hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. the uk's covid threat level is raised to its maximum, level 5 — meaning health services are at risk of being overwhelmed. in an hour's time boris johnson will announce new lockdown restrictions, after repeated calls for him to act urgently. why delay? have national restrictions and bring them into voice as soon as possible. as the uk begins rolling out the oxford astra zeneca vaccine, we'll look at vaccination programmes around the world. and donald trump is accused of abusing his power after he was recorded asking georgia's secretary of state — to ‘find' him enough votes to overturn the election result.

the monday after new year is when the uk kicks back into gear after christmas. but not in 2021. many businesses and offices remain closed or empty — and the second wave of covid—19 is taking its toll. there is a newecord daily number of cases, the death toll is passed 75,000, the health service is facing severe perhaps close to unbearable pressure — and it seems certain england is heading into another lockdown. in an hour, borisjohnson will address the country — and we know more restrictions are coming. time and again during this pandemic, mrjohnson has asserted that something would not happen before soon after confirming that it would. he attacked the idea of a second lockdown in november and then introduced one. he attacked the idea of changing christmas regulations and then changed them. and the same pattern is playing out. before and after christmas as cases and concerns rose, the prime minister insisted some schools would open.

today he said children and teachers were safe to go back. but for many this is the first day of term — and the last for some time. the prime minioster is set to close them. his reason is this. the uk'sjoint biosecurity centre which sets the overall alert level for coronavirus across the uk has today raised it to the maximum — level five — meaning "there is a material risk of health care services being overwhelmed" within the next 21 days. it's the first time since the alert system was introduced last may that a level five alert has been declared — the uk has been at level four, since september. "many parts of the health systems in the four for months and months coronavirus have dominated our lives telling us where we can do and what we can do and who we can see. in the summer i think many of us hoped that the worst might be behind us but tonight on the brink of tighter restrictions in scotland and wales in a situation

so in scotland and wales in a situation so bad in some hospitals in england that boris johnson so bad in some hospitals in england that borisjohnson is expected to engage his regional approach and put the whole country on tighter measures. so let's take a closer look at numbers in the uk. at the start of the pandemic, the argument for restrictions and then a lockdown was to ‘flatten to curve' of infections. they worked in the short—term. but the curve is very much back. these are daily cases — starting from the beginning of the first uk lockdown in march. that closed schools, almost all offices were closed and people could only leave home for essential reasons. at that time, the uk's testing system wasn't fully up and running. widespread testing became available in may so that impacted the number of positive tests. and by early october cases began to climb. by november 5th, a second national lockdown arrived. it was strict but not as strict as the first one — schools stayed open, and businesses weren't legally required to close offices. at that point there were around 22,000 daily cases. by

the end of that lockdown, on december 2nd, there were 14,600 daily cases — the lockdown had had an impact.since then tho — despite a tiered system of restrctions — case numbers have grown rapidly. today's daily figure is close to 60,000 cases — another record high. many have pointed out the curve is in danger of flattening — but vertically rather than horizontally. we're expecting an announcement in the next hour from the uk prime minister about increasing restrictions. he's been under pressure to do so for several weeks — in particular on schools. this was borisjohnson this morning. think about it, we've already got a lot of the country and tier 4, some in tier 3 or we've been waiting for is to see the impact of the tier 4 measures on the virus and it's a bit unclear still at the moment but i think if you look at the numbers there's no question that we have to take tougher measures and we will be announcing those in due course. so, that's mrjohnson saying the government is waiting to see the impact of the tier 4 measures which were implemented last month.

but plenty of senior political and scientific voices in the uk have been calling for immediate action. the opposition labour leader sir keir starmer was leading those calls over the weekend. here he is again today... there is no use for prime minister hinting that further restrictions will come in a week or two or three. that delay has been the source of so many problems so i say bring those restrictions now, national restrictions within the next 2a hours. then there's the former health secretaryjeremy hunt — who came second behind mrjohnson in the conservative party leadership contest in 2019. mr hunt want more restrictions. if you look around the world and all the evidence has been very clear, that countries that act earlier and more decisively end up saving more lives and protecting their economies and this is one of the situations. in many states agonised but in the end you have to act and this is a new strain. it's incredibly dangerous. but this time in la action

is easier because you have to vaccine and we know we are talking about a 12 week period by the end of which everyone who needs to would have been vaccinated and i think for the sake of that period it's just worth biting the bullet. and there are many questions around the government's calculations. the bbc‘s health correspondent, anna collinson tweeted this earlier: nicola sturgeon has already announced a new lockdown which begins at midnight similar to the one at the start of the pandemic including school closures. let me stress this is notjust about one single days numbers. we are now seeing a steeply rising trend of infections. indeed, it is no

exaggeration to say that i am more concerned about this situation we face now than i have been at any time since march last year. and, with all of that in mind, this clip from the who at the beginning of the pandemic is being shared again today. perfection is the enemy of the good when it comes to emergency management. speed trumps perfection. and the pub and in society we have at the moment if everyone is afraid of making a mistake. everyone is afraid of error. but the greatest ever is not to move. the greatest error is to be paralysed by the fear of failure. borisjohnson boris johnson and his borisjohnson and his government is taking the decision today and we will know the details of that decision and under an hour wind up in the nation. the issues of schools has become potent. the government had already announced that some secondary and primary schools would be shut for a short period of time at least. but it was adamant that many others would stay open. and that testing procedures at secondary schools offered a route back

into the classroom for children. here's borisjohnson again on why he didn't think all schools should all be closed. this was this morning. schools are safe and you know the risk to kids is very, very small and the risk to teachers and with everything we can to protect teachers but the risk to teachers is no greater to anybody else any other line of work. in a rare display of unity, six different teaching unions joined forces to condemn the decision to reopen schools after christmas. they accused the pm of ‘casually asserting that schools are safe'. .. saying "bringing all pupils back in to the classroom while the rate of infection is so high is exposing education sector workers to serious risk of ill—health and could fuel the pandemic. while calling for "a pause in the reopening of schools... and a move to remote learning for all while covid—secure working arrangements are reviewed" all of which leads us

to an announcement within the next hour in which it's widely expected schools will be shut as part of a broader package of measures. and, of course, one of the major reason lockdowns were implemented was to protect the national health service and ensure hospitals aren't being overwhelmed. let's ta ke a look at the data for daily hospitalisations in england... it wasn't available at the very start of the crisis, but by its peak on april 7th, 2,743 people were admitted with covid. during the second wave and mid—second lockdown, on november 14th 1,773 were admitted. but, again, you can clearly see that number is now rising rapidly — and by the end of december — which is the latest data we have — that number was already up to 2,451. here's hugh pym with more on the pressure being faced by ambulances... the front nine of a major london

hospital today. here at st george's staff say it's exceptionally busy after a big increase of admission of covid—19 patients. 0ver after a big increase of admission of covid—19 patients. over the weekend they have been struck by the member requiring oxygen support and that has meant dubbing capacity for oxygen supplies which is no easy matter. a lot of those people have not been older people, they have not been people with medical problems they have been young and fix people who have been shocked at how unwell they have gotten and how quickly they have gotten and how quickly they have gotten and how quickly they have become unwell. annabelle's whole family was struck by the pirates. she and her mother were struggling to breathe and were admitted to the infirmary. they were brought together in intensive care but less than 24 hours later, maria died. dave literallyjust torn my family into tiny pieces. everyone's situation is different and we are at different points in our lives but just to take a moment to put

yourself in my shoes and if that would make you perhaps rethink what you're going to do that day. the chief executive of the contest of chester hospital said 40% of beds we re chester hospital said 40% of beds were occupied by covid—19 patients and stressed there was a problem affecting more areas than just london. community leaders meanwhile wind at the situation is getting worse. it's extremely serious. the risk of hospitals in the north is quite severe at the moment. they have marco coronavirus patients in the hospital and they have ever had. in some parts of london, virus cases have gone up by 25% in a week. that is why hospitals make this are under mounting pressure and a time when there are higher levels of staff sickness and villas list b —— needing to sell isolate. things can get even tougher in the weeks ahead.

a virologist joined us get even tougher in the weeks ahead. a virologistjoined us now. thank you for your time. help me out on theissue you for your time. help me out on the issue of schools. there seems to bea the issue of schools. there seems to be a lot of conflicting opinions on the role they are playing in the search and case numbers, what's your analysis? any opportunity where people mix together outside of their immediate household or there support bubble is an opportunity for the virus to spread from person—to—person. so, although schools themselves might be considered safe in terms of covid—19, children are still getting covid—19. the number of children and young people and teenagers who are testing positive for covid—19 is actually coming up and that's one with a number of cases going up more than in other parts and other age groups. and the other thing about schools is they have been quite a lot of talk about how teachers are no less at risk than anyone else.

but we are at risk and with 50,000 cases of people who test positive, that's the sort of average so there are at risk of catching covid—19 and teachers as much as children but the main thing is to stop people moving about and coming into contact with people who are not in damning household and that's the rationale for closing schools. given what you have just said if the prime minister does announce a new lockdown you would agree with that? yes, that would agree with that? yes, that would really, really help. ithink it's worth bearing in mind that it is not just us. it's worth bearing in mind that it is notjust us. in preparation for this interview i had a quick look around the world and i found that the schools either closing or not reopening after their christmas break, and for example hong kong, zimbabwe, and gemini. so across the whole world. governments are making the same kind of decisions. so it seems to be that's the right thing

to do. just by the time being until we see what's going on and just trying to get the numbers of new cases down in the number of people turning up in hospital. but to be clear, although lockdown achieves, if the a virus in the short term. it is not contain any of the long—term challenges does it? now, but if the nhs is overwhelmed and intensive ca re nhs is overwhelmed and intensive care beds opinion now, the sensible thing to do it to try to stop that from happening and in the meantime we need to sort out the test chase and isolate system which i'm still not sure how that's actually working and giving proper support to people when they need to isolate and i'm still not sure we so i take that one out either. both in terms of the physical and emotional support but also financial support when people cannot work. and they are starting

to roll out the vaccine and that gives people and the other side of the nhs, the vaccination side of the nhsa the nhs, the vaccination side of the nhs a chance to get that up and running while we are not trying to be with several things in one gulp. clearly the prime minister believes that the data now demands a change in policy and we will learn that policy in a few minutes but in your view, was there sufficient data several weeks ago in december to realise that the lockdown was necessary? yes, all the top experts are saying that and other top epidemiologists have been saying that. i'm in agreement with them. right now thank you very much.

fall out continues from this extraordinary phone call between donald trump and a top official in georgia. the washington post released the audio — and in it the president tells the official he should ‘recalculate' the results of the presidential election in the state. this is some of it. georgia secretary of state brad raffens—perger is the main official on the other end of the line. since the election, mr raffensberger has made it clear that voting in georgia was conducted by the book. and on the call — he and others tell the president again and again that his claims of election fraud are not true. at one stage mr raffensperger — who is a lifelong republican puts it plain and simple — he says "the challenge you have mr president — is that the data you have is wrong"

as you'd expect — the political reaction came swift — strong — and from all angles. there was this from republican congressman adam kinzinger he tweeted "this is absolutely appalling. and this from former republican senator and long time trump criticjeff flake — "after the past four years, 0n the democrat's side — their second most senior senator — minority whip dick durbin — tweeted — "this disgraceful effort and here's vice president—elect kamala harris speaking last night at a rally in georgia.

it was certainly the voice of desperation, most certainly it was bold—faced abuse of power by the president of the united states. top republicans including senate majority leader mitch mconnell have remained quiet. but some of president trump's closest supporters have slammed the washington post for publishing what they believe is a heavily edited version of the call. the entire call lasted forjust over an hour — and after initially publishing a 4 minute clip, the washington post has now published the entire thing. seth weathers — who was the trump campaign's georgia state director in 2016— claims that when heard in it's entirity — the call is nothing special. we live in a world where truth does not matter anymore evidently. at least here in the us, truth does not matter and it's all that propaganda from the liberal media. the reality is you go listen to the call and all

the narrative is a nonsense call and ask a bunch of drama about nothing. to be honest if what is accused in the headlines is true i would not defend it. so — why now? and why georgia? well tomorrow the state will go to the polls again — this time in a runoff election to decide the state's two senate positions. but it's more than just two seats at stake. it's a vote that will decide control of the senate. following the november 3rd election — the republicans currently hold 50 seats, and the democrats 48. polling in both races is close — and there's a lot at stake — joe biden, donald trump kamala harris and mike pence are all descending on georgia. a couple of weeks ago, joe biden was in georgia, you may have heard of it. he actually said that, these are his words, he said georgia does not need two senators are just going to get in the way. georgia, that's

exactly what we need in the united states. we need senator david padilla and senator kelly get in the way of the radical left agenda in washington, dc. so for the republican's the senate runoff in georgia is about one thing — having some means to control joe biden's presidential agenda through the senate. for the democrats — georgia is an opportunity to win back control in the senate for the first time since 2014. their hopes rest withjon 0ssoff and reverend raphael warnock. here's one democratic strategist who thinks they've done enough to win. i think we had been in the communities that we need to be in andi communities that we need to be in and i think we've spoken to the folks we need to speak with and i think that what this comes down to

is we have a worldwide health pandemic that was mismanaged here in the us and we are on their french, we are in an economic crisis, people are out of work and we have a system that has kept black and brown bodies under the system of oppression and injustice and so people understand what's at stake now. georgia is a very diverse state and it's time for oui’ very diverse state and it's time for our leadership to reflect the diversity of this state. here's our correspondent nomia iqbal — who's in atlanta. donald trump have called phil's race is illegal and invalid and that has worried some republicans because the logic goes, if republican voters believe that the president and think that their votes will not be accurately counted, will they turn out and vote? i'm got could have an advantage to the democratic party because if their candidates we this as an advantage to the democratic party because if their candidates win their senate seats than bandage means that joe win their senate seats than bandage means thatjoe biden's presidency is off toa means thatjoe biden's presidency is off to a powerful start.

its a key week in us politics. as well as the georgia senate election — wednesday is the day that congress votes on whether to certify the presidential election results. normally it's a straightforward process. but this time, a growing number of republicans are claiming they will vote against certification. some republicans have indicated that up to 140 republicans in the house of representatives and more than a dozen senators could vote against certification. but the exact numbers are unclear. here's one. i plan to object to second contested and that january six. i plan to object to second contested and thatjanuary six. i did not take this action lately. i'm acting to protect our democratic process. tens of millions of americans are rightly concerned that the 20/20 election featured unprecedented voting irregularities, unconstitutional overreach by unelected state officials and judges, ignoring state election laws and a fundamental lack of valid integrity and valid security.

donald trump has praised those supporting him, and today tweeted this — calling those who are voting in favour of certification as " the surrender caucus" that will "go down in infamy as weak and ineffective guardians of our nation". for more — here's our correspondent barbara plett usher in washington. the first of many conversations in 2020 when i'm sure. let me understand the calculations around this phone call given that the president only has two weeks left in oui’ president only has two weeks left in ourface. when his opponents still try and act in some way? no i think thatis try and act in some way? no i think that is to be questioned. donald trump is still trying to changejj even though he georgia if expected donald trump would not give him the presidency. you could move georgia and pennsylvania to donald trump and it would not give him the presidency. it's unclear why donald trump decided he needed to do this but democrats obviously are very upset about this and there has been some talk among democrats about impeaching donald trump and now in

leading days of his presidency less than three weeks untiljoe biden's inauguration but they feel like something has to be done to show exactly how out of bounds what donald trump tried to do with that phone call 805. whether it's a criminal prosecution or something that congress itself could do. talk to me about the calculations be made by the republicans who are not going to certify this election result.|j think there are a couple of things at play here. i think there are some republicans who are doing it to curry favour with donald trump's base. they know this is not going to succeed and there are plenty of democratic votes that will block any attempt to be certify the election re5ult5 attempt to be certify the election results but they figure if they are thinking about running for president in 2024 and ted cruz of texas is one of them, this is a good way to do it. i think there is also the feeling among some of the republicans who are blocking this for trying to block this is that

they want to have donald trump on their side when they run for reelection because one of the things a lot of republicans are concerned about his primary challenges on the air right from trump friendly politicians and they split way of effectively inoculating them5elve5 from that sort of primary challenge when they when they think they can win the general election but they are not sure they have therefore republican votes locked down. one of the many fascinating things in that call was that it's clear donald trump believes this election has been stoning. it's notjust an act, he believes it. yes, there's been a lot of speculation that donald trump was doing this in order to boost his fundraising and he's brought in a lot of money from donors over the course of the past two months or perhaps to position himself for a 2024 run but if you listen to that hour—long conversation, i think it's very clear that he thinks that he won this race and that he should remain president. plenty more on the

bbc website on that. another frosty places i see mike tonight acro55 another frosty places i see mike tonight across many parts of the uk. we will to see winter showers. high—pre55ure to we will to see winter showers. high—pressure to the north of us and low pressure to their south and east. through the next few days that will still dominate. quite windy at times particularly for england and wales. it stays cold with the frost and ice. it will be rain and sleet kneu and ice. it will be rain and sleet knell for some. twice the southeast corner especially right across parts of kent, sussex, sorry, you could see 50 mm of rain which could cause minor flooding. see 50 mm of rain which could cause minorflooding. monday see 50 mm of rain which could cause minor flooding. monday through wednesday. even here you could see things with a wind chill. across the surry hills it could be a slight dusting of snow. snow across the

canines and around the scotland area. icy conditions across western areas. temperatures as well as —8 in parts of the highlands. a cold start to tuesday morning. rain and with hail snow towards the southeast corner. more winter showers and seven east in scotland. dry and bright weather for many. 0ver seven east in scotland. dry and bright weather for many. over the next few days the marines right right and left. a stiff breeze blowing in and it's here where the wind—chill will make it feel colder. going to tuesday evening we have got showers across scotland, northern england. and towards the southeast corner in the channel islands, it will persist through tuesday night and into wednesday. clear skies means it will be a widespread frost and ice. iwe means it will be a widespread frost and ice. i we go into wednesday the lines are opening up. less breezy

day for many in england and wales. in the eastern coast shifting direction it means the rain will gradually start to eat away from east anglia and can't and then the channel instill some showers. many dry and bright but cold day. a widespread frost will follow to take us widespread frost will follow to take us through wednesday night into thursday morning. —5 in some parts of the west. temperature is not as cold in scotland and northern ireland because we have a weather frontier. rain and sleet and snow for sometime but sunshine developing from any as we had towards friday.

hello, i'm 0lly foster at the bbc sport centre. there's one match in the premier league this evening between southampton and liverpool at st mary's which kicks off in just under half an hour's time. a win for liverpool would move them three points clear of manchester united at the top of a congested table. alaistair bruce ball will be commentating for radio five live. there is a lot of teams write high on the hills because there are the top half of the table within the seven point oh of liverpool. they have been frustrated in the last couple of games. they be crystal palace and everybody said that as a statement of intent from the champions. they have since been frustrated at home against west brom ina draw frustrated at home against west brom in a draw against newcastle, manchester city put in a wonderful

performance against chelsea yesterday, and it looks like the title could be anyone. southampton are in that top half of the table. they have fallen away a little bit in recent weeks, only picking up three points in the last four games. expecting a really good battle this evening and taking it back to the two managers, you have ralph, dubbed as the austrianjurgen klopp against the realjurgen klopp the sidelines tonight. joey barton has left fleetwood town with immediate effect after nearly three years as manager. the former manchester city and newcastle midfielder leaves the league one side tenth in the table, just three points off the play—off places. he led led fleetwood to last season's league one play—offs. meanwhile, league two club port vale have parted company with managerjohn askey. manchester city women are dealing with a covid outbreak in their squad. four first team players have tested positive and are now self isolating. city briefly closed their training complex last week after the men's premier league match at everton was postponed at the last minute due to concerns they could spread

the virus after an outbreak. it's understood that there are no shared facilities between the two squads. it's not clear whether the women's game against west ham on saturday will go ahead. england all—rounder moeen ali is likely to miss the first test against sri lanka next week after testing positive for coronavirus. team mate chris woakes has been deemed a posible close contact and will also self—isolate. here's our cricket correspondent jonathan agnew. they were tested on friday, and they threw 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 positive appears. 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 is the third test 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. the netball series between england and jamaica later this month has been called off because of covid—19. extended restrictions to international travel between the uk and jamaica mean it is not currently possible to stage the fixtures. it's hoped the four match series can be rearranged for later in the year. that's all the sport for now.

on the new measures being taken in england to deal with the surging pandemic. 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 in england, and schools will close. we'll bring you the full address live from number 10 downing street, as well as reaction from around the uk. leaders of the four uk nations have been meeting to discuss the response to rocketing case numbers. scotland has already announced it will go into lockdown from midnight tonight. we are now seeing a steeply rising trends of infection. indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that i am