With more people trickling into hospital and ultimately if you are not careful you end up with a rush into hospital and they are trying to avoid that. We were hearing yesterday that the increase in cases in europe has been attributed to an outbreak in spain from a new strain of the virus. Is there any indication that has happened here . People are watching this very closely. The coronavirus, unlike other viruses that cause seasonal outbreaks, of course the flu is the one we are most familiar with, coronavirus change only very slowly. People have been monitoring the rate at which this new coronavirus has mutated or evolved since the outbreak began in china injanuary. It changes only very slowly. Out of the genetic code of about 30,000 genetic matters, it has made only about two changes per month across the entire 30,000 letters of its code. That is a pretty slow rate of mutation but we have seen some changes that do appear to crop up more commonly than you would expect at random. And so
The National Medical director of the nhs in england warns that its critical that people get behind the new lockdown. Only by reducing restrictions infection rates, the public following the restrictions we have put in place over the weekend and in the weeks gone by that we will see those rates start to fall. That is what will take pressure off the nhs. But faced with another lockdown businesses across england say over potential damage. Johnny depp loses his libel action against the Sun Newspaper over an article which labelled him a wife beater. And the us president ial candidates spend the last day of campaigning crisscrossing the key Battle Ground states. Borisjohnson has told mps that failure to impose a National Lockdown in england could lead to a situation where the sick were turned away from hospitals because there would be no room for them. The Prime Minister has been speaking in the commons this afternoon, ahead of a vote about the forthcoming month long shutdown. The Prime Minis
Than twice the size of london, is on a collision course with the british territory of south georgia, threatening the islands wildlife and ecosystem. Good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. Theres growing pressure on the government and the devolved administrations to rethink plans to ease coronavirus restrictions for five days over the Christmas Period. In a rare joint editorial, two of the uks leading medicaljournals have called for the government to reverse what it describes as a rash decision that will cost lives. Labour has called for the government to urgently review the festive relaxation. Later today, Cabinet Office minister michael gove is expected to discuss the christmas coronavirus rules with the leaders of scotland, wales and Northern Ireland. Ministers have urged people to do the minimum possible when covid regulations are relaxed. 0ur Political Correspondent Jessica Parker reports. Will you stand under the tree . Under the tree. Getting into the spirit and under the tree,
Translation it is the moment of truth. We have very little time remaining, just a few hours. A quarter of a million New South Wales residents are urged to remain in their homes as the australian state sees a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. With just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels thanks to the rise in online shopping. Hello and welcome if youre watching in the uk or around the world and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. Health leaders in the uk have urged people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the country this month, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. Northern ireland and wales have announced post christmas lockdowns, while millions more people in england are set to move to tier 3 rules tomorrow. Ministers in scotland have refused to rule out futher measures. Doctor Katherine Henderson is pres
Theres mounting pressure on the British Government to close all schools in england for face to face teaching for two weeks after the christmas holidays. Teaching unions say a move to Home Learning for most children is necessary to curb the spread of coronavirus. 0ne union is advising teachers not to return to school on monday over safety fears. Figures released in the past hour show a further 57,725 positive coronavirus cases in the past 2a hours here in the uk the highest daily total. There have also been a further a45 deaths. Heres our education correspondent dan johnson. In liverpool, teachers are already at the head of the queue for tests, but there are more and more voices saying schools shouldnt reopen on monday. It seems to me just to be inexplicable that the government is getting this so badly wrong. We said all schools should be closed for the first two weeks, and we regret to have to say that. We dont want to have to say that schools will close, but our fear is, if we dont do