tonight at 10pm — the uk's suspends flights from six african countries after the discovery of a new variant of coronavirus. the countries, including south africa, will be placed on the travel red list amid fears the new mutation may be the most dangerous yet. as the coverage went on, leading news bulletins all week, julie smith contacted us on saturday to say... and richard colborne wondered...

but we also heard the opposite concern, that the possible risks of the new variant were being underplayed at times on air. here is steph dodwell... well, at the heart of the bbc�*s reporting over the past week has been its medical editor, fergus walsh, and hejoins me now. thank you for coming on newswatch. there has, of course, been a lot of coverage of omicron over the past week. some viewers, as you have heard, think it's excessive and alarmist. how would you respond to them? well, i would say don't shoot the messenger. what we are seeing is

science in real time. it's absolutely remarkable. it's only been identified — omicron — about ten days ago. it only got a name — omicron — last friday. so incredibly early, very good research from the south african authorities, and as a result of that, we have seen this very swift action. and we have been reporting not only on what the scientists have said, and they are genuinely concerned that this could be the worst variant yet. but you also have to look at what governments have done. the uk government imposing travel restrictions, dramatically changing the booster programme from the over 40's getting a booster now down to everybody over the age of 18, and in england, the aim to offer everyone a booster jab by the end of january. and then, in terms of the length of time between a second dose and a booster being reduced from six months to three months. so, it has dramatically focused

attention on getting the population in the best possible immunological state before omicron really hits. fergus, we have also had the opposite point of view from some viewers who think the coverage has actually not taken the risk of omicron seriously enough, and that people listening will be too casual about it. well, it's dominated the airwaves. i don't think there's anything that's been casual about the coverage. we have pointed out that some doctors in south africa who first identified it said, well, it's causing mostly a mild illness, but the flip side of that is that it's quite a young population in south africa, and it's been spreading among student population back, and you would expect a younger people, younger adults who get infected to have a mild illness. and it's also fair to say that coronavirus for most people is not a serious illness, but even a minority who get seriously ill, that can lead to,

you know, very, very serious problems for the nhs, very serious levels of death and disease, which is what we have seen over the last two years. and really struck by the fact that for the last 18 months, you and your colleagues covering the story are aware that what you report can have an effect on, kind of, the public�*s attitude to risk and their actions, can't it? and i wonder how you deal with that responsibility. yeah, i have said many times i feel a very heavy responsibility to pitch the messaging that i'm giving right. i know that... and i've done this right throughout since i've been covering medical issues for nearly 20 years, that if i'm doing a story about cancer, i'm aware that, you know, several hundred people that day watching will have just had a cancer diagnosis. so, with omicron or with delta, coronavirus generally, you have got to be aware that there will be people who has been infected with whatever

variant of the illness, and you've got to try and get them messaging which is clear, which is not alarmist, and i think the message with omicron, and i keep repeating this is, we don't know yet. we don't know yet whether it causes more severe disease, we don't know yet whether it will evade the vaccines. and we are going to have to await maybe two weeks, maybe three weeks before a clearer picture emerges. one of the other big challenges is that we know there is a kind of fatigue out there. we heard it from one of the viewers there saying, you know, i'm sick of this, we need to get back to normal. iagree! laughter. i agree, i am very fatigued, and i did kind of put my head in my hands when omicron popped up. there was a great hope that delta would be the last big variant. yeah, i mean, iam not surprised that people feel sick to the sight of seeing me do this story. i would like to change what i'm doing and be reporting on medical

innovation and other things apart from coronavirus, but we can't ignore omicron and the potential, and i stress potential, threat that it poses. and can i ask when we think we might know enough about omicron to be able to fill in some of these gaps we have? so, what we are waiting for is results of lab tests, which will show how well the virus performs against blood, performs against blood which has the antibodies and the t cells of people who have had two doses, three doses or are unvaccinated. that will tell us something, but what you really want is the real world evidence, the first will come from south africa. we are seeing a rise in hospital admissions there, but it's all from a very low base. we really want to see what effect it has here in the uk on a very highly immunised population, where delta is really, it's the big bully variant on the block, and it will have to see whether omicron can really

make inroads into that. there are people who say it maybe omicron might be more transmissible, but maybe it will cause a more mild illness. and in terms of timescale, before christmas might we know? i think we will know a lot more before christmas. but it will become clear bit by bit,so, giving you a kind of absolutes underlined answer, this is the answer, omicron, it will be bit by bit, i'm afraid. well, fergus walsh, thank you so much for keeping going with the story. we appreciate it. and thank you for coming on newswatch. before we leave omicron, here is another aspect of the coverage which irritated some viewers this week. fix, irritated some viewers this week. big challenge ahead with the roll—out of these boosters. what impact will these restrictions have anyone in the run up to christmas? the health tech that neck secretary says there — the health tech that neck secretary says there is no need to cancel your christmas arrangements. as preparations for christmas go ahead, some _ preparations for christmas go ahead, some doctors— preparations for christmas go ahead, some doctors say— preparations for christmas go ahead, some doctors say it's _ preparations for christmas go ahead, some doctors say it's best _ preparations for christmas go ahead,

some doctors say it's best to - preparations for christmas go ahead, some doctors say it's best to avoid . some doctors say it's best to avoid large _ some doctors say it's best to avoid large gatherings. _ some doctors say it's best to avoid large gatherings, but— some doctors say it's best to avoid large gatherings, but ministers- some doctors say it's best to avoid | large gatherings, but ministers say it is the _ large gatherings, but ministers say it is the individual's _ large gatherings, but ministers say it is the individual's response - it is the individual's response betty~ — it is the individual's response be _ ,, ., it is the individual's response be . ,, ., , it is the individual's response be ., ., , ., betty. simon higgins emailthat's what this plea... _ while the omicron variant for seizing the news agenda at the last of and weak, thousands of people in the north of england, scotland and wales had a more immediate problem, storm arwen which has caused significant travel disruption, damage and loss of power. last friday, scotland correspondent, lorna gordon, was in the eye of the storm in stone haven. but lorna gordon, was in the eye of the storm in stone haven.— lorna gordon, was in the eye of the storm in stone haven. but there are very treacherous _ storm in stone haven. but there are very treacherous conditions - storm in stone haven. but there are very treacherous conditions out - storm in stone haven. but there are very treacherous conditions out on l very treacherous conditions out on the roads with those gusting winds,

falling debris, the red alert, of course, there is a potential risk to life, and the police in scotland tonight saying that if you live in any of these affected areas, you should not head out onto the roads. so, why had learned gordon and her camera crew ventured outside herself to bring us that reports? long—term newswatch viewers will be familiar with that question posed here sarah harris. susan penny echoed that.

other viewers had a different concern about the bbc�*s coverage of storm arwen, outlined here by wendy applebee. well, we put these planes to bbc news and they told us that thank you for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions about what you see hear or read on bbc news on tv, radio,

online and social media, email... or you can find us on twitter. you can call us. you have a look at our website for previous interviews. that's all from us. we will be back to get your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye. hello there. it was noticeably mild across southern areas today, further north, a little less so, but there was a lot of cloud around generally. best of the sunshine was across scotland. we change air masses, though, for the weekend, it's going to turn colder. there will be more sunshine around, but there will be showers, too, thanks to low pressure nearby. got some wet weather across the country at the moment, particularly across the south, and some showery bursts of rain pushing into much of scotland and northern ireland as well, thanks to these weather fronts. you can see the extent of the mild air slowly ebbing away now as colder air begins to invade in from the northwest through the course of tonight. so, plenty of showers around, these turning increasingly wintry,

notjust over the high ground in the north, even down to lower levels. and we have a band of rain spreading its way eastwards that will be bringing strong, blustery northwesterly winds. and you can see the extent of the cold air mass spreading right across the uk. so, we'll start off with early rain across eastern england, that should clear away. and then its bright with some sunshine, and some areas could stay dry all together through the day across the south with some sunshine. elsewhere, plenty of showers around, some merging to produce longer spells of rain and they will be will be wintry as well in places. a blustery day to come, these are mean wind speeds. gusts could be even higher than those values. so with these sorts of temperatures and factor in the strong cold northwesterly wind, it'll feel colder than this. it stays chilly through saturday night. plenty of showers, again, some merging together to produce longer spells of rain. towards the end of the night, it looks like most of the showery rain will be towards the east of the country. further west, the showers

could become a little more sparse. so, clearer skies here could turn cold with some frost and some ice around, particularly for northern and western areas. you can see we're still in the cold air mass for sunday. lower pressure towards the east, a ridge of high pressure to the west. so, that means many western areas and across the north should be a bit drier after that very cold start with plenty of sunshine. most of the cloud and showery bursts of rain will tend to affect the eastern side of the uk. but wherever you are, despite it being cloudy or sunny, it's going to be another chilly day right across the board. and it stays unsettled into the new week. monday, tuesday, look pretty wet, quite cold, some snow on the hills, potentially turning very windy midweek, too.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. cases of the omi—cron variant of coronavirus are surging in south africa as the first data emerges on how effective vaccines are against it it's possible that the omicron variant can cause infections even in previously vaccinated people however if they develop on the mild illness that means that vaccines are still providing protection. prosecutors in michigan charge the parents of the teenager accused of a deadly school shooting with involuntary manslaughter. "a day of shame for pakistan" imran khan condemns a mob which attacked and killed a sri lankan man accused of blasphemy.

pope francis uses his visit to cyprus to liken the fate