Today at six, tougher covid rules across new parts of Northern England an extra two Million People are affected. In liverpool, warrington, hartlepool and middlesbrough, therell be no household mixing, and thats whether youre at home, in a pub or a restaurant. The prospect of losing my home and my business the year after losing my husband, frankly, is extremely worrying. The most important thing that you can do is to adapt. The restrictions are in place, but it is not to be restricted by them as such, it is to move with them. Local mayors are split some want even tougher measures, one says hes prepared to defy them. Also tonight remember italy, the epicentre of the pandemic in europe . Now Police Checks and testing are helping it to avoid a second wave. What happens to migrants arriving in the uk
is the government really thinking about housing them on disused ferries . The European Commissions boss says shell be taking the uk to court over whether were in breach of the brexit deal. The Marine Rescue team trying to herd a pod of whales in gare loch out of harms way. And coming up on bbc news, Gareth Southgate names his latest england squad there are three new caps and two notable omissions. Good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. Another two Million People in Northern England
will face tougher covid restrictions after a spike in coronavirus cases. The Health Secretary for england, matt hancock, said the disease was spreading fast and highly localised. The new rules to prevent social mixing will come into force on saturday and will apply to the liverpool city region, warrington, hartlepool and middlesbrough. Its the rate at which cases are rising thats causing concern. Take knowsley there are 262 cases per 100,000 people there. So lets look at the new measures. First, what will be against the law . Mixing with other households, and that applies whether youre at home, in your garden or in a pub or a cafe. Then theres guidance that means youre advised not to mix in pub gardens and parks and sporting events. These measures mean that a quarter of the uk population is now under local lockdowns. Well have more on the extra measures across other parts of the uk in a moment,
but first our special correspondent ed thomas is in liverpool for us tonight. Ed. Yeah, george, as you say, there is a picture emerging now across the uk, and especially across the north of england, as areas here face tighter and tighter coronavirus restrictions. Today it was people here in liverpool who were told they we re here in liverpool who were told they were next, but no surprise, though, because by for the past 48 hours the city has been looking for action to stop this rise of coronavirus cases. The mood music has changed. New coronavirus laws are coming to merseyside. Households will be banned from mixing inside pubs and restaurants. I lost my husband last year, i am now faced with the possibility of losing my home and my business. Is that close for you . It could get that close. Anna runs an independent pub. She has invested hundreds
of thousands of pounds in this business. Say we get a group of four, five, six people in, we have now got to ask them to show proof of where they all live as well. But do you understand cases are rising and people are worried . Absolutely, and we all have to take a great deal of responsibility, but i think if you look at the hospitality sector in general, we are not responsible for the rises and cases. And this is an Industry Worth billions of pounds to the liverpool city region. The leisure, creative and cultural sectors support 50,000 jobs here. We are looking at a scale ofjob losses in liverpool not seen since the 805. Some worry these new rules will have a devastating effect. So we have taken 20 years to build our city and regenerate our city, and we are just throwing that away. Why . Nobody has told me what the endgame is here. Local mps, Council Leaders here all call these new rules a step in the right direction but fear coronavirus will keep on spreading. Did you call for all pubs and bars to be shut . It depends on what the science tells us. If the science says that we have to go further, we will go further and we will support further measures, but we want to see the evidence. It is no good us guessing on what might be the right restrictions. We need to understand better what the packages in our area and what that will do, which is what we all want, to see rates start to decrease. There is also a call for compensation here to avoid this, to keep restaurants open to savejobs. I used to work in the hospitality industry. That has been decimated by this. Rob lost his job during lockdown. He is now 55 and out of work. Are you worried for the future . Where its all going to end . I think the future is bleak. As regards to jobs, industries, and i think. I dont think weve seen the worst of it yet. Jobs are at risk but so too are lives. Coronavirus cases keep rising across merseyside. You need to be able to create an environment that is warm, welcoming, makes people feel safe, makes people have fun. Chelsea only opened this restaurant two weeks ago. She supports these new rules. The restrictions are in place, but it is not to be restricted by them, as such, it is to move with them, to go hand in hand and build it into the great work that people are doing anyway. And there is a warning here. Even tougher restrictions could be on the way if coronavirus cases dont come down. Ed thomas, bbc news, liverpool. There have also been stricter lockdown restrictions placed on areas in wales and Northern Ireland. Welljoin emma vardy in stormont and hywel griffith, whos in north wales, but first our north of england correspondent fiona trott is in middlesbrough. Well, george, the councils here wa nted well, george, the councils here wanted tougher measures, but they didnt want this. After midnight on
friday, some 235,000 people here on teesside will have new restrictions for the first time. They follow seven other areas of the north east of england, but middlesbrough and Hartlepool Council say they are furious, they only wanted a household ban based on local data, which suggested that in september around 80 of cases came from infections within the home. They say here, in some of the uks most deprived areas, these tougher measures will have a real effect on Peoples Mental Health and the local economy. Of course, the government is in today that a support package of £7 million is being made available to local councils affected by this, but the middlesbrough mayor, andy preston, today has said, we defy the government and will not accept the measures. In Northern Ireland, new restrictions have just been announced for derry and strabane, areas of Northern Ireland which now have some of the highest cases of the virus in the uk, the highest
rates of the virus in the uk. So the decision has been made that, in these areas, pubs, restaurants cafes, well, they will have to revert to a takeaway only Service Order out or outdoor dining. Also, the advice now is for people to avoid any unnecessary travel into and out of these areas. Now, derry is, in fact, very famous worldwide for its huge halloween celebrations, and in the past few hours some scaled back celebrations which had still been planned at this year have now been cancelled too. At the Health Minister here at stormont said, look, with such high cases of the virus being recorded, it was inevitable that new restrictions would have to come into place. Meanwhile, across Northern Ireland, some new rules coming into force for pubs and restaurants and bars, they are going to have limits on their opening times, you will have to serve everything by 10 30pm, and they will have to close their doors by 11. Well, here in wales, just in the
last few minutes, four more Council Areas under lockdown, in all 500,000 more People Living in northway is coming under the same restrictions we already had in south wales. What do they mean . Well, no one can meet anyone indoors that they do not already live with, and there are limits on movements, no travelling in and out of Council Areas. It is that second restriction that is causing headaches and hardships in places like llangollen, places that depend on tourism, and particularly people coming in from the north west of england. I have spoken to several hoteliers across north wales, they have all give me the same picture today two weeks of cancellations in an instant, concerns about the rest of october. For many, they think winter has come already, and some are questioning whether these restrictions will really have an impact when we are told time after time that the virus is spreading primarily within peoples private homes. All right, thank you all. The latest government figures shows that the number of people testing positive for coronavirus remains high. There were 6,914 new Coronavirus Infections recorded in the latest 24 hour period. That means the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is 6,260. And as new cases have climbed, so have daily hospital admissions, with 373 people being admitted on average each day over the past week. This number doesnt include scotland. 59 deaths were reported. Thats people who died within 28 days of a positive covid 19 test. That means on average in the past week 43 deaths were announced every day, which takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 42,202. Despite the growing number of local lockdowns and restrictions that weve been reporting on, a major Study Suggests that the rate
at which the coronavirus is spreading in england may be slowing down thats after the last few weeks of rapid growth. 0ur medical editor, fergus walsh, has been taking a detailed look at the numbers. This is a huge enterprise. Every month, 150,000 people from every corner in england are chosen at random to receive a home coronavirus swab kit. It enables researchers to get an accurate picture of the amount of infection in the community. Including among those with no symptoms. The last samples were collected this weekend, and interim results show the virus has been spreading fast. The survey estimates that one in every 200 people in england is currently infected with coronavirus. Thats four times the level ofjust a month ago. Prevalence is highest among the 18 24 year olds,
among whom one in 100 is thought to be infected. But it is rising across all ages, with a sevenfold increase among the over 65s, the group most at risk from the virus. Since a low point in early august, cases of covid 19 have been rising throughout england, and going up fastest in the north west and north east. But those analysing the data have found something less gloomy the speed of growth seems to be slowing down. You can think about an epidemic curve as being a hill. Weve been going up a really steep section of the hill. A little bit of good news in the results we found today is that maybe its not quite as steep. But thats really not enough. We need to be going downhill, and we really need to get to the bottom of the hill, like we were in the summer. As for r, the virus reproduction number, thats still above one, which means the epidemic is growing. Here to collect your covid test. But the study team think its not as high as it was, meaning the rise in cases is more gradual. The study published today shows us hope that together we can crack this, and the more people follow the rules and reduce their social contact, the quicker we can get liverpool and the north east back on their feet. The challenge will be to motivate people to socially distance throughout the winter the season when respiratory viruses spread more easily and to do it while keeping schools open and the economy afloat. Fergus walsh, bbc news. A group of scientists is warning that a covid 19 vaccine wont return life to normal immediately. The Royal Society says it could take a year to roll out vaccinations and restrictions may need to be phased out rather than ended in one go. They warned that people needed to be realistic
about what a vaccine would achieve. Now, with more and more local lockdowns, often with different measures, knowing whats allowed and not allowed can be quite confusing. Ministers are looking at ways to simply things. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, is here. Hugh, exactly what our ministers talking about . George, a plan has been doing the rounds in whitehall for england for a few weeks now, it has been finalised now, but not com pletely has been finalised now, but not completely signed off, and the theory is to end the situation with one local authority with one set of restrictions, another down the road with different, to go to regions and a stepped approach depending on risk. So here is how it is supposed to work. First of all, you would have tier one, everywhere where there isnt a particularly big risk which carries on with existing National Restrictions, like the rule of six. Higher rates of infection, more risk, you would have the next
tier, tier two, and that would be something similar to what we have seen something similar to what we have seen announced today for liverpool, already out there for the north east, and ban on meeting in homes, pubs and restaurants. The highest risk areas would be in tier three, and the idea is that widespread lockdown, everything apart from schools and essential shops would be closed down. Nothing in that category yet, but that is where it could get two for the most at risk areas. I suppose, hugh, this is really important, because we have been seen today, different restrictions on different areas, localised spread. Yes, chris whitty, the governments chief medical adviser for the uk said yesterday that it was different now from what it was in march, when i was pretty uniform spread of the virus, now it is much more localised, as we have seen is much more localised, as we have seenin is much more localised, as we have seen in the north east and north west. So if you get measures like these targeted with different tiers, the theory is that you might
curb the spread of the virus more widely. But nothing completely finalised and National Restrictions have not been ruled out. The time is 6 16pm. Our top story this evening new restrictions have been announced for two Million People in liverpool, warrington, middlesbrough and hartlepool. And coming up, hs2 versus the green activists dozens of protesters are being evicted from a wood in buckinghamshire. Coming up on sportsday on bbc news, the champion jockey tests positive for cocaine 0isin murphy vows to clear his name. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, italy was the epicentre of the viruss spread in europe the first country on the continent to see widespread transmission, and the first in the world to impose a national lockdown. But now, as countries such as spain, france and the uk grapple with a second surge in cases, italys infection rate is considerably lower. 0ur rome correspondent mark lowen has been finding out why. Too young to grasp how their world has changed and how they too are part of the battle. A new initiative by italy to ease the pain of generation covid with drive through testing for children. Rapid negative results allow them back to school, a tool by the once global epicentre now a pioneer of covid recovery. We suffered a lot. For lockdown, we had many problems for the kids, so if the family are happy and the children can have a normal life, iam happy. Italy was the First Western country crushed by the virus. Almost 36,000 have died. But now la dolce vita is returning. Cases are among europes lowest. Italy taking safety as seriously as its food, with screens, disposable menus and contact tracing. Now i have to go in england, i have to say, i am scared because i feel much safer here, yes. The people around, i can see they follow more, when we go around, they all have the mask and they care. Why do you think it is that there seems to be more compliance with the rules here than in britain . Because we were the first and we had a very long quarantine and we felt it. Italy is enforcing restrictions with Police Checks and fines of up to 3,000 euros for breaking them but it has been rarely needed. Mask wearing is scrupulous and the national stereotype of rebellious italians has turned on its head. I am really proud of italians because they did follow the rules. But, you know, the war is not over yet so we need to still wait and see
what happens in october, november and during the winter. Right now i think things are going very well. That fight goes on with mass testing starting at school. Whether it is the widespread availability of testing, the longer lockdown, or just that italians were scared into compliance, it is actually hard to pinpoint exactly why italys spike is currently lower than others, but the fear now is that by reopening schools later than the rest of europe, italy mightjust be behind the curve. So italy is on alert, but the first to fall now hopes to show others how to stay standing. Mark lowen, bbc news, rome. From saturday, people travelling to england or scotland, from turkey and poland will have to self isolate for 14 days on arrival. The caribbean islands of bonaire, st eustatius and saba have been added to the quarantine
list as well. Who repeatedly fail to comply with quarantine regulations could now be fined up to a maximum of £10,000. The member of parliament Margaret Ferrier has said she is very sorry for travelling to and from london to attend parliament after experiencing coronavirus symptoms and later testing positive. The mps said there we re testing positive. The mps said there were no excuses for her behaviour and she apologised for her actions and she apologised for her actions and said she had notified the police. The European Union has started Legal Proceedings against the uk, saying the governments controversial plan to over ride parts of last years brexit divorce agreement break international law. The European Commission president , ursula von der leyen, said it was a breach of the obligation of good faith. Lets talk to our europe editor katya adler. We are in the middle of really crucial trade talks, is this little spat going to affect that . Well, it is quite a big spat but i think it is quite a big spat but i think it is important to have a look at what the European Commission did today and what it didnt do. Yes, it started Legal Proceedings, these are quite long and drawn out proceedings, but what it hasnt done and what it says it wont do is walk out of those trade negotiations. Why is that, george, when you think it is that, george, when you think it is angry enough about the internal market bill to start Legal Proceedings . That is three reasons. First of all, the eu really want to trade deal with the uk. The second reason is the blame game stopped the eu doesnt want to be the first one to walk out of these trade talks and say we cant do it. The third reason is because brussels thinks if a trade deal is reached between the eu and the uk, then that will go a long way to allaying concerns of the government about post brexit uk that are government about post brexit uk that a re reflected in
government about post brexit uk that are reflected in its internal market bill. So, we have had trade negotiations going on here in brussels all week with some positive noises coming out of the uk that there could be some solutions being found to the tricky sticking points, not confirmed here. Russell still hopes the deal will be done but at this late stage, george, it is all about finding compromises. Thank you. New figures reveal more than 1,900 migrants reached the uk by boat in september alone thats more than in the whole of last year. Now ministers are understood to be considering plans to house Asylum Seekers on disused ferries moored off the british coast, while their claims are assessed. Our home editor mark easton has more. A combination of the pandemic and the arrival of thousands of migrants in dinghies this summer has put so much pressure on the Home Office Asylum system that Civil Servants and ministers have been considering housing some offshore. A recent government brainstorming session included discussion
on whether it was feasible to move Asylum Seekers to ascension and saint helena, thousands of miles away in the middle the atlantic. This was in the realms of cloud cuckoo land. Can you just confirm whether or not Civil Service time was actually spent investigating something where you couldnt even land an aircraft . No decisions have been taken, no final proposals have been put to ministers or to anyone else. This is in the realm of the brainstorming stage of a future policy. Another idea discussed by ministers was to hire disused ferries, as the home office did in 1987 when reception centres were overwhelmed by the arrival of tamil refugees. Already this barracks in folkestone is being used to house Asylum Seekers, as are 91 hotels, including this one in glasgow which has seen protests over conditions. 56 Asylum Seekers tested positive for coronavirus at this birmingham hostel which was closed earlier this month. More than 9,500 Asylum Seekers are currently in hotels
in 50 local authorities because virus restrictions have reduced official accommodation. 122 of those migrants have tested positive for covid 19 and around 750 are currently in isolation. The idea of processing asylum applicants offshore is a reality in australia where the island of nauru is used to keep migrants outside National Territory while their claims are investigated. We will replace the asylum system in its entirety with offshore processing of all claims to deter all but genuine claims for protection from persecution. Over the last two decades, both the conservatives and labour have looked at ways to move Asylum Seekers offshore but it has always proved legally and practically challenging. It is another one of the governments crazy schemes. I dont think it will come to anything. We used prison ships in the Victorian Era and there is a reason that we dont do that any more. It is because it is not an acceptable way to keep fellow human beings. With weather conditions worsening, it is likely the number of Asylum Seekers crossing the channel will be much reduced, a chance for the home office to draw breath and find Realistic Solutions to a familiar challenge. Mark easton, bbc news. Dozens of protesters are being removed from a woodland in buckinghamshire which is on the planned hs2 rail route. Activists who oppose the 140 mile long high speed line have been occupying the area for months. The site, known asjones hill wood is said to have inspired some of roald dahls famous novels. Our environment correspondent, claire marshall, joins us from there now roald dahl used to walk around this countryside in the 1970s. It is where he wrote some of his most famous books like fantastic mr fox. But this landscape will change dramatically. The main hs two line will come through here, right where that wood is. Some people think of this as progress, others currently
living in the tree tops there who think that it really shouldnt go ahead. In the heart of an ancient beech wood in the buckinghamshire countryside this morning, contractors for hs2. They began putting this fence up at first light. On this side. Those who say they stand for the trees. Our trees high in the canopy, the little community. Protesters moved in here around eight months ago. They are no longer welcome. Hs2 took possession of the wood by compulsory purchase in march. They say they are here illegally. So the contractors arrived before dawn, they have been here for a number of hours and now they are of the trees are starting to dismantle the houses up there. Some people say that trains are good for the environment. If that was the case, there would be more of an effort to make train transport cheaper than it is. It is very inaccessible. Kevin owns a farm
across the field. His family name was immortalised by roald dahl. |j used to walk through here with my dad as a child and i still do now with my children. From today, that ends, it is all gone. H52 say the multi billion pound Infrastructure Project connecting london first to birmingham then on to will not only bring but help the uks transition toa bring but help the uks transition to a low carbon economy. We have created an ambitious plan to create a green corridor up and down the railway, so we are planting 7 Million Trees and shrubs along phase one alone. These trees in warwickshire were in the way of the hs2 line. They were cut down in april. There are only tiny fragments of ancient woodland left. This one will also soon be gone. The question
is whether the environmental cost of creating a faster train line is too high. Claire marshall, bbc news, buckinghamshire. A fleet of small boats and a group of marine experts have spent the day trying to rescue a pod of northern bottlenose whales that have been stuck in gare loch, near argyll, for a few weeks. This weekend the region is hosting europes largestjoint military exercise and there are concerns that the Sonar Communications used by the boats and submarines could harm the whales. Our scotland correspondent james shaw has been following the rescue mission today. Waiting for the whales. People started to gather on the banks of the gare loch this morning, keen to catch a glimpse of them. These northern bottlenose whales should not be in the relatively shallow waters of the loch, they are deep diving species, at home in the open ocean. And there is an urgent need to get them out of the loch before this weekends
big military exercise. But the job of rescuing them has to be done slowly and carefully. A flotilla of small boats moving down the loch towards the sea. So you mightjust be able to see in the background there a flotilla of seven boats and they are trying to herd these whales on to the far side of the loch, away from the shallows on the side. But at a crucial moment, the rescuers lose contact with the pod. They were in front of the boats but at the minute we have lost sight of two of them. One of them is back up ahead of the loch so the boats may reset and they may try again. At the minute, we are trying to find confirmation of the two of them. Because they can dive for more than an hour, these Sea Creatures are an elusive species for whale watchers. It is lovely that they are here and we are able to see them. Unfortunately, we havent seen them today, but for the health of the whales, we need to get them back into the open sea. But as the rescue boats raced back
to the top of the loch, it became clear that is no easy task. Jim shaw, bbc news, at the gare loch. Time for a look at the weather heres matt taylor. Hello, matt. Good evening. We will have a look at the big picture. The this will have an impact on southern parts as rainfall intensifies and the winds strengthen. Already playing a part tonight, rain and gales push its way in. Further north, rain across the north of scotla nd north, rain across the north of scotland but southern scotland, Northern England clear with a widespread frost into tomorrow morning. We can spot the country into tomorrow. Potential for damaging, destructive winds along the english channel. Torrential rain across southern counties which could cause minorflooding, that will across southern counties which could cause minor flooding, that will push northwards and across the midlands, east anglia and wales through the day allowing brighter skies to develop. Brighter skies throughout for some in scotland and Northern Ireland. Lets play the day through. If few showers to