this is bbc news. the headlines at seven... in the uk, pressure grows to shut more schools. unions are demanding an immediate two—week closure of all primaries and secondaries in england — as coronavirus cases surge. this isn't about head teachers wanting to close schools. this is about head teachers wanting to open schools but in order to do that we need to have risk assessments that ensure that there is safe practice across our schools. president trump and the election — now 11 republican senators say they'll support him and object to the official results. 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. pressure is growing on the government to keep all schools in england closed for two weeks after the christmas break amid a surge in coronavirus cases. teaching unions say it is unsafe for their members and want all teaching moved online. some unions are advising teachers not to return to school on monday as planned. it comes as the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine has started to arrive in uk hospitals, with the first doses due to be given on monday. elsewhere, 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 israel has given israel has given vaccinations against coronavirus to more than i million people, the highest rate in the world, as global immunisation efforts step up. globally, there are now more than 84 million cases and more than 1,830,000 deaths, according to data from johns hopkins university which tracks the global impact of the virus. first, the latest on schools in england from our education correspondent dan johnson. children and teachers were amongst those invited for tests at charlton's football ground today. one way to help keep the virus out of schools — but will it be enough? some think things are out of control and they want schools to stay closed. teaching unions say staff are at risk. 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 there should be a period of closure to get those cases down. london's primary school children will all stay off after a u—turn ended the patchwork of partial closures. so harrison's got a fortnight at home. we're not going back to school and we're going to have to do home—learning. what do you think about that? not very good because i want to see my friends. and mum and dad have the challenge of finding childcare. it all seems very last minute, really. it's all very confusing. they keep chopping and changing, which makes it very hard to plan. teachers are also being tested in liverpool, tier 3, where schools are due to open. although scientists advised closures could help reduce the spread of the virus, officials say there's no evidence schools themselves aren't safe. i don't feel they should close because i feeljust as safe in school as i would do anywhere. ifeel the children have missed

a lot of education as it is. the new strain has come out and what we're seeing happening in london, it was happening with us. you know, we had the extra testing brought in earlier on. london didn't, now they are closing. i think we should all be just doing the same. i don't feel like they should stay closed. 0ur r rate is a lot lower, isn't it, and the school i work at, the head teacher there, she's amazing and she's put everything in place to protect staff, parents and children. there is now a legal challenge to see the government's basis for reopening primary schools on monday. in wales and northern ireland, the return was already delayed a week. in scotland, it's two weeks. 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 has always said keeping children off school would be a last resort, but there is growing pressure to extend these closures beyond london and parts of the south—east, and teachers

are calling for decisions to be made quickly but clearly. a phased return is planned for england's secondary schools, starting a week on monday, with the hope that mass testing will limit disruption and minimise online learning. despite the downsides of that, it's already a reality for many children, and possibly beyond the next two weeks. dan johnson, bbc news, in southeast london. the latest official figures here in the uk show there were 57,725 new coronavirus infections, recorded in the latest 24—hour period. the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week, is now 48,849. there were 445 deaths reported — that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—i9 test, but today's figures don't include scotland. it means that on average in the past week, 584 deaths were announced every day, 5)taking the total

across the uk, to 74,570. let's turn now to a development in the aftermath of the us presidential election. 11 republican senators say they will raise objections this week to president—elect joe biden‘s victory. they'll do it — during a congressional review of the electoral college result. it won't be enough to alter the outcome. but it could force other republicans to support or reject mr trump's claims of fraud. 0ur washington correspondent lebo diseko has more. well, it's led by senator ted cruz and it is a group of senators and senator elect, so they're not all senators, and what they are talking about is basically, ceremonially — this is usually a ceremonial event where the senate and the house of representatives accept the result of the electoral college vote. you will remember in december,

that was when the electoral college was decided, so they'll accept those results next week. now, if a senator and a member of the house of representatives raise an objection then they can force a debate on that and a vote. basically, each objection would need, in both houses, for the vote to go to reject it. it is very unlikely that this would go through because it would mean that the lower house, the lower chamber, which is the house of representatives, would need to vote to invalidate joe biden‘s win, which, as you can imagine, is unlikely to happen. i think that, whilst this is very unlikely to go through what it does is it really indicates the splits within the republican party. the leader of the senate, the republicans in the senate, mitch mcconnell, and the number two republican in the senate had last week urged senators, republican senators, not to do this because it's not going to succeed and it really could be quite damaging, and the fact that they've gone ahead and done it anyway

is really indicative of, the schisms within the party at the moment. 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. it's was designed to build expertise and avoid any glitches when the time comes to do it for real. 0ur south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan has more from delhi. volunteers waiting for their turn in a massive rehearsal for the immunisation drive. it will be almost real, except that there was standing here will not get the dose. the indian government wants to ensure a glitch—free coronavirus immunisation programme. this mammoth exercise is essential as the country wants to inoculate 300 million people by the middle of this year. so if you have any health

conditions, you will not be given the vaccine. so, a full verification if you are healthy and fit, you will be sent for the vaccination. after vaccination, you will be sent to the observation room. to see if they'll have any complications or anything. an expert panel has recommended to vaccines, one by astrazeneca oxford university and another one jointly developed by an indian company and dates date government body. both are cost—effective and locally manufactured. still, some are doubtful about the efficacy of the vaccine. translation: i'm not that co mforta ble vaccine. translation: i'm not that comfortable taking the vaccine, but i get it, this could offer is the cure, but it's not yet confirmed. elsewhere, they are using the vaccine and there are still unsolved problems, so i think if people are getting better after they quarantine by staying at home, it's still the

best option. the government says the aion at the trial immunisation drive is also to remove misconceptions about the vaccine. it wants the country to get back to normal so that the economy can be revived. —— the aim of the child immunisation dry. that's happen, it is aware that it needs to conduct a successful vaccination programme. subtly‘s exercise will play a crucial role in achieving that goal. bbc news, delhi. new figures suggest israel say the country has given vaccinations against coronavirus to more than i million people, the highest rate in the world. according to a global tracking website affiliated with oxford university — israel has a rate of 11.55 vaccination doses per 100 people, followed by bahrain at 3.49 and the uk at 1.47. 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 were prepared to resort to violence if confronted by law enforcement. when we saw that, we decided to pull them back and control the area, and from 10pm on new year's eve, no vehicle was able to enter the rave site. our correspendent in paris, hugh schofield, explains why the police decided not to shut down the rave. they're obviously under a lot of pressure, and the government's under a lot of pressure now, because there's 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 till saturday morning? the right, the far right in particular, are very, very critical of the government, which is why they're reacting now by saying when you are the prefect of the department, saying it's a very difficult decision. they were faced, notjust by ravers, but at the beginning by people who were acting violently, they say, when they tried to stop it, and after that it became a matter of simply containing it, and 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's 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, you know, a large number of people thumbing their nose at the government when everyone else is knuckling under.

hugh schofield, our paris correspondent. you are watching bbc news. the second coronavirus vaccine to be approved for use in the uk, is now being distributed to hospitals across the country. the oxford vaccine will be rolled out from monday. the body which advises the government on immunisation, has been defending the decision to delay giving people their second dose of the pfizer vaccine, so that many more people can receive an initial jab. here's our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson. some of the first deliveries of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine arriving at the princess royal hospital in sussex. nhs staff are preparing to receive the new coronavirus vaccine, the second to be approved for use in the second to be approved for use in the uk, i had a nationwide roll—out on monday when the first injections will be given. what this does is it allows us to focus on the most vulnerable people, you know, and

make sure they are protected from this disease. and ultimately that is going to keep people well but it is going to keep people well but it is going to keep people well but it is going to reduce the pressure on the health service over the next few months. the oxford vaccine joins the pfizer one which is approved for use in early december. almost a million people have received the first injection and expected a boost to three weeks later. that has been extended to 12 weeks. the government's vaccination advisors say delaying the booster is the right approach. we are raid a dire situation in this country at the moment. the virus is rapidly spreading animal vaccination we can get into these priority groups that we have identified the more deaths and hospitalisations we will prevent. but some patients who have already had their first dose are concerned about the changes and that they could be this can the disease than disease than they had expected. ican than disease than they had expected. i can manage that but a lot of elderly people will not be in a position to manage it and they will worry a lot about it and i don't,

again, i don't think they felt this through. so how much protection does one shot of the vaccine give you? welcome the government sign to say two to three weeks after getting the first pfizer vaccine of around 90% of people are protected from following on from covid—19. as for the oxford vaccine, that figure was around 73% after three weeks. so protection seems to be high. for gps who have been rolling out the vaccination programme the changing guidances, is a challenging time. our most vulnerable patients who have had the vaccination often only have had the vaccination often only have a landline and actually need to be foam so it is very time consuming to let people know and also takes time to explain to people, people are understandably disappointed. —— actually need to be phoned.

convincing there is no waiting longer than they had expected that the delay is safe will take time. sophie hook stinson, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... in the uk pressure grows to shut more schools. unions are demanding an immediate two week closure of all primaries and secondaries in england — as coronavirus cases surge. president trump and the election — now 11 republican senators say they will support him and object to the official results. india begins a nation—wide mock drill to test its preparedness for mass immunisation against covid—19. a number of hospitals across the uk are now facing a worse situation than at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic last year — that's according to the president of the royal college of physicians. professor andrew goddard says hospital staff are braced for a difficult few months as a result of the new variant of the virus.

christmas is going to have a big impact. the new variant is also going to have a big impact. we know thatis going to have a big impact. we know that is more infectious, more transmissible, so i can see the large numbers we are seeing in the south—east, in london, in south wales is now going to be reflected over the next month, two months even, over the rest of the country, so even, over the rest of the country, soi even, over the rest of the country, so i think most health care professionals, doctors, nurses, and oui’ professionals, doctors, nurses, and our health care professionals are all very worried about what the next couple of months means. everybody is tired. we're really, really tired from the first and second waves on there is still a long to go. this doctor is an intensive care consultant at the royal london hosptal, but is speaking on behalf of the intensive care society. thank you very much forjoining us here in bbc news. we are seeing numbers rise. to what extent is that because of people's behaviour and the decisions that they made over

christmas and new year's eve? so i think we had onlyjust beginning to see the consequences of people's behaviour over christmas, because that was only seven days ago. we are still waiting to see the christmas peak which we will expect to see an intensive care in the next week or so, so it is very much the christmas build—up still that we are dealing with. people's behaviour over new year, the consequences of this will stretch the peak further out in towards the end of january. stretch the peak further out in towards the end ofjanuary. how high do you think the peak is going to be, say, compared with what we saw last spring? so, we are living ina saw last spring? so, we are living in a very, very uncertain world. i would say that will be, as what god ijust said, it really defines all of this. i don't know. i know it is going to be worse. this is the only thing we know. i know we are massively stretched at the moment. our nursing numbers are diluted, the staff are

our nursing numbers are diluted, the staff a re exhausted our nursing numbers are diluted, the staff are exhausted in intensive care, and we have a solemn way more to go before we hit the peach. i think it will be much higher than last time. —— hits the peak. think it will be much higher than last time. -- hits the peak. tells about the sort of patients that are coming in, the kind of profile that you are noticing. that is a great question. i think there is a story out there that hospitals are full of old people with lots and lots of diseases. i am 46. i see many, many patients on our intensive care unit who are my age or younger. 90% of patients on intensive care units with coronavirus are completely independent, we are talking about, i wouldn't say young, because they are like me, young people withjobs and families and lives. that is the profile of people are saying. how will add a? because we get told that this new variant is more infectious but not as deadly, if that is the right word to use? they are really sick. really, really sick. so 30% of

patients who come into intensive care, three out of ten people in the first wave died. i think we're seeing the same thing likely to happen. but that is not all of it. so seven out of ten people are going to survive this but they are going to survive this but they are going to spend a long time in intensive ca re to spend a long time in intensive care and every day you spend on intensive care you will lose two to 396 intensive care you will lose two to 3% of your muscle mass. people with coronavirus and spending ten days, 20 days on the icy. this means when they survive, if they survive, they are they survive, if they survive, they a re really, really they survive, if they survive, they are really, really weak and disabled. they can't go to the toilet by themselves, they can get just by themselves. that is the severity of what we're dealing with and it will take years to recover from this. you have said that the itu staff are exhausted. how well prepared, then, is the nhs to cope with what you believe is coming down the track? are we going to need the nightingale hospital is? of the gossamer staff? notjust doctors, nurses, but support staff to? —— have we got enough staff? so, the

nightingale hospitals don't bring in mostar. the nightingale isjust buildings. they were really useful in the first wave, right decision in the first wave, but i know what we need to staff and we don't know what we need to staff and we don't have the staff and i don't know what we need but i do know that moving stuff into the nightingale hospitals as pa rt into the nightingale hospitals as part of the plan and will not be useful to our patients. depending on the newspapers you read, depending on the news programmes that you watch, the social media that you follow, you will get a very different pictures of how worried we should be. some people saying look, there is scaremongering going on. it is not that bad. and yet you are here telling us that you were very worried about what is into context fathers. tell us what we should be looking out for. how can we reduce the risk if it is not too late?|j don't the risk if it is not too late?” don't know if it is not too late, i really don't, but what we can do to reduce the risk is to follow the

rules. social distancing, keep people safe,, self—isolate if you have got illnesses, and stop going out in groups. stay home. that is what we really, really need to do. yes, there are many, many stories but i put you one thing that goes across all the social media and all the newspapers. you have never heard in intensive care doctor, nurse, or allied health professional saying it's ok, it's scaremongering. all the scaremongering, all the hype, comes from people who are not working on the front line. how do you convince people, then, because you convince people, then, because you can go to a park, you feel relatively safe, it is not as severe as the first lockdown that we had last spring, even if you are in tier 4at last spring, even if you are in tier 4 at the moment. what would convince people, do you think? if we could show them what you are dealing with? well, i think that is incredibly difficult because i think more and

more you need to have the front line staff co m e more you need to have the front line staff come out and say what it is like, but i also think, perhaps, we need to see more from our patients who survive. we can't... we need to talk to family members at home his patients are, his family members and loved ones are in hospital, that might help people convince them. people may need to talk and see the histories and lived experiences of surviving being critically ill with covid. perhaps that will work. but the most important thing i can say is we need to listen to people who are actually dealing with patients. people who don't follow the rules, who do not wear masks, who don't stick to their household bubbles, what is your message to them? how responsible should they feel? well, one of my colleague said these people had blood on their hands. i find it hard to disagree with him. if you infect somebody, i could infect you, and you could go away

and infect someone else, and that person will end up being critically ill and die. where did that come from? that came from you and me breaking the rules. we are responsible for that death. so, yes, that's what's happening right now. i would say to people, follow the rules of people will die. it is very plain, your message. we appreciate you talking to was in behalf of the intensive care society. doctor, thank you very much your time tonight. a further ten sites across the uk are to attempt to offer covid testing for lorry drivers attempting to cross into france. the swabs will be available at service stations including watford gap southbound and donington park. the transport secretary grant shapps has paid tribute to what he called the ‘heroic efforts of military and civilian personnel‘ who've helped out with testing hauliers over the past 10 days in kent.

norwegian police say a third body has been found in one of the houses sucked into a landslip near oslo on wednesday. the discovery came within hours of finding the second body. seven people remain missing, including children. police had earlier said there was a chance of finding survivors. officials in snowdonia say the region's beauty spots have been "disappointingly busy over the last few days" despite restrictions meaning all but essential travel should be avoided. on saturday, police stopped people from milton keynes attempting to walk up snowdon in breach of covid rules. national park wardens have blamed a "perfect storm" of good weather and people being off work for the number of visitors in the area. today marks the 50th anniversary of the ibrox disaster, when 66 people were crushed to death leaving a football match between rangers and celtic in glasgow. it was one of scotland's worst peacetime tragedies as andrew picken reports.

1971 was only two days old when rangers met celtic at ibrox. the game was dull and many fans started leaving before late goals for either side during the last five minutes. commentator: that's as near as we'll get today! the day became infamous for the deadly crush which developed on a stairway at the rangers end of the stadium. among the victims were five teenagers from markinch in fife, who never came home. we were all together, just joking, having a wee bit of banter. there was no animosity because they were rangers supporters and we were celtic supporters, there was nothing like that. we were pals. celtic fans peter leigh and shane fenton were among those who left early that day. it wasn't until we got back to kincardine, where the supporters used to stop on the way back and the older boys would go into the pub for a pint or whatever, they came back out of the pub and onto the bus, telling us what they'd seen on the television, there had been an incident at ibrox, there had been fatalities at the rangers end of the ground. that was the first of us knowing about anything happening at all.

the boys were among the 66 dead and 145 injured. 50 years on, modern crowd science has given us a better understanding of what went wrong. in a crowd that's packed to the levels of density that eyewitnesses were commenting on at ibrox, and on a slope, then you get the gravitational force added to the fall, and as each person falls onto others then you get a cascade dynamic. in the wake of the disaster, rangers rebuilt the stadium, making it one of the safest in europe. across scotland on january 2nd, people will mark the 50th anniversary of the ibrox disaster. andrew picken, bbc news. the impact of coronavirus on the economy has been enormous — an estimated 1.7 million

people are out of work. our business correspondent sarah corker caught up with three women who lost theirjobs earlier in the pandemic to hear their experiences of looking forjobs. three people who all lost theirjobs because of the pandemic. olympia, rebecca and heather were facing the toughestjobs market for a generation. we've got no money coming in. i first met olympia and herfamily back in may. she was touring as part of a circus troupe when the first lockdown restrictions came in and they were stranded on morecambe seafront for months. it's fear. fear that... that i might not ever be able to do what i love again, which is perform, in the circus, because we might not recover. since then, things have got better. olympia's moved in with her mum in rotherham to save money, and wait until they're allowed to perform again. financially it's been a big strain. it's been massive.

like i say, we normally work from february to november, so about 85—90% of our shows were just cancelled or stopped or postponed until next year. five months on morecambe prom, relying on the food bank to feed you guys — what was that experience like? it was really hard. coming to terms with the fact that i had to rely on other people to eat and to live. in west yorkshire, rebecca was finding competition for jobs fierce. i don't think i could possibly tell you. she'd worked in communications at a high street bank for a decade when she was made redundant in the summer. with every application that goes out the door, it does kind of chip away at your confidence and how you feel. it's already dog eat dog. it's only going to get worse. three months on, she's now working for a shed company. and it's been really busy, hasn't it? it's completely booming at the minute, is the shed industry, yeah, believe it or not. it's a completely new world for me. it's a million miles away from banking. what's it like after, you know, so many months not working, finally having a regular wage again? it was a massive confidence boost. there's no shame in saying that, although, yes, you've got your friends and family and things, when you've got a job, you feel like you've got purpose, so it felt like i had purpose again.

some of those in their 50s and 60s, like heatherfrom prestwich near manchester, felt they were being overlooked. the best one is "you're overqualified , " which doesn't make any sense to me, because, you know, if you're qualified to this level, then you can do anyjob up until that level. heather is still on the job hunt but is enjoying having more time exercising in the local park. did you think it would take this long and that it would be this hard? um, yeah, basically. you know, i've been here before, in much better times, so. there are obviously a lot more people unemployed, and because there's more people unemployed, but then there's fewer jobs at the moment because a lot of people are on furlough still. but she is determined to get back into work. i don't relax. i'm not a relaxed sort of person, i can't do nothing. so for some, the search for work continues, but the arrival of an effective vaccine has brought renewed optimism for 2021. sarah corker, bbc news. it's taken 36 years. but finally, wham's festive hit,

last christmas, has made it