then in the news conference itself, we will be expecting to see professor chris whitty and andrew pollardm the oxford vaccine group. they have been rightly proud of what they have been able to announce today. that is coming up, as able to announce today. that is coming up, as soon as able to announce today. that is coming up, as soon as it starts we will be there but to set the scene, let'sjoin will be there but to set the scene, let's join vicki young, our deputy political editor at westminster. vaccine today and then you tier regime, what do you expect the prime minister to be outlining?” regime, what do you expect the prime minister to be outlining? i think it will be a message of hope balanced with caution. hope because of the good news about vaccinations, and hope because mass rapid testing could be rolled out to more people. so the prime minister keen to show people there is light at the end of the tunnel. talking now about after easter, the coronavirus lockdowns being a thing of the past, he hopes. but caution because in between now and then, is in very difficult weeks ahead. that

that is chris whitty they're talking toa that is chris whitty they're talking to a committee of mps this detail of the lockdown patricians have been published. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford is here. he has been skimming through facet the big question people are asking and came up in your questions answered, how difference will this be from what happened in march?- be from what happened in march?- be clear it is different to two things. it is different to march and that it things. it is different to march and thatitis things. it is different to march and that it is not quite as strict as march was but it's also different to some of the iterations that came after march. it is attractively tight at the time of health coronavirus restrictions number four regulations 2020. the maximum fines are now going to be £6,400. they start at you hunter pounds doubling up start at you hunter pounds doubling up though if you start at you hunter pounds doubling ay start at you hunter pounds doubling up though if you pay early you do get to pay half. it goes for a minimum of100, up get to

chris whitty., their use of a slide suggesting covid deaths could reach 4,000 per day if no action was taken, has proved controversial. the two men faced a grilling when they appear before mps on the science and technology committee. was it sensible orfair to put forward the graph with 4,000 deaths a day without, with or without caveats, pictures tell a much more powerful story than numbers do, that will have frightened a lot of people around the country. i positioned that as a scenario a couple of weeks ago, based on an assumption to try and give a new reasonable worst—case scenario and that those figures therefore were not as reliable as the six week figure which i spent time talking about. those figures were ones done by major academic groups, based on those assumptions, and in the spirit of trying to make sure that things are shared and open, they are the things that we have seen. you don't think that you've just frightened people, who do not have your scientific background and understanding of

chris whitty said a couple of weeks ago tier 2 doesn't really make any difference, it is tier 3.se these restrictions in this way we are looking at a third surge and may be another national lockdown injanuary oi’ another national lockdown injanuary or february. well, to be honest with you it is precisely for this reason that i said schools should have been included in the national lockdown because i think we would have got cases down much lower than they currently a re cases down much lower than they currently are and more areas would have been in tier 2 and tieri if we had done that. it is why i would also argue against the arrangements that the government is putting forward for christmas. i think they are putting forward very strict tier arrangements to allow for those five days over christmas. i think most people here would say actually, can we not just have people here would say actually, can we notjust have a steadier approach that allows us to have more of our lives back and for that to be in place right through the period? so personally i would prefer the government to mov

professor chris whitty making clear that measures should be decided by ministers and they can only adviseng to be done. the government is clear they take into account the advice of scientists and experts on any decision that is being made. plenty on that committee which is still ongoing. they talked for an example about the test and trace system and how test and trace as a system and how test and trace as a system is most effective when prevalence is low and when infection rates are low rather than high. so that gives you some idea as to the extent of the four—week lockdown in england might bring the prevalence down such sober test and trace might start to work. we've been hearing a lot about testing regimes being bolstered and the pilot announced in liverpool where they will be mass testing to see whether that is a way of trying to get some kind of normality within the country. there was also a defence of some of the data that's been presented to the public both through those press conferences with the prime minister and elsewhere and some criticism and some of the worst case scenarios w

that was raised in the press conference today, which is where the warning came from is professor chris whittynot be advising to halt elderly relatives because you want to be able to hug them again, you do not want them to catch something that could kill them, and then when he was asked what he was doing for christmas, he said he would be only works because he is the chief medical officer and that is hisjob, he is primarily a doctor, so it was interesting that this narrative about christmas and people are very concerned about christmas, and it seems like a long way away but we are seeing people put up decorations, see how they wa nt to put up decorations, see how they want to focus on christmas and it is something to look forward to but the reality is it will not be anything like we think and friends and family, the pictures they put up on social media, it will be interesting how friendship groups, we saw how brexit or people apart with different views, we are seeing family groups and friendship groups being very strange when they look at each other‘s behaviour and how the adapt or break the r

chris whitty said a couple of weeks ago tier 2 doesn't really make any difference, it is tier 3.oking at a third surge, maybe another national lockdown, in january or february. well, to be honest with you, it is precisely for this reason that i said schools should have been included in the national lockdown because i think we would have got cases down much lower than they currently are and more areas would have been in tier 2 and tier1 if we had done that. it is why i would also argue against the arrangements that the government is putting forward for christmas. i think they are putting forward very strict tier arrangements to allow for those five days over christmas. i think most people here would say, "actually, can we notjust have a steadier approach that allows us to have more of our lives back and that to be in place right through the period?" so personally, i would prefer the government to move away from the regional tier system. i think if we were to have an approach to 2021, which was having planned circuit breaks around the school holidays, i think it would put everyone

and chris whitty was not surprised to be asked about it at 30 revealed to the nation that he will behats off. that is pretty impressive but he also had this kind of warning. it is an opportunity for families but would i encourage someone to hug and kiss their elderly relatives? no, iwould not. you can do it but it does not make sense. it would not want to do that ina sense. it would not want to do that in a period that we might be able to protect other people this is very much what i think people will do. in answer to your direct question, i will be on the wards. that is impressive. somebody else on the podcast you can put the names together and it has a christmas in it. yes. if you really think about it. you have been on the news talking about the tier system. what are your final thoughts about where we got to at the end of the day? the... it is all about geography. geography matters because there are different incidents of the virus and therefore risks depending on where you are in the country and yet, if you are a sceptic of the way the tears have been cast and we are hearing plen

a completely positive breakthrough and interestingly covertly positive from professor chris whitty.sitive in the last four months we've been watching him. he agrees it's possible to pull back from social distancing rules from the spring. it does describe the whole saga of the oxford vaccine, and it is brilliant news that not only will we hopefully get it but it can travel because it does not have to be at these cryonic very low temperatures, it could be stuck in yourfridge. or a fridge, temperatures, it could be stuck in yourfridge. ora fridge, not temperatures, it could be stuck in yourfridge. or a fridge, not yours. and it will help the whole world. he does going to say that covid is not going to disappear, but becoming less and less risky for society. it's going to be around really for quite a long time it seems. it is. we are knuckle to get rid of the overnight and even if we had all this positivity, and quite rightly we should be celebrating this vaccine, even got three that look like they're going to work for us how. like they're going to work for us now. that's brilliant but

politics, this is to try to buy off a rebellion — it's not based on the science, because you have chris whitty tier 3 should work. this is all about politics, this is just to buy off a rebellion. everything is about politics, of course it is. politics is the art of making the right decisions... except this doesn't seem to be the right decision, according to the chief scientific officer. you need to let me finish. the two challenges every government across the world is facing is that dilemma between supporting your economy, economic intervention, saving jobs and so forth, for the flip side of the pandemic, and then actually cutting down on covid—i9, the spread of the pandemic as well. we are so close to getting a vaccine roll—out, the tier system is necessary but we believe it needs to be advanced. we have a couple of days, it is absolutely right that mps are scrutinising what the government does, that is theirjob, all the more important to take place during an enduring emergency, and we have a couple of days to get this right and advance what's going on. concessions have been made, but i would

chief scientific adviser sir patrick vallance, and chief medical officer for england, professor chris whittydown in england. in particular, they were asked about some modelling scenarios, which suggested there could be as many as 4,000 deaths a day without appropriate measures. 0ne mp accused them of "frightening a lot of people", but sir patrick said it was based on an assumption, to try to get a reasonable worst—case scenario. 0ur science editor david shukman has more details. it's the risk of the health service being overwhelmed that suddenly changed government policy, a decision based on scientific projections for how many thousands the virus might kill in the coming months. but looking at this official graph, what are the real chances of the worst scenario being right? the chief scientific adviser... that is the question mps raised today, putting the government's top advisers on the spot. you don't think that you are just frightening people who don't have your scientific background and understanding of models...? i hope not. i mean, i think... i hope not and that is certainly not the ai

repeating what chris whitty said yesterday.ardian also leads on today's announcement. it notes that there will be no social distancing for the united households — meaning people can hug relatives possibly for the first time in months. welcome back, both of you. lizzy, let's start with you again. the mail, "twelve rules of christmas, 12 days of christmas". just talk us through what they are. do they go into any detail about what some of the exemptions and exceptions are? yes, so what we've learned today is that we will be able to meet up in christmas bubbles of three households, fixed for five days from 23-27 households, fixed for five days from 23—27 december. but you can't change bubbles, so some biggerfamilies won't be able to all meet together. but you can hug your grand, as you mentioned. but the daily mail regrets that care home residents won't be able to bubble up, so they won't be able to bubble up, so they won't be able to bubble up, so they won't be able to enjoy the christmas they might have been hoping for. but you c

told there will be a press conference at around 7pm, and that will also be attended by professor chris whitty that oxford vaccine group. i think that tells us, as we know, the prime minister does like to have positive news to tell people, he doesn't want to concentrate on the gloom, and i think the news about the vaccine will be something, of course, that he wants to focus on, as well as some success with mass testing as well. but it isn't all going to be positive, looking at these beefed up tiers system, we know that every tier, whichever region of england is put into, will mean tougher measures. that will bad be news for the hospitality industry and warnings, as we know, about more businesses going bust. there is also, then, the issue of christmas. again, ithink also, then, the issue of christmas. again, i think bodger will want to give people hope, those who want to spend time with family and friends, that will be able to happen. —— i think borisjohnson will that will be able to happen. —— i think boris johnson will want that will be able to happen. —— i think borisjohnson will want to giv

england's chief medical officer chris whitty has tweeted his reaction to the news, he said... correspondent michelle roberts. everybody needs a reason for optimism but firstly, how does this vaccine work? like any vaccine, it will not give you the disease, it protects you against it. this one uses protects you against it. this one uses something called mrna which is genetic code which they have taken from the virus itself, the virus that causes covid—19 illness, and when it is put into your body, it teaches your immune system how to fight off that infection if it comes into co nta ct fight off that infection if it comes into contact with the real deal. in this trial we have seen that it appears to be 90% effective. they compared it in thousands of people, half of them with the realjab and half of them with the realjab and half getting a dummy and they looked at how many became infected with coronavirus and had symptoms and found that the ones that were getting it were thankfully in the placebo group although there were a few in the vaccine group. but with any vaccine you don't

the chief medical for the has said in the past, chris whitty has said in the past, chris whitty has saidve had over the last few weeks and with the expansion of mass testing i am more confident he is right. if we go to jack blanchard. thanks very much. you will be aware of the scale of misinformation out there about vaccines. and the supposed dangers of them. how will you combat that over the next few weeks and how concerned are you take up will not be taken up. and how can we do this so be taken up. and how can we do this so the virus is defeated next year? on priti patel, what is the point of having an independent adviser on priti patel, what is the point of on ministerial standards if the prime minister will ignore the advice when it is one of his mates in the firing line? i've answered the question on the home secretary and the prime minister has been clear that he doesn't think the home secretary has broken the ministerial code. on the substantive question about the vaccine, i will turn to jonathan van tam in a second because he has been very clear about the best way to explain to p

we have positive headlines out of chris whitty in the last hour in terms of his testimony.sie dollar is up strongly as well. we will continue to break it down. what does this election mean for the rest of the world? we will discuss that next. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ guy: it is election day. we are counting you down to the european close here on "bloomberg markets." what do you need to know from europe this hour? election day over in the states. the world and the markets on tenterhooks. anticlimax. group's ipods ant in shanghai and hong kong. alibaba down sharply on the back of that news. joining --nd citi tier two and tier three system actually was having an effect. a quick look at the markets. the reflation trade is on. markets pricing and the idea that we do get a result tonight. , thetoxx 600 up by over 2% s&p up by 2.4%. the dollar is down, both against the euro and against the pound. the pound is up over 1% now.

i listened very carefully to the conference yesterday with chris whitty and sir patrick vallance andy before these new national measures was working, but it was not working as effectively as i think we would have liked it too. so that is the idea behind these new tiers. tier 2 and tier 3 are significantly stronger. that does give us every reason to believe that in most parts of the country those in tier —— tier 2 will see a flattening, if not a full and those in tier 3 should see a fault. cases are falling in most parts of the country already. but there are some places, some parts of kent, for example, where they are still rising. i think you are going to see a continued rise in some places. as we see the lag time from the start of the national measures. then we should start to see a flattening out, a fall in most parts of the country. you are talking about the rate of increase, not the number of cases? the number of cases should fall into three certainly. my understanding from watching the press co nfe re nce understanding from watching the press conference yesterday, what would fal

minister at the weekend making the case that he did after the presentation from the scientists, from chris whittyetting out as they see it that bleak scientific prognosis u nless that bleak scientific prognosis unless something is to change. i think the prime minister will want to acknowledge, though, that this is incredibly intensely difficult. this trade—off between lives and livelihoods and liberties. we know his instinct was to not go down this route unless it proved to be essential. he has concluded it is absolutely essential and i think he will want to acknowledge that there is something in the argument that people like sir graham brady make in any normal time, this kind of restriction on our liberties will be regarded as a intolerable. it is the group macro view of sir graham that we have become blase in accepting these restrictions without significant day bait or discussion. the key thing is that there is no doubt that these were passed through the commons because the sir keir starmer have said that labour were back then. yes, there will be a pocket of conservative backbenchers who will b

so what chris whitty said today as the headline as it works which is the important point, but what seemsme in the first injection, which seem to increase the effectiveness, was given to people because of an error as if that wasn't supposed to be how it works, none of that was disclosed in the original statement. yes, and everything will be disclosed when we see the paper and we actually see the data, and i can understand that when you are releasing early trials, you try to convey information in the best way that you can, in a way that can be understandable and so we do really need to wait until we see the paper published and we see the full dataset, now, yes, perhaps those people who got the lower dose were also a younger age and all that can tell us is, at the moment, we don't know exactly why they had higher efficacy and we will see that information when the study is finished. 0k. lovely to talk to you. thank you for that. in six months svetlana tikhanovskaya's life has changed beyond recognition. the stay—at—home mother stood against bela rus' long—standing "dictator" alexander lu kas

what is important to remember is what chris whitty, the chief medical officer, said yesterday afternoonabout whether you should and if it is the right thing to do. as we know, for so many families, just seeing the relatives would be an immense piece of progress after the year that we have had. jennifer, one more for you on shielding. we had a question from pauline earlier, who said she had been shielding on was in the vulnerable category. in general terms, can you remind us of the guidelines for those shielding who are continuing to shield, and the differences between the three tiers regarding that? i would highly commend you go to the website and look at the details. it is incredibly long and complicated guidance. some highlights, you can keep working on all three tiers if it is absolutely necessary, but your employer has to put in place special measures to make sure you are safe. in tier2, you measures to make sure you are safe. in tier 2, you follow the normal rules about socialising. but you really have to take care. in tier 3, it is strongly advised that although you gartside for e

england‘s chief medical officer, chris whitty, has tweeted his reaction to the news. he said...ery exciting news. the question that will be asked by everybody watching this, and we already had some of these questions on your questions answered about 40 minutes ago, who gets it, how do they get it and when to beget at‘s we have experts that have been looking at this for some time. experts looking at who should get this vaccination. it is important to look at a few things. one is that it is generic advice, not for this particular vaccine. it is interim advice, and if more information comes they will adjust it. and thirdly, it is for england and wales. who gets it was meant if you are ina wales. who gets it was meant if you are in a care home or a care home worker were resident, you are at the top of the list, that is because people in care homes are at the highest risk. then you look at health and care workers, the front—line workers, and then we go down the ages. if you are over 80, 70, 65. then you get to the group that are high risk no matter how old they are. then you go to th

as chris whitty often says, there isn't a virus that has threatened humanity that we haven't beaten throughcientists and doctors, and i believe one of them is going to get through soon. anything you want to add? just on the vaccine point, i agree with what you said. the point is that there are more than 200 types of vaccines that are in development at the moment. there are six that are frontrunners and two are being particularly focused on and two or three may get licensed. but the ones likely to come soonest are some of the cleverest and most innovative vaccine methods, using different types of reprogramming of viruses or using your own rna to produce the immune effect. some of the vaccines that are more conventional, similarto the vaccines that are more conventional, similar to the as a vaccine that louis pasteur would have been involved in producing, they will come on stream later next year, perhaps the middle of next year. so we will have multiple opportunities here from vaccines. it is notjust one opportunity, pass or fail. thank you. let's go to vicki young at the bbc. you criticised

if patrick vallance and chris whitty have views on why whack a mole didn't work, that would be helpfuld spending and so forth, you will have heard from the chancellor yesterday. i think he set out not just a package to help this country bounce back from covid and to help us through covid, but it gives us the building blocks for long—term growth in the economy, in productivity, taking some of the really difficult decisions to build long—term prosperity for the uk. i'm very confident about the path that we are on, but it will of course need fiscal prudence and of course you will get that from this government. on your question about the whole local versus national lockdown strategy, actually i think if you listen to what patrick said earlier on, the tier approach was slowing the virus down and that is why a tiered approach is the right way to go now. if you look at the disparity in incidents in some places between some parts of the uk and others, you want to go for a tiered approach. those parts of the country that unquestionably will feel they have unfairly been put in a high tier, there

. —— patrick ballance and chris whitty. your questions answered coming up a little after half past. the plans revealed in yesterday's spending review on some of the poorest households. our economics correspondent, andy verity, reports. overshadowed in the spending review by the vast sums spent and borrowed to tackle covid was a surprising fact. analysis of the review‘s fine print carried out overnight reveals that away from emergency spending, the government actually plans to cut normal spending on public services by more than £10 billion. it's important to say that for next year government spending plans work were cut really quite substantially, actually, other than the amount they are allocating to deal with covid. the idea that we will need no more money in the nhs after next year than we thought at the beginning of this year, the idea that we will need no money to deal with covid, the idea that we will want to spend less on public services, on social care and education and so on, i'm not sure that stacks up. the ifs also points out rishi sunak chose to reduce support for local a

done and you have quoted again probably the most pessimistic, to quote the chief medical officer, chris whittyvery hard to comply when they are asked to. when they are not it is because they might havejust they are not it is because they might have just popped tout get fresh air, or if they have gone anywhere, they have gone to buy emergency prescriptions or food they didn't know how else to get. we have got a number of surveys we are running an our latest one, and we, this is unqa data, but surveys we ran to the middle of september shows 54% of people telling us they didn't leave home during the period they we re leave home during the period they were asked to isolate, so not 100% but it is better than the other surveys , but it is better than the other surveys, so but it is better than the other surveys, so it is hard to put a finger on that, and i would like to sort of, if you sum up, the system gets better and better, the better we get at finding people who have the disease, so the more we are scaling testing, the more we are using mass testing to find asymptomatic cases it gets better and

conference and he will be joined by one of the scientists behind that oxford vaccine and also by chris whittyi young in westminster. i‘m just seeing that we are getting information coming in all the time that there will be no crowds allowed at sport in the highest risk areas under the new restrictions from the 2nd of december at the end of this particular lockdown in england but the prime minister is set to make an announcement on the return of crowds to sport with a maximum of 4000 fans allowed to attend outdoor events in the lowest risk areas. that is coming from collea g u es risk areas. that is coming from colleagues at bbc sport. that is quite a significant change. so boris johnson is set to make an announcement that the return of crowds to sport will be agreeable with a maximum of 4000 fans allowed to attend outdoor events in the lowest risk areas. of course, we are waiting to hear about the differentiation between the tier system which will replace the national lockdown in england next wednesday. but no crowds allowed at sport in the highest risk areas under those restrictions from 2nd

injuly, chris whitty told the select committee he supported regular testing of nhs staff if there was will also start weekly testing of all nhs staff? mr speaker, we are rolling out testing of all staff as fast as we possibly can, and we are all too aware of the risk of infection of the kind we saw last time. one of the kind we saw last time. one of the things we are doing this time is greatly expanding the use of novel mass testing devices, such as the bmp mass testing devices, such as the lamp technology which i'm sure he is familiar with in lamp technology which i'm sure he is familiarwith in nhs lamp technology which i'm sure he is familiar with in nhs settings. but where we want to get to, as i told the house earlier on, is a world in which we are testing these particularly vulnerable institutions, hospitals, care homes, schools, universities with regular mass lateral flow testing of the kind i have described. sport is vitalfor our sport is vital for our nation's physical and mental health, and the prime minister triumphantly announced that the premier league would continue but h

so, basically on saturday, we had chris being watched by m million people and whitty and vallance showingdes that you just couldn't read. and then, chris, today the uk statistics authority kind of giving them a bit of a smack on the wrists, didn't they? they did, yeah. 16 million, by the way. just to give you a smack on the wrist! sorry! i should have been more accurate. yeah, i know. i was just saving you a rebuke next week. so, yeah, they did, and then there's that broader point, isn't there, which is when you have those "next slide, please" moments, and somebody off—screen clicking the clicker, you're just left, aren't you, as a viewer, just overwhelmed, really? particularly when you get those kind of colour scheme ones, like something you would get in a paint shop. when actually, you know, the old mantra, less is more, you know, they might be onto something with that. then simon stevens, the chief exec of the nhs, swoops in and does his own smackdown at the downing street press conference. smackdown! like you, and i'm sure that the prime minister won't mind me saying so, i've watched