naomi grimley, bbc news.ronavirus. 18 deaths have been reported and 24,885 new infections were recorded across the uk in the past 2a hours. there were on average 23,470 new cases a day in the past week. more than 122,000 people received a first dose of the vaccine in the latest 24—hour period. over 45 million people have now had theirfirstjab — 85.7 per cent of uk adults. over 160,000 people have had their second jab in the latest 24—hour period. it means more than 33.4 million people are now fully vaccinated — 63.4 per cent of adults. people could be facing the prospect of empty supermarket shelves and price hikes — because of a shortage of lorry drivers. that's the warning from uk industry bosses, who say more than 60,000 workers are needed to keep goods moving. our business correspondent, dave harvey, reports. it's food on the shelves, it's drinks on the shelves, and it's builders' merchants being full. that's really what it is. if we're not delivering product, the shops won't be full, and that will have a

our health correspondent, naomi grimley, has more.his latest research by four english universities throws light on how likely children are to suffer serious illness. the researchers looked back at the cases of 61 children who died with a positive covid test in the first year of the pandemic. they found that of those, 25 children actually died directly from covid—19, rather than their infection being coincidental. the most vulnerable children were those with complex neuro disabilities. but as with adults, other risk factors were identified in children who had been hospitalised, such as being obese, having comorbidities like cardiovascular problems, or coming from nonwhite ethnic backgrounds. the researchers suggest the overall risk of children and teenagers dying from covid—19 is around one in 500,000. from covid-19 is around one in 500,000.— 500,000. we didn't see any deaths in — 500,000. we didn't see any deaths in children, _ 500,000. we didn't see any deaths in children, young . deaths in children, young people, who are often perce

naomi grimley, bbc news.nother 20 or more are missing after a huge mudslide swept through a hillside resort in centraljapan. the area had received extremely large amounts of rainfall in the last few days and flood and landslide warnings were in effect. the japanese army has been called in to help with the search and rescue operation. the city is south—west of tokyo in the shizuoka prefecture, where mud cascaded down a hillside, smashing into buildings and washing away cars. sodaba hadaire reports. this is the aftermath of the mudslide in the city of atami. knocking down and crashing homes and sweeping away cars. 0fficials knocking down and crashing homes and sweeping away cars. officials say the mudslide struck at 10:30am local time, leaving thousands of houses without power. atami is known for its hot springs and holiday resorts. it is in the same region as the famous mount fuji, which usually attracts over a million visitors every year, but there are fears that tourism already affected by the coronavirus pa

naomi grimley, bbc news.prospect of empty supermarket shelves and price hikes — because of a shortage of lorry drivers. that's the warning from uk industry bosses, who say more than 60,000 workers are needed to keep goods moving. our business correspondent, dave harvey, reports. it's food on the shelves, it's drinks on the shelves, and it's builders' merchants being full. that's really what it is. if we're not delivering product, the shops won't be full, and that will have a massive impact on the uk. in many ways, trucks like these are meant to be the lifeblood of our economy. they keep everything moving. right now, they're parked up and going nowhere. not that there's a shortage of companies with stuff to move, or indeed, at 150 grand for a cab and a trailer, any shortage of trucks themselves. theyjust can't find enough drivers. one in ten of this somerset firm's lorries are parked up at the moment, costing thousands every day. the industry calculates britain is short of 60,000 lorry drivers. 15,000 are euro

naomi grimley reports. what will our lives look like by the end of this month?ven suggested masks might become optional afterjuly the 19th. but today doctors warned that wouldn't be wise with infections rising. don't give people false assurances or hopes that life will be back to normal. do the responsible thing, which is to continue to have targeted measures to stop the spread of this infection, or prevent the spread of this infection, with a parallel vaccination programme so that we can probably get to a point in the not—too—distant future where we are bringing those infection rates down. this comes as ministers debate allowing fullyjabbed people to avoid isolation if they come into contact with an infectious person and instead do daily testing. downing street says it is under active consideration. and some doctors think it might work, but only if people are disciplined. although the lateral flow tests — the rapid tests you do yourself at home — are by no means as accurate as the pcr tests that you have done either by post and sent to the lab or the one you go

naomi grimley, bbc news. england has risen to1 in 75 people in the week to july the 17th. that's up from 1 in 95 the week before. the office for national statistics estimates there were more than 740 thousand people in england with the virus last week. earlier i spoke to linda bauld, professor of public health at the university of edinburgh and got her reaction to that. is worrying but we knew this would happen. this is actually the week before any of those changes happen with the easing of restrictions that it showed us what occurred due to the easing subsequent from the middle of may and what we are seeing is a rapid rise of infection in the community and there is a large reservoir, still, of the community who are able to pick up this virus and transfer it without the protection of vaccination and i keep hearing a couple of things. we know that the link is weakened in terms of the connection between covid—19 and positive cases going into hospital and mortality but it is still there and other indicators have

naomi grimley, bbc news. past 24 hours. there were on average 23,470 new cases a day in the past week. more than 122,000 people received a first dose of the vaccine over 45 million people have now had their firstjab — 85.7 per cent of uk adults. 0ver 160,000 people have had their second jab in the latest 24—hour period. it means more than 33.4 million people are now fully vaccinated — 63.4 per cent of adults. ukraine's defence ministry has come in for criticism for asking its female soldiers to march in high heels. the country is preparing to stage a military parade next month to mark 30 years of independence following the collapse of the soviet union. its plan to ask some female soldiers to parade in heels rather than boots has been labelled as sexist and a group of lawmakers is calling on the defence minister to apologise. people could be facing the prospect of empty supermarket shelves and price hikes — because of a shortage of lorry drivers. that's the warning from uk industry bosses, who say more than 60

naomi grimley, bbc news.ade on 26 august to mark 30 years of independence following the collapse of the soviet union. but the government's plan to have its female soldiers walk in high heels has caused anger and fury in the country. one opposition member of parliament thought it was a hoax, a group of lawmakers are calling on defence minister to make an apology. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello, there's a spell of heavy rain clearing northern england as it moves northwards across more of scotland going into this evening. elsewhere, there may be some warm, sunny spells around, but we are dodging the downpours, heavy showers and thunderstorms. could be quite a nasty line of them affecting parts of south—west england. varied rain totals, some places staying drier, other places with a risk of flash flooding. a warm, muggy night to come. many of the downpours easing, but pepping up again later in the night across southern and south—western parts. tomorrow, outbreaks of rain clearing

naomi grimley, bbc news. england, who are told to self—isolate by the nhs tracing app, are now allowed to carry on working as long as they test negative for covid. a government scheme has begun which means staff at 15 supermarket depots are now able to take a daily test instead. and other key sectors will be able to join the scheme next week. simon browning reports. empty shelves, gaps in food supply. industry has blamed the problem on the amount of critical food sector workers being pinged and they wanted action. last night, the government intervened. now, supermarket depot workers and food manufacturers will be exempt from self—isolating rules. workers, regardless of vaccination status, will be able to do daily covid testing, instead of isolating. it's expected 10,000 workers will qualify. new daily testing measures are beginning at 15 supermarket depots, followed by 150 more next week. supermarket store staff are not included. industry has broadly welcomed the changes. i think any intervention is welcome.

here's global health correspondent naomi grimley on whether this is a game changer for uk travel.feels like a bit of a turning point in well, it certainly feels like a bit of a turnin- point in this well, it certainly feels like a bit of a turning point in well, it certainly feels like a bit of a turnin- point in this pandemic. of a turning point in this pandemic. and interestingly, it was initially welcomed by one of the chief advisers to the government on coronavirus my professorjohn bell of oxford university. he was pointing out that when you're talking about america and european countries, you are talking about countries which are using really good vaccines and where coverage is generally quite good. and so, fully vaccinated people don't pose the same risks. of course, as your last guest hinted, it is another story for many other countries around the world. and even some of our bbc colleagues coming back to visit relatives are having to do quarantine in hotels. that costs money, so this is really a story about, you know, rich countries being able to open up more, whilst poorer

our health correspondent, naomi grimley has more.ls has caused no end of frustration in households during this pandemic. take last week, for example, the department for education says on 15thjuly, over a million state school pupils in england did not attend class for covid—19 related reasons. of those, more than 930,000 were self isolating, due to a possible contact with a covid case. but a new study by oxford university suggests daily testing is a safe alternative to isolating contacts. researchers followed pupils and staff in more than 200 schools. in half, the close contacts of positive cases had to isolate for ten days. in the other half, however, close contacts of positive cases were offered supervised daily tests at school over seven days and allowed to carry on as normal if they were negative. i think the results of this study are really reassuring for parents, as well as for students and for teachers. what we see here is that for people in schools and colleges, the chance of getting infected with covid—19, when there has been

naomi grimley, bbc news. policies needless because for 18 months we have been working under such uncertainty but we are really pleased to bring forward evidence that says we can safely make changes to that policy now. in the future it is needless? yes, we can go forward and say there are safe alternatives here and young people have had such a burden in this pandemic on their well—being and their education and we can start to change that and feel safe about doing so. daily using the lateral flow tests daily, which are like a pregnancy test, really, does using those reduce symptomatic infections in schools? we found exactly the same number, we found no difference in the rate of symptomatic infections in the two schools when we compared all of those who had the policy of isolating and all of those who had a policy of daily contact testing. 0k. we know over a million schoolchildren had to self—isolate last week. daily testing is the way now to stop that happening, isn't it? so i think what we have shown is that f

our health correspondent, naomi grimley has more.artment for education says that onjuly15, over1 million state school pupils in england did not attend class for covid related reasons. of those, more than 930,000 were than 930 , 000 were self—isolating than 930,000 were self—isolating due to a possible contact with a covid case. but, a new study by oxford university suggests that daily testing is a safe alternative to isolating contacts. researchers followed pupils and staff in more than 200 schools. in more than half of the close contacts of positive cases, they had to isolate for ten days. in the other half, however, close contacts of positive cases were offered supervised daily tests at school over seven days. they were allowed to carry on as normal ever negative. i think the results of this study are really, really reassuring for parents as well as for students and for teachers. what we see here is that for people in schools and colleges, the chances of getting infected with cubba 19 when there has been a case in a school or colle

naomi grimley, bbc news.ology at imperial college london. tell us more about the evidence on children, what do you think the findings suggest? this children, what do you think the findings suggest?— children, what do you think the findings suggest? this is a great iece of findings suggest? this is a great piece of work. — findings suggest? this is a great piece of work, there _ findings suggest? this is a great piece of work, there are - findings suggest? this is a great piece of work, there are three i piece of work, there are three papers we have worked on to look at this data. because we have been talking about what we have seen on the ground in hospitals, having the real numbers to be really confident about that makes a huge difference to families, i think. what we found was very few children are admitted, so about 800,000 children were admitted with the covid test in the 12 months to the end of february this year and that probably include children who were admitted with things like a broken arm and a bro

naomi grimley, bbc news.try bosses, who say more than 60,000 workers are needed to keep goods moving. our business correspondent, dave harvey, reports. in many ways, tracks like these are meant to be the lifeblood of our economy, keeping things moving, right now, they are parked up and going nowhere, not that there is a shortage of companies with stuff to move or indeed at 150 grand for a cab in a trailer, theyjust can't find enough drivers. 0ne cab in a trailer, theyjust can't find enough drivers. one in ten of this somerset firm of lorries are parked up at the moment, costing thousands every day. the industry calculates britain is short of 60,000 lorry drivers. 15,000 are european drivers who left the country last year.— european drivers who left the country last year. through the pandemic. _ country last year. through the pandemic, lots _ country last year. through the pandemic, lots of— country last year. through the pandemic, lots of drivers - country last year. through the i pandemic, lots of drivers wa

our global health correspondent, naomi grimley.for travel and tourism to the uk? it certainly feels like a bit of a turning point in this pandemic and interestingly, it was actually welcomed by one of the chief advisers to the government on coronavirus, professorjohn bell of oxford university. regis professor in it —— regents professor of medicine. he was saying when you talk about european and america, your talk the countries using really good vaccines and were coverage is generally quite good. so fully vaccinated people don't pose the same risks. of course as your last guest hinton, it's another story for many other countries around the world and even some of our bbc colleagues coming back to visit relatives are having to do quarantine in a hotel. that costs money and so this is really a story about rich countries being able to open up more while poor countries remain very limited in their travel options. i remain very limited in their travel 0 tions. ~ , options. i think it will be interesting _ options. i think it will be inter

here's the bbc�*s naomi grimley on why the strategy in england is out of sync with how some others countries them taken away. so that's where the gamble is. i guess what the government is thinking is that if there is going to be what's termed an exit wave, as the population releases and as vaccines do theirjob, then it's better to have that in summer rather than delay it to september, when kids go back to school and when the weather starts turning and people huddle indoors again, so that's really the gamble. the problem is, if infections keep rising, what if the wall of immunity 64% of the adult population in the uk has been double jabbed. the uk government announced restrictions on the school will come to an end. up to now children have been put into bubbles. when one tests positive the others must isolate. it's caused a lot of disruption. over the past week more than 640,000 children missed school because of this. only 10% actually tested positive. as of the 19th july they will remove these bubbles and children will only have to isolate if they test positive. there will no longer be a requ

naomi grimley, bbc news.miology, university of york. tell us more about the findings and were you surprised about these findings are not?— were you surprised about these findings are not? were you surprised about these findinis are not? ,., ., ., ., findings are not? good morning. no, we were not — findings are not? good morning. no, we were not surprised, _ findings are not? good morning. no, we were not surprised, we _ findings are not? good morning. no, we were not surprised, we knew- findings are not? good morning. no, we were not surprised, we knew the | we were not surprised, we knew the risks to children and young people was always extremely low. but we were surprised that the number of children who actually died from covid which mats lower than had been expected. but we mustn't minimise the death of any children, it is devastating for the families involved but this data should be reassuring of the very, very few children who have had serious illness or die from covid—19. i5 illness or die from covid—1

naomi grimley, bbc news.versal credit payment would be the biggest overnight reduction in the basic rate of social security since the creation of the welfare state. that's according to thejoseph rowntree foundation. the government introduced a £20 a week uplift to the basic entitlement at the start of the pandemic, but that's due to come to an end in october. our political correspondent nick eardley has this report. for many families, the pandemic has been a time of unprecedented challenges. the government added £20 a week to universal credit payments last march. it was a big increase, but it was temporary. and the uplift is due to come to an end in october. i'm anthony. i'm a father of two. i became redundantjust before the lockdown due to ill health. anthony says the end of the extra money will mean some tough choices. for us as a household, we are going to be left with the question of food versus fuel, orfuel versus clothes, you know, just the basic necessities. there are many households which have grown t

naomi grimley, bbc news.rrived in tokyo, hours afterjapan declared a state of emergency due to rising cases of coronavirus. with just two weeks to go until the games begin, spectators have been banned from all venues in and around the japanese capital. mariko 0i joins us now from tokyo. good morning. in other circumstances, on this day, the flame arriving, two weeks ago, it would have been an extraordinary time. but in tokyo now, it's an extraordinary time for all sorts of other reasons, health and about how the games will work in practice. indeed, charlie. the torch relay was supposed to start today in tokyo, not far from where i am staying, i am in quarantine of my parents before starting to cover the olympics. the decision was made a few days ago to cancel the torch ceremony relay and replace it with a flame lighting ceremony to be streamed online, partly because of the pandemic and because there is also strong public opposition. a couple of days ago, women tried to extinguish the flame with a water pistol