this is bbc world news, the headlines the united states has announced it will require negative covid tests for travellers from china, following growing alarm at the rapid increase in chinese infections. tighter measures have also been announced by italy, japan, taiwan and india. as people flee kherson, kyiv says russia has carried out more than 30 rocket attacks in the past 2a hours. air raid sirens have sounded across ukraine. people have been asked to stay in shelters. pope francis has asked people to pray for his predecessor, benedict xvi — who he says, is very ill. the vatican says benedict's condition has worsened in recent hours. more than 60 people have died in winter storms — sweeping across north america.

it's described as the �*blizzard of the century'. thousands are still without power and there is still widespread travel disruption. now it's time for review 2022 , and it's been a year where health news, has again dominated the headlines. our correspondent, dominic hughes, looks back now on some of the biggest challenges faced this year by the uk's health services. was 2022 the year we finally learned to live with covid? at the start of the year, driven by the highly

infectious omicron variant, the virus still had us in its clutches. even as the new year's eve fireworks faded into the night, an estimated one in every 15 people in the uk would have tested positive for covid. it's because of the threat from omicron that i announced on wednesday that we would move to plan b in england. you must wear a face covering in indoor public spaces, and from tomorrow, work from home if you can. faced with a huge number of infections, in early december of 2021, the government had already been forced to introduce what it called its plan b measures — facemasks, compulsory covid passes and working from home. in just a few days in the new year, a grim milestone. the uk reached 150,000 covid—related deaths.

to picture 150,000 people, it helps to start small. so, this is one student, but in a classroom, there might be around 30 of them. there are between 500—2,500 people at smaller gigs or in a nightclub. but see how 21,000 fans can fill manchester arena. and the biggest events hold more than this. more than 73,000 at the principality stadium in cardiff, 90,000 at wembley, and see how around 100,000 people turned out for this climate change strike during cop26. and this crowd are not even all of the 135,000 people who buy tickets for glastonbury every year. but 150,000 people, that's everyone who lives in a city such as 0xford.

0ther covid waves came and went. in march, july and october. but that was the last time restrictions on socialising were put in place. and crucially, while the number of people admitted to hospital with covid did rise with each successive wave, they were nowhere near the peaks seen injanuary 2021. and the same is true of deaths due to covid, each wave saw an increase in deaths, although nowhere near what was seen in 2021, and lower with each successive wave. and it did start to feel towards the end of january, even though they were still thousands of new infections every day, that life might be getting back to normal. masks on and off, the rules have changed at various times over the last two years, but in england, the government has said they will no longer be compulsory in shops and on public transport.

the prime minister said masks would still be advisable in some settings, but it was now down to personal choice. we will trust the judgment of the british people. criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one. so, what is the trend now for covid cases? one of the most authoritative sources is the community infections survey by the office for national statistics, which picks up those without symptoms. and the head of the 0ns thinks this is a significant moment. we're certainly seeing a major turning point, and we are certainly seeing a real reduction. the question i ask is we're not sure yet whether that will continue to go down. ministers want to end self—isolation rules in march, or even before if possible, and say they will be reviewed. it is reasonable to think, just as we are living with flu, for example, we don't require people to legally self—isolate but to remain cautious,

sensible if they're infected, we will eventually have to find a way to live with covid in a similar fashion. at this hospital in walsall, the number of patients back in intensive care has come down a bit since last week. but doctors are urging the public to remain cautious as restrictions are eased. in scotland, mandatory mask—wearing will continue in indoor public spaces, but most other restrictions will be lifted from monday. in wales, night clubs open from the end of next week, though they will remain closed for now in northern ireland. the devolved nations are moving at differing speeds, charting their own courses through this stage of the pandemic. there were some cautious voices, too, always the fear a new variant could emerge or covid could come racing back. the one thing this virus has taught you is not to be complacent, so i think we need to go very carefully, monitor carefully

and be prepared to react. for most of us, restrictions were starting to ease off, but the consequences of this pandemic were still playing out. health service staff had performed heroically in the long months that covid was running rampant, but now an exhausted workforce, not to mention patients, were facing a huge backlog in cases. injanuary, six million people were waiting for routine treatment. and that numberjust kept growing throughout the year. things were made tougher by the ongoing impact of the pandemic. with each successive wave of covid, staff also felt sick or have to isolate. this was coventry hospital in april. a gentleman in his 80s who was in at 2.59 yesterday afternoon. a combination of pre—existing staff

shortages, covid and lots of people who were delayed seeking help during the pandemic, meant the nhs across the uk was facing unprecedented demand. this manifested itself notjust in a growing waiting list for planned operations, but in weights in a&e, but in waits in a&e, gp appointments and ambulance call—outs. jerry has been trying to piece together what happened on the night his father died. he was looking for the ambulance that never came. kenneth was in good shape for a 94—year—old. a retired carpenter, he lived alone in the cotswolds. on that night, the health service was under pressure. the bbc applied to see documents from the inquest into his death. they show that, at 2:53am, ken got out of bed and fell. he collapsed and called 999 twice from his mobile. he was recorded as an urgent category two case, meaning an ambulance should have arrived in 18 minutes, on average.

ken waited for one hour on the floor before calling a third time. the details are distressing. it took another four hours for an ambulance to arrive. by then, ken was unconscious. he was taken to gloucestershire royal hospital, where he died that afternoon from a bleed to the brain. he was on his own, and he knew he was on his own. and he must have felt abandoned, alone on his bedroom floor. that's the most troubling part of it for me. increasingly, ambulance crews were getting stuck outside hospitals because they couldn't hand over patients. and busy hospitals struggled to admit people because of delays with discharging them into social care.

even at the height of summer, normally a relatively quiet time for the nhs, there was no relief. there were fears, too, about the impact that record summer temperatures could have on services, with older people and those with particular health conditions especially vulnerable. a&e at a surrey hospital this morning. hello. how are you? the challenge, as usual, is finding space for new patients and transferring those who need it to the wards. we are often coming in in the morning with 25—35 patients waiting for a bed. they say there are no longer seasonal differences. there would be a winter and a summer in hospitals. and that's something that we haven't seen for many years, and covid and the heat wave just makes it even worse. i've been at this hospital for 16 years, and i've never seen it as busy as it is now. ambulance services across england

are on the highest state of alert and under extreme pressure, with covid staff absences a factor. we are not performing anywhere near where we should be, and i know from my own experience that lives are being put at risk and have been all the way through this period of time. by august, a record 6.6 million people in england alone were waiting for planned surgery. patients like james, now fit and healthy, faced an agonising wait for an operation. an infection damaged his heart and left him needing a new heart valve. but five times, the operation was cancelled. so, what was it like every time you had your operation cancelled? what went through your head? you get yourself prepped, you're starving yourself. you wake up the next morning, they shave your chest, get you gowned up, get you on the bed. and then the nurse turns up and says, "sorry, it's not happening today."

then your emotions just go. i could feel myself getting more and more poorly as the weeks were going on. at what point are they going to say, "we need to get you in, otherwise you're going to die"? is that going to happen? am i going to die? you just don't know. you were very good at keeping still. there were some encouraging signs. the number of people facing the longest waits for planned surgery had started to fall, but problems remained with discharging patients, with only four in ten able to leave hospital when they were well enough to do so. the data all painted a picture of a system struggling to cope, and behind the statistics were personal stories like those of james. into the autumn, the waiting list for routine treatments, things like knee or hip replacements, continued to grow, breaching seven million in england alone in september and october.

i haven't always been able to walk as far as i'd like to walk, - specifically due to the hernia, especially early on when it was very painful. marcus has been waiting for a hernia operation for close to four years. during that time, he's received just one letter from the hospital. now it's more about how it looks, how it appears, even. it's obvious now. when i'm standing up and walking, i can't get away from it. i can't conceal it any more, so i try and tend to stay home. surgeons say operating theatres are being left unused because of staff shortages, a lack of beds and complications relating to covid. very often, it's not clear until the morning of the operation as to whether it's possible. there are times when there aren't the necessary beds available, particularly if critical care is needed in intensive care beds, for instance. and that's terrible for patients, because they come into hospital expecting to have their operation, and if there aren't the necessary

resources there to support that, then unfortunately they have to be cancelled on the day. and it's notjust treatments where there are long waits. today's figures show only 71% of patients in english a&es were seen within four hours in september — the worst on record. senior nhs england officials say there's no doubt that they're under huge pressure. the nhs was once seen as the most efficient health service in the world. but experts say it can't work miracles. the nhs is trying to be as efficient as it can and maximise its resources, but i think you have to fundamentally look but i think you have to fundamentally look at the resources compared to other countries. we still have fewer doctors per head, fewer nurses per head, far fewer hospital beds per head. so, even the most efficient system in the world can only get through so much work if it hasn't got the fundamental resources it needs. the government says it's creating surgical hubs and diagnostic centres in communities to help tackle the backlog. but others have described the record of seven million people

on the waiting list as a grim milestone and warned it will be worse when winter begins to bite. the shortage of staff is a problem that predates the pandemic, but many health experts say this is the key issue facing the nhs. without the staff, the backlog of cases will be with us for years. not unrelated to covid, a cost of living crisis was developing. it was only made worse by the war in ukraine, which pushed up energy prices and caused real concerns for those whose health depends on equipment that uses a lot of electricity. i'm just sick of having to make choices, i'm just sick

and they have to be the right choices. if not, it's my health that's going to be affected, at the end of the line, and i don't want to be any more poorly. laura has been battling kidney disease since she was seven and has already had two kidney transplants. now she needs another. it's running the cost of the dialysis machine. it's constantly filtering the water, and that waterjust gets wasted. she depends on dialysis, where a machine carries out the filtering processes that would normally be done by the kidneys. without dialysis, i think they say they live like... if you live past seven days, then it's.... that's how serious it is. laura was having dialysis at home, but the machine uses so much electricity and water, the mounting bills have forced her to switch to a local hospital. i would say that it's the straw that broke the camel's back, really, was the cost of running the dialysis machine, the water it uses, the electric. i just... it was adding to my anxiety, like, "how am i going to pay to do this treatment every month?"

it's a very worrying time. that's a lot to cope with. yeah, my little dog helps a lot with that. it's hard, but i've been ill a long time now, so ijust try and live life as best i can. and now gps and front line health care workers are warning rising costs are starting to have a much broader impact. those cost of living impacts are onlyjust filtering through. the people who are on the lowest incomes will be feeling them now. at grey road surgery in north liverpool, gp drjanet bliss and her team have for years seen how poverty can badly affect health. living in that kind of chronic stress does really bad things to your blood pressure and to your metabolism and can lead to illnesses like diabetes. now the rising costs are making a bad situation worse. we're seeing people limiting the amount of meals they will eat in a week, you know, consciously planning to miss meals. we are seeing people deciding not

to collect medications, not to pay for prescription items. we're seeing the impact on transport costs and also things like, kind of, data for your phone. so, in order to access, you know, vital services that will support their health. the rising costs of basic foods, fruit and veg, bread, cereals and pasta is an obvious cause for concern. so, in darlington, in the north—east of england, an innovative mobile food club is helping people continue to eat healthily. forjust £7.50, you can get £35 worth of fresh fruit, veg and meat, essential for someone like marge, for whom this project offers a real lifeline. so, free for you today, you'lljust hand up there. at the moment, i have to count every penny to make sure i got formula, nappies, i got cream, i got wipes. and now, for example, he's five months, so soon, i'll be weaning him off the food. so, this saving will allow me buy him some better veg,

better fruit, so he can actually have a good start in life. without it, i don't know what i would do. in one of the wealthiest countries in the 21st century, i have to worry about feeding my babies, which is, i would say, really, really sad. and steve, who lost his job during the pandemic, now trying to give his three growing teenage sons a decent diet, whilst struggling to pay the bills. we're no different to any otherfamily in the uk, so things like this, and certainly from a health point of view, they are packed with fruit and veg, stuff we wouldn't normally try. and it gives us that impetus as well to try things different, new, that we wouldn't normally buy as well. so, yeah, it's difficult, and it's going to get worse and it's going to get harder, and we're at the bottom end of the chain. and unfortunately, it's going to get to the point, i'm sure it's some time in october, we're going to have to make decisions of meals and things that we wouldn't have had

to have made before. schemes like this offer people the chance to stay healthy even as budgets are squeezed. the chance to stay healthy even but no—one believes the pressures on family finances will ease any time soon, and that has implications for our health, too. everything has gone up. nothing's coming down. my bills have gone double now. and do we choose to eat or heat? some people have to cut down on essentials. and it's notjust homes and businesses that face the impact of rising prices. the nhs too increasing bills for food, energy and wages. budgets for services like public health, which cover everything from stop smoking services to advice on contraception, are under extreme pressure.

this is what public health in action looks like. hi, i'm caroline from the quit smoking team. anthony is a smoker, but with a fractured foot and shoulders. he's now stuck in gateshead's queen elizabeth hospital. so, how many cigarettes you normally smoke a day? ten at the most. so, carol, one of the hospital's stop smoking advisers, sees a chance to help anthony quit. we can offer you some patches for your arm, and we can give you, like, an inhalator. you know, it's something to do with your hands. that's full of nicotine as well. carol herself gave up smoking five years ago. she understands how hard it can be. if i can do it, anybody can. and i did it, so you can as well. and she fears what might happen if this kind of service didn't exist. i just think people will die sooner,

because they're not getting the support that they need. and i think now if we're educating the grannies, the mothers, they're going to educate their children not to smoke as well, because it's them that's the future, isn't it? in england, public health measures like stop smoking services are funded by local authorities, with a grant from the department of health and social care worth £3.11 billion this year. but budgets have been squeezed hard over the last decade, and now rising inflation means the money is getting spread ever more thinly. and in communities like gateshead, with areas of severe deprivation, talk of further budget cuts is a bleak prospect. it really concerns me. i'm here to improve and protect the health and wellbeing of the population in gateshead, and actually having some of the limitations around budgets is really concerning. so, if you take tobacco, for example, tobacco harm in gateshead costs about £62 million a year, about £9 million to the nhs.

so, if we were reducing some of those services that help us to tackle that issue, it doesn't make any sense. the department of health and social care says public health grants for next year will be announced in due course. but the worry is that double—digit inflation will mean vital services will be lost and the health of the poorest communities will suffer. there were some other significant milestones this year. thousands of people were left infected with hepatitis and hiv through contaminated blood in the 1970s and �*80s. at the long—running public inquiry into the scandal, messages have been left in bottles, remembering loved ones who've lost their lives. injuly, the inquiry heard an announcement that had been a long time coming for those affected. i've decided to recommend that interim payments of no less than £100,000 are made to all the infected people and all the bereaved partners who are currently registered

with the schemes. another public inquiry got under way, this one into the response to the covid pandemic. the inquiry chair said one word summed up the pandemic — loss. those who were bereaved lost the most. they lost loved ones and the ability to mourn properly. it is therefore right that we begin this first hearing with a minute's silence for those who died. witnesses, including ministers who made the key decisions at the time, will start giving evidence in the spring. in the summer, dozens of countries saw an outbreak of a rare, little—known disease called monkeypox. normally confined to western and central africa. in the uk, the vast majority of cases were in men who have sex with men, with infections peaking injuly. but a vaccination programme helped bring case numbers down.

what do we want? fair pay! and as the year drew to a close across the uk, the health service faced industrial action over pay. ambulance crews, porters, cleaners and the biggest ever strike by nursing staff. i'm striking for the future of nursing and most importantly, our patients. and the turmoil that gripped uk politics in 2022 had a predictable impact on the department of health for england. 0ut went sajid javid when he resigned in protest at boris johnson's leadership. in came steve barclay as his replacement, but he was out when liz truss became prime minister, and in came therese coffey. just a few weeks later, out went therese coffey and welcome back steve barclay. four health secretaries in as many months, one of whom was the same person. there is also one bit of data that suggests the impact of covid

will remain with all of us for a long time to come. for most of the year, the number of excess deaths recorded in the uk has been well above the five—year average. that means hundreds of extra deaths a week, but less than half are directly linked to the virus. some of those deaths may be because of the very hot weather we had in the summer. and we do have an ageing population. but it's also possible that a previous covid infection has left some people more frail. and we also know that the pandemic has left others less healthy. for example, alcohol consumption is up, while physical activity has fallen. early on in the pandemic, many people stayed away from the nhs, and that's led to concerns over undiagnosed conditions like heart disease. and health experts have warned the current pressures on the emergency care system, for example, long waits for ambulances, make it more likely that some patients could die.

either way, it suggests the pressures on the health service, extreme as they have been this year, show no sign of letting up. across the uk, the nhs heads into 2023 facing one of the biggest challenges in its history. hello there. very few of us avoided the rain today. it swept northwards and eastwards across just about all parts of the country. where that weather system lingers in northern scotland, it will continue to bring some snow over high ground. there'll be further showers moving through overnight on a strong wind. it will be particularly blustery

for western and southern coasts, but partly because of the strength of the wind, it's not going to be particularly cold — 4—7 degrees. tomorrow, then, will be a blustery day. there will be some decent dry weather, some fine conditions to get out and about if you can avoid the showers. and there will be quite a few of those, particularly through the afternoon across scotland and northern england, some of those wintry over high ground. those are the wind gusts we can expect. the strongest winds will always be around the coast. and it's going to be a little chillier than it was today. still, though, between 5—10 degrees. we'll see another band of heavy rain sweeping northeastwards on friday. for new year's eve, there'll be some rain in the south, turning a little chilly further north.

this is bbc news — i'm lewis vaughanjones, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the united states has announced it will require negative covid tests for travellers from china, following growing alarm at the rapid increase in chinese infections. tighter measures have also been announced by italy, japan, taiwan, and india amid concern china's case numbers aren't accurate. it's sparked an angry response from beijing. translation: the argument. you mentioned is a biased smear campaign and political manipulation with a hidden agenda, which does not stand up to scrutiny or facts and runs counter to the truth. as people flee kherson, ukraine says russia has carried out more than 30 rocket attacks in the past 2a hours alone.

pope francis asks people to pray for his predecessor, benedict xvi,