this is bbc news. the headlines at 4pm... care home residents in england will be allowed to have one person visit them regularly from the 8th of march, as easing of lockdown measures start to be revealed. number ten says reuniting families and allowing people to have more social contact will be an "absolute priority" in easing lockdown after schools reopen. prince charles has visited the king edward vii hospital in central london where his father the duke of edinburgh is being treated. a court in russia upholds a decision to jail opposition leader alexei navalny forjust over two—and—a—half years and finds him guilty of a further charge. president biden declares a major disaster in texas — as he unlocks federal funds for a state paralysed by a severe freeze and a huge powerfailure.

hsbc says it's reviewing its procedures for fraud victims after a bbc investigation reveals one victim was kept on hold for 20 hours — before they were able to speak to someone. good afternoon. care home residents in england will be allowed to pick one person to visit them regularly from the 8th of march, in the first confirmed easing of lockdown. they'll be able to meet indoors and hold hands — but visitors must wear personal protective equipment and be tested before going into the home. the announcement is ahead of the prime minister revealing his "road map" for easing lockdown on monday. our health correspondent anna collinson has more. a moment of relief during a dark

year for 83—year—old barbara abrams. this is the closest her family have been allowed to get to her while visiting her care home in stockport because of covid restrictions. that lack of physical contact has been really difficult for us. my poor mum, her health both physically and mentally has really deteriorated, particularly in the last... since christmas. i think that was like the straw that broke the camel's back. but now, a sign of hope. from the 8th of march, care home residence in england will be allowed to pick one person to visit them regularly indoors. with the government preparing to reveal its road map for easing lockdown on monday, this announcement has been called the first step to getting back to where we want to be. there are some rules. it has to be the same visitor every time, holding hands is allowed, but there can be no kissing or hugging. the visitor must be tested before entering the home and they must wear ppe while inside. it is welcome news for many families, but too late for those who have lost loved ones

during the pandemic. we have tried everything we possibly can. and what you have to remember is people in our services have very complex health care needs. and so therefore, our primary duty has always been through all the guidance we get is to keep them safe and to keep our staff safe. from early march, residents in scottish care homes will be allowed two visitors. in northern ireland and wales, the advice varies between individual homes. scientists say a slow and steady approach is needed. there are some families who haven't seen their loved ones in care home since march. so i really welcome that announcement. i would say we still have to be cautious, let's not forget the nhs has treated over 100,000 severely ill patients in the last month and we still have almost 20,000 people in hospital. jill has two siblings and says, it is unlikely she will be a chosen visitor because she lives the furthest away, but she doesn't mind. it is wonderful that one

of us will be able to go in and hold her hand and that will make a whole difference to us as a whole whole family. anna collinson, bbc news. ina in a moment we are going to speak to our political correspondent. but first i want to bring you the figures that we have got on coronavirus that had just come in now. they include 10,406 positive new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 new cases of coronavirus in the last 2a hours. there have been a45 new 24 hours. there have been 445 new deaths. and in terms of vaccinations, there are 371,906 new first doses and that has brought the total number of vaccinations to 17,000,247. we are going to speak

now to hell and catch. we heard about care home residents in england being allowed to have one person visited them from the martha pphh. do we have any further signs? there's been a lot of speculation about what may or may not be the road map and when. this is the first concrete measure that has been announced this one visitor to come and visit people and care homes. we know that boris johnson has consistently said that march the 8th is when he wants the schools to return and downing street sources say that they are increasingly confident of hitting that. beyond that, we understand that downing street sources say it is an absolute priority to make sure that people are able to mix again more widely, families. it is a cautious mould. 0ne families. it is a cautious mould. one option that is being looked at

is that of allowing two households to be able to mix, the focus being on outdoors because that is understood where the virus transmits less readily. looking at allowing two households to meet outdoors. that could be by easter. flat that could be by easter. not imminent? _ that could be by easter. not imminent? no. _ that could be by easter. not imminent? no. boris- that could be by easter. notl imminent? no. borisjohnson that could be by easter. not - imminent? no. borisjohnson and other imminent? no. boris johnson and other ministers _ imminent? no. boris johnson and other ministers have _ imminent? no. boris johnson and other ministers have been - imminent? no. boris johnson and other ministers have been very i imminent? no. boris johnson and i other ministers have been very clear over town that they are talking about a gradual unwrapping. last week the phrase that he was using was cautious but irreversible. is going to be a series of small steps i think. ., ~ , ., , i think. 0k, helen thank you very much. the prince of wales has visited the duke of edinburgh, who remains in the king edward vii hospital in central london. prince philip, who turns 100 injune, is expected to stay in hospital over the weekend and into next week for observation and rest. he was admitted on tuesday evening after feeling unwell and walked unaided into the medical centre. he's said to be "in good spirits." helena wilkinson is outside the king edward vii hospital

in central london. a visit, then, from prince philip's oldest son. a visit, then, from prince philip's oldest son-— oldest son. yes, that is right. prince charles _ oldest son. yes, that is right. prince charles arrived - oldest son. yes, that is right. prince charles arrived here i oldest son. yes, that is right. | prince charles arrived here not through the front entrance, but at a rear entrance just around the corner from where we are. he arrived at around 3:20pm. he arrived in a grey car. he was wearing a light grey suit with a face covering on. he was notjoined as far as we could see by other members of the royal family. he arrived alone, he went inside and spent some time inside the hospital. in the last ten minutes or so, prince charles has in fact left the hospital. it was a fairly short visit, but we understand as far as we know, this is the first visit by a member of the royalfamily we know, this is the first visit by a member of the royal family to the duke of edinburgh who you say is in

hospital. he remains here. this will be his fifth night here at this hospital. he was brought here on tuesday evening from windsor castle. that is where he and the queen have been isolating. we were told at the time that the duke of edinburgh was brought to hospital, he was feeling unwell for a couple of days. there was an abundance of caution by bringing him to the hospital. there was not really a sense of any cause for concern, but they kept him in to observe him and in orderfor the duke of edinburgh to reston hospital as well. terms of updates from buckingham palace, we had some details. the duke of edinburgh is expected to remain in the hospital until early next week for continuing

observation and rest. we do not know why he is here apart from the fact that he was feeling unwell for a couple of days before he was admitted on tuesday. we know that the palace has confirmed that it does not have anything to do with the coronavirus. we know that both he and the queen had the first dose of the vaccine last month. the prince of wales, the duke of edinburgh's son spending some time in the hospital in the last hour or so arriving at 3:20pm pm going in by himself with a face covering and he spent a few hours in the hospital and he left a few minutes ago. the russian opposition leader alexei navalny has been found guilty of slandering a world war ii veteran after appearing in court in moscow for the second time in a day. earlier, he lost an appeal

against his imprisonment for violating the terms of a suspended sentence. mr navalny was arrested last month on returning to russia from germany, where he was being treated for poisoning. he says the charges against him are fabricated and blames president vladimir putin for the attack. the kremlin denies involvement. we can see live pictures now actually from the court where alexei navalny has been found guilty as i said of slander. you can see him therejust in the said of slander. you can see him there just in the background. emergency medical workers in myanmar say at least two people have been killed and several others injured, at an antil—coup protest in the city of mandalay. witnesses said police used live ammunition as they tried to disperse the crowd in myanmar�*s second city. they'd been clashing with striking shipyard workers. it's an escalation in the military�*s response to the daily demonstrations across myanmar.

they began when the burmese army seized power on the first of february and detained the elected leader aung san suu kyi. there were also large rallies in yangon where people mourned the death of a young woman, shot in the head last week as police dispersed a crowd in the capital naypyitaw. for more on the situation in mandalay, here's soe win than, editor of bbc burmese. two people died from injuries they received when the security troops fired at the protesters. there were clashes all day. they started off in the shipyard in mandalay where the workers, the shipyard workers, are striking and the security troops turned up and asked them to leave the port. and then they broke onto a ship and they asked the shipyard workers to leave the ship and when they refuse there were clashes. the other protesters joined in and support of

the workers and there was a standoff. police started to fire tear gas and rubber bullets, initially. we saw people running around in the background. the footage has come from mandalay showing that people were running around, they were hiding. loud gunshots were heard in the background. after that, we saw several injured people carried on stretchers and whatever else was around. people were carrying the wounded. two people died. at least 20 people were injured, and some of them were quite serious. president biden says he'll sign a major disaster declaration for texas as the full extent of the crisis caused by a severe freeze and a huge power failure becomes clear. it would pave the way for more us federal funds to be spent on relief

efforts. nearly 60 deaths have been attributed to cold weather that has swept down across the us this week. on friday, about 180,000 homes and businesses in texas still had no electricity. the bbc�*s leboo diseko reports from dallas. after days battling to find power, texans are now struggling to get clean water. 13 million people, around half the state, are being told to boil what comes out of their taps, some even resorting to heating snow to drink. whoo! awesome! but in any crisis there are helpers like allen — he has brought hundreds of bottles of water for his local community. super important, it really is, this takes the burden off of me having to get out and drive around. so i appreciate this, i really, really do. it has been a gruelling few days for allen, who has dealt with power outages and now has no food at home. i was very cold, and every time i would get out of my car and go

back in just to have somewhere to lay down, i had to decide, do i want to be uncomfortable in my car in the warmth or go into a cold home and lay in a comfortable bed? today, i am going to do this water and then after the water, i am going to check and see what type of food people lost and see what i can do to replace their food. honey, this is more than enough! thank you. it is clear allen is making a huge difference to his community, bringing supplies like water and even electricity generators. but temperatures are expected to triple in the coming days and that could bring new problems — melted ice coming through already damaged pipes could cause flooding. that could see precious supply dwindle even further. officials say some areas in the state could completely run out in the coming days. residents are being asked to ration the little utilities they already have. it has been a long, cold week in the us.

several states in this country have been brought to their knees by the severe winter storms. is too early to definitively link this weather to global warming, but what is clear is that the us needs to be better prepared for a changing climate. leboo diseko, bbc news, dalls, texas. my colleague lewis vaughanjones has been speaking to alvin migues in dallas, emergency disaster services director for the salvation army in texas. he outlined the support that's been put in place for people across the state. since the event started early last week, the salvation army has been working to open all of our facilities so that people will have a warm place to go and stay. just like you mentioning your story, there are a lot of people running out of food, water is definitely becoming a huge issue for us. and we done everything we can from our main hub to start supplying

as many folks as we can with water, food products and of course blankets and warm coats. we are working diligently with all of our vendors to try and secure food boxes so that we can take those out and start delivering them across the state. we are hoping to receive up to 20 truckloads of food boxes in the next week or so. it is remarkable, just that basic need that need to be met. we heard thatjoe biden has approved this declaration of a major disaster for texas which will release more funds. from a national level. what difference does that make on the ground? funding right now is a huge issue because we've gone through this whole year as a covid crisis. it has created a lot of challenges for people. theyjust do not have a lot to give. having those federal dollars to come to us allows us to focus on getting the home repairs done quickly and efficiently so people can get back into their houses

and their lives back to normal. unfortunately, that might take a bit of time. and we have freezing temperatures. infrastructure, domestic or commercial, damaged frozen pipes. that all needs repair and that's going to take a long time. it is absolutely going to take a long time. i expect we will start our case management work within a next couple of weeks, but i expect it taking up to a year or a year and a half before everyone is back to normal. that is an extraordinary length of time. people have been debating this especially here watching around the world. how unexpected is this? people seeing the pictures saying well, texas is not very prepared for this nor should it be because it is normally not like this, but how much of a surprise is it there? we knew it was coming, we just didn't know the severity. we anticipated it, but the fact that we had one storm that came

and dropped a lot of snow followed by another storm that dropped lots of ice, and that is what created most of the havoc. we can deal with the snow in some extent. we can deal with the snow in some extent. we could not deal with the ice in the subzero temperatures. that was an surprise. the headlines on bbc news... as plans to ease lockdown in england start to be revealed, residents in care homes will be allowed indoor visits by a member of their family or a friend from next month. number ten says reuniting families and allowing people to have more social contact will be an "absolute priority" in easing lockdown after schools reopen. prince charles has made a visit to the king edward vii hospital in central london where his father the duke of edinburgh is being treated. pubs, restaurants and cafes need their supply chain to be ready in order to serve customers their full range.

and those suppliers are asking the government for at least two weeks' notice of a definite re—start after an extremely challenging year. with the manufacture of some food products stopped during the lockdown and many staff furloughed, gearing up again won't be straightforward. here's our business correspondent katy austin. right now, takeaway and delivery are the only options for pubs like this one in berkshire, providing only a fraction of pre—pandemic trade. we have invested heavily in outdoor spaces. the boss is waiting with baited breath for monday's announcement. it has been very stressful, we are racking up costs all the time. we would like certainty, like a date. at least two weeks, really, for pubs to open correctly. but our suppliers need longer. i mean, beer, for example, takes three weeks to brew. for many pubs, restaurants and cafes, being prepared for full dine—in service to resume depends on the supply chain being ready. the next link in that is wholesalers. bid foods' customers range from high

street eateries to care homes. nearly half the staff here are furloughed, and after a stop—start year, the man in charge also wants to know what's next for hospitality. it's notjust a case of turning on a switch and providing the product. the customers have to plan what menus they want to offer. we then have to plan from our 40,000 customers how much stock we want. we then have to order that stock from the suppliers. long—life ambient foods, but also fresh produce, fresh meat, fresh fish. all of those things take a bit more time to get into the supply chain. some production has stopped, of large catering packs and speciality catering products. that brings us to mademoiselle desserts, whose cakes and puddings bid foods sells on. it's stopped making some things like round cakes, which are mostly eaten in coffee shops and restaurants. activity is only at 10—15% of pre—covid levels. there's only a certain amount of customers ordering at the moment. the manager here too says he cannot ramp things up again overnight. the ingredients is the thing that will delay us.

most of them are uk. there are a number of ingredients that we do get from abroad, you know, chocolate in particular, but some of those are a four—week lead time at the moment. and then cream cheese for us is three weeks, and that's a key ingredient for our business. a tumultuous year has squeezed cash flow hard, while multiple closures and restarts have led to food waste. these firms say the government needs to help them so that when dining out can happen again, the products customers want are on the menu. katy austin, bbc news. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah. let's start with the premier league — where southampton have ended their worst run in top flight football, by holding chelsea to a one all draw at st mary's. ralph hasenhuttl�*s side had come into this match off the back of six straight league defeats. despite that poor form takumi minamino, who's on loan from liverpool,

opened the scoring against the run of play. the saint's might have won had striker danny ings not brought down mason mount who went on to rescue a point for chelsea. there are three more games today. burnley are currently taking on west brom. it goalless in the second half — west brom had semi ajayi sent off after a var review. they are down to ten men. later at 5.30 the big match of the day is at anfield where liverpool take on everton in the merseyside derby. then at 8 o clock fulham host sheffield united. in the scottish premiership the top two sides — rangers and celtic — play tomorrow. there are for games this afternoon. —— there are four games this afternoon. aberdeen are ahead against kilmarnock. hamilton academical are down a man — and down a goal to hibs. a 3 goal lead for st. johnstone at motherwell. st mirren and livingston

are drawing at the moment. covid—19 is continuing to spread within the french squad ahead of their six nations game against scotland next sunday. winger gabin villiere and prop mohamad haouas are the latest players to test positive. it follows the news yesterday that scrum half antoine dupont had returned a positive test. earlier in the week, head coach fabien galthie and assistant william servat began isolating following the news they both had coronavirus. harlequins have leapfrogged sale into third place in rugby union's premiership after beating them 24—12. quins ran in 3 tries with joe marchant stunning sale when he crossed the line twice in three first half minutes. two games kicked off at 3 o clock. second placed exeter host northampton saints. currently level at 7—all, leicester up against wasps

19—3 the score there. both teams have had a player sent off. naomi 0saka said she was gratefulfor the energy of the crowd, after winning the australian open. that is her fourth grand slam title, and it maintains her 100 per cent record in majorfinals. ata time at a time were little and tennis has felt certain, the threat of naomi 0saka is one of the few constants. it felt fitting that here also was a fine list a few expected people. jennifer brady spent her first two weeks in isolation forced to practice in and hotel room yet here she was holding her nerve in her first grand slam final. from lockdown, she was a set down. a

momentary misjudgment against an opponent like 0saka, that really goes unpunished. 0saka took the first set with the next point and from there she accelerated like only a player of her quality can. ruthless and relentless offering brady little. i ruthless and relentless offering brady little-— brady little. i feel like playing a grand slam _ brady little. i feel like playing a grand slam right _ brady little. i feel like playing a grand slam right now _ brady little. i feel like playing a grand slam right now it's - brady little. i feel like playing a grand slam right now it's a - brady little. i feel like playing a | grand slam right now it's a super privilege and is something i will not take for granted, thank you for this opportunity. fist not take for granted, thank you for this opportunity-— this opportunity. at 'ust 23, this is already herh this opportunity. atjust 23, this is already her fourth _ this opportunity. atjust 23, this is already her fourth grand - this opportunity. atjust 23, thisj is already her fourth grand slam title and uncertain year and an uncertain tournament, but you can be sure 0saka will win more. that's all the sport for now. there's much more on the website and app including live coverage of the semi finals of the welsh 0pen snooker. northern ireland'sjordan brown needs just one more frame against scotland's stephen maguire. brown lead 5 frames to 1. ronnie 0'sullivan plays mark williams. you can check it all out at our website. we will see you for sports

day at 6:30pm. doctors say ambulance handover delays in england during the surge in covid cases over christmas, led to secondary victims in the community. the royal college of emergency medicine says people died of unrelated conditions while waiting hours for help. dr faye kirkland, who is also a working gp, has this report. the first call to 999 was at ten... it's there. 10:25. rose says it was her worst nightmare. then another call to 999. while working a ngiht shift as a nurse this christmas, her teenage children called to say their father was suddenly unwell. it is literally five minutes to the hospital. of course, now he could not move, that was the challenging thing. the family called 999 four times before an ambulance arrived, three hours after the first call. i can't really expect that an ambulance can take such a long time, having been sounded by children. forget about the person who was sick, the fact was that the children

were in the house alone with their dad, who was unwell. robert, seen here celebrating four days earlier on boxing day, died of a stroke before the ambulance arrived. such call—outs should take around 18 minutes. that week, the time it took for ambulances to hand over patients rose sharply with the spread of the kent variant, meaning for some patients there was no ambulance free to respond to their calls. he was frightened and getting sicker and sicker by the minute. angela templeman waited for more than six hours for her partner's ambulance. by the time it arrived, an existing surgical wound had started to break them. you do not know what to do in that situation, you have done everything you can — phoned, called, the gp has said you have to go to hospital and you are too sick to go in a car, with me. so we had to sit and wait and it was just so frightening. nobody would listen.

graham was taken to intensive care with sepsis and is now recovering at home. bbc news has learned ambulance waiting times outside hospitals in some parts of england rose dramatically over the festive period. freedom of information requests show waiting times in london rose by 63% for the two weeks over the christmas period. and by a8% in the west midlands. it is clear that covid is creating a whole bunch not only of covid victims but also secondary victims. the body which represents emergency care doctors said treating patients in the back of ambulances during the pandemic could have been avoided. i think it was preventable. if you run a system on fumes basically you are going to have problems. the idea patients call for help, have been taken in an ambulance and a paramedic hasjudged this is a person who is seriously ill who needs to go to hospital, and they get to hospital and the whole system designed to help them is unable — i think that is absolutely ghastly.

nhs england said services work together to free up capacity despite a significant increase in the number of patients with coronavirus. faye kirkland, bbc news. hsbc says it's reviewing its procedures for fraud victims after a bbc investigation revealed one victim was kept on hold for 20 hours, before they were able to speak to someone. 82—year—old richard had £8,500 stolen, but it took him and his family nearly a day on the phone to get through to the bank. hsbc has apologised for richard's "prolonged" wait and refunded the money. it says that any delay in getting through to its scam helpline will be taken into account when it investigates future scams. they're one of the most recognisable couples in the world but it seems the seven—year marriage of kim kardashian and kanye west is over. the reality tv star is reported to have filed for divorce from her rapper husband. 0ur north america correspondent

david willis has the latest from los angeles and his report contains some flashing images. it was a made—for—tv marriage, the rapper and the reality star. the union of two people uniquely gifted in the art of self—promotion. kim kardashian west! both destined to strike an improbable alliance with another star of reality television, although politics was, it's thought, just one source of disagreement. she a democrat... i love this guy right here! he, an increasingly vocal conservative, seen here sporting a "make america great again" hat in the oval office before going on to announce an ill—fated run for president. that led in july last year to a barrage of worrisome tweets, including one in which kanye west likened his mother—in—law to the north korean dictator kimjong—un, and even accused herfamily of trying to lock him up. it is being reported - that kim had been over