he said the situation was finely balanced and that the omicron variant of coronavirus was still spreading very rapidly. during the day, the first minister of scotland announced new restrictions, especially on large scale events, starting on boxing day. in wales and northern ireland, ministers will announce their decisions tomorrow. our health editor, hugh pym, has been monitoring the latest developments. christmas has become clearer today in england. the message from the government was that people could go ahead with plans as there won t be any new measures which might affect them. but given the threat of omicron, nothing can be ruled out after that. speaking before the announcement, one minister suggested they weren t rushing tojudgment. we re looking very closely at the data, that s why the prime minister said we reserve the option of coming back with further measures, but we re not at that stage because obviously, there is very significant economic disruption, should we do that. mer
is considering its verdict in the trial of ghislaine maxwell. she denies sex trafficking allegations. desperate attempts to get aid to those hit by typhoon rai in the philippines more than 375 people are now known to have died. and how about this for a creepy crawly nightmare? fossil evidence of the eight foot long millipede that weighed 50 kilos and was the size of a car. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. the world health organization is warning people ahead of the christmas holidays they may have to cancel some of their plans to reduce the spread of the omicron variant of coronavirus.
with the rules that applied to workplaces. a plea for urgent supplies in the philippines, as the number of people killed by super typhoon rai rises to more than 200. chile picks a left wing candidate as its youngest ever leader, beating a far right rival in an incredibly polarising election. 19 year old tennis star emma raducanu has been named bbc sports personality of the year following an incredible year that saw her become britain s first women s grand slam singles champion in 44 years. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. borisjohnson is facing calls to bring in tighter measures over the christmas period to stem the rapid rise in cases of the omicron variant of coronavirus.
the prime minister is facing fresh questions about alleged breaches of lockdown rules at downing street. the guardian newspaper has published this photograph showing boris johnson and members of staff with wine and cheese in the number ten garden in may last year. at the time, in england, you could only meet one other person, in an outdoor public place, if you kept two metres apart. a government spokesperson has described the event as a wo k r meeting our political correspondent, jonathan blake, has more from westminster about the calls to bring in tighter measures over the christmas period. the crucial question in government, and for all of us, really, is whether omicron proves to be more severe than other variants of the virus so far that have circulated. we know that it spreads incredibly quickly, and incredibly widely. but as ministers have been again saying this morning, the crucial detail that we don t yet know is how seriously ill people
be brought in through compulsion, or people doing it because they want to protect themselves, their loved ones and anyone else that they might come into contact with, what is your view on that? it s a difficult balancing act. what we know is that mandating things is more effective, but there are lots of other challenges in terms of the economy, issues of mental health and so on. it is a genuinely difficult one to call. mandating things is more effective, but there are other knock on effects that we are trying to balance here. what we are seeing currently is actually the real impact of an infection which is spreading as quickly as this omicron variant is. the latest we have heard, for instance, is that the natural history museum have had to close for a week because of an unprecedented impact on its staff through covid. so, even without enforced lockdowns, there is testing, people are aware of when there are cases