you're watching bbc news at 9am with me, simon mccoy. the headlines: nhs england says health workers are back in the eye of the storm, as the number of coronavirus cases exceeds the peak that was seen in april. the military will provide remote support to schools and colleges in england with coronavirus testing, as they begin to re—open next week. the ftse 100 is up this morning, as uk financial markets opened for the first time since the brexit deal was announced on christmas eve. vinyl album sales have risen to their highest level since the britpop era of the 1990s. almost 5 million lps have been bought this year. in halfan in half an hour, i will look back on a challenging yearfor in half an hour, i will look back on a challenging year for the in half an hour, i will look back on a challenging yearfor the royal family. for the queen in lockdown and the duke of —— you can do to

sussex stepping back from front line duties. that is a year with the royalfamily duties. that is a year with the royal family with me duties. that is a year with the royalfamily with me in half an hour. royalfamily with me in half an hospitals in england are now treating more coronavirus patients than at any other point in the pandemic, as numbers surpass the peak that was seen in april. the head of nhs england, sir simon stevens, has said that health service workers are back in the eye of the storm as officials warn the number of covid patients in hospital in england will soon rise further, reflecting the current spike in infections caused by a new variant of the virus. keith doyle reports. health services across the uk are being stretched as they deal with increasing numbers of patients with covid. in london, accident and emergency departments are reporting intense pressure. in scotland, doctors say there is a danger that services will be overwhelmed.

in wales, the situation in hospitals is described as incredibly challenging. in hospitals is described and in northern ireland, the health minister said the next few days is a crucial period. the stark messages show the impact the covid virus is having. the hospital was incredibly busy. we are staff —— suffering with staff shortages. the situation is untenable. of change doesn't happen, i think we are close to becoming overwhelmed. in england, the number of people being treated for the virus in hospital is over 20,000, higher than the previous peak of around 19,000 in april, although more testing is being done now than it was then.

over 41,000 new cases were reported yesterday, a record, with 357 deaths. nhs providers said some trusts were reporting up to three times the number of covid patients than at the peak of the first wave. the pressure is having a real effect. in many hospitals, the rising number of covid patients means staff are being redeployed and more routine operations and procedures are being postponed. sadly, it's inevitable that as the infections rise, the admissions rise, that, actually, we see disruption to other services. we are desperate, our members are desperate to keep that disruption as low as possible but unfortunately some of our elective and planned services will be disrupted, both in hospitals and in other settings as well. acknowledging the work that health workers are doing, the head of the nhs in england has given a message to staff who he said have had a very tough year. by late spring, we think that, with vaccine supply continuing to come on stream, we will be able to offer all vulnerable people across this country

this covid vaccination. and that perhaps provides the biggest chink of hope for the year ahead. tomorrow, the tier levels in england will be reviewed. across the uk, health ministers have pleaded with people to stay home for new year's, sticking to the restrictions in place. the challenges for the health services over the next days and weeks are immense. keith doyle, bbc news. let's get more on this from saffron cordery who is deputy chief executive at nhs providers. 0minous was the word keith used there. this is all very grim? yes, it is an incredibly challenging situation out there and i think that what we have seen particularly at the moment across london and the south—east is this combination of both a rise in the number of covid patients, and we saw that figure of 20,426 covid inpatients yesterday,

the highest we have ever seen, so we have this rise in covid we also have a rise in demand for non—covid services and emergency services. it's a good thing that people are coming forward for treatment, and that's a difference to the first wave for people sadly stayed at home when they were suffering very serious conditions. but that rise in demand is coupled with staff absence. that is the thing that is also very worrying. we are seeing over double the level of staff absences then we would usually see at this time of year. and i think that on top of everything now, and this is the worrying bit, seeing real pressure on intensive care units and as well as across general beds and other services. simon stephens put it as the eye of the

storm. that is probably right. in terms of non—covid admissions, is the public getting the balance right? they are not wasting peoples time? i'm not hearing any reports of trust leaders telling us that people are turning up at a&e departments with very minor complaints, i think one of the things we've seen over the course of the pandemic is probably a more judicious use of emergency services. the one thing i would say is that we are seeing a big rise in the use of iii. would say is that we are seeing a big rise in the use of 111. that is a positive thing, but we need to keep an eye on that service has well and make sure it can continue to work and provide the service it needs to. but what is absolutely critical is that people access the service in the way they need to. 0ne—on—one is a very good point of access,if 0ne—on—one is a very good point of access, if someone is not seriously ill and access, if someone is not seriously illand in access, if someone is not seriously ill and in need of emergency

treatment. let's look at the covid admissions. this is probably releva nt admissions. this is probably relevant in terms of staff as well. how much of a problem as the new variant of covid causing? well, the new variant of covid is a problem in terms of its transmissibility. it's between 50 and 60% more transmissible than other types of covid. so that means that we are really swamped in terms of what may be happened in the run—up to christmas before severe restrictions we re christmas before severe restrictions were put in place, in terms of staff and members of the public becoming unwell. it is about a 14 dayjourney of someone being initially infected to potentially hospitalised. i don't think we have yet seen where we might go in terms of the number of admissions. we are yet to see

whether the restrictions are tough enough to turn the corner and bring down that rate of infection and also hospitalisation. which would suggest that perhaps you think tougher restrictions should still be brought m, restrictions should still be brought in, and we are not even in the new year yet and everyone is talking about the start of the school term? there's a whole host of factors there. my eyes are on new year's eve and how people choose to celebrate oi’ and how people choose to celebrate or not, hopefully, new year's eve. i think that the government has a really tough decision tomorrow, whether it thinks about what it does with the tier arrangements. the review is due tomorrow and i think they need to look very carefully at where we are at in terms of nhs services, in terms of what it actually means for people if the contract coronavirus. because this isn't just about detecting contract coronavirus. because this isn'tjust about detecting the nhs, this is about ultimately protecting peoples lives and saving lives. an

organisation like mine isn't calling for harsher restrictions because we just want to protect the nhs, of course we do, but ultimately this is about saving peoples lives. that is an important element to remember. you pick up any paper this morning and talk about pressures and the threat of an overwhelmed nhs. what does that actually look like? what does that actually look like? what does it mean to front line staff?” think what we are seeing, and i would go back to simon stevens and the phrase he used, because things are incredibly challenging at the moment. and i think what staff are experiencing, from what we're hearing, the huge pressures of so many people coming into hospital with covid, and the frustration of not being able to undertake routine care, knowing there is a huge

backlog of cases and people who were perhaps delayed in operation from the first time around. and also knowing that there are probably others out in the community needing mental health services, needing other services, who are also suffering. suits that general picture of demand on the service and the particular pressure of working right on the front line, where we are seeing such intense demand. difficult circumstances for staff. that leads to a situation where you are treating staff in full ppe, and all of the proof —— pressures of prevention and control, which really add to a very difficult experience for staff on the front line. and staff are incredibly tired. we see this over and over again, but they have been working on a pressure situation for the last nine months, with the first wave of covid, then

trying to treat the backlog of patients who couldn't be treated, then in some parts of the country a second wave, and now into this very intense third way. very good to talk to you, safran cordray. thank you. military personnel are to provide remote support to schools and colleges with coronavirus testing programmes, as they reopen in england from next week. 1,500 armed forces staff will form local response teams, providing telephone and online advice on setting up testing facilities. kathryn stanczyszyn reports. as spring term starts next week, secondary schools should look different, with full coronavirus testing facilities on site. but setting them up is a big task. so big, in fact, that some education leaders have said it's simply not possible in such a short space of time. now the ministry of defence has announced it is stepping in to help with that effort. in total, 1,500 armed forces personnel are being made available to support schools and colleges. they will form local response teams, providing advice on the testing

process and the set—up of testing sites. it'll be mostly done remotely by phone or online meetings. but teams will also be on standby to provide help in person if needed. the majority of the tests will be carried out by the pupils themselves. we know those tests will help more young people from being disrupted. it is good we can have some members of the army, but for 3500 secondary schools, these webinars are not the response we were really looking for. these fresh resources are part of the government's plan to get children back in the classroom through a staggered start post—christmas, giving schools time to get prepared. it says physical attendance has to be a priority. but teaching unions and some virus

experts have called for a rethink amid rising coronavirus cases, saying all pupils should stay at home to help prevent an even more difficult january. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. labour is calling on the government to provide additional support to the uk's visitor economy which has lost more than £3 billion this winter due to the pandemic. the amount spent by overseas travellers fell by more than 80% this year as less people visited the uk. labour says £2 billion worth of unused coronavirus business support given back to the treasury by supermarkets should be used to help support struggling businesses. lucy powell is labour's shadow business minister. thank you forjoining us. the government say they have already put in support of £280 billion. you want more? well, yes, because what we are not seeing is enough support going directly to businesses. we have seen the extension of the furlough scheme, which is very much to be welcomed. but if we see thousands, tens of thousands of businesses, going bust over the coming weeks, which is what all the business

organisations are warning, then that furlough scheme will not be available because there won't be jobs for people to be furloughed from. and the cash grant support that businesses are getting now, those shut down businesses in tier 2, tier3and those shut down businesses in tier 2, tier 3 and tier 4, is worth less than a third of what it was in the first lockdown. and yet businesses really now are hanging by a thread because they have had nine months of loss trade, nine months of rising overhead costs and debts mounting. they've taken out the loans, and they really do need more direct business support now to get them through the next few weeks of what are likely to be even tougher restrictions. tougher restrictions, yes, but in the long run there are causes for optimism. there is no faxing and that is being rolled out already. there is the more certain future under the brexit regulations, should be voted through on wednesday, will talk about that in a

moment, but don't businesses now have a timetable, if you like? they know what they need to get through before that light emerges? well, yes, hopefully so. there is that light at the end of the tunnel, although, you know, the length of the tunnel in a way does seem to get longer some of the time. that's precisely why we need to support businesses today to see them through these difficult few weeks, because these difficult few weeks, because the recovery that follows will be made all the more difficult. we will see much higher levels of unemployment and we needed to see otherwise, if we don't support businesses through these difficult months. most of these businesses, nearly all of them, were viable, good businesses beforehand. but they have been closed down because of public health restrictions. so there is an economic reason and a moral reason by the government needs to step in and support them through these difficult few weeks. and it will then mean that we can more quickly recover and we will save

manyjobs quickly recover and we will save many jobs and businesses quickly recover and we will save manyjobs and businesses in the meantime. it will have to be paid back, all this money whether it is money that has already come from government or money that you would promise under a labour government? yes, of course. what we're seeing todayis yes, of course. what we're seeing today is that there is some extra money there that the government didn't think was going to get because many of the big supermarkets paid back business holiday relief that it turned out they didn't need, so there is £2 billion there paid back to the treasury which would go a long way to support these businesses. but in the end the best way to support our public finances in the long run is to keep unemployment as low as possible, to keep businesses alive, so then we don't have this structural deficit for many years to come when you have lower tax receipts and much higher levels of unemployment and benefits that need paying out. that's the best way to protect public finances in the long run, to support those

businesses today. there is a vote on the brexit deal tomorrow. either way, do you think it's right that mps should be getting a week off because they are taking a day out of their holiday tomorrow? we don't have time off very often. recess is not actually time. it is a time just not actually time. it is a time just not going to london and being in parliament. we have huge demands in our constituencies. those have increased significantly during this pandemic. it would be the wrong thing, wouldn't it, to be encouraging members of parliament from coming from all over the country to travel to london and then... some are voting online. we don't have online voting yet, it's

proxy voting. how confident are you that labour will support the brexit plants? the vast majority of labour mps will support this tomorrow, not because they think this is the best deal the government could have got. it falls well short of what we were hoping for and what the country was promised. there are many aspects to our economy that are not even mentioned are included in our deal, services and the financial services which are so important to our economy. but we just —— with just only two or three days to go, we are faced with this difficult choice, binary choice, between voting against the steel and potentially failing to get through parliament and then we are faced with this catastrophic, unthinkable no— deal situation at the end of the month, or we accept this deal because it is

much more in our national interest and to crash out with no deal. that's why i will be voting for it andi that's why i will be voting for it and i think the vast majority of labour mps will be voting for it tomorrow as well. lucy powell, good tomorrow as well. lucy powell, good to talk to you, thank you. the london stock exchange has opened for the first day of trading since the brexit trade deal was announced on christmas eve — and this morning the ftse 100 appears to have reacted positively. our business editor simon jack is here. they were always going to like anything other than a no—deal? they were always going to like anything other than a no-deal? this is the first time it has really had to react since christmas eve when the deal was struck. the market had anticipated this with a bit of noise. no—deal has been avoided. there will still be some difficulty, processes , there will still be some difficulty, processes, customs forms etc, but no—deal has been removed from the picture. all they need to know is that tomorrow is looking better than

today. it's all about sentiment. they can time travel months in a few seconds. if you are a manufacturer and you know you can now sell your stuff into europe, but if you look at the bank shares, they are all down quite a bit. 3—4%. that's because in the deal one of the features was what wasn't in it, financial services were barely mentioned. the access financial services companies will get to the eu will be much less than they had previously. let's have a look at how the ftse generally has responded this morning. it is up. that is pretty much what was expected? there are two things going on. there is the relief rally of no—deal which was not fully factored in when we broke for christmas. also, there's been a positive reaction in the us due to the stimulus. it is playing

catch up. strong numbers injapan as well. what the hope is that where there is a terrible chasm of uncertainty, businesses will say, although i need to do a few things, ican begin although i need to do a few things, i can begin to plan and invest. some of that confidence is coming through. two things going on with financial services, firstly, they won't really mentioned. another thing is negative interest rates rearing their heads again, so that's a reason why banks are wary this morning. simon, good to see you. we have heard you on radio 4 all morning and now we see you. i know you are off to the bbc world service! sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn watson.

good morning. manchester city will carry out further testing on their squad today to determine the severity of the cornavrius outbreak which prompted the premier league to postpone last night's match with everton just four hours before kick off. it's the second premier league game to be called off because of several infections within a squad. doubts now hang over city's next game against chelsea on sunday and their league cup semi against manchester united three days later. city have shut their training ground following the new cases, following the new cases. players gabrieljesus and kyle walker had already tested positive on christmas day. league one side rochdale have been forced to suspend their next two games, doncaster their next three, with the football league also affected. two premier league matches did go ahead last night though. and despite a huge investment in their squad chelsea's indifferent form continues as they missed the chance to move into the top four. they drew 1—1 with aston villa at stamford bridge — 0livier giroud putting

chelsea ahead. but villa grabbed a point when anwar el ghazi scored — that keeps villa fifth — just ahead of chelsea on goal difference. leicester are up to second after a 1—1 draw with crystal palace. wilfried za ha putting palace in front. before harvey barnes rescued a point for leicester seven minutes from time. the draw leaves leicester three points behind leaders liverpool. sheffield wednesday are looking for a new manager after sacking tony pulis. he only took over last month, and nowjust ten games in, the man who's never been relegated, won't get the chance to keep them up. they've already been hit with a six point point deduction for breaching spending rules and are second bottom of the championship. not what the aussie cricket fans will have hoped for from the boxing day test, a heavy defeat to india, in the second match which levels the series at one all, they only needed to chase

down a target of 70. captain tim paine will be hoping star man steve smith comes good having madejust ten runs in the whole match, when the third test starts next week. someone like steve, in particular, just hasn't been able to get in yet. once he does, he'll find a way as he always has, and the rest of us will follow suit. and we need to improve, there's no doubt about that, but these aren't plans that we're encountering for the first time. that's all the sport for now. president—electjoe biden says his team is not getting the co—operation it needs from the trump administration, as he prepares to move into the white house. mr biden was speaking after a briefing with national security and foreign policy aides. he criticised the department of defence for not providing key information to his team as it makes the transition to power. a defence spokesperson said the pentagon had been completely transparent. six people who traveled to india

from the uk have tested positive for the new variant of coronavirus first identified in britain. the indian government says they are now in isolation. india is one of the countries worst affected by covid—19. one of the most devastating effects the pandemic has been on the lives of the country's daily wage workers, who are now struggling to get by. from mumbai, yogita limaye has this report. the men who keep india running. labourers who do everything from constructing buildings to cleaning sewers. they come to cities from rural india in search of work. every morning, they wait at street corners for contractors who might have a job for them. but the pandemic has struck a hard blow. translation: what do we put in our stomachs? we're going hungry. there's no work available. should we steal money

so we don't starve?! translation: now, i often get work just one day a week — and i get paid less for it. the fear of contracting covid is eclipsed by the battle for survival, here, in one of mumbai's poorest areas. it's in urban slums like these that the people who build the cities live. and back in march, when the national lockdown was announced, with barely four hours' notice, these people found themselves left rudderless, without any support. and so even as the coronavirus spread rapidly through the country, for many of us, the enduring image of what the pandemic did to india will be of the plight that it left daily—wage workers in. millions of them were left stranded with nojobs, money, orfood.

as weeks of lockdown rode into months, many were forced as weeks of lockdown rolled into months, many were forced to walk hundreds of miles to their villages. some even died along the way. sheela was one of those who made the difficultjourney back home. translation: i'd feed my children whatever little there was and went to bed hungry on many days. so, we went back to our village, but even there we could barely manage. she's been forced to return to mumbai and to thisjob where she spreads old clothes for a recycling factory. worried, about where herfamily‘s next meal will come from. in the first few months of the pandemic, hundreds of organisations stepped in, to distribute food and basic supplies to the needy. that's now dried up, arun kumar, the head of a local ngo, told me.

there isn't money. there is no business, so there is no saving. where are people going to get money to kind of share it with others? the fact that a medical crisis became a humanitarian crisis tells us a lot about the kind of institutions that we have. with a large population, it could take years for india to get a grip on the virus — a long wait for a return to normal life and livelihoods. yogita limaye, bbc news, mumbai. australia says it could deport british backpackers who flout covid rules, after hundreds were seen partying at a sydney beach on christmas day. videos of the gathering, widely shared on social media, showed hordes of young people at bronte beach in breach of regulations. the event has sparked anger among locals, with health officials calling it "absolutely appalling". sydney is battling a new outbreak

after months of no local cases. ajudge in the united states has denied bail to ghislaine maxwell, saying she might be a flight risk. the british socialite is accused of helping the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein groom young girls. she has beenjailed since her arrest injuly, and had proposed a 28 million dollar bail package — which included electronic monitoring. vinyl album sales in the uk are at their highest level since the early 1990s. almost 5 million vinyl lps were purchased in 2020, up by 10% on last year, according to figures from the recording industry body bpi. the cancellation of live music events and an appetite for nostalgia during the pandemic, are thought to be behind the increase in sales. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith lucas. good morning. the weather has certainly taken a bit of a wintry turn through the final week of 2020. we had further sleet and snow showers overnight and through the

day, we've got more of the same. some ice and snow around, that'll be with us on and off the next few days, some disruption is possible. snow showers through today, an area of sleet and snow moving out of northern england, could fall as rain, sleet and snow in south wales, south—west england. more snow showers moving in across the northern half of scotland. rain and sleet showers around the east coast of england. most of the showers ease away through tonight, confined to coastal areas and the north—west of scotland. temperatures falling down to freezing, or a little bit below, another cold night with a sharp frost and iciness to start wednesday morning. wednesday is a little drier for most compared to today but later in the day we have more rain, sleet and snow pushing into the south—west of england, perhaps south wales and further snow showers across the north of scotland. goodbye for now. hello, this is bbc news with simon mccoy. the headlines...