this is bbc news i'm ben brown. the headlines — the prime minister will lead a televised briefing from downing street later this afternoon, as more countries join the international travel ban on britain, because of the new variant of coronavirus. more than a0 nations have now banned flights from the uk. as the crisis deepens, borisjohnson chairs a meeting of the government's cobra emergency committee. there's chaos in kent, as francejoins the ban, stopping lorries and passengers from the uk, though there are hopes the french authorities may soon reconsider. and if any lorry is turning up wanting to get across the channel, they are being turned away. it's the same with passenger vehicles, too.

british supermarkets say they do have enough stocks for now, despite the chaos, but they are worried about the longer—term effects on some supplies. so what is this new variant of the virus, and is it more dangerous, orjust more easily transmitted? we'll have the latest medical analysis. two men have been found guilty of manslaughter after 39 migrants died in the back of a lorry in essex last year. the prime minister is chairing a meeting now of the government's cobra emergency committee, as more countries suspend travel links with the uk to stop the spread of the new variant of coronavirus. borisjohnson will lead a televised briefing from downing street — we'll have that live here on bbc news. india, canada and germany

are the latest of about countries are the latest of about a0 countries to stop flights from britain. france has closed its border with the uk for 48 hours with no lorries or ferry passengers allowed in from dover — though there are hopes that ban may be reversed soon. supermarkets say their current stocks are high — but there are concerns about the longer—term effect on some supplies. simonjones reports from dover. an unprecedented closure of the french border, felt here in dover, banning lorry drivers and passengers from crossing to anywhere in france from anywhere in the uk for 48 hours such aer the fears about the new strain of coronavirus. some british hauliers abandoned their crossings. i'm lucky enough, i've made it back to the yard, and i only live 20 minutes away, so i will be able to get home for christmas, but a lot

of these people sitting on the m20 will not get home for christmas. this is a hugely busy time for the port of dover in the run—up to christmas. normally, 10,000 lorries would pass through here each day. some drivers are turning up trying to get in but are being sent away. for foreign lorry drivers, there was no immediate option to go home, and this is set to be the reality of the next two days for them, stuck in operation stack, where part of the m20 becomes a giant lorry park for hgvs unable to go anywhere else. the french national road haulage federation described the situation is catastrophic, a view echoed by its uk counterpart. it's critical to understand if this will go on beyond 48 hours. i had the conversation with grant shapps this morning and he is confident of their ability to find a way through this, whether that is some sort of testing of drivers before they go back to europe,

i think if it goes beyond 48 hours we will see some significant challenges. although supermarkets stress all products for christmas are already in the country, there could be shortages of lettuce, cauliflower and some fruit if this goes on but the transport secretary hopes for a quick progress. i was on the phone to my opposite number in france last night, he is very keen to see this resolved as quickly as possible, especially the hauliers aspect, because it is primarily french and european goods which are exported, rather than british goods leaving the country, so it's in their interest to get it resolved as quickly as possible and i will be speaking to them again later. in a tweet, the french transport minister said in the coming hours he planned to set up a european—wide mechanism to allow traffic with the uk to resume. that is what the boss of the port of dover is desperate to see.

we don't know how long it will go on. we are hearing good indications from both sides, they are looking at what these new protocols will be, so we hope it can be resolved swiftly. but for hauliers, the wait goes on. simonjones, bbc news, dover. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster. jonathan, the prime minister leading this meeting of cobra this afternoon. yes, that was convened in response to the moves by france and other european countries, and the situation more broadly with the issue of freight not being able to move from the uk to the continent, and vice versa. we heard the transport secretary grant shapps this morning trying to allay concerns this would go on much longer, saying he had been in touch

with his counterpart the french transport minister and downing street, and said at lunchtime that downing street was working with its international partners urgently to minimise disruption as far as possible. but there is real urgency around this situation, so close to christmas. in the midst of the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic now being made all the more difficult by this action from other countries, in response to the spread of this new variant of the virus, which has been linked to possibly a faster spread of covid—i9, and banning the travel of covid—i9, and banning the travel of people and goods from the uk to other countries. so we will hear more from the prime minister and the transport secretary and the chief scientific adviser to the government, sir patrick vallance, at a news conference in downing street in the next hour, where there will be many questions, i'm sure, about

what the uk plans to do to minimise disruption and mitigate the impact of this travel ban, which has been put in place. jonathan, thank you, we will be back with you just before that briefing from downing street. the latest coronavirus figures in the uk. the number of cases down slightly from yesterday. it was 35, 928 slightly from yesterday. it was 35,928 yesterday, today it is 33,364, so down slightly to 33,000 364. the number of deaths down slightly from 326 yesterday to 215 coronavirus deaths. these are deaths within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. more about the chaos from the uk's sudden isolation with all those countries around the world now, cutting flight links, and france now

stopping freight and lorries coming elizabeth dejong is policy director at logistics uk and shejoins me now. we have seen, not surprisingly, huge tailbacks of trucks in kent, around dover. what do you think is going to happen with this? is this going to be unblocked from the french side in particular? do you think the french authorities are going to relent and change this ban? it is a very live situation. all day i have been involved in government calls with cobra, defra, but we are hearing the same from government, that they are really hopeful that agreement can be reached to recommence those freight movements before the 48—hour time period elapses. it's obviously very concerning, in terms of stocks around christmas, isn't it? what are the implications, in terms of food supplies in this country in particular? well, inbound traffic is still allowed, so traffic and freight can come into the country,

and also unaccompanied freight is allowed in too. so for the next few days we are not so concerned. there is enough food in the supply chain. it's really if this became a longer term issue. but we have managed these situations before during the covid crisis and generally we find the impact on it is the range of products. there is enough food for everybody, so please do not panic. in terms of the chaos we are seeing in kent, lorries packed up and so on, operation stack being brought in to control the flow of lorries in kent, which was something planned for with the brexit process, and it was thought there would possibly be problems in kent because of brexit around the end of the year, not really because of coronavirus. yes, the kent resilience forum has been doing a huge amount of work on mitigation measures, should there be queuesin mitigation measures, should there be

queues in kent after 1st ofjanuary, and have been able to put some of those into practice. but the other great thing our industry has help doing, government put out last night threw us and other channels a request not to come to kent, because you wouldn't be able to travel and you wouldn't be able to travel and you wouldn't be able to travel and you would be in queues, and the number of people travelling has drastically reduced, and we are so pleased for them, because being stuck in a queue isjust not pleased for them, because being stuck in a queue is just not where you would want to be. stuck in a queue is just not where you would want to belj stuck in a queue is just not where you would want to be. i mean, it is, as you say, desperately difficult for those lorry drivers. desperately difficult. it's such a hard time, with the changes in the tiers, the difficulty planning for christmas, the impact of covid, and not really even knowing if we can continue to operate internationally, or in europe rather, from the 1st of january. absolutely unprecedented stress and strain that the industry still wa nts stress and strain that the industry still wants to deliver. —— but the industry still wants to deliver. the

uk is finding it rather isolated in the world, something like 40 nations have now suspended flights from the united kingdom. yeah, so that's four passengers was that what gives us hopein passengers was that what gives us hope in terms of trade is that all through the coronavirus crisis, three march, april, may and so on, immediately freight workers were designated as key workers and were allowed to continue to keep our country and other countries stocked, so we're hoping it won't extend to other and can soon be mapped out by re—examining working practices and feeling confident in them again. thank you for your time. let's speak to our europe correspondent gavin lee who's in brussels. gavin, what is the latest you have on this isolation of the uk, and particularly the idea that the french may quite shortly relent on this ban on passengers and lorry drivers coming in from the uk? yes,

that doesn't seem to be the case, ben, unfortunately what i am hearing, particularly for those drivers who are trying to get over, waiting for this news. french officials are telling me they will stick to this 48—hour rule, they will not go any shorter than that, they are waiting now to analyse this information. two sets of meetings going on in brussels, between health ministers who are looking at this information passed on by british scientists to share and work out the viral spread potential, which we are told is up to 70% faster transmission rate than other strains, and also what they call emergency disaster team meeting, when something needs to be talked about in 24 hours, they have official civil servants who come up with a set of options so they can have one coordinated approach, one single approach that all countries can go by. now what the french officials are saying is they will wait until tomorrow's ambassador's

meeting. that is when the decision will be taken by all member states, if they can agree to one set of travel restrictions for the uk, but there is no chance they say at the moment that the 48—hour rule won't change. any decision will take place off the back of that. there is a hodgepodge of different rules and regulations now, the dutch saying the passenger travel ban is in place until the uk the passenger travel ban is in place untilthe uk —— the passenger travel ban is in place until the uk —— until the new year, the germans and italians saying similar things, the germans and italians saying similarthings, portugalsays the germans and italians saying similar things, portugal says only portuguese residents can fly but others will be stopped at british residents, and the swiss saying if you have arrived in the country in the past week from the uk, you will have to self—isolate for ten days. 10,000 people arrived into geneva alone from the uk, at the weekend, so all of these are trying to slim down into one set of rules which we are expecting tomorrow. briefly, just to sum it up, european countries are worried about this new variant of coronavirus that is here in the uk and they are worried about

it coming into european countries, via passengers. some officials believe actually the reality is if this was first picked up in september, they may have shut the barn door after the horse has already bolted, as in we will start to see more and more cases in the hours and days to come, and at the same time they have to work out how you go forward. 0ne same time they have to work out how you go forward. one thing i'm told the french and the germans are talking about, particularly the french, is to say we start to release these measures, but the uk will demand that there are rapid mass tests in place, something the hauliers association in the uk have been asking for, and you have a priority order. so you have lorry drivers and cross—border workers first and also at the top of the list, emergency and health workers. so that is what is being put forward asi so that is what is being put forward as i understand it for tomorrow but it depends how quickly that can be put in place, if these restrictions are then lifted. gavin lee in brussels, thank you. and the prime minister will be holding a downing street press conference tonight at 5 o'clock — we'll bring that to you live

in a bbc news special on bbc one and bbc news channel from ten to five. five o'clock, there or thereabouts. stay tuned for that. the prime minister is currently chairing a cobra meeting. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has called on borisjohnson to address the nation following his cobra meeting. 0ur political correspondent iain watson reports. the unfolding covid drama now feels a lot like a crisis. the prime minister will chair a meeting of the emergency committee, cobra, as the government tries to keep freight flowing to and from the continent. against this bleak backdrop, there's one piece of good news — that the eventual escape routes from the virus won't be blocked. the vaccine wasn't coming in through the roll on, roll off,

and i think precious few lorries had brought it in that way. it comes via containers, and the container traffic isn't affected at all. so this isn't an issue with the vaccine at all, and indeed will never be an issue for medicines, regardless, because we have freight contingencies in place. labour accused the government of over promising and under delivering, but pledged to work with ministers to get the virus under control. make no mistake, this is now a real emergency. i renew my pledge to act in the national interest to help us through these dark and difficult days. we will support further restrictions where they're necessary. we will work with the government to help businesses get through the winter months, and we will offer constructive solutions to keep our nhs open and the vaccine distributed. and reflecting concerns about the government's decisions, there are growing calls from members of borisjohnson's own party, as well as from the lib dems and some labour mps, for parliament to meet over the christmas break.

borisjohnson is facing mounting pressure on many fronts from some of his own mps who are deeply unhappy with the new coronavirus restrictions — from businesses who are concerned about disruption at the border, and with just ten days to go until the uk leaves the eu single market, tense talks in brussels over a future trading relationship still haven't been concluded. but the government rejected the call from scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, to extend the brexit transition period beyond the end of the year. in a tweet, she said the new covid strain demanded 100% attention. the weather at westminster seems to match the mood amongst mps, and indeed many of their voters. it seems we're in a season of uncertainty, not festivity, here. iain watson, bbc news. let's go to dover now —

our correspondent there is damian grammaticas. damian, they were kind of expecting possible chaos at the end of the year because of brexit, now they have because of coronavirus. what is the latest in dover? a season of difficulties here in the cold and wet. you have the port here behind a closed off to all but traffic will come in and drop off containers to go unaccompanied across the channel. 0therwise, every track that has been coming has been turned around and sent off, so you have these two big routes feeding traffic in from the m20 and along the coast, and also down through the white cliffs here. the police here have been saying basically to the drivers, you got to go and find parking elsewhere, you've got to go up to the motorway, up you've got to go up to the motorway, up the coast to mansfield, manson airfield up in ramsgate further out. up airfield up in ramsgate further out. up there there are facilities being provided but the drivers are getting

quite frustrated because they don't know how long they will be struck, and most of these we are seeing, from bulgaria, romania, spain, poland, lithuania, all of them now stuck. there were hopes that the french authorities might lift this 48 our band quite shortly. with just talking to gavin lee in brussels who says he doesn't think that is the case, he doesn't think the french are going to relate, so those truck drivers will be stuck there for a while longer. yes, obviously of these discussions are ongoing on the other side amongst european countries about how they can best manage these. 0ne countries about how they can best manage these. one of the examples, one of the possibilities being floated seems to have been the idea that you could do rapid testing to see if drivers, passengers wanting to cross are negative for covid—19. that would involve of course rapid testing having to be deployed to all

of these drivers who are now parked up of these drivers who are now parked up allaround of these drivers who are now parked up all around here, up around the motorways, to any passengers and european countries agreeing that whole process that they would be happy with that, so that is all a big logistical effort and a big organisational effort amongst governments on the european side who would have to agree a plan. so that would have to agree a plan. so that would take time to bring in so it is ha rd to would take time to bring in so it is hard to see how this would happen quickly. we know tomorrow on the european side there is going to be more discussions, and more may come out of that, but for the time being, at least 48 hours, so until late tomorrow, no plan to open anything at all. so everything remains stuck, and that includes of course also a lot of valuable uk shipments heading out, scottish seafood exporters saying that just here out, scottish seafood exporters saying thatjust here around the port of dover there is at least something like three quarters of £1 million worth of seafood exports, thatis million worth of seafood exports, that is perishable, that is heading to markets like spain for their christmas dinners, and that is all

stuck here and will go off if it is not able to move soon. that is the real problem, the perishable supplies. david, thank you, we will be back with you later, damian grammaticas, from dover. the value of shares has fallen dramatically in response to the escalation of problems caused by coronavirus and the variant. also the possibility of a no—deal brexit. more than £33 billion was wiped off the value of the ft 100 index, as the index dropped more than 2% within minutes of the markets opening, before recovering slightly. 18 million people in england are under the strictest tier 4 restrictions this week. the measures mean nonessential travel out of the area, as well as household mixing, are not allowed throughout the festive period. yesterday, the health secretary matt hancock said it was the job of the police to police the law. but how will it be enforced? we can speak now to martin hewitt,

chair of the national police chiefs' council. thank you very much for being with us. how will it be policed? 0ur police officers going to be knocking on people's doors christmas day? no, we absolutely won't be knocking on people's doors on christmas day. we will do the same way we have been doing at the last ten months, these are health measures and it is all about restricting the transmission of the disease, so we will still carry on policing, we will engage with people. we would ask everybody, wherever you are, to understand the restrictions that are there in whatever tier you happen to be in, but we will engage, we will help explain those measures to people, and if they are breaking rules, we will encourage them to comply. and only in cases where people are deliberately, or just only in cases where people are deliberately, orjust refusing to, follow the regulations, well we enforce and potentially issue a fixed penalty notice, but that's the way we've adopted from the beginning, and that's how we will

carry on in the latest change to the regulations. and what has been your experience in the last few months? i think everyone is very sympathetic to the police, because it is a desperately difficult thing to try to enforce this, as you say, to explain to people, and then as a last resort to used fixed penalties and so on. but what is your experience of how it has been? the vast majority of the public have been really fantastic, i think, in terms... when you think how these restrictions have come in, and how extraordinary they are really, if we we re extraordinary they are really, if we were to go back to a year and imagine where we would be for ten months, the vast majority of people have done and been responsible and done what they can do to comply with the regulations, as the regulations have changed, and as they have been different in different places, and we set out from the very beginning to work with the public. that is how we police in this country and that is how we have policed the pandemic, to play our part in just reducing the infection rates. this has never been about giving people tickets or

enforcing, it is about reducing the transmission so that we can protect the hospitals and reduce the number of people that can contract the disease and sadly died. so in all parts of the country we have worked with the communities, worked with our partners in local authorities and all the other organisations that have been helping, so i think the response has been incredible, when you look at what we have achieved. but it's really important now, with this very, very highly transmittable version of the virus, that everybody ta kes all version of the virus, that everybody takes all the precautions they can. we all know the way you can prevent transmission, and follows the rules in their own areas, so that we can suppress this transmission and allow the vaccines, which thankfully are now rolling out, to take their place and allow us to start to defeat the virus. i suppose looking ahead, it might be tougher for the police when it is new year, if the restrictions are as they are now around new year, because that is the time, more than

christmas, when people want to gather together in large groups, to have parties, to celebrate the new year, and that might be trickier for the police? yeah, look, we understand entirely. we have had ten months of people having to alter their lives, and now we are in the christmas and new year period, which is traditionally a period for celebration for many people, and we entirely understand how hard it is for everybody. it is hard for police officers and police staff, we all have families, we all want to celebrate. so i think we will police understanding that, but the new year i think it's really important and i would send a really strong message to people. i absolutely understand the desire for people to get together at new year. it has been a tough year and to celebrate the new year coming tough year and to celebrate the new yearcoming in. tough year and to celebrate the new year coming in. but i would really ask people to resist that temptation. large groups of people coming together, you don't often know whether you are infectious, the disease is often asymptomatic, so large groups coming together is

really dangerous, in terms of spreading this disease. as we all now know, the virus that is there at the moment is spreading really fast, andi the moment is spreading really fast, and i think wejust the moment is spreading really fast, and i think we just have to accept this new year is not going to be like other new years, but if we can do this, we can suppress the spread of the virus and allow the vaccine to ta ke of the virus and allow the vaccine to take its course, and then get back to some sort of normality as soon as possible. good to talk to you thank you for your time. some of the day's other news now. two men have been found guilty of manslaughter, over the deaths of 39 people found dead in a lorry in essex last year. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports from the old bailey. 0n the phone to the 909 operator, one of the people smugglers revealing the enormity of the

tragedy. but mo robinson was lying about the true scale of the horror. the arriving police officers found the bodies of 39 vietnamese people. they had boarded what they had been promised was a vip

service, among them a young couple, found holding hands as they died. and two cousins, including an 18—year—old. in vietnam, the teenagers's father still prays for him daily. his mother told us they thought they were paying £10,000 for a safe route to england. translation: nobody knew that the journey to the uk was going to be like that. they all said they would travel in cars. if they had known, nobody would have let their children risk their lives on such a dangerous journey. the older cousin's father thinks he was tricked. translation: i don't know what happened, but something must have changed in their plan. either that, or he was scammed. among the eight women in the trailer was this lady, who died trying repeatedly to call her family. she had only left vietnam a few days earlier, travelling via china. 0thers used countries like russia, germany, hungary, romania, greece and poland. some had taken two years to work their way through europe. many of them started the last stage of theirjourney in paris that morning. it began as a vip service, with a taxi ride to northern france, but then they were transferred into an airtight trailer, towed by eamonn ha, a young lorry driver from county down in northern ireland.

he took the trailer to zeebrugge, leaving it to be ferried unaccompanied across the north sea. but there were too many migrants in the airtight box, and slowly the oxygen ran out. nguyen tho tuan left a message for his wife and children. police found dents on the ceiling of the trailer left by those inside trying desperately to escape. if you look at the method, the way they transported human beings, we wouldn't transport animals in that way. by the time the ferry sailed up the thames estuary, the people had all died. the trailer was collected by another lorry driver, mo robinson, from county armagh. his boss ronan hughes had sent him an urgent message. when he opened the doors, there was a puff of vapour, and a trailer full of bodies.

the vip service had been a death trap. there is no vip service. these are the lies people are told to be exploited, and finding out at the very last minute and realising, as you die, the vip service was a terrible lie. the gang who killed the 39 were prolific, and they had possibly been an opportunity to stop them. just before the deaths, they had run two almost identical but successful smuggling trips, ending on a country lane in essex. the lorry was unloaded in this muddy lay—by. a couple whose home overlooks the site saw around 15 people getting out of the truck and into a group of waiting cars. they called the police, but the people smuggling gang wasn't identified, until after the 39 deaths, 12 days later. the gng's bosses were a british—romanian from essex and ronan hughes, a haulier from county armagh, who organised the lorry drivers.

here he is seen delivering a bag full of money to hughes. charges are still being considered against another northern irish haulier. he was the boss of christopher kennedy, also from county armagh. the driver who had collected the trailer on the earlier successful smuggling runs. the bodies of the people who died on the fatal third run were flown back to vietnam. and the two cousins were buried side by side. daniel sandford, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise. hello, there. christmas eve and christmas day look likely to be quieter but colder for most of the country. for the time being, though, it's a mild afternoon down to the south, with rain pushing its way steadily into scotland. underneath this cloud, and damp dreary weather, temperatures will hold up at around 15 celsius, with a sharp scattering

of showers, and a brisk wind across the south—west. but already, we are starting to see some cooler air into the far north, and that will become more of a feature through the night, with temperatures down close to freezing here. a blanket of cloud producing some outbreaks of light rain across england and wales prevent those temperatures from falling below double digits, so a real contrast to the start of the day on tuesday. and in terms of the weather, a contrast as well. despite a cool start, lots of sunshine in scotland, northern ireland and northern england. a scattering of sharper showers here into the far north—west, but further south, we keep that cloud, and we keep a feed of rain at times into the south west with a high of 11 to 13 celsius. hello, this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines... the prime minister will lead a televised briefing from downing

street later at 5pm as more countries join the international travel ban on britain because of the new variant of coronavirus. more than 40 nations have now banned flights from the uk. as the crisis deepens, borisjohnson chairs a meeting of the government's cobra emergency committee. there's chaos in kent as francejoins the ban, stopping lorries and passengers from the uk, although there are hopes the french authorities may soon reconsider. and if any lorry‘s turning up wanting to get across the channel, they are being turned away. it is the same with passenger vehicles, too. british supermarkets say they have enough stocks for now despite the chaos, but they are worried about the longer term effects on some supplies. so, what is this new variant of the virus, and is it more dangerous, orjust more easily transmitted? we'll have the latest medical analysis.

two men have been found guilty of manslaughter after 39 migrants died in the back of a lorry in essex last year. the introduction of the strict restrictions for million of people has been blamed on the rapid spread of a new variant of coronavirus. but what do we know about this new strain? the government's advisers on new infections say they have "moderate confidence" that the variant has a higher rate of transmission. early studies show that the new strain could be up to 71% more transmissible, and that it could increase the r—number by between 0.39 and 0.93. the r—number indicates if an epidemic is growing or shrinking. but all this work is at an early stage and contains huge uncertainties and a long list of unansnwered questions.

professor robert dingwall is professor of sociology at nottingham trent university, and part of ones of the groups which reports into sage, the government's new and emerging respiratory virus threats advisory group. thank you very much indeed for being with us. just tell us a little bit more about this variant. i think people are probably quite alarmed by it. but whether it is more dangerous or simply more easily transmitted. it. but whether it is more dangerous or simply more easily transmittedlj or simply more easily transmitted.” think we are quite clear, and i am giving you my personal take on it rather than an official spokesperson for that group, but i think we are pretty clear that there is no signal that it pretty clear that there is no signal thatitis pretty clear that there is no signal that it is more dangerous. there are reasonable grounds for thinking that it may be more easily transmitted,

but as you have said, there are still a lot of uncertainty around that. i think there are a number of us that. i think there are a number of us in that group that i have been speaking to yesterday and today, and we we re speaking to yesterday and today, and we were slightly surprised by the strength of the government reaction to what we have seen is a fairly neutral report and that we unanimously adopted at the meeting. i think if to the extent that there isa i think if to the extent that there is a danger, it is more transmission means more cases, which potentially causes a problem for hospital admissions, potentially causes more deaths. but if you as an individual get infected, it does not change the odds of you having a serious infection or of dying. is that clear enough. that is very clear. and you seem to be saying, we know the

coronavirus does mutate and changes. all viruses change all the time. what i'm trying to pinpoint is why the government have told us that they are particularly worried about this mutant variant of the coronavirus, compared to all the others that they have been?” coronavirus, compared to all the others that they have been? i think that some of it is, i think, and this is a personal view. you have to look into the context of a very feverish debate about the previous proposed relaxations of christmas. we had a new variant coming from spain in the summer, and that was carefully looked at. there was for a period of certain amount of concern that it would lead to more severe infections. when we looked at it properly that they went away. but in the summer, it was coming into a

very different political context and i think that we have been in a state, for some weeks, of intense controversy state, for some weeks, of intense co ntrove rsy over state, for some weeks, of intense controversy over whether the government's decision to relax restrictions over christmas was or what is not appropriate. but i think this is sort of adding fuel to the fire. as you say, variants are occurring all the time. this particular virus, in occurring all the time. this particularvirus, infact, occurring all the time. this particular virus, in fact, appears to drift particular virus, in fact, appears to d rift less particular virus, in fact, appears to drift less than the influenza virus for example. you seem to be suggesting, i know you're speaking ona suggesting, i know you're speaking on a personal capacity, but you seem to be suggesting that the importance of this latest variant may have been overstated or even hyped up a little in order to bolster the message that we need to crack down on restrictions further over christmas. well, all i can say is that we

reached a unanimous view on the scientific evidence as presented on friday, which was, in fairness to collea g u es friday, which was, in fairness to colleagues on the politics aside, the first time that that data was put together in one place. i don't think it's fair to criticise them for not being aware of it on wednesday. but it all came together, the committee looked at it, my distinguished colleagues from virology, immunology and elsewhere, looked rigorously at this and came to the conclusion that we had at the beginning, that we had minus confidence in the data that we were presented with that it wasn't in any way conclusive. but we thought there was a problem. we thought this was something that we should be concerned about and that we should

can desk —— that we should ask for more work to be done on. our collea g u es more work to be done on. our colleagues have been working very ha rd over colleagues have been working very hard over the weekend to try and bring some of that together. but i don't think any of us expected to see quite the level of response to what i think you will agree is a fairly unplanned document as it progressed up the food chain, i suppose you could say. what happened to it after it left the committee, i am not in a position to say. thank you so much a being with us professor. a member don't like to thank you very much indeed. retailers have played down fears of immediate food shortages as a knock—on effect of the ban

on lorries leaving dover. we have seen this as part of the travel bag in the uk because of that new variant of coronavirus. generally, supermarkets say their warehouses are well stocked, although sainsbury‘s have flagged up that they may start seeing ‘gaps' over the coming days, for certain salad and vegetable items, and citrus fruit if nothing changes. theo leggett reports. empty shelves and chaos in the aisles. earlier this year, supermarkets found themselves under siege. panic buyers fought to stock up on essentials, as lockdown was looming. now there are fears that travel restrictions and border closures could trigger a similar situation, with imports of fresh food unable to get through. supermarkets say they are reasonably well stocked at the moment, as you would expect in the run—up to christmas, but if freight cannot get across the channel, there could be problems after christmas, with supplies of some fruit and vegetables in particular becoming difficult to get hold of.

sainsbury‘s has warned that, if nothing changes, we could see shortages of things like lettuce, salad leaves, cauliflowers, broccoli and citrus fruit, all of which come from abroad, but others within the food industry say there is no need to panic, just yet. most of the fresh food we would want over the next week is already either in the country, in the distribution centres, or on the shelves, or on its way, and that is continuing to move. it's over time, so we are thinking about this time next week, and beyond, probably even later, ten or 15 days. supermarkets and other food shops are at least able to open, but nonessential retailers across london and much of the south—east have been forced to close their doors, after the introduction of new tier 4 restrictions on sunday. we estimate that the lost sales for those stores that have been forced to close could be anything from £1 billion to £2 billion a week across the country, so a huge effect, and really disappointing, notjust

for the businesses, but also for those people who work in those businesses, some of whom will be back on furlough for the third time this year. 2020 has been a deeply painful year for the nation's shopkeepers, and the combination of new restrictions and possible disruption to supplies means it's now likely to end on a thoroughly bleak note. theo leggett, bbc news. the prime minister's briefing is coming up at 5pm. sky gazers are in for a treat tonight asjupiter and saturn align, creating what will look like a double—planet. it's a celestial event that last happened almost four hundred years ago. and it's led to some theologians and astronomers to question whether a similar occurance created what became the ‘star of bethlehem'. dr megan argo who is a lecturer

in astronomy at the university of central lancashire says it's a very rare event. it is. as you said. the last time it happened was almost 400 years ago, and that time the plants were close to the sun. so last time it was actually visible easy lee was more like 800 years ago. speaking of easily visible, where will we be able to see it. we are broadcasting right around the world right now. is there anywhere that won't be in a position to see it? if you are above about 70 degrees north latitude, or below 70 degrees south latitude you won't be able to see it, because the summary rise at all set. anywhere between those two latitudes be able to see it before the. aside from the sun and the moon, jupiter is the brightest thing in the sky so a degree away from it. they are going

to be very close. if you have a pair of binoculars go up and look, because once it goes dark you will because once it goes dark you will be able to seejupiter‘s means. and if you have a small telescope, very unusually they will both be visible in the same view, which is a very unusual appearance. sport, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, a couple of matches to look forward to tonight. the final two premier league games before christmas take place. burnley welcome wolves to turf moor with that game kicking off in around 45 minutes' time. later on there's a london derby as chelsea face west ham at stamford bridge. either side can move to the brink of the top four with a win. chelsea's manager frank lampard spent six years at west ham as a player — so does a win tonight mean even more to him than usual? if i'm honest, it did when i played.

asa if i'm honest, it did when i played. as a manager, it doesn't. maybe i've mellowed, or something has changed, but also a focus on what is necessary for the club. maybe i took it on me personally dear a game with west ham because i played for them before but now ijust see it as a game. and we want to get back on track where we were before the two games. i've really enjoyed the season. i think we've done very well. we had a great run of games. the players have shown a got lot of good characteristics in playing well, being resilient commerce scoring goals. lots of improvements from where we were before but there is only a third of the season gone and so were going to try and keep it going. it's been announced in the last hour that this season's efl cup final‘s been rescheduled from the 28th of february and pushed back until sunday the 25th of april. the move's been made in the hope that as many fans as possible

will be able to attend the game at wembley. the efl says the numbers permitted will be dependent on government guidance at the time. the two—time women's world cup winner alex morgan is leaving tottenham women and going back to america in the new year to rejoin 0rlando pride. she moved to spurs in september, making five apperances in a short spell. as she regained fitness after giving birth in may. the 31—year—old leaves with totteham eighth in the wsl table — out of 12 teams — at the half way stage of the season. saracens' england internationals won't play a competitive game before the six nations in february — after the new championship season was delayed until march. it means players including captain 0wen farrell won't be in action competitvely until england face scotland on the 6th of february. saracens were relegated from the premiership earlier this year after breaching salary cap rules. english rugby's second tier hasn't had a game since march due to covid—19. in tennis, dan evans has bounced

back from his defeat to andy murray with his first win of the battle of the brits premier league event. the british number one beat jan choinski in straight sets, winning 7—5, 6—0 in roehampton. elsewhere, liam broady made it two wins from two, after he beat james ward. the legendry former south african cricketer jacques kallis isjoining england's coaching team for their upcoming tour of sri lanka. he's going to be working as a batting coaching consultant for the two—match test series, which begins on january 14th in galle. kallis is the third highest run—scorer in test cricket, and has coached the kolkata knight riders in the indian premier league, as well as working with the south africa team. and lee westwood's been named the european tour's golfer of the year. it's the fourth time he's won the award, and it caps off what's been an excellent 12 months for the 47—year—old. he started the year by winning the abu dhabi championship, and then became the oldest winner of the race to dubai title, earlier this month.

and that is all your sport for now. we'll have more for you later in the evening.

a very good afternoon and welcome to this bbc news special. the prime minister has been chairing a meeting of the government's cobra emergency committee is more than 40 countries ban uk arrivals to stop the spread of the new variant of coronavirus. borisjohnson will very of the new variant of coronavirus. boris johnson will very shortly of the new variant of coronavirus. borisjohnson will very shortly be leading a televised briefing from downing street. we will have that life for you in the next few minutes. we will be joined at number ten by the transport secretary grant shapps and the chief scientific adviser. it comes as the french government said it would establish a protocol to ensure the movement from the uk can resume. supermarkets in the uk can resume. supermarkets in the uk can resume. supermarkets in the uk say their current stocks are high despite the travel chaos, but

there are concerns about