led by the prime minister. the headlines. return to lockdown: in the next half an hour borisjohnson will explain more about how and why he decided on england's latest restrictions — he's holding a news conference alongside his top medical and scientific advisors. as the uk it records a record number of daily coronavirus cases. to help companies through the latest lockdown, the chancellor announces one—off top up grants worth up to £9,000 for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. the prime minister has acted decisively in the face of new information and we have had now to grapple with a new variant of the virus, and that's caused an uptick in cases,

in hospitalisations and deaths, as the prime minister set out. and it was right that we acted. it's back to remote, online learning for millions of school pupils. but questions remain about how those were facing exams will be assessed. the vaccine rollout ramps up as the government pledges to vaccinate 13 million people by the middle of february. welcome to this bbc news special ahead of the latest coronavirus briefing from downing street in half an hour's time — today it's led by the prime minister borisjohnson. and it follows the introduction of a third national lockdown for england — joining scotland who went into lockdown at midnight. wales and northern ireland started their lockdowns in december.

it comes as the uk posts a record number of infections in a day — with 60,916 new cases. a further 830 people have also died within 28 days of a positive test. let's take a look at today's latest developments. people in england and most of scotland are being told to stay at home except for a handful of permitted reasons such as essential shopping, exercise and work. gcse and a—level exams in england have been cancelled as schools across the country are forced to close. meanwhile the chancellor rishi sunak announced a support package for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sector — with one—off grants available of up—to £9,000. we'll have the latest from across the uk and reaction to the lockdown restrictions as we build to that downing street briefing.

and the latest figures we just had m, and the latest figures we just had in, a record number of coronavirus cases in the uk, more than 60,000 for the first time, 60,116 up from 58 , 784 for the first time, 60,116 up from 58,781; yesterday and that in itself was a new record. and in terms of the deaths latest figure is 830 and thatis the deaths latest figure is 830 and that is up from just over 400 yesterday. let's speak to our political correspondent, iain watson. a very backdrop to that downing street press briefing with these record number of cases and 830 deaths. it is very grim and just as grim as the weather here with storm clouds moving in and against the depressing ground i think that the prime minister will try to set out how serious the situation is to try

to get people to comply with the new restrictions and also i think want to give some hope and update people on the vaccination programme. the government is insisting it is already vaccinated more people in the uk than the rest of europe put together and i think he will want to say that this is the way out of our current predicament. so it will be tough for six or seven weeks or perhaps longer but there is some hope. he has an ambitious target of trying to get some of the most vulnerable people vaccinated and also front line staff in the nhs and ca re also front line staff in the nhs and care home staff, nearly 40 million people by the start of next month and he will try to convince people that that target is realistic. i think the way in which the lockdown was announced with the prime minister telling most schoolchildren in england to go to school on sunday and then monday telling them not to go to school, there has been some

criticism over the decision making process. some conservative mps have been concerned as well as opposition mps andi been concerned as well as opposition mps and i think the prime minister will face questions on that and also on what is going to happen with exams in england. we can only hear from the education secretary tomorrow with the recall of parliament. and these grants for businesses, is the package strong enough because the chancellor needs to get more money to people in terms of sick pay to encourage self isolation and further extend the solar scheme so i think there will be huge numbers of questions to a nswer be huge numbers of questions to answer for the be huge numbers of questions to answerfor the prime be huge numbers of questions to answer for the prime minister be huge numbers of questions to answerfor the prime minister but i think that emits that grim backdrop of rising admissions and numbers of deaths that he would like to say help is on the weight with a vaccine and we have made a good start. in watson, thank you. let's just remind ourselves of the new rules for england

announced by the prime minister. they will become law tomorrow and are due to reviewed on feburary the 15th. people are being told to stay at home — unless they have a reason to leave — like the first lockdown in march last year. these include shopping for essential medical needs, food shopping, exercise and work for those who cannot do so from home. all school and colleges have closed to most pupils — with remote learning until february half term. the summer exams for gcses and a—levels have been cancelled. early years settings such as nurseries will stay open. restaurants can continue to offer food delivery, but takeaway alcohol will be banned. and outdoor sports venues will close — but playgrounds can stay open. with me now is our health correspondent nick triggle. just to reflect on the latest figures on coronavirus, 60,000, more than 60,000 new cases and 830 deaths. the numbers of new cases are

four times the level of infection as it was back in the start of december so it was back in the start of december so it really has risen rapidly. prior to today we had six days with over 50,000 cases per day so these are very high and these infections are very high and these infections are the hospital admissions of next week and we know from the data that we've been hearing about in the last few days that hospitals are incredibly busy. in england yesterday just over 26,000 incredibly busy. in england yesterdayjust over 26,000 patients with covid in hospital, a 50% increase since christmas day alone and on average three in ten beds now occupied by covid in hospitals and in some it is over six and ten. 830 new deaths confirm sadly. tuesday is a lwa ys new deaths confirm sadly. tuesday is always higher because of the weekend lag and also scotland has not been reporting their deaths titles for four days so that has lifted those

numbers a bit. 0n four days so that has lifted those numbers a bit. on average we have about 600 deaths per day, 50% higher than at the start of december. as the prime minister keeps saying of course the vaccine is the way out. what is the latest on the relevant because the government are aiming for 2 million vaccinations per week. it isa for 2 million vaccinations per week. it is a big ambition, either close to getting there? it is a huge challenge and by mid february they wa nt to challenge and by mid february they want to vaccinate the highest risk groups, the over 70s, front line health and care staff and the clinically vulnerable. so far women patients have been vaccinated but they are trying to get to 13 million and that will require 2 million doses, patients a day being vaccinated. at the moment we have enough vaccine in the country to vaccinate all those but the issue is is not ready for the nhs to use because they have to go through several processes. the first is once the substance is manufactured it

must be put in containers and there isa must be put in containers and there is a lack of ingredients with huge global demand for this service. so there is a backlog then but once it is in containers it goes to the regulator to check and test every batch to make sure that it is safe and it is what it is meant to be. that can take a couple of weeks of this week we only had 1 million doses available for the nhs. i'm told that those numbers will increase in the coming weeks and the government is confident that within weeks it can do 2 million doses per weeks it can do 2 million doses per week which will enable it to meet its mid—february target. but a lot has got to go right out it is a complex chain. next, thank you very much. with another lockdown being the very last thing businesses need right now — as we've heard — the chancellor has stepped in to try and stave off a fresh wave of closures and redundancies. andy verity reports.

for businesses forced once again by anti—virus measures to shut, being in a cash flow crisis with too little money coming in to pay suppliers, landlords and creditors is a painful new normal. the bank of england's calculated this financial year firms have £180 billion less money flowing in than they need to pay bills. and that was before the new lockdown, which will hit them even harder. we've announced £4.6 billion of additional help. for businesses in the most affected sectors who were asked to close they will receive up to £9,000 in a one—off cash grant. it is important to remember that comes on top of the existing monthly grants of £3000 that those businesses receive and the extension of furlough, all the way through to april. we remain committed to protecting jobs and supporting businesses. firms like this manchester gin distillery and bar are likely to get the grants and welcome any support they can get. but after the christmas they have

had, they are by no means sure it will be enough to get them through months more of lockdown. we were planning in december to try and reopen in early february. those plans are out the window, all the money we spent on staff, planning to reopen. you cannotjust reopen a business, you can't open the doors the next day, it takes three or four weeks of proper planning and retraining your staff. groups representing smaller companies like this have already protested that the support measures do not go far enough to match the scale of the economic damage being done by renewed lockdown. they want a much bigger plan to support firms throughout 2021. what we have is a period of drip feed support to businesses rather than some consistency until the point of reopening and until we see that bounce back, i think that will hurt more businesses than it will help. £4.6 billion times in normal times is a substantial sum, but the government has already spent more than £280 billion tackling coronavirus. businesses hit by the new lockdown

will apply all the pressure they can to press the government for more. andy verity, bbc news. let's talk to the mayor of greater manchester now, andy burnham. £9,000 announced for businesses by the chancellor and he says it will help businesses get through the months ahead and helped to sustain jobs, what is your reaction. it is welcome as far as it goes and that £9,000 will help hospitality businesses in particular who have had a rough time. they lost the christmas trading period which has been devastating so that is good news. but i'm afraid the government continues to ignore 3 million taxpayers, people who are freelance 01’ taxpayers, people who are freelance or people newly self—employed who have had nothing since the start of

all of this. ijust have had nothing since the start of all of this. i just do have had nothing since the start of all of this. ijust do not have had nothing since the start of all of this. i just do not see have had nothing since the start of all of this. ijust do not see how have had nothing since the start of all of this. i just do not see how 3 million fellow citizens can be left out in the cold with no support at all. and now in this third national lockdown it just all. and now in this third national lockdown itjust seems that all. and now in this third national lockdown it just seems that the government has got to do something for that group. many of these people are self employed and run their own companies and it is just wrong that they are left worried sick now about how they will make things work as we go intoa how they will make things work as we go into a new year and another lockdown. overall the chancellor says that his schemes throughout the pandemic have been very generous. he is heading towards three and £1 billion worth of spending, mind—boggling figures. billion worth of spending, mind-boggling figures. they are mind—boggling figures and i want to be fair, he did work in a very effective way at the start getting money out the door quickly and i remember some of the early press conferences from rishi sunak and they were very impressive. he said he would do whatever it takes and no

one would be left behind. here we are nine or ten months later and people have been left behind, 3 million people and it is the case that others were also overpaid so we had supermarkets getting business rates reduced when they did not need it. rightly many of them gave that back before christmas so i'm not saying it was all easy, it was a lwa ys saying it was all easy, it was always going to difficult challenge but now it is clear that there are many people out there who have paid their taxes and are about to receive in fact tax demands from the chancellor who had no public support whatsoever and it really needs to be corrected. what i would say to the prime minister is please address this tonight. there are people who feel they have contributed to the country and are being ignored. it is time for them to receive some recognition from the prime minister and if the government is not prepared to do anything i would call on parliament to bring about a vote as soon as possible on the issue. it

just not be left like this where you have so many people at the country, small business people and in many ways the backbone of the economy, just completely written out of the public support schemes. more broadly, what would you say about the timing of this latest lock announced by the prime minister last night because mackie has clearly been desperate to avoid it, desperate to avoid shutting down schools, but has been forced into it by the new variant. obviously, a difficult situation for everybody, and nobody wants restrictions. i would certainly agree with the prime minister on that. but i guess it was u nfortu nate, minister on that. but i guess it was unfortunate, the way things unfolded over the weekend. it was clear what was happening, and the decision to open schools, i think, has caused a lot of unnecessary anguish for teaching staff and for parents and stu d e nts teaching staff and for parents and students as well. so, it's difficult. 0bviously

students as well. so, it's difficult. obviously we are probably 110w difficult. obviously we are probably now in the right position. but that restriction and that lockdown needs to come with the support i was just talking about before. here is something where we all need now to pull together, in the prime minister's words. get this vaccination programme right now, let's not have it be beset by some of the problems we saw on ppe or test and trace. let's get this right, get together to meet this mid—february target. i would certainly say to him tonight, we in greater manchester are absolutely ready to play our part in that, but we need the government to help us as well. at the moment, we can't get the data we need around the progress of the vaccination programme. the government needs to work in partnership with regional and local leaders to get this vaccination programme moving as quickly as possible, and i hope you would agree with me on that. you said in the past we came out of lockdown too soon, too prematurely. do you think the timescale that has been set, the

middle of february, is that about right? i notice the prime minister was cautious on that last night and didn't commit, and he is probably right to do that. if you look back to the middle of last year, it is clear to me that national lockdown was lifted too early for the north of england. and that trapped us in a position, for the second half of 2020, which was very difficult indeed, where we couldn't get the cases down and people were living under permanent restrictions. that isn't where we should be at all. what we have to do now is approach this new year, get the vaccination programme right, and make careful decisions that are right for all parts of the country. it's clear that this new variant poses a very significant risk and notjust to the nhs but of course to the population, so we need to work together, and i think, the more he works with us in partnership, i think the stronger the response will be. we need to

learn some lessons from last year, where there was a lot of top down, london centric decision—making. we need to move beyond that now, work together in partnership and plot our exit route from this ongoing might dub it might is what it has been for everybody. andy burnham, thanks for your time. we will bring you —— we we re your time. we will bring you —— we were bringing the latest coronavirus case figures, which have gone over the 60,000 figure for the first time. the head of public health england says that rapid rise in cases concerning and will mean more pressure on our health services in the depths of winter. this is why, if we can, we stay at home, reduce contacts and do everything possible to reduce the spread of the virus. it is not easy but more now than ever we need to do everything we can to protect the nhs and save lives. we can speak to professor neil ferguson, who in march predicted that up to 500,000 british people

could die of covid—19. that led to the government enforcing the first nationwide lockdown. what would you say about the timing of this third lockdown? i mean, i think say about the timing of this third lockdown? i mean, ithink it was in the nick of time. i think it was inevitable that we would need it, and unfortunately that schools would have to stay shut. what we have seen isa have to stay shut. what we have seen is a very rapid increase in cases of this new variant, and actually a few disentangled cases of the ovarian and new variant, you get a clearer picture in places like greater manchester under north of england, the new variant has been since christmas. people didn't make many contacts christmas. people didn't make many co nta cts in christmas. people didn't make many contacts in that time, and we see a plateau of numbers, certainly in the younger age groups, with schools shut, but unfortunately not numbers coming down, numbers are still increasing, day on day. we can just

hope that this new lockdown will enable us to at least flatten the curve. i think we have to be realistic about expectations. this new variant is 50—70% more transmissible than the old one, so people should not expect the impact of this new lockdown to be what we saw back in march of last year. would you have light this lockdown to have been brought in earlier by the government? i mean, ithink, to be fair, the government responded to the evidence around this new variant relatively quickly. i mean, within hours of the prime minister being informed and the introduction of tier 4. the big thing now is that we are keeping school shot, which i realise it is disappointing to many pa rents, realise it is disappointing to many parents, including myself. u nfortu nately, parents, including myself. unfortunately, with the increased transmissibility of this variant, it is necessary to get as many contacts

eliminated, frankly, from the population is possible to have a chance of keeping it under control. and you talked about how devastating this new variant has been. the trouble is, there are others. there will be more. there is one in south africa we are hearing about right now. yes, and i tend to agree, whilst the data is patchy on it at the moment, i share matt hancock's concerns that that is probably also more transmissible, similar to the new uk variant, but there is a slightly greater chance that it might be, that vaccines might be slightly less effective against it. we are still waiting for the experimental data to tell us one way or another, but there are changes in a critical part of the virus, in what is called the receptor binding site of the spike protein, which are not present in the uk new variant, which make the south african variant deeply concerning. deeply concerning, but we are told that a vaccine is the light at the end of

the tunnel, the way out of this. does that apply to all these new variants? i know it's possible to predict what other variants there may be in the future, but are you confident that the vaccine is now available will be able to cope? well, we have increased incompetence delete my confidence that they will cope with the uk variant, which is frankly 90% of cases in london right now, so that is good news. as to whether variance will come up in the future, or the south african variant, vaccines will be less effective, that remains to be seen. it is not likely to be all or nothing. the worst case is probably a reduction in the effectiveness of vaccines. it is likely that if we look further forward, vaccines. it is likely that if we look furtherforward, six months although year, a virus like this, like flu, wave mill —— may well mutate to escape the evolutionary pressure imposed by vaccines and we might have to update vaccines. that

isa might have to update vaccines. that is a long way off. we need to focus on using the effective vaccines we have now, rolling them out in the population, to protect as many vulnerable people as possible. population, to protect as many vulnerable people as possiblem the roll—out of the vaccine is, as the roll—out of the vaccine is, as the government hopes and plans, up to2 the government hopes and plans, up to 2 million doses a week, what are your projections for this year as we look ahead to 2021? when are we going to be out of this?” look ahead to 2021? when are we going to be out of this? i have said repeatedly and will say again, it won't be an event but a process. if we can protect those most at risk of severe disease, hospitalisation and death, that in its own, even if the vaccine does nothing else, will reduce the number of deaths and pressure on the health care system, and will allow us to relax measures to some extent. what we really don't know at the moment is, does the vaccine reduce tra nsfection? know at the moment is, does the vaccine reduce transfection? does it block infection? —— transmission? it if it does, we will be able to

reduce measures faster than if it doesn't. i hope we will see some getting out of lockdown in the march timeframe. but it will be very much a gradual process from then thru to the end of the year. last question, you were an early advocate of lockdown, as i mentioned. you have been called professor lockdown. do you think, as we entered this third lockdown, we are psychologically, as a nation, are we beginning to get used to the idea of a lockdown, which was pretty alien to us as a concept at the beginning of all this? i think it's remarkable how, not just this? i think it's remarkable how, notjust in the uk but around the world, people have changed everyday behaviour so fundamentally in order to control the spread of a virus which has the risk of killing many of the most vulnerable and elderly in society. i mean, iam heartily sick of this pandemic, as i'm sure many other people are. but yes, i

have been constantly amazed by really quite selfless actions from the great majority of people who are not at risk themselves of severe outcomes from this, in order to, you know, as the pm said, protect the nhs and save lives. professor neil ferguson, very good to talk to you, thanks for your time. professor ferguson, the epidemiologist from imperial college london. train services in england are to be cut during the national lockdown. the extent of the cuts has not yet been confirmed, but some in the industry are anticipating reductions of up to 50 percent. since the first lockdown in march, the government has spent billions of pounds covering the fall in ticket revenue due to low passenger numbers. the government is expected to announce further restrictions on international travel later. michael gove said measures were being discussed to make sure that ports and airports were as safe as possible. it's believed that travellers might be required to have a negative test result before coming to the uk.

although the lockdown announced by borisjohnson last night applies to england, there are strict measures in place across the uk. in a moment we'll hear from our correspondent hywel griffith in cardiff but first alexandra mackenzie reports from glasgow. this is scotland's first day back into lockdown. scotland went back into lockdown at midnight, so much tougher restrictions that's due to carry on until the end of the month, but could continue even further if the number of cases continue to rise. now, it means that all of mainland scotland and some island communities cannot leave their homes. they‘ re under a strict stay at home order. and it's illegal to leave your home unless for some essential purposes. everyone there has to work from home and should not be traveling to work unless they can't possibly work from home. there also further restrictions for meeting people outside. you can only meet one person

from one household outside. although children aged 12 and under are exempt from this. schools are also closed. that's across the whole of scotland and they're going to be closed until at least february 1st. wales has been in national lockdown since december the 20th for the last fortnight. it's been a legal requirement for people here to stay at home unless they're going out to exercise or to shop or if they have to leave their home for work. of course, that means non—essential shops being closed, bars a nd restau ra nts all being closed. the question is, when will they get to open again? there's a review at the end of this week, but the welsh government has already warned there's very little headroom. many foresee the welsh lockdown staying in place until the end of january 1st. change has happened within the last 24 hours with an extension of school closures. no face to face learning in wales

until at least january the 18th. many in the teaching profession wonder whether that will be enough, given that england and scotland will have their schools closed for far longer. teaching unions say two weeks simply isn't enough to make sure the risk assessments can happen. however, the education minister told the bbc today keeping children at home has grave consequences. she is keen if it's possible to reopen schools, they will examine the evidence when the time comes. the real pressure in wales, however, is in the hospitals, a record number of covid patients. while the case numbers are coming down, they have fed through into the nhs, which is under extreme pressure at the moment. the northern ireland executive has been meeting this afternoon to discuss lockdown restrictions. ministers in the devolved government have been finalising exactly what will happen. non—essential shops, hospitality and leisure facilities have been shut since boxing day — and the period of remote learning looks set to be extended

until after february half term. some latest figures from the office for national statistics, who are saying, this is a remarkable figure, an estimated one in 50 people in private households in england had covid—19 between the 27th of december and the 2nd of january. that is the office for national statistics, saying an estimated one in 50 people in private households in england between those days, december the 27th and january the 2nd, had covid—19. let's speak to our political correspondent, iain watson. we are looking forward, in the next few minutes, to hearing from the prime minister and his scientific advisors. a lot of questions for borisjohnson after his announcement last night about another lockdown for england. for the prime minister i think he

will set out that grim backdrop with the rising number of infections and how many could be due to this new variant and how many could be due to this new variantand in how many could be due to this new variant and in doing so am hoping to get people to comply with new restrictions and i think also he will want to offer some help and updates on the vaccination scheme. the government keen to say they are vaccinating more people in the uk than in europe combined. but i think he will face many questions, why did decide on lockdown yesterday and decided to close schools on monday evening. also questions expected on the economic support package from the economic support package from the chancellor and if moore could be done to pay people to isolate at home. i think these are some of the questions the prime minister will face but above all people will be wondering why he went for this third national lockdown and what was it that chris whitty and other chief

medical officers told the prime minister that was so compelling that he moved up to the highest level of alert, with danger of the nhs being overwhelmed in some places in a few weeks. his critics have said that this new variant identified in mid—december and could he not for example brought in these national restrictions sooner or gave people more warning. so questions about how decision—making takes place at the height of government as well as specific questions of school exams and so on and perhaps when restrictions could be lifted in the future and whether the ambitious target of 40 million vulnerable people vaccinated by the middle of next week. let's go to downing street. here is the prime minister. good afternoon. i want to update everyone

about vaccines because across the entire country today there are people, everybody making another huge sacrifice and teachers and pupils coping with online learning, businesses who have borne the brunt of successive lockdowns and of course the amazing staff in our nhs and care workers who are grappling with a new variant. this new variant of coronavirus. i believe that one eve ryo ne of coronavirus. i believe that one everyone looks at the position people understand overwhelmingly that we had no choice when the 0ffice that we had no choice when the office of national statistics is telling us more than 2% of the population is now infected, that is over1 million people in england and when today we have reported another 60,000 new cases. and when the

number of patients in hospitals in england is now 40% higher than at the first peak in april. i think obviously everyone, you will want to be sure that we in government are now using every second of this lockdown to put that invisible shield around the elderly and the vulnerable in the form of vaccination and so to begin to bring this crisis to an end. i can tell you this afternoon with pfizer and 0xford—astrazeneca combined as of this afternoon with no vaccinated over1.1 this afternoon with no vaccinated over 1.1 million people in england and over1.3 over 1.1 million people in england and over 1.3 million across the uk. and that includes more than 650,000 people aged over 80 which is 23% of all the over 80s in england. that

means that nearly one in four of the most, one of the most vulnerable groups will have into a three weeks, all of them, a significant degree of immunity. when you consider that the average age of covid facilities is in the 80s you can see the importance of what we have already achieved. that is why i believe the joint committee and immunisation was right to draw up a programme aimed at saving the most lives the fastest. so by february the 15th as isaid fastest. so by february the 15th as i said last night the nhs is committed to offering vaccination to eve ryo ne committed to offering vaccination to everyone in the top four priority groups including elder care home residents and staff, everyone over 70, all front line nhs and care

staff and all those who are clinically extremely vulnerable. and to help us to meet this target with already had 595 gp led sites providing vaccines with a further 180 coming on stream later in the week. we have 107 hospital sites with a further 100 later this week. that is almost 1000 sites, vaccination sites across the country by the end of this week. and next week we will also have seven vaccination centres opening in places such as stadiums and exhibition centres. we know that there will still be long weeks ahead in which we must persevere with these restrictions but i want to give you, the british people, the maximum possible transparency about this vaccine roll—out. with more detail on thursday and daily updates

from monday so that you can see day by day, jabbed byjab, how much process that we are making. i will hand over now to chris whitty for the slides. just some updates in terms of data, and the last, in two weeks from the 30th of december the uk case rate increased by 70%. as you can see from these graphs, one from the middle of december on the left and one on the right from the 30th of december, the darker colour are areas where there are very high rates of transmission and as you can see across the whole of the uk there has been a steady increase in the rates. next slide, please. these are the most recent data from the office for national statistics and what it

shows is the number of people, and they do this on a random sampling basis so this is a good estimate of the general population, it shows the data from august when we actually had very low rates so for example the middle of december at one in 900 people had rates and then it increased, the lockdown was brought in and that brought down these rates but then we had problems with the new variant which i will come unto in the next slide and the worst period of winter combining to lead toa period of winter combining to lead to a significant increase since that time. we are now into a situation where across the country as a whole roughly one in 50 people have got the virus, higher in some parts the country and lower in others but in 50 is really quite a large number indeed. next slide, please. if we

look around england what we find is in every area there has been a relative increase in the new variant of this virus that is spreading around the country. the fastest increase in the east of england, london and the south—east but it is now taking off in other areas as well. in some of the areas where it took off at the highest level and tier4 took off at the highest level and tier 4 was brought in during a period when schools were closed there maybe early indications of some levelling off but i think we should not over interpret that but it is clear that the new variant has been rising in all parts of the country and what we have seen is that the bits of the country which had some of the lower rates and had previously controlled things particularly in the north east and north west for example, the rate of increase has in many of these been higher than increase has in many of these been higherthan in increase has in many of these been higher than in some southern areas which had already high rates. next

slide, please. this is inevitably translated into new numbers of patients going into hospitals so these are the number of people in hospital all the way from the ist of april through to the ist ofjanuary. you can see the first peak of people in hospital then decreased due to the remarkable efforts of everyone in the country during the first lockdown and then through the summer months. an increase which then again we nt months. an increase which then again went down due to the second lockdown now really a very rapid increase and ido now really a very rapid increase and i do not think you need any modelling to see in what direction the numberof modelling to see in what direction the number of hospitalised patients with covid is going and this is going up very rapidly and of course we are still in the middle of winter. next slide, please. sadly of course some of those people go on to die. this is the number of deaths of

people with a positive test result and there was an increase which led to the second lockdown, a decrease following that but these numbers of deaths are now increasing again. they are at this point quite a long way below the first peak and there are three reasons for that. the first of which which is good news is that doctors, nurses and medical staff in general are able to manage this disease better than previously with better drugs and also better treatment all round. the second reason is that there is an aged effect that some of the people being affected at the moment are of a youngerage affected at the moment are of a younger age than the first wave but obviously what was seen previously as it moves up through the age bands of the time. the third reason is that deaths are much delayed so people get infected and then there isa people get infected and then there is a delay before they are ill

enough to go to hospital and then quite a long delay before some people sadly die and unfortunately because of the spike in people going into hospital from the last slide we will inevitably see an increase in the numberof will inevitably see an increase in the number of people who die of this disease as we go into the rest of january. thank you very much. thank you, chris. let's go to questions from the public. hannah from northamptonshire. good evening, my question is how are you supporting people with severe mental health issues for example my mother suffers from schizophrenia and does not understand the pandemic circumstances. how would you help someone like her? thank you. hannah, thank you very much for your question and obviously i am very sorry for the extra anxiety that the pandemic is causing people such as

your mother and people with mental health conditions and i totally understand why people are concerned. we put a huge amount obviously into nhs mental health care, i think another 12 billion or so but directly during the pandemic and what then are doing is trying to support some of the wonderful mental health care charities that reach out to work with people like your mum andi to work with people like your mum and i think we put about 19 or 20 million into that. that is what we're doing at the but clearly the best thing for your mother and eve ryo ne best thing for your mother and everyone is to get through this as fast as possible. let's go to, u nless fast as possible. let's go to, unless anyone wants to add anything. let's go to rachel from reading. unless anyone wants to add anything. let's go to rachel from readinglj let's go to rachel from reading.” have two children at university and one in halls of residence and the other in private accommodation, could you advise how students will

be supported to meet the cost of accommodation that they are not able to live in and is there any support to live in and is there any support to reduced tuition fees or the need to reduced tuition fees or the need to repay their student loan? thanks very much, rachel. obviously we will be looking carefully at what is happening to students as a result of the fact that their courses have been postponed and the absence of tuition that they would expect. what we hope is that they will get online learning that will allow them to continue with their degree courses. but clearly there will be issues to do with the cost of their accommodation that we will have to be looking at as a government and see what arrangements the universities are making to deal with that. to deal with the reasonable concerns of many students. i want to

thank students for the sacrifice that you are making in staying away from university and learning online as you must like all other students and pupils in the next few weeks and months. i know it is a big sacrifice but i believe sincerely it will be worth it for the reopening of education and reopening of our lives. thank you very much. let's go to vicki young from the bbc. the whole country is relying on you to ta ke whole country is relying on you to take the right steps at the right time and many think he waited too long to bring in extra restrictions. how can we have confidence in your decision—making when on sunday insisted that all schools should stay open and the very next day ordered them to close and. professor whitty and professor patrick vallance, when did you first advise the lockdown in england and do you think that the vaccine well at

timetable is realistic?” think that the vaccine well at timetable is realistic? i think it's important to understand that we've been looking at the new variant very ha rd ever been looking at the new variant very hard ever since we first became aware of its rapid spread, i think on the 18th of december. and it has been clear that the tier 4 measures we re been clear that the tier 4 measures were something we wanted to evaluate, and over the course of the days leading up to sunday, clearly, like everybody else in the country, we we re like everybody else in the country, we were hoping that we would start to see some impact, and that we would be able to keep schools open, because keeping schools open is an absolute priority for this country, and keeping kids in education is absolutely vital for this country, but what we obviously had to contend with was figures, notjust but what we obviously had to contend with was figures, not just the

decision by the four cmos to go up to level five, but figures for the infection rate, i think 80,001 day then 65,000 the next, it was clear that we had got to the situation where tier 4 on its own couldn't be relied upon to get the virus under control, and that's without really going the whole way and asking people to stay at home and sadly to close schools as well. and that's why we took the step that we did. and i appreciate the frustration of teachers and parents. and obviously the frustration of pupils. what can i repeat my thanks? i don't know if iam being premature i repeat my thanks? i don't know if i am being premature in saying this, but i believe the bbc is coming forward with a big programme of education for three hours a day.

that will be something the government will be doing everything we can to help with remote learning as well. i'll take half of the second one. the cmos met yesterday and reviewed the data, which had been getting steadily worse in all four missions of the uk, and they advised we should move to level five yesterday. patrick might want to talk about sage advice independently of that. in terms of the vaccine timetable, my view is that it is realistic but not easy. the nhs will have to use multiple channels to get this out, but they are very determined to do this. that does not make it easy. in the case of the pfizer vaccine, as i think is widely reported, it's more difficult to handle because of the complicated cold chain required. and with both vaccines, we wanted to be very careful in the first two or three days that we went a little slowly in

case there were some initial unexpected problems. but i think we do now have a situation where things can be rolled out across lots of different channels, and i think what's really important is that we do that according to the ordering which has been recommended by the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation, which the prime minister talked about. the reason for that is that ordering means we will have the maximum impact on the disease because the people with by far the highest risk of dying will be vaccinated first, those who care for them, then the next town, including nhs workers, social care workers, and then on down through to people in their 505 and those under 50 who have other underlying health problems. by doing it in that way, at whatever speed we do, the mortality benefits will be front—loaded, and we will first see a reduction in mortality over time,

then after that, there will be a slowing of the pressure of covid on the nhs, but that will take longer, so those two will not happen at the same rate. the final thing to say is that in the uk we have taken a decision based onjc vi advice, endorsed by scientific bodies like the society for immunology, endorsed by other medical bodies, like the royal college of general practitioners, to delay the first dose of both vaccines by 12 weeks, and we've done this based on a numberof and we've done this based on a number of different scientific lines of decision—making. that is to allow us to maximise, over the first 12 weeks, the numberof us to maximise, over the first 12 weeks, the number of people who can be vaccinated, so we can get down those jc vi levels as fast as possible before the second vaccine is given. that should provide a high degree, not complete because everybody should have the second dose at 12 weeks, but that should provide a high degree of protection

and get us through that as fast as we can, because we are facing, as the prime minister said in the data shows, a really serious emergency at the moment. the increased transmissibility of the new variant was clearly a concern, and given the effects of restrictions, it was obvious that you needed to do more because of a high degree of transmissibility. the view from sage was that it was likely that more measures would be needed to retain transmission of a variant that had an intrinsically higher transmissibility rate, and that is indeed what is now borne out, that you see very fast growth and spread amongst all age groups, and it's going to need really much firmer measures in order to keep on top of this. thanks very much, vicki.

robert preston. given that there are now a million people infected, what is the chance that we will be out of lockdown before the middle or end of march, possibly even later? and secondly, to the scientists in particular, you will be aware that some of your colleagues are concerned that by widening the gap between first and second dose, you are increasing the risk of the virus mutating and building up resistance to the vaccine. could you quantify that risk for us, please? thanks, robert. let me have a go at the first one first. it all depends, our ability to come out of the lockdown measures, our ability to get through this fast, depends on a number of things. obviously, provided we don't learn anything new about the virus that we don't yet understand, so

there's not some new mutation that we haven't currently bargained for, provided the vaccine roll—out goes according to plan, provided the vaccine is as efficacious as we think it is, but you know, above all, provided everybody follows the guidance now, everybody sticks to the measures that we have now, then we think that, by the middle of february, when a very considerable proportion of the most vulnerable groups will have been vaccinated, also we hope and believe, that the top four of the jc vi cohort, also we hope and believe, that the top four of thejc vi cohort, then there really is the prospect of beginning the relaxation of some of these measures. i wouldn't put it any stronger than that. but you will also appreciate that there are lots

of caveats, lots of ifs built into that, the most important of which is that, the most important of which is that we all now follow the guidance and stay at home, protect the nhs, save lives. patrick may want to add to this on the vaccine question. by extending the gap, we are going to come over the next three months, be able to essentially double the numberof able to essentially double the number of people who will be vaccinated. if, overthat period, there is more than 50% protection, then you have actually won. more people will have been overall protected than would have been otherwise, and i were quite strong view is that we think the protection will be quite a lot more than 50%, so in net public health terms, they will be substantially more protection by going faster, not with the absolutely complete protection stop we fully agree, we need a second dose for everybody, but with the great majority of the protection for that initial period so we get

twice as many people vaccinated over that period, and then we will catch up that period, and then we will catch up as we go into spring. there are obviously some unknowns in that, and there is quite a vigorous scientific debate about those unknowns. one thing people have raised as a theoretical risk that by having this longer gap, you could lead to a slightly increased risk of an escaped mutant. that is a real worry, but quite a small worry within the system. i think we discussed this, and patrick may want to add this, among scientists involved in sage and others, and the general view was, the size of the increase in risk is sufficiently small that, measured against the ability to double the number of people vaccinated, the public health arguments are really strongly for doing what we decided to do. that's why doing what we decided to do. that's whij vi doing what we decided to do. that's why jc vi independently doing what we decided to do. that's whij vi independently were content with us taking this approach, and a variety of other bodies have agreed that this is a sensible balance of

risk. clearly, if we had infinite vaccine, we might have taken different approaches, but we don't. at this point in time, for the next three or four months, the number of vaccines we have available is going to constrain our ability to get through the 25—30,000,000 people we must do to get through all of the gc vi areas, and whilst this is such a fa st vi areas, and whilst this is such a fast moving virus at this point in time, our view was very strongly on balance of risk of the benefits to the uk, at this point in the epidemic,... the uk, at this point in the epidemic, . .. the the uk, at this point in the epidemic,... the more you vaccinate, the more you put evolutionary pressure on the virus. with high levels of vaccination, the virus is struggling to know what to do, and that will eventually become an issue, and the virus probably will mutate at that point, and that means different vaccines will be needed in due course. one of the very exciting things about the science behind this is the messenger rna vaccines in particular are fast to make in

response to new mutations. in due course, in years to come, as we think about this, that will be something that i think gives an advantage to being able to get round it. all vaccine puts pressure on viruses to mutate. thank you very much. sam coats of sky. there are 60,000 new infections recorded today, partly driven by kids spreading this new strain. parents wa nt spreading this new strain. parents want realism. cannula parents in the eye and tell them all kids will definitely be back in the classroom before the summer holidays? sir patrick vallance, we've heard a lot recently about a second new variant, from south africa. has it reached our shores, and how worried should we be about the south african variant? isn't the risk for those aged 20—52 high to let it rip

through those age groups? sam, i will take the first one of those excellent questions. just on whether we can be absolutely sure that schools will reopen. ijust go back to the answer i gave to robert heston. —— robert preston. we think that a vaccination programme we can doa that a vaccination programme we can do a huge amount to take out of the path of the virus those who are most vulnerable. that clearly offers opportunities to our country, to do things differently, to approach the whole issue of non—pharmaceutical interventions very differently. i'm full of the same optimism and fundamental hope about the position that i think chris has adopted, in that i think chris has adopted, in that i think things will be very different by the spring. and that is what i would certainly say to every pa rent what i would certainly say to every parent in the land. on the question

of variance, as a virus replicates, you get changes in the genetic code as new mutations come in and things change. those changes in the genetic code then lead to changes sometimes in parts of the protein, and that may lead to shape changes or charge changes on the protein that might mean that the virus becomes recognised differently by the immune system, and that is really the concern that people are looking at. ifi concern that people are looking at. if i take the uk variant, what we know is that those changes, and there were 22 changes in the genetic code, made the virus more transmissible. a5 farmers we can see, it doesn't make it hidden from the immune system. if you have had an infection before, the evidences you probably neutralise this virus as well, and the expectation is that the same would be the case for a vaccine. with the south african variant there is another change. that change is theoretically a bit more substantial in terms of the

shape, if you like, so it has a bit more of an effect potentially on the shape of the viral protein, which theoretically gives it a bit more risk of not being recognised, but there is nothing yet to suggest that is the case. this is being looked at the very actively, and it's worth remembering that when a vaccine is given, you don't just remembering that when a vaccine is given, you don'tjust make one bit, you make lots of antibodies against of different bits, so it is unlikely that all of that would be escaped by any mutation. it's more likely that if there is an effect, it is a sort of minor effect to decrease the binding or decrease the efficacy of the vaccine, but we don't know yet for the south african variant. that needs to be looked at. it is a theoretical risk, and every time we see a variant, that will be the question that comes up that needs to be looked at. at the moment, you would say the most likely thing is that this wouldn't abolish vaccine effect. it may have some overall

effect. it may have some overall effect on efficacy, but we don't know. and on the question you asked me, if we did not do the things, all of us must —— do the things all of us must now do, if we don't take stay—at—home seriously, the risk at this point in time, in the middle of winter, with the new variant, is extraordinarily high. what is going to happen over time is, the risk level will gradually decrease. it won't be really bad then stop. we will essentially have the risk walking down the path, things will be able to be lifted by degrees, possibly at different rates in different parts of the country, we will see, and government has made clear that ministers prioritise education as one of the things that would go early, but that it a ministerial decision very much, but things will be lifted stage by stage, and over time, things will be lifted stage by stage, and overtime, we things will be lifted stage by stage, and over time, we will get to a point where people say, this level of risk is one that society is prepared to tolerate, and lived right down to almost no restrictions at all. we might have to bring a few in in next winter, for example. that is possible because winter will

benefit the virus. the aim is to get rid of risk as much as possible by the vaccine, to the point where actually we get to the stage where the risk is incredibly low relative to where we are now, and where we just say, as we do with flu, where every year roughly 7000 people a yeardie, up to every year roughly 7000 people a year die, up to 20,000 in a bad year. we accept there is a level of risk that society will tolerate, and we should tolerate. people die, that is one of the things that happens. and we have to do that at a certain point, but that is a political decision, a societal decision. what we can do with the vaccine is take the risk down and down, initially with the mortality, then the pressure on the nhs, then the risk of people having infections which could lead to things like long covid, which younger people could have serious problems still with this. and that will little by little be reduced by vaccination. zero risk is not a realistic possibility and

will not happen in a single band but by degrees. thanks very much, chris. let's go to jason from the daily mail. you committed to vaccinate 13 million people in the next six weeks and that means something like 2 million people per week. what needs to happen to get us to that figure? what changes need to be made because we are nowhere near that at the moment and just for the daily updates of numbers, is that a commitment to publish a daily figure of how many people have been vaccinated? professor chris whitty, is this lockdown enough to reverse the spread of the virus or are we in a race against time now? and you said that next winter we could still need some new measures, what would

those be? thank you very much, jason and on the important question about the pace of the vaccine roll—out you are right, i think the numbers for the firstjcvi are right, i think the numbers for the first jcvi groups are right, i think the numbers for the firstjcvi groups might be a little bit higher than 30 million but we are going to do them as fast as we possibly can. we set the target as you know by the middle of february. it is a huge effort, the biggest vaccination programme in the history of this country in this country i think is already doing more than any other european country. what it will require is a lot of people working together and the nhs, the armed services, every aspect of government is working at this absolutely flat out. the rate

limiting factor at the moment is making sure that we can get enough vaccine where we want it fast enough and one of the problems as you know is the astrazeneca vaccine which has just come on stream needs to be properly batch tested and properly approved before being put into people's arms and this is just a process that takes time to do. but we will be ratcheting it up in the next days and weeks ahead in the way you describe and will be given more details on thursday of where we've got to. i've given the figures today. what will try to do is daily from monday then and we will try to break down some of the figures for people so everyone can see which groups are getting the vaccine and

how it is being distributed across the country. my feeling is this is something of massive national interest and really we have to be as transparent as we can possibly be. you asked me if the lockdown would be enough and i think the key to this is all of us really seriously buying into this, if we do that and stay at home, apart from the things such as work and going out for essential shopping and exercise, if people stick to the rules really strongly and at the same time the nhs is vaccinating as fast as it can then help is the lockdown will be enough. but we've all got to do that, this is very much a collective effort and no one can do this on their own. it has got to be people buying into this really seriously. in terms of longer term things what we all hope is we get a vaccine programme that means that we do not need anything in the future at any

stage, that would be the ideal but it is important to understand that coronavirus will not go awayjust as many other viruses such as the flu do not go away and the time that benefited the most is always winter. that is why we are having problems now along with the new variant, we hope we do not need to do anything. certainly nothing on the scale that we have to do at the moment because vaccination should take the majority of the heavy lifting but we should not kid ourselves that this will just disappear with the spring. what will happen in spring the risk will go down and obviously we hope to have spring, summer and autumn months the full vaccination programme is through but this is a problem that will not just disappear. and it would cluck from the independent. we understand the uk is shortly going to introduce mandatory negative coronavirus testing forforeign mandatory negative coronavirus

testing for foreign nationals flying into the country. tests are something that airports have been asking forfour months something that airports have been asking for four months and have been used successfully in other countries for a long time now so why has it taken so long for britain to adopt this position? is that something that has contributed towards coronavirus being so persistent in the uk and if that is what we request from foreign nationals by not uk nationals coming from abroad? and the prime minister has described schools as a potential vector for coronavirus and if that is the case why is it that teachers and pupils are not on the priority list for vaccination. is that not something which would allow us to open the school sooner? first of all i will ask chris and patrick to answer on vaccination in schools. just repeat that schools are safe. on what we are doing to protect the uk from transmission from abroad, we will bring bringing in measures to ensure

that we test people coming into this country and prevent the virus from being readmitted. patrick and chris? a couple of points on this, the first is to reiterate the point the prime minister made, one thing we do not think is that the new variant is any more dangerous for children than the else variant. and there is no evidence for example that hospitals are filling up with children. there is always a risk with any infection to people of all ages but children are relatively much less affected than other groups which is one of the few good things even say about coronavirus. that will be important obviously went to schools can go back. in terms of vaccination priority i think from a clinical point of view the real priorities to make sure, we know who the people are who are by far the most likely to die and are by far the most

likely to end up in hospital and it is that ordering which the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation has put in place in which everyone has looked at this has agreed that this is the correct ordering. lots of amalek —— lots of academics and others have looked at us and all agree. so that takes us to the first 40 years and all the way down to people in their 505 which of the state should include some teachers and people who have underlying health conditions, that should be followed through because they are most at risk. that still leaves around half of the population and they will have to be decisions made about that in due course but we are some way from made about that in due course but we are some way from that and i think the key thing is to prioritise those most likely to come to clinical harm. and on the vaccine, mother of the vaccines are currently licensed for use in children so at this stage we would not be going down that path but of sleep that may change over time. let's go to dominic of the

metra. prime minister, the uk has seen more than 50,000 people test positive for coronavirus for eight daysin positive for coronavirus for eight days in a row now but if you are taking this lockdown decision 24 hours earlier it would have stopped treatment in primary school children mixing for a day and taking a new wave of infection back to their families. do you regret this delay? and nearly one in children access the internet through mobile phone connections where a day of lessons can cost £100 on pay—as—you—go but you still insist that schools are safe. should those children not be in school and did not why i telecom companies charging for access to school and educational websites still? anyway i think dominic, you

have answered your question about why we want to keep schools open. it is such an imperative for any country in any society and as i say, asi country in any society and as i say, as i said to vicki young from the bbc, we wanted to do everything we could to make that possible but alas yesterday it became clear that the data simply was not going to support that. and the risk was that the tiering system, the tier 4 system without taking schools out of the equation was just not going to be enough on its own. we could not take the risk and although we are now seeing some signs that may be clear four is starting to work in london and maybe a bit in the south—east on the new variant, the spread of the new variant was really very troubling indeed. that is why we

took the action that we did. we want took the action that we did. we want to support kids in school if we possibly can. i'm glad that the bbc is asi possibly can. i'm glad that the bbc is as i say putting a lot of educational stuff on tv, that is fantastic. we are also looking at the very point you make about the potential cost to pa rents the very point you make about the potential cost to parents of online teaching and we are going to do our best to support them in any way we can and to work with the internet companies to see what we can do to help. because unquestionably this will be a tough period. all i can say is what we want to do is get back to a physician as fast as possible where we can get the kids back into schools. that is why we are doing all things that we are doing now. thank you very much everyone. i appreciate that this is

a very tough final stretch for this country and made tougher by the new variant, much tougher, alas, by the new variant. but the jabs are going in to people's arms day by day and we will keep you updated on what is going on and in the meantime i must repeat the basic message, but we have to do is to stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. thank you, everyone. so the prime minister ending that latest briefing from downing street. let's recap the main points. the prime minister announced that latest data shows more than over1 million people in england are infected with the virus — that's 2% of the population. he added that 1.3 million people have now been vaccinated across the uk. and that in the next 2 to 3 weeks nearly 1 in 4 over—80—year—olds will have had the jab, giving them significant immunity to coronavirus.

england's chief medical officer — professor chris whitty — expanded on the prime minister's data, saying 1 in 50 people across england has the virus — those are figures from the office for national statistics. professor whitty said there has been an increase in the spread of the new variant of the virus across england. and warned that because of a spike in the number of people going into hospital we will inevitably see an increase in deaths injanuary. let's speak to our political correspondent, iain watson. he was asked if he should have brought in the england wide lockdown sooner. he said he had no choice but to bring it in when he did because the figures are pretty devastating. that's right. devastating figures indeed, 60,000 more infections, the number of deaths rising, of course, and as you said, that stunning figure of one in 50 people having

the virus as of the 2nd of january, according to the ons. the prime minister's defence again, he was asked several times, why take children back to school for one day? shouldn't you have taken this decision on lockdown sooner said he wa nted decision on lockdown sooner said he wanted to keep children in school for as long as possible. this was only a last resort and only really from hearing about the pressures on the nhs and the level of risk from the nhs and the level of risk from the chief medical officers did he ta ke the chief medical officers did he take that decision in the way that he did. quite a few other things of interest came out, actually, not so much from the prime minister but from the scientific adviser and chief medical officer. for example, chris whitty suggesting that even once this vaccination programme has been largely completed, even next winter, we could still be facing the reintroduction of restrictions, because the conditions for the virus once again to thrive will be there. another slightly galling message

from patrick vallance, the chief scientific adviser, saying that there will be pressure on the virus to mutate after vaccination and it is likely that further vaccines will be needed, perhaps adjustments to the pfizer vaccine, which would be the pfizer vaccine, which would be the swiftest in dealing with that. the prime minister was keen to accentuate the positive, to talk about the progress already made in the vaccination scheme, the fact that nearly one in four adults over the age of 80 have been inoculated in england. of course, some of them will not get that protection for another two to three weeks, but this will be a way of bringing down pressure on the nhs and ways of bringing down the death rate. he also wanted to stress that so he could claim that his rather ambitious target of getting nearly 40 million people vaccinated in the most vulnerable groups by mid—february was entirely realistic. thank you very much. let me tell you

a bit more about what the prime minister was outlining about what the bbc is going to be doing in terms of trying to help with the education of schoolchildren who can't go to school, and we can show you this tweet from the bbcjust explaining some of that, saying that cbbc will have a three hour block of primary school programming from 9am, from monday the 11th of january, and bbc two will cater for secondary students, with at least two hours of content each weekday. the culture secretary, oliver dowden, said this will be a lifeline to parents and i welcome the bbc playing its part. with me now is our health correspondent, nick triggle. we are hearing a lot there about the vaccination, how the prime minister hopes it really is a way out of this pandemic, and he was giving some quite encouraging figures — 1.3 million people already vaccinated

across the uk, and particularly the over 805. across the uk, and particularly the over 80s. the vaccination programme started early in december, when the pfizer vaccine got approved. this week, we have started seeing the oxford vaccine given to people, and the figures show that we have now vaccinated 1.3 million people in the uk, including nearly one infour people over the age of 80. that's crucial because the average age of people who die from covid is over 80, so within a few weeks, we might start seeing some of the impact of this, andi start seeing some of the impact of this, and i think this is going to bea this, and i think this is going to be a vitalfigure this, and i think this is going to be a vital figure going forward, not just for getting out of lockdown but for public morale. this is the third lockdown in england, and scotland, wales and northern ireland have their own lockdown flu by going on. it is winter, people are tired, people have lost jobs, it is winter, people are tired, people have lostjobs, so seeing the progress with vaccination is going to be crucial. he said from next week we will start getting daily figures on how we are doing. the target is mid—february to have

offered 13 million people, everyone over the age of 70, front line health and care workers and all those deemed at extreme clinical risk, a vaccine, and once we do that, we can start easing restrictions. as ian was saying, we will be living with restrictions but we will start to feel —— it will start feeling much different to how it does now if we get to that point. it was addressed in the news conference about whether it's right to be giving peoplejust conference about whether it's right to be giving people just the first jab for the time being, rather than the second three weeks later. yellow like the uk has been pushed into this because of the crisis we are facing, the high numbers of infections. the chief medical adviser, professor chris whitty, admitted that. the first dose gives you most of the your —— most of your protection. with the oxford vaccine, there is some evidence that delaying, having a wider gap between the first and second doses, improves

the first and second doses, improves the performance of the vaccine. at the performance of the vaccine. at the pfizer vaccine wasn't tested like this. it doesn't mean this is risky or anything like that, but it wasn't tested in trials, so that's why we hear of people saying, with pfizer, we don't know what impact that will have. what we heard from professor whitty was, he will offer -- it is professor whitty was, he will offer —— it is going to offer some protection. it is important that evenif protection. it is important that even if it doesn't protect you totally against infection, it really does protect you against serious illness. if you have a mild illness, that's good for the individual, but it also relieves pressure on the health service. nick, thank you very much. the who has held a news conference this afternoon. let's listen to the remarks from the head of that body. we have entered a new phase of the pandemic where solidarity is needed like never before. we are in a race to save lives right now, and as my

colleague doctor mike rand said last year, it is important in any crisis to act fast and have no regrets. caseloads are so high in several countries that hospitals and intensive care units are filling up to dangerous levels. bring cases down, protect health systems and save lives while rolling out highly effective and safe vaccines to high—risk this is not easy. these are the hard miles we must tread together. let's just remind ourselves of the new rules for england announced by the prime minister. they will become law tomorrow and are due to reviewed on feburary the 15th. people are being told to stay at home — unless they have a reason to leave,

like the first lockdown in march last year. these include shopping for essential medical needs, food shopping, exercise and work for those who cannot do so from home. all school and colleges have closed to most pupils — with remote learning until february half term. the summer exams for gcses and a—levels have been cancelled. early years settings such as nurseries will stay open. restaurants can continue to offer food delivery, but takeaway alcohol will be banned. and outdoor sports venues will close — but playgrounds can stay open. hopes of a happy new year didn't last too long. within days of the start of 2021, millions of people being told to stay at home once again. it is to ease the pressure on the nhs, but what effect are the latest restriction is having on our mental health? with limited access to friends and family, even to work colleagues, how are we coping under

lockdown because mike duncan kennedy reports. green space or urban setting, the cloak of human hibernation has come to shroud us all once again. this is the centre of southampton, normally heaving with people, but not today. here we are back in lockdown. what do you think? should have happened last year? i understand why they don't do it, but you've got to think of the long—term. get lockdown done, get out the way, because it's real. on a personal level, are you resigned to following a? there is nothing we can do, you got to abide by rules. hopefully in time it will fade away. the city centre park was also nearly deserted, just a few walkers, joggers and bloggers like this university student. what do you think of going back into lockdown?” mean, i know it's a sensible thing, but i'm also tired of doing it. we

also came across doctor natalie harrison, who has seen what covid is like in her hospital and is nowjust two weeks away from giving birth to her second child. what do you think of giving in to —— going into lockdown again? totally understand why it is needed. i think we are grateful that parks are staying open, that we can get outside for some exercise once a day, especially the little one. but yeah, i think it's just what we need to do. the little one. but yeah, i think it'sjust what we need to do. whilst the nation's mojo may be out of step, there is one man trying to lift morale. joe wicks says he will be back again as britain's favourite pe teacher, now schools are closed. i want to be there for kids and families that need to stay active. i'm going to do it three days a week, monday, wednesday, friday, 9am, just like before, and the videos will be saved. if you miss

them, you can go back and do them at another time. joe is not the only one trying to keep people fit. those like frankie newbury from york say news of the new restrictions does not come easy. this news has broken mea not come easy. this news has broken me a little bit. i like to think i'm a strong, resilient person. i pride myself on that. we've all been here before — the empty streets, the disrupted lives — but lockdown the sequel is one follow—up most people say they won't enjoy but will endure. the news at six is coming up with sophie in a couple of minutes. let's first just recount the main points from that latest downing street news conference on coronavirus. the prime minister announced new data showing more than 1 million people in england are infected with a virus, roughly 2% of the population. 1.3 million people across the uk have now been

vaccinated. and he also said that for the next two to three weeks, nearly one in four over 18—year—olds will have had the jab, giving them significant immunity to coronavirus. just to say coming up at 8:30pm on the news channel, we will be answering your questions about the latest lockd own answering your questions about the latest lockdown restrictions. joining us, doctor susan hopkins, sage committee member, and medical adviser at public health england. do get in touch using the hashtag, or you can e—mail us. let's get a look at the weather with matt taylor. ican i can offer something a little less cold by the end of the weekend and into next week. the wind will come from a westerly direction, bringing milderair from a westerly direction, bringing milder air from from a westerly direction, bringing milder airfrom the from a westerly direction, bringing milder air from the atlantic. before that arrives, we are stuck with the cold easterly. today, bringing the very chilly air and a wintry mix

across eastern parts of the country. rain, sleet and snow showers across parts of eastern scotland and northern england, particularly over the hills. mainly rain towards east anglia, the south—east and the channel islands, but even here, the odd flake of snow could be mixed in. temperature is a degree also up on yesterday. it is still cold out there, and turning very chilly quickly as we head into tonight. it could be icy, with snow showers continuing across parts of northern england in south—east scotland. rain showers continue in the south—east and the channel islands. with clear skies, it will be particularly chilly tonight, widespread frost. as we head into wednesday, there are changes. the isoba rs we head into wednesday, there are changes. the isobars open out, indicating the wins will be lighter, so less wind chill later in the day across england and wales. rain, sleet and snow in northern england drifting south. the showers in the south—east could be limited to parts

of the coast, continuing across the channel islands. dense fog lasting in central scotland, keeping it cold, but many will be drive. later in the day, rain preceded by sleet and snow will push into scotland and northern ireland, lifting temperatures into the start of thursday morning. wednesday night will be very cold. in these areas, there will be dense patches of fog to start thursday morning. some will ta ke to start thursday morning. some will take awhile to lift, some will linger day long. a few showers towards the eastern coasts and east anglia. more snow flurries in the north of scotland later. something wintry on the lake district fails as we finish the day. that weather front will drift south, so anywhere across england and wales could see a slight flurry of snow to take us into friday. frosty and ic again. temperatures lift as go into the weekend, so rain into western scotla nd weekend, so rain into western scotland but for most, dry and

sunny.

the uk is back in lockdown — more than one million people a re currently infected with coronavirus. stay at home — the message once again — with the nhs under severe strain amid record covid admissions. lincoln county hospital the latest to declare a critical incident. if people don't stake the stay at home seriously the risk a at this point in time the risk is extraordinarily high. more than 1.3 million people have had their first dose of a covid vaccine. now the pressure is on to get millions more protected over the next few weeks. we in government are now using every second of this lockdown to put that invisible shield around the elderly and the vulnerable in