tv BBC News BBC News December 20, 2020 5:00pm-5:31pm GMT
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this is bbc news. the headlines at five: millions of people in england and wales are told to stay at home on the first day of tough, new coronavirus restrictions. the new coronavirus restrictions. new variant is out of n and the new variant is out of control, and we need to bring it under control. this news about the new variant has been an incredibly difficult end to frankly an awful year. the health secretary labels crowded scenes at london stations last night as ‘irresponsible' — the transport secretary says extra police officers will be deployed to enforce the rules. the republic of ireland is to restrict air and sea travel with britain from midnight — and the netherlands, italy and belgium ban flights between the uk as concern grows over the new coronavirus variant. queues form at supermarkets in england as shoppers adapt their plans for the festive period.
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it's my son's first christmas and he won't be able to see his grandparents. it's just really, really. just going to try and make it as special as i can for my son. and in half an hour, amanda ruggeri meets those developing new technologies to protect an ancient sunken city in italy. good afternoon. in a few minutes, mishal hussein will bring you the latest news, but first a look at today's developments. almost 18 million people are now living in tougher tier 4 restrictions in parts of england because of what the government says is a variant of coronavirus which is spreading rapidly. all previous tier 3 areas in the south east and east of england — including london, kent
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and most of essex — have moved into tier 4. the public is being asked to stay at home and there will be no ‘christmas bubbles' for gatherings. get—togethers will be restricted to meeting one other person outside in an open public space. nonessential shops have closed along with gyms, beauty salons and hairdressers. for those living in tiers i to 3 in england, ‘christmas bubble' gatherings can now only take place on christmas day itself. meanwhile, all of wales is now in lockdown — restrictions only easing for christmas day, and scotland is also only relaxing it's rules on christmas day, with the highest level of restrictions coming into force for the whole country on boxing day. all travel to the rest of the uk is also banned for the festive season. northern ireland has already announced its new national lockdown, from december the 26th. this morning the health secretary matt hancock said he understood people's frustrations with the change in restrictions
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but said they were necessary to try and get the new variant of the virus under control. the republic of ireland has become the latest country to introduce travel restrictions from midnight tonight on flights and ferries arriving from britain. earlier, italy announced plans to suspend all flights to and from the uk because of the new variant of coronavirus. the netherlands was the first country to announce a ban on passengerflights from the uk. flights were stopped as of 6am after the country detected its first case of the variant of coronavirus. belgium is also suspending all flights as well as train arrivals from midnight tonight — that's 11 o'clock here in the uk. it is also understood that germany are looking at introducing restrictions on air travel. all flights all flights to germany from the uk will be suspended at midnight. the latest daily coronavirus figures
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for the uk have been released by the government. 35,928 new cases have been recorded and there have been a further 326 deaths within 28 days of a positive test for the virus. more on all those stories in a few minutes. now, it's time for your question's answered. hello and welcome to your questions answered. with me in the studio, our health correspondentjim reed, and we arejoined by health correspondentjim reed, and we are joined by nicola stonehouse, professor of molecular biology at the university of leeds. jim, can i start with you? we have had lots coming into us. let's look at this one on twitter from peter, who says that the prime minister has just announced that tier 3 households can
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meet in dorset on christmas day. can another day be substituted ? meet in dorset on christmas day. can another day be substituted? i've had this a lot today. i'm afraid the a nswer this a lot today. i'm afraid the answer is no. the rules are pretty clear. this christmas break in england has been cut from five days in most places down to just a single day, which is the 25th of december, u nless day, which is the 25th of december, unless you are in a new tier for area, in which case the rules are that you cannot mix at all. in wales and scotland, cut down to that single day of christmas day. in northern ireland, slightly broader, retaining the five days there with extra time to travel. peter also mentioned grandchildren. i don't wa nt to mentioned grandchildren. i don't want to second—guess peter's age. the advice is pretty strong, that if you're over 70 or clinically vulnerable you are asked to think carefully about whether or not to meet up. the advice is the safest advice if you are in that group may be not to form a christmas bubble,
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maybe not even on christmas day. so you designate your christmas day outside the 25th was no. this is via e—mailfrom lynn: outside the 25th was no. this is via e—mail from lynn: how outside the 25th was no. this is via e—mailfrom lynn: how will the new rules for london and the south—east affect care home visiting? should we go ahead with lateral flow testing and allowing visits or review things in light of the new rules and the higher risks? testing is very important, although lateral flow testing isn't perfect. i would suggest, if you want to visit people, self—isolate before you do. self isolating for ten days means you are very unlikely to be able to spread infection. i realise not everybody can do that, but that would reduce the risks down. and jim, worth pointing out that even in the tier 4 guidelines, there are exceptions. there are, and nicola made good points. there is one
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change under tier 4. in tier 3, you can meet someone change under tier 4. in tier 3, you can meet someone face—to—face if you have one of these fast turnaround lateral flow tests that proved negative. in tier 4, you can't actually do that. you can still meet but it has to be through a window, glass, one of those pods, so face—to—face meeting in a care home in tier4 is face—to—face meeting in a care home in tier 4 is not allowed. this one is from angela yeoman. i am a single person living in england and my bubble is family in wales. can i go? this is where you get rules clashing. i had a word with the welsh government before i came on air. good news for angela, she would be allowed to cross that border because she uses what is called the support bubble, but only for christmas day itself, no more than that. she can't stay overnight? no. if she is in herefordshire, she
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could cross to monmouth to meet someone. could cross to monmouth to meet someone. where it gets more difficult or impossible is if she is ona tear difficult or impossible is if she is on a tearfor difficult or impossible is if she is ona tearforarea, difficult or impossible is if she is on a tear for area, because then the rules would kick in and you couldn't leave that tier for area. another viewer asks, how is the virus still spreading if we are still wearing our masks and washing our hands endlessly? would being made to wear a mask outside stop it? the spread is by people, people getting together in groups, and the more people, the more risk, and the larger the people, the more risk, and the largerthe group, again, the larger the risk. if you're walking past somebody in the street, the chances of spread is going to be very low. the more time you spend with people, the more crowds that you are in, evenif the more crowds that you are in, even if that outside, then the risks get higher. being outdoors is really important, and basically keeping away from people as much as
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possible. i'm afraid, yes, keeping on your own is the most important thing. wearing masks in large gatherings outside could be important, and for sure, if you feel more comfortable wearing a mask when you are walking out and about, do so. you are walking out and about, do so. some media today has been suggesting the new variant may even be getting 3p —— through ppe. is there any evidence to suggest that? i don't think there is. i think what we must remember is that viruses change, new variants come and go, and less so with this virus than for some other viruses, but this seems to have become very embedded in the population very quickly, and that's what's extremely worrying. why exactly that is, we just don't know yet. there have been lots of different mutations, have their cover of this original virus? yes,
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indeed. it is being able to look at these mutations, both in the uk and elsewhere in the world, over the la st elsewhere in the world, over the last year has been really quite important. what's happened here is that these mutations seem to have really become fixed in the population very quickly. i think, unfortunately, the fact that london and the south—east was in a tear to restrictions rather than higher restrictions rather than higher restrictions over the last month but hasn't helped that situation. but we are where we are, and we absolutely must all do as much as we possibly can to stop any further spread. jim, marcus richardson has asked: we were having a small family meal but are now in tier 4. can we now deliver the meals to their household provided we don't enter the home
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come into contact? within a tear for area the advice is now to stay home with limited exceptions, so things like essential shopping, education, that kind of thing. so it is whether you could define delivering christmas dinner as one of those essential reasons. giving care is an essential reasons. giving care is an essential reason, so depends who you are delivering it too. if it is someone are delivering it too. if it is someone who is very elderly, i think you could make that argument. if it is just you could make that argument. if it isjust some friends you could make that argument. if it is just some friends who couldn't make christmas dinner, that would be more difficult. very difficult, and complicated to police as well. this is from kevin: can you explain how the new strain of the virus is more transmissible? how is it able to be transmitted more readily? what sort of research has gone into this in terms of the transmissibility? what we've seen is, when looking at the
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sequence we've seen is, when looking at the sequence of viruses that are being recorded as tests, so positive tests, some of those have been sequenced, and what is being noticed is that this new variant started off asa is that this new variant started off as a very small percentage and has really got more and more embedded in the population, so that more and more of the positive tests are having these new mutations in them. so, it seems, therefore, that this variant is spreading more rapidly, but we don't actually know why that is. we don't have a lot of details on how that is at the current time. and we don't know if it's more deadly. so you might absolutely not, no. we have no evidence that it causes more serious disease. no. we have no evidence that it causes more serious diseasem no. we have no evidence that it causes more serious disease. it may not. it could be that when you first
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get infected, the virus will replicate at the back of the throat and the back of the nose, and that is where we take a sample for a test. if the virus replicates and grows much more readily there, it could be that therefore you are spreading more virus, because you've got more to spread. but it doesn't necessarily mean that the virus would then move down to the lungs more readily, where it creates more serious disease. we also have no evidence whatsoever that this will have any effect on the vaccine, so people must absolutely go ahead with taking the vaccine if you offered it. please, please don't think it is going to affect that in any way. might make time for one more, jim, from malcolm: 0ur parents who live in germany, can they visit to the uk to visit us? theoretically, before todayit to visit us? theoretically, before today it would have been possible with isolation and tests. the bigger
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problem is what you have been reporting this afternoon, which is that we have started to see countries close off flights to the uk because of this new variant. we have had the netherlands, italy and belgium talking about that today. germany is not quite on the list yet, but the german newspaper is already reporting that by midnight restrictions could be brought in, so i'm afraid it will be very difficult for malcolm to meet up with his pa rents. for malcolm to meet up with his parents. what might we are out of time, i'm afraid.jim parents. what might we are out of time, i'm afraid. jim reed and professor nicholas stonehouse, thank you very much indeed for answering some of those questions.
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millions of people in england and wales are living under tighter covid restrictions, as action is taken on a new variant of the virus. in england's tier 4 areas, the stay—home instruction causes christmas plans to be scrapped, and could be in place for months. the new variant is out of control and we need to bring it under control. and this news about the new variant has been an incredibly difficult end to, frankly, an awful year. it's my son's first christmas and he won't be able to see his grandparents. it'sjust ruined, really. we've just got to try and make the best out of it. as much as possible, you know, eat, celebrate. long waits for some shoppers, as only essential retail can be open in england's tier 4 and in wales.
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uk travellers are banned from italy the netherlands and belgium over the virus mutation — with ireland likely to restrict flights and ferries tonight. and who will take this trophy and become the 2020 bbc‘s sports personality of the year? good afternoon. the health secretary, matt hancock, says the new mutant variant of coronavirus is out of control, as new restrictions enter into force for millions of people in parts of england and in wales. all previous tier 3 areas in the south east and the east of england — including london, kent and most of essex —
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have been moved into a new tier 4. the public is being asked to stay at home, non—essentialshops have been closed, along with gyms, beauty salons and hairdressers. there will be no ‘christmas bubbles', and household mixing is restricted to meeting one person in an open public space. christmas rules have been changed in the rest of england, where the planned bubbles can now gather only on christmas day. all of wales has gone into lockdown, with restrictions easing only for christmas day. that will also be the case in scotland and be followed by the highest level of restrictions for mainland scotland from boxing day. all travel to the rest of the uk is banned for the festive season. northern ireland had already announced a new lockdown, coming in from the 26th of december. 0urfirst report is from our political correspondent, nick eardley. what a difference a day can make. london‘s 0xford what a difference a day can make. london‘s oxford street, normally one of the busiest for shopping in europe, deserted today as part of
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england entered a new lockdown and millions more faced up to a significantly scaled back christmas. people like michaela mccann who works as an occupational therapist in surrey and now can‘t get home to northern ireland. everybody had made their plans and itjust seems like it is just their plans and itjust seems like it isjust a their plans and itjust seems like it is just a bit too late, it is just really difficult to accept. and i feel like myself, my just really difficult to accept. and ifeel like myself, my resilience has sort of depleted through the year. i think this was just one final kick. the government said it was forced to act because of a new variant of the virus that is thought to spread much quicker. the new variant is out of control and we need to bring it under control. and this news about the new variant has been an incredibly difficult end to, frankly, an awful year. wales entered lockdown again at midnight and scotland and northern ireland, new restrictions are coming just after christmas there. a new tier 4
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restrictions in london, the south east and east of england, people are being urged to stay at home. we don‘t know how long these measures are going to be in place. it may be for some time until we can get the vaccine going. that isn't an easy thing to say. it all feels very different to when state when the four nations agreed there would still be a relaxation of the law for christmas. but ministers here say they were given new evidence on friday about how the new variant of the virus spreads and that they had to act quickly. others think they we re to act quickly. others think they were too slow. how could the government allow people to go on as they were? labour's leader this morning said the prime minister had waited until the 11th hour because he was reluctant to make an unpopular decision. england, scotland and labour run wales all took pretty drastic action yesterday after being briefed by the experts, so after being briefed by the experts, so what makes you think in terms of this new variant that the government should have acted sooner? to put all of this on the new variant is wrong. the infection was out of control and
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thatis the infection was out of control and that is why the government, the prime minister should have grasped this instead of flippantly on wednesday simply saying, have a merry little christmas. it was obvious the indicators were all in the wrong direction. the government says that is wrong and when the data changed at their approach had two as well. but for many, the last couple of days have been a heartbreaking end to what has already been a uniquely difficult year. nick eardley, bbc news. so, how has the coronavirus mutated, and what do we know about how infectious this new variant is? here‘s our health correspondent, catherine burns. since the pandemic started, we have learned a lot about coronavirus, but it has been learning about us, too. it has had practice at dealing with our immune systems and has developed an extra way of fighting us. this new variant. it has changed 23 times. many differences are linked to the all—importa nt times. many differences are linked to the all—important spike protein. the part of the virus that lets it bind on to human cells. so the worry
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is that this mutation could make it easierfor the virus to is that this mutation could make it easier for the virus to infect us. doctors think this new variant could spread up to 70% faster, although that figure is just an estimate. scientists advising the government also say it could increase the r number, which shows how the virus can spread, by between 0.4 and 0.9. when we find the virus, we are finding the virus in the nose and throat. the higher amount of virus means people are likely to be more infectious than they would have a b and this means that we need to reiterate social distancing measures, reduce your contacts —— they would have otherwise been. one key question is, will vaccine still work against this? the vaccine trains our immune systems to recognise and react to the spike protein in the virus and it has changed. but we are talking about twea ks changed. but we are talking about tweaks rather than huge differences. it is early days, but scientists think the vaccines are now, more than ever, the key to getting this
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under control. there is no evidence to say this variant will cause more severe illness in any one person, but it is thought somewhere between one in 101 but it is thought somewhere between one inioi in100 but it is thought somewhere between one in 101 in 100 people who have coronavirus end up dying from it. this variant is more infectious so more people could get it, which could lead to more deaths. and of course, more pressure on the nhs. we are already in a situation seeing ambulances queueing for hours outside of hospitals, others can sing routine surgery, and on top of that comes this new variant, how worried are you? we are 11,000 beds fewer than last year because of infection control and of the remaining beds, 16,000 of them are occupied by covid patients, that is 2,000 more than eight days ago. so chief executives are saying to us it would be a nail—biting week to ten days for them whilst they see whether these new measures will have the desired impact. until enough of us the desired impact. until enough of us have been vaccinated, the best
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way to stop this virus spreading is to stick to social distancing, to wear our masks, wash our hands and to cut contact with other people. catherine burns, bbc news. the latest government figures show there were 35,928 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period, which means an average number of 27, 249 new cases per day in the last week. there were 1,821 people admitted to hospital on average each day in the week to last wednesday. 326 deaths have been reported for the last 24 hours, that‘s people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. it means an average of 462 deaths per day in the past week. the total number of uk deaths is now 67,401. the tougher tier 4 restrictions in england have meant all non—essential shops having to close. today, people have been
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heading to supermarkets to do their remaining christmas shopping — as our business correspondent, katy austin, has been finding out. after hearing his gift shop in north london would have to close, owner ian started a click and collect service over night, trying to salvage something from what should have been his busiest week of the year. our christmas stock obviously will have to go into a sale, there is nothing else we can do with it. we plan christmas from january onwards so this is a combination of ten months of work. it is salons and hairdressers say being forced to close under the new tighter restrictions was particularly ugly news. if we had could just that if we could just have limped through to the new year, then we would have understood the lockdown. but the la st understood the lockdown. but the last crucial week of the year to be closed, it isjust wrenching. i will not lie, clients and staff were crying when that announcement was
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made. yesterday. you know, we have lost that last crucial week and we needed it. even for businesses who do online delivery, the closure of some stores follows a festive season already beset by problems beyond their control. we have also had the knock—on effect of roads being jammed up, several borders closed up across europe, bringing in deliveries early because of concerns ‘ ‘ concerns around deliveries early because of concerns —— concerns around brexit extra documentation and this has meant some orders have not got through. and it is a dire time. in tiers one to three, all stores can open and supermarkets can still welcome customers in tier 4. today, people outside one in south east london said they had already changed their christmas plans. we are getting a much smaller turkey. we will still have a presence. because i thought i was going up there, i haven't got any food so i have come out to try to get some christmas dinner
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together. it is my son's this christmas and he won't be able to see his grandparents. you have to work around it, see his grandparents. you have to workaround it, i see his grandparents. you have to work around it, i suppose, christmas should not stop. the shutters have come down at major shopping destinations like 0xford come down at major shopping destinations like oxford street in central london and they were stale —— they will stay down through the traditional boxing day sales periods. a painful end for thousands of businesses desperately hoping for some festive cheer, katy austin, bbc news. the new restrictions — and the changes to the rules for christmas in england, wales and scotland — have thrown many people‘s travel plans into disarray. and several european countries have either banned travel from the uk, or are considering doing so. here‘s our transport correspondent, caroline davies. today at euston station, with suitcases packed, passengers rushing for a suitcases packed, passengers rushing fora train suitcases packed, passengers rushing for a train from london to manchester, despite the fact rules against leaving tier 4 came on my site. other than for legally permitted reasons. the operator said the service was socially distanced
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and below capacity. some passengers at euston were desperate to leave. and below capacity. some passengers at euston were desperate to leavelj am terrified that i am going to spend christmas alone so i am going to go. others coming back to london had mixed feelings. to go. others coming back to london had mixed feelingslj to go. others coming back to london had mixed feelings. i don't understand, i don't know if i am going to get to my mother's for christmas, which is tier 4 and i live alone so i could say they are my support bubble, i don't know. london train stations that operate longer distance routes like king‘s cross and euston say this weekend has been noticeably busier than normal pandemic weekend but is still relatively quiet. train operators are keen to point out it is not the job of their staff to enforce these rules, that is for the police, but how heavy—handed will they be? british transport police have said there will be more officers at major transport hubs and offices will only use enforcement if absolutely necessary. in scotland, police have said they will double their presence in the borders area and that it was not appropriate for offices to establish checkpoints or roadblocks. 0thers establish checkpoints or roadblocks. others are worried many will have left already for christmas. the
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health secretary today reacted to these pictures of cues last night for a these pictures of cues last night fora train these pictures of cues last night for a train from london to leeds. those scenes were totally irresponsible. and as of first thing this morning, the new law came in. i actually was up before five o‘clock this morning ensuring that new law has been in place. and we have all got a responsibility. international travel is banned from tier 4 and other tiers are advised to carefully consider whether it is needed, but the netherlands, belgium, italy and ireland have decided to temporarily wrists —— suspend flights from britain with concerns about spreading the virus. those in the travel industry are worried more countries will travels —— will follow suit. caroline davies, bbc news. with all the sport now, here‘s 0lly foster, at the bbc sport centre. celtic have completed another treble of domestic trophies. seven months later than scheduled, last season‘s scottish cup final took place at hampden park today, where they beat hearts on penalties. chris mclaughlin was at the match.
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in glasgow‘s south side, the festive cup final had flames, but no fans. initially, there was familiarity in the strangest of times. celtic dominating when it mattered. the first was sensational, take a bow, ryan christie. it was two before the half hour, helping hand from berra helped by 0dsonne edouard. liam boyce gave them hope minutes before the break and stephen kingsley gave them the equaliser. game on. it was to go all the way to penalties. both teams scored in extra time and christopher iyer won it from the spot. they did it the hard way, but it is the quadruple treble for celtic. the history makers are celtic. the history makers are celtic football club!
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chris mclaughlin, bbc news. hampden park. we‘ve had two results in the premier league so far, leicester have moved up to second in the table, after a 2—0 win at tottenham. jamie vardy scored a first—half penalty and then forced an own goal. elsewhere, brighton against sheffield united was 1—1. the 67th bbc sports personality of the year show will take public vote will decide which of the six nominees takes the main prize. welcome to the studio here in sa lfo rd. welcome to the studio here in salford. behind me is the famous trophy, but for obvious reasons, this is a very different sports personality of the year than normal. usually there would be a huge arena with thousands of people watching, but tonight there will be just a small audience of winners and contenders. there are six contenders, as you say, for the main award. in alphabetical order,
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