oh, my god. the associated press is reporting that scientists believe omicron has peaked in britain and is about to do the same in the u.s. so cases may start decreasing significantly. thank goodness. there is more evidence this morning omicron causes less severe disease than other variants. a study of 70,000 covid patients in california found omicron infections were half as likely to send people to the hospital. in new york, more proof covid vaccines will protect you from severe illness if you are infected. of the 100,000 new yorkers hospitalized with covid at the end of december, all but five of them were unvaccinated. while breakthrough infections are way up among new yorkers, the state says the unvaccinated are 13 times more likely to end up in the hospital. with the omicron variant spreading quickly, new york is now requiring all health care
this is bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the globe. i m ben brown. our top stories in the last few minutes, a legal document which prince andrew s lawyer believes will stop a civil case against him in the us has been made made public. the duke of york has consistenly denied sexually assaulting virginia giuffre when she was 17. lawyers on both sides of the atlantic will be scrutinising the document which has just been unsealed to see what impact, if any, it will have on the case. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, rules out further covid measures in england for now despite the ongoing rise in omicron infections. the pressure on our nhs, on our hospitals is going to be considerable in the course
backing n95 and kn95 masks, which offer the best protection. according to the c.d.c., a person wearing a cloth mask standing within six feet of an unmasked individual with covid, can become infected within 20 minutes, while it would take two and a half hours for a person wearing an n95 mask. a typical cloth mask might be 50% effective, and that was okay before. it doesn t seem to be enough with omicron. n95s offer much greater protection. they re able to block 95% of particles. reporter: still, there are signs that the surge of omicron infections may have crested in the northeast. cases are slowing down. the rate of increase is slowing down, but they re still high. reporter: with testing among the first line of defense, at-home testing kits remain in short supply and testing lines long. doctors warn: stay away from overcrowded hospitals. there s really no need dom to the emergency room just to be
whether omicron infections could lead to the nhs being overwhelmed. downing street said before christmas that it would not hesitate to act if necessary. but borisjohnson will face a battle to convince some of his mps that changes are needed. my view is that the government is going to sit tight and wait for more information, wait for a signal that omicron, if it indeed is, is more severe in older people. whereas the devolved governments have decided to act sooner. yesterday in wales, social distancing measures were reintroduced. from today in northern ireland, there are new restrictions for pubs and restaurants. it will be table service only and a maximum of six people will be allowed to sit together. we try to be sensible and both protect ourselves and each other. i am slightly bewildered. i don t understand them. i have come over from scotland, so everything is different. table service too has come in in scotland where alcohol is served.
the headlines. a legal document which prince andrew s lawyer believes could stop a civil case against him in the us, has been made made public. the duke of york has consistenly denied sexually assaulting virginia giuffre when she was 17 lawyers on both sides of the atlantic will be scrutinising the document to see what impact if any it has on the case. the uk prime minister borisjohnson rules out further covid measures in england for now, despite the ongoing rise in omicron infections. the pressure on our nhs, on our hospitals is going to be considerable in the course of the next couple of weeks and maybe more, because there s no question omicron continues to surge through the country. sudan faces a deepening political crisis after the resignation of its civilian prime minister, abdalla hamdok. sudan s forces of freedom and change said mr hamdok s resignation was a direct result of the military coup. now on bbc news our world looks into