professor whitty. and i think obviously the real heroes on this are absolutely people who are on the front line and doing an amazing job, the doctors and nurses in the system, and ijust want to, before i answer that question, can ijust point out that we are going into what are going to be the worst weeks of this epidemic for england and the wider uk. over 30,000 people in hospital now, well above the previous peak, it's gone up significantly. we set a week ago that we are heading into trouble, and here in london, one in about 30 people have got this infection. so this is going to be a very serious issue where we are going to need the help of everyone we can get, but it is very important that people realise that the individual risks for clinicians who have been vaccinated do need to be discussed. if there are people that are at high risk, they do need to discuss it with their own doctors and with their occupational health people. it is going to vary. the thing about the vaccine is it was substantially r

that’s whitty about the weeks ahead. that's ri . ht and whitty about the weeks ahead. that's right and it's — whitty about the weeks ahead. that's right and it'sjust _ whitty about the weeks ahead. that's right and it'sjust a _ whitty about the weeks ahead. that's right and it'sjust a terrible _ right and it's just a terrible landmark, isn't it? when we started talking about coronavirus so many months ago we could not have imagined we would reach a total like this and that the prime minister gave his repeated condolences to people who have lost loved ones but he has been notably reluctant to talk about what might have known gone wrong vowing he and the government have done everything they could. he cannot sweep away the long list of issues raised over the months, whether that was the difficulty getting hold of gloves and masks on ppe at the start, arguments about quarantining travellers still going on in whitehall tonight or whether or not the repeated questions about whether the repeated questions about whether the lockdowns have come too late. everyone hopes in the

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chris whitty urges people to avoid all unneccessary contact in the weeks before the vaccine roll—out has an impact. i think it's really important that everybody in every interaction they have every day for the next few weeks thinks, "do i really need to do this?" we'll be hearing from professor whitty who took some of your questions in a special programme this morning. also this lunchtime... the biggest vaccination programme in nhs history gets under way with seven new centres opening across england. i feel very relieved, i feel this is the way back. i really think that... i can't understand anybody not wanting to have it. pressure mounts in washington to strip donald trump of power after the violent storming of congress last week. the pain in spain — how brexit has changed things for british pensioners retiring to the med. that's all from bite—size daily until tomorrow. the show is coming up until tomorrow. the show is coming up on cbbc are jam packed full of education. it is like a sardine tin and the sidings are education. the bbc delivers its biggest—ever roll out of educat

christ whitty the chief medicalfor increase. christ whitty the chief medical for for increase. christ whitty the chief medicalforfor england increase. christ whitty the chief medical for for england did increase. christ whitty the chief medicalforfor england did say increase. christ whitty the chief medical for for england did say that inevitably because of more people in hospital there will be more deaths to report in the weeks ahead. there was one tiny chink of light that he talked about the new variant in the south—east and london of the virus. cases associated with that may be tailed off a little bit, the graph had flattened but not to read too much into it but certainly the data will be key in the weeks ahead as officials and all of us assess what effect these lockdowns have had. hugh pym, thank you. in all parts of the uk, schools are closed to all pupils, except for vulnerable children and those whose parents are key workers. parents and carers are having to supervise home schooling, with many lacking access to the right technology and struggling with the cost. 0ur edu

i have a lot of respect for chris whitty. i read he went and did some shifts at the uch in london last week and he has a lot on his plate already. i'm impressed by him. i also think that he is not tainted with the potential political difficultives say of —— difficulties of say letting an advisor off the hook when he apparently breaks lockdown rules by driving to durham. i think there is more trust in scientists and we will listen to chris whitty when he says the nhs was within two weeks of being overwhelmed and they have to turn away emergency cases, which might lead to avoidable deaths. that is a horrendous phrase to hear in an advanced nation in the 21st century, that the leading medic in the country is saying there maybe avoidable deaths. it shows the carnage being wrought which this virus and how seriously we have to ta ke virus and how seriously we have to take it. part of that carnage in the observer, hospital staff, health ca re observer, hospital staff, health care staff are falling ill with covid—i9 in large nu

well, it's not up to me to tell chris whitty how to do his job. but if you look at the data, if you look at the transmission rate, if you look at the figures that you just shared with us now, this is absolutely dire. and it is going to get worse, there is no way around it with this level of transmission, the level of increase in transmission. and so really it's just total logic. and of course, those who have got most influence, which includes professor chris whitty, are the ones, hopefully, who can persuade the government to do the right thing and ensure that there's more strict, not less strict, measures than in march. but these must be underpinned by good support for people. and that didn't happen last time. we need good support for those who are renting accommodation, good support for those who are in precarious employment, and freelancing etc, because if we don't give that kind of support along with the strict measures, we are going to have physical and mental health problems, we will have loss of livelihoods, and in the long term, that will h

chris whitty says hospitals could soon be overwhelmed, leading to avoidable deaths. it comes as asymptomatic testing in the uk is ramped up and more than half a million people over the age of 80 are invited to mass vaccination centres. rescue teams in indonesia detect a signal believed to be from the flight recorder of the boeing passenger plane that crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff. 62 people were on board. president trump will face impeachment proceedings this week for the second time — accused of inciting the storming of congress. a special report from south africa following the people committed to saving one of the world's most endangered and trafficked creatures — the pangolin. hello and welcome to bbc news for viewers in britain and around the world. england's chief medical officer has given a new warning that the nhs could soon be overwhelmed by the spread of coronavirus. professor chris whitty said if the rate of infections continue, the pressure on hospitals will lead to "avoidable deaths", as doctors struggle to deal with the number of patient

chris whitty says hospitals could soon be overwhelmed, leading to avoidable deaths. it comes as asymptomatic testing in the uk is ramped up and more than half a million people over the age of 80 are invited to mass vaccination centres — with the government pledging vaccines for the rest of the adult population before next winter. we are going to have enough to be able to offer a vaccine to everyone over the age of 18 by the autumn. rescue teams in indonesia have found the flight recorder for the boeing passenger plane that crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff. 62 people were on board. president trump will face impeachment proceedings this week for the second time — accused of inciting the storming of congress. and a special report from south africa following the people committed to saving one of the world's most endangered and trafficked creatures — the pangolin. hello and welcome to bbc news. whether you are watching here in the uk oraround the whether you are watching here in the uk or around the world. england's chief medical officer has given a new wa

chris whitty doesn't do a lot of interviews. it was quite an honour for you guys to get him and for such a long amount of time as well. but he knows all the data. he sees it in real time. in fact, over christmas he spent some time working in a hospital because he is an epidemic disease doctor. he has also seen it with his own eyes as well. i was really struck by his description of the situation. he said, these are the worst we e ks situation. he said, these are the worst weeks of the pandemic for the uk. certainly as far as the number of people going into hospital is concerned. and the pressure on doctors and nurses, as we were hearing about from fergus. and he says the answer isn't to put new restrictions on top of the lockdown. it is for all of us to just follow the rules. if they are minimising the number of individual contacts they have to the absolute minimum, outside of the things they have to do for work and for exercise, and essential things, thatis for exercise, and essential things, that is the most important thing. in

to professor whitty and professor va la nce upon. to professor whitty and professor valance when did you first advice the government to lockdown in england? the cmos met yesterday morning, and reviewed the data which was getting worse in all four nations of the uk and they advised we should move to level five yesterday. mrjohnson cease promised to give regular update on the vaccine macing programme. the aim is inknowledge lating round 13 million people by mid—february. the labour leader said the nation must pull together. we now need the government together. we now need the government to deliver for the british together. we now need the government to deliverfor the british people, and that means using this lockdown to establish a massive immediate and round—the—clock vaccination programme. to deliver millions of doses by the end of this month. across the uk schools are closed for most pupils and many exams cancelled. there is still uncertainty over when that will change. the first minister of scotla nd change. the first ministe

well, i think chris whitty summed it up. this couldn't be more serious as far as the nhs is concerned. i was speaking to a chief executive last week has been in the nhs for a0 years, he is the chief executive one of our outstanding trusts and he said, i've never seen pressure like this before. so, the nhs is under huge and enormous pressure. and that is why my message today has to absolutely echo chris whitty‘s, which is that each of us have got an individual decision here about what we do and how we behave, and as he says, we need to think about whether, when we step outside our front about whether, when we step outside ourfront door, do about whether, when we step outside our front door, do we absolutely need to do that? and we need to reduce going outside the front door for unnecessary purposes to 0. we've got to really cut the number of unnecessary deaths, reduce patient harm and give the nhs the best chance that it needs to treat every patient that comes forward for care. and if we carry on like we are, we are not goi

i think as chris whitty said _ cautious. i think as chris whitty said in— cautious. i think as chris whitty said in the _ cautious. i think as chris whitty said in the press so they come up once _ said in the press so they come up once they— said in the press so they come up once they see how the vaccination programme works, if we start seeing numbers— programme works, if we start seeing numbers of— programme works, if we start seeing numbers of deaths coming down in the numbers— numbers of deaths coming down in the numbers of— numbers of deaths coming down in the numbers of hospitalizations as well coming _ numbers of hospitalizations as well coming down, i think they will be more _ coming down, i think they will be more confident to start having that debate _ more confident to start having that debate at — more confident to start having that debate. at the moment they were talking _ debate. at the moment they were talking about pushing things back into, a _ talking about pushing things back into, a debate over when spring was, was going _ into, a debate

i am now going to hand over to chris whitty.- to hand over to chris whitty. thank ou, to hand over to chris whitty. thank you. prime — to hand over to chris whitty. thank you, prime minister. _ to hand over to chris whitty. thank you, prime minister. first - to hand over to chris whitty. thank you, prime minister. first slide, i you, prime minister. first slide, please. — you, prime minister. first slide, please. just— you, prime minister. first slide, please. just three slides this evening, _ please. just three slides this evening, the first one is the number of people _ evening, the first one is the number of people testing positive for covid, — of people testing positive for covid, and what you can see on this slide _ covid, and what you can see on this slide is _ covid, and what you can see on this slide is the — covid, and what you can see on this slide is the number is extremely high, _ slide is the number is extremely high, we — slide is the number is extremely high, we are still at the place where — high, we are still at the place where

chris whitty. thank you. i think again, there are several questions in that and i will answer all three because i think they are all really critical questions. for people. the first of which is it is possible to be reinfected with covid, the risk of getting it a second time if you have a first are substantially reduced, probably between somewhere like 80 and 90%, at least over the first six months, we have data on that but we don't have data for longer periods, largely because the virus has not been around in large enough numbers for that time but we are confident it reduces the risk but it does not reduce it to zero, infection is a possibility in the same will be true after oxidation, reinfection will occui’ after oxidation, reinfection will occur but at a much lower rate. the second thing, except for people who have a very significant reduction in immune system, covid does not usually last in terms of infection for very long periods of time. some of the symptoms which may be happening after the virus has

what we heard from professor whitty was, he will offer -- it is professor whitty was, he will offer —— it is going to offer some protection. it is important that evenif protection. it is important that even if it doesn't protect you totally against infection, it really does protect you against serious illness. if you have a mild illness, that's good for the individual, but it also relieves pressure on the health service. nick, thank you very much. the who has held a news conference this afternoon. let's listen to the remarks from the head of that body. we have entered a new phase of the pandemic where solidarity is needed like never before. we are in a race to save lives right now, and as my colleague doctor mike rand said last year, it is important in any crisis to act fast and have no regrets. caseloads are so high in several countries that hospitals and intensive care units are filling up to dangerous levels. bring cases down, protect health systems and save lives while rolling out highly effective and safe vaccines to high—risk this is not easy. these are the hard miles we mus

his message was echoed by england's chief medical officer, professor chris whitty, who said the new variant of the disease is spreading rapidly across the country, leaving some areas facing "the most dangerous situation anyone can remember." the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has urged the government to reinforce the "stay at home" message and called for a return of the daily downing street briefings, fronted by the prime minister. the british government is rolling out rapid lateral flow tests to all areas of england. the tests, which can return results in 30 minutes, will be prioritised for those who can't work from home. and thousands of people in england aged over 80 are being invited to book an appointment to get the jab at one of seven mass vaccination centres. matt hancock said he hoped all adults in the uk would be offered the vaccine by the autumn. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley said the government's core aim was to reiterate the "stay at home" message. chris whitty, england's chief medical officer, is warning the situation is worse than it has been throughout the pandem

i and, to professor whitty, what would you say— and, to professor whitty, what would you say to _ and, to professor whitty, what would you say to care — and, to professor whitty, what would you say to care homes _ and, to professor whitty, what would you say to care homes telling - and, to professor whitty, what would you say to care homes telling us - you say to care homes telling us tonight— you say to care homes telling us tonight they _ you say to care homes telling us tonight they are _ you say to care homes telling us tonight they are concerned - you say to care homes telling usi tonight they are concerned about you say to care homes telling us - tonight they are concerned about the iap tonight they are concerned about the gap between — tonight they are concerned about the gap between the _ tonight they are concerned about the gap between the first _ tonight they are concerned about the gap between the first dose _ tonight they are concerned about the gap between the first dose of- tonight they are concerned about the gap between the first dose of the - gap between the fir

chris whitty raised the prospect of more restrictions next winter. it's a pretty bleak picture as we sit here of the year. many people hope the vaccine will be able to make life returned to normal sooner rather than later, and yet still, we have these senior leaders telling us that could stretch on for months. we will get onto the guardian, but i remember watching a perfect storm and there's a bit towards the end where one sailor, said itjust won't let us go. i thought of that almost every morning. there is a missing element of that film that people are focusing on, human agency. there's not much you can do. whether the prime minister has delayed for too long, there is the unseen respectable of him encouraging kids to go back to school, closing schools on monday. what is written through this guardian piece isjust how negative everything is. you have this upbeat prime minister who could not even guarantee kids would be fully back at school before the summer fully back at school before the summer holidays. i think today is the first time we had over 60

let's just talk about what chris whitty, the chief medical officer, has been saying. he is often at these briefings of course. he said these briefings of course. he said the peak is still to come. we haven't seen the worst yet. no, we saw rising levels of infection through december and into early january. there are some infection through december and into earlyjanuary. there are some signs those rises are slowing, certainly in london and the south—east, but that still is translating through to record numbers of admissions, the most record numbers of admissions, the m ost rece nt record numbers of admissions, the most recent data we have shows there we re over most recent data we have shows there were over 4000 admissions to hospitalfor were over 4000 admissions to hospital for covid. were over 4000 admissions to hospitalfor covid. to put that were over 4000 admissions to hospital for covid. to put that into context, in the depths of winter we would normally only expect to see around 1000 admissions per day for all types of respiratory illnesses. we have seen four ti

and chris whitty talked about the advances made in knowledge about the virus, about the extra scientific knowledge they now had in about better treatments but he added the death rate remains relatively high. flattening may be but it'll take time to come down. he went on to say that a lot more deaths would occur over the next few weeks before the effects of the vaccine began to be felled. we effects of the vaccine began to be felled. ~ . ~ ., ., ., ., ., felled. we will talk again tomorrow but thank you _ felled. we will talk again tomorrow but thank you very _ felled. we will talk again tomorrow but thank you very much, - felled. we will talk again tomorrow but thank you very much, hugh - felled. we will talk again tomorrow l but thank you very much, hugh pym, health editor. that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me arejournalist and broadcasterjenny kleeman. and dia chakravarty, brexit editor of the daily telegraph. tomorrow's front pages. starting w

professor chris whitty said on friday— professor chris whitty said on friday it — professor chris whitty said on friday it was a public health decision— friday it was a public health decision and they had made a judgment call that it's best to get as many— judgment call that it's best to get as many of the population, the vaccine — as many of the population, the vaccine to— as many of the population, the vaccine to as many people as possible _ vaccine to as many people as possible first. but as lizzy said, there _ possible first. but as lizzy said, there is— possible first. but as lizzy said, there is a — possible first. but as lizzy said, there is a divide in the scientific community, the pfizerjab has been tested _ community, the pfizerjab has been tested at _ community, the pfizerjab has been tested at three weeks. they are talking — tested at three weeks. they are talking about 12 weeks. the other thing. _ talking about 12 weeks. the other thing. the — talking about 12 weeks. the other thing, the grappling in the background for the government is all about— backgroun

stick to the guidelines will be re—inforced today by england's chief medical officer, professor chris whitty. the online supermarket, 0cado, has warned customers there could be shortages of some products over the next few weeks. the company says the number of workers off sick or self—isolating because of covid means that some food producers are reducing the number of products they offer. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: a senior democrat lays out the possible timeline for impeaching donald trump, after at least 200 democrats give their support to a draft article of impeachment. indonesian investigators believe the boeing 737 that crashed on saturday broke apart on impact, which could rule out a mid—air breakup. now to india, because the northern state of haryana, where many cars are produced, has made it mandatory for private companies to hire local residents. but as arunoday mukharji explains, firms aren't happy. india's water industry makes up 7% of the country's gdp and it employs over 35 million people. and the state of haryana is a dominant player in the industry. it is

terms of getting the message across your privacy and the new guidance been broadcast, as professor whitty the correct person? i think so and that he is largely a trusted figurehead. i think what probably helps as he is not a politician and it takes it away from the prime minister and other ministers remain at some point in the last year or so have muddied the waters or tainted their own reputation with perhaps being too flippant to begin with or letting advisers off with the spirit of the rules are rubrics so i think this whitty is the right man because he knows what he's talking about key knows what he's talking about key knows what he is doing and if we all get in line and do what we are told then the next few months will pass and he will get out of this any safer manner. in the observer, it seems the message us if you do not comply your carers will not look after you when you get ill. comply your carers will not look after you when you get illi comply your carers will not look after you when you get ill. i think thatis after you when you get ill. i think that is an important message. w

what chris whitty had to say this morning was absolutely right. this isa morning was absolutely right. this is a very perilous moment because everybody can sense that the vaccine is coming in, they can see that the uk is vaccinating large numbers of those who need it most and my worry is, and chris‘s worry, is this is the moment where that could breed a false confidence, false complacency, and that, when you look at what has happened in the nhs, that complacency is not merited. we have a really tough fight on our hands, but what we will do is of course keep the guidance and the rules under review, but more important, as chris said this morning, more important than us just pushing out new rules, people have to follow the guidance, so it is supermarkets, people need to be keeping their distance, making sure they are wearing masks, doing the right thing and supermarkets have done a fantastic job and supermarkets have done a fantasticjob during and supermarkets have done a fantastic job during this and supermarkets have done a fantasticjob during th

. —— pippa that is because chris whitty... he mousset not another lockdown but this battle could be longer. this is in the context that the premise was to lift restrictions and said to me before christmas he wants to have wife back to normal by easter which is another... —— life back to normal. he said that emerging from restrictions is subject to a lot of caveats and if, the big one being vaccine brought us but then michael gove suggested that lockdown restrictions could continue into march and the prime minister was unable to give a clear answer to guarantee schools would definitely be back before the summer holidays. chris whitty on top of all of this said we might have some restrictions next winter and that's because viruses thrive in winter. i do think as you rightly say we are talking about lockdown, i think we are hoping maybe more used to wearing facemasks and even though it feels such an odd thing to go on the tube, train, and bus and have a facemask on and take social distancing a bit more seriously. i am a very

the chief medical officer for england, professor chris whitty, has warned that the death toll will remain high for some weeks before the effects of the vaccine begin to be felt. our health editor, hugh pym, reports from king's mill hospital in mansfield. machine beeps. every day in intensive care is a daunting challenge for staff as they strive to keep patients alive. some of the shifts that i have had are the toughest i've ever had, in particular, one night shift i had last week was one of the worst shifts i've had in 21 years of nursing. from experience, i can tell you that i'm seeing more sicker patients this time then i saw in the first wave. doctors are trained to deal with death, but nothing like this. umar has had to cope with the savage impact of covid, both in hisjob and at home. my parents have got covid. my mother—in—law is in the icu and ijust lost some dear family relatives of covid, so when you see these patients at the hospital, just gives you that flash flash as well. but you've got to shut that down and you've got to continue looking after your patients as best as you

the government's chief medical adviser — professor chris whitty — warned that the country was facing a really serious emergency. more than 1.3 million people have been given the first dose of a covid vaccine — among them nearly a quarter of all over 80s. there's hope that the vaccine will be a way out of this pandemic. but professor whitty warned that some restrictions may still be needed next winter in order to keep the virus under control. every nation in the uk is now in a form of lockdown. the rules differ slightly from nation to nation, but the key message is the same everywhere. to stay at home — with a handful of exemptions — including shopping for food and exercise. here's our deputy political editor, vicki young. that sinking feeling — here we go again. across the uk a return to deserted streets, empty classrooms and closed shops. stay at home is the order coming from political leaders as forcefully as it did in march. all hopes now pinned on a speedy vaccine roll out. until then, what will life be like? like millions of parents, michelle will be juggling work and he

nick, what exactly is chris whitty saying? strong words? they are, we have heard lots from politicians about how worried they are but i think there is a feeling they need to get there is a feeling they need to get the medical experts out there as well hammering home the message to us all about how severe the situation is. that is what you are getting from england's chief medical officer, writing a piece for the times, saying the nhs if the virus continues to increase as it has been could be in real trouble very soon and is warning that has real implications for people getting care, the number of doctors who can help. each patient ultimately if that happens it will lead to unavoidable deaths. a pretty stark message from chris whitty this morning. the big question is, what do you do next? the feeling in government, although you heard in anna's piece there, there have been calls for further restrictions, maybe further tightening of the lockdown in england. encouraging eve ryo ne lockdown in england. encouraging everyone to follow the rules alr

looking at the metro, careless talk costs lives, and the dire warnings from professor chris whitty, but anecdotally, from your friends, are you seeing eight glaring at the edges? it is not like the lockdown in march? —— a blurring of the edges. i really think this is a classic misdirection from the government. we have seen throughout the pandemic and we have seen this from statistics coming from the 0ffice from statistics coming from the office for national statistics that there is high at national compliance with the measures and people want to do the right thing and quite often people want stricter lockdowns earlier than the government imposed a the problem is not the public but it is the rules in themselves. we talk about the up of being harsher, but it isn't. it was harsh in march last year, wasn't it? yes, nurseries are still open and there is a wider definition of what constitutes essential workers, and crucially, the bit people cannot be compliant over is the bit they can't afford to be compliant

but there is some hope, as england's chief medical officer, professor chris whitty, says it's looking likely that things will start to improve in the spring. also tonight... we report from merseyside, which now has the highest rates of infection in england, to find out why the number of new cases just keeps rising. hope for tens of thousands of small businesses, as the supreme court has ruled that insurance firms must issue pay—outs for losses suffered during the first lockdown. the new variant of covid—19 — scientists reassure parents about the impact it will have on children. don't forget me. we will not forget ou. and the charity calling on children and teenagers to cheer up people who are isolated in care homes with a video call. and coming up on bbc news... a warning to players from the premier league's chief executive — set a good example and follow coronavirus protocols. richard masters has his say on the row over goal celebrations. good evening. from monday anyone arriving in the uk will have to have proof of a negative coronavirus test and will also have to self—iso

professor chris whitty said | deaths. professor chris whitty said yesterday that there would be a lot more deaths in the weeks ahead before the effect of the vaccines really began to be felt. and his take was that the numbers, if you look at the stats, they may be plateauing now, in other words not rising quite as fast each day, but they are going to take a while to come down. and that is a pretty sobering assessment based on where we are now, more than 100,000, one of the highest death tolls in the world from covid relative to the size of the population. and there will be understudied about what has happened over the last year, what should have been done, what wasn't done, should lockdown about the down whilst not a testing system in place, what other decisions could have been made, was the not enough investment in public health? so that debate will go on, but of course, families of yours in hearing, have been affected by this, many families who are grieving, and it is a terrible, terrible number. in the last few days. â

the sunday times carries a warning from the chief medical officer, professor chris whitty, that emergency patients will be turned away from hospitals, causing "avoidable deaths", unless the public starts obeying the lockdown. while the observer has senior nhs figures warning the number of doctors, nurses and other health care workers who are falling ill with covid—19 has reached crisis levels and is seriously hampering the fight against the rapidly escalating pandemic. the sunday people features an ominous warning from a front—line nurse urging everyone to follow the rules. while the sunday telegraph reports that every police officer has been told to fine people in breach of covid rules £200 if they refuse to go home at the first time of asking, in new guidance issued to all chief constables. the sunday mirror describes the queen and the duke of edinbugh's vaccinations as sending a powerful message to anti—vaxxers. the mail on sunday note that the queen and prince philip had their first jab at windsor castle only when it became available to others in the berkshire area, to avoid an

we got in downing street by the prime minister himself comes borisjohnson with sir patrick and chris whitty, the news is not good. how many people have been vaccinated, nearly 5.4 million, they've got their first dose. and there are few infections of the still very high in the death toll is still very high in the death toll is still high. but really, there is bad news that is probably preliminary data and they cannot completely guarantee this but it would seem that this new variant as opposed to the original is more fatal. a man in his 60s, instead of having tentative every thousand, maybe 13 or 14 that would die from this new variant and also bad news, it seems to be more infectious and i think so many people are struggling. it's been ten months in the united kingdom and so many sacrifices, those that have had loved ones who've been very ill, possibly been to hospital in lucky enough to leave alive. you've got people fat covid—19 and those who have not come out of hospital and have not come out of hospital and have died over 90 96,000 people. in the uk and that is appalling, terrible and

here's more of what chris whitty said. if people are taking this very seriously, if they are minimising the number of individual contacts they have to the absolute minimum outside the things they have to do for work, exercise and essential things, that is the most important thing. ina things, that is the most important thing. in a sense, tinkering with the rules may be useful, but the more important thing is that everybody abides by the spirit of the rules that are there at the moment. ordinarily, government ministers hve been appearing on tv and radio to spread messages like this, but there's a suggestion medical voices are being used to push the narrative further. in fact, professor whitty even appeared in an ad campaign over the weekend. covid—19, especially the new variant, is spreading quickly across the country. this puts many people at risk of serious disease and displacing a lot of pressure on our nhs. once more, we must all stay home. and this emphasis on the messaging is connected to the statistics under the pa

chris whitty says hospitals could soon be overwhelmed — leading to avoidable deaths. it comes as asymptomatic testing in the uk is ramped up and more than half a million people over the age of 80 are invited to mass vaccination centres — with the government pledging vaccines for the rest of the adult population before next winter. rescue teams in indonesia have found the black box flight recorders of the boeing passenger plane that crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff. 62 people were on board. president trump will face impeachment proceedings this week for the second time — accused of inciting the storming of congress. and, a special report from south africa, following the people committed to saving one of the world's most endangered and trafficked creatures — the pangolin. now on bbc news, witness history. in this edition we hear from the man who invented the polio vaccine and exmaine how hiroshima's trees have become a symbol of survival. hello and welcome to witness history in nairobi, with more remarkable moments from the past as told by the people who

for its whitty word. >> this is the "cbs weekend news" from chicago. here's adriana diaz. >> diaz: good evening. tonight, the vaccination rollout is ramping up. fema is enlisting help from the pentagon to get millions more americans evacuated. the c.d.c. reports a total of nearly 30 million doses have been administered. but the longer it takes, the more time the virus has to mutate. today, the number of infected americans topped 26 million, the death toll now nearing 439,000. the good news: new cases have fallen in 41 states, hospitalizations are down, too. but the risk remains high everywhere. cbs' danya bacchus in los angeles tonight has the latest on the vaccine rollout and the virus fight. danya, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, adriana. here in los angeles county, covid deaths are the highest in the nation. as hospitalizations and cases decline, hope and fear are both on the rise. in the pursuit to protect americans against covid-19, cbs news has learned that fema requested the pentagon deploy 10,000 troops to 100 vaccination sites with a

and professor chris whitty — the chief medical officer for england — will be on bbc breakfast and the today programme tomorrow morning and he'll also be taking the audience's questions on 5live and the bbc news channel at 8:30. it's emerged that building owners are being asked to sign a "gagging clause", when they apply to a government fund for the removal of dangerous cladding. part of the contract they're asked to sign requires them not to communicate with journalists, without government permission. campaigners say there should be scrutiny where the government says the agreements are standard commercial ones. our home affairs correspondent tom symondsjoins me now. tom, campaigners unhappy... very unhappy. this is for applications to a government fund, £1.6 billion fund set up to speed the removal of the dangerous cladding. the applications are from building owners and sometimes building owners and sometimes building managers, including residents who run their own buildings. what the contract says is any buildings. what the contract says is a ny co nta ct buildings. what the contrac

that goes clearly through people like patrick vallance, chief scientific adviser chris whitty. i think that the move yesterday to lockdown the country was very much stimulated by all the chief medical officers moving the country as a whole, the uk, to what's called alert level 5. look, i'm not an apologist for the uk government. what i try to do is give the best scientific advice i can based on analysis of data in real—time. it is inevitable that when anything new happens and something changes in the characteristic of the virus or the epidemic overall, data is initially noisy, there's not that much of it, and when it comes to very significant decisions being made which affect a lot of people's lives, some people want more evidence than you initially have at the very first time. it's not an excuse but it's understandable. i suppose the counterargument would be the economic and educational and social and emotional costs of going into a lockdown for a third time, particularly a lockdown with the schools closed, will be very considerable. i don't think anybody, professor ferguson

chris whitty says they can reach as large a section of the population as possible, so therefore they've extended the gap between the first and second dose to 12 weeks. the bma came out today saying it should be six weeks, not 12 weeks. of course theissue six weeks, not 12 weeks. of course the issue here is that when pfizer did the testing, it was up to three weeks, so you have this unknown period of nine weeks. it's a cliche but within all this, we are in unprecedented, uncharted territory. so you have a lot of sympathy for the scientists. they are dealing with something they've never dealt with something they've never dealt with before. with something they've never dealt with before-— with something they've never dealt with before. ~ , , a, . ,, ., with before. absolutely. back to the front -a~e with before. absolutely. back to the front page of _ with before. absolutely. back to the front page of the — with before. absolutely. back to the front page of the times, _ with before. absolutely. back to the front page of the times, because i front page of the times, because it's not a c

professor whitty, if someone is packing a bag right now, listening to this, trying to leave the south—east by midnight tonight, what should they do? my short answer would be please unpack it at this stage. looking further ahead, what to do the experts think we can expect? i'm hopeful we will be able to see some relaxing of social distancing measures by end of march, april timeframe. such that we get back to something more like we were, the position we were in, in say early september of 2020, where people could at least visit each other‘s houses if they were careful. it was more open society than we have now, but not completely normal. will people have to accept for example face coverings and some form of social distancing measures at quite a long time through 2021? yes, i think some form of social distancing, i think masks are going to be with us, it is difficult to predict exactly when, but at least until the autumn of 2021. there have been devastating losses, lives have been blighted by coronavirus in 2020. the year has come to an end on a sombre note, but there is some hope that 2021

we will start with questions from griff whitty at the washington post for dr. beyrer. what are the factors that account for the wide disparities among states and how quickly they have been able to administer vaccine supplies? the second follow-up, have there been lessons learned about best practices as well as tactics to avoid? dr. beyrer: very important questions. unfortunately, what we see is a very heterogeneous picture. essentially, the previous trump administration passed it to the states to come up with their plans. they also, through the cdc, made recommendations about prioritizing the use of these vaccines. for example, virtually all of the prioritization efforts said that we should start with frontline health care workers who are providing covid-19 care. but a number of states chose not to do that and instead decided to immunize the elderly, but without a plan to do that and had a rather chaotic beginning of the rollout. that is a huge challenge for the biden harris administration, harmonizing and trying to work with the states, and of course they are under re

and professor chris whitty, england‘s chief medical officer, will be taking your coronavirus questions in a special edition of your questions answered on the bbc news channel and bbc radio 5 live tomorrow morning at nine. you can get in touch with your questions. injapan, the annual new year ice bath in the japanese capital took on a more serious meaning this year. only a dozen people took part, compared to 100 last year, in the shinto ritual to purify the soul and pray for the end of the pandemic. jatinder dhillon reports. warming upfor warming up for what is about to be a very cold ritual. with the temperature at five celsius, these men and women in protective facemask brave the cold, clap and chant for a good reason. they are preparing to ta ke good reason. they are preparing to take part in the annual ice bath. but they say, they are also praying foran but they say, they are also praying for an end to the coronavirus global pandemic. 0nce ready, the nine men and three women plunge into the tub filled with cold water and ice blocks and continue to chant. the annual ritual at teppouâ