Tonight at ten doctors say Record Numbers of people waiting for routine hospital treatment shows the calamitous impact of covid 19 on the nhs. Almost 4. 5 Million People were on waiting lists for treatment in november in england including Cancer Patients who are getting desperate. Ive got this tumour and ive had it for at least 12 months, and to have had no treatment is frightening, its frightening. Another hospital this one in york tells us how pressure on the front line has now spread well beyond the south east of england. Were getting very close to the kind of scenarios that were already seeing down in london, where hospitals have reached the capacity for even, for their surgical capacity for covid. The Mass Vaccination Programme continues. Today, the first figures show how some areas are doing far better than others. Also tonight. From tomorrow a ban on travellers coming to the uk from south america and portugal, as concern grows about brazils coronavirus variant. After almost 20 years in afghanistan, the last remaining us troops begin to leave tomorrow. We look at the likely impact. Exercise goes online Sport England say children are losing out physically during the pandemic. And england on flying form despite five months without top class cricket as sri lanka give away their home advantage. And coming up in sport on bbc news, will andy murray make it to melbourne . Hes tested positive for coronavirus ahead of the australian open. Good evening. The Royal College of surgeons says the Record Number of patients waiting for hospital treatment in england shows the calamitous impact of covid 19 on the nhs. Almost 4. 5 Million People in england were on lists at the end of november before this latest lockdown many of them for routine operations like hip replacements. But some Cancer Patients are also now having to wait. It comes as more than 1,200 deaths were reported in the last 2a hours. Heres our Health Editor, hugh pym. The consequences of coronavirus are becoming clearer. Queen Elizabeth Hospital in birmingham temporarily halted its Kidney Transplantation Programme because of the surge in covid patient numbers. Other hospitals are also postponing non covid work. Paul and his wife diane are both living with cancer. Her treatment is going well, but he needs specialist Radiation Therapy for a rare tumour
in his chest. I used to run a lot, but now i get out of breath just going up the stairs. He was set to have it last week, but was told because of covid pressure at the hospital it had been cancelled. I was devastated. I couldnt speak for ten seconds when they told me on the phone. You know, its notjust devastating for me, its my family and friends. Theyve been rooting for me for the last 12 months. Ive got this tumour and ive had it for at least 12 months. Its frightening, its frightening. Cancer Charities Say that sort of cancellation isnt happening yet at most hospitals, but theyre worried it could do. There was a huge effort made to restore Cancer Services to pre pandemic levels. Massive efforts gone into that. But we are concerned now, in this lockdown, that theres going to be increased pressure on services and we fear more treatments will be cancelled. For routine hospital treatments such
as hip and knee replacements, in england in november more than 192,000 were waiting. To give a sense of scale, thats about three times the capacity of london stadium, home of west ham and where the olympics were staged. By contrast, in february, just before the pandemic, the figure was only about 1,600. Thats below the capacity of non League Margate football clubs stadium. Nhs england said that unlike the first wave millions of people were being treated in hospitals for non covid health problems. Government sources said waiting lists were still a lot lower than some earlier predictions. But theres no doubting the covid pressure on the front line, including here, at york hospital. Im worried that were getting very close to the kind of scenarios that were already seeing down in london, where hospitals have breached their capacity even for the surgical capacity for covid. The hope is that widespread vaccination will reduce patient
in hospitals and from today, jabs are being delivered in some pharmacies in england, adding to gp hubs and other sites. So, how has the vaccine roll out in england been going . Up until last sunday, around 46 of the 80 and over age group in the north east and yorkshire had had theirfirst dose. In the north west, it was 38 . In other regions, a little bit below that. In london, it was closer to 30 . And in the east of england, it was a bit lower than that. As a percentage of the whole population, Northern Ireland is ahead of the rest of the uk, with more than 5 having jabs. Wales has the lowest so far at about 3. 5 . But these are early days. Hugh pym, bbc news. A new study says that people whove had covid 19 are protected for at least five months from getting it again. The research by Public Health england suggests that
if youve already had it you have 83 protection from being re infected. But you can still carry the virus and pass it on to others. 0ur science correspondent Rebecca Morelle has more. Coronavirus is spreading fast, and the number of people who have been infected with covid is rising. This latest study looked at how likely they are to catch it again. So, what if youve already had coronavirus . Does having a past infection protect you . Scientists tracked more than 6,500 Health Care Workers whod already been infected with coronavirus. They found that most had protection from the virus for five months, the duration of the study. Compared with people whod never had covid, they were 83 less likely to catch the virus again. Its the big question many have been asking. Can you get covid twice . A small number of re infections have been confirmed around the world. And this study found some, too. 44 potential cases were detected. And some had high enough levels of the virus to risk spreading it to others. There are people whove had infection, who can transmit to others. Its not 100 protective. So we are still asking people, while we are seeing such a high amount of infection, and we need to do everything to protect the nhs, to take every precaution. If youve been infected in the past, do you still need to have a vaccine . Even if this study says that many of us whove had covid 19 might have some residual immunity on board for four or five months, as i mentioned with the common cold viruses, it just doesnt last well. These viruses are very good at subverting immunity and knocking out parts of your immune response. While the vaccines that we have, by that i mean the candidate vaccines we are talking about here, are really, really well designed to give you rip roaring, long lasting immunity. With new coronavirus variants
emerging, scientists will now also be studying their impact on reinfection. But the advice for now is to stay at home, remembering hands, face and space, whether youve had the virus or not. Rebecca morelle, bbc news. 0ur Health Editor hugh pym is here. The latest government figures, weve onlyjust the latest government figures, weve only just got the latest government figures, weve onlyjust got because of computer problems with the government, but well bring those in a moment. 0ne figure that does stand out is the number of people who have had vaccinations, 2. 9 million now. 231 vaccinations, 2. 9 million now. 2. 9 million peeple vaccinations, 2. 9 million now. Zs Million People have had vaccinations, 2. 9 million now. 25 Million People have had a jab, up 300,000 on the previous day, which is quite a respectable increased. What has become apparent today that with differences of opinion over how fast its being rolled out. We saw earlier the regional differences within england, the percentage of over 80s in parts of the north of england is approaching half who have had a jab, down in london and the
south east its around 30 or below and the london mayor sadiq khan said today that london wasnt getting enough vaccine. Now, apparently after making that comment he had discussions with ministers and that issueis discussions with ministers and that issue is being resolved. Westminster ministers have been criticising the Welsh Government for a slower roll out in wales, saying its the welsh Health System which is to blame. The Welsh Government point is they are doing it in a slightly different way, focusing on care homes and their residents and staff, so what it all shows is this is a very complicated programme. There will be glitches along the way. But of course its a very Ambitious Programme and probably a little bit more time is needed to be sure its bedded in. ,. ~ more time is needed to be sure its bedded in. ,. , ~ ,. , a ban on travellers coming to the uk from south america and portugal will come into force tomorrow morning because of concern about a new variant of coronavirus that was discovered in brazil. Portugal is being included in the ban because of its strong travel links to brazil. Brazil has the second highest death toll in the world after the United States
with more than 200,000 dead. And theres concern about the impact this new variant could have on its Health System. From sao paulo, heres our south america correspondent, katy watson. Manaus, say experts, is a city on the point of collapse. These images were filmed by members of the public and doctors, and given to us by the doctors union. Evidence, they say, of the struggles manaus is going through. Hospitals with patients lying next to a body bag. 0thers lying on the floor, waiting for treatment. A curfew has now been declared across the state and there are reports that oxygen is also running out. At the same time, scientists are working around the clock to understand the new variant. Some of those mutations in the spike protein are quite similar to those found in uk and also in africa. We do not believe these
variants came from england or uk, and in africa. It seems that this variant is evolving separately but showing the same mutations. Tests will take time to understand the new variant, but experts say that vaccines can always be altered to respond to changes in the virus. But its a virus that seems to have been forgotten here its peak summer, the beaches are packed and people are dropping their guard. Everyones relaxed. Nobody cares about it any more, this woman tells me, so im going with the flow. Of course im scared, this coconut seller says, but we have to continue working. If we dont work, we dont eat. The traffic is back and so are the commuters. Thats been the message from president bolsonaro all along, that brazil cant and shouldnt stop. A message that many people seem to have taken onboard. But in the past few weeks, scientists have been warning
of the grave implications if nothing is done, with some even calling for a uk style lockdown. The committee in the United Kingdom was able to pressure the Prime Minister enough so that he would accept lockdown. Here we have to basically pressure not the government, because the government is not going to relinquish, i dont believe they are going to accept science because they have never in this ten months. With president bolsonaro still playing down the virus, and sowing unfounded doubts about the safety of vaccines, lockdown doesnt seem likely yet. Katie watson, bbc news, in sao paulo. After a number of delays, a team of experts from the World Health Organization have finally arrived in the chinese city of wuhan to investigation the origin of the coronavirus first detected more than a year ago. Two members of the team contracted
covid on the way there and had to stay in singapore. The rest of the group will spend two weeks in quarantine in a hotel before visiting different sites, under chinese supervision. Robin brant is in wuhan for us. Why have there been so many delays . The chinese authorities have resisted because they dont think this is necessary, china doesnt want to look back and focus on mistakes made, it wants to look forward as what it sees as success in containing this virus. It sees the potential for more of a blame game led by a group of foreigners and the Chinese Government has its official verdict on what happened, that paper was published in the middle of last year and the verdict there was success in winning the war against this virus. Nonetheless, there has been intense global pressure of course, to address where this virus came from, and to answer that question about how it got into
the human chain, because to make sure that there wont be a further fire, so to speak, going forward. So the team are here, they are going to be heavily reliant on their chinese hosts for access to Public Places like that market, a couple of miles over the river there this in wuhan where we saw the first significant cluster, heavily reliant on chinese counterparts for access to research that has been carried out over the last year, the man leading the investigation says he comes here with an open mind, no theories are off the table but at the same time we have a well established propaganda up and running, questioning whether the whole thing began in wuhan, that is designed to undermine the very reason that the team are here in the first place. Thank you. The latest government figures show a slow down in new cases. There were 48,682 new Coronavirus Infections recorded in the latest 24 hour period, the fourth day in a row that cases
are under50,000. But hospital admissions are still rising there were 36,797 covid 19 patients in hospital as of 12th of january, 1,248 deaths were reported, thats people who died within 28 days of a positive covid 19 test. The uk has now started a programme of mass vaccinations, the overall number of people whove had theirfirstjab is now more than 2. 9 million. As you can see, hospitals are under intense pressure with more and more patients being admitted every day. Now the government wants to free up space in hospital wards by transferring patients who are recovering from covid into care homes and respite centres that have space. But Insurance Companies are refusing to cover care homes taking patients with a covid history. 0ur social affairs alison holt reports. 0verlooking southampton water,
this home is normally a place for holidays and respite care for people with disabilities. But since november, its been taking covid positive patients from hospitals along the south coast. Help needed to ease pressures across the nhs. By offering the beds that weve got here, we can reduce some of that burden. Its unparalleled. Ive been a nursing a long, long time and i have never known anything like this. People end up in an ambulance sat outside hospitals for hours and hours, or they end up on a trolley in a e, in a corridor, for hours and hours. Its one of 129 so called hot homes in england. The government originally hoped for 500 such places, separated from other residents and with extra infection control. But here theyll soon stop taking patients because they cant get insurance to cover them for providing vital covid care. We will shortly be having to turn people away. What do you make of that, given the level of need . Shocking. We are truly helpless. Because we are here, we have a fantastic team of nurses, and colleagues, all ready, the facilities are here, everythingser ranged and we cant step up to enable ourselves to support our communities at this time. Alan is not on the covid floor, but was discharged here from hospital in the first wave of the pandemic. He understands the importance of freeing up beds. The hospital was very busy in the spinal unit. It was a separate unit, so they wanted to free beds up. I feel very safe here. Whereas if i were to go to somewhere else, which is possible, i might not feel quite so safe. With the nhs under such huge pressure, there is a desperate need for more Services Like this one. But insurance is one of a number of significant barriers which is stopping many care homes from being involved. After so many deaths in the first wave of the pandemic, a lot of care homes wont consider the scheme, and many are struggling with staff shortages. Even the uks largest care company has said no to hot homes. But the head of hc 0ne says they also cant get the Insurance Protection needed if someone gets covid in a home and sues. Weve got solicitors firms advertising taking proceedings against firms, taking cases up against firms. So this isnt a theoretical risk that there may be proceedings. Its an actual risk, and therefore we need cover. The nhs wouldnt operate without similar liability cover. And thats what we need to see. And i think governments have a role to play, working with the insurance industry, to work to find a solution. The government says it is working with care providers and insurers to understand the severity of the problem, and it insists there are enough places in the community to provide care for the people who need it. 2020 was one of the hottest years ever and it brought to an end the warmest decade ever recorded thats the verdict of scientists from five leading
agencies around the world. The un said the findings showed the planet was on course for a catastrophic rise in temperatures this century. Heres our science editor, david shukman. A desperate rescue in indonesia after torrential rain triggered landslides earlier this week. Scientists say that even heavier downpours are likely in future as the world gets warmer. Wow in some countries, hotter, drier conditions are on the cards. The wildfires that struck in australia last year are nothing new in themselves, but the more human activity releases the gases heating the atmosphere, the greater the risks of more violent conditions. And although the pandemic lockdowns have reduced traffic, they havent made much difference to the Carbon Dioxide that keeps being added to the air. Year on year, were increasing the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, and notwithstanding the pandemic we still increased the Carbon Dioxide levels in the atmosphere by over two parts per million last year. As long as that continues to happen, we are putting our foot on the accelerator of climate warming. Over the past 170 years, the average global temperature has been monitored by teams in britain, america and other countries, and although its varied year by year, the recent trend has been really dramatic as the planet has heated up. The result, the most recent decade was the hottest on record, and were also getting closer to an increase of 1. 5 degrees an internationally agreed limit that climate Scientists Say would be dangerous to cross. The risk is more extremes the world over. This village in the vale of glamorgan was flooded over christmas after the heaviest rainfall there for 70 years. And, as temperatures rise, heatwaves will become more common, like the one in the uk last summer. The met office says the latest records are part of a pattern. 2020, were seeing temperatures that are, yet again, giving us one of the warmest years on record, despite some factors such as conditions in the tropical pacific that in 2020 would have normally suppressed temperatures. So, will anything be done . Well, joe biden has promised that america will lead a big push to tackle climate change. And china, for the first time, has committed to going carbon neutral. Negotiations are due in glasgow later this year. Theres a lot at stake. David shukman, bbc news. Lets take a look at some of todays other news. The scottish labour leader Richard Leonard has resigned. He said that it wasnt an easy decision, but he was stepping aside in the best interests of the party. Mr leonard has led the party for the past three years,
but faced repeated calls to quit from a number of his own msps. The footballer Marcus Rashford has joined Celebrity Chefs and charities in calling for a wider review into the governments Free School Meals policy. They have signed a letter to borisjohnson, urging him to reform the system for the longer term. The Manchester United striker has been at the forefront of a campaign to end child food poverty, including successfully lobbying the government to continue providing Free School Meals during the holidays. The government could pay compensation to some fishing businesses, most of them in scotland, whove struggled to export to the eu because of post brexit customs procedures. It says the difficulties experienced by companies are teething problems, but the Scottish Fishermens Federation said its members have already lost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Its the longest war america has everfought in. Tomorrow, the last remaining us troops will start leaving afghanistan. The us presence in afghanistan began almost 20 years ago, after 9 11, when they removed the hardline taliban from power. At its peak there were some 88,000 military personel based there. Currently there are about 2,000 troops and President Trump has pledged to bring them home by the spring, despite peace talks between the afghan government, the us and a resurgent taliban being on hold. After two decades of war violence is increasing, and people are living with acute poverty and hunger. From kabul, Yogita Limaye reports. Afg hanistans only hospital for children. Every day ,a thousand new patients. More and more children who could be saved are dying here. The americans are leaving, as war has brought humanitarian disaster to this country. This year, half of all afghan children are facing malnutrition. Many wont make it to the age of five. Subhan is two years old. Till last year, he could walk. His mother farishta told me there are days they have no food at all. She has to borrowjust to eat. She said she gets very sad when her children ask her for food and she cant give them any. In the next bed is a three year old girl. Her mother told us she wasnt sure she would survive. Six times more people need life saving support now than just four years ago. Dr muhammad qureshi, the director of the hospital, says if it wasnt for the war, afghans would have been able to pull themselves out of poverty. Translation my message for the world, in particular l to the big countries, is to help afghanistan end the war. So is this the right time for us soldiers to be leaving, i asked the Vice President . We believe the mission is not accomplished. Taliban have not separated themselves from alanda, but i am telling them as a friend, and as an ally, that trusting the taliban without putting a Verification Mechanism is going to be a fatal mistake. How worried do you think global powers should be about the threat of alqaeda . Very deeply. Very deeply. They can put any title on their withdrawl and exit, but there is also a title that the terror groups will put on their withdrawal defeat. Surrender and escape. And that by itself will boost terror groups in the entire world. A threat for the west, but a reality afghans live with now. Weve come to meet the family of the civilian who was recently killed. My murdered sons name was navruz. He was my only son, says zainab nuri. Everyone grieved for him. They told me your son was a good man. We dont have any life now. Look, we are living here in this room without anything. Only his children are left behind. This has been americas longest war, but perhaps an unfinished one. For the us, and for afghanistan. Yogita limaye, bbc news, kabul. Sir andy murray has tested positive for coronavirus. The former world tennis number one is said to be in good health but there are doubts over whether hell now play in the australian open. He had been due to fly out to melbourne this week, but instead is isolating at home in surrey. Heavy snow has caused travel disruption in the north of england and scotland. Older people due to get their covid 19 jab at newcastles vaccination hub have been asked to rebook appointments. And there was a near miss in halifax, when a Double Decker Bus skidded towards cars in treacherous road conditions. There are weather warnings for much of scotland, the north of england and the West Midlands until friday morning. This pandemic is notjust having an impact on childrens education. Now theres evidence that their physical well being may be suffering as well. An annual survey by Sport England says children not surprisingly have been less active and less engaged in sport. Heres our sports correspondent, natalie pirks. We are going to go a little bit faster now. For the children of st margarets lee primary in south east london, lockdown learning begins with fitness with mr toby. Get those knees up. It makes me happy, and its fun. We cant go to the park, we cant have parties. So fitness will keep you happy. It makes me feel happy and joyful. The school says that happiness is key to their learning. It is 15 minutes, gets the kids ready for the first lessons in the morning and just gets the day off to a very good start. As much as gabriel loves his online sessions, it is not quite as good as the real thing. I like my netball lessons that we used to do in physical education. But without my friends, i cant do those any more, and also with the lockdown we cant communicate. Hes not alone. This pandemic has hit children hard. A survey today shows activity levels already too low have decreased further, with only 44. 9 of children and young people in england getting the recommended 60 minutes of daily activity. Thats a drop of almost 2 from the last academic year. Theres been an across the board drop in the ten most popular activities, like team sports, swimming and active play, with school and pool closures hitting the figures, only walking and cycling have gone up. Most worryingly, there has been a significant decline in key factors associated with childrens enjoyment of sport and fitness, with the report showing motivation and confidence have fallen. As we do start hopefully returning to a bit more normality, you want your kids to go back to the sports they
were doing before. So, its about putting the work in now and try to get them involved, making everything as fun as possible. Its not all bad news. Todays figures actually saw a rise in girls being fitter. But overall, the pandemic has seen a million fewer children being active in england, with some groups worse hit than others across the whole of the uk. Theres been a negative effect on childrens physical and mental health, driven by disturbed patterns of sleep, inactivity, that has been exponentially worse for those who are on lower incomes and we are really concerned about the effect on health inequalities. Keeping kids active and happy is crucial for their futures. While that may have become more difficult now, it may also have become more important. Natalie pirks, bbc news. An original painting of tintin by his belgian creator, herge, has been sold online by a paris auction house for 3. 2 million euros. It shows tintin and his dog snowy hiding from a red dragon
in a large porcelainjar. The sale breaks the record for comic book art