it's tuesday the 28th of december. the hospitality sector has welcomed the decision not to impose further coronavirus restrictions in england this week — describing it as a "lifeline" to pubs, bars and clubs relying on new year trade for their survival. the health secretary, sajid javid, announced yesterday that the government would wait untiljanuary before re—evaluating the situation. record numbers of coronavirus cases were recorded in england on christmas day. here's our political correspondent, iain watson. with christmas celebrations coming to a close, there had been fears of a much bleaker new year. with covid cases continuing at high levels, scotland, wales and northern ireland have all imposed new restrictions. but in england, the emphasis for the time being is on caution, not compulsion. we think some 90% of cases now across england are this new omicron variant, so it shows you just how quickly it has spread. we have had news in recent days that it's milder. now, that in itself isn't good news enough — that's good news, but we know that it spreads very rapidly, so we have to set