tonight at ten, every part of the united kingdom now in lockdown, with more than a million people infected with coronavirus. the message once again is to stay at home to slow down the alarming spread of the virus across the uk. with a record 60,000 new infections in the latest 24—hour period, the nhs needs the public to follow the rules. if people don't take the stay at home seriously, the risk at this point in time, in the middle of winter with this new variant, is extraordinarily high. we'll have more on the surging nature of the pandemic and the latest on the vaccination programme. more than 1.3 million people in the uk have been given the first dose of a covid vaccine including a quarter of the over—80s in england. this years‘s gcses and a—levels in schools in england are to be

cancelled as students take in the news. mixed emotions. i'm happy that our gcses are cancelled because me, for one, i'm really stressed about exams because we've missed so much. and nine months after the matter was first raised, ministers now say they will bring in covid tests for travellers entering the uk. coming up in sport on bbc news, tributes are pouring in for the former manchester city and england midfielder colin bell who has died at the age of 7a following a short illness. good evening. every part of the united kingdom is now in lockdown with people being urged to stay at home as the scale of the public health emergency becomes even more daunting. such is the depth of the covid

crisis that the lockdown measures are widely expected to remain in force until march. today's figures tell their own story. the number of new cases reported in the uk in the last 24—hour period is more than 60,000 for the first time since the pandemic started. in england, more than one million people are currently infected. that figure is based on one in 50 people living in private households. but there is some progress as more than 1.3 million people in the uk have been given the first dose of a covid vaccine including a quarter of all people over 80 in england. record numbers of people are in hospital with covid putting huge strain on the nhs. and the government's advisers say some restrictions may still be needed next winter to keep the virus under control. we start tonight with this report by 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. 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. coming to my studio means that my son has a little bit of a break from the flat. having him play football in the house, being away from his friends, managing technology... it is a challenge. in altrincham market, all the traders are packing up again. all the stalls are now empty. it's like going back to where it was in march of last year. and for health workers, like naseem, it's going to be more long shifts and 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 would be the hardest yet but there was some positive news. 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 in england. many think you waited too long to bring in extra restrictions. how can they have confidence in your decision—making? it's 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. the chief medical officer said the country now faced a really serious emergency. if people don't take the stay at homes seriously,

the risk at this point in time in the middle of winter with this new variant is extraordinarily high. what is going to happen over time is the risk level is gradually going to decrease and we will then get to a point where people say this level of risk is one that society is prepared to tolerate. and right down to almost no restrictions at all. we might have to bring a few in in the next winter, for example. mrjohnson‘s promised to give regular updates on the progress of 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 around 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 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. this whole thing has always been a bit of 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's happening, we need to work harder to slow it down. the question we all want an answer to is when will these restrictions end 7 borisjohnson has been guilty of overpromising in the past. today, he made it clear it all depends on how smoothly the vaccination programme is rolled out. the pressure is on. ministers are desperate to see improvements soon but this is going to be a gradual process. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. the prime minister said that 1.3 million people across the uk have already been vaccinated and the aim is to administer the vaccine to around 13 million people over the next six weeks an unrealistic target according to some experts.

by the end of the week there will be almost 1,000 vaccination sites up and running and the chief medical officer chris whitty says the target is realistic but by no means easy. 0ur health editor hugh pym has been considering the scale of the vaccination challenge. vaccination is now well under way across the uk, including at this centre in lincolnshire today. but is the process moving fast enough to meet ambitious targets? here they seem optimistic. i feel extremely honoured. i am very grateful for everyone who has worked really hard to have this vaccine available to all of us. we feel like it is the light at the end of the tunnel and that in that vial there is a little bit of sunshine coming through. so, yeah, real game changer. 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 an front line health and social care staff.

the 75—79—year—old group comes next, followed by 70—74—year—olds and all who are clinically extremely vulnerable. my view is that the vaccine timetable is realistic but not easy. and the nhs is going to have to use multiple channels to get this 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 —70 degrees. the 0xford/astrazeneca jab was rolled out this week. it can be kept in normalfridges so is easier to distribute. there are vaccine challenges. there is a process known as fill and finish where it is put into glass vials and packaged. there is a global shortage of these vials and, so, delays. so far, 4 million astrazeneca doses have been through the process. pfizer says it has delivered several million to the uk. each batch then has to be safety checked by the medicines and health care products regulatory agency.

so far, 500,000 of the astrazeneca doses have been cleared for use. distribution is not easy. the nhs will soon have 1000 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 have tens of thousands of recently retired gps and practice nurses and community nurses who really want to come back and help. they go online to try to register and they find they've got to fill out 20 plus forms, they've got to find their exam certificates from decades before. at the moment, there is a lot of people being put off by the bureaucracy. 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 any doubt about the importance of getting millions more immunised quickly as a way out of lockdown restrictions. thank you so much. hugh pym, bbc news.

more than 3,000 people have been admitted to hospitals in england every day in the first few days of this year. the number of people in hospital with covid—19 is 40% higher than in the first peak last april and it's still rising rapidly. the pressure is intense not least because of the number of staff off work or self—isolating. some doctors have compared working in the nhs right now to being in a war zone. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes has the latest. 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 to accept. i feel quite helpless. i can't plan anything and that's unusual 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... my role is to keep calm! across the uk, the health service is struggling. at the grange university hospital in the cwmbran branch in south wales, staff on the intensive care unit are witnessing the very worst of the virus. it does feel like we are fighting a losing battle with the number of patients. and, you know, constantly phoning families to tell them that they need to come in because their loved ones are reaching the end of the line. you know, we haven't formally crunched the data yet. certainly anecdotally and from what i'm observing, our death rate at the moment is probably twice what it was in the first wave. these 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 he 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. while we have figures for england, 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 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. as we'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 that the daily total has risen above 60,000. but testing is more widely available 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 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. 0nce once again, hugh pym is with me, our health editor. what are you drawing

from these figures? what would you guide viewers towards? as well as the official figures guide viewers towards? as well as the officialfigures some guide viewers towards? as well as the official figures some bleak numbers were set out at the downing street briefing. first of all the uk case rate per 100,000 people up 70% in two weeks and the office for national statistics which does a community infection survey suggests one in 50 in england currently have the virus. that is more than 1 million people and definitely on the increase. christ whitty the chief medicalfor increase. christ whitty the chief medical for for increase. christ whitty the chief medicalforfor england increase. christ whitty the chief medical for for england did increase. christ whitty the chief medicalforfor england did say increase. christ whitty the chief medical for for england did say that inevitably because of more people in hospital there will be more deaths to report in the weeks ahead. there was one tiny chink of light that he talked about the new variant in the south—east and london of the virus. cases associated with that may be tailed off a little bit, the graph had flattened but not to read too much into it but certainly the data will be key in the weeks ahead as officials and all of us assess what

effect these lockdowns have had. hugh pym, thank you. in all parts of the uk, schools are closed to all pupils, except for vulnerable children and those whose parents are key workers. parents and carers are having to supervise home schooling, with many lacking access to the right technology and struggling with the cost. 0ur education editor, branwen jeffreys, has been talking to teachers, parents and pupils at a school in stoke—on—trent. empty classrooms again. most children back at home. but teachers in school planning online lessons, packs for pupils. like. . .that. i don't really... i was quite shocked before, if you know what i mean. angela can't believe it's happening again. she works an hour a day as a dinner lady. now she'll have daughter

lily learning at home. she will sit there for five minutes. five minutes and that's good, if you can get her focused 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. 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 didn't access zoom. catching up with his head teachers across stoke, even with schools contacting families, some teams lose confidence, log out of lessons, disconnect from learning. what really worries me

is where those students are not engaged and don't connect and they're not there for learning, even with the intervention, what are they doing every day? possibly they are not in the house, possibly they are on streets. but the only thing that stops them walking is school. without school being there, they walk in a different direction completely. but many parents, like vicky, 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 are 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. you do your best and you do what you can, but i said that with my eldest, it's going to affect their grades and them mentally.

more than half a million devices have reached pupils. the government is aiming to double that, with more on the way to help those not in class but at home. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. the bbc has announced its biggest—ever selection of educational programmes for children at home during lockdown. from next monday, there'll be at least five hours of programming on cbbc and bbc two for both primary and secondary schoolchildren. as schools are closed to most, ministers confirmed that this year's gcses and a—levels in england are being cancelled. scotland and wales have already announced the cancellation of major schools examinations. some vocational exams in england, including btecs, are still going ahead, although there's growing pressure to cancel them too. 0ur education correspondent elaine dunkley has been talking to some of those who were due to sit exams this summer.

a daunting walk into the exam room, and for millions of students, there has been confusion over whether they'll take place. it's just a bit nerve—wracking, because i've not sat here since my mocks, so itjust brings back all the memories of exams. millie's level two btec exam in sports studies is still due to go ahead next week, but her gcse exams have been cancelled. me, for one, i'm really stressed about exams, because we've missed so much, and like, it's just really hard to motivate myself to get up in the morning, cos we've not been in a straight routine for ages, and it's been remote learning, and our disruption to learning has been getting worse, seeing as more people are getting covid, and it's just been really hard. we've covered, like, not even half of the a—level spec... max is doing a—levels. he's been revising for mocks which were due to take place in two weeks but have now been cancelled. i think the issue is, there is people out there who have

not done as well in assessments within school and colleges as they probably would have liked, who are relying on exams and mocks later on in the year to be able to get the grades that they needed. but then there is also students that have done really well in those that want teacher—assessed grades, so whether you do some form of assessment or you do teacher—assessed grades, there is always going to be half of the students that aren't going to be happy with it. ifind it hard, i had a couple of weeks of online lessons... astrid understands the pressures and anxieties. she did her a—levels last year, when a controversial mathematical model was used to determine grades but was eventually scrapped and replaced with teacher assessments. she's using her experience to reassure students like max who are worried about their futures. with my year group, we went through the algorithm system that was put in place by the government, and obviously that was obviously not effective at all. so hopefully, having gone through that, there's a new year group of kids who will hopefully have a bit more of a revised, a bit more of an effective way

to produce these grades. tomorrow, the government will outline how students will be assessed and graded. for students like max, the anxious wait for exam results day has been replaced with anxiety about what results will be based on. elaine dunkley, bbc news. the chancellor of the exchequer, rishi sunak, is offering new grants to businesses in hospitality, retail and leisure of up to £9,000 to try to keep them afloat until springtime. the move has been welcomed by industry groups, although they say the money is nowhere near enough to save many firms from closing. our business correspondent sarah corker has more details. 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, cos you can't make any kind of plans, really. and a lot of reactions are very short—term, very... you know, you have 2a, 48 hours or whatever between the government saying one thing and then announcing something else. so 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 are 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. our high streets are virtually empty once again, and 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 not 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, at least so 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's massive challenges ahead. vaccines offer hope and a way out of this crisis. but the question is, how many businesses can survive the winter months? sarah corker, bbc news, in clitheroe. so england and scotland joined wales and northern ireland last night by introducing strict lockdown measures faced with rocketing numbers of new covid infections. 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's risen sharply over the past week, and she warns that 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 around 400 cases per 100,000, and 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 would 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 even further. the "stay at home" rule is becoming legally enforceable by law, so that will mean not leaving the house except for essential reasons, like food shopping and exercise. and because of that dramatic spike in cases here, it now means that schools will remain closed for most pupils until the mid—february half—term break, with online learning in the meantime. and there's been particular controversy here over transfer tests — those are the exams used to select pupils for northern ireland's grammar schools. they had been cancelled but now will go ahead after all in a different form next month.

a big priority of ministers is to bring people back to following all the rules more seriously. the tougher restrictions on people's lives are there to slow down the spread of the virus and bring down what's known as the r number — that's the rate at which the infection spreads. 0ur science editor, david shukman, looks at how the rate of transmission can be slowed down. lockdowns have worked before, but will they work again now? the virus can only spread through human interaction, and when that's reduced, with scenes like this, the number of infections falls as well. but now there's the new variant, and its impact is still being investigated. we have no guarantee that the lockdown now announced will work. i think that's the challenge. we have seen in the last two weeks that cases in that critical age range, 11 to 18—year—olds, of the variant disease

in places like london, the south east and the east of england, have started to come down. but the case numbers of the new variant in the adult population continue to rise. a key measure of what the new lockdown has got to achieve is the r number. that's basically how easily the virus is spreading. last march, the number was three, meaning that if ten people were infected, they'd pass the virus to 30 others, who in turn would pass it to 90 more. so the disease was really escalating. now, the first lockdown last spring brought that right down to 0.6, meaning that if ten were infected, they would only infect six others. and whenever the r number is below one, it means the epidemic is shrinking. right now, we're back up to an estimated 1.3, and that's despite all the restrictions under the tier system — a measure of, partly, how infectious the new variant is. closing schools should help to reduce the spread of the virus, maybe by enough to stop the epidemic from growing. and some very early signs suggest

that that may be happening already. we are in a very difficult situation here. but i think, yes, my sort of assessment, initial assessment of the last few days, is that perhaps it does look like it's slowing, the rate of increase is slowing, which is very good news. but what if the new measures aren't enough? 0ne hope is that messaging about the risks will encourage people to follow the guidance more carefully. another is that with improvements in testing in recent months, we'll be better able to track the disease than we could early last year. and if the vaccination programme rolls out as planned, that will make all the difference. but we're not there yet. david shukman, bbc news. for nine months, the aviation industry has been calling on the uk government to introduce testing for travellers to the uk. boris johnson now says the government will bring in measures, widely expected to be a compulsory negative covid result

for some travellers. the move would bring the uk into line with many other countries. 0ur transport correspondent caroline davies is here. what do we know exactly, caroline? at this stage, relatively little, huw. this test is likely to apply regardless of how you travel to the uk, you will be likely to have to show a negative covid test. we don't know what type of test they might be looking to use, and we don't know if it will apply for uk nationals as well as foreign nationals travelling to the uk. speaking to those in the aviation industry, there is frustration. many of them have been calling for testing for some time, since relatively early on in the pandemic. many other countries already require a negative covid test in order to be able to visit.

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