and also, where do you draw the line by the same logic? do you then charge smokers? new south wales has, of course, eased its restrictions. it s come out of lockdown. it s opened both its domestic and international borders for australians and for visa holders, and there was an expectation that these cases were going to rise, but that number has sharply risen in the last week or so. today, the state has reported more than 5,700 covid 19 cases. about 80% of that is of the omicron variant. and these are big numbers, in an australian context. so i think even if it sjust an idea that s being floated, even if it s just being discussed, it s going to make that divide between the vaccinated and unvaccinated even deeper, and i think it also shows you a certain nervousness from the state government s side about whether or not the health care is going to handle more cases. the former british prime minister gordon brown has described the failure to distribute covid
president putin again insists the west must give russia guarantees that nato won t expand eastwards to admit ukraine; and says he s initiated high level talks with the us. translation: if we are plunged in a conflict? i but we don t want that. it is not our choice. this is why i responded to president biden s proposal. the ball is in their court now and they should respond, and coming up, rescue footage emerges of two babies being pulled alive from the rubble of kentucky s tornado last week and handed over to their grandmother. praise god! hello and welcome. tighter restrictions against coronavirus have come into effect in some european countries amid concerns over the highly infectious omicron variant that continues to spread rapidly.
on staff absence. on one day, the 19th of december, nearly 19,000 nhs staff in england were off work due to covid that s up by 54% when compared to the week before. the biggest increase was in london, the epicentre of this outbreak, where covid related absence, sickness or isolation almost doubled to around 3,900. the nhs workforce was already under pressure before omicron came along, we are seeing increased pressure in many workforces at the moment, especially if someone needs to isolate if they have a positive case, but some of the recent moves we have had from 10 day to seven day isolation, i think all of this will help. between 30 and 40. these are the ages of some
pandemic earlier last year, said omicron infections now account for 28% of cases, but daily caseloads of coronavirus remain well below some other european countries, such as britain and germany. aruna iyengar, bbc news. meanwhile the pandemic is causing further disruption in the world of top flight football. two more premier league games have been called off due to the ongoing problems with the pandemic. liverpool s game with leeds and wolves match at home to watford have been postponed because the number of positive covid cases means some teams have insufficient players to fulfil their fixtures. it brings the total number of games cancelled this month in the premier league to 12. to australia now where the omicron variant is also spreading fast. in new south wales the country s most populous state the number of hospitalised covid patients has nearly doubled over the last week. and the state government has proposed charging unvaccinated people for their covid medical care. the i
pressure before omicron came along. there s increased pressure there, as we are seeing in many workforces at the moment, especially if someone needs to isolate if they have a positive case, but some of the recent moves we ve had from moving to 10 day to 7 day isolation if you take tests in the last two days, i think all of this will help. between 30 and 40. these are the ages of some of the people fighting - for the life on a covid ward. a graphic illustration of the pressures the health service is facing from liverpool city council. filmed in the intensive care unit of the royal liverpool, it shows how every patient needing treatment is relatively young and unvaccinated. the message is clear get vaccinated. - in wales too, where waiting lists for planned procedures have hit a record high, there are warnings, too, nearly one fifth of staff could be off with covid in january. nhs england s top doctor says the health service is now on a war footing and the best weapons in the fight aga