dareen: thank you.ussia recorded almost a million excess deaths between the start of the pandemic and the end of 2021. the official number past some hundred thousand on friday. -- 700,000 scientists concerned about subvariant ba.2. it has now been detected in 40 countries. experts say studies are ongoing, but the new sub variant appears more transmissible then omicron. dr. richard sales says the sow. it is not a major cause for concern. >> we have preliminary data that protection from the vaccine is similar. the fundamentals of what we need to do have not changed. there may be some subtle differences and may be is something about this that makes it slightly better at infecting people and passing from person to person, but we know what we need to do to protect people. dareen: british police have asked for critical details to be withheld when an investigation into lockdown parties at the prime minister's home is released. some of the most serious accusations that boris johnson faces could be held back. >>