ofa of a stretch to it was not too much of a stretch to presume that this virus was going to spread more rapidly during that period. and i think we are now going to be in for a very difficult couple of months at least as we move into 2021, and i cannot see much relaxation in regulations until march at the earliest. two weeks ago i was saying that we might start seeing relaxations occurring in january, but i think that was in retrospect slightly over optimistic, because we did not then know about this new increased transmissible virus. it was great to have your dose of realism. thank you very much. to remind you, join us for our news

special, either on bbc one or the bbc news channel. our coverage begins at 3:30pm this afternoon. the announcement is coming from downing street. in a news conference, the prime minister, his chief medical and scientific advisers will be there. we will see you then. in the meantime, if you are heading out, for a socially distanced walk in the park, here is the weather. it is one of those showery kinds of days where most places will see a downpour or two. we currently have 38 flood warnings in force, so we do not really need any in force, so we do not really need a ny extra in force, so we do not really need any extra rain. today's rain will probably not make too much of a difference because it is showery in nature. the showers are pretty widespread. overnight, the strong

gusty south—westerly winds will be particularly wet over western areas of scotland. overnight lows, about 4-6 c. not of scotland. overnight lows, about 4—6 c. not desperately cold. tomorrow, another showery day. sunshine and showers, the order of the day. most frequent over the north and west of the country. you might see the showers become a little less widespread over wales and south—west england, just for a time. a windy day for northern ireland and scotland. top temperatures between eight and ii celsius. that is your weather. it's this is bbc news. the headlines. the prime minister is to hold a news conference later this afternoon to announce a new tier 4 for london and the south—east which could affect christmas.

it comes amid warnings from england's chief medical officer that a "new variant" of the virus is causing faster transmission in the south east. wales, scotland and northern ireland have held a four nations call with westminster and will have their own cabinet meetings this afternoon. more than two—thirds of those living in england — 38 million people — are now subject to the toughest restrictions in tier 3. that may change from four o'clock. meanwhile, italy imposes a nationwide lockdown over christmas and new year, as it tries to halt the sharp rise in coronavirus infections. americans are set to get a second coronavirus vaccine, as the moderna injection is approved in the us. the prime minister is to hold a news conference later this now, we meet those developing new technologies to protect an ancient city. the roman settlement

of baiae was the las vegas of the roman empire. a place where the rich and powerful came to relax, party and carry out illicit affairs. lured by baiae‘s volcanic hot springs, the romans built opulent villas and baths here on the gulf of naples. today, it is still famed for its precious marbles, mosaics and sculptures. ancient authors wrote a lot about baiae and described baiae as a place for the holiday, grounded with the aristocracy and also with the young people, with people working on the beach, working on the sea, they were drinking wine. a fun atmosphere, sounds like a party town. exactly. but over several centuries, the city slowly sunk beneath the sea. this is more

dangerous than there. i wish you told me that when we were over there. why did you tell me that when we're here? the underwater site is a treasure trove of mosaics and marbles dating back 2000 years. but today, they are at risk. now, a team of archaeologists and engineers are developing some surprising new technologies to protect the underwater site forfuture generations. we know baiae as the underwater city. baiae is not an underwater city, it is kilometres of the ancient waterfront that is now underwater because of the change of sea level. you can see underwater,

the remains of the villas and also the remains of marble streets, shops. is there anything else like that in the world? i do not think that you can find other underwater archaeological sites like baiae. baiae on the gulf of naples is one of the most extraordinary ancient sites in italy. the romans came here for the same reasons we do. the sparkling mediterranean, the weather, the lush vegetation and vineyards. they were also drawn to the areas thermal springs. the result of the volcanic activity beneath their feet. as the roman republic lapsed into empire, baiae‘s reputation only grew. in ad 39, caligula built a bridge made up of merchant

ships linked together and then covered with earth from baiae to nearby pozzuoli. three miles long and rode over it in a chariot. and in ad 59, nero had his mother murdered in her villa here. the later emperor hadrian would have a more peaceful end to his life, dying of natural causes in his baiae palace in ad 138. university of naples archaelogist michele stefanie showed me around. baiae was a luxury resort. with incredible architectures connected with the most eminent men of the imperial times. the ancient authors wrote a lot about baiae and they described baiae as a place for the holiday, a place crowded with all the aristocracy, but also young people, people working

on the beach and looking to the sea, people drinking wine. a fun atmosphere, it sounds like a party town. exactly. people like seneca decided to have his villa not in baiae but on a hill in that direction. just to stay a little bit away. it's too loud for him. exactly. and when did this whole area disappear? we know that after this, this part of the territory of the region was abandoned. how much did the water level rise? it depends on the part of baiae but somewhere between four and six metres. wow. yes, very big change. that is why you can see underwater, not only the floors, but also the sites in the world for this

concentration from the roman times underwater, mosaics. so, you can ride on the water and read the mystery about 5 or 6 centuries long. tell me what happened. how did it get submerged? the history of the change of the sea level in this territory is connected with the volcanic activity. most of us have heard of mount vesuvius. but it turns out there is another volcanic zone near naples. this area is more dangerous than over there. i wish you told me that when we were over there. why are you telling me that now that we're here? this area is still active. it is also why baiae is now underwater. the movement of magma underground actually sank the ancient city's ground level.

campi flegrei is one of the 20 known super volcanoes on the planet. capable of erupting with the volume thousands of times stronger than an average volcano. vincenzo tells me that if it were to blow at maximum capacity today, it would make the ad79 eruption of mount vesuvius that destroyed pompeii look like a puppy's sneeze.

carmine minopoli is a researcher at the national institute of geophysics and volcanology. he walked me through how the monitoring system works, but before he did, we spoke in one of the stranger places i've ever done an interview. inside a building that had been

abandoned because of the heat and gases caused by the volcanic vents beneath it. all of that volcanic activity remains today. but it is also what put

baiae underwater 1500 years ago. the water has helped preserve the artefacts, but it can also damage them. barbara davide, director of the unit of underwater archaeology at italy's high institute for conservation and restoration, has been working at baiae since 1993. so 1500 years it's been underwater. what does the sea water do? to artefacts over such a long period of time? archaeological remains are protected under the water, thanks to the sea. but if they are on the sea bed, open, so not covered by the sand, they are attacked by marine organisms. we call bio erosion. there are sponges and bacteria, also

bivalve animals, organisms, so there is a big variety. some artefacts that a re recovered from the sea are completely destroyed or partially destroyed or sometimes we have found that the neck or the head, the hand is lost. and all the portion of the statues that are covered by sand are in good condition. concerning the mosaics for example, we can see some that are old don't look so dangerous for the artefacts, but if we analyse with a microscope these holes, we will see that inside the stone, the hole is not small but is big, large. and the monitoring of the site is the solution of this.

at the archaeological museum of campi flegrei, one piece of artwork after another shows the damage animals can do. while it is common to see ancient statues missing arms or heads, the items in this collection are different. a veiled woman has been covered with what almost look like pock marks. a base with a dedication to emperor hadrian loses all shape at the top, like a half melted candle. this 71mm statue of zeus on his throne dating to the first century bc is covered with what looks like white scrawlings. the remnants of marine and crustaceans. but these organisms were not his only challenge. the zeus was likely stolen from the sea by looters.

he wound up in the collection of thej paul getty museum in los angeles, acquired by a curator later indicted for conspiracy to traffic in illegal antiquities. he was returned to the campi flegrei museum in 2018. the other sculptures in the museum are now safe from marine organisms. but the artefacts that remain below the sea, including the precious floors making up the largest collection of underwater roman mosaics in the world, remain at risk. finally it was time for me to go down and see it for myself. i was invited to join the team testing new technologies to help better monitor the erosion, but also to help the public engage with the site in new ways. ciara is professor of computer

science at the university of rome. and the interdisciplinary project coordinator. she is behind one of the more ambitious aspects of this. its underwater wireless sensor networks. so, what are the technologies you are testing here this week? this week, we are testing underwater drones supporting archaeologists in discovering the site. we are testing underwater wireless sensor networks that allow real—time data on the conservation status of the site. the water quality, the co2 because here we have very active volcanic activity and it's important to know what's happening there. and also images that we can transmit in real time compressed through algorithms from the underwater environment. these innovations represent a major change from how things were done in the past.

they mean that information and pictures about any problems with the site, like erosion or even looting, can be communicated much more quickly. not only can underwater archaeologists communicate while they are diving, but we can get data in real time about the site, even when archaeologists are not there. so, we have also developed a system for divers. on the other hand, we are able to localise and we have developed a way to represent how these underwater sites were in the past, using virtual reality so you can actually have an enhanced experience visiting the site. and you can also chat in a whatsapp like matter with the rest of the divers and once on the other side of the planet and exchange images or exchange your feelings even when you are diving. the way this is being done

is through an underwater internet. that's more difficult than it sounds. wi—fi, for example, does not travel far underwater. instead, the team came up with the idea of using acoustics inspired by marine mammals. so, you have to use a different way of communicating for very short range, a few metres, which is short range in this environment, you can use wireless optical. but mostly you have to use the way of communicating of marine mammals, so you need to use acoustic communication. and this is challenging because the sea parameters may change. the temperature and salinity change. and this affects the way communication works. and it's also a ship passing by, like we have right now, or water motorbike, this affects the ability to communicate.

even the wind rising that changes the communication and they are no longer able to communicate. so, it's very complex, but we came up with an idea. let's have mesh networks, like multi—hub networks, and less huge artificial intelligence techniques to keep changing, the product we use some of the route the information flow has to go through, the parameters of our communication system. and we came up with some fundamental understanding and it works. what was not possible before is now possible in terms of performance, presenting even more information like images, in terms of reliability of communicating. and this is a gorgeous application in underwater archaeology and this is going to change actually whatever we are able to do in terms of exploring and understanding these environments across the world. under the water,

a whole world opens up. the sculptures here are replicas. the real ones are safe above ground in nearby archaeological museum. but the other artefacts, from the walls to mosaics, are original. as we swam, statues began to appear out of the water. this was the nymphaean of emperor claudius, a place where the first century ruler would have strolled and admired his sculptures. i pressed a button on my tablet and held it up. a 3d version of how the nymphaean would've looked appeared on screen. this is one of the other main goals. to help divers understand and appreciate the ruins they are looking at. but the best was yet to come. my dive guide enzo stopped

on the sea floor and started to push the sand around. with each sweep of his hand, more of the mosaic revealed itself until we were hovering over on intricate patterns of circles and hexagons. this was once the floor of a room just off the atrium of a magnificent villa dating to the second century. there is nothing quite like seeing ancient ruins like this. for one thing, there's the eerie silence of being underwater. hearing only your own breathing. for another, there is the intimacy. forget the crowds at sites like the colosseum, down here, where only scuba divers can go, you can experience this ancient landscape almost alone. and knowing that it's being protected for future generations couldn't be a better feeling.

the team installed the monitoring system at baiae permanently in summer2020. the project is also being unrolled elsewhere, including at an ancient underwater site in puglia. it's a privilege to see it all in person and to learn how these innovations could dramatically improve the way the site is preserved by archaeologists and experienced by travellers.

all the heavy rain we've seen over the last few days has been working into river catchment is causing a few issues, so we have some flooding, flooded lanes around herefordshire, and we also have flood warnings in force right now, 31 across wales, england and parts of scotla nd 31 across wales, england and parts of scotland as well. so we have a few issues right now but with more wet weather to come over the next

the gusts will continue to be 30 or 40 the gusts will continue to be 30 or a0 mph around western coasts, temperatures overnight not desperately low, around a—6 celsius or most of us. tomorrow another showery day. similar strength winds for most of us, pushing showers across the sky, lasting about ten or 20 minutes most of them. then the sunshine coming out. showers across scotla nd sunshine coming out. showers across scotland and northern ireland could bring longer outbreaks of rain, may some dry weatherfor bring longer outbreaks of rain, may some dry weather for wales and south—west england later in the afternoon. next week, another area of low pressure moving in, a week with a front pushing into scotland. it means more wet weather on the way. given the ground is saturated, the extra rain could cause problems

in terms of localised flooding. the rain tends to progress eastwards through the day, with brighter skies following. technically still mild in southern areas, i2—i3 following. technically still mild in southern areas, 12—13 in places, but monday is much colder further north. northern ireland, scotland and northern england, temperatures about six celsius. tuesday and wednesday, more rain on the area of low pressure, again england and wales will have the most, which could cause flooding. and then colder air across the north of the country sweeps to the south for christmas eve and christmas day. into the big day, christmas, frost will be widespread and pretty sharp. but a will be widespread and pretty sharp. butafairamount will be widespread and pretty sharp. but a fair amount of dry weather with sunshine through the christmas holiday period. at least we get rid of the unsettled wet weather and replace it with something drier and colder in time for christmas.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines... the prime minister is to hold a news conference later this afternoon to announce new tier a restrictions for london and parts the south east — which could include a closure of nonessential retail and a change to household mixing over christmas. it comes amid warnings from england's chief medical officer that a "new variant" of the virus is causing faster transmission in the south east. wales, scotland and northern ireland have held a four nations call with westminster and will have their own cabinet meetings this afternoon. more than two—thirds of those living in england — 38 million people — are now subject to the toughest restrictions in tier 3.