this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk and the eu — get ready for a new chapter in their relationship — as the clock ticks down, to the post—brexit era. the highly infectious coronavirus variant that was first identified in britain, spreads to the us — with a second case identified in the state of colorado. we'll hear from the governor of colorado, about what he intends to do to stop the spread of the virus. also on the programme... china approves its first, home—produced corona virus vaccine — for general use — claiming it's nearly 80 percent effective. and — goodbye 2020, hello 2021 — wuhan in china welcomes the new year with a mass street party — but across the world celebrations are being scaled down due to the pandemic. we'll find out how

different countries are welcoming in the 2021. while — the new year's eve countdown is still hours away in europe, many countries have already brought in 2021. have a look at this from australia. sydney fireworks were spectacular as ever this year, but were shortened to just a few minutes, due to coronavirus restrictions. the center of the city was closed to most people, and only those with restaurant and hotel bookings, were allowed in — to limit the spread of covid—19. and taipei in taiwan saw

in the new year with a large fireworks show at 101 skyscraper to mark the new year — the city allowed 40,000 people to attend — half the normal number. in bangkok eco—friendly" fireworks made of sticky rice brighten the sky to see in 2021. surges in coronavirus meant outdoor celebrations had to be scaled back from original plans. and this is wuhan — the capital of hubei province in china — where they're celebrating new year — exactly one year after the city reported an unknown pneumonia outbreak to the world health organization — that was later named covid—19. and an extraordinarily strict lockdown they had there, but these the pictures in the last hour or so, with lockdown they had there, but these the pictures in the last hour or so, with huge numbers of people gathering right there in the city centre wearing masks, but they of

course not reported any cases locally since back in may, so they have successfully navigated covid—19 and that's the reason so many people out in the numbers, and such a contrast these pictures with what we have been seeing in europe. we saw the bells ring out in stockholm an hour or so ago for people lost due to this pandemic, and huge restrictions in place and so many european capitals as we see these scenes in china. at midnight brussels time — the united kingdom will complete its transition from the european union's single market and customs union — bringing an end to a partnership lasting almost 50 years. legislation to ratify the uk's post—brexit relationship with the eu became law early this morning. 0ur political correspondent alex forsyth reports. it's almost five years since this moment, the date set for a referendum that would change the country's course. one of the biggest decisions this

country will face in our lifetimes. fast forward through what came next. they were campaigns, promises, heated protests. prolonged negotiations, high profile resignations. the country i love. behave yourself! parliament paralysed as westminster wrangled, then another public verdict and after this testing year, a last—minute trade deal, a political win for the prime minister. the essential purpose of this bill is to accomplish something that the british people always knew in their hearts could be done. for businesses, it means change as of tonight. this butterfly farm in stratford—upon—avon exports species across the eu. they have been preparing for no checks and paperwork but even with such a deal that is uncertainty. this brexit malarkey should have been sorted out in the summer then we could have asked the nitty—gritty questions to people that might know some answers.

my frustration is nobody has known anything. the issue that has so divided here will no longer dominate but it will not disappear entirely. they will still be things to settle as the practicalities of brexit kick in. we left the eu back in january, but things broadly stayed the same — until now. as of 11pm tonight the changes in our relationship with the eu will start to take effect. the way we trade, travel, work, our immigration system. there might have felt like some false starts before but this is the moment when we start to understand what brexit really does mean. what was promised in 2016 by the leave campaign does not exist. for those who have campaigned on both sides, sometimes for decades, this a moment to mark. ijust wish i was 21 again, frankly, because, my goodness, what prospects lie ahead of us for young people now to be out there buccaneering, trading, dominating the world again. i will be feeling a sense of regret, as will many people in the country, and others will feel elated

by what's happened and that's a reflection of the division but we now have to move on and come back together as a country. the ports and borders may be the first to feel the impact in coming days and weeks but whether time for rejoicing, regret or resignation this is the start of a wider change in our relationship with those across the channel. alex forsyth, bbc news. 0ur correspondent vivienne nunis is in dover ahead of big changes expected there and i spoke to her earlier... scramble of lorries, we might see some coming down the past behind me committees of the last lorries that cross over into the eu before we see that big change later this evening. there's one very departing, the very last ferry leaves at about eight o'clock tonight. that will be contending the last lorries, they don't need that documentation.

after that everything changes. at 11 o'clock tonight local time the trading relationship with ee will profoundly change and this is exporting into the eu or need to have a whole lot more administration, bureaucracy, customs declarations and so a lot more paperwork to deal with. previously of course it has been like exporting onto the continent, at the same as moving goods from london to manchester, but that will all change tonight. in terms of those businesses i've heard there for the next couple of weeks they will let things bed in before they get things going again in the new year, but others will not have that luxury will they put the well that's true. certainly accepting a bit of a local in trade across the new year period. many businesses hoping to wait and see if there is large—scale disruption before they shift their goods across the border. as you say commits businesses will not be able to do that. roll—on and roll—off as it's known. the trucks that come from across the continent containing food, they will not be able to put that off. but there's some pessimism, i was speaking to some

customs agents here this afternoon. private companies that businesses used to go through their documentation to make sure that they can get their goods across the border. they were very pessimistic and they said there's not enough customs agents and turning away business over the past three weeks because they simply don't have the capacity or staff to deal with this new upsurge in paperwork that's required. indeed hmrc, the customs agents here, they said that they expect something like 260 million customs declarations from uk businesses this year. that's a huge upsurge when you think about since 1983 there has been frictionless trade with the eu. so there will be a huge change and some custom agents here are protecting some disruption and possible delays. just briefly, individuals travelling, etc businesses you've got health guards, you've got insurance, you've got driving licenses, all of those things that people have to get up

to speed in terms of what happens now. yes couples certainly there's not many people travelling at the moment because of the coronavirus restrictions, but when they do start travelling those that are travelling in exceptional circumstances do need to get up to speed. also the of things, no pet passports anymore for instance. you can only go into the eu is a british citizen for 90 days of free need a visa. it will have to check at their mobile phone companies will charge them roaming charges. a lot of changes notjust for businesses but for individuals as well. tonight at 11 o'clock the whole system changes. the united kingdom has recorded more than 55,000 new covid—19 cases on thursday — that's the highest number of daily cases recorded — it also reported 96a deaths of people within 28 days of a positive test for the virus. the highly anticipated 0xford—astrazeneca vaccine was approved for use yesterday —

bringing with it — a change in strategy in how the uk aims to innoculate the population. like the pfizerjab, the oxford vaccine is most effective after two doses — but protection is provided after the first dose. the medicines regulator, has changed its advice that people should have their second dose three weeks after the first — now gps and hospitals — must prioritise getting the most people possible, their first jab. the second can be administered up to 3 months later. earlier i spoke to dr helen sailsbury, a gp from oxford, who faces having to cancel more than 1,000 appointments for people already booked in, for their second pfizer dose, about the impact the decision has made. well, we were very surprised when we learnt last night that we were going to be expected to cancel the appointments that we'd already made for our elderly and most vulnerable patients who are coming back next weekend

to have their second dose. it would be not only a huge amount of work because obviously it is a lot of work when you have to ring up that number of people and explain to them what's changed, but it's also... we're very unsure that this is the right thing to do. it doesn't seem that we have the science to show that this is the right thing to do. certainly, the vaccine manufacturers as far as i know haven't said, "yeah, i'm confident that "giving a second dose much delayed will work. i'll come to the manufacturers in a moment. briefly, though, you told our producer you'd like matt hancock to do a shift on your phones. tell me why you said that. well, i just think that sometimes, decisions are made without really thinking through what the implications are, and there are both practical implications like actually having to have a conversation with over 1,000 patients about the fact that the arrangement you've made no longer applies and no,

you don't know what's going to happen next, and no, you don't know what that means for the efficacy of the vaccine because they were told, "you definitely need two doses." but there's also the implications for trust — for trust in us as doctors, for trust in us as their own gp, and trust in the whole science project, the whole vaccine project if you keep changing the rules all the time and say, "you definitely need two doses — oh, no you don't. "you can wait." china has given its first official approvalfor the general use of one of its own vaccines. sinopharm — who developed the drug — say its 79% effective in phase three trials, which were conducted outside the country due to low numbers of coronavirus cases. this vaccine — and several others — are already in use in the country, after being granted emergency licenses months ago. i'm joined now by professor ya nzhong huang,

senior fellow for global health at the council on foreign relations in new york. welcome to the programme. your take on today prospect development with this? i think, first bullet speaks to the competitiveness of china's pharmaceutical industry because if you look at the vaccine it appears to be safe with few adverse reactions. it appears to be also very effective. a79 rate. that's lower than pfizer's 95%, but higher than astrazeneca and the oxford 70%. and secondly i think it helps mitigate the access to the vaccines for the developing world. and also facilitate the efforts to expand the market share in the developing world

as well as its effort to practice vaccine diplomacy, that is to use the vaccine to achieve foreign policy objectives. so far it has already reached purchasing agreements with countries including malaysia, brazil, the uae and pakistan, and its subsidiaries have already received orders for 500 million doses of the vaccines. what about the data 7 million doses of the vaccines. what about the data? we've been come very familiar with moderna, pfizer, astrazeneca, the way it's all been processed, what about this because the problem is the approval is considered a conditional approval. it's based on the very limited data. so far we have not seen, there is a breakdown of the cases, no specific specifications of this. and the kind of requirements for this over the

trials were conducted. so in a way china was less forthcoming than russia in terms of authorisation for large—scale use of the vaccines. final thought then. for people in china will they have any sort of choice? we have a number of vaccines available, will they have access to the numbers of vaccines or only this one? they actually do hazard choices, a pharmaceutical group ordered 100 million doses of the vaccines, i'm sorry from the pfizer vaccines, i'm sorry from the pfizer vaccines, but mostly they only have access to the chinese made vaccines. welcome we have to leave it there but thank you forjoining us in the programme. thanks for your time. colorado health officials say they may have found a second case of the coronavirus variant

that was first identified in the united kingdom. colorado governorjared polis announced one confirmed case on tuesday, marking the first time the variant had been officially documented in the united states. yesterday, california became the second state to identify a case of the variant, and on a call with the californian governor, dr anthony fauci, said he wasn't surprised by its spread. i'm not surprised that you have a case and likely more cases in california. and we likely will be seeing reports from other states, colorado are the first to do that. i think you're going to start seeing it because if you have that much of a prominence of this in the uk with all the travel not only directly to the united states but through other countries intermittently like where you go from uk to france, france to the united states, etc, then canada has cases. so, i don't think that the californians should feel that this is something odd. this is something that's expected.

let's take a look in a bit more detail about the situation in the us. covid cases continue to remain high across america. there were 229,349 in the last 2a hours. there were also 3,808 people who died with covid in the last 2a hours that takes the total across the us to 3a2,259 covid deaths since the pandemic began. in colorado, meanwhile, there have been 330,859 total cases of the virus detected and 11,750 people have died of covid in the state since the pandemic began. earlier, i spoke to the colorado state governor, jared polis, who said he doesn't think the variant is widely prevalent in the us. this was not exactly the kind of new year's gift that we wanted from the united kingdom.

but nevertheless we expect that this virus is likely in many states. colorado scientists were the first to discover the variance, isolated, it's a triumph for them. it was an individual who is part of our colorado national guard. we fully expect that it's already here, as indicated with so much travel and commerce between our two nations. we also know that it's not whether prevalent because we've also been analysing the strains are a number of cases, it's not yet the predominant strain in this part of our country but i can certainly vouch for it being the case. as you're saying it's probably been seeded for travellers in november and december, tell me about the measures you put in place since you became aware of its presence there in colorado. we've requested from the national authority to have a temporary halt to visitation for nursing homes for residents. they are being inoculate and now, nursing home should be inoculated by january 11. but for this last month and a half

we want to have a hiatus on visitation in those facilities with the prevalence of the virus in our state. how difficult has the whole tight rope and in terms to be her husband going down with a in december. when i went through the figures there it is absolutely startling, over 340,000 deaths now. i think over 40,000 deaths in the last 16 days. when you watch what's going on does even scare you? i think in colorado about one in six coloradans have had covid at this point, nationally it's even more, about one and five. and you know, there's trouble we are fortunate to be among the lucky ones. i had very mild systems, but my partner had to be hospitalised. we have read the lucky ones. most of when thing is for folks

to wear a avoid parties or me with others this new year's eve and important to celebrate in their own homes. final question about the vaccine, because a number of states already complaining about the roll—out of a president from pushing back and saying it's down to the states. how is it going where you are? we can certainly use more but we've begun vaccinating everybody at 70 and up. work through our health workers that work in the words, it will take with the current quantities were expecting four to five weeks before we can complete the vaccination of everybody 70 and up in our state. we've just seen how bad the coronavirus situation is in the us. how then does a major city like chicago see the new year in safely — but enjoyably. well that task falls to nbc five chicago's morning team matthew rodrigues and cortney hall will be on hand. they join us now. tell me what you have got in store,

matthew to you first of all. you know, it's been a struggle to figure out what to do on new year's eve. what the tone is, and we think we did something really special. we've got great celebrities coming on the show, big show and actors from this is us, and rupaul‘s drag race which i know they're having season two in the uk. they have cursing presley us as well and we're just trying to find that in between place where we are celebrating and acknowledging that it was a hard year, but still trying to go into 20/21 with a smile. and courtney, how does that compare with what you have done in previous years? it's very different because this is a totally different year come at you kind of add on to what matt said we do have those celebrities as part of our show, but one of the things about this year that's been kind of stuff to latch onto is that we are all in this

together. we've all experienced it together, so we also felt like it was important to bring in the community and talk to them and how they experienced this year. we have a game that we play with some first responders and it's really my favourite part of the show.|j responders and it's really my favourite part of the show. i will come back to that in a moment, but is this a television event or are you expecting people to turn out, because we were discovering there about all the restrictions and other problems, all the fears. so are you expecting people there to gather to actually watch all of this? this is actually watch all of this? this is a television event. go ahead. last year we had about 10,000 people behind us, and we were in a big hotel from a big party in this year it's just courtney and myself on a beautiful roof called the london house, how appropriate, and that's it. we've got to keep it simple and

safe, and people need to stay home and celebrate in their homes. courtney you touched upon. our crew was much smaller, everybody in masks, and yes we are celebrating with everybody in chicago as they are at home on their couches with their loved ones. we've got a picture of you on the balconies getting ready, but you touched on it, me a little bit more about part of the show is also to look at how different parts of the community have supported each other through 2020. tell me more about what you have planned for the show to illustrate that. that's the beautiful thing. we can focus on what we lost in 2020 or what began, and one of the things we gain our community coming together and really appreciating each other and kind of the work that first responders do. so one of the games that we are playing is something, you know we

have the l train here playing is something, you know we have the ltrain here in playing is something, you know we have the l train here in chicago, so it's called what the hell do you know. —— it's called what the hell do you know. — — what it's called what the hell do you know. —— what the l. everyone's watching will just have know. —— what the l. everyone's watching willjust have to see how it turns out, but we had a tonne of fun with them and we love just talking to regular chicagoans and suffering with them. we have in the pa rt of suffering with them. we have in the part of the show where we ask people you know, what have you learned to appreciate in 2020? because we know that 20/20 has been a challenge, we know that some people have called a dumpsterfire, know that some people have called a dumpster fire, but let's focus on the positive. what are we going to ta ke the positive. what are we going to take with us? what are we learning to appreciate? let me be cheeky and asked matthew what is the answer to you for that question that courtney has just raised, what do you take with you and think that was actually a positive. i appreciate good

lighting first and foremost. you don't want to be in the studio. while you don't want to be in this one here. it's other we have been talking about so much on the show, and throughout the year and it's the ability tojust and throughout the year and it's the ability to just pause and know that that's ok, that we can be alone with ourselves and we don't need all the glitz and glamour, we don't need all the things that we are so accustomed to it to become so accustomed to over the years. a little time at home with the family is really special, whether that's a friend or a neighbour, and that's enough. we need to remember that as things start to pick up. a good place to bring this to a close, matthew rodriguez and courtney hall, thank you so much forjoining us here on the bbc and good luck with all of that. i good way to bring our

programme to a close, i'm back with the headlines here injust a moment or two without the cracker. see you ina bit. good evening. the sun has set on what was a chilly final day of 2020. temperatures for some barely got above freezing. there was a covering of snow on the ground in places and this is how it looked from space. this is the recent satellite picture. you can see speckled shower clouds that have been moving across parts of wales and the south west as those showers clear away. we could see some icy stretches here. through the night, we've got a band of cloud with some rain, sleet, and hill snow moving across northern england into north wales. i think it will mostly be over high ground that we see the wintry weather. at lower levels, it'll mainly be rain. some slightly less cold air tied in with that weather system but elsewhere, we see clear skies and particularly, it is going to be a really cold, frosty night.

a foggy night, too, and a foggy start to new year's day across parts of east anglia and the south—east perhaps into central — southern england as well. generally speaking, england and wales will have quite a cloudy day with some patchy rain, sleet, and hill snow at times. brighter skies and sunshine for northern ireland and scotland albeit with some showers. particularly northern coasts. and temperatures between 3—7 celsius at best. as we move out of friday into saturday, we will keep high pressure to the west of us. low pressure to the east driving up fairly gentle northerly winds, not a particularly windy day on saturday. but that wind will bring some showers into northeast scotland, eastern coasts of england as well, maybe one or two pembrokeshire in the far south west of england. those showers could be wintry over high ground. a bit of sunshine elsewhere, highs between 1—6 celsius. now, for sunday, a subtle shift in the wind direction. the wind starts to come round to more of a northeasterly. that will feed increasingly showery conditions into eastern areas. those showers again wintry over high ground but with some shelter further west, should be largely dry with some sunshine, another cold day for all of us. and that shift in the wind direction

is because this area of high pressure will be re—orientating itself moving towards the north of the british isles, lower pressure to the south. that is going to drive a pretty strong easterly wind across our shores as we head into next week. it's going to feel quite raw at times, i think, and that wind with sympathy cold air in place. we will season showers of rain, sleet, and snow particularly across england and wales. brighter for northern ireland and scotland, but staying chilly for all of us.

this is bbc world news. the headlines. several hospitals in london and the south east of england say they are under extreme pressure due to the sheer weight of covid cases — patients are being moved as intensive care units reach capacity. there's been a small number of patients transferred around the country very long distances to enable them to receive intensive care. so, patients have come both to plymouth and to bristol from kent. there's been a small number of patients transferred around the country very long distances to enable them to receive intensive care. so, patients have come both to plymouth and to bristol from kent. the end of a nearly 50—year partnership — the uk leaves the trading bloc of the eu at 11pm tonight. the delay to the return of secondary schools in england will be as "short as possible" say government ministers. at midnight tonight, another 20 million people in england will go into tier 4, the highest level of covid restrictions.