this is bbc news — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. more signs of growing pressure on uk hospitals from the new coronavirus variant. three ambulance services in the south—east of england are asking people not to call unless it's a genuine emergency. countries across the european union begin a co—ordinated roll—out of the covid vaccine — with all 27 member states offering jabs to the most vulnerable. the uk government warns businesses and travellers to be prepared for substantial changes and possible disruption from new year's eve when new brexit rules come into force. businesses will need to make sure that they're ready for few customs procedures and we as individuals will need to make sure that our passports are up to date, because they need to have at least six months before expiry on them to be

able to travel abroad. president trump signs a coronavirus relief and spending package, after previously threatening to block the bill — saying parts of it were ‘wasteful‘. at least 200 british tourists are reported to have fled the swiss ski resort of verbier to avoid a 10—day quarantine, ordered after the discovery of the new covid variant in the uk. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. hospitals across the uk say they're facing intense pressure, as the number of coronavirus infections continues to rise. three ambulance trusts in the south of england are urging people to only call

the emergency 999 number if there's a genuine emergency. the london ambulance service said it dealt with nearly 8,000 calls on boxing day, its second busiest day ever. the south central and south east coast ambulances have also been dealing with very high numbers of calls. and in scotland, doctors say health services could be overwhelmed if the relaxation of covid restrictions for christmas triggers a surge in cases. with this report, here's andy moore. health services across the country are under pressure, and in some areas such as wales and london, they are under particular strain. the capital is where the new variant of coronavirus is growing most rapidly. the london ambulance service has reported that boxing day was one of its busiest days ever, second only to march 16th earlier this year, when the first wave of the pandemic was beginning to surge. 0n the 26th of december this

year, the service dealt with 7,918 emergency calls. that's an increase of more than 50% on last year's total for the same day of 5,217. in order to meet the rising demand, the service is putting back office staff on the road, and drafting in extra ambulances from neighbouring regions. 0ther ambulance services in the south—east are reporting similar problems. ambulance trusts in particular are coming under extreme pressure, as are community and mental health services. everybody affected by the impact of covid. and talking to trust leaders overnight, they are under no illusion about how challenging this is. in wales, more than half of intensive care beds are now occupied by covid patients. it's a situation described as unprecedented. the situation across wales is quite sobering. the number of people that

are presenting with symptoms of covid that not only require hospital admission, but are so seriously ill that they require intensive care, and that more than 50% of our bed occupancy in intensive care, is now due to covid patients, is very worrying. in scotland, the country's clinical director has denied the system could be overwhelmed. he said measures were in place where extra capacity was needed. but some doctors are warning that a combination of factors could create a perfect storm. the combination of these two occurrences, much more mixing over christmas and the very high transmissibility of the new strain of covid, would result in many more infections. and therefore many more hospital admissions, and necessarily, then, more admissions to an intensive care unit and more deaths, sadly. but there is some good news on the horizon.

another vaccine, the oxford university astrazeneca version, is expected to be given approval soon by the regulator and its roll—out could start early in the new year. the uk has ordered 100 million doses of this jab, and unlike the pfizer vaccine, it doesn't need to be kept at extremely low temperatures. andy moore, bbc news. let's get more on the new coronavirus variant that continues to spread here in the uk. it was originally detected in the south east of england. it's now spread to many european countries and today south korea has reported three cases of the variant. i'm joined by martin hibberd, professor of emerging infectious disease at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. thank you for being with us. it is spreading around the world, we are hearing more and more countries say that they have detected cases of this variant. it is clearly highly infectious? yes, it is travelling

around the world. as we have seen previously with variants which have more transmitability, previously with variants which have more tra nsmitability, they outcompete the other strains. talk to us about the science of it, we know that the virus mutates all the time, why is this variant particularly dangerous? we have recognised it, because it has accumulated different changes and some are hitch hiking on the back of a few key residues that seem to increase the tra nsmitability. a few key residues that seem to increase the transmitability. this virus looks different and it is called a different lineage of virus. but it doesn't affect people more, it doesn't mean they have a worse illness? no, virus over time generate more transmitability, but

less virulent. most viruss that we know about are the commonly infecting coronavirus that cause the common cold. these are highly transmissible, but not serious. should we be worried about future variants that may be more transmissible? this may take a while. the course is not clear yet. what i'm thinking about is the new lineage will start to have new variants of it starting to arise as it infects more people. the new variant may get more transmissible, but hopefully less severe as well. that might take time. of course, we think about the vaccine as being rolled out now across europe, the pfizer vaccine, we hope to get approvalfor the pfizer vaccine, we hope to get approval for the oxford vaccine. do

you think these will be deal with this variant? this variant has not come on the back of the vaccine. it may change. as the vaccines are rolled out, there will be selection pressure on the virus and so it may respond to the new vaccines that are come 0gg united and we will —— are coming out. when you say selection pressure, explain what that means? so the, this is darwinian evolution that the virus that is best able to transmit will be the one that does. if it encounters the vaccine, it may need to change its structure. we see that with flu and other viruses. they change all the time. thank you. meanwhile, countries across the european union have begun mass coronavirus vaccinations,

with many prioritising the elderly and health workers. countries such as spain, the czech republic, italy and germany have all begun administering the doses, with the eu vaccination program aiming to reach 450—million residents. 0ur correspondent bethany bell sent us this update. this has been seen by politicians, governments across europe as really a sense of light at the end of the tunnel. in austria, where i am, the first person to be vaccinated was an 84—year—old woman and she said she was doing it, because she wanted to be able to meet with her children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren, without having to worry. and austria's leader sebastian kurz was there to watch her being vaccinated. he called this a game—changer. in italy, the leader of italy said that this was a day that would never be

forgotten, giuseppe conte. and, also in italy, it wasn't an old person who was vaccinated first, it was a 29—year—old nurse, who said that she believed that this was the beginning of the end of the pandemic. and we are seeing this picture across the eu, where they're vaccinating people who live in care homes, they're vaccinating medical staff, but in a couple of countries, political leaders were among those getting the first jabs. the czech prime minister was the first person to get the jab there. also the greek prime minister was among the first to be vaccinated. and that's also a way of trying to persuade people who may be hesitant about the vaccine to take it, because there is some he is hesitancy that people believe can be overcome as the vaccine is rolled out. i want to show you some pictures that have come in of vaccination

being given in belgium. this is a 96—year—old getting the jab. this is very close in fact to the factory where the vaccines, the pfizer vaccines, are produced. they're being given in belgium. this is in flanders, at a care home, close to the pfizer plant, where the vaccines are made and belgium will be grateful, there you are, he is getting a bunch of flowers, as congratulations for having the vaccine. but belgium has suffered grievously from covid and had one of the highest case and death rates in europe. british businesses and people travelling to the european union are being warned to get ready for "substa ntial" changes from new year's eve. a deal setting out the future relationship between the uk and the eu was agreed on christmas eve and parliament is being recalled in two days time

for mps to consider it. the cabinet office minister, michael gove, said this morning there'd be "some disruption" and "practical and procedural changes" which everyone needed to prepare for. we're doing everything we can to provide the information necessary order to enable people to recognise what we are being faced with. but inevitably, as we leave the european union, we are outside the customs union, those requirements will mean that in particular when people arrive at the french border, they do need to have the paperwork in order. one of the things that we have done is to make sure that businesses that are sending goods through kent to dover and on to calais are in a position to be able to check to see if they've got the right paperwork. if they haven't, then we would advise them absolutely not to make that journey, because they will only be turned back. so that's precisely what i mean, making sure everyone has got their paperwork in order and we hope that the information that we are providing will enable people

with the wherewithal to be able to navigate these new procedures. fishing was one of the final sticking points in the post—brexit trade talks and has proved contentious. mr gove insisted the government had secured the best possible outcome in this area. one of the reasons why it took so long to reach the deal is because we were holding out to get the best possible deal for coastal communities and for the fishing sector. for weeks now, bbc correspondents katya adler and others have been reminding us how important fish was to this negotiation and indeed it was right up until the afternoon of christmas eve that we were negotiating in order to get the best possible deal forfisheries. now, could it have been better? would i have wanted that shorter period? yes, absolutely, but we managed to get the eu down from that 1a—year

transition period they wanted to five and a half. we also managed to make sure that we have a significant uplift in the amount that we can catch next year and in the years that follow. the latest headlines on bbc news: more signs of growing pressure on uk hospitals from the new coronavirus variant. three ambulance services in the south—east of england are asking people not to call unless it's a genuine emergency. countries across the european union begin a co—ordinated roll—out of the covid vaccine — with all 27 member states offering jabs to the most vulnerable. the uk government warns businesses and travellers to be prepared for substantial changes and possible disruption from new year's eve when new brexit rules come into force. president trump has signed the covid relief bill that means lapsed payments to millions of americans who are unemployed can be resumed.

he'd refused to sign the 2.3 trillion dollar package because he wanted cheques to individual americans to be increased from 600 dollars to 2,000, which congress rejected. from washington, nomia iqbal reports. the yeas are 359, the nays are 53. this was a deal that had supported by both republicans and democrats, but not by the president. a few months ago, congress started negotiations on a new package to get urgently needed help to the american people. it's taken forever. however, the bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated. it really is a disgrace. as he played golf over the last few days, he was pressured by both parties to sign the bill. the consequences of his inaction were immense.

up to a0 million americans face losing their unemployment benefits temporarily and being evicted from their homes. the bill now changes that. it's very exciting and i hope that it's true so what that a lot of families can get stimulus and relief and all the people who are still struggling with unemployment don't have to face such grim news at the holidays, at the beginning of a new year. the government also faced being shut down, as a lot of money was needed for funding government agencies. there will now be help for small businesses and money for vaccine distribution amongst other things. well some key elements, you know in addition to the $600 stimulus, there is up to $8,000 perjobless worker unemployment benefits, including a top up that expired injuly. there's also an eviction moratorium. there's money to get schools opened, protective equipment, so really vital aid.

in a statement, president trump didn't say why he changed his mind. he said more still needed to be done, including increasing the individual payments to americans. mr trump also pushed the one thing he remains focussed on — claims of election fraud, which are unsubstantiated and demanded action on that too, but he is only president for less than a month and his requests are likely to be ignored. this last minute turmoil he created has now been averted and instead provided much needed help for a country that continues to suffer under the pandemic. richard johnson is a lecturer in us politics at queen mary university. hejoins me now. what do you think was motivating president trump on this? was he just make agnew sans of himself? ——

making a new sans of himself. this is almost two pieces of legislation, you have the coronavirus relief package, that is 900 billion and 1.4 trillion, that is the normal funding of the government and if donald trump hadn't signed the legislation, tomorrow the federal government would have gone into a partial shut down and added a tremendous amount of chaos to already a very difficult situation. i think he concluded that that was probably not a price that he was worth paying at this stage. but what didn't he want to sign it in the first place? congress had agreed it, he was off playing golf, what was going through his mind do you think? he professes he is a supporter of the higher individual level payments and you know this is perhaps a situation where donald

trump is at odds with his party. the $600 payments were an idea of his advisor. that suggests he was at odds with members of his own cabinet. we are going to enter an interesting situation, where donald trump is calling for now the $2,000 individual payments is supported by the democrats in the house of representatives, but there is no sign it is supported by members of his own party in a republican—controlled snatd. it is fas —— senate. it is fascinating to see if the senate give in to trump or donald trump founds his allies are democrats. he is now a proponent of big government spending. the thing is donald trump was an unconventional republican in many ways when he ran for president in

2016. on a variety of issues, including spending. what has been fascinating is he has tended to acquiesce with the more traditional republican line on cutting spending, you know, you know, small government and so on. which wasn't really part of his brand when he ran for president. so in some ways, you know donald trump has changed the republican party and when it comes to spending he has acted, he as acquiesced to traditional views on spending. looking ahead to a inauguration ofjoe biden, do you think donald trump will turn up, or will he still be sulking? it is a ha rd will he still be sulking? it is a hard one to say. donald trump is a showman. he is an entertainer. at

heart. so i suspect that whatever he decides to do, i don't think he will go quietly. whether that means he arrives at the inauguration and does something dramatic. 0r arrives at the inauguration and does something dramatic. or if he holds a separate event. and tries to cause a show that way. i think the thing that we can say he is unlookly to do is -- that we can say he is unlookly to do is —— unlikely to do is slip out quietly line the second us prosecute john adams did who slipped out before the inauguration, not to be heart of again. —— heard of again. i don't think we can see that from donald trump. thank you. at least 200 british tourists have reportedly fled the swiss ski resort of verbier rather than face a 10—day quarantine. the holiday—makers are thought to have left the town, popular with travellers from the uk, during the night. that was after the swiss government ordered anyone arriving from britain after december 14th to self—isolate,

following the discovery of a new variant of covid—19. reports say tourists were even offered free champagne on christmas day to make their stay more comfortable. we can talk to a director of switzerland tourism and joins us. thank you for being with us. what is your reaction to the news that these people have just slipped away or escaped after being told they had to quarantine? well, i think it is important to realise that this isn't just a small amount of people. for example, we have usually in verbier for the village that everyone talks about, we have in the winter about 30,000 people. so you can see that this is actually a very small amount of numberand this is actually a very small amount of number and most british have not arrived yet and some of them are holding secondary homes in verbier

and a small fraction decided to leave rather than stay in quarantine. they should have stayed in quarantine presumably, that is the view of you and the authorities having been told they needed to quarantine, they should have stayed? of course, the rules are there to be... stuck to, right? ithink of course, the rules are there to be... stuck to, right? i think it is important that we look into, that we look into the conduct of those who stayed there and make sure that they're being stayed there and make sure that they‘ re being ta ken stayed there and make sure that they're being taken care of and they're being taken care of and they're being taken care of and they're being informed what to do, what the rules are, the hotels are taking care of them, they make sure they're provided properly and there is food, supply, that they have all the advice they need. so i think we are now focussing on those who stay and stick to the rules. do you know how many have left, having been told to quarantine. we are being told 200, is it maybe more? that is probably going to be difficult to

finally... establish. because let's not forget many british have a secondary home in verbier and they're not properly registered. you can only figure it out by the air travel and that is very difficult. a p pa re ntly travel and that is very difficult. apparently they left although they we re apparently they left although they were offered champagne on christmas day, that wasn't enough to tempt them to stay? apparently not, maybe it was the wrong befrage. it was controversial that switzerland opened the slopes, why did switzerland open the slopes?|j opened the slopes, why did switzerland open the slopes? i can tell you why, because winter did not surprise us. we know for a fact and for many months what is going to happen in winter. the swiss tourism industry has prepared thoroughly with very strict safety protocols.

cani with very strict safety protocols. can i tell you hundreds of thousands or even millions of swiss franks have been invested. we were not taken by surprise, we were ready with safety protocols and let's not forget winter sports, it is an outdoor activity in the mountains, where there is not so much density of people. the bottleneck is not skiing, it is transportation and catering at the slopes. and this has been taken care of. thank you. now, in milan, afterflash flooding in some districts over christmas many residents woke up this morning to a blanket of heavy snowfall. it follows an unusually sharp drop in temperatures right across northwestern italy, with more than a foot

of snow falling. your watching bbc news. that wow moment when you see some snow, that is what some of us have had this morning at the start of a cold week. not great news if you have to be travelling. it is going to say to be cold, frosty and icy and further areas of rain, sleet and snow to be had. if you're affected by flooding, precipitation amounts are going to be down this week compared with last. recent rain, snow radar showing the white where we have seen snow and from an area of low pressure that brought us the stormy weather over the weekend. not so stormy, but still some moisture with is and with plenty of cold air across us with is and with plenty of cold air across us and for the rest of the week, that is why some of that

moisture is falling as snow. it is windy still, particularly the further west you are. strong gusty winds and for western parts of scotland, northern ireland, the far west of wales and south west of england, showers and some snow on the hills. wintry showers around north sea coasts. temperatures today below average, just around two to six degrees celsius. falling again of course tonight with another frost. icy conditions, where you have seen wet weather and where you get wintry showers. there could be a longer spell of rain, sleet and snow pushing into parts of north—east or eastern areas of england. frosty and icy to start the day tomorrow and for some a bit more snow falling. we will continue to see wintry showers pushing further south. and around coastal areas they will continue too and through northern ireland, but

for many it is dry with some sunshine, temperatures still struggling at three to six degrees celsius. as they will on wednesday, with some uncertainty about the position of this, we could see another area of moisture from the west and on the leading edge there could be further sleet and snow with the risk of disruption. going out of the risk of disruption. going out of the year and into 2021 still some dry weather around and still cold.

this is bbc news, the headlines...

more signs of growing pressure on uk hospitals from the new coronavirus variant. three ambulance services in the south—east of england are asking people not to call unless it's a genuine emergency. countries across the european union are officially beginning a co—ordinated roll—out of the covid vaccine — with all 27 member states offering jabs to the most vulnerable. the eu has secured contracts for more than two billion doses. the uk government is warning businesses and travellers prepare for substantial changes and possible disruption from new year's eve when new brexit rules come into force. european ambassadors are due to discuss the post—brexit trade deal later. donald trump has signed a bipartisan coronavirus relief and government spending bill into law, after delaying for several days. the delay meant that millions temporarily lost unemployment benefits.