With just the time to get the vaccine left to be rolled out, we should all be extremely careful about the social interactions that we have, because it is, yes, about the rules that we set in government, but it is actually about how every Single Person acts, and the good thing is that throughout this crisis, the vast majority of people have acted in a really responsible way. Theyve done their bit. And of course it is easy to see pictures of people running the trains and what have you, but actually that has been a small minority, so lets all stick at it and not give into temptation, and that way will be able to get through it and make sure that tier 4 is indeed effective against the new variant. There was a further question embedded. There was, i think about kate about case rate rises and how a translate to the nhs. Obviously you can see from the slides that that sharp rise in cases is going to need some stopping, and as the secretary of state has said, this is not something that can be
One man has been arrested. I want to take this opportunity to say how sorry i am for my breach of rules that i ask all of us to follow every single day. Good afternoon and welcome to this bbc news special, where were expecting at around 3 oclock a Coronavirus Briefing from downing street with the possibility that more parts of england could come under the toughest coronavirus restrictions in tier 4, and any changes could be as soon as boxing day this weekend. It is of course because of the new rapidly spreading variant of covid 19 thats already affecting large parts of the london, the southeast and east of england. The communities secretary Robert Jenrick says the strain is now prevalent outside these areas, and so more action may be needed. It comes as britains covid 19 r number the rate at which the virus is reproducing has increased again, to between 1. 1 and 1. 3. Meanwhile, borders have reopened in dover, but 5,000 lorry drivers in kent are facing more delays as they have to wait
After testing positive. The highest figure since april. The talks in brussels continue withh suggestions a post brexit trade deal between the eu and the uk could be finalised within hours. In the first lorries are starting to leave after the borders have reopened with france. But thousands of drivers are still waiting for covid tests. The Health Secretary matt hancock has confirmed that more areas of england will move into tier 4 the highest level of restrictions. Under tier 4 people must stay at home, non essential retail is shut and movement in or out of the area is not allowed. He made the announcement at a press conference in downing street this afternoon. The Health Secretary said from boxing day, norfolk, suffolk, cambridgeshire and essex would move into tier 4 along with oxfordshire, waverley in surrey and hampshire including portsmouth and southampton, but excluding the new forest. More areas of england will move to tier 3, including bristol, somerset, gloucestershire, the isle
And some of us will see sunshine at times today but watch out for dark gloomy clouds. Details on that and the christmas week forecast here brea kfast. Its sunday 20 december. Our top story. Millions of people in england and wales are waking up to new lockdown restrictions. At midnight london and large parts of the east and south east of england were put into a new category of tier 4 with an order to stay at home where possible. Similar restrictions came into force for all of wales at midnight. The announcements were made as plans to relax restrictions over christmas were reduced. Our Political Correspondent nick eardley reports. London last night was suddenly the last journey before london last night was suddenly the lastjourney before lockdown started. But it will not be the usual christmas getaway this year. Significant restrictions are now in place for large parts of england and in the whole of wales. They are coming in scotland and for millions, christmas visits will be considerabl
In hospitalisations and deaths, as the Prime Minister set out. And it was right that we acted. Its back to remote, Online Learning for millions of school pupils. But questions remain about how those were facing exams will be assessed. The vaccine rollout ramps up as the government pledges to vaccinate 13 Million People by the middle of february. Welcome to this bbc news special ahead of the latest Coronavirus Briefing from downing street in half an hours time today its led by the Prime Minister borisjohnson. And it follows the introduction of a Third National lockdown for england joining scotland who went into lockdown at midnight. Wales and Northern Ireland started their lockdowns in december. It comes as the uk posts a Record Number of infections in a day with 60,916 new cases. A further 830 people have also died within 28 days of a positive test. Lets take a look at todays latest developments. People in england and most of scotland are being told to stay at home except for a handful