"catastrophe" in the new year without tighter restrictions. the military will provide remote support to schools and colleges in england with coronavirus testing, as they begin to re—open next week. but pressure to delay the start of term is growing. germany has approved a new rapid coronavirus test that can give results within a0 minutes. the company that developed the process says it enables mass testing, based on the highly reliable pcr technology. spain says it will set up a registry of people who refuse to get the covid vaccine — and share it with other eu nations. but the list will not be made accessible to the public. french fashion designer pierre cardin — who was hailed for his visionary creations — has died aged 98. sport — and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here's olly foster.

in the latest round of premier league testing there were 18 positive coronavirus cases, the highest weekly number this season. sheffield united have revealed that they have a number of cases at the club. manchester city are retesting their players and staff today to see if the covid outbreak at the club is under control. last night's match at everton was postponed just four hours before kick off after "a number of positive cases" at city. their next game against chelsea on sunday is also in doubt, as is their league cup semi against manchester united three days later. gabrieljesus and kyle walker had already tested positive on christmas day, and city have now shut their training ground. the southampton manager, ralph hasenhuttl, will miss tonight's match against west ham. a member of his family has tested positive for coronavirus so he is having to self—isolate. the club say he will watch from home and will remain in contact with the team and coaching staff at st mary's throughout the game

via a video and audio link. that's one of five premier league games this evening. manchester united will move up to second in the table if they beat wolves. edinson cavani could be involved from the start for only the second time in a league game since joining the club. definitely a starter. you don't classify a player of that quality is anything else. we have got plenty of starters. more than 11 starters. and that's the thing when you're at man united. you should believe in yourself, trust yourself. i trust him, i trust my players, and we have got good competition for places. and he will probably start more games than he will not start. welsh forward jake ball will leave scarlets at the end of the season to be his family in australia. that will also rule him out of playing for wales. he only has 49 caps and needs 60 if he plays club rugby outside wales to be able to carry on playing for his country. it's a big blow for wales,

he has been a mainstay in the second row since making his international debut six years ago. india thrashed australia by eight wickets in melbourne with a day to spare to level their test series at 1—1 with two to play. after bowling the hosts out for 200 they easily chased down the 70 runs required. it's a remarkable turnaround after they were heavily beaten in the first test, having been bowled out for their lowest test score of 36. the third test in sydney starts on the 6th january. and south africa have won the first test against sri lanka in centurion. they cruised to the win by an innings and 45 runs. the second and final test starts in johannesburg on january 3rd. that's all the sport for now. eye will have another update for you a little later. see you soon, ollie, thank you. now on bbc news, veteran explorer robin hanbury—tenison, who spent weeks in a coma battling covid—19, says the healing power

of nature helped to save his life. robin was one of the first covid—19 patients into derriford hospital. he may be a veteran of 30 expeditions, but surviving coronavirus would prove to be one of robin hanbury—tenison‘s toughest experiences yet. you know, every day was pretty brutal and we were pretty broken. the doctors called us to say that actually, he is deteriorating further. his chances of ever recovering have now gone down to about 5%. i opened my eyes, saw the sunshine, saw the flowers and that was the moment when my life was saved by the healing power of nature. it's a long road back from something like that. essentially, his body was failing and i think having a goal, something to work towards, is vitally important because it gives you a target to aim for. and that goal can be as trivial or as ambitious as you want

it to be. so this has been as big a challenge as any that i've done in my life, to get to the point where i could climb this mountain. i will make it to the top because i believe everyone should have access to the same thing that saved my life. it must be lovely to have all this old footage of your dad sort ofjust lying around the house. it's incredible. we've got reels from pretty

much every expedition he's been on from the late ‘50s through to just a couple of years ago. everything from the orinoco, the sahara, the siberian steps and everything in between and i'm so lucky to have been travelling with him on a number of those expeditions. it is an amazing bit of video. so i've been coming down here a lot recently to look through the old footage and it's really helped to feel like he's not in hospital at the moment, that he is still on the farm with us. it's incredible to see how much he has achieved throughout his life. 84—year—old robin hanbury—tenison is widely recognised as one of the world's greatest living explorers. he's crossed continents by foot, boat and jeep, leading expeditions of more than 120 scientists into the heart of remotejungles. i've been here for nearly 12 months now and the expedition has grown enormously

since its original conception. what we are doing is to examine the rainforest, which is a vital and very little understood environment. probably the richest environment in the world and one which is disappearing with terrifying speed. robin has chronicled his life of adventure through a series of more than 20 books. his most recent book explores the major threats facing the world today, including pandemics. robin was one of the first covid—i9 patients into derriford hospital, having caught the virus whilst skiing prior to the lockdown. 36 hours after he was in hospital, he was heavily sedated and put on a ventilator. so one of the ways that i've been keeping in touch with the family is with a family group chat.

my son says he is "praying and thinking of him". i can't really read them. "sounds like he's getting the best possible care and lots of attention." "you are so brave as well, louella." "robin is a tough old nut." i can't really read... "we know he'll pull through." "being in first means he has their full attention. he is in the right place. stay strong. " "sending huge love, he'll pull through." "we love him", etc. yeah, there's lots of wonderful messages from people and he's still deep in the woods, but at least it's not worsening. that's so encouraging. sleep well. " yeah, just lots of similar sorts of messages. yeah, he'll get there.

robin and louella's farm on bodmin moor, one of cornwall‘s designated areas of outstanding natural beauty, is overlooked by cornwall‘s highest peak, brown willy. their shared love of nature drew the couple to the moor over 30 years ago. this is such a special place because we come here often together. robin's travelled all his life to the most wonderful places and, of course, yourfavourite place has got to be home, in the woods here on our farm. and it's very comforting and reassuring to visit it and think about being here with him. after two weeks in hospital, robin's kidneys fail.

he is unconscious. the family can do nothing but wait as robin clings to life. the doctors tell them to begin to come to terms with a life without him. you never know how you are going to react when somebody that you care about is so unbelievably ill and on death's door. and, you know, every day was pretty brutal and we were pretty broken. the doctor says to him "your lungs are filling up with fluid. we have two options. option one is we leave you and hope that you get better naturally — but the chances are at your age, you're almost certainly are going to die if we do that. option two is, we sedate you, probably for ten days, try and drain your lungs but at your age you have about a 20% chance of survival. " at this point, the doctors call us and say that actually, he's deteriorating further. his lungs are still filling with fluid and they want to put a tracheotomy in. normally, this is a relatively

simple procedure but because of his age, there is a strong chance he'll die in surgery. and the doctors want to make it really clear to us that even if he does survive that, his chances of ever recovering have now gone down to about 5%. and even if he does recover, he may well be bedbound, have severe cognitive impairment, and never be the man that we knew who went into hospital about a month before. and they say that we have some difficult conversations ahead of us when we may have to decide whether it's even worth continuing with treatment. i believe i'm alive. you are alive. you are definitely alive. after five weeks in intensive care, robin was wheeled into derriford hospital's healing garden with icu nurse kate tantam by his side. i remember the first times he went outside and you feel

fresh air and they see sun and they see flowers and it's like they kind of start to emerge out of — out of this dream. you could see he was looking at things and thinking, "this is real. this is tangible. i feel safe." and that was a real breakthrough for him in his recovery. my name is robin hanbury—tenison. i'm an 84—year—old explorer and i survived five weeks in intensive care with coronavirus. the moment when i actually woke up and i knew i was going to live was the moment when i was wheeled out by four nurses in a big bed with tubes coming out of everywhere and i arrived in the healing garden they've got at derriford. i opened my eyes, saw the sunshine, saw the flowers and that was the moment when my life was saved by the healing power of nature.

he may be a veteran of 30 expeditions, but surviving coronavirus would prove to be one of robin hanbury—tenison's toughest experiences yet. but here he is leaving hospital to the cheers of the nhs staff who cared for him. during the darkest days of his illness, robin's family had been told if he did survive, the impact of the virus would very likely be severe and long—lasting. it was quite a shock to be told that i might never walk properly again. recovery after intensive care is like a marathon and every step feels hard and feels challenging and it's made up of a million different components. so even learning how to swallow again is a big journey. sitting independently is a big journey. but robin had a goal — unthinkable, perhaps, to those around him — but a goal that drove him through his recovery. exactly five months from may the 3rd is october the 3rd,

so i decided that on that day i would climb cornwall‘s highest mountain, brown willy, and try and raise £100,000 towards a garden at cornwall‘s hospital, treliske, because i think every hospital in the country should have a healing garden in it, and let's start with cornwall. it was exciting to have him home but it was also quite nerve—racking as well. we were in lockdown for two weeks once he got home, so no one came near us. and that's quite scary. i'm not a nurse and i didn't know whether i was going to have to do major nursing or not. he was very thin and had lost about 1.5 stones. so we had a lot of work to get him back on his feet again. he could hardly walk a few yards when he got home ona zimmerframe. it just takes a bossy woman and a certain amount of threats and he would do

what i had told him. so we borrowed a mobility scooter, we borrowed an exercise bike and we have done a lot of exercises and short walks. it hasjust been really amazing watching his strength come back, his muscle come back. he was very thin and a bag of bones when he got home. he gets very breathless still and even though his lungs are clear, i am not sure everyone quite gets back to where they were after this, but he is fantastic and he is strong and determined man and he has worked hard. what would you say to any other patient who is having to fight off this infection from the outset because they are quite literally climbing a mountain when it comes to the impact this infection is having

on the lungs or the oxygen content of their blood and the overall impact physically of this infection. everybody has to have a goal when they are rehabilitating and when they are recovering. the journey that robin is going through at the moment in terms of his recovery following on from an infection like this is going to be no different to the journey that many patients across the country, indeed across the world, are going to be making at the moment. we are ecstatic to have him home and it is great to see him getting stronger and stronger. the weather is getting worse and he is a bit weaker than he was before and we are worried he might have bitten off a bit more than he can chew. my wife louella has been

marvellous at encouraging me to do my exercises. and now that i am pretty well done with physio, we are concentrating walking long distances every day. throughout his life, robin has set himself tough challenges. for his 80th birthday, he ran his first marathon. but the charity he is most proud of is international which he established 50 years ago. the organisation fights for the rights of these once voiceless people. anywhere in the world where a new dam, high—speed road or vast mining operation is planned and the blueprints cover land occupied for centuries by tribal people, commerce comes before conscience and the indians are swept aside in the name of progress. survival international exists to temper that race for progress with patience and understanding.

his friend and contemporary, sir ranulph fiennes, is proud of what he has achieved. in my opinion, robin is one of the greatest explorers alive today and his legacy is one that does more for conservation and human rights. in addition to the sheer volume of his great adventures his far—reaching successes for various forms of conservation, includes sterling work for the preservation of threatened rainforests. i am truly proud to have known my friend robin down the long years, and i seize this opportunity to thank him for all his great works. it is the day of the climb. robin and the family are getting themselves ready for the journey from their home to the base of the highest point in cornwall, 1,378

feet above sea level. get these boots on. absolutely, what a weather forecast. it's going to be quite a day. the ascent to the top of brown willy is a seven—mile round trip and the terrain is difficult on the best of days. he is always pretty relaxed about this kind of thing and when the stakes are higher, he just gets more excited. so, a number of people have been phoning up saying, perhaps it shouldn't do it and he should postpone because of this storm alex that is coming in. the met office have issued amber weather warnings that will come into force later. the met office reminds us how wet it was on the 3rd of october, that was the wettest on record, records going back to 1891. it is making me quite nervous and i am going to make sure that we're well prepared and lizzie and i will make sure we will take survival gear we didn't consider taking before, so we will have exposure blankets, warm kit,

hot drinks and snacks. so if the weather does turn on the top, then we can get him warm and dry and get him off the mountain quite quickly. over the hills we could see as much as 120 millimetres, so a very wet spell of weather. we are likely to see some flooding building in through the weekend across these areas. here we are at the base of brown willy, the weather is horrible. my family is with me and of course we're going to make it. well, it has been a roller—coaster ride and with covid recovery, it is a difficult thing for people to get over. they feel very tired and breathless and he does feel tired and breathless still.

well, storm alex has definitely come in and look at it — the weather is blowing and the rain is heavy but it is as good as we thought it might be. he is already heading up the hill like a schoolboy. he has raced ahead of me. he is full of beans and very excited. but obviously, we are taking it sensibly, because the weather is making this even trickier. when i first started exploring, it was all about showing off, about going further and more bravely than other people. and a lot of explorers today still do just that. but i was lucky enough to discover causes, tribal people and rainforests. and i now realise it is much

more important for adventurers, people doing exciting things, to have a purpose which helps to save the world. make it a better place, because we haven't got time to do anything else. it is quite steep, steeper than i expected, there's been quite a lot of rain and wind. we have had to shelter occasionally. we are getting near the top now and all my training is being taxed to the limit now. but i think i will make it. robin and his family have now passed the halfway point and have reached the steepest part of the climb. robin's training so far has never been further than a few miles at a time and never more than a stone's throw away from home. we have worked hard to get up here today because it has been windy, cold and wet and it's not been an easy climb for him and the fact that he is 84

is pretty incredible. as robin nears the final push, he starts to feel the effects of the climb. one of the ironies of having my life saved by waking up in the healing garden in derriford hospital, is that i have spent most of my life campaigning, fighting for rainforests and other wilderness areas in the world, because i believe they were important in their own right. but in the end it was the healing garden that saved my life. exactly five months after robin was released from hospital with coronavirus, he completed his challenge of climbing

brown willy in aid of nhs healing gardens. it is a very, very important achievement for him. it is a challenge, but well worth giving him and he has done it. i am so pleased, i am so proud of him. i am feeling fantastic because we've made it. thanks to louella dragging me up and the weather pushing me, i've done it. couldn't have done it without everyone. it is all in a wonderful cause for the healing garden, which saved my life. it is massive for robin completing this and here at the hospital. we'll raise money for healing gardens across the south—west. these gardens make a massive difference to patients in intensive care in every

hospital every day. it is just phenomenal. when you take people outside after they have been in intensive care for a long time, even for a short length of time, you show them a blue sky or a grey sky or even let them feel drizzle on their hands, it often is incredibly moving. it is moving because it shows people that life is going to go on and there is life waiting for them outside intensive care and outside the hospital bed. it is anything you want it to be from a gym to where somebody spends their last hours of life, to a place where a married couple of a0 years can hold hands for the last time, to a place somebody can bring their dog in, where somebody can play basketball, staff can relax and talk about everything that is going on. it really is just a space for people to be themselves.

since the climb, robin has turned his attention towards helping his son in rewilding theirfarm in bodmin. kate was awarded a queen's birthday honour for her contributions and dedication to the nhs. completely overwhelmed. hello there. one things for certain this week, it's going to stay very cold for all of us with overnight frost and also some ice to watch out for. what's a bit more uncertain

is where we're going to see some rain, sleet and snow over the next few days. but wherever it does occur, it's likely to cause some disruption. of course, ice will be an issue on untreated surfaces, so just take care if you have to head out. so the cold pool of air pretty much right across the uk for today and indeed for the foreseeable future. this is the early morning sleet and snow which we had across northern, western parts of england and north wales, pushing on into the south west. further wintry showers likely to affect coastal areas, some accumulations over the scottish isles, but there'll be quite a bit of dry weather around too, some sunshine to end the day. it'll stay rather grey and cold across the southeast. as we head through tonight, many areas will stay dry, through central parts that is, but around coasts, further showers are likely. we could see some wintry showers affecting north west england, north wales with a great risk of ice pretty much anywhere, but especially where we have these showers and a cold night to come. subzero values for most of us, maybe as low as —7, maybe —8 across northern england into parts of scotland

in some of the glens. for wednesday, we start off with some sunshine around. watch out for some ice first thing, particularly where we have lying snow, further showers affecting coastal areas. you could see this feature, though, running across the south—west, which could bring a mixture of rain, sleet and snow. again, uncertainty to this so you have to stay tuned to the forecast. another cold day to come and at least some areas will have the sunshine to compensate. it looks like this feature then runs across the south of the country, further showers during wednesday night around coastal areas. now, we'll have this area of low pressure as well sitting over the north sea. that's going to introduce an area of rain, sleet and snow to the north of the uk as we head on into thursday. now, this could cause some disruption, again, the details of this a bit uncertain at the moment. it looks like we could see some settling snow across parts of central southern scotland, perhaps northern and western england and in towards wales. it could be disruptive, so you have to stay tuned to the forecast. many places, though, away from this will stay dry. a bit of sunshine, but another very cold day for us all.

as we end the week, it looks like many places will see the sunshine into the weekend, winds turn a bit more northeasterly, so most of the wintry showers will affect north sea coasts.

this is bbc news — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. us lawmakers vote for a big increase in government pay—outs to people suffering in the covid pandemic, but will the senate back it? here in the uk, scientists warn of the risk of a coronavirus "catastrophe" in the new year if restrictions are not tightened. croatia is hit by its strongest earthquake for decades, a local major says half his town has been destroyed. french fashion designer pierre cardin — who was hailed for his visionary creations — has died aged 98.