this is bbc news. the headlines... pressure grows to shut more schools in england. unions are demanding an immediate two week closure of all primaries and secondaries we don't think it's safe. we think there should be a period of closure to get those cases down to make sure they've fallen well below where they were before christmas. it's vital that that happens. it comes as the uk records more than 50,000 cases for the fifth day in a row india begins a nation—wide mock drill to test its preparedness for mass immunisation against covid—19. french police shut down an illegal rave that had been under way since new year's eve — with more than 2,500 partygoers.

there's mounting pressure on the british government to close all schools in england for face—to—face teaching for two weeks after the christmas holidays. teaching unions say a move to home learning for most children is necessary to curb the spread of coronavirus. 0ne union is advising teachers not to return to school on monday over safety fears. figures released in the past hour show a further 57,725 positive coronavirus cases in the past 2a hours here in the uk — the highest daily total. there have also been a further a45 deaths. here's our education correspondent dan johnson. in liverpool, teachers are already at the head of the queue for tests,

but there are more and more voices saying schools shouldn't reopen on monday. it seems to me just to be inexplicable that the government is getting this so badly wrong. we said all schools should be closed for the first two weeks, and we regret to have to say that. we don't want to have to say that schools will close, but our fear is, if we don't do something now, they're going to have to be closed for much longer, for a much longer period later this month. secondary schools will phase the return from the 11th of january, with year groups facing exams this summer in first. the government announced that the majority of england's primary schools would take children back on monday, except in some virus hotspots across the south—east. last night, it had to reverse the patchwork approach in london, so now all the capital's primaries will stay closed. it's good that they're safeguarding teachers now, but ijust think school's the best place for them to be. so this means they can get back — i think they need to be back. and i think the government should have done this a long time ago. done a harder lockdown, done it sooner, and i think

we should have been stricter a bit sooner, really. my wife's a key worker, so it means we really haven't got a choice but to send our son in to school. whether that's the right thing or not, or how safe that will be for him, i think is where our concern is now, that we don't really have another option for childcare, and we have to put him in, but at what risk? there is a lot for the government to consider here. the new strains, the rising transmission rates, the pressure on the nhs, and the demographics in different communities. it's always said keeping children off school would be a last resort, but there is growing pressure to extend closures beyond london and parts of the south—east, and teachers are calling for decisions to be made quickly, but clearly. we appreciate it is a fast—moving situation. the government must be getting different health advice all of the time, but schools do need to plan. and, you know, we will be opening for quite a few pupils next week. we'll need two rotas of staff — one to deliver to vulnerable pupils,

pupils without decent internet access, pupils with sen needs, and another to deliver high—quality online learning. all of that takes time, and this decision could have been made two weeks ago. teaching unions are discussing the situation this afternoon, moves this afternoon, with at least one advising staff it isn't safe for staff to be back in the classroom next week. there is also a legal challenge for the government's rationale for reopening on monday. will teachers turn up? will schools be forced to close? everyone recognises the practical difficulties of learning from home, but that's already a reality for many children in the next fortnight, and possibly longer. dan johnson, bbc news, in south—east london. kevin courtney is the joint general secretary

of the national education union, which represents the majority of teachers — and has called for all primary schools in england to move to learning online for at least two weeks. ...we we think that would have kept cases down. the scottish government has delayed the reopening of schools. the government has delayed the reopening of secondary school still then are now quite a number of primary schools. we are saying it has to go further if you can then genuinely say you are following the science. we also think that acting now, acting early, that's the message that you get from this pandemic the whole time is don't wait until cases have gone up and up and then try and manage them down. that takes a lot longer. take action now, get the cases to fall after christmas, and then put in place as measures that can keep cases low. you have told your mind is that they have a legal right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions. —— your members. do you consider primary schools, if they do reopen next week, unsafe conditions? would

expect people, workers, teachers, support staff, not to work with mac we do consider it unsafe based on the science that we've been outlining. so, yeah, in this country, people have the right not to work in unsafe buildings and unsafe settings, and that can be unsafe for them and unsafe for community. if a building worker turns up at work and they think the building might fall down on passers—by, they can refuse to work there. you can take action to protect others as well. we think that it's unsafe, based on what sage have said about the r rate, based on the imperial college, the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine, those studies talk about the possibility of there being an increased propensity of the new variant of the virus

to spread amongst children. we need science, we need more science on that. they've also talked about the new variant being so much more transmissible that we'll have to take more steps to get it down. we know that members of our union got sick, some of them died over the christmas period, so there is the concern for our members. there's also the concern for parents and grandparents and we don't think it's safe. we think they should be a period of closure to get those cases down to make sure they've fallen well below where they were before christmas. it's vital that happens. 0ur political correspondent chris mason is here... a lot of pressure on the government. can we expect a u—turn, another u—turn? can we expect a u—turn, another u-turn? fest and suggests a u-turn is entirely possible. whether commences this afternoon, and they say this is a pretty quickly evolving picture and they say their default position is that schools in england should be open wherever possible and it is in exceptional cases where you do anything other than that so we already know about the couple of weeks of secondary school pupils being the learning and for all primary schools in london in large chunks of the south—east of england but they argue that that is exceptional and they say that the testing provision that they are putting in place in secondaries and

in primaries as well will allow schools to come either stay open or reopen even though there is this new variant. the unions argument is that the new variant is a game changer, and whilst in the past they may have been a case to be made that children we re been a case to be made that children were at relatively low risk, particularly primary children, they argue that the evidence isn't there for that now. i know from speaking to union leaders this afternoon that they are in very close contact with each other, they are having regular meetings, they are sharing other information. they represent different strands of the education profession silicon that it was su btly profession silicon that it was subtly different perspectives. i think what is interesting though that the national education union that the national education union that you are just hearing from their arguing that their members should not be turning to work and it would be unsafe for them to turn up to a school that is opening a conventional sense of what is going to be interesting come next week is how many teachers in areas where schools are meant to be open actually turn up and if large numbers don't, does that force the

government's hands, and ensure, for the union's perspective that they get what they want which is that there is some sort of firebreak, a couple of weeks, where schools are not open. as things stand, the government is holding firm but as a lwa ys government is holding firm but as always happens when you turn that in the offing, you don't hear the screech of the tyres until the handbrake is pulled, so they hold their position until the point that they don't hold to it and as things stand they are holding to it. when i spoke to kevin earlier he basically cited the sage report published i think on the 22nd of december where he spoke he said about the ad rate and the dangers of keeping primaries and the dangers of keeping primaries and secondaries open. do you think the government is going to be looking at that scientology think it is going to be looking at other aspects that is the politics and economics of the decision making. —— looking at that science or do you think it is going to be looking at other aspects like the politics and economics. under the new variant that you are not going to keep our weight under one if you have schools

open and that is the basis of the union's argument. from the government's perspective they have to weigh that up alongside the welfare of children if they are not at school and they say the basis upon which they reach their decision so upon which they reach their decision so far is not purely on the likelihood of transmission within a school, it's the contribution of the school, it's the contribution of the school being open to the spread within the broader community and also the population of that community, is it disproportionately older, and also the capacity and local hospitals. that has driven the decision in london and the south—east, for instance, rather than any certainty that schools themselves are a source of danger. i think the blunt reality though is that it think the blunt reality though is thatitis think the blunt reality though is that it is this huge swell of uncertainty with the new term beckoning and that is not going to go away. i think the reality of the next couple of months as father schools are concerned across the uk is going to be one of consistent uncertainty where things change very quickly, where things are open one

minute and close the next and of a variable picture in different parts of the country. 0k, chris, thank you very much. with the second—highest number of coronavirus infections in the world, india has begun testing its plans for a huge vaccination programme. a full—scale rehearsal is now under way, involving tens of thousands of health workers and volunteers across the country. two vaccines have been give the green light — the astrazeneca 0xford vaccine and another from a state—run institute. the aim is to vaccinate as many as 300 million people by the middle of this year — that's just under a quarter of the nation's entire population. india has reported more than 10.3 million covid—i9 cases and around 150,000 deaths. 0ur south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan has more from delhi. it's going to be a major challenge for the indian health care system because they have never done anything like this before. at the same time, you have to inoculate within a few months

about 300 million people. india has a lot of experience in terms of mass vaccination programmes. for example, they had this polio vaccinations some time ago and the country is now polio—free, so they have the experience and expertise, but they want to make sure the system will cope with such a huge number. this comes a day after the expert panel committee appointed by the government recommended the use of astrazeneca oxford university vaccine and it is being produced in india itself by one of the world's largest vaccine makers, the serum institute of india, and this is the south asian version of that, equal to this oxford university vaccine. and the government hopes that this will be the main answer to this pandemic because this vaccine is cost—effective and it can be transported easily. it doesn't require deep freeze kind of conditions. now, tens of thousands of workers were trained and they're being monitored on how the whole process will go off.

and they also want to monitor the patients after the vaccination is given, whether there are any side effects. so the logistics, transportation and also the computer system, the software system to manage the whole thing, needs to be calibrated and that is what happened today. india held one of its biggest rehearsals for this vaccination ride. batches of the newly approved coronavirus vaccine from oxford university and astrazeneca have started arriving at hospitals in the uk ahead of the jab‘s roll—out. some 530,000 doses of the vaccine will be available for roll—out across the country from monday, with vulnerable groups already identified as the priority for immunisation. i'm joined now by our health correspondent, katharine da costa... what is happening today? well, the princess royal hospital in acer six is one of the first hospitals to

receive the first batches of the 0xford astrazeneca vaccine. it was only approved and wednesday that the first batches was that beginning roll—out across the uk on wednesday. the chief medical officer at the trial said it is a very exciting moment. they had booked a number of nhs staff and care home workers into their first jabs and doctor george finlay has said it has provided a very positive moment for his staff who have worked incredibly hard. what this does is allows us to focus oi'i what this does is allows us to focus on the most vulnerable people and make sure they are protected from this disease and ultimately that is going to keep people well and it is going to keep people well and it is going to keep people well and it is going to reduce the pressure on the health service, you know, over the next few months. are you ready to go for monday? how quickly can you administer them? how many vaccines do expect to give on monday and in the week that follows cool smack we are the week that follows cool smack we a re fully the week that follows cool smack we are fully set up and expect wheels vaccinate as many people as possible but we anticipate getting to many hundreds a day to start within that number will increase as the week goes on so number will increase as the week goes on so it is really exciting to

be able to offer protection to many people. health leaders have been highlighting just how straight they are particularly in london in the south—eastern that the princess royal where they have had to cancel some services to focus on the large number of covid patience. now, although there are no exact number is given today, doctor findlay said that vaccinations will be running for 12 hours a day and the numbers of people receiving theirjobs will be vamped up as the week goes on. it is nearly a month since the pfizer vaccine first began early in december and since then abouti million people have been vaccinated. because the oxford vaccine can be stored on a regularfridge, it should mean that it is easier to distribute, to get into care homes and also into the larger community vaccination centres and that will help to speed up the roll—out process. now, the hope is to reach 2 million vaccinations a week if supplies allow in order to protect 25 million of the most vulnerable people by late spring. there is

worry, isn't there, catherine, about the delay between the first and second jobs now? yes, on wednesday was announced that two doses, both for the office 0xford astrazeneca and the pfizer—biontech vaccine is would now be given up to 12 weeks apartand would now be given up to 12 weeks apart and some have questioned that given that pfizer had only trialled the gap to be three weeks apart. the joint committee for vaccination and immunisation which advises the government has said it is confident that you can give two doses at that distance apart and today the deputy chairman told the bbc that most of the protection comes from the first jab and so there is some evidence that the oxford vaccine, the efficacy actually improves the longer you leave that gap and so the second dose will still be required because that extends the duration of protection but the priority was to vaccinate the most vulnerable as quickly as possible. the determination is really being driven by this fast spreading new variant

which, although it is centralised in london and the south—east, is now said to be spreading across the country. in the last five days, we have seen more than 50,000 new recorded cape aces and today have recorded cape aces and today have recorded another record of more than 57,000 positive cases and because of the lag between people falling he'll end needing hospital treatment we are expecting demand on the nhs to increase on the note down the coming weeks. . thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news... pressure grows to shut more schools. unions are demanding an immediate two week closure of all primaries and secondaries in england. it comes as the uk records more than 50,000 cases for the fifth day in a row. india begins a nation—wide mock drill to test its preparedness for mass immunisation against covid—i9.

the chinese foreign minister, wang yi, has claimed the coronavirus pandemic began in multiple parts of the world , notjust in china. wuhan saw the first confirmed cases and the first major outbreak of the virus in early 2020. wuhan saw the first confirmed cases and the first major outbreak of the virus in early 2020. but china has been trying to cast doubt that it originated there. the claim that the virus had other places of origin has been repeated in china for some months... now, in an interview with state media mr wang has gone further, claiming... the minister also defended china's transparency during the outbreak, claiming... that message comes ahead of the arrival in wuhan by who investigators looking into the origins of the virus. lets get more on this from bbc world

service asia editor micky bristow... unsurprising, service asia editor micky bristow... i suppose, tha is unsurprising, i suppose, that kind is trying to downplay its role in the outbreak of the coronavirus in wuhan. it is certainly enterprising because since the start of this year when the outbreak began china has been under a lot of international pressure and received criticism most notably from president trump about the handling of the virus are particularly in those early weeks when it did cover—ups and information and underestimate the strength of this particular outbreak. so, for several months, as you mention there, it has been trying to fight back and chinese scientists and low—level officials have been suggesting that in actual fa ct have been suggesting that in actual fact this virus could have originated elsewhere and been brought to wuhan. now the foreign minister himself, most senior official to see this kind of thing, has gone a little bit further, as you indicated. he said that there could have been a vaccine, could have been outbreaks across the world at different places, although he

doesn't say exactly where that would be, so it is really china pushing back, trying to take control of the narrative, because as people start getting vaccinations as we heard there over the last few reports, as people start getting vaccinations they are going to look again at the origins of this virus and the focus will once again be on china. and the who scientists at this months beginning an investigation, and they, into the origins of coronavirus? they are. the who have been trying to get to wuhan for a good number of months. they haven't been there since last february. this month, sometime we are nothing like the show when, they are due to arrive in china and go to wuhan and really begin the complicated process of trying to track down exactly how this virus began. now, they who themselves admit that they don't know definitively where that came from but they do know and they do say that it was first detected in wuhan and so that's where they are going to start and that was not due

to begin at some point this month. 0k, michael, thank you much indeed. —— that is due to begin at some point this month. fresh from the humiliation of being overruled by congress on his defense bill, president trump's relationship with many in his party is continuing to worsen. he's now claimed that next week's key senate elections in georgia are "illegal and invalid". that's frustrated republicans trying to motivate voters to go to the polls. 0ur washington correspondent lebo diseko explains what's at stake for both parties. you have to understand how important these, the georgia senate run—offs, are. essentially, the outcome of these run—offs will determine who controls the senate and, as you'll remember during barack 0bama's term, if you don't control the senate, pushing through your agenda can be very difficult, and equally, if you do control the senate, it makes it a lot more easy. republicans are, at the moment, trying to rally the bases, trying to get people in georgia to get out and vote on tuesday

in the senate run—offs and you've got the president saying that they are invalid and criticising, really, the validity of these elections. now, the specific issue that donald trump seems to have taken issue with is the mechanism, it's quite technical, but it's around something called signature—matching that happened during the general election. he's taken issue with that. i must add that the supreme court has in a previous ruling said that, you know, that was perfectly fine, you know, the measures by which that happened. but now you've got a situation where donald trump is going to georgia on monday himself to try and rally the troops to try and get them out to vote, but at the same time saying that this election is invalid. just to add, one of the candidates there is actually self isolating at the moment, he's now quarantining because he came into contact with somebody

with coronavirus, so for republicans on the ground, it's got to be quite a difficult situation at the moment. let's look at some of the day's other news the us government's top infectious diseases expert, dr anthony fauci, has said he doesn't agree with british plans to increase the time between doses of coronavirus vaccine from 21 days to 12 weeks. the uk has changed its strategy, to allow more people to get the first dose of coronavirus vaccine. it follows a rapid acceleration in the spread of the virus, caused by a much more infectious variant of the disease. iran is accusing israel of trying to provoke war by attacking us forces in iraq. foreign minister mohammad javad zarif tweeted that intelligence from iraq indicates israeli agents are planning to attack americans — he warned president trump to be careful of a trap, saying any fireworks would backfire badly. five indian cricketers have been told to isolate after they were filmed eating in an australian restaurant. they've been ordered to stay away from their team mates ahead of the third test, due to start on thursday. an investigation‘s been launched

into whether the five breached coronavirus restrictions in melbourne, which is trying to contain a cluster of coronavirus cases. more than 2,500 people have attended an illegal rave in brittany, in defiance of french coronavirus restrictions. it started on new year's eve and went on for more than 30 hours. at least three police officers were injured in clashes with some party—goers. the prefect of brittany said officers were faced with a difficult choice between breaking up the gathering and keeping everyone safe. translation: clearly the organisers we re translation: clearly the organisers were willing to resort to violence if confronted by law enforcement. when we saw that we decided to pull them back in control the area and from iop and on using new year's eve no vehicle was able to enter the race site. —— rave site.

0ur correspendent in paris, hugh schofield, explains why the police decided not to shut down the rave. they are obviously under a lot of pressure and the government is under a lot of pressure now because there is an awful lot of criticism about why this rave party was allowed to go on for so long when everyone else is in lockdown, when the police are out enforcing curfews around the country, how come 2,500 people from across france and indeed from abroad were able to dance, party away for 36 hours from thursday evening until saturday morning? the right, the far right in particular, are very, very critical of the government, which is why they are reacting now by saying when you are at the... ..of the department, saying that it is a very difficult decision. they were faced, notjust by ravers, but at the beginning by people who were reacting violently. they say when they tried to stop it and after that it became a matter of simply containing it, they thought it was the best decision simply to circumscribe the warehouses where the rave was going on and then fine people, check people as they left and that is what happened. it has now more or less ground to a halt, this rave party, with a large number of fines imposed

on people as they left. but you can see why the government finds it all acutely embarrassing because this is like a sort of large number of people thumbing their nose at the government, when everyone else is knuckling under. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. good afternoon. it looks as if the cold weather is with us for a few days yet, which means that the showers, when they come along, are falling as snow. mostly over the hills, but at lower levels as well. and ice becomes more of an issue, of course, after dark and when the surfaces are below freezing. and they could well be quite damp the surfaces where we have seen the frequent showers today — across northern and eastern scotland, northern england, wales, the midlands, southern and western parts of england, too. but we'll start to pick up some showers elsewhere, as well, because temperatures have barely risen 3 or 4 degrees above freezing by day. 0bviously overnight, they will plunge below freezing quite quickly once again. and the showers just keep coming onto those surfaces,

and so damp surfaces with temperatures below freezing means ice is a real risk. and it will be another harsh frost under the clearer skies across north—western areas overnight. the frost a little less harsh further south, but nevertheless still a frost, still a cold start as we move into sunday. slight difference is that high pressure builds towards the north on sunday, so we pick up more of a north—easterly as opposed to the more northerly wind we have had today so there will be a difference in the distribution of the showers. one or two may actually get across to western scotland, some getting across the higher ground in northern england, and more potentially for east anglia and the south—east — of rain and sleet mostly but some snow certainly possible over the hills because it is another cold day after a cold start. with more of a wind, quite a bracing wind starting to pick up through sunday and monday. so although temperatures will reach 3—5 degrees above freezing, it will feel colder, particularly in the south, with those winds. further north and west, more sunshine under that area of high pressure,

but equally a hard frost, some patchy fog. as i say, that set—up stays with us through monday and tuesday. that strong east, north—easterly wind with us. in fact, something a little more prolonged, potentially, rain and sleet—wise across southern and eastern areas, the channel islands as well on monday. again, with the intensity, it could bring the snow down to relatively low levels. there'll be a scattering of snow showers or wintry showers elsewhere coming in off the north sea. so, the better, drier, brighter weather will be further north and west, but it is going to feel cold even in that sunshine and notably so with that brisk wind in eastern and southern areas. but perhaps something a little bit more unsettled wednesday and thursday. that is one we are watching. as ever, the warnings are on the website.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines. pressure grows to shut more schools. unions are demanding an immediate

two week closure of all primaries and secondaries in england. it comes as the uk records more than 50,000 cases for the fifth day in a row. we need to get the cases lower than they were at christmas. india begins a nation—wide mock drill to test its preparedness for mass immunisation against covid—i9. french police shut down an illegal rave that had been under way since new year's eve, with more than 2,500 partygoers. now on bbc news, talking movies looks back at what has been one of the most tumultuous years in the history of the film industry.