catherine burns, bbc news.were 12,027 new infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period — a fall of 20% since last friday. it means an average of 11,639 new cases were recorded per day in the last week. more than 19,000 people are in hospital with coronavirus across the uk. in the last 2a hours, 533 deaths have been recorded — that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid test. that's down by almost a third since this time last week. on average, 519 deaths were announced every day in the past week. the total number of people who've died is 119,920. more than 450,000 people have had their first dose of one the three approved vaccines in the latest 24—hour period. almost 17 million people have now had their firstjab. our health editor hugh pym is here. soa so a lot of new data today, and it's very significant, this is what the prime minister will be looking at ahead of his big announcement on monday. ahead of his big announcement on monda . , ., ., ahead of his big announcement on monda. , ., ., ,

catherine burns, bbc news.he oxford—astrazeneca vaccine in children is set to be tested in a new clinical trial. researchers will use 300 volunteers to assess whether the jab will produce a strong immune response in children aged between six and 17. the university of oxford said theirs was the first trial in the 6—17 age group. it said other trials had begun but only measuring efficacy in those aged 16 and 17. soa so a much broader age range. seven leading british scientists are warning that the pandemic will be prolonged — and might take years to bring under control — if the vaccines aren't made available to poorer countries. writing in the lancet, they say that billions of people might not get innoculated this year, which could allow the virus to mutate further, and become resistant to vaccines. the experts say production needs to be ramped up worldwide and vaccines have to be priced affordably. our political correspondent, nick eardley, joins me now. welcome back. let's deal with what the british health secr

catherine burns, bbc news.our period — a fall of 20% since last friday. it means an average of 11,639 new cases were recorded per day in the last week. more than 19,000 people are in hospital with coronavirus across the uk. in the last 2a hours, 533 deaths have been recorded, that�*s people who died within 28 days of a positive covid test — that�*s down by almost a third since this time last week. on average, 519 deaths were announced every day in the past week. the total number of people who�*ve died is 119,920. more than 450,000 people have had their first dose of one the three approved vaccines in the latest 24—hour period. almost 17 million people have now had their firstjab. 0ur health editor hugh pym is with me now. all this latest data we�*ve been looking at is crucial, because this is what the prime minister will be looking at the head of monday, when he announces what happens next. yes. he announces what happens next. yes, sohie, he announces what happens next. yes, sephie. and — he announces what happ

catherine burns, bbc news. well, a little earlier our political correspondent nick eardley came intolain why ministers out in force on saturday. the expectation across whitehall is that the government will meet this target may be today or tomorrow. we will maybe find out about it on monday and i suppose, then, it is what happens next and i think meeting that target adds pressure to the government from backbenchers to give more details of what opening up society is going to look like. now, we know that the prime minister wants to look at the data next week and the week after so the week beginning the 22nd he is going to outline how england comes out of lockdown but we are already hearing toby back bench is saying a lot, if we can do this in the vaccine, if there better drug treatments out there better drug treatments out there we need to think about opening up there we need to think about opening up quite quickly and getting the economy moving again. really interesting, as well, that matt hancock, the health secretary in the uk, has been in the daily telegraph this morning talking abo

anchor: catherine burns has more details on this.r: since they first spotted this variant, there's been 105 cases in the u.k. these 11 cases, until this point, they could be traced back to someone from abroad. with these 11 cases, they cannot. is 11 the final number of cases? it is not. what happens when you have a test and it is positive, a small selection of those will be randomly picked for testing, for genome sequencing. that is between 5% and 10%. we know that this is an underestimate. anchor: the tip of the iceberg. reporter: between 90% and 95%. in the big scale of coronavirus, these numbers are not huge, but all of this now is to keep it that way. anchor: the south africa variant is thought to be more contagious although there is no evidence it causes more serious illns. there are signs it makes vaccination a little less effective. >> we are confident that all the vaccines we are using provide a high degree of immunity and protection against all variants. the interesting and exciting thing about the vaccinethat we are develop

catherine burns, bbc news.age of 11,639 new cases were recorded per day in the last week. more than 19—thousand people are in hospital with coronavirus across the uk. in the last 24 hours, 533 deaths have been recorded that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid test. on average, 519 deaths were announced every day in the past week. the total number of people who've died is 119,920. more than 450 thousand people have had their first dose of one the three approved vaccines in the latest 24 hour period. almost 17—million people have now had their firstjab. the first minister of wales says he hopes the country has entered its last three weeks of the �*stay at home' rules. but mark drakeford said further changes to lockdown will depend on case rates continuing to fall. whilst younger primary school children return to school on monday, he said all primary pupils and students in years 11 and 13 may be able to return from 15 march. some nonessential shops and hairdressers could also reopen then. from tom

here's help reporter catherine burns on that. >> the most interesting one i would say is the siren studythat looked at health care workers. it tested them every couple of weeks ether they had any symptoms or not. so, i would pick up normal and asymptomatically infections. and this was really promising. it shows out of one dose, the chances of getting affected in any way -- infected in any way went down by 70%. after two doses that was 85% p their number one job is to stop people getting sick and dying. transmissibility stopping the spreading, that is the icing on the cake. this is really really welcome news for that. ross: is it welcome news for all of the vaccines that we are seeing being usearound the world or just the -- for certain vaccines? >> -- this study was looking at pfizer but it is fair to say if one vaccine is showing this kind of result, we would expect similar and other vaccines that have been approved right now. they have all been approved essentially because it stops deaths -- illness and death. ross: we need to be a little cautious with the studies because they are we a

catherine burns, bbc news.erseverence — which landed on the red planet last night. it's hoped it will find microscopic signs of ancient life — from billions of years ago. it was an extraordinary and perilous landing — one that was helped by a company in devon as our science correspondent rebecca morelle reports. the surface of mars in the shadow of perseverance. it's first limbs of the terrain it's about to explore. the science team is really excited to get going here. we have years of scientific investigation ahead of us. you can see that we landed about two kilometres to the south—east of the delta. there are rocks in this field of view. we don't know exactly how big they are, but they might be about ten centimetres, would be a reasonable guess. and also, in the background, there are features in the back that look like the cliffs of the delta. it's the start of the rover�*s two—year mission, and its main objective is to search for signs of life. perseverance is in an area called thejezero crater. it was once

catherine burns, bbc news. — the business response to the peace accords between israel and the united arab emirates and bahrain has been swift. what does the normalisation mean for economies in the region? a historic peace deal has shaken up alliances in the gulf, the middle east and the rest of the world. but what does this new warmth between the united arab emirates, bahrain, and is a real mean for business? i'm sameer hashmi in dubai, and this is talking business. a historic deal that could be worth billions of dollars in terms of new trade and business, the so—called abraham accords signed between the united arab emirates, bahrain and israel has certainly injected new impetus in these economies as to start 2021. in a moment we will look at what does this deal mean for them, the region and it will be discussing that with my guests who havejoined me here today. we have mr thani al shirawi who is the founding member of the uae is a real business council. and he is also one of the leaders of the al shirawi grou

our health correspondent catherine burns is here. that is the problem is that these, they were not.em is that these, they were not-— they were not. this is why people are so worried, _ they were not. this is why people are so worried, we've _ they were not. this is why people are so worried, we've known - they were not. this is why people l are so worried, we've known about this variant for a while however in past all the cases we could see a direct link to someone from south africa however that's not the case here. that means in some extent it is spreading in the community. the areas we are talking about, woking in surrey, ealing and haringey in london, walsall, and hertfordshire in certain parts of kent, those are the areas we have had confirmed and we expect others to be added, possibly in the north west of england and east of england. the big question is what is the scale? we don't have any certain numbers. we think the numbers are very small. in ealing they say one person tested positive for the south african variant last month, in surrey they are talking about two cases. but i

catherine burns, bbc news.of the 0xford—astrazeneca vaccine in children is set to be tested in a new clinical trial. researchers will use 300 volunteers to test whether the jab will produce a strong immune response in children aged between 16 and 17. the university of oxford said theirs was the first trial in the 6-17 said theirs was the first trial in the 6—17 age group. 0ther trials have been done but only measured efficacy between those 16 and 17. just a last push between those clinically vulnerable groups and those at the top of the age range of 70. a minister is pretty confident, if they are showing their faces at vaccination centres this weekend i guess they are? i vaccination centres this weekend i guess they are?— guess they are? i think that is riuht. i guess they are? i think that is right. ithink_ guess they are? i think that is right. i think the _ guess they are? i think that is right. i think the expectation l right. i think the expectation across whitehall is that the government will meet this ta

catherine burns there. still plenty more news to come.een meeting to discuss the lockdown measures in northern ireland. it is understood what has been decided is to extend the lockdown here, which was due to end on the 5th of march, until the 1st of april, just before the easter weekend. there is one exception to that, though, an important one for and many families. it is understood children in the first three years of primary school will go back to their classes on monday the 8th of march, so just over a fortnight more of remote learning for those younger pupils in primary school. it is also believed that the plan would be that two weeks after that on monday the 22nd of march pupils in years 12—14 in post primary schools, so children in their pre—jcc years, we return to school on that date on the 22nd of march, but it is thought that all the other pupils, so pupils in the first four years of post primary school won't go back to school until after the easter holidays. it is also understood some ministers have been considering issues aroun

our health correspondent catherine burns is here., so, there are eight postcodes for. so, there are eight postcodes for those 11 postcode, w seven, ealing and london, n 17, those 11 postcode, w seven, ealing and london, n17, haringey in london, cr four, croydon, then in the west midlands w s two, which is walsall. in the south—east, ma 15, maidstone. g u 21, woking. brooke spread in hertfordshire and in the north—west, pr nine southport. so numbers, let's go through some actual numbers here. so we know that since they first spotted this variant back in december there has been 105 cases pop up in the uk but until this point, these 11 cases, they could all be traced back to someone who has come in from abroad. with these 11 cases, they cannot do that. now, is 11 the actualfinal number of cases? it is not. when you have a coronavirus test and it is positive, then a small selection of those will be randomly picked for testing for genome sequencing, and that at the minute is somewhere between five and 10%. so we know that this 105 cases i

our health correspondent, catherine burns, is with me.the olans country? it depends on how ambitious the plans are- — country? it depends on how ambitious the plans are. these _ country? it depends on how ambitious the plans are. these stay _ country? it depends on how ambitious the plans are. these stay at _ country? it depends on how ambitious the plans are. these stay at home - the plans are. these stay at home order, that ends on march the 29th so in theory rachel could get on a train or a bus at that point, but actually in reality we are still being asked to minimise travel and not to stay overnight. so after that, things will gradually ease up. so if she wants to be inside people's homes, it is mid—may. one more thing, all of this is just a plan and these plans can and will change if the data doesn't go the right way. change if the data doesn't go the riaht wa. ., change if the data doesn't go the riohtwa. ., right way. someone has written income at _ right way. someone has written income at what _ right way. someone has written inc

our health correspondent catherine burns has more details.been 105 cases pop up in the uk. but until this point, these 11 cases, they can all be traced back to someone who's come in from abroad. with these 11 cases, they cannot do that. now, is 11 the actual final number of cases? no, it's not because what happens when you have a coronavirus test and its positive, then a small select of those will be randomly picked for testing for genome sequencing, and that at the minute it's somewhere between 5—10%. so, we know that this 105 cases is an underestimate. it's the tip of the iceberg is the worry? well, sort of somewhere between 90 and 95%. so, again, in this big scale of coronavirus, these numbers are not huge. but all of this now is to keep it that way and dampen it down. just like the uk variant, the south african variant is thought to be more contagious, although there is no evidence it causes more serious illness. but there are signs it makes vaccination a little less effective. dr emma hodcroft is a molecular epidemiologist at the univers

catherine burns, bbc news.ng? i think that is absolutely right. ministers are pretty heavy with the way the vaccine rollout has gone. all the signs are they will meet that target over the next couple of days and then they will start setting some more targets, and matt hancock is also in the telegraph this morning, he has done an interview where he talks about covid being a manageable disease by the end of this year, as you start to get better drugs that can stop people getting really ill and dying, and you add in the fact that by then, a lot of people, potentially most adults in the uk, will have been vaccinated. i think there is a bit of optimism in government about the way this is all going. and then it begs the big question, well, what happens next? when does society start to open again, when does the lockdown start to get lifted? there is lots of speculation in the papers this morning about the idea of potentially being outside pubs by the end of april. i've got to say downing street is not quite going ther

catherine burns, bbc news. an update on the coronavirus figures now.people who died within 28 days of a positive covid test. this number is often lower on sundays. on average, 324 deaths were announced every day in the past week. it brings the total number of people who've died to 122,849. the vaccination statistics show 407,503 people had their first dose of a vaccine in the latest 24—hour period. which means, as we've heard, more than 20—million people have now had theirfirstjab. today has been by far the bloodiest day on the streets of myanmar since the military seizure of power there last month, with at least 18 people killed as security forces used live rounds and tear gas against protestors. it follows weeks of largely peaceful demonstrations following the coup, in which government leaders, including aung san suu kyi, were overthrown and detained by the army. paul adams reports. four weeks after the military�*s coup... demonstrators remained defiant. myanmar�*s streets are more dangerous. today's violence marked a new ominous turn. the military n

let's speak to our health correspondent catherine burns.roll—out and they are both really encouraging on the efficacy of the vaccine. it is really encouraging on the efficacy of the vaccine.— of the vaccine. it is exactly the kind of thing — of the vaccine. it is exactly the kind of thing we _ of the vaccine. it is exactly the kind of thing we want - of the vaccine. it is exactly the kind of thing we want to - of the vaccine. it is exactly the kind of thing we want to be - of the vaccine. it is exactly the - kind of thing we want to be hearing. basically they're both showing that the risks of severe hospitalisation and death go down dramatically. this really means the link between infections, the number of people getting infected, and the number of people dying is going to be broken and this is of the we cannot understate, underestimate how important that is going to be, and why we are led to open up in some level now. . why we are led to open up in some level "ow-— why we are led to open up in some level now. ., ., 1, _ ., level now. yeah,

catherine burns is back with me. we are expected to hear from matt hancock and others.nt to know what she is — mind has wandered! i want to know what she is cooking _ mind has wandered! i want to know what she is cooking tonight! - mind has wandered! i want to know what she is cooking tonight! i - mind has wandered! i want to know| what she is cooking tonight! i would love her to cook me dinner! i was auoin to love her to cook me dinner! i was going to be _ love her to cook me dinner! i was going to be sacked _ love her to cook me dinner! i was going to be sacked if— love her to cook me dinner! i was going to be sacked if i _ love her to cook me dinner! i was going to be sacked if i ask - love her to cook me dinner! i was going to be sacked if i ask another question! he is not here yet, i could have asked her. we think matt hancock, the health secretary, will have a lot of discussions about vaccine uptake and more besides? fin discussions about vaccine uptake and more besides?— more besides? on the roll-out. essentially. _ more besides? on the roll-out. essentially, the

with me is our health correspondent catherine burns. what more do we know about this?is spreading. we have known about the south african variant for a while and the numbers be very small. the last official cases last week from the government was 77 cases. at that stage we knew that all of those cases could be traced back to someone who had been in south africa or someone who had been so it wasn't in the community. now we're talking about two cases in woking but they can't trace them back to south africa. so the numbers are very small but the concern is they want to stop this and act on it now before that more widely. what now before that more widely. what does this mean _ now before that more widely. what does this mean for _ now before that more widely. what does this mean for the _ now before that more widely. what does this mean for the coverage of these variants by the variants that are currently available?— these variants by the variants that are currently available? well, there are currently available? well, there are questions _ are currently available? well, th

but critical care is still stretched and cases remain high. 0ur health correspondent catherine burnsor us. tie: first thing to say, talking about critical care, not like there is a set number of beds, it goes up and down according to demand. there are 6000 critical care beds available in 4800 are being used. injanuary it was more, so we can see it as falling, but pressure is still high. in november, 4.2 thousand critical care beds, it would not be enough to deal with the people reading it now. it is good news, it shows the slight easing of pressure on the nhs. is it time to relax? no. —— people needed now. it is not the people, not the equipment, they are still under pressure. in normal times when it comes to intensive care, you would have one nurse for one patient. 0ver have one nurse for one patient. over the pandemic and the peak recently, there has been one nurse looking after two, three patients. still high but definitely in the right direction. i high but definitely in the right direction. ., �* ~ ., high but definitely in the right direction. ~' ., high but definitely in the r