archbishop desmond tutu. tackling the cladding crisis in australia what can the uk learn from down under? and right now in australia, they re celebrating the arrival of 2022 amid heightened covid restrictions. welcome to the bbc news at one. new figures show that covid related absences in acute nhs trusts in england went up by more than 40% during christmas week. an average of more than 25,000 health workers were off sick or isolating each day. london was again the worst hit with about 4% of staff in acute trusts absent, up by nearly 60% on the week before. it comes after latest estimates from the 0ns survey suggest one in 30 people in the uk tested positive for covid heading into christmas, a new record high for infections. hospitals in northampton, sheffield and rotherham have temporarily suspended visiting due to the high number of omicron cases. 0ur health correspondent anna collinson has more. while most of us are looking forward to celebrating this new year s eve, it
welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the uk has announced record covid infection figures for the second day in a row as the world health organization says the new strain omicron is spreading at an unprecedented rate. more than 75 countries have omicron cases. a top uk health official says the variant is probably the most significant threat we ve had since the start of the pandemic. meanwhile presidentjoe biden has said that the omicron variant has now arrived in the united states. our medical editor fergus walsh has this report. what do you want for christmas? for millions it is a booster. these people in newcastle today were prepared to wait for hours for a covid vaccination bus. it was a record day for booster jabs, but also covid cases. boosters offer the best protection against omicron, but there is huge uncertainty whether they will blunt it enough to keep hospital admissions below last january s peak. even if it is milder, because it is c
let s go back to the north shropshire by election. we are expecting a declaration soon. let s cross live now to the political editor for the region, elizabeth glinka, who s at the north shropshire count. what is the latest? we are hoinu what is the latest? we are heping to what is the latest? we are hoping to have what is the latest? we are hoping to have that - what is the latest? we are hoping to have that official declaration in the next half an hour to an hour, we don t have that fully confirmed at the moment, but counting is still ongoing. but what we do know is that the liberal democrats believe they have won this seat. they are confident they i wanted, notjust buy a little bit. they say they have wanted comfortably. to put this into context, this is a huge result, historic result in shropshire. this seat has been conservative for almost 200 years. they have never had an mp from any other party here. this is an major results, and the lib dems have overturned a major
and all the very latest sports news as well. hello and welcome. britain s governing conservative party has lost a key parliamentary by election that s been seen as a test of the political authority of the prime minister, borisjohnson. the candidate for the opposition liberal democrat party, helen morgan, won the north shropshire by election with a decisive majority. the constituency had been held by the conservative party for almost 200 years. morgan, helen margaret lilian, liberal democrats. 17,957. cheering. therefore, give public notice that morgan, helen margaret lilian is duly elected as the member for parliament for the north shropshire constituency. applause immediately after the declaration, candidate thanked supporters and said the result in north shropshire had wider significance for the country. in shropshire today, just like in bucks injune, we have on the support of the people who have always voted conservative and people who always opposed them. bucks. thousa
also this lunchtime. tighter covid restrictions will be brought in after boxing day in wales, as the first minister warns of an oncoming storm of omicron . four young children die in a house fire in south london a 27 year old woman has been arrested on suspicion of child neglect. some christmas cheer on the high street there were better than expected retail sales in november, as people started their festive shopping early. inspired by strictly dance schools across the country say they re seeing more same sex couples signing up. edged, taken. and it was australia s day again in adelaide as england continue to struggle in the ashes. and coming up on the bbc news channel premier league clubs will meet on monday to discuss the impact of covid 19 on football, with newcastle boss eddie howe saying the game is on a knife edge. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the liberal democrats have called their victory in the north shropshire by election a watershed m