this is bbc news. the headlines: the prime minister is to make a televised address at 8 o'clock tonight — as the uk's covid threat level is increased to its highest level. labour reiterates its call for a national lockdown. the virus is out of control. everybody can see that but for a tiered system clearly is not working and we all know that tougher measures are necessary and so i a dependent a sterry don't say in due course, why delay? have the national restrictions and bring them into force as soon as possible. it comes amid mounting pressure on the nhs, with a record 58,781; new covid cases recorded across the uk. leaders of the 4 nations are meeting now to discuss the coronavirus response — scotland has already announced it

will go into lockdown from midnight tonight. it is no exaggeration to say i am more concerned about the situation we face now that i have been at any time since march last year. parents and teachers face a "confusing picture" of primary school closures in england — as unions call for a delay to children returning to classrooms. a 13 year old boy stabbed to death in reading has been identified as oliver lucas stephens. five teenagers are being held by police in connection with his murder. ijust want i just want to find 11,780 votes which is one more than we have. an outcry in the united states as president trump is recorded phoning up president trump is recorded phoning up officials in georgia change the election results there.

the prime minister will make a televised address to the nation at eight o'clock this evening to set out further steps to deal with rising coronavirus cases in england. the house of commons has been recalled to sit on wednesday. let's take a look at what we know so far. the uk's coronavirus threat level — different from the tier levels — has been increased to the highest level — level five — that means there is a "material risk that health care services will be overwhelmed" . it comes as nicola sturgeon introduces a national lockdown for scotland — where people will be ordered to stay at home and schools closed for a month . the leaders of the uk's four nations are right now discussing their response to the dramatic rise in cases with the governments in wales and northern ireland expected to take further measures.

and 58,781; new covid—19 cases were recorded in the uk today — that's higher than at any time since the pandemic began. earlier i spoke to our political correspondent, ben wright, who assesed what we're likely to hear from the prime minister later this evening. the televised address to the nation is an unusual thing for a per minister to do. i think they have only been three, this will be the third since the start of the pandemic. that underscores the gravity of this crisis. and a virus thatis gravity of this crisis. and a virus that is clearly outpacing the current set of rules that the government has in place and aimed the tough and tiered system was introduced in november after the autumn knocked down, three key was extended to four in the man at the christmas and it's been we again because they knew variants of the run up to christmas and it's been revisited again because they knew

variants of this coronavirus is clearly putting huge pressure on the nhs as infection rates soar. now the payment and if they visited the hospital in north london today where they astrazeneca injection was being administered. this is what he said about they need for further restrictions. what we have been waiting for is to see the impact of that year for measures on the virus. it's a bit unclear at the moment but i think if you look at the numbers, there is no question that we will have to take confirmations and he will be doing that in due course. so the prime minister has been under pressure from keir starmer calling for tougher measures? yes, cara stormer said yesterday within 2a hours that should be a mere nationality knock—down in england. i think that meant as far as keir starmer was concerned effectively and being —— extending care for it to england. they are living on a restrictions and i think it's intense in a very large number at a

minimum terry starmer was saying that need to be extended and they need to be clear messaging around staying at home. we awake to see what happens but this is what keir starmer said this afternoon as he tried to keep pressure on their part minister. the virus is out of control. everybody can see that. the tiered system clearly is not working. and we all know that tougher measures are necessary. so working. and we all know that tougher measures are necessary. sol think the prime minister, don't say in due course, why delay? have national restrictions and bring them into force as soon as possible. those restrictions are now necessary to get the virus back under control, to get the virus back under control, to protect the nhs which is near breaking point is january to protect the nhs which is near breaking point isjanuary but critically to create a space for the roll—out of the vaccine and that needs to be mission—critical. if we are asking the british people to be subject to tough national restrictions and we are, that needs

to happen straightaway, then the contract needs to be that the vaccine contract needs to be that the vaccine programme contract needs to be that the vaccine programme is rolled out now as quickly as possible. by that i mean2 as quickly as possible. by that i mean 2 million a week injanuary and doubled back in february. we were the first country to get the vaccine, we need to be the first country to complete a vaccination programme. that has to be the basic field and we cannot have the prime minister seeing field and we cannot have the prime ministerseeing in due field and we cannot have the prime minister seeing in due course, we need it now. that's why i'm calling for it today. what does a national lockdown look like to you? people do use that word can mean different things. it needs to be back to the spirit of march where there was a very strong skeletal message. you see lots of people out and about on the streets and you see trains that are half—full, we need to go back to everywhere in march. very strong messaging about staying at home. i'm afraid that the closure of schools is now inevitable and therefore that needs to be part of that plan, as pa rt of needs to be part of that plan, as part of the national plan for further restrictions. that means we

need to have measures in place to protect working parents, measures in place to enable children to learn at home, and a plan to get schools as a female thing again. and that goes back to vaccination. it must be mission—critical now. back to vaccination. it must be mission-critical now. and you understand ministers have been relu cta nt to understand ministers have been reluctant to close schools because they say every daily face—to—face teaching is crucial to the children and there are some parts of the country where the virus is not spreading as quickly. so why a national lockdown? the government is delaying the inevitable, i am afraid, schools are closed this week in many parts of across the country. only primary schools are open in other places. there is complete chaos with parents not knowing what is going on. we need to create a space for the vaccine out to be rolled out safely. the virus is out of control and the need to get it back under control. the more we delay, the worse it will get. the more we delay the longer schools

will be closed. so that's not in anybody's interest. for all of us that once children in schools, we have to learn the lesson at six action is needed. you would not be able to say when schools would be open, that's the problem? that is a problem, but the longer you leave it, the longer the delay. that's what we know about this virus. and the more delay we have them —— from the more delay we have them —— from the prime minister the bigger the problem will get. when it comes to ca re problem will get. when it comes to care for, there are some mps saying actually it has not been given time to work to see if it could work. should the government maybe wait a couple more days to see if the data is changing because of care for?“ you look across the tier 4 areas, most of them are going up in terms of infection rates. i'm quite sharply. anyone then we have been in ca re sharply. anyone then we have been in care for for sometime now and the rates are still going up. i think simply waiting is not going to help. we know with this virus that you need to act swiftly and decisively with the plan that needs to be

incremented straightaway. with the plan that needs to be incremented straightawaym with the plan that needs to be incremented straightaway. it is much easier of course to say these things and if you look at their neighbour rarely in wales... they have got a flexible approach to schools reopening and they have gotten needs to schools reopening. of course, this is a difficult situation for any government. i completely accept that and we will support the government if it wants to go down this route. if the prime minister says i am going to act and i live put in place national restrictions andl put in place national restrictions and i will put in place a plan for schools closure that enables them to reopen as soon as possible then we will support thatjust reopen as soon as possible then we will support that just as he will support the vaccination programme which has to be mission—critical. so, yes it's difficult, yes it's tough, but the difficult decisions did not go away by being ignored. we will see from the prime minister later what his latest thinking is about schools. he's very keen the

government tries to stick to their reopening schedule and try to get secondary schools opening by january the 18th but again he said this morning that would have to be looked at in light of the emerging evidence and laboursaid at in light of the emerging evidence and labour said it's highly likely that schools may have to close and nicola sturgeon has said that schools will not be reopening in scotla nd schools will not be reopening in scotland until february so that's something that parents around the country will be looking at very teeny as the prime ministers speaks of the nation this evening. and we will have live coverage of the prime minister's address to the nation this evening with a special programme at 7:35 on bbc one and the bbc news channel. let's get more on those restrictions in scotland. from midnight tonight, people there face a new lockdown to try to contain the spread of coronavirus. it will be a legally enforceable order to stay at home and work from home, with limited exceptions. the rules will apply

across the scottish mainland until at least the end of january. all schools, which had been due to re—open later this month, will stay closed until the 1st of february and learning will take place online. outlining the new plans in the scottish parliament, the first minister said it was "no exaggeration" to say she was "more concerned about the situation now than at any time since march last yea r". nicola sturgeon warned that the new variant of coronavirus now accounts for almost half of new cases — and that without further intervention, hospitals could reach capacity within 3 or 4 weeks. our scotland correspondent alexandra mackenzie joins me now from glasgow. scotla nd scotland is really in lockdown until the beginning of february at least? yes, that is right. nobody wanted to start the new year by going into lockdown but that is what nicola sturgeon announced when the scottish parliament was recalled this afternoon and stayed at the bank

holiday in scotland. we knew it was going to be a very serious statement and she has announced that scotland is going back into lockdown from midnight tonight. she described a race between the virus and people getting vaccinated and she talked about their new variant of the virus writing faster and faster in the number of cases today it was up to 1905. she said this was really concerning, especially for the nhs but she said it's extremely fragile and the number of covid—19 patients and the number of covid—19 patients and hospital now is up to the peak or almost up to the peak that we saw earlier in the year in april and she said this is a very dangerous time in the pandemic. let me stress, this is notjust about one single day's numbers. we are now seeing a steeply rising trend of infections. indeed, it is no exaggeration to say i am more concerned about the situation that we face now than i have been at any time

since march last year. in the week from the 23rd to the 30th of december, the seven—day incidence of cases per 100,000 of the population increased by 65%, from 136 per 100,000, to 225 per 100,000. test positivity has risen sharply, too. because of that scotland will move into another lockdown from midnight tonight on until at least the end of january. what that means for level four areas which is most of scotland, milan scotland plus the isle of skye, they will be under a stay order. people can only go out for essential reasons. that is things like going shopping and caring for someone or visiting your extended household. people will only be able to go out for work if it's

absolutely necessary. but people are being told that they should be working from home unless they cannot. and anyone who was shielding during the last lockdown has been told that they must be working from home. in terms of meeting with people, we obviously cannot meet indoors at the moment anyway but there will be further restrictions for meeting people outdoors. you can only meet one other person but that does not include in the numbers children under the age of 11. nicola sturgeon did say that her decisions i'm closing schools was the most difficult that she had to make. the priority has been to keep schools of paying for as long as possible. but schools will be closing on till at least for the 1st of february to may except for vulnerable children and the children of key workers. nicola sturgeon has said that her priority will be to open the schools as quickly as possible but it looks like we're in for a tricky a few weeks before then.

in wales the new coronavirus variant is "spreading quickly" according to the country's health minister. vaughan gething said that cases of coronavirus in wales — which is under national lockdown restrictions — "remain very high", though rates have fallen back from what he called "incredibly high levels" seen before christmas. we were talking earlier about the latest daily data on coronavirus in the uk — let's take a more detailed look: 407 deaths were recorded — that's deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test as we've heard, there was another record number of positive tests — with 58,781; cases confirmed in the last 2a hours — the highest number of cases recorded in the uk on one day. a total of 75,431 people have now died within 28 days of having tested positive for coronavirus,

since the start of the pandemic. as we've heard that the covid threat level is to be increased to five, the highest level. this is different to the tier system — although it was announced with considerable fanfare — ministers have tended not to reference the threat level frequently so what exactly does that mean. last may the government announced that the joint biosecurity centre — has the task of recommending what the alert level should be. the prime minister said it would help decide how tough social—distancing measures should be. there are 5 alert levels — 5 being the highest and level1 the lowest. five is the highest threat level — this means there is a risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed. level four means transmission is high or rising exponentally. since it was established the lowest level it has reached is level three — which means the virus is in general circulation.

the conservative mp — chair of the house of commons health select committee and the former health secretary, jeremy hunt tweeted this morning — calling for tougher measures — and he explained those reasons a little earlier. i think the evidence had been mounting over the weekend that the nhs is in an absolutely unprecedented crisis. when i was health secretary i think we had four winter crises and, frankly, what we are seeing now is nothing compared to that. even compared to april, which was itself a huge challenge for the nhs, we have 30% more beds occupied by coronavirus patients. the staff are working absolutely flat out. the prime minister is absolutely right to make this announcement this evening and i hope he will say that schools are going to be shut,

and that we are going to have enforced quarantine for anyone coming from overseas, notjust trust them to go home and quarantine but take them to a hotel and make sure they go into quarantine. we also need to look at what is allowed in terms of the mixing of households because we have just got to do everything we can for the next 12 weeks. we can speak now to professor devi sridhar who is chair of global public health at edinburgh university's medical school. no limbs break is seeing the prime minister is expected to announce a set of new national restrictions for england similar to the national lockdown we had back in march. that he is highly likely to urge the public to follow them from midnight and it's public to follow them from midnight and its expected that people will be told to work from home unless they are a key worker or it is not

possible to work from home. for example they work on a construction site. schools were closed again for most peoples and it's not yet clear when these measures are going to be reviewed. mps are likely to be given a vote to approve them retrospectively on wednesday. we know that commons is being recalled on wednesday and it all comes of course i made the rapid rise in coronavirus cases and admissions to hospital. it's also understood that the chief medical officer professor chris which he has told the prime minister that they knew more infectious variant of coronavirus is now spreading throughout the country. so just to sum up what our political editor is saying is that borisjohnson is political editor is saying is that boris johnson is going political editor is saying is that borisjohnson is going to announce a set or expected to announce a set of three national restrictions for england similar to the national lockdown in march and he's going to urge the public to follow those rules from midnight and it's

expected people will be told to work from home unless they are a key worker. well, let's get more on that and some reaction to that we can speak now to a professor who is the global chair of global public health at edinburgh university medical school. thank you for being with us. i hope you can hear some of that. borisjohnson i hope you can hear some of that. boris johnson expected i hope you can hear some of that. borisjohnson expected to announce much tougher rules amounting to a lockdown for england, would you welcome back? yes, i think the scientific community knew this day was coming and once you could see it the ideas why you would want to move quickly and fast and to get on top of the problem. the longer you delay the longer we will be stuck in a lockdown. do you think the delay has been too long so far? the government would say that but the balance of things not least the economy. would say that but the balance of things not least the economylj think things not least the economy.” think that's been a false choice as we learned over the past ten months. it is not about health versus the economy, it's impossible to have a for economic recovery when you have

a virus speculating with high hospital rates and so infectious and you will be caught in a reactive lockdown. there is no choice but to go intoa lockdown. there is no choice but to go into a lockdown and i think people don't understand nobody wants a lockdown. when your health services are being strained and collapsing, your fatality rates jumped because people cannot get oxygen and beds and staff time and that's including if you have a heart attack or road traffic accident. this is why you have to get ahead of the problem and stop thinking of all we have to keep the economy running with the virus circulating. deal with the virus circulating. deal with the virus circulating. deal with the public health problem and get their economic recovery. dealing with the public health problem which we we re with the public health problem which we were trying to do it that they're assisting in england. are you saying you don't think that's really worked? i think the problem is that in the care system that we have every place is going up and be a challenge has been to smear variant. it's impossible to understate what a big game changer this is because it's very transmissible. nash. this is why we are seeing it in london and the southeast and even in

scotla nd and the southeast and even in scotland and the number is increasing in a way we did not anticipate that the older version and so right now we are in this really dangerous situation where a base could get out of control and he could get a handle on it let me by the time for vaccination and mass testing or border measures and we don't import new strains and variants from other parts of the world as well as making sure schools can run sustainably and not depriving cases and have to keep chatting. i'm nicola sturgeon in scotla nd chatting. i'm nicola sturgeon in scotland where you are wasting she announced that a lockdown phrase scotla nd announced that a lockdown phrase scotland from tonight and she was saying it's a race between the vaccine and the virus. right now we had a vaccine we have pfizer and astrazeneca and in the correct return i will be approved and we have tools against this virus as well as having testing but it will ta ke well as having testing but it will take months to get out of the deep pits we are in. people can feed as a way out of this but it will take time. delaying infections make sense, why would somebody want to

get infected now when actually they could survive in several months or in halfa could survive in several months or in half a year. that's the battle of time right now. thank goodness he had these vaccines and it gives people a lot of hope. there could be more variance, we're already seeing one that's in south africa that people are very worried about. how confident are you that the various vaccines will be able to deal with those variants? it is hard to say because we just do not know. but we are seeing is that there are numerous variants across are seeing is that there are numerous variants across the world, there is one in nigeria and we will see others appearing because the more virus there is circulating them more virus there is circulating them more mutations occur which means you see different strains and variance and its harder and harderfor our vaccines to address that so we either have to change them within four to five weeks. so in la right now the more we can suppress this kind avoid mutations occurring in britain, the better, but the larger issues, these are occurring across

the world. it comes back to travel restrictions. britain is one of the few countries that has no testing at airports and no real quarantine procedures. it has people going back and forth and that's where being in and forth and that's where being in a pandemic from a public health perspective. we are trying to protect the british people and say how do we make sure we don't import what we are trying to get a handle on our variance right now which is challenging enough. would you like to see tougher restrictions on travel, on people coming into this country announced by the prime minister this evening? yes, definitely. i do think it's for months because what we learned is that summer sequencing has shown that summer sequencing has shown that pilots was practically indicate that pilots was practically indicate that she eliminated. positivity was next to zero. in a way if we could have protected that we would be in a much better position. the challenge is that we have open borders and we have constant travel and we have co nsta nt have constant travel and we have constant movement. you are just to reimport the new strains and u nfortu nately reimport the new strains and unfortunately with this kind of

virus, it has a selective advantage and they take off. it is my we have gone from having 18 cases that having of cases from a new strain and valuable see us take off across england and what the rest of the world is doing now watching this is saying maybe we already have the experience and how do we get ahead of it and learn from what's happening in london and south england to move early and to move ha rd england to move early and to move hard and the longer you delay the harder it is to get a handle on numbers that will emerge. thank you very much. a recording has emerged which appears to show the outgoing us president donald trump putting pressure on a senior republican official to overturn president—electjoe biden's victory in the state of georgia. the washington post says the audio is from an hour—long phone call with georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger. the vice president—elect — kamala harris — called it a "bold abuse of power".

let's hear a brief part of the recording, where mr trump apparently asks mr raffensberger to find him the votes he would need to overtake joe biden's lead in the state. that was donald trump in that phone call. let's go live to washington and speak to our correspondent there, barbara plett—usher. (os extraordinary as all the commentators have been saying. what has been the reaction to it? pretty much outrage from democrats and democratic lawmakers and you are quoting, and he called an abuse of

power and they call it anti—democratic and they called it repugnance, possibly illegal or criminal self they responded very strongly. there has not been a huge number of comments from republicans although a number have spoken out but if you look at the wider context this is all going to come to a head on wednesday. that is the effort by mrtrump to say on wednesday. that is the effort by mr trump to say that the votes are forgetting should be overturned. coming up against the republican party and what it should do, they're supposed to certify that a vote on wednesday. republican party leadership have already accepted thatjoe biden has one and there is a rebel group within that is ready to kind of vote against on wednesday taking mrtrump to kind of vote against on wednesday taking mr trump plus by the name even though he has no evidence for it at all and so that has made quite a deep stretch within their republican party. it's all quite contentious. you were saying if extraordinary as the commentators have been mentioning. we know of

course that donald trump ever since the election has been very aggressive in pursuing this line that it's arguments. again although he filed dozens of lawsuits almost all of them have been dismissed. there is not evidence of widespread fraud at all. it is quite shocking to hear it in such a blatant way to actually be asking the secretary of state to overturn the results and in a way also appearing to threaten him saying that there could be a criminal offence involved if he does not do so. any idea where the recording came from? that has not been publicly confirmed but according to reports the team decided to record —— record the call because they had a call it a republican senator a few weeks earlier, senator lindsey graham and he claimed afterwards that he had also pressured them to meddle with the election results. he denied that and then when president trump has

been trying to get this call for some time apparently, and he said he did not really want to talk to the president and he thought it was not appropriate and in the circumstances all of that seemed to have been to record the call and when you listen to it you see that donald trump speaks almost exclusively for an hour and you have occasionally to secretary of state and his lawyer speak but in a brief measure of tolerance as they state what they believe are the facts that he has his data wrong, they correct and in some cases, but it does seem as if they were stating the facts for the record in a way it's not clear how the recording got out but met with the recording got out but met with the big treat in response to the criticism that he did not have the truth and that the truth would come out. and briefly georgia's was pivotal in the election and it will be pivotal in the senate want it? pivotal in the election and it will be pivotal in the senate want mm will determine who controls the

senate and that will determine how joe biden is able to govern. if the two republican incumbents when then the republicans will continue to control that white house and it would be more difficult forjoe biden they can block his legislation and block his cabinet appointments and block his cabinet appointments and so on. if the two democratic senators ran it will make it easier forjoe biden to carry out his vision although both houses it would bea vision although both houses it would be a very slim majority so it will still not be all that easy. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. dry and sunny across many western areas of the country today, but we still have some rain, sleet and snow showers across parts of eastern scotland, northern england, eastern england and towards the south—east, the rain continues to fall. fairly persistent across the very far south—east of england, towards the channel islands. could see some minor flooding here over the next few days as the rainfall totals tot up. temperatures this evening, three to four celsius for england and wales, made to feel colder by the wind,

and temperatures already dropping below freezing in parts of scotland and northern ireland. widespread frost, icy conditions to come here. could see some ice around as well, and could see a good covering of snow on the southern uplands of scotland, and maybe across the eastern side of the pennines again, if you just get in the shower streams to take us into tomorrow morning. frost, ice, those will be the hazards tomorrow morning. the snow flurries easing a little bit across parts of scotland and northern ireland. a lot of dry and bright weather for many of you, but still more wet weather towards the east of east anglia, down towards the south east of england and the channel islands. and tomorrow, if anything, could be a few degrees cooler than today.

hello, this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines: the prime minister is set to announce a new lockdown for england — with similar measures imposed in march — starting from midnight tonight. there will be addressed. it's expected that schools will close again for most pupils — and people will be told to work from again unless they are a key worker. —— televised addressed. as the uk records a record number of coronavirus cases — the chief medical officer chris whitty is said to have told the prime minister the covid variant is spreading throughout the country. leaders of the four nations will discuss the coronavirus response in a call at 5pm — scotland has already announced it will go into lockdown from midnight tonight. it is no exaggeration to say i am more concerned about the situation we face now that i have been at any

time since march last year. a 13—year—old boy stabbed to death in reading has been identified as oliver lucas stephens. five teenagers are being held by police in connection with his murder. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. there's been an angry reaction in the united states after president trump was recorded on the phone talking to state officials in georgia ordering them to change the election results they are. —— results there. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's jane. hi there, ben. the ecb has confirmed that england all—rounder moeen ali will miss the first test against sri lanka after testing positive for covid. team mate chris woakes has been

deemed a posible close contact and both will self—isolate for ten days in sri lanka. here's our cricket correspondent jonathan agnew. they were tested on friday, and they threw on saturday and they flew on saturday and arrived sunday morning where they were tested again twice at the airport. two different types of tests i understand. one set of tests came back negative, but then the one that did come back showed that moeen ali was testing positive. so it is clear that there is an issue as to why everyone tested negative on the friday and then this one now appears positive. moeen ali is ok. he faces ten days of self isolation in his hotel room. he has food delivered to his door. he is not allowed out of his room. so he has got ten days ahead of him i suspect he would rather not have. it also knocks him out of the first test match,

which he might not have played, but he is there as the third spinner in that squad, but now having spent ten days in his room, there is no way he'll be fit to play in ten days' time. joe denly struck a half century as brisbane heat beat sydney thunder by five wickets in the australian big bash. fellow englishman alex hales hit 46 offjust 26 balls as thunder set the heat 175 to win. denly started slowly but got 16 off three balls to bring up his 50 in just his second game in this year's competition. brisbane reached their target in the final over. snooker‘s masters event — which starts on sunday — has been moved from the alexandra palace to milton keynes so that strict covid—19 regulations can be followed. the tournament features the world's top 16 players, with stuart bingham defending the title against the likes ofjudd trump, ronnie o'sullivan, neil robertson, john higgins and mark selby.

all players will be tested the day before their first match, and will remain within the bubble as long as they are participating in the tournament. premier league champions liverpool can move three points clear at the top of the table if they beat southampton tonight. southampton will be without goalkeeper alex mccarthy, who has tested positive for coronavirus, but manager ralf hassenhuttl returns after having to complete a period of self isolation. as for liverpool, their boss jurgen klopp says, with only four points separating the top six, it's going to be a close title race. last season was very tough for us as well, so it's not like we thought it was easy, it was really tough. and this season is tough again. so, we wish it would not be that close but i am not surprised. so, now southampton will ask for different things. we have to be ready again. then aston villa and man united.

this season is a tough one for its supporters. if they like it, if they are neutral then you will love it, i am pretty sure, because we are going to the wire probably. managerjoey barton has left fleetwood town with immediate effect after nearly three years in charge. the former manchester city and newcastle midfielder leaves the league one side with the club tenth in the table, just three points off the play—off places. he was initially appointed in 2018 and led fleetwood to last season's league one play—offs. the club has thanked barton for his work. and barton isn't the only manager in the efl to lose his job today. league two side port vale have parted company with john askey. they're currently 17th in the table. more on that and all of our stories on the bbc sport website. that is it for now. jane, thank you very much. let's bring you the latest what we have been hearing

from our political editor laura coombs berg who has been talking about what we should expect to hear from the prime minister this evening in terms of his address. —— laura kuennsberg. it expect to announce or will be a national lockdown in england. and people are being told to work from home unless they are a key worker or have no choice, for example if a construction worker. we've also been hearing from olly foster, first minister of northern ireland. —— arlene foster. she has been on a call with the other leaders of the four nations of the uk and there is a meeting of the store my executive as well this evening. she's been talking about the need for tougher restrictions in northern ireland. unfortunately the advice that is coming to us is very start. —— stormont executive. 1801 positive test today and if you look over the last seven days come arisen

from 5000 over seven days to well over 12,000 for those seven days, there's been a huge increase in the number of people testing positive for covid—19. that is very alarming. and in the fortunately we will meet tonight has a very difficult decisions to take. —— unfortunately. there was some brighter news today in the fight against coronavirus — in what's being described as a ‘pivotal moment‘ — the first doses of the oxford university and astrazeneca vaccine have been given. the first to get the oxford jab was 82—year—old dialysis patient brian pinker who told reporters "it's the only way to getting back to a normal life." here's our health correspondent anna collinson — her report does contain some flash photography. at 7:30am this morning, all eyes were on an 82—year—old man, dialysis patient brian pinker became the first person to receive the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine.

he is now looking forward to celebrating his 48th wedding anniversary. the vaccine means everything to me. to my mind, it's the only way of getting back to a bit of normal life. you know, this virus is terrible, isn't it? sam foster administered the jab, which is seen as a crucial moment in the uk's fight against the coronavirus. it was a huge privilege. every single patient that we have vaccinated over the last couple of weeks have got their own personal stories to the difference it's going to make for them, so no different this morning with our first two patients. more than 500,000 doses are now being rolled out, starting with a small group of hospitals, including in oxford. a thumbs up from one of the scientists who helped develop the vaccine. it is a hugely proud moment. it is a testament to the efforts of the teams both here and around the world who have been working on the vaccine. but also, i think, especially important for all of those volunteers who came forward without really knowing whether this vaccine was going to work to actually see their involvement

has brought us to this moment today. so far, the uk has approved two vaccines. the astrazeneca jab is cheaper and easier to store than the pfizer one so fewer resources are needed to reach the most vulnerable. the phase one priority list is headed by those who live and work in care homes, followed by the over 80s and front line health workers, and then younger groups and the clinically vulnerable. the first phase includes all adults aged 50 and over. doctors say a fast roll—out is essential so patients will now wait 12 weeks for their second dose. leading scientists say this delay will allow more people to be protected faster. 2 million vaccinations a week are said to be needed but the government hasn't yet said when that will happen. well, i would hope within the next, certainly this month we will be able to get up to that sort of number, but as i said this is dependent upon supply. this is a new vaccine, supplies are coming in as we speak, but they come in batch by batch but we will be delivering it as soon as we get it.

but amid the celebrations, the government and scientists say they are concerned about a new variant of the virus in south africa. though more data is needed. the worry about the south african, variant which has spread very rapidly to become the dominant strain of the virus in south africa, is that it contains more changes, more mutations in the spike gene, some of which are likely to affect the body's immune response, and therefore, there is a bit more of a question mark over that particular variant. with rising covid cases putting extreme pressure on the nhs, the uk faces a tough time ahead. vaccines bring hope, but the roll—out must happen quickly if they are to compete with the virus. anna collinson, bbc news. and we will have live coverage of the prime minister's address to the nation this evening with a special programme at 7:35 on bbc one and the bbc news channel. he will talk to the nation at eight

o'clock and to recap what we understand he will announce, there will be a new national lockdown in england similar to the national lockdown we had back in march and he is likely to urge the public to follow it from midnight tonight to expect the people will be told to work from home unless they are a key worker or it is not possible for them to work or home like if they work on the construction site, and schools will close again for most pupils and it is in your clear when that will be reviewed. —— it is not clear. we also hearfrom nicola sturgeon. there it is. first minister of scotland announcing a little earlier on there will be a new national lockdown in scotla nd will be a new national lockdown in scotland as from midnight, stay home, stabilise, protect the nhs is her message on twitter. —— save lives.

a 13—year—boy who was stabbed to death in reading has been named as oliver lucas stephens, known as olly. police were called to fields in emmer green yesterday afternoon, following reports of the attack. our correspondentjon donnison has the latest. a statement from thames valley police came to earlier this afternoon. he was stabbed earlyjust before four o'clock on sunday afternoon in an area called bugs bottom fields in reading. police say they are now trying to comfort and give counselling to his family. we have had a statement through a head teacher at a local school. we don't know if olly was a student there or had been a student there in the past, but she is saying that the student was part of our community and many students and staff knew him well. for a life to be ended at such a young age is such a total tragedy and our thoughts are with his family. what about the investigation? the police have made

a number of arrests. four boys and one girl who are all aged atleast14 years old. they are being held in custody by police in connection with their investigation. police are appealing to anybody around that area, particularly drivers driving around those fields who might have dashcam footage to come forward. the founder of wikileaks — julian assange — cannot be extradited to the united states to face spying charges. a judge at the old bailey ruled that while us prosecutors met the tests for mr assange to be extradited for trial, concerns over mr assange's mental health — and the risk he may attempt to take his own life — meant that the extradition could not go ahead. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. julian assange has long attracted loyal supporters. this was their reaction outside the old bailey as they heard the news. thejudge had ruled

that he could not be extradited to the united states. for more than a decade, the wikileaks founder has resisted extradition, above all by spending seven years holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london before he was removed almost two years ago and was detained in belmarsh prison. us authorities want him to face 18 charges, mostly of espionage, relating to his alleged role ten years ago in obtaining and leaking thousands of american military secret documents. these focused on the wars in afghanistan and iraq, including this video appearing to show a us helicopter firing on a crowd in baghdad, killing at least 18 people. today, finally, after years of legal battles, mr assange was driven into court to hear his fate. inside, the districtjudge dismissed many of the arguments made by mr assange's defence, that the charges were political

or that his free speech would be infringed. then she said the isolation and lack of protection mr assange would face in a us prison meant there was a risk he would take his own life and ruled extradition would be oppressive by reason of mental harm to the joy of supporters outside, including his fiancee. today is a victory forjulian. today's victory is the first step towards justice in this case. we are pleased that the court has recognised the seriousness and inhumanity of what he has endured and what he faces, but let us not forget the indictment in the us has not been dropped. despite the judge's ruling, mr assange will not walk free today. us authorities have said they intend to try to appeal the decision. mr assange has been remanded in custody ahead of a bail

application later this week. the story is not over yet. back to our top story. the premonition expected to enough this evening a set of new national restrictions for england. —— the prime minister. he is speaking at eight o'clock this evening on television and it is expected he will not say national lockdown and england similar to the one we had a march and likely the earthly public to follow it from midnight. let's get the very latest from our political correspondentjessica parker who whistle at westminster. what more do we know or think we know about the prime minister will say? —— who is that westminster. know about the prime minister will say? -- who is that westminster. the prime is making an address at eight o'clock come a televise address where he will lay out what will happen. —— prime minister. he will announce new national restrictions for england, similar but not exactly the same as what we saw back in march. if people remember that,

likely to kick in from midnight of people being told to work from home u nless people being told to work from home unless they are a key worker or work ona unless they are a key worker or work on a construction site, so they can't really work from home, and schools expected to close for most pupils, not clear when the measures will be reviewed exactly, but what we understand is mps as we know will be recalled to parliament on wednesday and get some sort of retrospective vote on these measures. still some details to fill in here and it has huge implications clearly for people up and down the country, obviously many areas were already in a tear for a level of restriction which was akin to the second national lockdown. —— tier 4. but this will be a nationwide set of restrictions. we know the prime minister did not really want to go down the path of another lockdown and didn't want to have a second national lockdown, but we have heard from him over the last 2a hours

clearly a government huge concern about this new variant of the virus and for example the labour party leader sir keir starmer has been calling of the government to go further. that announcement tonight from the prime minister will follow nicola sturgeon's from the prime minister will follow nicola stu rgeon's announcement from the prime minister will follow nicola sturgeon's announcement of scotla nd nicola sturgeon's announcement of scotland of a lockdown there, she has been 20 to tell people to stay home save lives and protect the nhs. borisjohnson is home save lives and protect the nhs. boris johnson is often home save lives and protect the nhs. borisjohnson is often been accused by his political opponents of being behind the curve among them in a keir starmer has been urging him to bring in tougher measures that will be the accusation once again that he has the there will be an accusation that has leveled at him. keir starmer calling for this action as well and nicola sturgeon announcing measures from mainland scotland this afternoon as well to kick in. with the government say is that they are co nsta ntly the government say is that they are constantly looking at what to do,

co nsta ntly constantly looking at what to do, constantly looking at what to do, constantly looking at what to do, constantly looking at the data and not wanting to go for things like school closures on unless absolutely necessary in a last resort because of the damage that these measures can do for society and people with mental health and children's education but as i say, the new variant that seem to be causing such a huge degree of concern that it does look beneficial to have no choice but to go a full for the measure this evening but you are right that people, some people, some of his critical suggests he is again too slow and that the key is to as possible and that is the lesson that people often point to when dealing with coronavirus. strange anyway because we have these announcements come if that is what borisjohnson announces on the same day we fed the first oxford vaccine administered, the firstjob given to a patient, light at the end of the tunnel but nicola sturgeon has said it is like a race between the vaccine and the virus. ijust nicola sturgeon saying that but i think they clearly what

politicians is that it is not quite the same as what we saw back in march or nd back in november because we have got to vaccine is now on stream. the oxford vaccine and the pfizer vaccine stock that provides hope for a lot of people, hope that as we look towards spring although we don't know when ministers are not putting an exact date on it anywhere, as that vaccination programme is rolled out and accelerated at all possible, that is provide hope for people that this won't go on forever and ever because we talk about going back to some sort of lockdown similar to what we saw in march. you will remember back then i don't think people necessarily concede that we would still be talking about a potential third national lockdown for england and scotland wales or northern ireland have their own sets of measures that we would be talking about that months and months later, going at the 2021, so i think there

will be an emphasis partly to really try and encourage people to follow the rules and i think there is a concern that while many people are sticking to the rules, some aren't and that is proving a problem and i think something will see is emphasis on that legal stay at home message where it applies because as we know the virus thrives on human contact. so reinforce message to really encourage people to stay at home u nless encourage people to stay at home unless they really have a good reason to leave. jessica, thank you very much indeed for being with us. the family of a london schoolgirl found dead during a holiday in a malaysian jungle said they were "utterly disappointed" in a coroner's verdict of death through misadventure. nora quoirin, 15, was discovered dead nine days after she went missing from the resort in august 2019. howard johnson reports. it was from this jungle resort in central malaysia that nora went missing on the morning of august the 4th, 2019.

she'd arrived at the dusun resort with her familyjust the day before. around 8am the following morning, father sebastian discovered nora was missing. this side, where nora was staying, was empty. i looked around, tried to keep my composure for a few seconds. immediately after that, ran downstairs and started searching around. mother meabh said a window in the downstairs kitchen area, that she said she'd closed the night before, was found open. the family insisted there was a criminal element to the case, as their daughter had difficulty walking unassisted and had never wandered off alone. but the police always maintained it was a missing persons case. nora's naked body was eventually found ten days after she disappeared, close to a stream on a palm oil plantation. there was no sign she had been physically assaulted. autopsies carried out both in malaysia and london both

concluded that nora had died because of a heavily ulcerated upper intestine, caused by extreme stress and lack of food. a senior british pathologist said scratches on nora's torso, legs and feet were consistent with her moving through the densejungle. today's verdict of death by misadventure means that coroner maimoonah aid believes that on the balance of probabilities, nora wandered off alone. nora's parents called for this inquest but it's delivered a verdict that will undoubtedly disappoint them. howard johnson, bbc news. the news at six is coming up. the promise it will speak at eight o'clock this evening and coverage at that live here on bbc news. ashley prime minister will speak. live here from 735. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor hello. it's still a bit wintry out there for some of you at the moment, but the weather set—up for the next few days is different to what we had last week.

high pressures to the north of us, low pressures to the south and east, and that means we are getting more of an east to north—easterly flow across the country. it is still going to be cold, and by night, temperatures dropping below freezing, so some frost and some ice around, but much more in the way of wind across the southern half of the uk. and whilst there will be some sleet and hill snow, for a fairfew of you, what falls from the sky will be rain, particularly so across the south—east corner. this is going to be the wettest but over the next few days. over the hills of north kent, over the east of surrey, and across the channel islands too. we could see as much as 50 millimetres of rain in one or two spots. certainly raining there at the moment. they could be some minor flooding. and for the rest of the day, that rain continues here on that brisk wind. a few showers mainly across eastern areas, turning wintry over higher ground, best of the drier weather towards the west. a breezy day for england and wales. we could see winds reach gale force around the eastern portion of the english channel, and that is going to make it feel colder, as these temperatures will suggest as we go into the evening. already dropping below freezing in parts of scotland and northern ireland this evening, and another cold and frosty

night to come here. watch out, though, we could see some significant snow showers on the likes of the borders across the southern uplands. we could see some as well back into the pennines into the morning, making for some pretty icy conditions. temperatures at their lowest, again, the west highlands, baby down to —7 or minus eight celsius, holding up towards the south and east where the rain continues to fall, but watch out for some ice in the morning. the snow showers in southern scotland should ease. we could still see some rain, sleet and snow push in through northern england, particularly so across the pennines, still raining towards south of england and towards the channel islands. a lot of you, though, will have another dry and bright day, perhaps feeling a little bit colder than today. and then, as we go to tuesday night into wednesday, we still got that easterly flow, but as high pressure starts to hold firm across the north, the winds were far lighter. more in the way of frost and ice around into wednesday morning. the showers in the south—east mainly across parts of kent at this stage, some more subtle wind shift direction does mean that things should improve her. things should improve here. some showers dotted around three central areas, but most areas are dry and bright day, but a pretty chilly one after that frosty start. and the blue colours on the chart means another widespread frost

to take us to wednesday night into thursday morning. there will be some rain, sleet and snow around across parts of scotland and northern ireland on thursday, but brighter for england and wales, and most will be dry on friday, too.

a new lockdown is coming in england, scotland's will come in from midnight. the covid threat level in the uk has been raised to the highest level, five, meaning the nhs is at risk of being overwhelmed. there will be tighter restrictions and schools will close. scotland's lockdown comes in at midnight tonight and will last a month. schools will also close. we are now seeing a steeply rising trend of infections. indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that i am more concerned about the situation we face now than i have been at any time since march last year. borisjohnson will announce the new lockdown measures for england at eight o'clock this evening. also tonight: the roll—out of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine begins with the first dose to an 82—year—old dialysis patient.