this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. research confirms the the new coronavirus variant discovered in the uk has a much quicker rate of transmission. if the new variant is now present, with this increase in the r number, all of a sudden instead of a decrease of 30%, we get a massive increase, the number of cases over the same period could triple. so, this is more or less the most serious change in the virus that we've seen. as the us struggles to roll out the covid vaccine, we look at which countries have responded best to the challenge. a new era begins, as the brexit transition period ends and the uk completes its formal separation from the european union. as 2021 begins we hear from young people around the world

and their hopes for the next 12 months. and i truly believe and feel in my gut, in my heart, in the stars that we are entering into a new era. there are growing concerns about a new variant of the coronavirus after more analysis confirmed it has a much quicker rate of transmission than the original strain. the variant has now been identified in at least 18 countries around the world after it was originally found here in the uk. officials in colorado and california have discovered cases of the new variant — a concern for the us where theyjust topped 20 million cases of coronavirus. here in the uk, it has led to hospitals being put

under severe stress, with emergency health care staff said to be at "battle stations". our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. it might be a new year, but there's no letup in the pressure on hospitals in london and the south—east. a surge in seriously ill covid patients mean staff are being pushed to the limit. intensive care beds are a real pinch point. some patients are being moved from kent to bristol and plymouth where there is spare capacity. that in itself is not unheard of but doctors say it shows the pressures they are working under. if the number of cases don't begin to reduce fairly soon, and indeed reduce sharply, we would be in a situation where the health care infrastructure, notjust in london but across the entire country, is overwhelmed. and it's not just rising patient numbers. staff themselves are falling ill, meaning resources are getting stretched. everybody is reporting

a lot of pressure. everybody is saying it's really difficult to off—load ambulances because our departments are full, because in turn our hospitals are full. it's very frustrating because you can't look after patients the way you want to and you feel helpless when you know there is a sick patient in an ambulance that you just can't get into a department because there isn't space. in order to provide some relief, the nightingale hospital in london is being made ready for non—covid patients, but still hospitals report the situation remains very difficult. when we are seeing major london trusts, as we have seen in the media today, basically saying they are under real pressure, they are at more than double the normal rate of icu admissions, then we see they are turning whole floors into additional icu space, that's when we know we are in a very, very challenging place. this surge in patient numbers is being driven by the new variant of the coronavirus. it is more contagious and is

affecting more younger people. it's having an impact notjust on hospitals in london and the south—east but right across the country. new research highlights the impact the new variant of the virus is having on the r number — the rate at which it spreads. under the lockdown, maybe over the course of two to three weeks the cases would have decreased by something like 30%. but if the new variant is now present, with this increase in the r number, all of a sudden instead of this decrease of 30%, we get a massive increase, the number of cases over the same period could triple. so this is more or less the most serious change in the virus we have seen since the epidemic began. the best defence against the virus remains maintaining social distance, good hand hygiene and wearing face coverings, but the big concern is as this new variant spreads the extreme pressures now evident in london and the south—east will soon be seen across the country. dominic hughes, bbc news.

we heard from professor axel gandy in the report from dominic hughes — he helped author the study on the new variant. i asked him how much faster it moves through the population than the original form of the virus. let me first say that the analysis we are talking about is an update of an early analysis that was fed into government policy over the last few weeks. epidemiologists, geneticists and public health england to get the data together and get this analysis done very rapidly. at the moment these are still early days result. we have only been doing this kind of analysis now for the last few weeks. but in terms of how more rapidly it spreads, we estimate the r number, the reproduction number, the number of people infected per infected individual increases by about 0.4 to 0.7. based on the situation from november roughly where the lockdown was in place,

to put these numbers into perspective as it... if we would assume through the lockdown was the article was below run and the virus was decreasing, over the course of 2—3 weeks if the reduction number was 0.9, it was not quite that but let's assume that it was, over the period of time the number of infections would have decreased by something like 30%. now, if you add 0.4 to 0.7 to that r number, you go above one and you can increase and quite a steep increase. now the range is quite wide so this tripling isjust one number picked out of a large range but over the course of 2—3 weeks in november, the number of cases of the new variant double or tripled. i should caveats one more thing here that it is not quite clear whether this will happen. this is based on november. it's not clear how it will happen

in the new context with the new tier restrictions in place. professor gandy, when the new variant was first talked about, there was some concern that it was particularly transmissible among young people. is there any more evidence that this is the case? we have seen some evidence that a larger proportion of young people were infected then by the new virus than they would be otherwise but this may not be due to any biological reasons and could be simply due to the kind of effect or the restrictions that were placed on young people as opposed to older people, schools were open, but the lockdown for older populations were in place so that it is not clear with that this is a biological difference or a consequence of the way the restrictions were in place. two things to add, the differences are not that big. the new virus affects the entire population. the second thing is in newer data, it is not quite clear as we have come out of the lockdown in december, it seems this difference was not as prominent anymore.

this is something we need to keep an eye on but it is not quite clear whether young people are more affected or not. professor axel gandy. a new era has begun for the united kingdom, after completing its formal separation from the european union. there will be changes to many aspects of life, from travel to security, migration and business. 0n the first day of the separation, there's been no reported disruption to freight across the channel between england and france. 0ur correspondent mark easton reports from the dover port. the dawn of the new year, and at the uk border in dover, the start of a new chapter for cross—channel relations. bonjour, monsieur! merci, my love. brexit is now a reality. these lorries needing to navigate a tangle of red tape, customs checks and regulatory inspections, plus, of course, covid tests, before being permitted to cross the border. 25 miles outside the port, hgvs reach a police checkpoint on the m20. they need to have a kent access permit, nicknamed a kermit,

to demonstrate their paperwork is in order. european truck drivers heading to the continent seemed sanguine about all the extra hassle. i have the permission to go, yes. was that difficult or was it an extra? no, no. has it been difficult for you today? no. it's ok. ilike england! good for you! traffic is usually light on new year's day but with details of the trading deal with the eu published less than a week ago, many import—export companies are delaying journeys, with fears of widespread disruption to freight in the next weeks and months. many shipments that we had booked for next week have been cancelled and they‘ re choosing to get their supplies from europe rather than coming from the united kingdom. so i do see that there is going to be some problems, obviously, with suppliers. 1,651 days since the uk voted to leave the european union, and finally brexit has

become a reality. now we shall see what that choice means for our relationship with our nearest neighbours, and for britain's standing around the globe. today is the first day of our complete independence from the european union. technically, we were independent on the 31st of january last year, but of course we have just gone through the transitional period and now that is completed so we can say absolutely clearly that britain is a sovereign, independent state. taking control of our borders has meant new infrastructure, new it systems to speed up customs processing, but they remain largely untested. new inland borderfacilities — but the largest is still not ready to open. fingers are being firmly crossed. what the government is trying to do is essentially buy itself more time in a few more areas. they will be waiving import controls on goods coming into the uk to allow them to get the necessary systems and infrastructure in place to be able to manage that.

the government accepts there will be bumpy moments as people adapt to the new post—brexit environment but insists that today marks the moment when the united kingdom takes back control of its destiny. mark easton, bbc news, dover. there were fears freight traffic could be held up at calais which is the key transit point between the uk and the eu today. 0ur correspondent bethany bell is at the french port monitoring the situation. there hasn't been a great deal of freight traffic today. there has been some and the authorities here say things have gone relatively smoothly. this is a public holiday, there is a weekend coming up and as we heard in that reportjust now, a number of firms are waiting to see how things pan out over the next couple of weeks or so. and what we are hearing here is that business may not be back to normal levels until the middle of january or so.

and the authorities here say that they are prepared, they have had a lot of dry runs about how to carry out all these new checks and custom formalities. but the question will be whether individual companies, the exporters themselves will be prepared, whether they will have got their heads all around the new red tape that is not required and the head of the port here said that congestion isn't a necessary given but everybody has to play their part in order to prevent delays. -- is —— is now required for some. us senators have convened for a rare new year's day session to continue action on a major defence spending bill which president trump had vetoed. these are wife pictures from there 110w. “— these are wife pictures from there now. —— life. senators are expected to cast procedural votes today, which will then clear the way

for a veto vote saturday. the bill had already passed both houses of congress with a veto—proof majority of 811—13 earlier this month. the final vote is expected later on friday or on saturday, with a two—thirds vote required to overturn the veto. donald trump has tweeted his last new year's message as president, saying "we have to be remembered for what's been done." in less than three weeks, mr trump will be leaving the white house — and joe biden will take office — marking a dramatic shift in us politics. 0ur senior north america reporter anthony zurcher, takes us through his predictions for the year ahead. of course, the biggest topic in us politics in 2021 is that there is going to be a new president leading the country. donald trump's time in the oval office is coming to an end and onjanuary the 20th, joe biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the united states. normally in the first 100 days of a presidency,

the president focuses on his agenda and his priorities at a time when his political capital is at its highest, butjoe biden pretty much has his agenda already set for him. 100 million shots in the first 100 days. his administration is going to be responsible for rolling out a coronavirus vaccine in an efficient and equitable manner. after that, joe biden is going to have to focus on the societal and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. millions of american households are facing financial ruin. large swaths of the us economy are all facing financial devastation. state and local government budgets are facing massive deficits because of declining tax revenue. joe biden has already said he wants to pass a new coronavirus aid package in the first days of his administration and only after that will he focus on other parts of his political agenda. does he want to expand on health

care reforms passed by barack 0bama? does he want to tackle the growing cost of college education and student debt? 0r put money into infrastructure? 0r address climate change? now, the ambitiousness ofjoe biden‘s agenda will be determined within the first week of 2021 in two run—up elections for us senate seats in georgia. if democrats win them both, they will control the us senate as well as the house of representatives and the white house for the first time since 2010. if republicans win one, then it is two more years of divided government and probably legislative gridlock. the other big question hanging over 2021 in us politics is what donald trump does next. he is heading down to florida. will he continue to contest the election results from there, challenging democrats and trying to undermine joe biden‘s administration? will he start his own conservative media company that could compete with fox news or position himself or one of his children to run

for president in 202a? now, former presidents, when they leave the white house, tend to try and stay above the political fray and they slowly fade from the scenes. that does not seem likely in 2021 with this ex—president. donald trump may be leaving the white house, but as far as us politics is concerned, it does not seem like he is going to go anywhere. 0ur senior north america reporter, anthony zurcher, looking ahead to a new year in us politics. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the new york stock exchange says it will delist three chinese telecommunications firms because of their alleged links with china's military. the move comes after president trump signed an executive order in november barring us investments in chinese companies that were seen as a threat to national security. rescuers in norway have found a body in the debris of homes swallowed up by a landslide

near oslo on wednesday. it's the first confirmed fatality. homes were buried under mud — some left teetering over a crater caused by the slide. nine people, including children, are still unaccounted for. adobe flash — the internet browser plug—in for watching animations and playing games — is being discontinued after 2a years. released in the early days of the web, adobe's flash player was once one of the most popular ways to stream videos online, but the software failed to make the transition to the smartphone era. covid—19 vaccines are being rolled out around the world. almost ten million people have already received their first shot. but it's not being distributed evenly across the globe. some vaccine programmes are racing ahead. at the top of the list is israel — which expects to have vaccinated over 10% of its citizens by the end of this week. china has been able

to vaccinate around four and a half million people. meanwhile, many vaccination programmes in africa are will not even start until the middle of the year. and the covax scheme — a who vaccine initiative, aims to protect 20% of the populations from 92 low and middle and income countries by the end of 2021. —— and middle income. the uk's chief medical officers have defended the covid vaccination plan, after criticism from a doctors' union. people will receive the two doses of the oxford and pfizer vaccines 12 weeks apart, instead of four weeks. i have been speaking to professor adam finn who, with other experts, has been advising the uk government on who should get the vaccine first. he explains the reasons behind the recommended delay between the two jabs.

the very important point is that enables us to immunise people who would have no protection at all by giving more than a first dose in this initial crisis period. you say you are confident but where does this confidence come from? if you are unsure how strong that first dose of the vaccine can be and what kind of protection it can offer, isn't it possible that the government is making a big mistake by delaying the second jab? the confidence comes from our knowledge of the human immune response which is very extensively studied in the

context of many infections and many vaccines and we know that immunity does not evaporate after a short period of time. it persists, it may wane over time over a longer period but we know absolutely with great certainty that it does notjust disappear over a short period like this. it has made some people quite nervous that the vaccine roll—out strategy has been changed so quickly after it was first introduced. what assurances can you offer that it's under control and it's going to plan? well, in terms of assurances that it will work because we are just starting here, we have a very strong tradition in the united kingdom of a very effective deployment of vaccines, and using them as efficiently as possible to achieve the maximum public health impact. and we're continuing to do that now. in terms of what will now happen next, i think we have to have confidence in our national health service and its ability to act

quickly and effectively in delivering these vaccines as soon as become available. and we're going to see the second vaccine come through as early as monday next week. professor adam finn. millions around the world have been seeing out 2020 and marking the start of 2021. with lockdowns or other restrictions in place in many countries, many would—be new year pa rtygoers were told to have a quiet night in. although, thousands of spectators watched fireworks light up the night sky in taiwan to mark the beginning of 2021. but in new york city, just a handful of people were allowed into times square to watch confetti rain down and the tradition crystal ball drop. scotland celebrated behind closed doors and instead of fireworks they staged a drone show with a series of videos titled fare well. the drones formed symbols and animals. 2020 was a difficult year for people — of all ages. so how do younger generations feel the year affected them and their futures? the bbc has been gauging

some of their views. 0of. shocking, sad in a way... it was just a nightmare. horrible and heartbreaking and hopeful. i guess, like, life—changing. a learning experience. i think 2020 was a very terrifying suffering but very hopeful because we suffered a lot but we made it. i've been alone in lockdown for three months. it's been really, really hard. i don't like being alone so it's been an experience, like a bad experience for me. in two ways, 2020 has been really shocking. first, would obviously be the coronavirus pandemic. for me personally, because i live in hong kong, i would say the second thing that was really shocking would be the national security law in july because that was also

very life—changing. well, because we had to lockdowns and stayed home, it really made the world look smaller. it made young people realise their importance in politics or how important politics is when doing with crisis. i think everyone is still feeling varying degrees of loss and adjustment. we're not out of this for at least another year in my mind. 2020 especially during the pandemic really did see a lot of people banding together and helping out. you saw groups of people going out to share packs of food with people that were homeless, and i thought that was very inspiring. it's going to be hard finding jobs for my generation, maybe for the next years. for most young people, theyjust don't know what the future looks like for hong kong. young people in nigeria have so much potential within them. like, the pandemic as bad as it was, it did create that avenue and space. i was able to do things like start my own food blog.

it's both been a year of a lot of loss and a lot of grief and a lot of rage. and sometimes that pulls people apart but a lot of the time, it really, really cements us together. i think health is the most important thing. you know, in china, young people have the great pressure of leaving all the houses, cars, living standards. so, sometimes we sacrificed health, we cannot bring the money to our graves. it doesn't matter anymore. i think for 2021, i need to be more flexible and not have too many plans and expectations. 2020 is the year that everything changed, and i truly believe and feel in my gut, in my heart, in the stars that we are entering into a new era. 2020 has shown the extent of her potential and 2021 is now the time to make good use of the potential.

—— our potential. i wish everyone can go back to our normal life, no matter people in china or in other countries. i hope the virus can be solved. happy new year! speaks italian speaks portuguese speaks chinese a reminder breaking news at this hour. the united states has recorded more than 20 million cases of covid—19, according to johns more than 20 million cases of covid—19, according tojohns hopkins university. the us has so far registered nearly 350,000 deaths from the virus. there are growing concerns about a new variant of the coronavirus after more analysis confirmed it has after more analysis confirmed it has a much quicker rate of transmission and the original strain. officials in colorado and california have discovered cases of the new variant and there are now reports it may be becoming more widespread in parts of

california. that is all from us for now. bye—bye. hello, good evening. there is no real sign of things warming up anytime soon. this cold weather certainly with us for the next few days but probably for the next week or more. there will probably be some wintry showers at times. on the earlier satellite picture, you can see speckled showers, clouds being brought down on the northerly wind. some slightly more widespread cloudy weather that's been affecting parts of england and wales today, bringing some spots of rain, some bits and pieces of sleet and snow as well. that will tend to clear away southwards, although it will stay quite misty and murky, i think across parts of the south—east. and some showers still in that northerly wind, northern ireland, northern and eastern scotland. down the east coast of england, some of those showers will be wintry. where you see clear skies for much of the night, it's going to be very cold indeed,

—7, maybe —8 in one or two sheltered spots. so into tomorrow, a bit cloudy and murky to start off across east anglia and the south—east. then, it is a sunshine and showers day. the showers again being blown in on the northerly wind. so, through northern ireland, west wales, devon and cornwall, parts of northeast scotland, the eastern side of england, but even if you keep sunshine through the day, it will feel chilly. those are the top temperatures through the afternoon. 2 to 5 degrees. the showers in eastern england are likely to drift further inland through parts of the midlands and into wales. a brief covering of snow in places through saturday night. as we get into sunday, a subtle change. because this area of high pressure to the west shifts up to the north as the high changes shape the winds direction change as well. instead of the northerly winds we are going to have a north—easterly wind. a subtle shift but it will focus the showers into eastern areas and provide a bit of shelter out west so northern ireland, wales, the south—west

should see dryer weather was sunshine on sunday. but that the north—easterly wind will be quite wet. it is to feel quite raw i think with temperatures on the thermometer 4—6 degrees. could feel colder than that. into the start of next week still high pressure to the north. quite a few white lines here on the chart. quite a few isobars that shows we will keep that brisk northeasterly wind. the blue colours on the chart, the air is still coming from a fairly cold place. low temperatures to take us right through the coming week. and there is the chance of some rain, sleet and snow at times.

this is bbc world news.

the headlines. some breaking news, the us has just topped 20 million cases of coronavirus. this come as research confirms the the new coronavirus variant discovered in the uk has a much quicker rate of transmission. if the new variant is now present, with this increase in the r number, all of a sudden instead of a decrease of 30%, we get a massive increase, the number of cases over the same period could triple. so, this is more or less the most serious change in the virus that we've seen. the us struggles to roll out the covid vaccine as it records over 20 million cases, according to thejohn hopkins university. a new era begins, as the brexit transition period ends and the uk completes its formal separation from the european union.