hello. this is bbc news with me, george alagiah. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm sarah mulkerrins. coming up... a second premier league game is cancelled in two days. fulham's trip to tottenham hotspur is off after more coronavirus cases at the visitors club. the bid for three is still on as two—time champion gary anderson make it through to the quarter—finals of the pdc world championships. and as surfing gets set for it's olympic debut, we speak the man in charge of the sport around the world who believes it's appearance will prove a big hit. you're very welcome along to sportsday this evening. as cases of coronavirus

rise around the country, sport too is dealing with the consequences. fulham's premier league match at tottenham this evening has been postponed after new cases were found at the club. fulham made the request and the premier league confirmed the game would not go ahead just three hours before kick off. this follows manchester city's trip to everton being called off at short notice two days ago. today, city confirmed their first team were back in training. and the first premier league game to be cancelled this season was newcastle against aston villa on december the 4th. let's bring in our sports reporter laura scott now. laura just bring us up to date on how this played out today with fulham. well, this game between fulham and totte n ha m we well, this game between fulham and tottenham we found out yesterday was in jeopardy because fulham accorded a number of positive test in the latest transit testing and we

understood there were more players showing symptoms today. for lumber requested to the premier league that the game be rearranged, we know that public health england were involved in the matter. but different what happened in the efl where it is up to the clubs to postpone a fixer. in the premier league it is down to the premier league board and they held a meeting this afternoon taking stock of all the evidence provided by fulham, there grounds for wanting the game to be postponed and decided it was the right thing to do for the health of everyone involved to call off this fixture and rearrange it. but what is really interesting is in the premier league statement, they we re the premier league statement, they were quick to reiterate that they have full confidence in their protocols and in their ability to continue to play fixtures as scheduled which clearly does contradict some of the suggestions that perhaps it should be paused, that perhaps it should be paused, that the season should be posit the moment. let's get onto that talking

point then. we know it has been discussed today. let's get the thoughts of a couple of managers on the idea of a circuit breaker. we can only do the right thing, which would be to have a circuit breaker. you know, i'm 66 year old, and the last thing i want to do is catch covid. so, if that's what we need to do, that's what we need to do. i mean, probably all the players will overcome it. it'd be more difficult for me to overcome it, if i caught it, than them. so, yes, i'm very concerned for myself and football in general. when are we going to play the games? we all know this year are so difficult but if you just stop more games, i don't think that's going to make a big, big change. -- is —— is so difficult. it might be a longer one when we finish the season.

olli and sam allardyce allowed division between what people were saying there. these are managers talking about the option of a circuit breaker. we saw it last week raised by ipswich town as he possibly but at the moment of her understanding is that it is not a formal proposal put to the premier league, and they have not initiated discussions with club chairman and chief executives at this circuit breaker will happen. a lot will depend what the government choose to do and similarly to the premier league, we understand they want to continue with the weakest support at the moment and are planning not to halt it like they did back in march. there will be a lot of scrutiny at the latest round of test results that we will get as they have gone for twice in weekly testing in the premier league which is what we saw and project restart, they have gone down to once we, now back up to twice a week for all clubs in the new year. and it will be interesting

to see how those positive cases if they continue to rise not but also clu bs a re they continue to rise not but also clubs are going to take a close look at the criteria for games to be postponed and there will be questions asked about the integrity of the league and how many games they can postpone before it becomes very difficult indeed to complete the season especially given that the euros are injune. but given the fa ct euros are injune. but given the fact that they have got from june to now with no postponements and they have now had three in december, it is clearly a concern for clubs. great stuff laura, thank you so much for your time. boris got our reporter there. -- laura —— laura scott. a couple of days ago newcastle are coming in to the south the back of a

loss. the records and trophies they one of the last couple of years are there for everyone to see. they are champions of ingot and a very good side. we know what is coming, that is the premier league, that is how difficult it is, that is what difficult it is, that is what difficult and demanding a week it is. and we get two or three of the big guys back to back, you would like a week to recover to make sure you get going again but we are being pitted against argued with the two best teams in the country back to back. so, bring it on. there was to be a full round of fixtures in the scottish premiership today to round off the year. but livingston against aberdeen was postponed due to a frozen pitch. rangers are still 16 points clear at the top of the table following their 2—0 win at st mirren. celtic remain second after their win at home to dundee united. they have three games in hand on rangers. a goalless draw for st johnstone and hamilton.

ross county leading hibernian by one heavens and currently goalless between motherwell and kilmarnock and you can follow them on the sport website. let's take a quick look at some other sport making the news today. sports fans will once again be banned from attending matches as more areas of england are to be placed under tougher coronavirus restrictions. the area of liverpool will be moved into tier 3 at midnight, meaning there will be no premier league grounds which are allowed fans in. harlequins' premiership game against worcester due to take place on new year's day has been cancelled, due to a number of quins players self—isolating. one player was found to have the virus in the latest testing, while a further six players have been ruled out following contact tracing. difficult to say. the wet weather has put paid to the new year's day race meeting at cheltenham which has been abandoned. organisers say the track is waterlogged and unraceable. the seven—race card was due to feature the grade two relkeel hurdle. the event had been set to be held

behind closed doors. and leeds rhinos have inducted scrum—half rob burrow into their hall of fame. the club legend was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2019, two years after retiring. he spent his entire career at the club, making a93 appearances across 17 seasons. two—time champion gary anderson is through to the quarter—finals of the pdc world championships at alexandra palace. the scot made light work of south africa's devon peterson — beating him 4—0. it's the ninth time that anderson has reached the last eight. he'll play the winner of tonight's match between dirk van duijvenbode and glen durrant. stephen "the bullet" bunting is also into the quarter—finals afterjust edging out ryan searle in a thrilling match. bunting led by two sets early on — searle staged a comeback but double

top from the bullet sealed victory. he will take on poland's krzysztof ratajski for a place in the semi—finals on new year's day. new zealand wrapped up a dramatic win in the first test against pakistan to boost their hopes of reaching next year's world test championship final. new zealand had been favourites to win the game as the final day started with the tourists on 71—3 — but a century from fawad alam, 11 years after his last his last century, gave the tourists hope of a draw. he was eventually removed on 102, setting up a thrilling end with the hosts needing four wickets from the final 22 overs to secure victory. despite resistance from pakistan, new zealand finally got the last wicket with less than five overs remaining. there was a dramatic finish in the australian big bash league as hobart hurricanes beat brisbane heat byjust one run.

brisbane needed two runs to win from the final ball to at the gabba, but mark steketee was run out by a direct hit. it looked like the batsman had got the one run he needed to force a super—over but replays showed he'd left his bat in the air as he dived. the sport of surfing will make its debut at the tokyo olympics this summer — and it's also secured a place at the paris games in 202a. the head of the international surfing association told our sports news correspondent alex capstick that it will benefit both the sport of surfing and the olympic movement. it is going to be an amazing opportunity for surfing to show its values, its useful culture, a very strong connection with the environment and ocean. it has been done for thousands of years and there is something good about his

playful activities. for surfing, it will be great to expose and share it with the rest of the world and for the olympics it will be a legitimate way to connect with a part of the world population that may be did not feel as engaged or connected with the olympic games. the traditionalists will say or are saying that sports like surfing and break dancing should not be in the lipids, they are not proper support. what would you say to them? they will be happy in the end of the day, and we will bring joy and happiness and we will bring joy and happiness and a real sense that change is good. presumably your ambition is for surfing to become a permanent fixture in the olympic programme.“ we are asked to be for a second time row, then we will be a permanent sport. somebody says permanent is and forever, nothing is forever, wife is not forever but you can state that it will be a permanent

support for when golf and rugby were approved in 2009 at the congress in copenhagen, they were approved for two games. and then we will see. but that was it, and then they were extended a few years ago. they both got extended. for us we have the perfect runway. it's tokyo, to paris, la, california. the epicentre of modern surfing and surfing is the official state of the state of california. —— the official support of the state of california. i think it is going to be good for surfing and for many people in. that background and shirt is the joy and colour that i think we all needed today. that's all from sportsday. for me and the rest of the team, we will see you soon, have a lovely evening.

welcome back, i'm philippa thomas. the oxford/astrazeneca vaccine has been approved for use in the uk, with the first dose is due to be given on monday. the vaccine has been developed at a pace that would have been unthinkable before the pandemic. our health correspondent, laura foster, explains how the scientific community has achieved it. the reason why a covid—i9 vaccine has come around so quickly is because a lot of money and resources have been thrown at it. these are all the cells normally taken to create a safe and working vaccine, it usually takes at least a decade to co m plete it usually takes at least a decade to complete small but with cove therefore been done in less than a year. as is the case with all medicines, the passing goes through extensive and rigorous testing for can be approved and rolled out to a country bonsai population. —— to a country's population. before any testing happens

in humans, the vaccine is tested on animals in a laboratory. in the case of covid—i9, ferrets, mice and monkeys have all been used. that's because they are similarto humans in their physiology and biology. if the vaccine works, and is safe for animals, clinical trials begin. phase one trials involve giving the vaccine to a small number of healthy volunteers, between 20 and 50 people. here, they're looking at safety, to check it generates an immune response, and to determine the correct dosage. phase two trials involve several hundred volunteers, and look at how effective a vaccine is in humans. this group involves adults of all ages and sexes, and ideally all ethnicities. phase three trials are similar to phase two, but they involve several thousand volunteers. they are still looking at how effective the vaccine is, but on a much broader scale. usually, these clinical trials run one after another, with time given for the data on how safe, effective on stable the vaccine is to be looked at, and to make a decision about whether the trial should progress to the next stage. but because of the seriousness of the covid—i9 pandemic, these sometimes overlapped, some were even merged, but all the checks that would normally happen were still being done. countries have been so keen to find

solutions that money has been thrown out organisations to recruit more scientists to work around the clock, and to hire more staff to help find volunteers more quickly. —— thrown at organisations. and because covid—i9 has been so widespread, finding volunteers to test the vaccine on has been easier than in other trials. when enough data has been gathered, it is submitted to a country's regulators for approval. scientific and clinical experts review it to see how effective the vaccine is, how safe it is, how stable it is, its quality and check that it's been manufactured and stored in a way that meets safety standards in public health policy. in the uk, this is thejob of the mhra, the commission on human medicines and even members of the public are asked what they think. normally, this happens after all the trials have ended. but in the case of covid—i9, the uk pulled back a regulatory body was being given data as the trials went along. this is called a rolling review. if a vaccine is then approved, it can be given to a wider population.