she asks the secretary of state this. why we have the lowest number of deaths in europe? can we be confident that lessons are being learnt, that the mistakes made will not be repeated ? learnt, that the mistakes made will not be repeated? she asks, when will the enquiry into what happened over covid be established, and crucially she asks, will the secretary of

state meet with her and other relatives of those who have sadly died from across birmingham? yes, i am very happy to meet with the honourable gentleman and constituents to hear their stories. many of us have lost those close to us in this terrible pandemic. we are co nsta ntly learning us in this terrible pandemic. we are constantly learning about how to do things better, and we are constantly learning more about the disease. for instance, the news earlier this week about a new variant was because of our surveillance system that we have to be able to look out for changes, and then to try and understand them. and so there is, there are huge challenges, as he knows, but i try to approach this always with the view of looking at how we can get the country through what is an incredibly difficult and

unprecedented time, with as few people as possible suffering in the way that his constituent has. the news that buckinghamshire is going into tier 3 heralds the bleakest of midwinters, especially for local hospitality businesses, and it is imperative they get extra help and that this loss as short a time as humanly possible. given that stoke mandeville hospital is currently under intense pressure, with many staff off sick, either with covid or self—isolating, it is alarming that buckinghamshire health care trust has been given no date when it will get a supply of vaccines, especially when neighbouring oxfordshire is in a lower tier and does have them. when my right honourable friend ensure that residents and health ca re ensure that residents and health care staff can get the vaccine in buckinghamshire before christmas?” will write to him immediately with plans that we have for the roll—out of primary care based vaccination

facilities in aylesbury. i regret having to put buckinghamshire into the tier 3 measures, but it was u nfortu nately the tier 3 measures, but it was unfortunately absolutely the tier 3 measures, but it was u nfortu nately a bsolutely necessary on the numbers. aylesbury vale, the local authority area, is a case rate of 235 and its rising really sharply, and my honourable friend set out the challenges at stoke mandeville, which is an excellent hospital but under significant pressure. i am glad that he understands why we have had to take this decision, and i hope that, across buckinghamshire, we can get these cases down and get people vaccinated as soon as possible. the secondary schools in south manchester are worried about the pressure of running a mass testing regime on top of the contact stressing they are doing, on top of the online learning they are enabling their normal everyday school response abilities. we really need to know what support they are going to get to do the testing. why

won't the secretary of state for education come to the house and a nswer education come to the house and answer questions, as the secretary of state for health rightly does? the secretary of state for health will be setting up these plans. we need to get them out as soon as possible so people have the last couple of days of term to work on them. he will be doing that... look, testing in schools is incredibly important. it's going to become more important. it's going to become more important as we rolled out more broadly, and i am really glad to hear some of the statements from some of the teaching unions about how enthusiastic they are for testing, especially in secondary schools, and i am sure that my right honourable friend, the education secretary, will want to work with him and others right across the country to roll out this programme as effectively as possible make sure that we have high quality testing in schools so that we can keep kids in education as much as possible and get the infection rate down by

finding those positive cases and having them isolate. it being christmas and given the circumstances we are in, covid compliant carol singers in stockport have been heard to be singing the words of that well—known epidemiologist mariah carey, all i wa nt epidemiologist mariah carey, all i want for christmas is tier 2, but sadly that has not been successful at all. can my right honourable friend, further to the memberfor altrincham, explain precisely what more residents in stockport need to do to regain some relative freedom? yes, we have got to keep getting the case rate down. in stockport, it is still over 100. there is further to 90, still over 100. there is further to go, and right across greater manchester and the surrounding areas i would urge people, as they have been doing, because those case rates have come down really quite significantly, and the city and

right across greater manchester and in stockport people have been doing the right thing, the pressures on the right thing, the pressures on the nhs remain. partly it's from people who are in hospital with covid from when the rates were really high, so i hope we can make the move as soon as possible. in the meantime, i hope everyone has a happy, meantime, i hope everyone has a ha p py, safe meantime, i hope everyone has a happy, safe and careful christmas in stockport. uk and eu pharmaceutical companies have warned that no deal will lead to delays of up to six weeks in obtaining vital medicines. given the pfizer vaccine is complex to move and distributed from brussels at —70 degrees, does the health secretary agree that no deal would be catastrophic, and that everything should be done to get a deal to protect our access to vital medicines? we have plans in place to ensure that the vaccine can continue

to be distributed whatever the outcome of the discussions on a future trading arrangement with the eu. earlier this morning, i visited a vaccination centre in harlow, which is running like a military operation, and they have started vaccinating the elderly and those in ca re vaccinating the elderly and those in care homes. when my right honourable friend thanks west essex ccg, gps, staff and volunteers, who are vaccinating many hundreds of hollow residence, but will he set out a route map by which harlow can return to tier 2? route map by which harlow can return to tier2? i route map by which harlow can return to tier 2? i would strongly welcome the testing announced for schools, but can he also confirm that school openings will not be delayed in january? i am gratefulto openings will not be delayed in january? i am grateful to what he said about the vaccination centre in harlow. it's an uplifting site, visiting a vaccination centre, and rarely have i seen so many smiles on faces in this year, which has been such a difficult year, than when i

visited the milton keynes vaccination centre last week. i am really glad that it's working well in harlow. i want to add my thanks to his thanks for the gps, the volu nteers to his thanks for the gps, the volunteers and staff, all those organising the vaccinations. in terms of a route map out of tier 2, of course, in time, he vaccination programme will help but, for now, the best thing people can do is to bring the case rate down by doing everything they personally can to not pass on this disease. u nfortu nately, not pass on this disease. unfortunately, the case rate is 302 per 100,000 in harlow, very elevated, and nearby epping forest u nfortu nately elevated, and nearby epping forest unfortunately is over 500. it is a very serious problem. we have all got to pull together to sort out this growth of the virus locally, and that is the route to tier 2.” echo to the secretary of state what the memberfor echo to the secretary of state what the member for harlow said echo to the secretary of state what the memberfor harlow said on behalf

of the people of our community. thank you, madam deputy speaker. scientific advisers, health care workers and doctors have all warned that the christmas season will result higher infection rates. the public are not fools, and they know that tougher restrictions will likely be needed in the new year. will the secretary of state come up with the obvious and admit now that he will need to bring in harsher restrictions in january, he will need to bring in harsher restrictions injanuary, ending the uncertainty faced by families and businesses, or was itjust allow these dangerous mixed messages to continue from government? where i agree with the honourable lady is that the public are not fools, and the public know that it is their responsibility, as well as the government's, to get this under control, and that is where the emphasis on people taking personal responsibility to ensure that they don't pass on the virus this christmas that is where the emphasis comes from. i think, if you look at

how the public as a whole, across luton and the whole country, have behaved during this pandemic, where we have these restrictions that are so inimitable to our way of life, that our unprecedented, that people have still followed them because they know that they are important, and that is the approach we are trying to take for christmas, to make sure we can keep this precious time of year, but we can do so in a way that is safe. i accepted kirklees being in tier 3 when we had some of the highest covid rates in the country, but cases have now plummeted and hospitalisations are down. the case rate in kirklees is around 167, below the english average. in my constituency, the case rates are actually under 100 per 100,000, and therefore i really thought we had a strong case to be

brought down into tier 2. i appreciate the secretary of state was to be cautious, but can he tell me, when will the next review be, and what more do my constituents need to do to come out of tier 3? legally, there is a review every two weeks, but in practice we review every week, and i won't wait a week longer than necessary to get places out of tier 3, if we can safely do that. two people across the corn valley, i would say firstly that the reduction in rates has been impressive, but we are not there yet. the pressure on the nhs is reduced but is still significant. i would also say to everybody there that you have a member of parliament who probably took to me about this more than any other, in terms of making his case and is not for want

of effort from the local mp, but this is a decision based on the epidemiology, and i really hope we can get there soon. can i take this opportunity to wish you and to house staff a merry christmas and a very hgppy staff a merry christmas and a very happy new year? i have had numerous e—mails from unpaid carers in enfield north, concerned about access to the vaccine. can the minister set out exactly when unpaid ca re rs minister set out exactly when unpaid carers will be given covid—19 vaccine, given that they spent their time caring for extremely vulnerable people and can pass on the virus? any guidance would be a huge comfort to residents, unpaid carers in enfield law. the guidance has been set out by the joint committee on vaccinations and immunisations, and i think it's important we follow the

clinical advice in this privatisation to make sure it is fair. i would like to thank the department of health, the secretary of state for everything they are doing, but i'm sure he will appreciate how fed up by local hospitality sector across county durham at the north—east are. would hejoin me in thanking local people for everything we are doing? we have seen case rates really come down. and also thank my local nhs staff, who i saw when i visited on a night shift a couple of weeks ago not only giving care to people with covid but also showing love to them as they look after them. will he commit to a fortnightly review, to allow county durham and parts parts of county durham and parts parts of county durham to separate way of case rates come down in future for the gritty update me and write to me about vaccine roll—out, and will he push the chancellor for extra support for my local hospitality sector was to mop i will write to him as soon as i can on the roll—out of the vaccine

across his part of county durham. making sure that everybody can get access is so important, hence we are taking this community led approach, as well as the big hospital sites. the truth is, in county durham, we look at county durham on its merits, on its own, as well as as part of the other north—east local authorities, and people in county durham have been acting in a way that gets the case rates down. i am very grateful to them for doing that. we are not quite there yet, and there is still that pressure on the nhs, but we are moving in the right direction. in the last 100 days, over 23,000 people in our country have lost their lives from covid. that scale of loss was com pletely covid. that scale of loss was completely unnecessary. is the result of a second wave caused by this government failing to put

public health first. we know the government ignored the scientists' advice in september, before that second wave hit, and we know that scientists are warning that the current plans, including for christmas, are going to cause a deadly third wave, so will the secretary of state come clean today and tell us how many lives that government scientists are warning him will be lost over the next few weeks under the current plans? the advice i have had the answer to him isi advice i have had the answer to him is i hope as few as possible, especially as we get the vaccine rolling out, but ijust want to pick up rolling out, but ijust want to pick up something that he said about this pandemic. this pandemic is caused by the virus, not by any government around the world. it's caused by the virus, and that's why it's so important we all come together to try and tackle this, rather than trying to take an overly politicised approach. his waitress tested positive, and so the proprietor of

the small cafe closed immediately and went into self isolation, but test, track and trace have not contacted him, so he is without the wherewithal to claim the allowance. can the secretary of state fix it? yes, if he has the test reference number, i will get onto it right away. if nhs test and trace has not contacted the owner, it may imply that he doesn't have to self—isolate, but of course i will wa nt to self—isolate, but of course i will want to look into the details of the case before making such a recommendation. i will make sure his constituents get a full, clinically approved recommendation asap.- james kenny became our first octogenarian imprint to receive the vaccine earlier this week. whilst congratulating him on the web to practice team who delivered it, does secretary of state share my concern

that care homes in brent have been advised that the 970 doses that are in the vaccine packs can't be split because of the licensing conditions, and this means that those who are over 80 in and this means that those who are over80 in ourcare and this means that those who are over 80 in our care homes may have to wait until february or for the oxford vaccine before they get vaccinated? is this the case? if so, why? it is hardly the protective ring around care homes the secretary of state promised. i am glad to say we are making significant progress on tackling this issue. when he says it's a licensing concern, that shouldn't be read to imply it some bureaucratic rule. it's about making sure this is done safely, because if the vaccine isn't delivered safely to the site, of course it isn't an effective vaccine, and therefore we are taking it carefully to be able

to vaccinate in care homes. there has been some vaccination in care homes across the uk, so it can be done, and! homes across the uk, so it can be done, and i hope we can make good progress soon. i thank my right to fend for the reassurance he gave me last week about vaccine roll—out to rural communities, and will hejoin me in paying tribute to everyone in cumbria and the wider uk who is involved in the delivery of the covid vaccination programme? would he agree with me that the best way we can build a positive 2021 is for people to actively take up their invitation to have this vital vaccine when it comes, and to get their life—saving jab as soon as it is offered? yes, i couldn't agree with my honourable friend more. he knows about these things, and he is exactly right that the best thing eve ryo ne exactly right that the best thing everyone can do is, when the nhs calls, take up that vaccine and get

it done. it will protect them at their community and help protect the whole country and get us all out of these restrictions, against which we choke. yesterday on college green, i met with members of the covid—19 bereaved families forjustice group and spoke with those who have lost loved ones throughout the pandemic and will be spending a first christmas without them. they delivered a 200 strong petition asking for an enquiry to identify and learn lessons. there has been an ongoing enquiry, and that has been the coronavirus epg is, so can i ask whether the secretary of state as read that groups interim report and engage with its findings?” read that groups interim report and engage with its findings? i look at all these sorts of reports, and the tea m all these sorts of reports, and the team in the department to do, to co nsta ntly team in the department to do, to constantly try team in the department to do, to co nsta ntly try a nd team in the department to do, to constantly try and learn, given that this is an unprecedented situation. all of the health authorities across the uk, whether here or in edinburgh or cardiff or belfast, we are always

co nsta ntly or cardiff or belfast, we are always constantly talking and trying to make sure that all of the insights that can be gained can be applied, and an example is, for instance, the fa ct we and an example is, for instance, the fact we now have contact tracing in the uk reaching over 90% of contacts. that has been due to the ha rd contacts. that has been due to the hard work and improvement and learning the insights from each other about how we can make systems better. studio: was the health secretary, matt hancock, in the commons, outlining what is happening going forward with the tiers in england. some areas moving into tier 3, bedfordshire, berkshire, buckinghamshire, peterborough, all of hampshire, surrey apart from waverley, hastings and templeman dyla n waverley, hastings and templeman dylan cretin,, and portsmouth go into tier 3 stop bristol and north somerset has gone down to tier 2, and herefordshire has gone out of tier 2 and down to tier 1, which means 38 million people in this country are now living to the

highest restrictions, 68% of the population. the one o'clock news is coming up with jane hill with all the latest analysis for you. right now, time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. the best of the weather today has been across more eastern parts of the uk, where it has been drier and sunnier. but we are seeing the weather changing from the west. and we have got this set of weather fronts coming in, the cloud already thickening up, and it is rain that is coming into western areas as well. through this evening, that wetter weather in the west will continue to push its way eastwards to many parts of the country. some heavier bursts of rain over the hills, but the rain does tend to peter out before it arrives across east anglia and the southeast, and we could see a few breaks in the cloud in scotland, with some showers following in from the west. but it is going to be a very mild night, a breezy night, and by the end of the night, most places will be in double figures. but friday looks like it's going to be cloudy for much of the country. we will see more rain developing, heavier rain in the southwest of england and wales, threatening some more flooding.

that wetter weather pushes northwards into northern england, northern ireland and up in to scotland. probably still largely dry in the afternoon across east anglia and the south—east, but all areas will have a stronger wind on friday. it is a southerly wind, gales likely in the south—west of england and south—west wales, but it is going to be very mild. we start off with double figures and temperatures will creep up to around 13, maybe even 14 degrees. as we head into the weekend, we start to push rain eastwards on friday night to clear away on saturday morning. and then this is going to be the dominant feature right the way through the weekend, an area of lower pressure is sitting to the north—west of the uk. that will feed in the showers, pick up the wind, and gradually we will see temperatures dropping a bit as the weekend goes on, as that very mild air on friday gets pushed away. quite a windy weekend, i think, with some sunshine and also some showers, which could be heavy. now, on saturday we are going to find showers pushing through the english channel once that early rain clears away from east anglia and the south—east from overnight. a lot of showers, though,

for the western side of the uk, they could be heavy, potentially thundery as well. no doubt some will get pushed inland and further east, but not many. and we've still got the temperatures in much of the country still in double figures, but tempered somewhat by those strong and blustery winds. still quite blustery on sunday, still some showers, again, mainly across western and more southern parts of the uk. perhaps the showers easing down a bit in the afternoon as the winds start to ease as well, but those temperatures not quite as high. we are looking at around 8—10 c.

38 million people will be living under the tightest coronavirus restrictions in england by this weekend. the health secretary says many parts of the east and south of england are to be moved into tier 3 because of a big rise in the number of cases. i regret having to take the action that we have to take. i deem it necessary and there's a strong view right across government that these actions are necessary, but i also plead that personal responsibility is absolutely central to how we as a society should respond to this pandemic. only two areas are being moved down a tier. we'll be live in some of the affected regions. also this lunchtime... thousands of school children across england