this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. 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. the end of a nearly 50 year marriage — the uk leaves the trading bloc of the eu tonight. china approves its first, home—produced corona virus vaccine — for general use — claiming it's nearly 80 percent effective.

and a rare sight of fireworks this new year — sydney bucks the global trend for a celebration muted by covid. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. record numbers of coronavirus cases have been recorded here in the uk as several hospitals in london and the south—east of england say they are under extreme pressure because of the current surge. one senior intensive care doctor has gone so far as to accuse anyone who ignores the rules on social distancing as having "blood on their hands". almost 56,000 new cases have been recorded in the uk in the past 2a hours and there've been a further 964 deaths of people who tested positive. here's our health editor hugh pym

a major london hospital today, this critical care unit for covid patients were set up last weekend, in a ward formerly used for patients recovering after major operations. 12 to m, 18, 20 by the end of the day, two a day. and then we are full. university college hospital is now caring for more than 200 covid patients. numbers are increasing by 5% every day. today, there was a plea to the public to follow social distancing rules over new year and weeks ahead. what we are really, really on our knees begging is for people to do their part... yeah, to take the pressure. once again, we being asked to dig a bit deeper, work a bit... which we are desperately trying to do but we are shattered. finding enough beds, ventilators and other equipment is one thing but ensuring

there are enough staff to cope with the surge in covid patient numbers is a really big challenge. there are relatively high number is absent because of sickness and the need to self—isolate. and hospital management say there are no easy or insta nt a nswers. we are over full capacity. we are doing much more than we usually do. so it's excessively busy, so you need staff that is actually educated and trained to care for very sick people and we do not have endless amounts of that type of staff available. some hospitals in the south—east of england are now so stretched that patients arriving at a&e are being treated in ambulances and it emerged today that in some cases, covid patients are having to be sent across england for treatment. because in the south—west we have been less stretched, what we have done is activated systems and processes that we had set up some time ago to find intensive care beds further afield than would normally be the case. so patients have come both to plymouth and bristol from kent.

back at uch, they are creating another ward into an intensive care unit but they know the 20 beds here will fill quickly. with viewing any doubt that january will be even tougher. hugh pym, bbc news. well let's hear more on that warning from an intensive care doctor from london that people who don't follow social distancing rules, or wear masks — have blood on their hands. professor hugh montgomery has been speaking to bbc radio. and it's not the virus, it's people. people are not washing their hands. this is people. people are not doing what they should be doing. 50% or more of people will not even know they have this virus. they'll have such mild disease that they might not even know they've got symptoms and that they're spreading it. but this is very highly contagious. each person can spread this to four to five people in an enclosed space

and each of those can spread it to four to five people. so one person can infect hundreds of thousands of people very easily. people just have... i'm really sorry. i know it's horrible. i'm fed up to the back teeth with this virus, too, and i want to see my friends and family and hug someone. but we can't. we just can't do this right now. so i'm really, really sorry that new year's eve is going to be miserable, but it has to be. please don't gather in masses. don't make this the last swansong. don't give it a, "well, it's all going to be locked down so we'll have one more night out" because we can't have another spread of this. we're going to, you know...it takes ten days for someone who's infected to hit an intensive care unit. so the bad behaviour that might have happened over christmas, we're not going to see that until next week. and if people behave badly on new year, we're not going to get that hitting us until the 8th orjanuary 10th. anyone who's listening this who doesn't wear their mask who behaves like this they have blood on their hands. they are spreading this virus. other people will spread it and people will die. they won't know they've killed people, but they have. we're seeing whole

families coming in now. and i'm watching one parent, then another parent or parent and a child die. you know, i'm watching whole families getting wiped out here and it's got to stop. in just a few hours time — the united kingdom will complete its transition from the european union's single market and customs union — bringing an end to a partnership that lasted 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 iipm 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. let's speak to our economics editor faisal islam.

and a momentous moment, we have finally arrived in the fork in the road. absolutely. as used heard there, this is the practical realisation of brexit in a market we've been in for nearly three decades. the customs union, common market as perhaps most people know it, that we have been in for nearly five decades. in the legal and sovereignty terms means the direct effect of the eu law ceases to apply at 11 o'clock tonight. european courts ofjustices at 11 o'clock tonight. european courts of justices have at 11 o'clock tonight. european courts ofjustices have written all of that stuff goes. in practical terms are transposed almost all of eu law to uk larkham is the influence will still be there. at the option to diverge kicks in from a leather tonight. i think we are broke to getting some legislative and officer of the government almost immediately on what they hope to do with those powers. but with those freedoms comes some changes, as you have been hearing about it the way

that business is done. those rules underpin seamless, frictionless entirely free flowing trade with our main trade partner the european union. we are being phased in a terms of the uk, but they want to be there in terms of trading and that means some friction, what's known as nontariff barriers, checks, and the like to commend the question is whether we can change our business model somewhat from being dependent on that seamless flow of trade with europe that won't now exist towards a more freewheeling, buccaneer ring global britain. that will take some time. is it possible to say that as we speak now in terms of the practicalities for individuals and businesses, which bits are likely to work as hoped or which bits will be rather bumpier. it's a great help

the prime minister managed to get that deal. it means that the taxes on imports and exports that could have been there under no deal won't be there. but the checks, as i said, will be there. the government has just published its border operating model and you will see a plethora of colligative flow charts and diagrams describing what it now takes to import car parts or export fish, into the european union. the good news is that some of the queues that we saw a week or news is that some of the queues that we saw a week 01’ so news is that some of the queues that we saw a week or so before christmas we re we saw a week or so before christmas were people trying to take advantage of this in advance. some of the trade we expected has already occurred ahead of time. they were expecting trade volumes to be very low. a number of those that have been granted are very small, so actual business on the road will be quite small. but the supermarkets that i talked to think that the effect of these rules will hit in

mid—january, and of january. incoming and the government had a whole series of easements which means that they will be phased in over three months and six months, but yes this will affect business but yes this will affect business but not so, in a phased manner. spain has reached a deal with the uk to maintain free movement to and from gibraltar once the uk formally leaves the eu. to avoid a hard border, they have agreed that gibraltar willjoin the eu's schengen zone and follow other eu rules, while remaining part of the uk. sir bob neill chairs the all—party parliamentary group on gibraltar. welcome to the programme. your reaction to this deal being done? it's very good news. the can't promise that we would not leave gibraltar behind once we had decided to leave the eu despite gibraltar having voted overwhelmingly to stay, they were determined to remain british so we undertook the promise that we were going to get a deal for

them and glad we delivered on that. very important for them, for their economy and actually for us as well stop by inch of the detail of that agreement, gibraltar has joined stop by inch of the detail of that agreement, gibraltar hasjoined the eu schengen zone, will follow other eu schengen zone, will follow other eu rules, what if that leave the whole sovereignty issue? the sovereignty issue is not affected at all. it's a particular arrangement which we knew that gibraltar was always going to need because gibraltar unlike any other part of the uk territories, has a land border with europe which is really important. it is the only way in and out. there was always going to have to be an this book deal for gibraltar. sovereignty was made clear but by the british and other governments that will it's not on the table. the spaniards have not withdrawn their claim but i have, i'm glad to say come pragmatic in recognising the fact that is about 50,000 people crossing from spain into gibraltar every day, and under

normal circumstances just to work. gibraltar actually is a big economic driver of a much bigger area, much of which is in spain. so for their benefit as well. has ratified by the eu commission, do you think that's a given? will this last?|j eu commission, do you think that's a given? will this last? i think it will last. had to be as part of the pressure, but not in the barnier negotiations mandate. to make sure spain is satisfied and expect them to stick to that it will be then registered at a treaty in the same weight asi registered at a treaty in the same weight as i work withdrawal agreement is registered as a treaty which means it cannot be changed just if there was a change of government. it gives gibraltar security. thank you for talking to us. 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 dr george siber, a renowned vaccine expert who has been advising a number of chinese companies to develop covid—19 vaccines. thank you so much for being here with us. your assessment on today prospect development with this chinese vaccine? my pleasure. a very positive development. we need other manufacturers who produce vaccines at scale for covid. we have 7.8 million people in the world to make a proportion of them need to be immunised, and so the more manufacturers i think the better. the efficacy and safety of this vaccine has been announced and press

releases and interviews by various officials in china. so i think we have to wait for final publication before we comment thoroughly but the efficacy sounds very encouraging. 79% as you mentioned. and the safety also appears to be very good. the obvious question, start to cut across, you touched on it. it's the first question everybody asked about. any of these new vaccines, is it safe? are you concerned that innocenceis it safe? are you concerned that innocence is the lack of transparency, we have not seen the data for this particular vaccine and the decisions made upon it. it has not been published. that's correct. iam not been published. that's correct. i am concerned that i think all of us are concerned i am concerned that i think all of us are concerned that are watching this. we want to see published data and so farwe this. we want to see published data and so far we have not seen that from this product. you anticipate

that people in china will only have access to this vaccine or will they have access to the variety of vaccines that are now becoming available? i can't speak for the chinese government, but there are multiple programmes in china under way. and i believe multiple vaccines will ultimately be licensed, and also the chinese to improve vaccines from us, and i think those will be available as well in all likelihood. in terms of your reservations that you touched upon, of course when covid—19 first emerged they were quite quick, the chinese come in to share that data. how soon do you hope to actually have sight of today prospect decisions and the material made to actually get there?|j prospect decisions and the material made to actually get there? i would hope it would be in the next two or three months at the latest. it's a

difficult line there to you, so we are going to leave it there but thank you for taking the time and for joining thank you for taking the time and forjoining us here on the programme. thanks very much. the highly anticipated 0xford/astrazeneca vaccine was approved for use in the uk yesterday bringing with it a change in strategy in how the country 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 three 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, we're 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." briefly, what have you actually told patients in those calls that you've had to make so far? what have you actually said to people who, presumably, were due to come in the next couple of days? so they are due to come next weekend, and we have not yet made those calls.

0k. just a question, you mentioned what the manufacturers have said, i just want to put on the screen what pfizer said in their statement following the change. they said that there are vaccines are not designed to be used 12 weeks apart. so how worrying is that for you as a clinician? i think it's very worrying. the people that we have given a first dose to are our most elderly, most vulnerable patients, and i think there's some really interesting questions about whether you should spread out some protection to the maximum number of people, or whether you should give maximum protection to a smaller number of people, but we plan to do the former from a and that's what we promised them. and i think we should be standing by our patients, and standing by the science.

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. new year celebrations around the world have been mostly muted by the pandemic, but many people have still been keen to mark the end of a difficult year. in those countries with fewer coronavirus cases, the traditional fireworks have gone ahead — but with strict covid conditions — while in the uk, the usual midnight celebrations have been cancelled. 0ur correspondent sarah campbell reports. four, three, two, one! auckland, new zealand, one of the first places to welcome in 2021. the festivities were not what they normally would be, but as in sydney, australia, it was felt the occasion should be marked with a firework display. both countries have managed to keep covid infections relatively low and that has to be cause for celebration. in wuhan, china, where the

coronavirus took hold a year ago, crowds gathered this evening to watch the countdown. life largely returning to normal. across much of the globe, though, it is a different story. in 2019,100,000 people crowded together to see in the new year in london. who could have guessed how different life would be 12 months later? covid restrictions mean that large gatherings — as would normally be the case here on victoria embankment — simply can't happen. but as the fireworks are cancelled this year there won't be much to see at midnight anyway. it would be really nice to have had something like fireworks, just to kind of celebrate the new year. hopefully a lot more to look forward to in 2021 as opposed to what we have had to go through with the pandemic. personally i am disappointed but i understand, yeah. i work in a hospital and i know how hard it is that we should stay apart and we should celebrate new year at home tonight. instead of fireworks, a light show

filmed at the london eye has been made available on social media. in edinburgh, too, revellers who would normally fill up these streets on hogmanay are being asked to stay at home instead and watch a pre—recorded drone display filmed above the scottish capital and the highlands. stunning images to welcome in 2021, a year in which it is hoped the uk will be able to recapture its party spirit. sarah campbell, bbc news. a woolly rhino from the ice age has been unearthed in the russian arctic. believed to have lived up to 50,000 years ago most of its internal organs are still intact. scientists say the rhino was between three and four years old when it died, probably from drowning. discoveries of preserved animals have become more frequent in northern russia as global warming has melted the permafrost.

that's it for me, back with headlines here injust a moment. don't go away. 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, where we see clear skies particularly, it is going to be a really cold and 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 for 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 wind, 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 for pembrokeshire and 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 north—easterly. 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, in that wind with some pretty cold air in place. we will see some 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. a record number of new infections have been reported in the uk in the past 2a hours. china has approved its first home—produced coronavirus vaccine for general use. the drug is said to be almost 80% effective. several other foreign—made vaccines are already being administered across china. the end of a nearly 50—year partnership. the uk leaves the trading bloc of the eu at 11pm brussels time. legislation to ratify the uk's post—brexit relationship with the eu became law in the uk parliament early on thursday. the delay to the return of secondary schools in england will be as "short as possible" say government ministers.