welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... the us once again breaks the world record for daily covid cases — and record numbers are in hospital with covid, too. a downing street drinks party when large gatherings were banned. anger from families who were unable to be with loved ones when they died. people died sticking to the rules, and they broke those rules to have a bottle of wine. questions raised about whether novak djokovic made a false declaration on his border entry form for australia. we'll have the latest from melbourne.

and a medicalfirst in america, where doctors have transplanted a genetically modified pig's heart into a human patient. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 7am in singapore, and 6pm in washington — where the number of new covid infections and the number of hospital admissions have reached an all—time high. in europe, the world health organization says there's a new tidal wave of omicron sweeping the continent from west to east — with france, italy, and turkey reporting new pandemic highs. more on that in a moment. if we take a closer look at the us, we'll see cases there have soared over the past few weeks —

to an average of 737,000 per day. the number of americans in hospital with covid is over 142,000. it's never been higher, and it's increased 83% in the last two weeks. 0ur washington correspondent barbara plett has more. with 0micron reaching across the country, the government's response to the resurgent pandemic is coming under a harsh spotlight. we will now introduce today's witnesses. .. at a hearing on capitol hill, senators grilled health officials about delays, failures, and confusion. top of the list was the shortage of rapid at—home tests — a question on both sides of the aisle. what are you doing to address the frustrations and challenges we are hearing about covid testing? we immediately reached out to our manufacturers... witnesses talk through the investment and logistics behind their push for 500 million tests — but admitted the first batch would only be out by the end of the month. equally pressing was the issue

of changing guidance from the centers for disease control. on that, there was a rare bipartisan consensus — it's confusing. i'm in ruralalabama, _ but i get one of these home tests — and i test positive. i have — symptomatic. what do i do? stay home for five days, and the next five days, if you continue to be asymptomatic, you can go out, wear a mask — well, first you call your physician. a lot of the people don't have - physicians, they've got a drugstore. partisan criticism is commonplace in these hearings. the debate over covid has been politcised from the start. you are the lead architect for the response from the government, and now 800,000 people have died. but this was a particularly sharp personal attack on the government's top scientist, anthony fauci. what happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden, that kindles the crazies out there, and i have threats upon my life. well, i'm confident we're on the right track. - thank you all. president biden had already been battling

the effects of misinformation resistance to vaccines. now 0micron has thrown americans a curveball, and the administration is struggling to catch up. barbara plett usher, bbc news, washington. dr adam brownjoins us now, from envision health care, who providing care to patients in hospitals across the united states. great to have you on the programme, doctor brown. can i start by asking you please, just paint a picture of us dashed for us of what the situation is across the us? well, it's a pretty _ situation is across the us? well, it's a pretty grim _ situation is across the us? well, it's a pretty grim picture. - situation is across the us? well, it's a pretty grim picture. we - situation is across the us? well, it's a pretty grim picture. we are seeing a record number of cases across the united states — more so on the east coast and some of our larger population centres, in california and chicago. and from a hospital standpoint, we are also seeing a record number of hospitalisations not only with adults, but also with paediatric

patrons. and that's on top of it we were seeing, of course, in the normal state of affairs during januaryjust normal state of affairs during january just after the holidays normal state of affairs during januaryjust after the holidays in our hospitals. it's a pretty grim, frustrating situation for our health care workers and patients, as well. indeed, doctor brown, but my understanding is, and please do correct me if i'm wrong, that the number of people infected who are coming into hospital — we are only finding out about that once they are in, is that right? what does that indicate about the severity of the disease at this point in time? well. disease at this point in time? well, but i think you _ disease at this point in time? well, but i think you may _ disease at this point in time? well, but i think you may be _ disease at this point in time? -ii but i think you may be alluding to is that we are starting to differentiate between patients who are being admitted to the hospital with covid, and those who may be admitted for other reasons that have covid. but the fact remains that there is a significant amount of resources that are required for patients who not only have it as a primary diagnosis, but also secondary diagnosis. and from what i am seeing on the ground and from

conversations i'm having with my colleagues, my clinical leaders from across the country, they are being really stretched and the resources are being stretched — it's causing significant issues for the health care system. so irrespective of the way the disease is categorised, that may be important for us from a fight to make a scientific perspective and understanding how 0micron and other variants of covid may rest on dust respond and vaccinated and unvaccinated bodies. but we are seeing a significant amount of cases and it's causing a lot of strange. how close are we to hospitals being overrun, and how concerned are you about that? i’m overrun, and how concerned are you about that?— overrun, and how concerned are you about that? �* , _, . ., about that? i'm very concerned about that. remember— about that? i'm very concerned about that. remember that _ about that? i'm very concerned about that. remember that cases _ about that? i'm very concerned about that. remember that cases come - that. remember that cases come first, hospitalisations typically, 1-2 first, hospitalisations typically, 1—2 weeks later, then sadly deaths can come after that. so we are seeing record numbers of cases, than record numbers of hospitalisations now — over the upcoming weeks, we will see even more hospitalisations.

i've had some people asked me about health care system collapse, and it's not like a label that gets turned off — it's more symptoms of delayed care, ambulances that may not be at your home when you need it, or even services in the hospital that are not available when you need them. those things are starting to happen now — we even see in florida, a mother and baby board had to shut down because multiple staff members are getting sick. so those are some, gated issues we are seeing here in the us as we try to deal with 0micron. —— some collocated issues. doctor brown, thanks forjoining us. thanks for having me. that's the picture in the us — meanwhile, the spread of the 0micron variant is continues to surge across europe, with france, italy and turkey all recording their highest daily infections since the start of the pandemic. the who director for europe says more than half the continent's population will catch covid in the next two months — if infections continue at current rates. experts say vaccines still provide

good protection against 0micron, but because of the unprecedented scale of transmission, we're now seeing rising covid—i9 hospitalisations across europe. let's take a listen. at this rate, the institute for health metrics and evaluation forecasts that more than 50% of the population in the region will be infected with 0micron in the next 6—8 weeks. data collated in recent weeks confirms that 0micron is highly transmissible, because the mutations it has enable it to adhere to human cells more easily, and it can infect even those who have been previously infected or vaccinated. finally, let's looks at the situation in asia.

china has locked down a third city — new measures have been imposed in an—yang, affecting five—and—a—half million people. hong kong is imposing some of its strictest curbs since the beginning of the pandemic — primary schools are to close — last week a 6pm curfew on dining was brought in. in india, delhi's chief minister has confirmed, that restaurants will close, work—from—home orders are to be reimposed, and the nightime curfew will continue. turning now to what's making headlines in the uk — police in london say they're in contact with the government, after as many as a hundred people were invited to a party in the garden at downing street during the first lockdown in may 2020. at the time, such gatherings were banned. the opposition labour party says borisjohnson "cannot spend the next days and weeks hiding behind a whitehall inquiry," which is looking into whether the gatherings at number ten broke covid rules. 0ur deputy political editor, vicki young reports.

a day for keeping a low profile. borisjohnson returning home after his morning run knowing he's slowly being drawn further into this scandal. there are plenty of questions... ms truss, the prime minister- was at the party, should he notjust come clean about it? ..but not many answers. should the prime minister apologise forgoing to a party? _ did you attend any parties? were you invited to any? no. during the first lockdown in may 2020, an e—mailfrom senior official martin reynolds, seen by itv news, invited 100 staff to make the most of the "lovely weather" and bring their own booze to the downing street garden. witnesses have told the bbc mrjohnson and his wife were among 30 people who went along. butjust an hour before, inside number ten, a cabinet minister was telling the country this... you can meet one person outside your household in an outdoor public place, provided that you stay two metres apart. so, what's the explanation?

well, for now, there isn't one. and not many conservatives turned up to hear the minister say, "wait for the official inquiry" — launched after allegations of other parties. if wrongdoing is established, there will be requisite disciplinary action taken. as with all internal investigations, if evidence emerges of what was potentially a criminal offence, the matter would be referred to the metropolitan police. did the prime minister attend the event in the downing street garden on 20 may, 2020? it won't wash, mr speaker, to blame this on a few junior civil servants. the prime minister sets the tone. 0thers remembered the lives lost during the pandemic... just last week, 3,000 people who followed the rules and grieve today, including my mother—in—law who died alone...

..and the pain of separation from loved ones. it's what happened to lisa's family. her brother, graham, was in intensive care on the date the downing street party took place. he died a few days later, but relatives couldn't be with him or grieve together. instead of holding my mum, i was holding my phone, filming my brother dying. people sacrificed so much. people died sticking to the rules, and they broke those rules to have a bottle of wine. senior conservatives are angry, too. if he's broken the law that is serious, and if he's misled parliament, i've been very clear before, notjust the prime minister, but anyone who misleads parliament

cannot continue and therefore he would have to resign. very few conservative mps have been willing to defend the prime minister over all of this. 0ne former cabinet minister said to me, "the problem is, borisjohnson just says what he has to say to get through the day, he tries to lie his way out of everything." another told the bbc, "he has to go, he's run out of road." all eyes now are on the independent report and whether it finds that the prime minister has broken the rules. across the country during lockdown, we closed our doors to normal life, ordered to stay at home, cut contact with friends and family. the question now — what was going on behind this door? vicki young, bbc news, westminster. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. school leaders in england have warned of signficant staff shortages, with one in 12 teachers reported absent last week. more than 300,000 students were also

off because of covid. officials say the situation will get worse before it gets better. anyone who records a positive lateral flow test in england, but doesn't have symptoms, no longer needs to take a pcr test. it's hoped easing the rule will free up pcr testing capacity for key workers, amid concerns over staff shortages because of covid infections. northern ireland, scotland and wales have already implemented the change. stadiums in scotland will be returning to full capacity next week after the country's first minister announced limits on outdoor crowds will be removed. rugby fans will be happy with this news — with the six nations starting next month. president biden has begun the new year pushing for voting rights, calling this a defining moment for us democracy. he was in georgia today, calling on the us senate to create national rules for early voting

and voting by mail, and to restore state voting laws meant to prevent discrimination. jim crow 2.0 is about two insidious things — voter suppression and election subversion. it's no longer about who gets to vote, it's about making it harder to vote. it's about who gets to count the vote — and whether your vote counts at all. it's not hyperbole, this is a fact. look, this matters to all of us. the goal of the former president's allies is to disenfranchise anyone who votes against them. simple as that. president biden really began this push on voting rights after the aniversary of the attack on congress. 0ur correspondent gary 0'donoghue explained more about the link between these two things.

i think he sees this as an attempt by republicans across the country to have the results overturned, to block, to change the rules even running up to that date of the capital maca attack where members of congress are trying to overturn things. he sees this as an attempt to change the rules around the country since the election. these two bills represent a pushback against that — and while there is enough democratic support, 50 plus one to get that through this and that, there isn't enough republican support to overcome the potential filibuster, and that's the problem he's facing. a lot of people have been hoping for this kind of a speech sometime ago. there was a lot of focus by the white house on the other big legislative priorities — the info doctor bill, the build back better bill, earlier the american recovery plan — they believe the white house dropped the ball on this, and now it's too late. that's

why you've seen some civil rights groups and individuals give a pass to the speech today, because they believe it's doomed to fail and they don't really want to be associated with that. i think from the president's point of view, he sees this as a line in the sand and the battle is not over, and he may lose this but there's more battles ahead — whereas in reality, a lot of people will see this is a huge blow to his legislative ambitions, and there'll be a lot of angry democrats after this. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: tributes following the death of a heroic rat, who sniffed out more than a hundred landmines across cambodia. day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air attacks since the second world war. tobacco is america's oldest industry, and it's one of its biggest. but the industry is

nervous of this report — this may tend to make people want to stop smoking cigarettes. there is not a street that is unaffected. huge parts of kobe were simply demolished as buildings crashed into one another. this woman said she'd been given no help and no advice by the authorities. she stood outside the ruins of her business. i tens of thousands of black children i in south africa have taken advantage of laws passed by the country'sl new multiracial government and enrolled at formerly—white schools. tonight see the 9610th performance of the long—running play, the mousetrap. when they heard of her death today, the management considered whether to cancel tonight's performance, but agatha christie would've been the last person to want such a thing. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. the headlines... the us once again has

broken the world record for daily covid cases — and, record numbers are in hospital with covid, too. the british prime minister boris johnson is under growing pressure over a downing street drinks party when large gatherings were banned. a 57—year—old man in america who received the heart of a genetically—modified pig in a first of its kind operation is doing "extremely well". that's according to his son who spoke to the bbc and said the result was an "absolute miracle". if the procedure does prove to be successful, it could lead to animal organs being used more frequently in human transplants. this report from our medical editor fergus walsh contains pictures of the operation. this is the gene—edited pig heart, ready for transplant into a human. the organ looks perfect, a good size, and the extraction of the organ went routinely.

surgeons in maryland spent eight hours performing the world first. scientists had spent decades building to this moment, which some believe could revolutionise transplantation. the recipient was david bennett, seen here with his son and daughter. he was dying of heart failure and too ill to be considered for a human organ. it's an absolute miracle. it provides a lot of hope for my family, my dad and many others. he is doing extremely well. his vitals look great, using the pig heart alone. and here is david with his surgeon. he's said to be doing well, although it's unclear how long his new heart will last. we've never done this in a human, and i like to think that we have given him a better option than what continuing his therapy would have been. but whether it's a day, week,

month, year, i don't know. the science involved gene—editing pig embryos. four pig genes were deactivated, knocked out. this included one to stop the heart from growing too large once transplanted. six human genes were added to try to prevent the immune system from immediately rejecting it. the gene—altered embryo was then transferred into a sow, with the subsequent litter grown for potential human transplant. i visited research farms in the us breeding gene—edited pigs. the hope is, they could solve the organ donor shortage. in the uk, around 500 patients die each year while on the transplant waiting list. some will object to animals being bred as spare parts, but the number needed would be dwarfed by the millions bred for meat. fergus walsh, bbc news.

let's get the latest on novak djokovic in australia. the australian government is still deciding whether to cancel his visa. on top of that — questions are now being raised about whether novak djokovic made a false declaration on his border entry form. australian media is reporting he ticked a box to say he had not travelled in the two weeks before arriving in melbourne on the 5 january. on christmas day, he was in belgrade. this picture tweeted by a portuguese journalist shows novak djokovic posing with a serbian handball player. a few days later, he was in spain. this video shows djokovic training in marbella on the 2january. he also signed autographs there forfans. 0ur correspondent shaimaa khalil has the latest from melbourne. the overarching sentiments now are confusion and uncertainty. yes, we know that a judge ruled

in his favour to stay. but we don't know if the government is still going to seek to deport him. we don't know if the immigration minister, alex hawke, is going to use his executive powers to cancel his visa. and today, another layer of uncertainty — teports of the border force investigating whether novak djokovic gave incorrect information in his travel declaration. remember, this is important because this is an argument that his legal team used in court, that he has given all the information in his travel declaration. well, now we know there are questions about whether or not he travelled with the ia days prior to coming to australia. so, yes, he says he's focused on competing. yes, he's been here training. but a few days before the australian open, there is no guarantee that he will be allowed to play and defend his title. and finally — he was only eight years old, but what a life of achievement. i'm talking about magawa, an african giant rat, who was celebrated for helping discover more than 100 landmines and other

explosives in cambodia, has passed away. catherine byaruhanga has the story. a light foot, quick mind, and powerful sense of smell. magawa, an african giant pouch rat, was built to clear landmines, working faster than humans could. he spent five years in cambodia sniffing out chemicals from explosives for a charity. magawa has been one of our productive rats. during his career, he found 70 landmines and 38 unexploded ordinances. and he cleared about 225,000 square metres of minefields. and, as i said, he was always very active. magawa retired last yearjust after he was awarded the prestigious pdsa gold medal for his devotion to duty. the project to train rats to help de—mine fields began in tanzania, where magawa was born.

rodents from here have been sent around the world to help communities. over 60 million people are affected by landmines. people cannot farm their lands, people cannot send their kids to school safely, you know, they cannot go and graze their cows. so it has a big impact on socioeconomic life, also on psychological life — people always live in fear of landmines, imagine if you're living in a house and you have to let your kids out playing, you know? you live under constant fear. magawa is said to have died peacefully. a private burial was held for him in cambodia. catherine byaruhanga, bbc news. the rolling stones might once have been seen as the ultimate rock and roll rebels, but they've now been given a rather more mainstream honour — they're featuring on a set of british postage stamps. here are some of the images which will be available on the set of 12 stamps, which mark the band's

60th anniversary. they include images of the late charlie watts, alongside mickjagger, keith richards, and ronnie wood. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello. the south of the uk has had some hello. the south of the uk has had som - , , hello. the south of the uk has had som �*- , , , ~ some very grey, drizzly weather throu . h some very grey, drizzly weather through the _ some very grey, drizzly weather through the course _ some very grey, drizzly weather through the course of— some very grey, drizzly weather through the course of today. - some very grey, drizzly weather| through the course of today. the skies also clear over the next few hours, and with all that moisture, we will see dense fog forming particularly across southern parts of the uk. in the dense fog could linger through tomorrow morning and even into the afternoon. now you can see the weather fronts through today across the south of the country, that's where we had all that light rain and drizzle. but as i say, it is in the process of clearing away — behind it, skies are clearing, so that greatest risk of dense fog across these parts of the country. elsewhere a clear night and across western parts of scotland, fairly cloudy and damp. these are the temperatures early in the morning, five celsius, but for many of us sits around freezing or below first

thing on wednesday. so the weather map for wednesday shows high pressure centred across england and wales, and this is where it will stick around really for most of the week. around the high pressure you can see some slightly milder air pivoting around, spreading across scotland — that's where you will have the mildest conditions, but with that also some clout and pieces of drizzle, some showers there in the western aisles. that fog again lingering for a across southern parts of the uk. but for the vast majority of us, it won't be foggy, but mostly bright and sunny day with temperatures getting to around between 7—10 c. the fog returns later in the week, this is early on thursday morning and once again, it seems like it's these southern parts of the uk that will get most of the fog stops on china bit further north, but once again here in the western aisles, it's more cloudy with the ocean breeze. where the fog lingers and sticks around into the

afternoon, it will be cold, temperatures may not rise any higher than 0 celsius. but under study are skies and clear weather, it will be around eight celsius for most of us. again, the highest temperatures there in northwestern parts of scotland, around 11 or so. in the same pattern repeats itself into friday morning, fog forming by the early hours and sticking around in some spots into the afternoon — and where it does, it will be quite cold, quite a roth field to things. very little change over the next few days without high—pressure sticking around, these are very much average temperatures for the time of year, but also cold weather frog hangs around. bye—bye. —— cold weather fog.

this is bbc news, the headlines.

the seven day average for new covid cases in america is above seven hundred thousand for the first time. and there are currently more people in us hospitals with covid than at any point during the pandemic. police in britain say, they've been in contact with the government, after a hundred people were invited to drinks in the downing street garden in may 2020. at that time, such gatherings were banned. president biden has given an impassioned speech in support of voting rights reform. speaking in georgia, he said he backed changes to senate rules, which would allow reforms to be passed without republican support. questions have been raised about whether novak djokovic made a false declaration on his border entry form for australia. federal officials are still considering whether or not to deport him.