tell ou anyway and you knew it was. i can tell you categorically anyway and you knew it was. i can tell you categorically that anyway and you knew it was. i can tell you categorically that nobody told me and nobody said that this was something that was against the rules, that it was a breach of the covid rules or we were doing something that wasn t a work event because, frankly, i can t imagine why on earth it would have gone ahead or why it would have been allowed to go ahead. my memory of this event, as i said, is going out into the garden for about 25 minutes, for what i implicitly thought was a work event, and talking to staff, thanking staff. i can t remember exactly how many, but for about 25 minutes i was there and then i went back to my office and i continued my work. you know, i do humbly apologise to people for misjudgments that were made, but thatis misjudgments that were made, but that is the very, very best of my recollection about this event and thatis
so called nightingale surge hubs are to be set up at hospitals across england, in case there s a bigger wave of 0micron admissions injanuary, as our health correspondent sophie hutchinson reports. the start of building work on the next wave of nightingale hubs. this one is at st george s hospital in south west london. the government says it s a contingency measure, in case of a surge in covid patients. but there s concern about who will staff them. we would prefer that the government take steps to avoid needing to use that extra surge capacity, purely because there just aren t the number of staff needed to safely provide the care for any patients that are requiring care, and that s where the priority needs to be, to ensure that we ve got staff to safely care for people that need care.
let us bring you some live pictures from copacabana beach. it is a new year across the world, we had sydney and new zealand first and many other countries, the uk around three hours ago and this is what is happening in brazil at the moment, incredible fireworks going on at the famous copacabana beach. a scaled back performance, but as you can see, fairly spectacular. that has been going on for around 15 minutes. it looks like it might be drawing to a close. it looks fairly intense there. that is copacabana beach, thousands of people enjoying fireworks there, live in brazil. official figures suggest that nearly 2.3 million people in the uk had covid in the week before christmas, the highest level of infections since the data was first compiled last year. it is translating into greater pressure on britain s national heath service. more than 25,000 healthcare workers are themselves off sick or isolating each day. 0ur health correspondent
there s all sorts of ways to get vaccinated. just please come forward and help yourself, but also help reduce that burden on the nhs. and now, this. a second antiviral pill has been approved by the uk regulator. in trials, pfizer s paxlovid drug offered nearly 90% protection from severe illness and death among vulnerable adults. there s a glimmer of hope for the new year. vaccines and new treatments should help protect the most at risk from serious illness. but there are huge uncertainties. if there is a sharp rise in hospital admissions, health leaders say ministers will have to act fast. katharine da costa, bbc news. the new year honours list has been published, featuring more than 1200 people, many of them being recognised for their work during the coronavirus pandemic. they re joined by almost 80 olympic and paralympic athletes who competed in last summer s tokyo games. lizo mzimba reports. their faces have become
here at a community diagnostic club in north london where there are 108,000 people on the waiting list in the royal free hospital, an incredible hospital but they have a huge backlog now partly caused as you know by covid. and what we ve got here is a community diagnostics hub, one of a0 that we green lighted in october and we are going up to 100 of them and i think they will make a big difference to people on waiting list. but make a big difference to people on waitin: list. make a big difference to people on waiting list- waiting list. but prime minister, but i have got waiting list. but prime minister, but i have got a waiting list. but prime minister, but i have got a couple - waiting list. but prime minister, but i have got a couple of- but i have got a couple of questions, and i have been asked by the broadcasters to ask these questions and i m here to represent everybody. you are not ruling out that you will have to resign if you have misled parliament? what that you will