this is bbc news, with the latest headlines: parents in england should send their children to primary school tomorrow, the prime minister says — but warns tougher measures may be needed in the weeks ahead and refuses to rule out further school closures. it may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country. i don't... i mean, i'm fully, fully reconciled to that and i bet the people of this country are reconciled to that. tougher restrictions could be on the way in scotland, as nicola sturgeon recalls parliament amid a rapid rise in covid infections. india's medicines regulator gives the go—ahead for two coronavirus vaccines, as it starts one of the world's biggest vaccination programmes.

the oxford jab will be used alongside a locally developed vaccine. and israel leads the world with the highest rate of vaccinations — 1 in 8 israelis gets a covid jab. hello, and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. iam sean i am sean lowe, do stay with me for the very latest news and analysis from here in the uk and across the globe. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, has warned that coronavirus restrictions in england are, "probably about to get tougher" in order to bring the virus under control. but borisjohnson also insisted primary schools should open as planned this week —

except in london and some areas of the south—east, where the new variant of coronavirus is rising rapidly. mrjohnson said there is "no doubt" in his mind that schools are safe. here's our political correspondent, jonathan blake. arriving in a hurry to deliver a difficult message. the prime minister gave his first interview of the year this morning and warned that life with coronavirus in england is likely to get worse before it gets better. he said the government may soon impose tighter restrictions in more areas. it may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country. i don't... i mean, i'm fully, fully reconciled to that and i bet the people of this country are fully reconciled to that. under pressure over the return to school for children in england, the prime minister said there'd be no change and most primaries would open as planned tomorrow. schools are safe — very, very important to stress that. the threat, the risk to kids, to young people, is really very,

very, very small indeed, as the scientists continually attest. the risk to staff is very small. and, of course, the benefits of education are so huge. overwhelmingly, we want to keep our young people, keep children, keep kids in education because that's the best thing for them. but teaching unions say the time is not yet right and want primaries open only to vulnerable and key worker children, with the rest taught remotely for now. the levels of risk in school are heightened compared to other areas, but we're not saying close schools down and keep teachers away. they've been working during any period of restricted access to keep education going and it's simply a short and determined period to get the new strategies and better strategies of control into schools, to make them covid—secure again. in wales and northern ireland, the return of primary schools is delayed for a week. in scotland, for two weeks. borisjohnson didn't rule out further closures in england. we will keep this under constant review, but we will be driven by public health considerations and by the massive

importance of education. for parents like charlotte, it's a frustrating time. we are lurching from crisis to crisis, in that this isn't a feasible way forward every time there is a surge in the virus rates. we cannot limp from school closure to school closure. whether schools are open or closed, most people in england are now living under the tightest level of restrictions. for how long and how many more willjoin them remains uncertain. jonathan blake, bbc news. india's opposition congress party has warned that the government's decision to approve the emergency use of a locally developed coronavirus vaccine, covaxin, was premature and could be dangerous. another vaccine, developed by astrazeneca and oxford university, has also been approved. the jabs will kick off one of the world's biggest immunisation drives in the world. anbarasan ethirajan reports from delhi. this was the moment many

in the world's second most populous nation were waiting for. after days of uncertainty over which coronavirus vaccine will be approved for emergency use, a drug regulatorfinally spoke. after adequate examination, the cdsco has decided to accept the recommendations of the expert committee and accordingly vaccines of m/s serum and bharat biotech are being approved for restricted use in emergency situation and permission is being granted to m/s cadila healthcare for conduct of the phase iii clinical trials in india. with the approval of oxford university astrazeneca and the indian—made covaxin jabs, the roll—out can happen within weeks. astrazeneca has tied up with a local partner to produce the vaccine in india. the indian prime minister, narendra modi, expressed hisjoy for the fact that both the vaccines will be produced in india, but within hours of the approval

of the two vaccines, controversy has erupted. the opposition raising concerns over the permission given to the locally made covaxin. critics argue that safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been reviewed. but the drug regulatory authority said both the vaccines were safe to use. experts say the government needs to allay the fears over the vaccine. i think the way to deal with resistance is to have a very strong communication strategy. that needs to be developed. and also for the government to work very closely with communities, both in the kind of urban setting as well as the rural setting. and understand, for example, working with, you know, opinion leaders within communities, religious, nonreligious social leaders, you know, people who have a lot of influence. approving the vaccine is only the first step. the challenge is a glitch—free

campaign in the coming months. the world will watch and learn from how india rolls out one of biggest vaccination exercises. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news, delhi. we wa nt we want to bring you the very latest figures from the uk of coronavirus infection, and unfortunately fatalities as well. there were 54,990 fatalities as well. there were 5a,990 infections recorded in the 2a hours to sunday. and the number of fatalities recorded, these are people who will have tested positive for coronavirus within the previous 28 days, was 415 new deaths. that co m pa res 28 days, was 415 new deaths. that compares with a figure of a45 28 days, was 415 new deaths. that compares with a figure of 445 on saturday. of course, there is always a slight variation at weekends anyway, you have to really look at the trend. it is 54,590 infections

recorded in the 24 hours to sunday and 454 new deaths across the uk, compared to 445 deaths recorded in the 24 hours to saturday. you're watching bbc news. let's talk now to our political correspondent, jonathan blake. the figures, as ever, we shouldn't get inured as to how badly those are affected who are suffering the virus, and those who are mourning a loved one, but they kind of remind us, ina loved one, but they kind of remind us, in a sense, we are where we are and we are not very very far from where we were in the spring of last year and the prime minister is now strongly hinting that he is going to have to go further and include in the foreseeable future? figures do tell the story, sean lake, and is the prime ministers said this morning, the situation is very

different and what we heard from borisjohnson was a very clear signalling that things are about to get harder before they get easier, worse before they get better. he said the government may have to do things in the coming weeks that go further than they have done recently. the closure of schools is one possible option over and above the current tearful restrictions, which, let's remind ourselves, almost 80% of the population of england, is currently living under, tier 4. we could see that extended in the days and weeks to come, and i think the prime minister was suggesting that they really don't know yet the impact of the current measures on the new variant of coronavirus, which as we know is responsible for the faster spread of infections and it is only with time that the government will know how faror that the government will know how far or how much further it needs to go with the restrictions that are currently in place, but i think the message from the prime minister this morning was quite clear. it was that

although there is hope would the vaccines are being administered at the moment, the restrictions are pretty much the only tool the government has at its disposal on a national scale to slow the spread of the virus and they are here to stay for the time being and they could be extended before too long as well.” guess in a week or so from now, we will be able to see properly what impact christmas had on the figures, and when we have got a two or three week lag away from christmas. in terms of the options, then, for the prime minister, the one everyone is talking about is schools. we have had some changes coming on in london and in certain other areas. i was talking to a parent and hour ago in brighton and hove, where the local authority is advising them to shut in its burrow. we are going to see a patchwork, aren't we, for some time to come, sorrows education is concerned? yes, throughout the pandemic, the government has said that closing schools are something a bit only do in a worst—case

scenario, a measure of last resort, as the prime minister said today, but it is clearly on the table and is part of the mix of measures the government has at various times that it has needed to take. the trouble this time around is we are right up to the wire with a return to school in england for most primary schools tomorrow, apart from those in london and the south—east, which have been told to stay close to all but vulnerable children and those of key workers. but the pressure from teaching unions is there, saying the time is not yet right, we are not yet ready to open schools to eve ryo ne yet ready to open schools to everyone with the new measures that had to be introduced and talk of testing routinely for children and staff further down the line in primary as well as secondary schools. and there is political pressure on the government as well because although it has to respond quickly to fast changing events during the pandemic, the challenge is to not appear as if it is on the back foot to the whole time and heading to you turn left, right and

centre. so the prime list of‘s message was clear today that a pa rent message was clear today that a parent should see it as safe to send their children to school where those schools are open and some councils, such as the one you mention just then, are trying to take things into their own hands and ask the government to put their schools on the list to stay closed, is that they should follow and listen to the public health advice in their area, which is to this point deemed safe for them to open, but yes, more councils coming forward, kent county council, cumbria county council is welcoming forward today appealing to the department for education to have the department for education to have the schools remained closed when pupils are due to go back tomorrow. in the end, all the government has in its tool box, as you say, is a restriction, closure, possibly expanding the lockdown to more and more parts of england. and ultimately, that is as far as it can go. that makes the roll—out of the vaccine and how quickly and effectively it can be delivered absolutely crucial, doesn't it, to charting any path out of the

pandemic? yes, it's the one and only real game changer in response to the pandemic, the successful roll—out of a vaccine or vaccines, meaning that as time goes on, more and more the population are hopefully ultimately immune to coronavirus, or at least far less susceptible to the serious impact it can have on people's health. in the meantime, as the prime minister acknowledged in his interview this morning, government only has so many tools at its disposal and of course at this time of year there is or is pressure on the nhs. we are seeing that exacerbated by the impact of covid—i9 and that is one major factor. the stress and strain on nhs services in various parts of the country. so that is one thing in the mix, while people are making these decisions, but yes, whilst a vaccine is not quite fair in terms of mass administration, there is only so much the government can do and that is why things like closing schools still have to remain on the table.

jonathan blake, a political correspondent, thank you very much. borisjohnson's suggestion that restrictions could increase comes as council leaders in liverpool call for another national lockdown to prevent what they call a "catastrophe". it's believed the new variant of the virus is beginning to move from the south to north, with cases in liverpool almost trebling in the past two weeks. the acting mayor of liverpool, councillor wendy simon, said the tier system wasn't working. i think the difficulty with this new strain of the virus is the speed at which it is actually infecting people. and certainly what we've seen over the last few weeks is that the tier system hasn't worked with this particular strain of the virus. and people moving between tiers, as they have done — you know, we've been in tier 2 and then gone into tier 3, and still you're getting that movement of people between those tiers and then infecting people in those lower tier areas. so, for us, we feel before we get to crisis point in the city, we have had that mass testing pilot

where we saw our numbers come down significantly, so for us there needs to be three areas that we need to work on, so there is the lockdown to bring the numbers under control, that mass testing to continue, and for a community—led vaccination programme that is place—led within the city, to get that vaccine out as soon as possible, if we are to actually break the back of this virus over the next few weeks. that was the acting mayor of liverpool, wendy simon. it is now 3:15pm. the headlines on bbc news: parents in england should send their children to primary school tomorrow, the prime minister says — but warns tougher measures may be needed in the weeks ahead and refuses to rule out further school closures. tougher restrictions could be on the way in scotland, as nicola sturgeon recalls parliament amid a rapid rise in covid infections. india's medicines regulator gives the go—ahead for two

coronavirus vaccines, as it starts one of the world's biggest vaccination programmes. the oxford jab will be used alongside a locally developed vaccine. sport now, and a chance for me to blow my nose, let's go to gavin at the sports centre. yes! there are just two games today, after fulham's match at burnley was postponed due to a fresh covid—i9 outbreak at the london club. leicester will go third if they beat newcastle. it's currently , and it's a big one later for chelsea and manchester city, who're both in a congested top 10. city will be investigating a breach of coronavirus rules by benjamin mendy, who hosted a new year's eve dinner party. we were less in touch, the players are not in the locker room any more right now and...just...

are not in the locker room any more right now and... just... on in the training, on the pitch, and it is what it is. so we will have another squad to go there and try to compete against a tough opening, you know, with chelsea, how it is. and we are going there to play our game. lam i am confident in us as a team, because i know when we play, particularly at stamford bridge, and we play as well as we can, then we have the opportunity to beat anybody. when i say that, manchester city are right at the top, so when we beat them recently with 2—1, it was a really difficult game because they are really possession —based team, so i'm really confident in us because i know we need to be at our best to win in a confident position. in terms of their weaknesses, i don't see it. bournemouth's chief executive neill blake has condemned the racial abuse suffered by junior stanislas, after yesterday's win at stoke in the championship. stanislas scored the only goal of the game and was later targeted on twitter by an individual who sent

racist slurs and insults about the player's family. blake said it was "disgusting and completely intolerable", and the club has vowed to do all they can to identify the perpetrator — and take the strongest possible action against them. british boxer luke campbell said he was "heartbroken" after his hopes of another world title shot suffered a severe blow. campbell was beaten by the rising american star ryan garcia, in a gripping lightweight fight in dallas. campbell, the olympic champion from london 2012, floored garcia in round two, but he recovered and he was the first man to beat campbell by stoppage, when the fight was halted in the 7th round. campbell told garcia afterwards that he punched harder than anyone he'd everfaced. so garcia moves towards a title challenge — but at 33, campbell is running out of time. england's cricketers have arrived in sri lanka, for their two—test tour, amid strict coronavirus checks. a charter flight landed in the south of the island, where all members of the party and their belongings were sprayed with disinfectant, before everyone underwent a rapid covid—i9 test — all came back negative. they'll now isolate in individual hotel rooms....

in individual hotel rooms. and if they test negative again on tuesday morning, they'll be able to train ahead of the first match on the 14th. england abandoned a tour of sri lanka in march on the second day of a practice match, as the pandemic spread. and england's next opponents, sri lanka, are currently touring south africa and on the opening day of their second test in johannesburg they were bowled out forjust 157. anrich nortje taking six wickets for 56 runs. sri lankan opener kusal perera top scoring for the tourists with 60. a short time ago south africa were 141—1, dean elgar on 90 not out. england's liminted overs players have been in big bash action — and james vince top scored for sydney sixers ....as they beat adelaide strikers by 7 wickets. set 151 to win, vince made 45 not out, as the sixers reached their target with 12 balls to spare. they're now top of the bbl standings. and jason roy and liam livingstone both scored in the 20s for perth scorchers, in their win over

melbourne renegades. chasing 186 to win, the renegades were bowled out a massive 96 runs short. that's all the sport for now. we'll be back or you with a bit more in the next hour or so. thank you very much, gavin runge in there in the bbc sport centre, so doing something much more important then give me the chance to blow my nose, but i'm very grateful to him for that reason, as well as so much else. thanks, gavin, is he later! the prime minister says he expects "tens of millions" of coronavirus vaccinations will be given over the next three months. from tomorrow, doctors across the uk are due to start giving out more than 500,000 doses of the oxford vaccine. but there are still quesions about the decision to change when the second dose of both the oxford and pfizer vaccines should be given. our health correspondent, anna collinson, reports. vaccines are the greatest weapon in the fight against the coronavirus, and doctors say rapid delivery is vital to protect the most vulnerable. from tomorrow around 530,000 doses

of the newly approved oxford astrazeneca jab will be available at some uk hospitals. there were hopes there would soon be 2 million vaccinations a week but this morning the prime minister was unable to confirm that. obviously everybody is working flat out to do this. we are greatly in advance of all comparable countries but we do hope we will be able to do tens of millions in the course of the next three months. there will now be a 12—week delay between the first and second dose of the two vaccines which have been approved by the uk's regulator. the government's scientific advisers say vaccinating a greater number of people with a single dose will prevent more deaths and hospitalisations, compared to vaccinating a smaller number of people with two doses. so how much protection does the first jab provide? and a scientist site two to three

weeks after getting the first ——government scientists say two to three weeks after getting the first dose the pfizer vaccine, around 90% of people were prevented from falling ill and the oxford vaccine shows protection of 73% after three weeks so the short term protection seems to be very high. some scientists out there say pretty convincing data the delay will enhance the oxford vaccine but the pfizer one is seen as more controversial. i think it's so important that with this decision that's been made that there are actually scientific studies that go on to look at the effect of delaying the second dose. i personally think it may well produce as good or better an immune struggling hospitals who have been battling the virus for nearly a year. the icu staff say the first wave has both helped and hindered managing the second one. we know what's coming our way, we know how to deal with it so we feel much more confident. one of the downsides is that because we have been

through it all before, staff are very very tired. staff are very, very tired. so far nearly1 million people have been vaccinated, but there still a long way to go with around 30 million people in the most vulnerable group, including those who live and work in care homes. it may be the start of a new year, but we still face many of the same problems. anna collinson, bbc news. nicola sturgeon has recalled the scottish parliament tomorrow amid a rapid rise in covid infections. the first minister says the increase in virus cases in scotland is of "very serious concern" and warns of increasing pressure on the nhs. there were no new deaths reported today, but there have been another 2,464 positive cases in the last 24 hours. by comparison, last sunday there were 740 new cases. our scotland political editor,

glenn campbelljoins me now. this has to be a request to the presiding officer at the scottish parliament formally and presumably there is no doubt that these parliament there will be recalled tomorrow, not least because the snp is the biggest party? well, that decision has been taken and it is only the... time that the scottish parliament has ever been recalled, but the second time within a week. they met just before but the second time within a week. they metjust before the new year to consider the brexit trade deal they will meet... inaudible they need to consider what the government will want to do in scotla nd government will want to do in scotland and what extra measure they will take to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus. as you say, it is rising rapidly... in a bowl. almost 2508 new cases reported in the past 24 arrows and that is 50% of those tested, almost. and that is a concern to ministers because scotla nd a concern to ministers because scotland has already placed... in

tea rful scotland has already placed... in tearful restrictions, the toughest level of restrictions across mainland scotland, but if infections are rising rapidly in these circumstances, when most people are still on holiday, they are worried that it will spread further and faster if they don't take extra measures to try to control it. in terms of the options that are available for the government, how many are left? well, not that many, but i think the cabinet when it meets tomorrow will consider tightening these level for restrictions, so that the lockdown is something closer to what we had last spring, so that the stay at home message is firmed up and perhaps some people who might have been going back to work will be told that they shouldn't do so. the other area, i think, that they shouldn't do so. the other area, ithink, they that they shouldn't do so. the other area, i think, they will look at closely is the return of schools. in scotland, schools will not return fully until the week beginning the

11th of january, but at that point children, pupils will go back to online learning for that forthcoming week. i think it is likely that ministers will look again at that and put a further delay in place to when schools will return. perhaps a delay of another two or three weeks, pushing a return certainly into february, so those are some of the options that will be considered, i think. they met yesterday, ministers who take part in the scottish government's emergency committee. they have sought new advice from the scientists, from the clinical advisors and that is what they will base their decisions on one cabinet meets in the morning. glenn campbell, scotland political editor, outside the scottish parliament, thanks very much. bitcoin is setting new highs, closing in on around £25,000

pounds for the first time, with a rise of more than 16% in the last 24 hours. the rally began last october when the online payments firm, paypal, said it would allow customers to use the digital currency. i've been speaking to bitcoin journalist, billy bambrough. many are expecting there to be a retail boom, many people on the street, i know able to buy bitcoin through paypal, but along with that there have been happening alongside institutional investors are finally showing some real interest in the digital assets as well. we have seen rougher investment management, a british company, but about £5 billion into bitcoin. also square, which is a us payment company controlled by jack dorsey, which is a us payment company controlled byjack dorsey, who is also the ceo of twitter. he has bought about $50 million worth of bitcoin, so it is increasingly looking like an asset that companies and serious investors are willing to

get involved in. and that, if it comes to be sustained, will be a significant change in how it is regarded, isn't it? because there has always been a degree of scepticism about crypto currency and perhaps there might be a more traditional financial circles. yes, for good reason really because they are not backed by anything in the real world. so most other assets, say, if you are buying gold, even if you're buying it online are not actually physically buying the gold itself, you are still buying at least someone holding that gold for you. bitcoin doesn't have anything like that, it does exist entirely online and only by the market of what people are willing to bake it back pay for it, but also by the power of the bitcoin network, how many people are buying into it and generating its security. those two things are what gives bitcoin its perceived value and certainly over the last few weeks and months, investors seem to think it potentially does have much more value than it did previously. what

about, given the light of paypal‘s decision, the reaction of central banks? is only recently the governor of the bank of england, andrew bailey, was warning investors about the risks of using crypto currency for payments because of what he talked about as its volatility. we are seeing that volatility at the moment, going up, but the fear will be it will always go down again. what goes up must go down. it is certainly worth remembering that if you are thinking about getting involved, but as you say, central bankers and regulators around the world had been very nervous about the currency for a long time. china has gone to some lengths to try to prevent its citizens from using it and we have seen other countries as well, russia and iran, there is no guarantee that couldn't happen as well in the uk, europe, the us and other countries. as different governments increasingly experiment with what is known as central bank digital currencies, large areas putting their currencies online,

there might be more people trying to closely regulate the space and make sure that people are using their currencies and not these... are not centrally controlled ones like bitcoin and even once suggested by social networks like facebook, which has gone to try to roll out its digital currency, which used to be called libre and has recently been renamed via. billy bamber on the rise of bitcoin and he made a good punt, starting to report on it three yea rs punt, starting to report on it three years ago and hardly anyone had heard about it. let's take a look at the weather was someone who is an expert in his field as well, ben. hello. the cold and wintry weather we've had to start 2021 shows no sign of letting up through the week ahead. it is going to stay pretty chilly out there with a mixture of rain, sleet and snow at times, but not all the time. there will also be some spells of sunshine.