from home could be crucial. if we try to rely simply and solely on the vaccine programme to bring things under control this winter, we stand a really high risk of getting into serious trouble. but borisjohnson says high infection rates were predicted, and there's no need for more restrictions. the numbers we are seeing at the moment are fully in line with what we expected in the autumn and winter plan. what we want people to do is to come forward and get theirjabs. he says all covid measures are under constant review. also tonight...

the actor alec baldwin says he's shocked and saddened after shooting two people with a prop gun on the set of his new film. halyna hutchins later died in hospital. the queen is resting at windsor castle after the revelation she'd stayed for tests in hospital on wednesday night. the eu accuses belarus of state—sponsored people smuggling. we follow one group of migrants on their way to europe. and the norfolk sand bank reversing the march of coastal erosion. and coming up in the sport on the bbc news channel, four perfect races make it an omnium clean sweep for katie archibald — she becomes a track world champion again in roubaix.

good evening. scientists advising the uk government say plans for the reintroduction of stricter coronavirus measures should be ready for "rapid deployment". they say early intervention, like asking more people to work from home, could have the greatest impact on preventing viral spread and reduce the need for more stringent and longer—lasting measures. new figures from the office for national statistics suggest that 1.1 million people were infected across the uk last week, the highest number since january. currently there are more than 1,000 hospital admissions a day. borisjohnson says the situation is under constant review but there are no plans to implement tighter rules, and he's recommending those who are eligible get their booster jabs. with more, here's our health editor, hugh pym. vaccines boost our immunity and protect us from dangerous viruses... its a new government campaign and a bigger push to urge people who haven't had a jab to get one, and those eligible to get a booster.

the continued vaccination roll—out is at the centre of the prime minister's strategy for england, but there've been growing calls from experts for what's been branded plan b — wider mask wearing, more working from home and vaccine passports. but borisjohnson said today he wasn't ready ready to activate the plan. we keep all measures under constant review. we'll do whatever we have to do to protect the public, but the numbers we are seeing at the moment are fully in line with what we expected in the autumn and winter plan. what we want people to do is to come forward and get theirjabs. but cases in major european countries like italy are much lower than in the uk, and members of the expert sage committee, according to papers released today, note they have tougher restrictions, including proof of vaccine and testing status. sage says early intervention may reduce the need for tougher measures in future. one member of a government advisory committee — not sage — says plan b or something similar is needed very soon. if we try to rely simply and solely on the vaccine programme to bring things under control this winter, we stand a really high risk

of getting into serious trouble. so something's got to be done to communicate with the public and encourage them and, if necessary, i guess, i suppose requires them to do some of these things if we're going to stop getting into a really bad mess again. the latest infection survey by the office for national statistics shows that last week in england, one in 55 people had the virus. that was an increase. in wales, at one in a5, and northern ireland, at one in 130, the trend was said to be uncertain. in scotland, one in 90 had the virus. that was down on the previous week. this map shows in more detail varying infection rates around the uk. the lighter colours show the lowest rates, the darkest colours the highest, including north west england and parts of south wales. covid case increases have been

largely driven so far by infections among schoolchildren, though vaccinations of under—16s have only been under way for a month. data for england last week from the 0ns reveals that the sharpest rises in case rates were among children, but there were slight increases recorded as well, amongst some older age groups. covid hospital admissions are also rising, up nearly 20% week on week. the sage experts say it's unlikely that they'll go higher than the peak injanuary, but planning for possible new measures should begin now. hugh pym, bbc news. well, the government's latest coronavirus figures show there were 49,298 new infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. that means on average in the past week, there were 47,415 cases per day. the number of people in hospital with covid has increased to 8,238.

there were 180 more deaths recorded — that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive test, and that takes the average number of deaths in the past seven days to 135. in all, 139,326 people have now died with covid in the uk. 0n vaccinations, 86.3% of people aged 12 and over have now received a first dose, and just over 79%, have been double—jabbed. 0ur health editor hugh pym joins us now. fight make the same disk, the advisers, they are pretty clear. prepare to act quickly in order to prevent tougher measures for the deadline —— and the scientists and advisers, they are pretty clear. they are making it pretty clear, the expert members of the sage committee, you need to draw up plans to implement should you need to do so, possibly quite soon. throughout

the minutes published today of these meetings you get the theme you need to act early and may be more extensively than you would have liked as a government if you are going to stop further trouble developing that the line. they draw this contrast with many european countries with much lower infection rates than the uk who do have measures like mask wearing and vaccine passports, although of course more extensive use of face coverings is already in the rules in scotland, wales and northern ireland so the contrast is really with england. you do also have this emphasis as far as the experts are concerned on the impact of working from home. if more people are persuaded or advised to work from home, that that could have an impact in the weeks ahead. in effect, they are saying to ministers, if you want to bring down infection rates, then you do need these measures, although you do need these measures, although you may want to leave them more or less where they are, and that if you like is what borisjohnson in fact is saying. we don't think these numbers are getting beyond the projections. we will stick with the roll—out of the vaccines. but certainly you can put your money on

the fact that this data will be watched very, very carefully in whitehall in the weeks ahead. hugh . m, whitehall in the weeks ahead. hugh ' m, man whitehall in the weeks ahead. hugh pym. many thanrs- _ whitehall in the weeks ahead. hugh pym, many thanks. our— whitehall in the weeks ahead. hugh pym, many thanks. 0ur health editor. now, the hollywood actor alec baldwin says there are no words to convey his shock and sadness after he shot two people with a gun being used as a prop on the set of his new film. halyna hutchins, who was the film's director of photography, died, and the director, joel souza, was injured. detectives have questioned mr baldwin but say no one has been arrested. sophie long has more from los angeles. halyna hutchins described herself as a restless dreamer and adrenaline junkie. the 42—year—old was considered by her peers to be an exceptionally talented cinematographer. i met her at a film festival, and within just a few moments of talking to her, i felt like she had such a strong vibe, such a sense of commitment to art, and like the sort of integrity of wanting to make cinema, that i wanted to work with her. she was on set at the bonanza

creek ranch in new mexico when the shootings and deaths depicted on the 19th century western they were filming became all too real. police said that alec baldwin, the star and co—producer of the movie rust, discharged a prop gun carrying blanks. halyna hutchins was airlifted to hospital, but she died from her injuries. directorjoel souza was also seriously hurt. in a statement, alec baldwin said... the incident has rocked hollywood, with many of those in the film industry now mourning one of their rising stars and infuriated this could happen on set. and it comes just days after a nationwide strike was averted after a tentative deal

between producers and set workers that included an upgrading of safety standards. this isn't the first time someone's been fatally shot during filming. nearly 20 years ago, brandon lee died after being shot by a prop gun on the set of the crow. now people are demanding to know how it could have happened again. there are instances when you do shoot a blank that you can be injured. often, what comes out of the muzzle after you've discharged the weapon that has blank ammunition is sometimes a cotton wad, and that coming out at a very high velocity to an individual that's really close by can cause significant damage, and in some cases can cause death. an investigation into what happened here is still in its early stages. what we do know is something went terribly, tragically wrong. well, local media in los angeles here are now reporting thatjust

hours before halyna hutchins was shot and killed, six camera crew workers walked off the rust set in new mexico in protest at working conditions. it is also said they were complaining about long hours and pay with one person saying, there was a serious lack of safety meetings on set, and that corners were being cut. it has also emerged, clive, that the cinematographer herself had been advocating for safer working conditions for our team. the county sheriff in santa fe says this is an open and active investigation and that nobody has been arrested or charged. clive. thank you for that, sophie long, live in los angeles. a 24—year—old man has been arrested by detectives investigating the 2017 manchester arena bombing. he's being detained on suspicion of engaging in the preparation of acts of terrorism. 0ur correspondentjudith moritz is outside the arena for us tonight. judith, any more details on this? well, we know this man was arrested

earlier_ well, we know this man was arrested earlier today at manchester airport in his_ earlier today at manchester airport in his way— earlier today at manchester airport in his way back into the uk, having left the _ in his way back into the uk, having left the country in april 2017, around — left the country in april 2017, around a _ left the country in april 2017, around a month or so before the attack_ around a month or so before the attack here _ around a month or so before the attack here at the arena. tonight he is in custody— attack here at the arena. tonight he is in custody being questioned on suspicion — is in custody being questioned on suspicion of terrorist offences. we also know— suspicion of terrorist offences. we also know he is from the fallowfield area of— also know he is from the fallowfield area of manchester, the same suburb, south _ area of manchester, the same suburb, south of— area of manchester, the same suburb, south of the _ area of manchester, the same suburb, south of the city, where the bomber saimah _ south of the city, where the bomber salman abedi lived, and earlier this week— salman abedi lived, and earlier this week there — salman abedi lived, and earlier this week there was criticism of the bombers — week there was criticism of the bomber's brother ismail abedi in defiance — bomber's brother ismail abedi in defiance at a court order requiring him to— defiance at a court order requiring him to give — defiance at a court order requiring him to give evidence at the public enquiry— him to give evidence at the public enquiry into the attack. there have been _ enquiry into the attack. there have been questions over his whereabouts. i can been questions over his whereabouts. i can tell— been questions over his whereabouts. i can tell you — been questions over his whereabouts. i can tell you the man arrested is not isntaii— i can tell you the man arrested is not ismail abedi, and manchester police _ not ismail abedi, and manchester police say— not ismail abedi, and manchester police say four years after the attack — police say four years after the attack here they are still pursuing ieads— attack here they are still pursuing leads into — attack here they are still pursuing leads into the criminal investigation into the atrocity.

judith — investigation into the atrocity. judith moritz, live in manchester, thank you. the queen is said to be in good spirits as she continues to rest at windsor castle following her overnight stay in hospital on wednesday for medical tests. it's thought she'll continue to carry out light duties. aged 95, she missed a two—day trip to northern ireland this week on medical grounds. 0ur royal correspondent nick witchell has the very latest. windsor, wednesday afternoon. a convoy of royal vehicles moving under police escort in the direction of london. was this the convoy taking the queen to hospital? at around the same time, at windsor castle itself, a very small royal standard was said to be flying, its presence giving weight to the palace's claim that the queen was resting at the castle. but that was not the case. in fact, the queen was here, at the private king edward vii hospital in central london. the palace clearly hoped her visit would go unnoticed. it did, until last night, when the sun led with the story that she'd spent the night in hospital. the palace was forced

to issue this statement. buckingham palace insists that, like any citizen, the queen is entitled to privacy of medical issues. the palace will therefore say nothing about the nature of the investigations ordered by her doctors. i think this is a matter of concern, rather than alarm. had this been a procedure or an operation, then they would have put out a medical bulletin, but this trip to hospital is sort of somewhere in between, so i think the initial intention had been just to do this covertly, but it came out in the open, and now we all know about it. less than 24 hours before the queen's hospital visit, she was hosting a reception for global business leaders at windsor castle. she appeared to be relaxed

and on good form, but the inescapable reality is her age — she's 95. the queen's advisors have a difficult balancing act at several levels. first of all, they must balance the queen's instinctive wish to do as much as possible against the realities of her age. and they must also balance the concerns of millions of people for her well—being against her wish that medical matters should remain as private as possible. for now, we have to rely on what the palace says, which is that the queen has resumed the relentless and unseen work which goes with her role. she is, the palace says, continuing with light duties and remains determined to attend the cop26 summit in glasgow at the end of this month. nicholas witchell, bbc news, buckingham palace. there's renewed pressure from education unions and charities for the government to put more money behind a longer term plan to help schools in england recover from the pandemic.

earlier this year, the government's education recovery commissioner, sir kevan collins, resigned in protest, saying the £3.1 billion earmarked was inadequate. today, the department for education announced it will spend millions of pounds to help disadvantaged pupils. here's our education editor, branwen jeffreys. this was once a coal town. but ashington's pit closed in the 1980s. the rail line had already gone. it's been hard to build hope around education, and the pandemic has set back children in the north east even further. years, i think we're talking years. we're not talking about covid catch—up that will happen in the autumn term. good morning! _ are you all right this morning? schools are an anchor for the families, supporting parents, who see the effect on children. they seem to be more irritable in the classroom.

like, theirtempers seem to be more high and they're not engaging properly. and they're not even working nicely as a group anymore. in the youngest pupils, speaking and language have suffered in isolation. they want to feed children a rich diet of education. but parents isolated in the pandemic have struggled, so teachers are having to help toilet—train pupils. we have some children who are still in nappies, are still in pull—ups, notjust in our early—years setting, in our key stage 1 setting as well, and that's highly unusual. i have five units, i am adding two more. how many have i got altogether, harley? in maths, primary pupils in the north east

fell behind by more than five months last year. government cash has paid for some tutoring here and help with the transition to secondary. excellent, so the power is? twom _ and the variable is? perfect, well done. many year sevens came to summer schools — part of a huge effort already by schools to help get children back on track with their learning. but the worry is that without a sustained effort over many years, they won't have quite the same chances as the richest bits of the country. the catch—up funding so far has helped with their laptops, and for year 11, the school day has been made longer. with school putting, like, an extra lesson on, half an hour after school, that's helping us catch up. it has definitely had a big impact on our grades, and our marks that we are going to get, because we obviously missed half of year ten. ashington is due to get a rail line, newjobs are on the horizon —

but it's the long term recovery of schools that will make its future. branwenjeffreys, bbc news, ashington. the man accused of murdering the mp sir david amess will face trial in march next year. ali harbi ali, who's 25, is also charged with the preparation of terrorist acts. a two—minute silence has been held in leigh—on—sea in essex, close to where sir david was killed at his constituency surgery a week ago today. two teenagers have been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into so called spiking incidents in nottingham. this month, police received 15 reports of people claiming they'd been injected with a substance via a needle. the men, aged 18 and 19, remain in custody as police inquiries continue. the bbc understands the home secretary, priti patel, has agreed the law should be changed to give victims of domestic abuse more time to report a crime to the police.

the current time limit of six months could be extended to two years in cases of alleged common assault involving domestic abuse. it's been revealed that the former labour mp frank field is terminally ill. the news came during a debate in the house of lords on a bill to legalise terminally ill adults seeking assistance to end their lives. lord field wasn't well enough to attend but urged other peers to back the bill in his absence. the green party of england and wales is calling for every household to be given £320 to help pay for high energy bills. at the start of their annual conference in birmingham, the party's new co—leaders said the plan could be paid for by a windfall tax on all landlords of private rented properties. eu leaders have threatened further action against belarus over its migration policies. the european commission president, ursula von der leyen, accused belarus of state—sponsored people smuggling

for helping migrants into the eu through its neighbouring countries poland, latvia and lithuania. 0ur correspondent paul adams has been following the journey of one group of migrants. trapped in the forest in poland on the eu's eastern frontier, a group of syrians, exhausted and afraid. "we're absolutely shattered," the voice says. "we've been walking since four in the morning." but how did they get here? two weeks earlier, their journey starts with a tearful farewell in northern iraq. an optimistic selfie at the airport in irbil. "we're leaving for belarus," says idris. we went to irbil ourselves. the city is full of travel agents catering for would—be migrants. the first step — a visa. murat isn't doing anything illegal,

but he still doesn't want to be identified. if you have passports, i will send it to the belarus tourism companies, and they send us invitations. so when people come to you, you know they're not going to belarus for a holiday. of course. you know they're going to europe. yeah. by now, idris and his friends have reached the bela russian capital, minsk. the airport is jammed with people making the same journey. the group has been told to go to a hotel and wait for instructions. are you worried about the journey? translation: of course we are. we are crossing the border illegally. we don't know what will happen. we can't trust anyone — not even our smugglers. in may, the president of belarus, alexander lukashenko, threatened to flood the eu

with drugs and migrants — revenge, it seems, for eu sanctions. soon, thousands were crossing into lithuania. we went there to see the border. the guards here still catching dozens of migrants every day. lithuania says belarus is actively helping them to cross illegally. in some places, the border is little more than a gap in the forest. we can see some belarussian border guards coming right now. until the crisis began, there was a regular communication between the two sides, but after president lukashenko threatened to allow migrants into the eu, all of that cooperation stopped, and people started to flood across this border. but thousands of migrants are now in detention. this, for some, is where hopes and dreams come to an abrupt end. they can apply for asylum, but most won't get it.

poland... after several days of silence, idris and his friends are back in touch, heading further into poland. he couldn't film the moment but says belarussian soldiers loaded 50 migrants into a truck, took them to the border, and showed them the way. out of the forest and into the eu, in cars arranged by smugglers. with the help of belarus and at a cost of $7,000 each, idris and his friends have made it. they'll apply for asylum and see what happens next. paul adams, bbc news. when the climate change conference, cop26, begins a week on sunday in glasgow, rising sea levels will be one of the many issues on the agenda. now a radical scheme in norfolk is gaining attention, after millions of tonnes of sand were moved to protect two coastal villages and a gas terminal back in 2019. the project seems to have successfully slowed the erosion of the coast nearby. with more, here's our science

correspondent rebecca morelle. this might look like fun at the norfolk seaside, but this jetski is doing a vitaljob. equipped with hi—tech kit, it's measuring exactly how much sand lies beneath the waves. in 2019, in a radical experiment, millions of tonnes of sand were shifted to bacton, creating a vast dune stretching for four miles. the hope was it would protect this — the bacton gas terminal, at risk of falling into the sea. when the sand was placed two years ago, it raised the beach to here, seven metres up the cliff, and it gently sloped down to the sea. since then, several big storms have hit, and now you have this, a drop carved out by the waves. but the sand that was down here has moved into the shallows, creating a sand bar, and it's this that's breaking the energy of the waves, protecting the coast.

we've had a number of storms, and of course some quite severe ones, so without the sand, the waves would have made it all the way up to the cliffs, they would have caused the erosion of the cliffs and would have threatened the terminal. the sand meant that the waves never even got there. the local community has also been watching the sand closely. by the tide mark on the wall, it was waist height, really. graham french's cafe has flooded twice in the last 15 years. we've had storms, but nothing like the size of wave that we used to get, as the beach profile has changed now, and we definitely feel a lot safer now. with climate change leading to more extreme weather and sea level rise, many coastal communities are desperate for solutions. usually, sea defences are concrete, but scientists say we should work with the elements, rather than against them. in a way, making space for water, so allowing natural processes to come back in places where we can do this, i think that's the attitude

we need to have, and that we're not going to be able to keep building sea walls and defend, defend, defend. this sand hasn't come cheap. it's cost £20 million — mostly paid for by the gas terminal�*s operators. the natural barrier should last for about 15 years, but what happens after that will be one of many difficult decisions about the future of our coastlines. rebecca morelle, bbc news, bacton. that's it — now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night. good evening. the weather has thrown a little bit of everything at us this week, some wet weather, some squally winds, some mild conditions, some chilly conditions. but it is moving quite slowly and

running up against high pressure, so we'll still be a fair amount of dry weather, and when skies have been clear, really chilly start across eastern scotland and england. that is where we will see more of the sunshine. and then our weather front more of the sunshine. and then our weatherfront bringing more of the sunshine. and then our weather front bringing rain more of the sunshine. and then our weatherfront bringing rain into scotland. it will be crazy wherever you are, but particularly in the west of scotland. the book feeling relatively mild, 12 or 14 degrees. there will be a lot of cloud and we will see outbreaks of rain moving very slowly he stirred toward scotland. parts of wales in the southwest — — eastern scotland. much milder start to sunday morning in ourfrontal milder start to sunday morning in our frontal system milder start to sunday morning in ourfrontal system will milder start to sunday morning in our frontal system will continue to trudge its way these words through the day. i think this weather front will break up into showers, so it

won't be raining all the time, but we are going to see some even milder weather if anything spilling northwards across the uk. we will see a lot of cloud to start off, some outbreaks of rain tending to break up with some sunny spells developing too. a brisk wind once again. it is going to feel really quite mild with temperatures getting up quite mild with temperatures getting up to 14 or 15, maybe 16 degrees in one or two places. what about the coming weeks? we will see further frontal systems posting in from the west. one weather front could become quite slow moving towards the north and the west of the uk. but we can certainly see quite a lot of rain in northern and western areas but there is mild weather to come as well up with brisk winds. the further south, the better chance of staying dry for a few days, and temperatures could climb all the way to 18 degrees.

the actor alec baldwin has described as a tragic accident the fatal shooting he was involved in on a film set. baldwin fired a prop gun that was supposed to be loaded with blanks, but killed one person and injured another. the european union has accused belarus of recruiting migrants in the middle east and pushing them into europe. eu leaders said they will take further action against minsk over the issue. scientists advising the government say stricter covid measures should be made ready for �*rapid deployment�* — but the prime minister insists plan b for england isn't needed yet. buckingham palace has confrmed that queen elizabeth spent a night in hospital in london earlier this week, after undergoing what are said to be �*preliminary medical checks'.