this is bbc news, the headlines: england and scotland have been ordered into new lockdowns to contain a surge in virus cases threatening to overwhelm health systems. schools will be closed to most pupils, also non—essential retail and hospitality. borisjohnson says the weeks ahead will be the hardest yet, as a more infectious variant spreads. donald trump and joe biden are campaigning in georgia — ahead of two crucial runoff votes for the senate on tuesday. at an event in the city of dalton, mr trump said if democrats took the senate their radical politics would be unchecked. the us president—elect, joe biden, urged georgians to vote in record numbers. the us justice department is to appeal against the uk court decision not to extradite the wikileaks founder, julian assange. thejudge said there was a real risk of suicide in an american maximum security prison. julian assange is wanted on 18 charges relating to the release of half a million secret government files.

the covid threat is to be raised to the highest level five across the uk , following a warning from all four chief medical officers that the health services are at risk of being overwhelmed within three weeks. with coronavirus cases continuing to rise rapidly, driven by the new variant of the virus, the number of covid—19 patients in hospitals across the uk is also increasing sharply. our health editor hugh pym has the latest. on the front line of a major london hospital today. here at st george's, staff say it's exceptionally busy after a big increase in admissions of covid patients. over the weekend, they've been struck by the number requiring oxygen support, and that's meant doubling capacity for oxygen supplies, which is no easy matter. we have had several whole families admitted. quite a lot of those people haven't been older people, they haven't been people with lots of medical problems. they have been young and fit people who have been themselves shocked at how unwell they've got and how quickly they've become unwell.

anabel‘s whole family was struck by the virus. she and her mother maria were struggling to breathe and were admitted to leicester royal infirmary. they were brought together in intensive care, but less than 2a hours later, maria died. it's literallyjust tore my family into tiny pieces. i understand everyone‘s situation is different, and we are at different points in our lives. butjust 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. london hospitals are under extreme pressure, and it's the same in other areas of southern england. in the south east, total covid patient numbers in hospitals are now well above where they were at the peak last april. and it's a similar story in the east of england, with patient numbers rising

rapidly in recent weeks. the chief executive of the countess of chester hospital said 40% of beds were occupied by covid patients and stressed there was a problem affecting more areas than just london. community leaders in cumbria, meanwhile, warned that the situation was getting worse. it's extremely serious. the risk to the hospitals in the north is quite severe at the moment. they have more coronavirus patients in the hospitals than they have ever had. in some parts of london, virus cases as a proportion of the population have gone up by 25% in a week. that's why hospitals like this one are under increasing strain — and at a time when there are higher levels of staff sickness and those needing to self—isolate. things could get even tougher in the weeks ahead. hugh pym, bbc news. now on bbc news, the travel show.

this week, we're in kazakhstan... the view from the top! ..a vast country in the middle of central asia full of stunning landscapes and nomadic traditions. you can feel the fish tugging on the net. nature and the great outdoors have always been central to the kazakh people's way of life... birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting — i get it. ..and i'm here to explore how they are now combining both ancient and modern ways to stay in touch with their wild side. grunts. it feels good to make the sound, i don't know what to say. woo! this is a lot of fun!

theme music plays i've arrived in kazakhstan‘s biggest city of almaty. once, back when the country was still part of the ussr, and long before that, it was the capital city. now things have changed here. back in 1991, it was the last soviet republic to declare independence, ten days before the collapse of the union. since then, it's been under the rule of president nazarbayev, who moved the capital north to the purpose—built city of astana. one thing is clear, however — this country has undergone

a tumultuous period. but through it all, nature has continued to play a vital role for the once nomadic people here, and for travellers who visit. you start to get a sense of that at the green bazaar. there's been a market here since before soviet times. this is fermented horse milk, which has been around since the nomadic times, and they say it is a cure for tuberculosis. oh, it's a strong taste. the aftertaste is almost like you're smoking a cigar. i don't know why, but that's exactly what it tastes like. very sharp, though. very intense taste. ah! some russian influences have remained, but some of the old kazakh traditions that had been suppressed under the soviets are once again

bubbling to the surface — like faith in tengriism, calling on nature through shamans, known as baksys. arman, my friend! i wanted to find a baksy, so i'm meeting up with someone who says he can get me an introduction. can you tell me a bit about what exactly a baksy is? ba ksy are spiritual servants who are create by nature to help people. these days, in modern culture, do people still go see a baksy? yes, of course. it is part of our life. if official medicine, european medicine, don't helps, people go to baksy. well, arman, i can't say i know what to expect, but i feel ready. arman takes me to a far corner of the city and an old, unmarked apartment block. let's go. so we're on our way up to the baksy‘s apartment, should will be waiting for us outside the door. not entirely what i expected.

are we here? bells ring. chanting. we have just arrived here in the baksy‘s apartment and we've arrived in the middle of some kind of ceremony. there are two ladies who are getting their souls cleaned, i guess — it's hard to know what's going on. chanting and grunting. bells ring. this is extremely intense. can you explain to me a bit of what is happening right now? like an exorcism?

yes, yes. each baksy is different, and this one incorporates elements of islam, kazakhstan‘s most followed religion. drums beat. there is a power in this room i can't describe right now. i have never experienced anything like this. so now, it's my turn. having witnessed the devotion vera had to the process, i feel it wouldn't be right to go through it all without the same belief, so we agree on just a blessing for my journey.

but then, unexpectedly, i seem to be getting the full treatment. growling and grunting. bell rings. it feels good to make the sound, i don't know what to say. he is coaxing. as an experience alone, it is very powerful. as the process continues, the baksy calls on the totem animals, as they did many years ago here.

growls. hisses. i might not believe in everything that is happening here, but i do like to open myself to the experience as a traveller. all i can say is i know i feel something. although many muslims here frown on these ancient ceremonies, for some kazakhs, they are a direct link to their nomadic past. it's the world's ninth largest country, but kazakhstan is also one of the most sparsely populated. its people were traditionally nomadic, with their lives tied to their environment. today, travellers come to explore its relatively untouched landscapes. i want to find out more of the kazakhstani people's relationship with nature today,

so i'm heading east to the aral sea, the world's fourth—largest lake — or at least that's what it was. welcome to the dusty streets of zhalanash. if you can believe it, this used to be a bustling fishing village. but if you come over here and you look down at the ground, you can see what used to be the bottom of the aral sea. there's not much fishing going on now. it's been called one of the world's biggest environmental disasters. the sea which stretches the border between kazakhstan and uzbekistan was once about the size of ireland. back in the 1960s, the immense stretch of water began to dry up.

around 90% of it was wiped off the map and with it, the livelihoods of many of the people who lived on the sea's produce. i'd heard that here in kazakhstan, the sea was actually coming back, and it was bringing travellers too, so off i go in search of the aral sea, across miles of the old seabed. i've arranged to meet a guide in this region. he wanted me to see the full extent of what the sea, which was actually a large lake, once was, thousands of years before it dried up in the 20th century. the view from the top!

what caused it to recede so far? the flow of water was diverted to feed the soviet cotton industry. uzbekistan still remains one of the world's top producers of cotton, but while the uzbek side of the sea remains mostly lost, recent interventions have meant the north aral sea in kazakhstan is returning.

approaching the shore, one of the biggest draws for travellers has been the eerie sight of shipwrecks scattered across the old sea bed. spiderwebs everywhere. here we are. the aral sea. at one time, it was the fourth largest inland lake in the world and soon, it will reclaim that title. i made it. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting — i get it. i get it now. it's a beautiful place.

good morning! this is where we spent the night last night. it might look like we're in the desert but it's actually — it's very cold this morning. the bedding was just a simple roll—out pillow mat on the ground with some blankets. but this is a fisherman‘s house and we're up so early this morning because they're going to take us this morning to catch some fish. they are quite chipper. myself, i'm working on it. but it should be a good day. chuckles. my hosts tell me that i am not the first traveller to stay with them following the sea's return, though not all of them choose the early morning fishing run. the sun has not yet crested over the horizon of the kazakh steppe. today we are fishing and on the fishing team we have one sleepy, inexperienced travel show presenter. we have edige... hello. ..who you know already. we have omirserik, our fisherman, and his father in the back. these are our boats.

out there, there's a lot of fish and the plan is today to catch ‘em and bring them back to shore. engine roars ok, we're maybe 100 metres offshore. we've encountered the first net. so from what i understand, the net was put out last night, right before sunset and it stays out until sunrise and they come and they pull it back in and every day is quite a surprise, but it seems that over the years, there's been more and more in the nets almost every single day. ok, so it's my turn to give this a shot — pulling in the net. it's — it's not too hard, actually. it's interesting because it's like when you are fishing with a reel, you can feel the fish tugging on the net.

you must love it out here. so we've been pulling the net for about 30 minutes now. the basket‘s almost full so i think we're probably getting near to the end. we've caught a lot of fish. and besides the amount, they're — they're big fish.

myself, being a traveller, connecting with people is always very special and here, you can tell that there's a lot ofjoy in the job this morning. it's not my normal life, being out here covered in fish scales in a boat but for them, it is, and you can tell that they absolutely love it — especially when they can bring in a haul like this. i wanted to see how kazakhstan‘s relationship with nature is changing, so i'm meeting up with a mountain guide back in almaty. she's agreed to take me out to some of the places she likes to explore. we begin at the location of one of the country's most impressive historical sites. oh, wow! they look almost like paintings! actually, it's a petroglyphs of the bronze age, which is 3,500 years old. and these cliffs are covered

with petroglyphs, right? this isn't the only site? yeah, exactly. there are many sites. it's many sites. it's about 5000 carvings here. wow. it was discovered in 1957 by archaeologist maksimova and it's more than 5,000 carvings on the rocks in this area. and this is the central part which is very significant and very important at that date, because people were speaking from here and it was a — served as a pantheon. so you can clearly hear what they were talking about, like, down in the valley, where the people and crowds were standing and listening. so here we see the 12 dancing men which is doing the ritual dance, and here, it's a woman which is giving birth to a child. as you walk around the site, it's amazing how many carvings you see here. this here is the club? yeah.

karla tells me it's thought they believed the more animals they carved into the rocks, the more animals they would successfully hunt. it adds so much to the experience here today, being able to come just in touching distance of things that are so old. i'm used to multiple layers of security — men standing there, making sure that you don't breathe on art like this. but being able to see every little chip out of the stone really makes it special. but what karla really wanted to show me was how some people are mixing old kazakhstan with the new — sandboarding on kazakhstan‘s most famous singing sand dune. famous because under the right conditions, the dune makes a humming sound,

almost like an organ. humming wow! it's huge! i can see the little dust devils twisting up the sides. it almost looks alive. the skin of the dune, sweeping back and forth like a snake. and i heard that it almost is — it actually moves. in the past 150 years, it has moved three metres. slowly, but it is moving. it really is incredible. chuckles i don't know how we're going to snowboard down it! laughs along for the ride was karla's friend and olympic kazakhstan snowboard trainer yelena. the dune stretches for 3km and reaches a height of 150 metres and let me tell you, it might look placid from a distance but it is an entirely other story once you're up there.

it's a little bit windy today but we're on the singing sands and i guess that's always how it is here. for myself, i have gone snowboarding before. what are some differences with sandboarding ? 0k. lean back, yeah? that being said, it was comforting knowing that i'll be going slower than on snow. and also the cool thing about a sand dune is there's no trees! so, i mean, i guess it's safer, right? no doubt, though, this is definitely the definition of an extreme sport. and here i am, strapped in. ok, you ready? i — i think i'm ready. woo! great start! playful music

this way, yeah? like this? oh, and then the board comes — oh! playful music continues laughs woo! this is a lot of fun! though i promise you that you get sand in a lot of places you do not want sand. one of those places is your mouth. i've got — i've got a bit of a crunch in my teeth right now. but woo, it is a rush! karla's about to come down. she's standing up. she looks excited but a little bit nervous. you got it, karla! yeah! but before long, we're starting to get the hang of it. surfing music plays

this is a lot of work. pants what's incredible, though, is when you come down, as the sand starts to avalanche, you can feel it shaking and reverberating underneath the board. it's very cool — it sings as you come down. we've got our final round from the very, very top — if — if i can — i can make it! let's stay here and take a break for a sec. yeah!

and with that, my trip to kazakhstan is at an end. and what a ride it was. well, tuesday is going to be a cold day again across the uk.

the persistent north—easterly wind is here to stay for a few more days yet and will continue to bring wintry showers at least two parts of the country. for most of us, though, it is actually ran. through the early hours, we have a range of throughout the country, the further north you are and across the hills it's more likely to be snow, sleet or snow. icy patches as well, particularly across northern and eastern parts of england. and then tomorrow, basically, through the morning of the afternoon, the further is your more likely want to catch the showers, some of them wintry. best of the weather will be further west, especially in the western isles of scotland, northern ireland, pembrokeshire, down into cornwall and devon. the temperatures are struggling, 3-4 temperatures are struggling, 3—4 briefly during the day. compare that to wednesday. not an awful lot of change. it was stay pretty chilly.

welcome to bbc news — my name's mike embley. our top stories: new national lockdowns in england and scotland as a surge in cases of the new coronavirus variant threatens to overwhelm the health systems. back on the campaign trail — president trump and joe biden hold rallies in georgia ahead of runoffs to decide which party controls the senate. france speeds up its vaccination programme after a sluggish start draws an angry rebuke from president macron. the us says it'll appeal against the uk's refusal to extraditejulian assange — a judge in london says the wikilea ks founder is at risk of suicide.