bethany bell in calais. cases of coronavirus in the past 2a hours — that's the highest number on record. several nhs hospitals in london and the south east say they are currently under extreme pressure. 0ne intensive care doctor warns that anyone who ignores the rules on social distancing has "blood on their hands". and a warning that this report from our health editor hugh pym contains some flashing images. a major london hospital today. this critical care unit for covid patients was set up last weekend in a ward formerly used for patients recovering after major operations. 12 to 14 to 18. it will be 20 by the end of today, so that's two a day. and then it fills up about time? and then we're full. —— and then it fills up at that time? university college hospital is now caring for more than 200 covid patients. numbers are increasing by 5% every day. today, there was a plea to the public to follow social distancing rules over new year and the weeks ahead. what we've really, really — i guess we're on our knees

bethany bell in calais. chief medical officers have defended the covid vaccination plan, after criticism from a doctors' union. the uk will give both parts of the oxford and pfizer vaccines 12 weeks apart, having initially planned to leave 21 days between the pfizerjabs. the british medical association said cancelling patients booked in for their second doses was "grossly unfair". meanwhile some hospitals in london and the south—east of england say they are now under "extreme pressure" because of rising coronavirus cases. they say some seriously ill patients are being moved to intensive care units in other parts of the country. i'm joined by our health correspondentjim reed. let's talk about the various aspects of what is happening with covid so let's start with a vaccination plan. interestingly we have the four chief medical officers coming out and defending this plan to separate the jabs because there was a lot of concern certainly initially from people who had expected to get their jabs, the pfizer jabs,

we can cross over the channel now and join our correspondent bethany bell — at the french port of calaisis it going? there hasn't been a great deal of freight traffic today. there has been some anti—authorities here say things have gone relatively smoothly. —— and the authorities. this is a public holiday, there is a weekend coming up and as we heard in the report just now, coming up and as we heard in the reportjust now, a number of firms are waiting to see how things pan out over the next couple of weeks or so. out over the next couple of weeks or so. and what we are hearing here is that business may not be back to normal levels until the middle of january or so. and the authorities here say that they are prepared, they have had a lot of dry runs about how to carry out all these new checks and custom formalities. at the question will be whether individual companies, the exporters themselves will be prepared, whether they will have got their heads all around the new red tape that is not required and the head of the port here said that congestion isn't a necessary given but everybody has

the bbc‘s bethany bell is at the port of calais in france to look at the impact on exporters. authorities here in calais are bracing themselves to see what the impact will be of the new customs formalities and the red tape. the authorities csa they are as prepared as they can be, —— the authorities here say. they say some maybe more prepared than others and they could be delays and disruptions if truckers do not have the proper documentation. calais is usually important in terms of trade. millions of trucks passed through here and people are concerned to see trade continuing to flow. fears about new custom rules remain, and the government has warned there will be "some disruption" in the coming days and weeks. 0ur economics editor faisal islam gives us his opinion on how things will proceed. the direct effects of european union lot within great britain, that has ended as well. that is what david frost was tweeting about, being free to make its own laws. all of that body has been copied and pasted into uk law. it has retained european law. it has retained european law but now w

the bbc‘s bethany bell is at the port of calais in france.e in calais are bracing themselves to see what the impact will be of the new customs formalities and the red tape. the authorities here say they are as prepared as they can be, that they have been practising, but they say a lot is also down to individual exporters and companies. they say some maybe more prepared than others and that they are worried there could be delays and disruptions if truckers have not got the proper documentation. calais is usually important in terms of trade between britain and the eu. millions of trucks pass through here every year and people are concerned to see trade continuing to flow. to other news and the uk has recorded nearly 56,000 daily cases of coronavirus in the past 2a hours — the highest on record — and several nhs hospitals in london and the south—east say they are under extreme pressure due to increasing numbers of people falling seriously ill. 0ne senior intensive care doctor has gone so far as to accuse anyone who ignores the rules on social di

vivienne nunis is in doverfor us, and bethany bell is in calais. we have been hearing that things are pretty quiet. yes, they have been. i think those businesses that can avoid shifting things gci’oss that can avoid shifting things across the channel are doing so at the moment. they want to wait in there is any significant disruption similarto there is any significant disruption similar to what we saw before christmas when france closed its border because of the coronavirus. this morning, you make your some lorries rolling past me. they are coming here, police are checking drivers to make sure that they have negative covid tests, but what is different now is that they will also have a bar code and that is something that is going to be scanned when they reach the port of dover and then while they are on the vessel, the ferries across to calais, the french authorities will then check that bar code and see that it matches up with all of the correct new customs declarations and other documentation that hauliers now require if they are going to shift go

bethany bell is at calais. does it look like things are running smoothly? so far, yes.ected, there is very little freight transport happening today. it isa freight transport happening today. it is a public holiday, and also many companies in britain have stockpiled ahead of this period. but the french authorities do say they are prepared. they say they have employed a lot more people. they have built new parking places for lorries, and if they have to stop and go through extra checks. but they say while their system seem to be in place and seemed to be working so be in place and seemed to be working so far, one of the key issues is whether companies, exporters, fill in the correct paperwork, whether they showed the right documents when they showed the right documents when they arrive here in calais, because if they don't have the right documents, then that is when we might see delays happening. it is interesting driving from paris to calais yesterday there were big signs along the motorway warning of possible disruption because of brexit but people here say if there are