this is bbc news, i'm james reynolds. the headlines at eight o'clock. the uk is back in lockdown — with the message to ‘stay at home‘ — more thani million people a re currently infected with coronavirus. if people don't take the stay at home seriously the risk at this point in time, the risk is extraordinarily high. the labour party calls for round the clock vaccinations as the prime minister says more than 1.3 million people have had their first dose and the government is doing all it can. 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.

we now need a government that's worthy of the british people, and that means using this lockdown to establish a massive and immediate and round—the—clock vaccination programme. record covid admissions have put the nhs under severe strain — lincoln county hospital is the latest to declare a critical incident due to a surge in patients. billions of pounds in new grants for businesses hardest hit by the lockdown — up to nine thousand pounds to help individual companies until spring. empty classrooms once again as millions of children are forced to stay at home. and coming up at 8.30 — we'll be putting your questions on the latest restrictions to a representative from public health england.

good evening and welcome to bbc news. the numbers are stark. more than a million people in the uk are currently infected with coronavirus. record numbers have been admitted to hospital putting huge strain on the nhs. the whole of the uk is back in lockdown. the prime minister said there was no other choice. he said the number of patients in hospitals was now 40% higher than in the first peak in the spring. the government's chief medical adviser — professor chris whitty — warned that the country was facing a really serious emergency. more than 1.3 million people have been given the first dose of a covid vaccine — among them nearly a quarter of all over 80s. there's hope that the vaccine will be a way out of this pandemic. but professor whitty warned that some restrictions may still be needed next winter in order to keep the virus under control. every nation in the uk is now in a form of lockdown. the rules differ slightly from nation to nation, but the key message is the same everywhere. to stay at home — with a handful of exemptions — including shopping for

food and exercise. here's our deputy political editor, vicki young. that sinking feeling — here we go again. across the uk a return to deserted streets, empty classrooms and closed shops. stay at home is the order coming from political leaders as forcefully as it did in march. all hopes now pinned on a speedy vaccine roll out. until then, what will life be like? like millions of parents, michelle will be juggling work and helping her son with home learning. with an eight—year—old son, it is quite challenging. you know, having him play football in the house, being away from his friends, managing technology — just, it's a challenge. in altrincham market, all the traders, including don, are packing up again. we would like the government to be stepping forward and helping small business to keep us going, because if it carries on like this we won't be able to carry

on and businesses will fold. for health workers like nasim it will be more long shifts in hospital. a national lockdown was unfortunately necessary. my advice to all of you out there, please take it seriously. you could die from it. no wonder the prime minister warned us the next few weeks will be the hardest yet, but there was some positive news. we have now vaccinated over 1.1 million people in england, and over 1.3 million across the uk. and that includes more than 650,000 people over 80, which is 23% of all the over 80s in england. prime minister, the whole country is relying on you to take the right steps at the right time, and many think that you waited too long to bring in extra restrictions.

how can they have confidence in your decision making when on sunday, you insisted all schools should stay open, and the very next day ordered them to close? it has been clear that the tier 4 measures were something that we wanted to evaluate, and over the course of the days leading up to sunday, clearly, like everybody else in the country, we were hoping that we would start to see some impact. we have got to a situation where tier 4 on its own couldn't be relied upon. to professor whitty and professor valanc,e when did you first advise the government to lockdown in england? the cmos met yesterday morning, and reviewed the data which was getting worse in all four nations of the uk, and they advised we should move to level five yesterday. mrjohnson‘s promised to give regular updates on the vaccination programme. the aim is inoculating around 13 million people by mid—february. the labour leader said

the nation must pull together. we now need the government to deliverfor the british people, and that means using this lockdown to establish a massive immediate and round—the—clock vaccination programme. to deliver millions of doses a week by the end of this month. across the uk schools are closed for most pupils and many exams cancelled. there is still uncertainty over when that will change. the first minister of scotland said the new strain of coronavirus had driven everything off course. it is transmitting so much more quickly, you know, this whole thing has been a race with the virus, we now have the vaccines we hope can beat it, so we have to up our game again, to try to get ahead of it. the vaccines will help us do that but while that is happening we need to work harder to slow it down. of course, the question everyone wants an answer to is when will restrictions come to an end? borisjohnson has learned from some past mistakes and has been careful to promise not too much. there is a timetable of sorts

talking about vaccinating the most vulnerable by the middle of february, and on that timetable as you've been hearing the latest government figures show there were 60,916 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. that's the first time — since the pandemic started — the daily total has been above 60,000. although testing is more widescale now, compared to the first peak in the spring. the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week, is now 55,945. 830 deaths were reported, that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. that means on average in the past week — 677 deaths were announced every day. it takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 76,305. and we'll find out how this story is covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 and 11:30 this evening in the papers — our guests joining me tonight are the daily mirror's political editor — pippa crerar — and anand menon — director of the thinktank uk in a changing europe.

more than 3000 people a day have been admitted to hospitals in england alone in the first few days of this year — more than at the peak last april. the pressure on hospitals is intense — not least because of the number of staff who are off work with the virus or self—isolating. some doctors have compared working in the nhs right now to being in a warzone. here's our health correspondent, dominic hughes. becky james is living with a rare form of bowel cancer. she was expecting to have surgery in the coming weeks that could cure her, but covid pressures in london mean the hospital has had to cancel her operation. becky understands the reasons, but it's still hard. i feel quite helpless. i can't plan anything. that's usual with cancer. i think it leaves me in limbo, as with hundreds of other people. i think a lot of people listening to this would be quite surprised at how magnanimous you're sounding. i think part of it is to keep calm.

because the nhs are keeping calm. so my role is to keep calm. across the uk, the health service is struggling. at the grange university hospital in cwmbran in south wales, staff in the intensive care unit are witnessing the very worst of the virus. it does feel like we're fighting a losing battle with the number of patients, and constantly phoning families to tell them that they need to come in because their loved ones are really reaching the end of the line. you know, we haven't formally crunched all the data yet, but certainly anecdotally and from what i'm observing, i would say that our death rate at the moment is probably twice what it was in the first wave. those deaths are directly related to how many people are catching the virus. in the last surge, cases started to pick up towards the end of september before peaking in november when the second lockdown had an impact. since the start of december, infections have been on the rise again.

daily hospital admissions closely track the number of positive cases. the latest data for the whole of the uk only goes to just before christmas, but we know that since then, cases have rocketed and admissions to hospital will follow suit. with nearly 61,000 new cases of the virus today, hospital staff are braced for some extremely difficult weeks ahead. staff sickness isn't helping. doctors and nurses, hospital porters and cleaners, like all of us, vulnerable to the virus. at lincoln county hospital, managers declared a critical incident for some hours after a sharp rise in covid patients requiring admission. another sign, if it was needed, that right across the uk, the virus is now fast running out of control. dominic hughes, bbc news. the west midlands ambulance service says it experienced its busiest day on record yesterday — with some crews waiting more than five hours to hand over patients at hospital emergency departments struggling to cope with an influx of coronavirus cases.

the service dealt with 5,383 calls in 2a hours. a medic who worked at the queen elizabeth hospital in birmingham said a&e was "full of heartbreaking stories". he said at 6am on tuesday morning, ambulances were still responding to emergency calls from the night before. while the country is struggling to come to terms with this new lockdown many families are having to cope with the death of a relative because of the pandemic. unexpected loss and daily grief is the real cost of this crisis. jon kay has been hearing from two people who've lost people they loved in the past month. i'd been with rob for 25 years. we met through a lonely hearts club. colin lost his partner rob just before christmas. covid caused blood clots on his lungs. he was 56. rob was a very fun—loving person. # and we could be together

baby...# very outgoing, friends with absolutely everybody. it's rob here again. welcome to melbourne. this time last year, the couple were on the holiday of a lifetime. now colin faces the new year alone. the outpouring that we've had since his death, the messages i've had on facebook have been absolutely brilliant, and they help me through it all. when the pandemic began, rob decided to leave his deskjob in the nhs to work as a nurse in a&e helping covid patients. his funeral cortege went past bristol southmead hospital. he wanted to be on the front—line. he felt he was more use doing things like that than being in research. i think i'm going to find things now very quiet. everything just seems empty. "i've tested positive for covid—19. breathing is ok. . . "

in the days before christmas, rachel's auntie jan said she was coping fine, but her situation rapidly deteriorated. i then sadly messaged her on christmas day not realising that when i messaged her, it never went through, she had actually passed. jan docker was 55, a special needs teacher in london with no underlying health problems. it was the suddenness of her death that shocked her niece the most. i think people's perception of covid is that you get ill, there's warning, you will end up in icu, there's time to kind of hopefully recover or say goodbye to loved ones. but in our case, it was sadly not to be. how has what happened to her affected the way you view this virus? i've seen how bad it can be for people. but it's not until you lose a loved one do you realise actually how dangerous this virus is. what would your message to people be from where you stand?

all i can say to people is please, please obey the rules. i don't want anybody else to go through what i've gone through. and ijust hope that we come out of it soon. jon kay, bbc news, bristol. across the uk schools remained closed today to most pupils on what should have, for many, been the first week of term. 0nly nurseries remain open — except in scotland. and today it was confirmed that this summer's a levels and gcse exams are being cancelled in england. 0ur education editor bra nwen jeffreys reports. empty classrooms again. most children back at home. yes, we have the zoom session. but for teachers in school, planning online lessons, learning packs for pupils... like... i don't really... i was quite shocked at how involved,

you know what i mean? angela cannot believe it's happening again. she works an hour a day as a dinner lady. now she will have daughter lily learning at home. that's good if you can get her to focus for five minutes. and then as the minutes tick by, she's gone. watching a video, i've got to sit with her because she's looking around, aren't you? spinning around, standing on her head, and then when it comes to answering the questions to the video, she has no clue. schools have spent the day working out how to help families. it's not just about moving lessons online. some children are still learning on their parents‘ mobiles. and a day of pay—as—you—go data on lessons could cost almost £100, leading to calls for data for education to be made cheaper orfree. some children we found in the last lockdown did not have access to zoom... catching up with head

teachers across stoke, even with schools contacting families, some teens lose confidence, log out of lessons, disconnect from learning. what really worries me is where those students aren't engaged and don't connect and they're not there for learning, even with the intervention, what they are doing every day. possibly they're not in the house, possibly they're on the streets, but the only thing that stops them walking is school. and without school being there, they walk in a different direction completely. but many parents, like vicki, are determined to do their best. with four daughters, that's tough. in lockdown, she will have to help the youngest most. keeping going, worrying about what they're missing. they should be with a teacher who is able to have their attention to teach them properly.

as a mum, you can't do that properly. because you're not qualified, but obviously you do your best, you do what you can. but i think that's all it is with me, how it's going to affect their grades and then mentally. next week, millie is due to sit a btech exam. but colleges have called for vocational exams to be scrapped, and millie doesn't know how her gcse grades will be calculated. we've missed so much learning. like four months of last year we missed. and we've only been in school for four months. and then now we are closing down again. tomorrow, more from the government on exams is expected. not a detailed plan, but confirmation of next steps. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. joining me now to discuss this more is david laws, the executive chair of the education policy institute — and former schools minister under david cameron's government. thank you so much forjoining us. if the locale continues until march,

some kids will have only had about three and a bit months in the classroom in the most recent 12 month period. how do they catch up? they're going to find it frankly very difficult indeed to catch up where they would otherwise have been expected to be unless they are receiving an outstanding quality of learning in the home environment. i know that some children do very well at home, but typically those from more disadvantaged backgrounds are falling quite a lot behind, and if we are out for another couple of months it would be very difficult for them to catch up, so i think now isa for them to catch up, so i think now is a consequence for them to catch up, so i think now is a consequence of this lockdown which i think is justified is a consequence of this lockdown which i think isjustified by is a consequence of this lockdown which i think is justified by the health crisis that we are in. the government used to do two things. first he needs to do everything it can to support home learning, and everything it can to improve the financial package of support for catch up to both the school year and next school year, so this is not going to be easily solved. and that

of course as her correspondent arty mentioned, the government has got to put in place a new system to fairly assess the learning of students this yearin assess the learning of students this year in order to award gcs ease and a levels without the actual exams that will be very challenging to do it, and we will hear the first steps on that tomorrow. what would you like to see in that casilla i would like to see in that casilla i would like to see in that casilla i would like to see, think it's inevitable, it will move to teacher assessments are people so in other words instead of sitting those usual exam board papers in may, june and july, teachers will assess those students and they will be able to take you into accounts of the circumstances they faced this year. it's very important that we designed the system carefully for two reasons. it's got to be credible, got to know that the exam grades that are being handed out to have some credibility and consistency behind them, so we're going to need some sort of

moderation or across the system, and we also need the system that incentivizes peoples to go on learning. know you saying to stu d e nts learning. know you saying to students look, don't bother anymore, we use are predicted grades from last year. then they will understandably not want to knuckle down and learned this year. one of the potential benefits of not taking exams in may, june and july is the stu d e nts exams in may, june and july is the students potentially have more time to be in school learning rather than to be in school learning rather than to be in school learning rather than to be on study leave. this has got to be on study leave. this has got to be on study leave. this has got to be designed very carefully, and it's one of the biggest challenges to face the department for education for many years, and it's got to be hoped that they deal with it more effectively than they have dealt with the reopening of schools over the last few days where communication and decision—making has been extraordinarily poor. it was one about mobile phone providers taking money when children use their mobile to download educational content mobile to download educational

co nte nt of mobile to download educational content of the premise are referred to in his news conference. is that should be fixed? i think the government should be talking to providers of information and education director pupils to see what can be done to get a better dealfor what can be done to get a better deal for students, what can be done to get a better dealfor students, and what can be done to get a better deal for students, and also the government should be doing more to deliver it and learning support into the home environment, the real problem is that some students in summer problem is that some students in summer schools are getting a fantastic learning entrance while at home, tribbett is support from schools and the idea that they need and learning environments and support at home, others are getting next to nothing and we have got to come over you're going to have this lockdown for another lengthy period of time, got to do better in delivering home education to those young people who missed out last time. if there is a bedrock right in this country or any other that a child has a right to education, is there not an extension of that right that a child has the right the

ta blets that a child has the right the tablets and broadband, mobile phone that they might need a home in order to get that education under the circumstances? yes i think that's right. students from more disadvantaged and vulnerable backgrounds have already had a very, very tough time in the early parts of the pandemic and perhaps it's understandable that the government could not immediately support them given the pandemic happened so quickly, but we are now many months on and there's no excuse, really, for the government not being in the position to deliver it and other support into the home environment. there ought to have been some back—up plans for all of these things including for provision for teacher assessments if exams had to be cancelled. there should have been brought out some time ago. the pressure should rightly be on the government now to make sure that with all the notice they've had they deliver the best possible opportunity for young people not to fall behind any further and indeed

to catch up. thank you forjoining us. the bbc has announced plans for what it described as its largest ever selection of educational programmes, to help support primary and secondary school pupils learning at home. from monday, there'll be at least 5 hours of programming on cbbc and bbc2 for primary and secondary school children. the move comes amid concerns that low—income families may struggle to afford data packages for their children in order to take part in online learning. england joined scotland, wales and northern ireland last night in introducing strict lockdown measures in order to try to curb the spread of the virus. in a moment we'll be hearing from emma vardy in belfast and hywel griffith in cardiff, but first here's our scotland correspondent james cook. scotland's lockdown is actually quite similar to england's, but there are a few key differences. for example, there is no limit here on individual or household outdoor exercise, and under 12s are allowed to play together outdoors.

schools are shut here for most pupils but, so too are nurseries, although both will be open for the children of key workers and for vulnerable pupils. places of worship are closed in scotland, a decision that's been described by the country's catholic bishops as arbitrary and unfair. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, says she accepts it is distressing, but she insists it is necessary, and ms sturgeon has been giving an update on the number of people in hospital with covid—19. she says that has risen sharply over the past week and she warns without this lockdown, the nhs could be overwhelmed within weeks. here in wales people have been required to stay at home for the last two weeks and the lockdown has had an impact, with coronavirus case numbers falling in most areas, but they remain high, at an average of round 400 cases per 100,000. yesterday the welsh government decided it was too soon to send pupils back into the classroom, closing schools until

at least january 18th. the question is whether that will be too soon? some unions want face to face learning suspended until february. the welsh education minister says keeping schools closed can have grave consequences for pupils, and there will be a review, but it all leaves teachers, pupils, and parents wondering what to prepare for later this month. northern ireland is in a six—week lockdown, but now ministers are going further. to toughen things up the stay at home rule is to be put into law, to make the restrictions more legally enforceable. 0ur pupils had been due to return to the classroom in a staggered way this month, but because of the dramatic spike in cases, now schools will be closed to most pupils, with online learning taking place at home, until round the mid—february half—term break, and transfer tests have been cancelled here too for now. those are the exams used to select pupils for northern ireland's grammar schools, but really one of the big challenges ministers

believe they have is to get people back to following the rules more strictly, as they believe people did back in march. the chancellor is offering businesses in hospitality, retail and leisure new grants of up to 9 thousand pounds to try to keep them afloat until spring during the new lockdown. the move has welcomed by industry groups but they have warned that the money won't be enough to stop many firms from going under. here's our business correspondent sarah corker. we've got a 39—bed hotel closed, a bistro closed, ice cream parlour closed, a function room, a bar closed. no customers, no money coming in, but there are still bills to pay. entire part of the economy are in shutdown again. here in clitheroe in lancashire, this business has already cancelled hundreds of weddings and events. 400 staff are on furlough. the stop—start process that we've been going through for ten months now is very, very difficult because you can't make any kind of plans, really. and a lot of reactions are very

short—term, very, you know, you have 24—48 hours or whatever between the government saying one thing and then announcing something else. and that's been very, very challenging, i've got to say. and for the in—house brewery here, the ban on takeaway alcohol sales is another blow. there is, though, more government support to help firms to stay afloat. for businesses in the most affected sectors who were asked to close, they will receive up to £9000 in a one—off cash grant. it's 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. the high streets are virtually empty once again. the economic resilience of retail and hospitality businesses is wafer—thin, and they say what they need from government is a clear long—term plan. this manchester bar and distillery supplies gin to other

hospitality businesses. sales are down nearly 80%. there is extra financial support. how much will that help you? while it's a nice news story that they're giving extra £9000, it doesn't go nearly far enough. we need business rates relief again for another year. we need vat deferment. they introduced some measures in the first lockdown, but they need to look at extending those so at least all businesses can reopen, to get back on their feet and start trading again. essential retailers can continue trading, and unlike the first lockdown, that includes garden centres in england this time. but in clitheroe today, there were few customers. we're looking at staffing levels all the time. currently we're on a minimum staff. we're on a very, very skeleton crew. we're highly delighted we can stay open, but at the same time there are massive challenges ahead. vaccines offer hope and a way out of this crisis. the question is how many businesses can survive the winter months? sarah corker, bbc news, in clitheroe.

the government has announced plans to introduce covid testing for people arriving in the uk from abroad. 0ur transport correspondent caroline davies says it's unclear as yet how it will work: some of the details we still don't have, so we don't know what sort of test might need to be used, whether this is just forforeign nationals, were also for uk nationals coming back to the country too. speaking to aviation experts in the industry today, there are some real frustrations. the industry has been calling for covid testing from quite early on in the course of the pandemic, and many other countries already require a negative test before you are able to visit them, and we are here, they would say, at the beginning of the third lockdown and we are still discussing testing. of course, there have already been steps taken to try and limit the impact of certain strains originating in other countries affecting us here. flights from south africa, for instance, have been banned to stop that particular strain, and the government would also point to schemes like the travel corridors and test and release saying that

that has managed imported infections so far. it's clear they are now looking to go further. if you want to edit these astons, you must take control of this page now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. another cold and frosty night in many western areas tonight. temperatures the lowest across parts of central scotland and to the west of northern ireland. southeast scotland, northern england more wintry flurries continue, slight dusting of snow still over the hills. i see conditions here. rain showers continue across east anglia, the southeast and the channel islands throughout the night and into the morning. temperatures just above freezing, but it will feel colder than that given the strength of the wind. and there you go, confirmation. most places wake up to a frost as we start tomorrow. now, tomorrow, we will see a few changes, the wind gradually shifts a bit further northwards. that will bring the wintry showers in northern england a little bit further southwards and decay. it will take the showers from inward parts of east anglia and the southeast back to the coast, continue their and they will continue across

the channel islands. but most of the afternoon will see a lot more sunshine around, later wins come the big exception being towards the northwest of scotland across the hebrides. the breeze will pick up here, rain will arrive later in the day. here's where we will see probably some of the mildest weather to finish with. a cold day for many, temperatures for some staying below freezing. bye for now. hello, this is bbc news with james reynolds. the headlines... the uk is back in lockdown with the message to ‘stay at home‘. more than one million people are currently infected with coronavirus. the labour party calls for round—the—clock vaccinations as the prime minister says more

than 1.3 million people have had their first dose and the government is doing all it can. 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. we now need a government that's worthy of the british people, and that means using this lockdown to establish a massive and immediate and round—the—clock vaccination programme. record covid admissions have put the nhs under severe strain. lincoln county hospital is the latest to declare a critical incident due to a surge in patients. billions of pounds in new grants for businesses hardest hit by the lockdown — up to £9,000 to help individual companies until spring. empty classrooms once again as millions of children are forced to stay at home.

you‘ve been sending it lots of questions about the new lockdown rules, and now we‘re going to answer them. it‘s time for your questions answered. in a moment, dr susan hopkins will be joinining me to help answer some of those questions. she‘s the medical advisor at public health england and member of the uk‘s sage committee, which advises the government. first, let‘s hear a little of what the prime minister had to say today at today‘s downing street briefing. he explained why the government had introduced the new restrictions, and highlighted how the vaccination programme has been going. he said more than a million people in england have been vaccinated so far, and that the government was making it a priority to vaccinate the most vulnerable and elderly by mid—february. this afternoon, with pfizer and 0xford astrazeneca combined, as of this afternoon, we‘ve now vaccinated

over 1.1 million people in england and over 1.3 million across the uk. and that includes more than 650,000 people over 80, which is 23% of all the over 80s and england, and that means that nearly one the over 80s in england, and that means that nearly one in four of the most vulnerable groups will have in two to three weeks, all of them, a significant degree of immunity. the prime minister there. now, let‘s turn to dr susan hopkins. as i mentioned, she‘s the medical adviser at public health england and a member of the uk‘s sage committee, and has the answers to some of your questions. doctor hopkins, thank you so for joining us. we‘ve grouped these into categories. let‘s start with mask wearing. we have a question from

paul who says, "as is now been confirmed with this new virus strain that children can be carriers, should it not be made mandatory for children and adults to wear masks and all public areas?" you have to ta ke and all public areas?" you have to take that into parts. —— in two parts. equally, children and adults can get infection, though adults are more likely to get severe disease and need hospitalisation. in this new variant, what we saw is that it emerged in children, particularly in secondary school age, probably because the national restrictions we re because the national restrictions were in place in november. we see the same distribution and young children don‘t seem to be getting any more infection. no more than we

see. in terms of my squaring, masks are recommended indoors —— maths squaring. —— mask wearing. if you are between one and two metres, masks are advised. that should be considered as good guidance to use everywhere, and we see people wearing masks and areas they feel uncomfortable. just to pick up, if you saw a group of saying, 12—year—old indoors, would you be thinking they should wear a mask to be safe? in over11, thinking they should wear a mask to be safe? in over“, i recommend thinking they should wear a mask to be safe? in over 11, i recommend to where masks and doors. in schools and classrooms, other mitigations have been put in place. increasing ventilation, keeping desks apart, keeping the teacher from the children. children need to be able

to see mouths and be able to speak, so to see mouths and be able to speak, so therefore, unless the child is moving around outside the group they‘re being talk with, it‘s not routinely recommended for children to wear masks in classroom. let's move to wear masks in classroom. let's m ove o nto to wear masks in classroom. let's move onto next wide category. we have a question via e—mail, "is the vaccine going to be effective against the new uk detected variant?" the work on that is still ongoing, but everything we know about the new variant so far suggests the vaccine will still work. the vaccine gives you a broad immune response. with lots of different antibodies, and we expect that those will still be effective against the new variant. there are the border he studies under way —— laboratory studies. we have a very specific question. brett has been

kind enough to share his question," my wife is in her 70s and allergic to eggs. will she be still be able to eggs. will she be still be able to get the vaccine?" there are no 999 to get the vaccine?" there are no egg components in the vaccine, unlike flu vaccines. but if you suffer it‘s recommended that you hold back on getting the pfizer vaccine, and as always, discuss with your doctor prior to taking any medication if you‘re worried about allergies. thanks so much, i hope you are listening. next question is from maria. "will we be given vaccine packs words to prove we have the shot —— vaccine passports?" everyone will get a card stating which vaccine they had. that is not a passport, that suggest they‘ve been given extra freedoms. at the moment, the vaccine is given to the most at risk for severe disease and

dying, and for those who care for that people. what we know about the vaccine is that it‘s done a really good job in preventing that. we are less sure about whether it prevents transmission and people acquiring the virus in the back of the throat and transmitting to others. there‘s no relaxation in any of the guidance with any vaccine, just getting people vaccinated in the first place will prevent hospital admissions.” know you‘re not a diplomat, but i wonder if maria might follow and ask for that card be acceptable if she was wanting to travel abroad. at the moment, no country is accepting a vaccine card for travel into countries. it country has different regulations, so if you want to travel, you should search the regulations on gov.uk site or any other country site as well. that's really helpful. thanks very much.

let‘s move onto the already had the virus category. this question from paul smith via e—mail. "what are the implications for the people who had the virus already? i had it in april. can we still catch the virus and carry it and pass it on?" so, we know that the vast majority of people who have the virus have antibodies, and therefore relatively protected. we don‘t know the duration of the antibody defectiveness at the moment, and i‘m leading one of the studies... we are also studying whether you get protected from severe illness and still treads minute, so we are not at the moment. they are not yet saying if people don‘t need to follow the rules of they had passed an infection. we want everyone to follow those rules, especially if a new variant is coming along. you don‘t know how your immune system will react. you think it will be lasting, but that evidence changes

all the time. this is a new virus, we need to protect ourselves and our community. someone like paul said see in the same schedule for a vaccine that someone who hasn‘t had it? absolutely. we are vaccinating people who have had the virus before as well. it‘s likely they have an even better response. that is good news for the people who had it. let‘s go on to a new category. how do we get people to stay at home? deirdre e—mailed us a question, "0ver deirdre e—mailed us a question, "over the last ten months, there have been hundreds if not thousands of what she calls selfless people that seem to carry on out was normal. —— selfless —— selfish people. how can we get them to obey the rules?" there are two excellent nation point.” them to obey the rules?" there are two excellent nation point. i would say the vast majority have done extremely well. with this virus circulated last year, what we thought was the r value, was close

to three. actually, until very recently, we were holding out below one, but sometimes above one which really says the majority was doing the right thing. all of us need to look at ourselves and look at what we do and provide support to those people who are finding it a bit more difficult to be by themselves or to follow the rules. actually, it‘s by every single one of us supporting each other to follow the rules that will get through this together. can ijust ask you, will get through this together. can i just ask you, let‘s say if you have to go to the shop. and there‘s a someone nearby have to go to the shop. and there‘s a someone nearby you in the queue not wearing a mask, they don‘t have an immediately noticeable disability, although some are invisible, what do you do?” disability, although some are invisible, what do you do? i think the first thing is we don‘t know why people don‘t wear masks. we can‘t really challenge them in that situation, that‘s not the right thing to do. the things that i would

do is move further away, and sure that my mask was on properly, ideally keeping two metres but at least a metre away, and ensuring they have space to move around safely so they don‘t transmit to others and we don‘t transmit to each other. and if you see arguments between people, say just other. and if you see arguments between people, sayjust walk away from each other? i think the right thing for people to do is to keep their distance from each other. if they‘re concerned about other people, they should move away from the hazard as they perceive it and keep themselves safe. i think if we see people who are grouping together, it‘s a natural instinct, andi together, it‘s a natural instinct, and i think it‘s important that we support each other through that and understand why people might not be following the rules and ask people to try and behave better. in a polite way, but the most important thing for us to do is keep ourselves away from each other and all of us can do that. move onto some

questions about... support bubbles now. a question from darren langford. "0ur now. a question from darren langford. "our support bubble still allowed or are you only allowed to be in allowed or are you only allowed to beina allowed or are you only allowed to be in a bubble with the vulnerable person? " support bubbles are com pletely person? " support bubbles are completely unchanged. people are living by themselves, people who have disabilities, a single adult with children under 18, and adult that has to look after them, all of them can form a support bubble. really important that people look at have support bubbles worked in your professional evaluation? so, these are there to protect people from the damage that can be done by being very lonely and the mental health suffering that people can have, including anxiety. as long as we

keep those bubbles the right way, so not mixing and changing, and that is regarded as her household, it will keep the virus from spreading. question about allowing people in your home from alan. "if i have a diy person, is it ok to do thejobs under the new rules?" as far as i'm aware, i still 0k under the new rules?" as far as i'm aware, i still ok for people to do their work in your home as an employee, or if there is someone coming into fixed their electricity. make sure you tell them if there‘s anyone in the household with symptoms so they can come back another day, you should also make sure services are clean in case they‘re any virus. you should wear a mask and ideally, you should stay in a different room from them whilst they complete their tasks. question

about supermarkets from tony. "what‘s happening with retail? 0ur shop still required to limit their customers?" absolutely, as always, they should limit the number of customers to the safe number that should be allowed to allow people to keep their distance in the stores and not avoid large queues. that hasn‘t changed. 0f and not avoid large queues. that hasn‘t changed. of course, only outlets are... all nonessential is close. the time period for self—isolation. stewart e—mailed us," self—isolation. stewart e—mailed us," given we are being told to stay home again, do you think self—isolation should be increased back to 14 days?" there are two periods of self—isolation. 0ne back to 14 days?" there are two periods of self—isolation. one has been ten days sincejuly, so if you‘ve got the elements, then ten daysis you‘ve got the elements, then ten days is the period of time where you

find you can detect a virus. for contacts, more than 95%, and probably close to 99%, they become a case but when they‘re in the first ten days. the vast majority of people develop symptoms within the first few days of being a contact of a case. therefore, the chief medical 0fficers said all look to the evidence and decide it was easier to keep those rolls of ten days so that people remember that if they been told their case, ten days is the time they need to remove themselves from circulation. i think the main thing is to keep contacts to a minimum, only outside your house when you absolutely need to, and all of that will prevent us transmitting unknowingly the virus to other people. i think that is the biggest challenge we have of the virus. let‘s turn to nurseries and

playgrounds. sally noris via e—mail, "why are nurseries open and how do staff keep themselves and the children safe where close contact is a necessity?" so, firstly, this has been reviewed quite a bit over the months. young children, particularly underfive, months. young children, particularly under five, have had months. young children, particularly underfive, have had extremely low amounts of the infection. even in surveys that have been formed by the ons surveys that have been formed by the 0ns corona based infection survey. that group seems to really have a low likelihood of getting infection or even having asymptomatic infections. all of that counteracts with the fact that we know that early years and nurseries are really important for orderly childhood development —— early childhood. being able to set themselves up for going school. if the balance of that thatis

going school. if the balance of that that is there to allow those nurseries to stay open, that the risk of transmission in those environments has seemed to be very, very low, that‘s why it‘s been recommended they keep open. let's talk about parks. there‘s an e—mail from a nameless viewer. "will children‘s parts be closed down we know that children can spread the virus." parks and playgrounds are going to remain open, and that‘s because playgrounds are like children‘s exercise. adults can run in the park, but children need those swings and slides and roundabouts to get their daily exercise and it‘s really important that they‘re able to do that. but like everywhere else, you should only stay within your own household and you should stay ideally two metres away, and if you‘re closer, wear a mask. in children‘s playground, we would

really recommend that families who bring their children there to get their exercise follow those rules to reduce transmission. miscellaneous questions. this one is very specific. ian barker asks, questions. this one is very specific. ian barkerasks, "what questions. this one is very specific. ian barker asks, "what are the requirements for test for people travelling into the uk from other countries? are there any different for uk nationals or residents returning?" first of all, there are a list of travel corridors. so, countries that can travel into the uk without needing to isolate. for every other country that‘s not on that travel corridor list, and is published on gov.uk, you‘re asked to isolate for ten days when you come in to the country. that again is like an isolation period, so you reduce your risk of transmission to others. the alternative is that you can doa others. the alternative is that you can do a test and release after five daysin

can do a test and release after five days in isolation, and that may allow you to be released early if you have a negative test. all of thatis you have a negative test. all of that is to prevent transmission into the uk. we do not have a requirement ofa the uk. we do not have a requirement of a negative test prior to arriving in the uk. we‘re looking to protect people who may be incubating, not yet detecting it before they leave their other country to prevent those transmissions by isolating and testing after five days in the uk. james hannah asks, "we are advised to wash her hands regularly. do you have to use hot water. what if you only have cold ? " have to use hot water. what if you only have cold?" i would say cold water and soap is essential. for those of you whose soap, it‘s good to get a good scrub with warm water to get a good scrub with warm water to allow that to happen. cold soapy water, cold water by itself will remove some of the dirt and the

virus on your hand, but it‘s much better with soap. this is my favourite question. anna asks, "if you are duke to pick up a puppy during lockdown, are you still allowed to do that?" it would include more than three are the travel. isaiah understand, the current restrictions do not allow travel —— as i understand. and there is nothing in the current guidance that allows you to travel and collect a puppy. clearly, this is something the government will need to look at, but i think anything possible to stay at home and ask the breeder or the dog owner to hold onto the dog for a bit longer i think is important to reduce the transmission of different viruses around the country. and i, the advice is hold on. doctor susan hoss spends, it‘s been a pleasure speaking to you —— doctor susan hopkins.

more than 1.3 million people have now had one dose of a covid vaccine. borisjohnson says he wants around 13 million people to have been given the jab over the next six weeks — that‘s people over the age of 70, the most clinically vulnerable and front line health and care workers. 0ur health editor hugh pym looks at the huge task ahead. vaccination is now well under way across the uk, including at this centre in winchester today. but is the process moving fast enough to meet ambitious targets? here, they say they are optimistic. we can ramp it up tomorrow to do over 10,000 in a month. working six days a week, eight till eight, and we are ready to do that from tomorrow. the only constraint we have is getting hold of the vaccination. the prime minister said 13 million people from priority groups would be offered the first dose by mid—february.

top of the list are care home residents and workers, then all aged 80 or over and front line health and social care staff. the 75—79—year—old group group comes next, followed by 70—74—year—olds and those who are clinically vulnerable. my view is the vaccine timetable is realistic, but not easy, and the nhs will have to use multiple channels to get it out, but they are determined to do this. the vaccine made by pfizer has been available in the uk since early december, but it needs to be stored at very low temperatures, around minus 70 degrees. the oxford—astrazeneca jab was rolled out this week. it can be kept in normalfridges so is easier to distribute. there are vaccine challenges. after production the next stage is known as fill and finish, where the vaccine‘s put into glass vials and packaged. there is a global shortage of the vials and so delays. the nhs will soon have 1,000 vaccination centres, from gp

surgeries to football stadiums. gps say they need a bigger workforce, but there have been problems recruiting people to do the jabs. we‘ve got tens of thousands of recently retired gps and practise nurses and community nurses who really want to come back and help. they go online to register and they find they have to fill out 20 plus forms, they have to find their exam certificates, often from decades before. at the moment there is a lot of people being put off by the bureaucracy. i have really cold hands, sorry. more than 1.3 million people have so far been vaccinated in the uk. nearly a quarter of the over 80s in england have had theirjabs, but no—one is in doubt about the importance of getting millions more immunised as a way out of lockdown restrictions. hugh pym, bbc news. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello there. whilst the night will remain frosty, there is the sign of something

a little less chilly by day as we head into next week. we switch our winds into a more westerly direction coming off the atlantic, and that will lift temperatures about close to where we should be for the time of year. still on the cold side, though. compared to what we have at the moment, where east to northeasterly winds have been bringing this plume of cold air, that‘s still in place as we go through today, tonight and into tomorrow. further outbreaks of rain across east anglia and the southeast of the channel islands tonight, and we will see more wintry showers. southeast scotland, eastern england getting a dusting of snow, particularly over the hills, and some pretty icy conditions across some eastern areas as well. further west with some clearer skies, temperatures across some parts of central scotland into the west of northern ireland, —4 to —6 celsius. so, a cold start to tomorrow. still got a run of easterly winds towards that southeast corner, but notice the lines opening out, the winds and falling a bit lighter. there‘ll be a subtle shift in wind direction, so that means the early showers in east anglia and the southeast of the channel islands will become confined to the coasts. will keep going in the channel islands, however. wintry showers in northern

england after an icy start will push their way southwards and fade a little bit. most will be actually dry through wednesday afternoon with some sunshine. a few lingering fog patches through central scotland — temperatures are struggling to get above freezing here, but wherever you are, it is going to be a chilly day, but for many, a dry one. finished, though, with some wet weather, and as that pushes into the cold air across mainland scotland, northern ireland, could see a covering of to take us through wednesday night into thursday morning. icy conditions as well with temperatures below freezing still — —7 in southern scotland, far north of england, —6 to the west of wales. a cold night here, and in some western areas of england and wales, we could see some dense patches of fog to start the day on thursday. some of that will linger all day long, temperatures staying below freezing. most will have a dry and bright day. still some wintry showers far east of east anglia. snow showers return to northern scotland with a northerly breeze later on, but much of scotland brightens up after that dusting of snow and icy conditions in the morning. bit of snow to end the day in the far north of england. that, then, all drifts its way southwards with this weakening weatherfront through the night and into friday. there could be a few breaks of snow,

slight dusting here and there across england and wales into friday before that gradually decays away, and then, through the rest of the weekend, it looks like most places will be dry. frosty by night, dry by day, turning milder but also wet to the north and west into next week.

this is bbc news — because the last one was so much fun — it is election day, again, in america. polls in georgia close soon — at stake control of the senate — and just how much power joe biden will have. voters lined up first thing this morning to cast their ballots. millions of others voted early. turnout will be key, for both sides. and don‘t lose sight of washington, where trump supporters want to stop biden from being confirmed as the next president. also in the programme.... a waiting game. getting a vaccine in the us is proving no easy task, as queues form in various parts the country. and donald where‘s you troosers. speculation mounts that president trump will depart washington for scotland on inauguration day,