scientists are porton down in wiltshire should know within a week or sojust down in wiltshire shouldthe new variances. and whether it poses any increased threat to human health. fergus walsh, bbc news. the time is 6.19pm. our top story this evening. pressure mounts on ministers and devolved administrations for a rethink of plans for easing covid restrictions at christmas. and still to come we meet chad the guide dog helping his owner dave navigate life this year. coming up on sportsday on bbc news. we'll have the latest on the dementia crisis affecting rugby, as former players launch legal proceedings against the game's governing bodies. the harm done to children online is a story we have brought to you on many occasions — you might remember how 1a—year old molly russell's father has campaigned for a new law. well under new laws published by the government today social media companies will face huge fines if they fail to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. it will also force the biggest tech firms to abide by a legal duty of care to protect children. 0ur media editor amol

ds bailey left wiltshire police in october. the force said it would be inappropriate to comment.arassment of three mps and a security guard. fellow peers voted overwhelmingly to back the punishment of the former ulster unionist mp — who sits as an independent — recommended by the lords conduct committee. the remaining matches in the england cricket team's tour of south africa have been adandoned, after a number of positive coronavirus tests. a south africa player and two members of hotel staff tested positive, while england say two members of their party returned "unconfirmed positive tests". and a monolith has mysteriously appeared in britain, just days after similar ones were spotted in the usa, the netherlands and romania. the unusual mirrored structure was discovered on compton beach, on the west side of the isle of wight, and is described as about 7.5 feet tall. an anonymous collective called the most famous artist has taken credit for the monoliths in america, but it has not claimed this one. the former england and leeds rhinos rugby league player kevin sinfield has just ru

wiltshire went to across the northwest and a cooler day nationwide with highest between eight and nationwide. hello this is bbc news. the headlines. nearly 18 million people in london and south—east england move into stricter tier a restrictions from midnight — people must stay at home, and non—essential shops have to close. for those in tier a — it means the relaxation of rules at christmas has been scrapped — and reduced to one day, the 25th, for the rest of england. we must be realistic. we are sacrificing the chance to see our loved ones this christmas so we have a better chance of protecting their lives, so that we can see them at future christmases. the new restrictions are due to a spike in cases — that's being blamed on a fast—spreading new variant of the disease. the whole of wales is to be placed under lockdown from midnight, with festive rules cancelled for all but christmas day. scotland reduces the five—day festive window for mixing with other households indoors to just christmas day itself — and imposes a "strict travel ban" between itself and the rest of the uk. let's recap on

in the skies above wiltshire, the pilot of a light aircraft plotted his flight path to spell out hisdistancing red arrows. from bin collectors in norfolk to the royal family. back in the midlands, sarah and her husband, gary, who's a delivery driver, have moved into a caravan on the drive. we love you loads, thanks for all you do. so they don't put sarah's mum at risk. gwen is 83. clapping for her daughter and for thousands of others and she'll be saying thank you again next week. i'm all right now. case numbers and hospital admissions began to fall. lockdown restrictions were eased around the uk. but life was far from easy for those needing nonurgent operations which had been postponed because of covid pressure on hospitals. he said this isn't even up for discussion, you need both hips replaced. helen had been waiting more than a yearfor a double hip replacement. i'm in quite a lot of pain, some days are worse than others, sometimes i go into a spasm. it's just the not knowing. i don't know whether i should be walking, sitting down, resting, there's just nobody telling me what i sho

will be further investigations going on in public health england's laboratories in porton down and wiltshireore about the behaviour of this south african variant. as well as ongoing investigations into the variant that's been seen circulating predominantly in london, the south east and east of england. matt hancock said that cases across the country were up 57% on last week, and he said that the new variant was spreading at a dangerous rate. looking at the data of patients with coronavirus in hospital up until the 18th of december, that stood at close to 19,000 patients. compare that to the peak in april, when it was up to 21,000. we have had some response from nhs providers, which represents hospital trusts in england. and they say it's right to respond to rising infections, hospitalisations and deaths which are nearly at the level of the height of the first wave of the pandemic in april. so moving more areas into higher tiers is an important next step, and we should call on the government to move as decisively as possible over the coming days should the spread accelerate further. and in th

it's notjust urban areas, this is the borders of hampshire, wiltshire and the new forest.ere locals have turned to dark humour to lighten the new mood of lockdown. in rural areas, we thought we might escape the worst of it. we haven't. the speed with which the new variant has been spreading locally is no different to anywhere in the urban areas, so it doesn't surprise me we have to follow the same rules as everybody else. another 20 million people were brought into tier 4 level in england over night, bringing the total to around 44 million people. that's three quarters of the population of england. in leicester, they've now spent exactly six months under covid restrictions, so the mood here was one of resignation, especially ahead of tonight's new year's eve celebrations. stay at home and watch telecom i suppose. nothing different. go to bed early. there have now been many warnings about the need to avoid partying tonight, from the prime minister to the nation's health officials. even if you are in an area where you are not under lockdown or severe restrictions, start to c

anita ellis is the head teacher at royal wootton bassett academy in wiltshire.r that we have 1500 members of the armed forces effectively giving us online support is not really, as jeff said earlier this morning, not really what we were looking for. what schools actually need are bodies on the ground to help to deliver this testing. schools have stepped up right the way from march, delivering online learning, turning things at the turn of a coin. we are very used to being adaptable. we really want this to work but we don't know where we're going to get the volunteers from. we don't know where we're going to be able to get that vetting done in time so really what we need is the online, on the ground support. do you need the start of term to be postponed? that would be very helpful. i am going to return on the 11th ofjanuary to a significant amount of very speedy planning. we all know that speedy planning can sometimes go wrong. we'll have year elevens and year thirteens in on that day so ensuring that we are all following the covid rose again and making sure they

anita ellis is the headteacher at royal wootton bassett academy in wiltshire in south—west england.itary might be there to help, does that change things dramatically? i'm afraid not. to hear that we have 1500 members of the armed forces effectively giving us the armed forces effectively giving us online support is not really, as jeff said earlier this morning, not really what we were looking for. what schools actually need our bodies on the ground to help deliver this testing. schools have stepped up this testing. schools have stepped up right the way from march, delivering online learning, we are very used to being adaptable and we wa nt very used to being adaptable and we want this to work. but we don't know where we will get volunteers from and we don't know proby can get the vetting done in time. so really what we need is online on the ground support. do you need the start of term to be postponed? that would be very helpful. i will return on the 11th of january to a very helpful. i will return on the 11th ofjanuary to a significant amount of very speedy planning. we all know tha

this is on the borders of hampshire, wiltshire and the new forest, a place where locals have turned tohought we might have escaped the worst of it, we haven't. the speed with which the new variant has been spreading locally is no different to anywhere in the urban areas. so it doesn't surprise me that we have to follow the same rules as everyone else. town or country, north or south, the government says infection rates have forced the changes in tiers. in fa ct, forced the changes in tiers. in fact, another 20 million people were brought into the tier 4 level in england over night, bringing the total to around 44 million people. that is three quarters of the population of england. but look at this. not pictures from the archive but dan pulling a pint at his local pub today in the isles of scilly. it is the only place left in tier 1. for a fuel, new year's eve will be a shared, safe moment. the pub is busy, which is a good thing, obviously. food —wise and drinks visor is busy. and then i've got quite a lot of people booked in for our new year's eve menu tonight, so that's a good thing a

government scientists at the porton down laboratories in wiltshire are now trying to find out whetherew strain will have a different response to vaccines, although they say at this stage there is no reason to think it will. for the hospitality industry, the new restrictions in london and the south—east are another huge blow. just two weeks after reopening after a second national lockdown, pubs, bars and restaurants will be forced to close again, unless they offer takeaway service only. under tier 3, cinemas and theatres will also have to close their doors. but the government says plans to ease restrictions for five days over christmas will go ahead. jon donnison, bbc news. let's cross to westminster now. jessica vall park as their prize. lots of discussion of the restrictions tighten again across england over what will happen at christmas. yes, the current plan is for the christmas bubble, which is going to last five days, or six if you are travelling to and from northern ireland. it means that up to three households but no more than three can get together over the christmas period. b

there will be further investigations going on in public health england, laboraroties in porton down wiltshiree about the behaviour of this south african variant. as well as ongoing investigation into the variant that seen circulating predominantly in lending, the southeast and east of england. well the rapid spread of new strains has led to questions about whether vaccines will still be effective. scientists say it's highly likely they will. here's katharine da costa on that. more than half a million people have so far received their first dose of the pfizer biontech vaccine, but with concern about a new variant of the spreading 50—70% more quickly, there have been calls to speed up the roll—out of vaccines by giving more people one dose rather than two. given the circumstances we are facing, with the rapidly expanding number of cases, spreading through the country, we have to do what we can to save as many lives as we possibly can as quickly as we can. therefore, giving second doses only gives a marginal benefit compared with the benefit you get from giving more people first doses. trials fo

panel of viruses that we tested against the immune response produced by the virus at porton down in wiltshiree new variant? how long will it be before this is known? again, there is nothing to suggest at the moment that this is a variant that has been selected by any aspect of immunity. these viruses mutate all of the time. several thousand mutations have been detected and these vaccines have been tested. trials we re vaccines have been tested. trials were being conducted on populations where lots of different variants we re where lots of different variants were circulating. the efficacy data that we have the vaccines is actually against all of the naturally circulating covid virus in these populations. again, there is nothing to suggest that this one particular mutation that has been noted is sufficient to change the virus sufficiently that it will evade an immune response directed against the entire covid virus. andrew, can you stay with us because professorjonathan ball andrew, can you stay with us because professor jonathan ball has just p°pped professor jonathan ball has just popped up.

government scientists at the porton down laboratories in wiltshire are now trying to find out whether the new strain will have a different response to vaccines, although they say, at this stage, there is no reason to think it will. for the hospitality industry, the new restrictions in london and the south—east are another huge blow. just two weeks after reopening after a second national lockdown, pubs, bars and restaurants will be forced to close again, unless they offer takeaway service only. under tier 3, cinemas and theatres will also have to close their doors. but the government says plans to ease restrictions for five days over christmas will go ahead. jon donnison, bbc news. the hospitality industry is warning that london's move into tier 3 will put thousands ofjobs at risk. tim muffett is at a restaurant in central london this morning. tim, these are incredibly difficult times for many businesses? yes, good morning from the hoban dining room. this time of year, this place would be gearing up for its busiest time of the year, christmas parties and christmas shoppers. from midnig

a bit of its lethality, but there are tests being done on human cell cultures at porton down in wiltshiree 23 genetic changes that have been found within it, causes any more serious disease. but the longer the virus is out there in a general in the population, the more it has the opportunity to mutate and to become a different variant and another and another. that's right. and if we go back to the beginning of the year and the first coronavirus coming out of wuhan, you can track probably about two changes per month from every virus that originated in china. around two per month. but as they have spread beyond china it actually counts 2000 and thousands of mutations per year. we really shouldn't worry. it sounds very scary, mutating virus, but the viruses mutate all the time and it is simply the transmissibility of this which is alarming, but not the actual disease it causes, although of course for a minority of people it is very, very serious indeed. 0k, we'll leave it there. thank you for that. our medical editor, fergus walsh. we will get more reaction from the leader of the opposition,

yeah, we went to visit my parents in swindon in wiltshire, and then we decided to come home on new year'se day, weren't you? because you do remember it, and as we had a second ago, you did all the right things. how were you so wise to take control at that moment in time, call the emergency services, do everything right? well, after the accident happened, i knew that was obviously not a good thing and it was a real mess. so after the accident happened, i went and looked for the phone on the floor, i was looking around trying to find it. and then i found it and i knew i needed to get emergency services there. sol dialled 999 and asked for the ambulance andl dialled 999 and asked for the ambulance and i tried my best for them to find my location and gets to them to find my location and gets to the accident. well, thankfully, hayden, what you did was absolutely bang on and it meant that the ambulance services and the emergency services could come to help you. gary, you must be so proud as well of hayden. we should explain that we said that you blacked out, but the results of that accident sho

the whole pandemic, com pletely throughout the whole pandemic, completely supporting schools in wiltshireristmas going to be like none you have got to sort this out before you go back to work? —— knowing you have got to sort this out. this is the thing, we never truly leave education, half term, summer holidays, they never happen. but we are constantly thinking about safeguarding concerns and what we need to do for monday or after the weekend and after the holiday, you never truly leave that, and we are already planning, i know of head teachers who will be going back to school on monday, for example, in the middle of half term, and i'm receiving e—mails right now from pa rents receiving e—mails right now from parents who are talking about their key worker situation status for that monday, it is a constantjob, and since march it has been a constant role with very little break. what we have done at the academy here is make sure that the staff will not be concerned about this and i've told them to switch off their e—mails and it's a small team of individuals who are manning those e—mails rig