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 eight—thousand 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. on 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. other 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. the british government's issued a statement about the situation regarding schools and coronavirus, and whether term will start normally injanuary. the statement says they want "all pupils to return injanuary as school is the best place for their development and mental health". but it adds that it has to follow the path of the pandemic and keep our approach under constant review. it goes on "our huge expansion of rapid testing will support secondary schools and colleges to stay open to all pupils and reduce the risk of transmission within local communities." let's speak to labour's education

spokeswoman, kate green. what's spokeswoman, kate green. your reaction to whatt government what's your reaction to what the government are saying about schools? we are all very keen to see children safely learning in school but what we had over the last few hours is, and rumour about the advice the government has received from sage, the scientific advisers and parents, stu d e nts the scientific advisers and parents, students and school staff will be really concerned. i want to see children safely in school but we have to know very clearly what the scientific advice is to make sure everybody is being kept safe and i really do think it's imperative that the prime minister with a scientific advisers comes forward today and makes that advice very clear on what steps the government will take to keep pupils and staff and everyone going in and out of school safe through this worrying pandemic. they have to keep this review, don't

they? if it's an evolving pandemic as the government says, exchanging, with this new variant, it's very ha rd to with this new variant, it's very hard to be absolutely clear about what's going to happen injanuary. rewrote the shadow schools minister andi rewrote the shadow schools minister and i to the secretary of state for education asking what the advice was, what the plans were and what the government would do if children are not able to be in school learning safely and we have known for the best part of two weeks that there is a real concern about this new variant spreading more rapidly among children. the government has come out with some frankly half baked plans for mass testing in the school late in the dayjust before the christmas holidays. we need to know how those plans can be operationalised, school staff are saying it's very difficult put them on place on the basis of what the government announced before christmas so what's the position now? well that the place at the beginning of january in schools and what support to school staff and

schools receive to implement that programme? you think the staggered reopening of schools in england should go ahead as it is planned?” wa nt to should go ahead as it is planned?” want to return of students safely to school to happen after the christmas holidays but we need to know that mass casting programme will be effective, that schools will be able to operate and they will have the support they need to run that system. they were told about itjust before the start of the christmas holidays, expected to put all of that in place over the last few days. i don't know if that is going to be effective at the beginning of january and that's what we need to hear from the government. parents will be extremely concerned that o rlea ns will be extremely concerned that orleans getting is rumour and innuendo, teachers and school staff will need to what's expected of them and the fact we are not ahead of the curve on this is once again because the government is not open and transparent about the situation with pa rents transparent about the situation with parents and staff and then does not

act quickly enough to support schools and colleges. labour party education spokesperson, thank you for being with us. 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 programme aiming to reach a50 million residents. our correspondent bethany bell sent us this update. this is being 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.

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 in 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 thatjourney, 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 for fisheries. 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 iii—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. well, it's nearly a year since the uk left the eu but it's not until january ist 2021 that we are outside the eu transition rules. here's our political correspondent, helen catt. big ben chimes. this was the moment the uk left the eu. 11pm on the 31st of january this year.

and it'll be iipm again, this time of the 31st of december, when we leave the single market and the customs union. this time the government says we will notice the change. a trade deal was finalised in brussels last week, and it is expected to be in place before thursday. the eu are set to approve it possibly as early as today. the uk parliament is expected to pass the necessary law on wednesday. but even with a deal in place, businesses that trade goods with the eu will still have to file customs declarations, even though they won't pay any tariffs. lorries wanting to use the channel tunnel or the port of dover will need a permit to enter kent. in holyhead, authorities are also putting in place measures to deal with possible traffic build—up. there will be new trade rules for northern ireland. the government has said there was likely to be some disruption to trade. it has advice for anyone planning a trip to any eu country except ireland. check your passport is valid, double—check your roaming policy for your mobile phone and take out full travel insurance.

valid ehic cards will still be recognised. the government says with a big change comes challenge and opportunity. and that, it's reminding us, starts in just a few days' time. helen catt, bbc news. 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.

200 british skiers have fled from a town in switzerland, they were ordered to isolate for ten days and rather than do that they slipped away under cover of darkness. our correspondent imogen foulkes told me that the promise of a free drink did little to persuade the tourists to stay and follow the guidelines. if you're a keen skier and you have come all the way from britain to your favourite very upmarket resort of verbier and just days after you get there you're told sorry, back to your hotel and stay indoors for ten days, probably no amount of champagne is going to compensate for that. and so it appears, i think at least 200, because at the moment the verbier authorities are telling us there are just a dozen british tourists that they know of left in verbier. there were, a few days ago, over 400. so i think these tourists have

chosen to head home. there are no flights, so it seems many will have hired cars or taxis to take them to the channel and get back home, rather than stay in a hotel room or a chalet in verbier looking out at the snow but not being able to ski on it. what has been the reaction of the authorities there, is there anger? these people seem to have fled under the cover of darkness? yes, i think there is irritation and some anger in verbier and maybe across switzerland. switzerland did decide to keep its ski slopes open over the winter. if you live here, there is a sense that that is primarily for local people. i mean, skiing here is like kind of walking to the shops in other countries, people expect to be able to do it of an afternoon. of course, tourists from britain have come as well. but this is also a country which is struggling with really a difficult, difficult second wave of the covid pandemic.

so this action from the swiss government, irritating though it was if you planned a great winter holiday, was designed to stop the spread of this new strain, which appears to have originated in the uk and appears to be much more infectious. there is a bit of disappointment, i think, especially in verbier where it seems hoteliers were trying to keep everybody comfortable and happy that people should just leave overnight and apparently some of them when they got to france phoned and asked to have their money refunded for the nights they didn't stay. earlier i spoke to martin nydegger, the director of switzerland tourism. he says it's important to remember this is just a small amount of people. we have usually in verbier, the village that everyone talks about, we have in the winter season about 30,000 people. so you can see that this is actually

a very small amount of number and most british have unfortunately not arrived yet and some of them are holding secondary homes in verbier and a small, small fraction decided to leave rather than stay in quarantine. what would you say about that? 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? i think it is now important that we look into, that we look into the comfort of those who stayed there and really make sure that they're being taken care of and they're being informed properly, what to do, what the rules are, the hotels are really 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 focusing on those who stay and stick to the rules.

do you know how many have just left, having been told to quarantine? we are being told 200, is it maybe more than that? that is probably going to be difficult to finally establish. because let's not forget many british do have a secondary home in verbier and they're not properly registered. you can actually only figure it out by the air travel and that is very difficult. apparently they left even though they were offered champagne on christmas day, that wasn't enough to tempt them to stay? apparently not, maybe it was the wrong beverage. can i just ask you, it was quite controversial that switzerland opened the slopes, because other ski slopes were not opening in europe because of the coronavirus crisis, why did switzerland open the slopes? i can tell you exactly 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 for this coming winter. i can really tell you hundreds of thousands or even millions of swiss franks have been invested. we were not taken by surprise, we were actually ready with safety protocols and let's not forget winter sports, skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, it is an outdoor activity in the mountains, where there is not so much density of people. the bottleneck is not skiing, the bottleneck is transportation and catering at the slopes and this has been taken care of. president trump has signed the covid relief bill that means lapsed payments to millions of americans who are unemployed can be resumed. from washington, nomia iqbal reports.

this was a deal that support by republicans and democrats but not the president. the bill they are planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated. it is really a disgrace. as he played golf he was pressured by both parties to sign the bill. the consequences of his in we re the bill. the consequences of his in were immense. up to 14 million americans faced losing their unemployment benefits temporarily and being evicted from their homes. the bill now changes that. it's very exciting and i hope a lot of families can get stimulus and relief and the people struggling with

unemployment don't have to face such a grim news at the holidays and beginning of new year. the government faced being shutdown is a lot of money was needed for funding government agencies. they will now be help for small businesses and money for vaccine distribution amongst other things. some key elements, there is up to $8,000 per jobless worker in unemployment benefits including a top up that expired injuly, there is also an eviction moratorium, there is money to get schools open, protective equipment, really vital aid. in a statement, president trump did not say why he changed his mind. he said more still needs to be done including increasing the individual payments to americans. mr trump also pushed the one thing he remains

focused. claims of election fraud which are unsubstantiated and demanded action on that too but he is only present 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 that continues to suffer under the pandemic. a chinese journalist who reported on the early stages of the pandemic in wuhan has been jailed forfour years. zhang zhan‘s live reports and articles criticising the authorities‘ initial response to the virus were widely shared on social media. here's the bbc‘s stephen mcdonell. she was showing the chaos of the early stages of outbreak of the coronavirus

epidemic in that city. the chinese government is now proud of the response of the coronavirus and some would say with good reason. but people will recall when the coronavirus first broke out, there we re coronavirus first broke out, there were scenes of hospitals flooded with people, doctors collapsing from exhaustion in the hallway. as that city was brought into the world first covid—i9 lockdown. in china, you can do many things that one is not criticise the government. and so somebody like this, who is sort of a citizen journalist as they call themselves here, that's not an accredited journalist with a major news outlet, just going on social media and reporting these types of things, can be a very dangerous things, can be a very dangerous thing to do and she is not the only

one. you are watching bbc news, do stay with us. that moment when you pull back the curtains and see the snow, some of us curtains and see the snow, some of us have had that this morning at the start of what will be a cold week. not great news if you had to be travelling this week and it's going to be cold, frosty and icy and there will be further areas of rain, sleet and snow to be had, not all the time and snow to be had, not all the time and in the area affected by flooding, precipitation amounts will be down compared to last week's that has some good news. recent rains no radar showing white where we have seen radar showing white where we have seen some radar showing white where we have seen some of that snow overnight and into this morning. from an area of low pressure that brought us the weather over the weekend and not so stormy with this now but still some moisture and of course plenty of cold air across us now and for the rest of the week which is why some

of that will fall as snow. it's still quite windy out there, particularly the further west you are in the uk, strong gusty wind and western parts of scotland and northern ireland and south—west, some snow on the hills, wintry showers too and this morning area of rain, sleet and snow sinking further south into parts of southern england. temperatures below—average for the time of year, around 2—6. falling again tonight with frost setting in. icy conditions where you have seen wet conditions and continue to get showers overnight, a longer spell of rain and sleet and snow pushing in to eastern parts of england. frost again, icy to start tomorrow and for some there will be more snow in places and we will continue to see some of these wintry showers just pushing continue to see some of these wintry showersjust pushing a continue to see some of these wintry showers just pushing a bit further southwards through the day. around coastal areas they will continue too, for many of us actually during

tuesday afternoon and it will be looking dry, weak wintry sunshine coming through temperature still struggling at around 3—6. as they will be again on wednesday with some uncertainty about the position of this we could see and area of moisture come from the west along the leading—edge of that is a colder air, further sleet and snow associated with it risk of disruption so keep an eye on that. going out of the year and into the su btle going out of the year and into the subtle 2021, still quite a bit of 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.