hello and welcome. whether you are about to go to bed or whether you have just got up, wherever you are in the world, welcome to bbc news. the bbc understands no further covid restrictions in england are set to be announced today. borisjohnson is meeting with his scientific advisers as he considers whether further measures might be needed to slow the spread of the omicron variant. it's expected he'll hear about the impact on hospital admissions and nhs staff sickness over recent days. further controls have come into effect today in northern ireland and scotland. there were new measures announced on sunday in wales. the new measures affect the hospitality and leisure industries. in scotland, nightclubs have to close for at least three weeks, and one—metre social distancing and table service has been reinstated in hospitality settings where alcohol is served. table service has also resumed in hospitality venues across northern ireland. no more than six people will be allowed to sit together. dancing is also prohibited, except at weddings. yesterday in wales, the rule of six was reinstated for people meeting in pubs, cinemas and restaurants. then outside of the uk, new york has also become the first us city to require vaccines for all private sector workers. new york city has also made it compulsory for everyone aged 12 and above to be fully vaccinated against covid in order to access indoor entertainment and sports activities. indian authorities are to impose a night—time curfew in delhi to try to contain a growing number of cases. the restriction will last for six hours each night. we'll visit all of those stories this hour, first let's start with the latest in the uk. here's our correspondent simonjones. after the christmas festivities, now it is decision time for the prime minister. borisjohnson will be poring over the latest covid data to see if he thinks new measures are needed in england. there are no new restrictions are expected to be announced today. at this bar in bristol, they say they need clarity as they look ahead to the new year. he needs to get on with it, he needs to get on with it now, and he needs to help people now. people need to know now. they have got staff that they need to put in place, they have security that they need to book, they have stock that they need to order. he needs to tell people now, right now, so they know what they are doing. a key consideration is going to be hospital admissions, 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 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. where as the devolved governments have 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. nightclubs will have to close for a period of at least three weeks. the scottish health secretary this morning visited a vaccination centre in perth. this is still going to be very difficult for businesses, but of course if we let this virus went out of control virus run out of control or get ahead of us, that would be even worse for the economy. as people wait to hear what further new restrictions might be needed for the new year, the government has insisted that no decisions have yet been taken for england. today's briefing by scientists is one of a series of regular updates given to the prime minister. borisjohnson has not yet called a cabinet meeting or announced a recall of parliament. simon jones, bbc news. we have been waiting to hear what would be the result from the prime minister's meeting with his scientific advisers. what do you now know? we know at the moment _ what do you now know? we know at the moment i _ what do you now know? we know at the moment i understand - at the moment i understand there are not going to be any new legal restrictions introduced to england. this doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility of further guidance or any kind of stronger language urging people to be careful, but i think we cannot expect any legal restrictions to be announced today or after that meeting. as ministers always say, this will be kept under constant review, the data is still changing every day. although we will keep that data —— to see that data published on the government's website later today, worth bearing in mind that it will not yet be a full picture because different parts of the uk reporting cases and hospitalisations over the critters period at slightly different times. we always expect a bit of a lag in data when there is a bank holiday or weekend as we have had. irate when there is a bank holiday or weekend as we have had. we have had a tweet _ weekend as we have had. we have had a tweet from _ weekend as we have had. we have had a tweet from boris _ weekend as we have had. we have had a tweet from boris johnson - had a tweet from borisjohnson which suggests that the government focus remains squarely on the poster programme.— squarely on the poster rouramme. ~ , . ., programme. we can expect to hear more — programme. we can expect to hear more from _ programme. we can expect to hear more from ministers - programme. we can expect to hear more from ministers in i programme. we can expect to i hear more from ministers in the coming days. we can see what he has had to — coming days. we can see what he has had to say. _ coming days. we can see what he has had to say. 1.5 _ coming days. we can see what he has had to say. 1.5 million - has had to say. 1.5 million vaccinations in england in the coming days. sorry to interrupt, just for those who are unable to see it because it is quite small. that's right, you are right to point out this is certainly the focus. something we were hear a lot more about the ministers in the coming days as well is the emphasis on getting people boosted. we know the government has accepted that target to offer every eligible person in the uk that boosted jabber by the uk that boosted jabber by the end of the year. only a few days left to do that. in some ways that offer has already been met. people have been told to come forward for their booster jabs, to come forward for their boosterjabs, we have seen them going to walk in centres and going to walk in centres and going out to people to remind people to get that boosterjab too. i think something that has encouraged ministers is as part of this campaign, they are also seeing an uptick in people getting their first seeing an uptick in people getting theirfirst or seeing an uptick in people getting their first or second jabs who may not have done so. in terms of what may lie ahead, presumably no one is putting any predictions on when or if it will be necessary to introduce further restrictions, but in some ways the impact of them is already being felt, isn't it? a lot of people seem to have made the decision themselves to cancel or do not associate with others. in the west end in london, some of the big theatres have gone dark for the rest of this week because they were worried about omicron. not because they have to but because the crew and performers have tested positive. i was talking to a publican on christmas eve who was saying that he was fully expecting not to be open for new year because he said he thought the way all the signals were pointing. in a sense, people have already made the decision for themselves. that's ri . ht, decision for themselves. that's right. and _ decision for themselves. that's right. and i— decision for themselves. that's right, and i think _ decision for themselves. that's right, and i think it _ decision for themselves. that's right, and i think it will- decision for themselves. that's right, and i think it will be - right, and i think it will be really interesting to watch the language of ministers over the next few days. because if they decide to go a bit stronger with some of the language they have been using if the urge further caution on a social mixing, ithink further caution on a social mixing, i think you are right to say that will certainly inadvertently cause a disruption anyway because we have seen over the last couple of days pubs, restaurants theatres or deciding to close or limit their hours, either due to the fact they don't feel they will have the right amount of covers or be full, it will not be worth them opening. also there is concern about staff shortages due to sickness and people catching covid as well at the moment. i think that is certainly a consideration for the hospitality industry. i'm not sure that today's vision, not sure that today's vision, not reduce new restriction singing and will certainly enough, settling in hospitality, —— they feel unless there is more support in place, they see more difficulty in the months ahead.- place, they see more difficulty in the months ahead. thank you very much- _ how bad are the pressures currently facing accident and emergency departments? to answer that, we can speak to doctor ian higginson, vice president of the royal college of emergency medicine. a&e departments are the bread and butter of the work that your colleagues do. what message are you getting back from hospitals around the country about the impact covid is having at this stage of the pandemic?— is having at this stage of the andemic? ,., ., ., ., ., . pandemic? good afternoon. we asked for a _ pandemic? good afternoon. we asked for a bit _ pandemic? good afternoon. we asked for a bit of— pandemic? good afternoon. we asked for a bit of information i asked for a bit of information this morning to support these interviews, and the messaging we were getting back is that covid is having a significant impact on staffing in our emergency departments. the most common figure coming back at us is that departments are reporting 25% of their staff off because of career —related reasons. that is a very big dealfor a&e reasons. that is a very big deal for a&e departments. reasons. that is a very big dealfor a&e departments. —— deal for a&e departments. —— covid dealfor a&e departments. —— covid related reasons. deal for a&e departments. -- covid related reasons.- deal for a&e departments. -- covid related reasons. there is a risk that _ covid related reasons. there is a risk that people _ covid related reasons. there is a risk that people who - covid related reasons. there is a risk that people who might . covid related reasons. there is| a risk that people who might be admitted or might have to be admitted or might have to be admitted with relatively manageable symptoms, those symptoms could deteriorate over the time they have to be kept waiting to be seen? kind the time they have to be kept waiting to be seen?— the time they have to be kept waiting to be seen? kind of. we will always _ waiting to be seen? kind of. we will always try — waiting to be seen? kind of. we will always try to _ waiting to be seen? kind of. we will always try to prepare -- - will always try to prepare —— provide the care for those who need it most and prioritise. even before the pandemic struck, patients were spending too long in our department is waiting for admission, we know thatis waiting for admission, we know that is bad for them. the problem is i am describing affect not only emergency departments but also wards that have to be staffed. patients you have to wait longer to be admitted suffer.— admitted suffer. sorry to interrupt. _ admitted suffer. sorry to interrupt, my _ admitted suffer. sorry to interrupt, my apologies, | admitted suffer. sorry to - interrupt, my apologies, just to clarify, the point i was trying to get at was whether, not put very elegantly and i apologise, whether because of staff shortages it means the triage and the work that is initially done with people being checked in is more difficult to do because actually you have to concentrate, as you say, on the most urgent cases and that inevitably means some will have to wait that bit longer and even waiting that bit longer means their situation by the time they are seen has become serious? {iii time they are seen has become serious? .., , time they are seen has become serious? _, , ., , serious? of course that is possible- _ serious? of course that is possible. what _ serious? of course that is possible. what we - serious? of course that is possible. what we try - serious? of course that is possible. what we try to l serious? of course that is i possible. what we try to do serious? of course that is - possible. what we try to do in emergency departments, we have been operating on fumes for quite a long time, there is no resilience forfurther quite a long time, there is no resilience for further staff shortages. staff are used to not having enough to deal with the patient four. we shift into a mode where we prioritise care to those who need it most, that inevitably means the sum care will suffer. we try to minimise the emergency staff are brilliant resource for people in difficult circumstances. what would you say to people who watch those who have maybe become more relaxed about coronavirus post as they have been vaccinated that they have seen the data as reported by the health security agency suggesting the risk of admission and the risk of serious covid infection is lower this variant than it was for delta, even though there is more of it about and it seems to be more infectious?- more of it about and it seems to be more infectious? what i can say is _ to be more infectious? what i can say is that _ to be more infectious? what i can say is that i'm _ to be more infectious? what i can say is that i'm not - to be more infectious? what i can say is that i'm not more l can say is that i'm not more relaxed about coronavirus. both on a personal level but importantly, if i can give it to those i love and those i care for, and patients may not get symptoms themselves that they can do it to those they love and those who are caring for them. love and those who are caring forthem. personally, i'm still carefuland forthem. personally, i'm still careful and have had my booster. i wear my ppe, i have been limiting my social contact over christmas to try and reduce the chance of me giving covid to my family. i have been testing. that is a personal view, i don't think it is a stupid one.— view, i don't think it is a stupid one. vice president of the royal— stupid one. vice president of the royal college _ stupid one. vice president of the royal college of- stupid one. vice president of. the royal college of emergency medicine, thank you very much. an israeli hospital has begun giving a fourth shot of the coronavirus vaccine, in a clinical trial to find out if it is safe and effective in containing the spread of covid. the trial in tel aviv includes about 150 health care workers who received their third shot no later than august this year. israel is considering approving a fourth dose, or second booster, for vulnerable people as it tries to stop a surge in omicron infections. new york city has made it compulsory for everyone aged 12 and above to be fully vaccinated against covid in order to access indoor entertainment and sports activities. it has also become the first us city to require vaccines for all private sector workers. jabs are already mandatory for state employees. cbs correspondent courtney kealy is in new york and gave us the reaction to the new mandate. here in new york, people are adhering to that, but with this quadruple rate of children in hospital since the omicron variant came here, a lot of those children are not fully vaccinated. in fact, between the ages of five and ii, none were vaccinated. so the department of health right now in new york city is really warning parents to make sure that their children are getting vaccinations. children over 12 have to have both vaccinations to enter public areas like restaurants. so each state and each city does do things differently. new york state has definitely been in the forefront. bill de blasio, the current mayor, has said he doesn't want to see new york go back to the dark days of the early pandemic when the city essentially shut down. there are all sorts of mandates and rules in place here in new york city. there have been more covid—related flight cancellations today with more than 1,400 flights cancelled around the world. destinations in the united states and china have been the worst hit, with us airlines saying the disruption is due to crews testing positive or isolating. in all, since christmas eve, more than 8,000 flights have been grounded, here, the business secretary kwasi kwarteng has held talks with leading energy firms amid calls for the government to do more to tackle the crisis caused by a surge in wholesale gas prices. millions of households are expected to face a dramatic rise in energy bills next year. the government has said it wants to make sure consumers are protected. our business correspondent, vishala sri—pathma, reports. it's been a constant worry for households for the past three months — rising prices of gas and electricity around the world have meant we've all been paying more to heat our homes and cook our meals. 26 energy companies have gone bust since september, and more casualties are expected in the industry, as there's no sign of prices falling. our number—one ask going into the meeting is that the government and the regulator are taking the situation very seriously, and they're prepared to start taking action — not in the months to come, but in the days to come. because i think if we don't find a solution in the coming weeks, we're certainly going to be locking uk consumers into more and more expensive energy for years to come. labour is calling on the government to use money raised through higher—than—expected vat receipts to cut household bills. the party says higher energy and food prices have meant more vat being paid, so the extra money should be used to help people struggling with the higher cost of living. the government said they are regularly engaging with the industry and are continuing to support those most in need. the energy price cap is expected to be on the agenda, as well — it stops companies from passing rising costs onto their customers. the cap will be reviewed again in april, when bills could go up as much as 50%. not the good news families were hoping for this festive period, with many already struggling to keep the lights on. vishala sri—pathma, bbc news. a week of events are starting in south africa to commemorate the life of the anti—apartheid leader archbishop desmond tutu. he died on sunday aged 90. the bells of cape town's st george's cathedral will toll for ten minutes a day every day at noon until friday. people have also been gathering outside the city's st george's cathedral and also outside his home, ahead of his funeral on the first of january. others laid wreaths and lit candles in soweto. peter storey was president of the south african council of churches at the time when desmond tutu was the general secretary. he shared some of his recollections of theirfriendship. my first experience of him was, if you like, characteristic of his whole life. i was in nairobi for a conference, and sharing a room with some delegates. and when i woke up at 4 in the morning, somebody else had joined the room. and i saw an apparition, a sort of white apparition in the corner. it was somebody that had covered himself with a sheet and who was praying in the muslim way with his face right down on the floor. and the next morning, i discovered that it was desmond tutu. i said to him, "you gave me one heck of a fright last night." and he cackled the tutu cackle. and he said, "i'm desmond tutu." that first moment of seeing him at prayer was characteristic of his whole life and our relationship together. whether we were travelling in dangerous places, on aircraft, in airports, when the time came for him to follow his discipline of prayer, he simply opened his prayer book. peter storey recalling his friend the archbishop desmond tutu. west mercia police has issued a written apology to the family of the former premier league footballer dalian atkinson, who died from injuries he suffered while being arrested in telford in 2016. the ex—aston villa striker was kicked in the head and tasered by pc benjamin monk, who is now serving eight years for manslaughter. in a letter, the force's new chief constable, pippa mills, said a uniform doesn't "grant officers immunity" from the law. the number of shoppers in the uk looking for a boxing day high street bargain plummeted compared to pre—lockdown levels. footfall for the full day was 45% lower than in 2019 as many people shunned shops, according to retail experts springboard. the british retail consortium said many retailers would continue to see a boost in online trade amid fears of the spread of the omicron variant. let's get more on this with diane wehrle who is marketing and insights director for springboard. are these figures as you feared they would be?— they would be? unfortunately, es the they would be? unfortunately, yes they are- _ they would be? unfortunately, yes they are. we _ they would be? unfortunately, yes they are. we have - they would be? unfortunately, yes they are. we have seen . they would be? unfortunately, i yes they are. we have seen very clearly from early december this self censoring the public has undertaken, particularly since the plan b virus came into effect. the nervousness of consumers concerning omicron. and we have seen people working in the offices dropped by a huge amount, and that brings in football. the closer we got to christmas, the worse the figures became. so we were anticipating this big drop on boxing day and it did come to pass. boxing day and it did come to ass. ~ ., , ., ., pass. where does that leave the finances of _ pass. where does that leave the finances of the _ pass. where does that leave the finances of the retail _ pass. where does that leave the finances of the retail sector? - finances of the retail sector? a lot of retailers would have been counting very heavily on the sale that they could christmas. we found that footfall, the volume of activity in our stores and destinations, that drives the footfall and sales in our stores. it drops very sharply. increasingly late, the weekend before christmas, super saturday as it is often called, it didn't perform at all. i people from the money onwards... boxing day is very important for retailers because they can clear christmas stock effectively. that doesn't look like that happened.— effectively. that doesn't look like that happened. what about the options _ like that happened. what about the options then _ like that happened. what about the options then that _ like that happened. what about the options then that are - the options then that are available for companies to deal with some of this? they think that some of these changes are not just that some of these changes are notjust panic related that are structural. it seems to have continued in lots of parts of the world were lockdowns have ended the people seem to be still shopping online, we get the impression that it still sat happening here as well. will that mean a rethink for many companies in how they present themselves to the public? present themselves to the ublic? ,., , present themselves to the ublic? ,. , ., public? online sales and her migration — public? online sales and her migration of _ public? online sales and her migration of spend - public? online sales and her migration of spend online i public? online sales and herl migration of spend online has been happening for a long time. at springwood, we are tracking footfall, the volume of activity in stores and destinations. we have been publishing our data for over a decade now. every year we have seen a drop in footfall, a small drop in footfall before covid and a small part of that is... even when we were in lockdown in the uk and the only stores that were open where food stores or essential stores, 50% of retail sales were still in store. a large proportion, about half of non—food sales were on mine, but the other half were still in store as there weren't very many stores open. then when stores reopened in april, mid april this year, there was a huge surge of people back into stores. and prior to mid april, the footfall in stores had actually been incrementally going up each day and each week anyway. there was this underlying pent—up shop in—store. the store shopping element of retail will continue, the challenge for retailers is blending that and bringing what they call bricks and clicks more together and making sure it is a unified shopping experience. for those who want to buy from stores. marketing director at the springboard, thank you very much for going through that with us. a man, arrested in the grounds of queen elizabeth's windsor castle on christmas morning. the 19—year—old was in possession of a crossbow when he was arrested. since then, he has been sectioned under the mental health act, and remains in the care of medical professionals. one of the uk's leading cancer research charities says people could be regularly screened for prostate cancer within five years. the institute of cancer research says the development was possible due to advances in genetics and medical imaging. a texas lawyer who won a landmark 1973 court ruling to make abortions legal across the us has died at the age of 76. sarah weddington had once said the case — widely known as roe v wade — would be her epitaph. her death comes as the supreme court appears poised to accept a mississippi law that would bar abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. climate—fuelled disasters that devasted lives have also cost the world tens of billions of dollars this past year. this is according to christian aid, which tallied up the damages based on insured losses. let's take a look at some of the most costly incidents. hurricane ida struck the united states in august and is at the very top of the list at $65 billion. it was the fifth strongest hurricane to make landfall in the country and killed dozens of people. in the summer, deadly floods that swept across western and central europe came in second, causing $113 billion in damages. more than 200 people died. torrential rains in china's central henan province caused huge floods injuly and led to $17.6 billion in damages, and left more than 300 dead. cyclone yaas lashed coastal areas in india and bangladesh in may and cost $3 billion in just a few days. it also forced more than a million people to evacuate. christian aid is now calling for richer countries to help offset the costs caused by these extreme weather events. new project is focused on bringing industry players test out new technology which will sort out plastic packaging better and boost recycling. trials are taking place in copenhagen and denmark. jen murray has been finding out more. early each morning, rubbish trucks are on the streets collecting binloads of household plastic. this is the start of its recycling journey. it's then brought to this facility, ready to be sent for sorting. in europe, each person generates 35 kilos of waste plastic packaging a year. only 40% gets recycled. globally, it's much less. while plastics are useful, a lot of packaging is difficult to reuse — most of it ends up in landfill or incinerated. a big problem is plastic pollution. and yet more resources get used making new plastic products. here in copenhagen, new technology is being trialled that could help boost recycling rates. it's part of an industry—led project called holygrail 2.0. what we're trying to do is really use intelligence that is embedded in the packaging, using the digital watermarks to revolutionise the way we sort or recycle plastics. more than 100,000 packaging samples are being sent along this line to a smart sorting machine. each piece of packaging is printed or embossed with a digital watermark that's about the size of a postage stamp. it can barely be seen by the naked eye, but it's like having an invisible bar code stamped all over it. this identifies what it is. consumers can even use a smartphone app to find out more about the product, and how to recycle it. inside the machine, a high—resolution camera scans the digital watermarks. this tells a computer what the plastic is, and what it was used for. air jets accurately separate the items. that's important if we want to reuse it. the digital watermark is embossed... american firm digimarc has developed the watermark technology. today's technology is able to identify the type of plastic, but not necessarily whether it came from a food application or non—food application. with watermarks, you can precisely identify what it was. dozens of firms are taking parts — including big consumer brands like nestle, unilever and pepsico. it's sorting very, very accurately. the question now is, will that yield the kind of recycling results at scale that we would need for this to become a commercially viable solution for the future? however, the amount of plastic we consume is growing. yes, we have to improve waste management and recycling. but overall, i mean, the world is drowning in plastic and plastic waste. we have to look more into, how can we prevent waste in the first place? the tech will be tested out further. that means hundreds of watermarked products will be on supermarket shelves in denmark, france and germany as soon as next year. adrienne murray, bbc news, copenhagen. time for a look at the weather now. temperatures not too away from the december record but today is grey and cloudy, murky with low cloud making it quite dark at times the pulse of the rain across england and wales, further north—west, something writer for scotland and northern ireland but here there will be a scattering of showers so temperatures across northern areas fairly close to the seasonal norm but it's milder in the south with temperatures reaching between 11-13 c temperatures reaching between 11—13 c for some. overnight, temperatures reaching between 11—13 cfor some. overnight, mist 11—13 cforsome. overnight, mist and 11—13 cfor some. overnight, mist and fog patches reforms are becoming quite murky again and outbreaks of rain developing later in the night as well with the rain and cloud keeping temperatures well up, 7—9 c but called in northern scotland, called for a few patch as a frost in the countryside and tomorrow is a wet day coming up with the rain very slow to ease eastward so still some rain around eastern england into the afternoon with the brightest weather again for scotland and northern ireland as well. that is the latest. this is bbc news, the headlines... the bbc understands no further covid restrictions in england are set to be announced today , but uncertainy still remains on whether future measures will be imposed before the new year. in new york, children aged 12 and over need to be fully vaccinated for indoor restaurants and leisure facilities as the city sees infections rise. warnings the british government isn't doing enough