benefit in reducing had little or no benefit in reducing deaths. some treatments may work at an earlier stage of the disease and there are some ongoing studies. the dru~s there are some ongoing studies. lie: drugs that we come to know are not effective should not be used, that means patients won't get side effects, that means we won't spend resources or nurse time or pharmacy time focusing on those treatments and we can focus our attention on those drugs that we know do work. two anti—inflammatory drugs have recently found to work in intensive care patients. one study found using two anti—inflammatory drugs cut the number of deaths by a quarter and reduce the amount of time in icu by about a week. there are benefits from a common steroid used by asthma patients which could minimise damage to the lungs. vaccines aren't100% effective in some people can't be vaccinated or don't respond well to

them so drug treatments will have a crucial role, having effective treatments would essentially make coronavirus or treatable disease and ultimately prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed. katherine da costa. now the weather, with darren bett. i will start with a summary of the low temperatures, —23 making it the coldest since 1995. in king's lynn, temperatures have just got above freezing. it's a cold afternoon, many places will be dry with some spells of sunshine. there's more cloud to the south—west and that threatens them sleet and snow into devon and cornwall, perhaps pembrokeshire, and it's windy, gusts 40-50 pembrokeshire, and it's windy, gusts 40—50 miles an hour making it feel colder temperatures struggling to get much above freezing and numbers will drop quickly during the evening. we have more cloud for a while across south—west england and wales. the clouds thickening up in northern ireland, we could see snow

here, at the same time snow coming into the north—east of england and there will be icy conditions, a widespread chop foster overnight. not quite as cold as last night, down to —13 in scotland. the snow should move away from northern ireland on friday in the cloud thing here, it should brighten up as it will in wales and the south—west and most places well enjoy some sunshine during the day, however, it will be a windy day and again the strongest winds will be towards the south—west of england and wales and northern ireland and whilst it got temperatures struggling to get above freezing again it will feel colder in the wind. into the weekend we have signs of change, because slowly but surely all this really cold air will get pushed away. we have a strengthening south to south westerly wind bringing milder weather on sunday. not on saturday though, saturday is a cold day and it's a messy one because we've got some wet weather coming in to that cold air so that means some snow for some western parts of the uk. at the

moment there is only a yellow rain, snow and ice warning from the met office and the biggest impacts could be in northern ireland. they could be in northern ireland. they could be more than four centimetres in the hills. i'm not sure how much snow there will be in western scotland or there will be in western scotland or the hills of wales and further east it's going to be dry but we will see cloud increasing after that very frosty start, so temperatures may remain above freezing and add to that a windy day on saturday so it's going to feel more like —6 or —7. it's a day for wrapping up well. the snow will peter out overnight. it won't get any further east probably, and as we head into sunday gets cloud and rain on a strengthening southerly wind, could be icy in northern areas for a while. eastern parts of england are likely to be dry, slow rise in temperature here, who, three orfour dry, slow rise in temperature here, who, three or four micro degrees or so. out towards the west temperatures could reach 9 degrees, it would be nice to have something milder by day and also by night. that's it from the team for today, i hope you can keep warm. warm. bye—bye.

good afternoon, it's 1:30pm and here's your latest sports news. britian's cameron norrie is through to the third round of a grand slam for only the second time in his career, where he'll now play rafa nadal in the australian open. norrie beat russian qualifier roman safiullin in four tough sets, in a match which was delayed due to rain with norrie leading by two sets to one. he came out and won the fourth set in a tie break to set up a meeting with 20—time grand slam champion nadal. the spaniard eased past the american michael mmoh in straight sets, nadal winning 6—1, 6—4, 6—2 on the rod laver arena. british interest in the women's singles draw is over after heather watson lost tin three sets to the estonian, annett kontaveit. that's despite watson taking the first set. defending women's champion sofia kenin also lost to an estonian, kaya kanepi.

kenin was beaten in straight sets in just 64 minutes. england head coach eddiejones has recalled a host of big names for saturday's six nations match against italy, following the calcutta cup defeat at home to scotland last weekend. george ford returns at fly—half, having started on the bench last weekend, while mako vunipola and courtney lawes come in to the pack. kyle sinckler also returns following suspension. scotland have made three enforced changes to the side which won at twickenham for their match against wales. flankerjamie ritchie, centre cameron redpath and winger sean maitland all drop out through injury. blade thomson, james lang and edinburgh winger darcy graham come in to the side. as for wales, nick tompkins comes in to the centre, with george north ruled out because of an eye injury. liam williams returns on the wing following a ban.

football's governing bodies across the men's and women's game have written to twitter and facebook, saying their platforms remain havens of abuse following a number of players being subjected to discrimination online. the letter, whose signaturies include the chief executives of the fa, premier league and kick it out, calls on twitter and facebook to make further changes. they include ensuring messages and posts are filtered and blocked before being sent or posted if they contain racist or discriminatory material. the letter comes after racist abuse

on social media aimed at swansea's yan dhanda, following last night's fa cup tie, was condemned by both clubs. south wales police are investigating the incident. the investigating the incident. referee mike dean had t police the referee mike dean had to contact police after he and his family were sent death threats after receiving criticism for sending off southampton defenderjan bednarek southampton defender jan bednarek and southampton defenderjan bednarek and midfielder thomas are cheque for west ham. the newcastle manager steve bruce as it is all too common a footballer more has to be done to stop it. a footballer more has to be done to sto it. . , , a footballer more has to be done to sto it, ., , , ., a footballer more has to be done to sto it. ., , , ., , ., a footballer more has to be done to stoit. , ., , ., stop it. the abuse that i snow back death threats, _ stop it. the abuse that i snow back death threats, all _ stop it. the abuse that i snow back death threats, all that _ stop it. the abuse that i snow back death threats, all that sort - stop it. the abuse that i snow back death threats, all that sort of- death threats, all that sort of stuff, and when i see a referee want to come away from it to because it makes a mistake and people are threatening his life, it's absolutely obscene and totally ridiculous. and the need to clamp down on it and the need to police it

better, we need to stop it. liam livingstone has been recalled to england's t20 squad for the first time in four years for their upcoming series against india. livingstone has been in prolific form for perth scorchers throughout the big bash in australia and comes back into the squad. jos buttler will return for the five—match series, having flown home from the test squad currently in india. the head of the tokyo olympics organising committee, yoshiro mori, is set to step down, according to media reports injapan, after making sexist comments. his remarks have drawn widespread condemnation from the ioc, sponsors, politicians and the public injapan. it comes less than six months before the delayed games are due to take place. i'll have more for you in the next hour.

good afternoon, you are watching bbc news. we start with scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, who says scotland has seen a drop in coronavirus cases and admissions. she said they had vaccinated a record number of people in the 2a hours. record number of people in the 24 hours. . . , hours. the sacrifices we unfortunately _ hours. the sacrifices we unfortunately need - hours. the sacrifices we unfortunately need to l hours. the sacrifices we - unfortunately need to continue to make are slowing the virus down, looked on back is working. to win the race, ultimately, we need to get people vaccinated as quickly as we can, so i also want to give you an update on the vaccination programme. obviously, the bad weather has been a real concern for us this week, however, as of 8:30am this morning, i can tell you that 1,048,747 people

in scotland have now received their first dose of the vaccine. that is an increase of 63,178 since yesterday. that, actually, is yet another record, the highest daily total that has been achieved so far. when you think about the truly dreadful weather that most of the country is experiencing right now, meaning that many of those administering and receiving the jags will have had to brave extreme elements, deep snow, to get to vaccination centres, i don't think it's an exaggeration to describe this as a heroic achievement. the fact that more than a million people have received the first dose of the vaccine is highly significant. it means that we now have vaccinated more than 23% of the adult population and, even more importantly, many of them run the groups that we know are most vulnerable to serious illness or

dying from covid. that gives us hope, even if we don't see the vaccine have an immediate impact on transmission of the virus, we will start seeing it to reduce serious illness and deaths.— start seeing it to reduce serious illness and deaths. nicola sturgeon there. the labour _ illness and deaths. nicola sturgeon there. the labour leader _ illness and deaths. nicola sturgeon there. the labour leader sir - illness and deaths. nicola sturgeon there. the labour leader sir keir. there. the labour leader sir keir starmer has visited heathrow airport to see preparations for the newport arrangements which start on monday. he has called for all international arrivals to face quarantine, not just passengers from the right list country he has one that the government's measures don't go far enough. government's measures don't go far enou . h. government's measures don't go far enou:h. . ., . , �* enough. our concern isn't their preparations. _ enough. our concern isn't their preparations, our— enough. our concern isn't their preparations, our concern - enough. our concern isn't their preparations, our concern is i enough. our concern isn't their i preparations, our concern is that enough. our concern isn't their - preparations, our concern is that we now know there are variants in countries that aren't on the red list, so this partial approach from the government isn't going to work. we are at a crucial stage where it is a race between the vaccine and variance and the only way through this is to buy time by having a comprehensive system of quarantine in hotels wherever you come from.

the labour leader there on a visit to heathrow airport. the netherlands has witnessed several riots in protest over covid lockdown measures. schools, non—essentailshops, bars, and restaurants have been closed. while some protests were peaceful others turned to violence, with police making arrests and using water canon to disperse rock—throwing demonstrators. with more than a million infections, 14,500 confirmed covid—related deaths and an election just over a month away, anna holligan looks at what's driving the dutch unrest. a stable, orderly country that prides itself on a reputation for efficiency and compliance, rocked by discontent. these public rampages were initially seen as a response to the netherlands' first curfew since the nazi occupation in the second world war. in reality, the tensions had been festering. i think this country is hurting right now. it is in pain. this is sylvana simons,

a dutch celebrity who recently launched her own political party. she thinks the unrest exposed an undercurrent of resentment across generations. what we are seeing right now is just this country reaping what it has sewed. the netherlands have always projected an image which i call a facade of being reasonable, being progressive and tolerant and open, but what it really was, it was just on the surface. the combination of the covid related lockdown here alongside a childcare allowance scandal which last month caused the sudden collapse of the coalition government, has had a destabilising impact. those who were already frustrated felt emboldened, vindicated, because the government had broken its own rules. there is no pandemic now, hey? the world health organization declared the covid—19 outbreak a pandemic in march last year. the instability, though, has given rise to characters who have cultivated followings with their movements, speaking out against the restrictions imposed on their freedoms. dance teacher willem engel

is one of the most visible sceptics of corona. i understand the feeling of hopelessness, i understand the feeling of agitation and aggression of the people committing that violence. however, i do not think that is the right way. you know you have the power to stop the people confronting the politicians in theirfaces... i want them to confront politicians, so why would i try not to get them to do that? despite more than 100 million confirmed cases and 2.2 million deaths across nearly 200 countries, his group, virus truth, doesn't believe the coronavirus pandemic exists. this, as well as other covid related conspiracy theories, i have been gaining support here. this was never a countryl of big conspiracy theories but if you don't know the truth, anything could be true. - geert wilders, a famously anti—islam politician, who has been one of the most outspoken populist voices in dutch politics for almost two decades, was recently convicted of insulting moroccans.

he is also the country's opposition leader. they are not a huge group, fortunately, but they should be dealt with in the most severe way because, in a way, first they try to use violence, or intimidation at least, which is something that we should never accept, but they also stop the democratic process of parliamentarians, whatever party you are from, that are, as you said, being hassled going to parliament or doing theirjob, just because of their views. most dutch people have now accepted the lockdown. i asked the caretaker prime minister, mark rutte, if he is worried about those who are losing faith in the state. the amount of people in the netherlands who really are saying, we are open to the conspiracy theorists, is a very small number. but there is a real risk ignoring or dismissing the dissatisfaction will push some of those who already feel forgotten closer to the edge and fuel the infodemic. truth and freedom, promised

and promoted by politicians from across the spectrum. who can deliver them in the context of the covid crisis mightjust decide the outcome of europe's first election of 2021. the headlines on bbc news: major reforms to health service in england have been unveiled by the health secretary. there is concern about how they can be implemented in the middle of a pandemic. nearly 250,000 people have been waiting more than a year for hospital treatment in england, that is the highest figure since 2008. and confusion about whether to book a summer holiday — they health secretary and says he still hopes to go to cornwall even though the transport secretary says it's too soon to organise a getaway.

you might remember the story of hughie and freddie — two best friends who have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the royal manchester children's hospital. freddie ran two kilometres every day to raise the money for the hospital where his pal is being treated for leukaemia. he finished his challenge on christmas day. now, hughie has sent us this special report on how the money is going to be spent. hey, everyone, hughie here. so, i'm back in today. hopefully it should be a quick one. this place, the royal manchester children's hospital, is like my second home. i'm having my thumb prick now to check my blood levels. my bloods are back, we've just been to see the doctor. they're all fine, so i'm waiting to go into theatre now. i've been here more than 50 times because i have leukaemia, and that is why my best friend freddie... this is freddie. hiya, mate. hi, mate, you all right? ..that�*s why freddie wanted to do something really special

for me and the hospital. and it made us a bit famous over christmas. here's a handy recap. go for it. who is that with you, hughie? this is my sister, trixie. so, i've been told that you've raised nearly £50,000. yeah. he's just doing such a greatjob and i couldn't thank him any more. that's absolutely amazing. thank you to everybody that's donated. so, today, i've gone back to the hospital to carry out an in—depth interview — check out the clipboard, people! — with one of my nurses. i'm going to find out what they think about stuff like covid, kissing and the mega money me and freddie have raised. so, this is emily. she was one of the main nurses in my treatment. how do you feel about wearing masks?

and i bet you're really excited for the day when you don't have to wear them. i don't mind wearing one at all, it really doesn't bother me. i had a little personal victory the other week where i made you laugh at me in the mask withjust my eyes. have you ever heard of butterfly kisses? and have you found any interesting ways how to interact with kids? yeah, i have not heard of a butterfly kiss. i think i'm getting a little bit too old now. it's like a distanced way of interacting. so, it's just you just blink really fast. oh, yeah! it makes you a bit dizzy, doesn't it? i probably won't do that when i am walking around. no. and the fundraising that me and freddie have done, what do you think about that? you should be so proud of yourself. you've both done such an amazing job. and i think, on behalf of everybody, thank you so much for all your hard work. honestly, this place is proper amazing. like i said, i should know because i've been here so many times. here's the evidence. these are my beads of courage.

every time i do something, i get one of these. and when i first got diagnosed, i had 54, 56 black beads, and every black bead is either a blood test or a thumb prick, and i've still got lots more to come. so, like i said, this place isjust amazing! and i know the money freddie has raised is going to make it even better. let's find out how they're going to spend it in a section of film we like to call... freddie and hughie go on a virtual shopping trip to the royal manchester children's hospital! _ music means a lot to both of us, doesn't it, freddie? yeah, for sure. one thing we would like to fund is a music therapist. me, personally, music helps me calm down when i'm feeling a little bit anxious.

this is me in rehearsals for a show before i got poorly. check out the hair, people! and this is me on the drums. we love music. i think that's a great project and i'm completely pleasedj you two have managed to help ward 84 get that provision. i it's really important for them, isn't it? l we're also going to get the hospital one of these. it's called a belmont infuser. it is basically a bit of kit, as we've discussed, - that can warm up a large amount i of blood really, really quickly. i when i get blood it comes from the fridge and if you put the blood in too quickly, it has a risk of giving you hypothermia. as soon as me and freddie heard it would save lives we were like, we're definitely going to fund that.

let's pause right here because, as with all good interviews, we're about to hit them with a big exclusive about what happened after we appeared on bbc breakfast on christmas day. two really generous people watched this. then we had a chat. they said, well, "how much money are you at now?" and we said, "185,000." and they said, "well, £200,000 has a nice ring to it, "so we want to top it up." that's incredible! i was speechless. i couldn't think of what to say. i bet you're not speechless very often, are you? no. the support they've had has been amazing, so, yeah, i a massive thank you to everybody who supported you. _ when i think what i've done, ijust feel so proud of myself that i've helped out. i couldn't have a better friend. he's done such a greatjob. you are little superstars in our eyes.

i think in everyone's eyes, to be honest. thumbs up. all: bye! thanks, everyone, for helping us on our amazing journey. mine isn't over yet. i've got another three years of treatment in hospital. but i know it is going to be much nicer now because of everything freddie has done. thanks, pal. no problem, mate. not a nota dry not a dry eye in the house, the story of the day. she's one of the biggest stars in bollywood but priyanka chopra jonas says it has taken her a long time to land a leading role in a hollywood film because of a lack of opportunities for south asian actors. she moved to the us five years ago, but says there is still a long way to go for diversity. she's been speaking to the bbc asian network's entertainment reporter haroon rashid

about her new memoir, unfinished. priyanka chopra jonas is one of the most recognised indians in the world. the former beauty queen is a household name in south asia because of her illustrious bollywood career. you can't possibly believe that. and she is hoping her acting work in hollywood will earn her just as much success. priyanka says her memoir will help set the record straight about her journey so far. i have had a 20—year career which has expanded from india to america and there has been so much that has been written about me, so much speculated. you know, after being amused by it for a very long time, and curious about taking up writing seriously, i kind of combined the two and ended up writing this book. and it became very introspective and it gave me a reason to delve deep into feelings or emotions that i had probably not thought about for a long time. in your book, you talk about your efforts to increase diversity when it comes to casting in hollywood, and your latest film,

the white tiger, has actually earned you a recognition on the bafta long list for best supporting actress. does that feel like your hard work is paying off in hollywood? for sure. i mean, it has taken a long time, it has only been ten years since i started working in america and i'm just about doing my first leading role as an actor, just doing my first dramatic role as an actor so, you know, it takes time and it took time because of lack of opportunity. and i want to change that for people who are coming in after me, and what i did and what worked for me, i think, was the fact that i did quantico. and me doing that, and a bunch of other south asian talent that you see in hollywood pushing the envelope, mindy kaling, aziz ansari, riz ahmed, kumar rao — these are people that are pushing the envelope and saying, i'm sorry, i'm going to be a part of pop culture. if you're not going to make it for me, i'm going to write my own show and i'm going to be a part of pop culture. priyanka also writes

about her humanitarian work as a unicef goodwill ambassador, which has included visiting rohingya refugee camps in bangladesh. how important is that aspect of your life and how do you balance that along with all these other roles you play? i was raised like that, you know. we weren't patted on our back when i shared my doll someone who didn't have it — it was expected. and i think that is the social responsibility of every human being because no matter how badly off you are, someone is worse off than you. and even if you have the ability to change one person's life or, you know, contribute to doing something good, that is a win. alongside charity work and global stardom, priyanka will now add published author to her list of credentials too. haroon rashid, bbc news. priyanka chopra jonas, speaking to haroon rashid for a new podcast called beyond bollywood, which launches on bbc sounds next week. organisers of the oscars film awards

say this year's ceremony will be held in person, despite the pandemic. the academy of motion picture arts and sciences said the event, normally at hollywood's dolby theatre, would instead take place in several locations. the awards have been moved to april, two months later than usual. in the baftas are due to be in april as well. goodness, watch this space. now, the weather. hello there. it is going to remain very cold over the next few days, today certainly a chilly one. not surprising, though, given how cold it was first thing this morning. there is a reminder of those very low temperatures from last night. —23, the coldest it's been since 1995 and the lowest february temperature since 1955. where we have got those clearer skies across large parts of the country, this evening, we are going to find those temperatures falling away very quickly. we have still got more cloud

towards the south west of england, south—west wales and particularly into northern ireland, and it will be here that we will mainly see some snow pushing in overnight. still quite windy for these areas too. we have still got some showers coming in off the north sea, some snow coming into eastern scotland and the north—east of england. so, whilst we have a widespread frost overnight, and it is going to be sharpfor many places, it is not quite as cold — perhaps only down to —13 in the highlands. some icy conditions here with those snow showers continuing into friday. some sunshine around for many areas, and even out towards the west, that band of cloud in northern ireland, wales and the south west will thin, skies will brighten and we should get some sunshine. but it will be windy here and across the whole of the country, the winds probably will be stronger on friday. so it's going to feel cold, certainly, especially after that frosty start, temperatures barely getting above freezing all day. now, as we head into the weekend, we are going to start to see things changing. slowly but surely, all that really cold air will get pushed away as the wind changes to the more of a milder south to south—westerly wind, lifting the temperatures for the second half of the weekend. not on saturday.

saturday is a cold day and we have a band of wet weather coming into that cold air and that means we are going to find some snow — particularly across the western side of the uk. whilst there is still some uncertainty about the amount of snow — and we just have this yellow warning from the met office — snow and ice could have more of an impact in northern ireland. more snow than that, even, over the higher ground. not sure how much there will be in western scotland or over the hills of wales. further east, is likely to be dry, but after a frosty start, we have got cloud coming in, so temperatures aren't going to rise much and it is going to be windy on saturday, so it is going to feel more like —6 or —7. a really cold day on saturday. thing start to change, though. overnight, the snowjust peters out. heading into sunday, we have still got strong southerly winds. more rain across many parts of the country, a little threat of some icy conditions here and there and a slow rise in temperature for eastern parts of england. further west, those temperatures getting up to 9 degrees.

this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines: a major reorganisation of the nhs in england with a promise that health and social care will work more closely together. myjob as health secretary is to make the system work for those who work in the system to free up, to empower, to harness the mission driven capability of team health and care. over 220,000 people in england have been waiting more than a year for routine surgery the highest number since 2008. it's been really, really difficult. i have not left the house for a year. i have been unable to move. tougher border restrictions are on their way but the travel industry and some mps say they're worried about their impact.