this is bbc news, i'm ben brown. our top stories... britain's national health service is facing "the worst crisis in living memory", according to england's chief medical officer. chris whitty says hospitals could soon be overwhelmed, leading to avoidable deaths. it comes as asymptomatic testing in the uk is ramped up and more than half a million people over the age of 80 are invited to mass vaccination centres — with the government pledging vaccines for the rest of the adult population before next winter. we are going to have enough to be able to offer a vaccine to everyone over the age of 18 by the autumn. rescue teams in indonesia have found the flight recorder for the boeing passenger plane that crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff. 62 people were on board.

president trump will face impeachment proceedings this week for the second time — accused of inciting the storming of congress. and a special report from south africa following the people committed to saving one of the world's most endangered and trafficked creatures — the pangolin. hello and welcome to bbc news. whether you are watching here in the uk oraround the whether you are watching here in the uk or around the world. england's chief medical officer has given a new warning that the nhs could soon be overwhelmed by the spread of coronavirus. professor chris whitty said if the rate of infections continue, the pressure on hospitals will lead to ‘avoidable deaths‘, as doctors struggle to deal with the number of patients. he's appealed again

for people to stay home, saying the new variant of the disease is spreading rapidly across the country, leaving some areas facing ‘the most dangerous situation anyone can remember‘. the british government is rolling out rapid flow tests to all areas of england. the tests, which can return results in 30 minutes, will be prioritised for those who can‘t work from home. and thousands of people in england aged over 80 are being invited to book an appointment to get the jab at one of seven mass vaccination centres. here‘s our health correspondent, anna collinson. there are already more than 1000 vaccination sites across england, but the roll—out is expanding further, with some of the most vulnerable now invited to receive theirjab at a mass vaccination centre. more than 130,000 letters have been sent to elderly patients who live near one of the seven sites, which are due to open this week. around 1.5 million people in the uk have had at least one dose of a covid vaccine, including the queen

and prince philip. both in their 90s, the royal couple are in the main priority group, which consists of around 15 million people. but the nhs faces a huge logistical challenge — trying to vaccinate them all by mid—february. ok, here we are. 0k, go. from tomorrow, the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine will become more widely available in scotland — with its delivery due to be expanded to gp practices and centres across the country. so far, more than 70,000 vaccinations have taken place both in wales and northern ireland. that‘s you — good. great. but with fears the current wave threatens to overwhelm many hospitals, the race is on. the uk is nowjust one of five countries in the world to record more than 80,000 coronavirus deaths. it‘s just really bad news and the thing with hospitalisations is that we‘ve seen, like, especially in london, the nhs is already overwhelmed.

and the people here who are going to need hospital over the next ten days already have covid, so we know — just because case numbers have been going up — that that number‘s going to keep going up every day. mass testing is one way to stop the virus spreading. in the coming days, all local authorities in england will be able to provide rapid community testing, including to people who have no symptoms. but many are critical about the accuracy of these tests, and scientific advisors argue only tougher lockdown measures will bring the more contagious variant under control once and for all. anna collinson, bbc news. i‘m joined now by professor deenan pillay from university college london. he sits on the department of health advisory group on covid testing. thank you for being with us, let‘s ask you about testing, do you think the expansion of testing to those without symptoms could be a real

game changer in this crisis? first of all, we have to get away from thinking anything is a game changer. the one thing we have learned over the last year since this virus was known about has been we need a multipronged approach within the uk to deal with this. an announcement today about mass testing based of course on the liverpool pilot will be one bit of this whole approach. coming down to the mass testing, of course we did learn a lot through the liverpool pilot before christmas. what we learnt was that these tests that are going to be use oui’ these tests that are going to be use our 50% sensitive at best, in other words half the people who have the virus are not detected through this. those who are poor, disenfranchised do not take up the testing. and in fa ct do not take up the testing. and in fact the main worry is that they

will not be supported if positive and asked to isolate. with this testing, we have to be considering precisely what support, what we are going to do about the results. just thinking testing itself is a panacea is nonsense because the key thing is what you do about the results. let's talk about the vaccinations. matt hancock to health secretary saying today they are up to 200,000 per day, helping, promising that by the autumn basically everyone over the age of 18 will have had or could have had the vaccine. that is real progress. are you happy it is quick enough at the moment? it is clearly a huge advance, great news we now have three vaccine is licensed or approved within the uk, very good news and demonstrating what we can do in the scientific world. of course, again, vaccines are only one pa rt course, again, vaccines are only one part of the solution. there remain

two some vaccine hesitancy, particularly in some groups, so we have to row out at speed but at the same time involving the community is with this. the promise of 2 million vaccines per week is great. and i hope that is achieved. clearly, we are moving to these mass vaccination centres. i worry who is actually going to do this vaccination, at the moment we have gp two, practice nurses, pharmacies involved in doing immunisation, they are already overstretched with the health service and knock—on effects on to primary care. it is important we have some transparency about who will undertake this mass vaccination. and explaining that to the population, to those people less willing to be immunised, many of whom are at higher risk of disease, will be encouraged to do so. you have talked about a multipronged approach, obviously the lockdown restrictions we have are a vital pa rt

restrictions we have are a vital part of that but talk in the papers today people are not complying with those restrictions as much as before and ministers are worried about that. i think people have complied pretty well over this last nine, ten months. what we are seeing now in the current lockdown is something less firm, less draconian than the first lockdown at the end of march last year. it is not surprising that more people are out and about. if you look at the rules at the moment, there are more reasons to be out and about, many more shops are open, it is legitimate for instance, nonessential builders to be there, construction, for a cleaner to come round to your house, nurseries and places of worship are open. all of these indoor settings are of course

a way of transporting as more people going to work means more people out on public transport and so on. u nfortu nately, on public transport and so on. unfortunately, and it is draconian of course, but i think if we are really to get on top of the current disastrous numbers then we need to strengthen the regulations and the guidance rather than just saying people are not obeying the rules. thank you, professor deenan pillay. the indonesian authorities say they‘ve located the black box flight recorders of the plane that crashed into the sea on saturday, minutes after take—off from jakarta. it could hold the clues as to why the boeing 737 aircraft went down. the navy has already recovered pieces of fuselage and some body parts from the sea off the coast near the indonesian capital. 62 people were on board the sriwijaya air jet which was flying to borneo. mark lobel reports. could these be vital clues as to what happened

to sriwijaya air flight sj182? divers from ten navy ships, assisted by military helicopters, are slowly piecing together the wreckage from their ongoing search of the waters where they believe the plane fell. translation: we will do our best to find the victims. together let‘s pray they can be found. in the name of the government and the indonesian people, we would like to express our condolences. as the flight tracking app flight radar shows, four minutes after the 26—year—old boeing 737 took off from jakarta on saturday afternoon, with 62 passengers on board, including seven children and three babies, contact was lost, as it reportedly plunged 3000 metres in less than a minute. before its disappearance, its operator said no problems had come to light. translation: based on the information i have, the plane was in a good condition when it was flown from pontianak,

pangkal pinang, and this was the second route back to pontianak. there shouldn‘t have been any problem and the maintenance report was also fine. in a significant development, the chief of the country‘s search and rescue agency has told reporters his teams have deducted signals in two points, which could be the plane‘s black box, which he is now investigating. the black box is going to be critical because that is going to determine whether or not there were sounds in the cockpit of perhaps an explosion, they‘re going to look at the wreckage and find out how the metal was bent, whether it was bent in or out, which could be a potential explosive device, were there missiles in the area? we saw thatjust over a year ago with the ukrainian 737 that was shot down. relatives and friends of those on board now have a painful wait for more answers. ajakarta police spokesperson said rescuers have handed over a bag containing passengers‘ belongings and also another they believe

contains body parts. after flight sj182 delayed its take—off due to heavy rain, and never sent a distress signal, what these rescue teams can now salvage from the seas is more important than ever. mark lobel, bbc news. i asked our south east asia correspondentjonathan head if there are any clues yet as to what might have happened. none at all. we know it was something very catastrophic, we have seen the pieces of wreckage that the search teams have pulled out of the water and there is no doubt they are from the plane, it obviously came down from what we have seen on flight tracking apps, very fast from 11,000 feet into the sea in the matter of 20 seconds. in the last stages of its flight. it is impossible to imagine anyone surviving that so it is just

a matter of picking the wreckage up. they knew the location of the fight, not far from the airport, four minutes in, the sea is shallow. they know where the fuselage is, they will be able to retrieve large parts of the pain and probably the flight recorders, and we will get answers within perhaps weeks or months. at this stage, no distress call from the pilots, an old plane but had been maintained properly, no particular reason for a problem. the investigators will have to look at every possibility. there could be something quite catastrophic that the pilots might have done, something mechanical wrong with the plane or even the possibility of some sort of outside factors like an attack. we do not know at this stage and sadly the families will not get answers for some time, most likely. the outgoing us vice president, mike pence, will attend the inauguration ofjoe biden on january the 20th. it‘s in contrast to donald trump who‘s said he won‘t be

at his successor‘s swearing—in, breaking with tradition. meanwhile democrats in the house of representatives say they‘ll start impeachment proceedings against president trump in the next 2a hours. they‘ve accused him of inciting his supporters to storm the capitol building in washington. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. the images that shocked america and the world. video and photographs that are now being scrutinised by the authorities to bring those responsible to justice. this man, dressed in a bearskin headdress and carrying a 6—foot spear, was among those that stormed the us capital and gained access to the senate chamber. prosecutors say he is jacob chansley, a prominent follower of the baseless conspiracy theory qanon, now in custody for charges that include violent entry and disorderly conduct. adam johnson was pictured carrying the lectern used by the house speaker, nancy pelosi. he is now in custody in florida. protests for and against donald

trump have continued this weekend. heavily—armed supporters of the president gathered in minneapolis. we want donald trump to resign! while in chicago, opponents of the president rallied outside the city‘s trump tower. in washington, there is now intense security. the national guard is on patrol around the capital, wherejoe biden will be inaugurated as the nation‘s next president in ten days‘s time. donald trump has said he won‘t be there, but the vice president, mike pence, and his wife, do plan to attend the ceremony. in the meantime, democrats plan to move forward with a second impeachment of the president, starting on monday. it was an act of sedition that was incited and encouraged by donald trump, and that is why he must be held accountable to the full extent of the law. the claim in the draft articles of impeachment is that

donald trump‘s behaviour "gravely endangered the security of the united states". but some republicans think the process could fuel further unrest. others argue there simply isn‘t enough time. i‘ve got enough decisions to make about things that can happen rather than to spend time on things that can‘t happen. if the house of representatives votes to impeach the president, the earliest the us senate could begin a trial of mr trump is january 20, the day he is due to leave office. peter bowes, bbc news. you are watching bbc news. the headlines... britain‘s national health service is facing ‘the worst crisis in living memory‘, according to england‘s chief medical officer. chris whitty says hospitals could soon be overwhelmed — leading to avoidable deaths. it comes as asymptomatic testing in the uk is ramped up and more than half a million people over the age of 80 are invited to mass

vaccination centres — with the government pledging vaccines for the rest of the adult population by the autumn. rescue teams in indonesia have found the black box flight recorders of the boeing passenger plane that crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff. 62 people were on board. when the coronavirus was still in its early stages, one of the theories about its origins involved a rare animal — theppangolin. they‘re among the most trafficked mammals in the world. our africa correspondent andrew harding reports on south africa‘s efforts to rein in the illegal trade. get on the ground! get on the ground now! a sting operation by south african police. they‘ve lured a gang of suspected smugglers to this car park in order to arrest them. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven arrested. inside the car, still alive, a strange and precious victim is rescued. whose animal is this?

this is a pangolin — one of the world‘s most endangered, most trafficked creatures. its thick scales prized in traditional chinese medicine — but on no scientific basis. injured and weak, the elderly male is rushed to a dedicated pangolin clinic in johannesburg — but too late to be saved. this is the worst male we have seen. he‘s really dehydrated. and his wounds are terrible. unfortunately, when they‘ve been in the trades for long, their immune system is compromised. so, um, healing is — takes a lot longer, and they get worse infections. this is an acutely sensitive and ancient species. few survive an ordeal that resembles a kidnapping, complete with proof—of—life videos like this one, sent by the poachers to potential buyers. sorry, but you are partand parcel, eh?

today, six suspects are taken into custody, a small blow against a criminal trade that involves huge sums of money and enormous cruelty. you know, when we get them out of the trade, they are absolutely terrified. they‘ve got no real natural enemies — and now man is their absolute downfall. you know, teriffic. this adult female was rescued, and survived. now she‘s well—guarded at a secret location. the species has gained new prominence after scientists began investigating possible links between pangolins and covid—19. these are some of the most harmless creatures on the planet. but there is new evidence from china that pangolins may have helped incubate and transmit covid—19 to humans who ate the animals. there‘s also the suggestion that by studying these animals, we may learn more through their immune systems about the virus itself. in the meantime, a new arrival

is nursed at the clinic. three months old, her family — trafficked. the pangolin has lived on this planet for more than 80 million years. it‘s in the headlines today because of covid, but humans have hunted it to the brink of extinction. andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg. let‘s return now to our main story. england‘s chief medical officer professor chris whitty has given a new warning that the nhs could soon be overwhelmed by the spread of coronavirus. with me is our political correspondent nick eardley. a stark warning, not from a politician but one of the government‘s chief scientist. politician but one of the government's chief scientist.|j think government's chief scientist.” think it is deliberate the government is putting out the experts to say this is a really severe situation. chris whitty, england‘s chief medical officer, warning the situation is worse than

it has been throughout the pandemic. if the trajectory, the number of cases increasing, continues then the nhs could be overwhelmed and the impact of that, according to chris whitty, would be severe. it would mean some people would not get the ca re mean some people would not get the care they needed, their doctors can‘t see as many patients as they like and ultimately it would lead to unnecessary deaths. the big question the government is facing today is, what are they going to do about it? matt hancock, the health secretary, has been on andrew marr this morning saying they cannot rule out further restriction. the view in downing street is you cannot categorically rule these things out but there is more you can do, closing nurseries potentially, or restricting who can go to work. we are hearing more about urging the public to follow the rules, there is a fear perhaps people are not taking this as

seriously as they did in march last year when the first full stay at home lockdown came in. having listened to matt hancock, the health secretary. my gratitude, all of our gratitude, go out to the team working across the nhs and working harder than it has ever worked before and we could all do something to help, which is to stay—at—home. all do something to help, which is to stay—at— home. every all do something to help, which is to stay—at—home. every time you try to stay—at—home. every time you try to flex the rules, that could be fatal. and we all have a part to play. that was health secretary matt hancock, giving encouraging figures around the number of people vaccinated, around 2 million. we get the full figures on a monday but it is around 2 million. at the moment the big question is how you ramp that up significantly, how you get toa that up significantly, how you get to a point where you have a large

pa rt to a point where you have a large part of the population vaccinated. the health secretary was saying the aim is to get 200,000 vaccinations per day pretty soon, we know that mass vaccination centres are being opened up in parts of england. what i found really interesting opened up in parts of england. what ifound really interesting is opened up in parts of england. what i found really interesting is we know the government is planning to getjobs in the arms of the most vulnerable by the middle of february. —— jabs. matt vulnerable by the middle of february. ——jabs. matt hancock saying by autumn every adult in the uk will be offered a vaccine, as they have. that is a pretty significant commitment if it is met in getting back to something approaching normal. and labour saying too slow to impose lockdown is? we heard from sir keir starmer, the leader, saying the government

has been too slow at points. saying people need to take the stay—at—home message seriously but also suggesting more measures are going to have to come, probably some of the things that have been kept open are going to have to close in england, in particular pointing to nurseries as a potential other way in which the government could stop people moving about, by closing nurseries for most people. having listened to the labour leader. they are tough and necessary. they may not be tough enough but in a sense i think the most important thing is for people to get the message about stay—at—home. it is up to the government to put the message out there the whole time. we've had mixed messages, i'm afraid, forthe past nine months, which is why we have a problem. i would like to see the prime minister out there every day with a press conference making sure the message is getting through because that is the most crucial

thing. one of the weapons the government is trying to use against coronavirus is testing, testing especially people who do not have symptoms. one of the things that really worries people in government and some of the medical experts is potentially one in three people who have coronavirus are asymptomatic, they do not show the main symptoms, so one of the things being introduced by the government is mass asymptomatic testing, rapid flow tests you get four people still having to go to work. every local authority in england will be given some of these tests, be able to distribute them as they see fit. it does not mean everyone still going to work at the moment will get one of these tests but the idea is to try and figure out people who are not showing symptoms but have and can transmit the virus, who they are and can keep them at home. they do not show every case about the helpers they will catch more than is

the case at the moment full. the case at the moment the helpers they will catch more than is the case at the moment the latest news from the government they have vaccinated 2 million people in the uk. you are watching bbc news. forget robocop — how about a robo—doc? scientists think robotic health care assistants could soon become a reality. a team at the university of sheffield in the uk are developing ways of using new technology in hospitals and care homes, as luxmy gopal has been finding out. this is benny the robot. he‘s in a home lab in sheffield, but he is being controlled in real time from manchester. through the technology, anyone anywhere can immerse themselves in the robot. i become the robot simply by putting on a vr headset. and now i can see everything the robot sees. and i can control its arms. robotic firm cyberselves has developed a versatile,

more user—friendly programming system, so what robots can‘t yet do alone can be done with the help of human controls. they hope it will revolutionise health tech. there is an increasing use of robots now in health care, but the artificial intelligence that powers those robots isn‘t up to scratch and the programming is very, very hard, it requires incredibly specialist degrees to programme robots. so what we‘re trying to do is simultaneously make it easier to control robots and also to make up that gap for the artificial intelligence. so a robot moving around a hospital, say cleaning a ward, will get stuck and won‘t know how to do a certain task. a human being can enter into it, perform the task and the robot can then learn in the future from that as well. the same system can be used to control any number of robots to perform a whole range of different tasks, from surgery to bomb disposal, orfor example in care homes, as way of having covid—safe company. no social distancing needed here. it‘s the closest to being with someone without actually being there and opens a world of possibilities. how are you today? i've got your medicine right here. thank you.

the doctor could be hundreds of miles away, it could be some specialist that you would like to see a patient and they might be in new york and theyjust need to put on a vr headset and they could be in sheffield looking at this patient. can you look to the left for me, please? and to the right? it's saying can you show me your leg and you can look at the leg you know looking at this patient. it is the naturalness that is going to make a difference and the spontaneity. here in italy guiding people with limited mobility through tasks and drawing conversation from autistic youngsters who otherwise struggle with social interaction. they have now received government funding to explore now ways of helping health care through robots like benny here in a covid world and beyond. luxmy gopal. ..and benny, for bbc news, in sheffield. now, the weather with darren bett.

this morning was not as cold as yesterday morning but it has started frosty and foggy across some parts of the uk. through the day, milder air pushing in across most areas as the westerly breeze drags in more cloud. with the frost and fog lifting across southern areas, could brighten up a touch but generally lots of cloud. the rain turning heavier in western scotland, temperatures here reaching eight, five or six fairly typical, maybe lower in the south east. a cold day here but not as cold as yesterday. for many overnight we keep cloudy skies, some rain and drizzle around, wetter weather in western scotland, threatening flooding as we get snow melt as well. for most parts of the country, temperatures just above freezing. with the cloud thinner in the south east and the air

colder, could see frosty and still some cold weather in shetland with snow showers continuing. on monday, milder air spilling in across most areas as we get a stronger west to south—westerly wind. the weather front in the north is crucial, the boundary between the mild air and the cold air sitting across northern areas. snow in northernmost parts of scotland, rain, wetter in northern ireland, wales, north—west of england. dry towards the south of england. temperatures of 7—8, could make double figures in belfast on monday. the milder, cloudy wetter weather could push southwards during the evening and overnight, clearing away for most areas in time for tuesday. briefly, colder air returning and perhaps a frost in scotland, northern england, perhaps northern ireland to begin. more cloud to the south, rain and drizzle hanging on to the south—west of the uk, temperatures reaching ten.