laughter on prescription — the comedy sessions that can seriously improve your helath. and coming up later this hour, wejoin zeinab badawi for take me to the opera. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. secondary schools in england have been told that children should wear face coverings in classrooms — to help stop covid disrupting the new term. the move brings england in line with the rest of the uk. unions have welcomed the advice — while also warning that staff shortages could once again lead to some children being taught at home. sanchia berg reports. in scotland, pupils have been wearing masks as they learn with the windows open for the last few months. the picture is similar now in northern ireland and wales. next week, english secondary school students will follow suit as the government tries to reduce the spread of covid—19 in schools. around half of children over 12 have been double jabbed — not enough to keep the virus out. the face coverings is very much a short—term measure, simply until the 26th of january when it will be reviewed because we recognise it is not something many children will want to wear. it recognises the priority of ensuring face—to—face education is made available, that is our number one priority. some are worried that this could affect children's learning which has been so disrupted for the last two years. there's very low risk to children so i'm very wary, i will listen to what the government says, but i am very wary about imposing masks on children in schools because i worry about their well—being and their mental health, which has already suffered because of school closures during lockdown. but it's backed for now by the teaching unions. if this is a short—term fix as the government says and one of a number of different measures including ventilation and moving ofsted to the sidelines, if that's going to do what we all want and keep young people in their school or in their college, that, i think, will be a price worth paying. no—one wants to return to remote learning where children were isolated, some put at risk. but headteachers are looking at contingency plans in case staff are hit covid when schools return next week. sanchia berg, bbc news. public sector leaders have been told to prepare for the worst—case scenario of up to a quarter of their staff being off work because of covid. the uk has seen record numbers of daily cases over the festive period. ministers have been asked to develop "robust contingency plans" for workplace absences. here's our business correspondent, katie prescott. cancelled trains, delayed deliveries, closed restaurants and shut—up shops. staff shortages because of the spread of omicron are a real worry in the new year as people go back to work after the christmas break. i think it makes sense to try to plan for such events. we know we've got a very contagious variant in the uk, we know lots of people are catching the virus and naturally there will be absences throughout all businesses, really. from a retail perspective, the biggest concern will be on the supply chain in terms of making sure that that is still running at the efficiency we are used to. empty workplaces where key staff are needed is the nightmare for government. ministers are looking atjust how bad things could get and drawing up contingency plans to try and protect against any disruption from rising infection. to try and keep the school gates open as well as hospitals and other vital services, in the public sector, leaders have been asked to look at the worst—case scenarios of having ten, 20 or even 25% of their staff off at any one time. labour says this announcement shows the government is leaving contingency planning to the very last moment. the most recent restrictions in england, set out in the government's plan b earlier in december, are expected to be reviewed this week. katie prescott, bbc news. earlier i spoke to dr chaand nagpaul, a gp and council chair at the british medical association, a union for doctors. i started by asking what the impact of more staff absences in the nhs would be. we're already seeing a significant impact on our ability to provide services with shortages of staff. we actually predicted on the 18th of december, our own modelling we put out, we thought that one in ten nhs staff would be off sick by this time because we could see the trajectory of infection rates rising. remember that people who work in nhs are part of the general population and in london, one in ten people are infected and that will reflect in those that work in public services such as the health service. the other problem we have is that front—line staff aren't able to stay at home. they are much more in contact with people and if you're a doctor or a nurse or a health care worker, you are going to be in contact closeby patients who are carrying the infection. the other problem is we are not being provided in most settings with the higher—grade masks that filtrate against airborne spread so there is also the chance we can get infected at work. what that means is that many surgeries have had to be cancelled on the day so patients who may have been waiting to see their gp for two weeks find that the clinic is having to be cancelled because the gp can't come to work or a nurse or a health care assistant cannot be in it to take so those have to be cancelled. that's the sort of impact. in hospitals we are likely to see routine care, but nothing is routine if a patient has been waiting 12 months for an operation. but if you have staff shortages, you will be directing those staff for urgent emergency care and it will be patients waiting for routine treatments that will suffer. so when the government says brace for up to 25% staff absences, if that were the worst—case scenario and there were 25%, one in four staff off in hospitals or gp practices, how much can you realistically do for patients? what impact does that have practically? there's no doubt that if you have 25% of the health care workforce not able to work, that will impact on patient services and care. we are already at the moment suffering record levels of waiting for ambulances for life—threatening conditions and the longest queues to be admitted, corridor waits and so forth, and more patients trying to access their gp than ever before this will clearly impact patient care and that's why we're urging the government to do two or three things, bring the infection rate down, so whenever we hear from ministers saying the data they are looking at is really around a hospital admissions, well, hospital admissions are rising but you need to also look at the data of staff absence so we bring the infection rate down in the community and we will have fewer staff off sick. the second is protect health care staff with proper ppe so we don't get infected at work because we have to mix with patients because that is ourjob. the third thing is making sure that we have access to testing because that's also adding to staff absence because we've got health care staff over the last week who haven't had access to lateral flow tests so haven't been able to come back to work with negative tests on day six and seven and haven't had access to pcr tests so they've had to be cautious by waiting to have those tests are not coming back to work, so we need to do all of those things to have staff that can serve the health service. the other thing it questions is, the government has this intention of having nightingale hospitals set up. if we don't have the staff around existing facilities, hospitals and gp practices, you won't have the staff for the nightingale units at all. earlier i spoke to our political correspondent, nick eardley. i asked him whether further restrictions in england were expected. we know that ministers in london have been saying pretty regularly over the last few days that any new restrictions would have to be a last resort. it's something they want to avoid unless completely necessary. hearing ministers this morning on the airwaves, they are saying the data they have at the moment does not point towards the need for more restrictions. that's despite the record number of positive cases we've seen in the last few days, a million people in the uk testing positive for covid in the last seven days, and the fact that in scotland, wales and northern ireland, the devolved governments have gone further and introduced more restrictions after christmas so the message this morning from ministers is that at the moment, for england, they don't think there is enough evidence to make them change their mind on more restrictions. have a listen to the cabinet office minister stephen barclay. we don't think the data supports that at this stage. of course, we keep the data under review, but we've seen significant behaviour change as a result of plan b. the widespread use of testing is an illustration of the fact that the british public are taking sensible steps to keep themselves safe, to keep their friends and family safe, that's why there has been such a demand for testing in recent weeks. that, combined with the booster programme, is the key way as a country that we will avoid the need for further measures. so that's some caution from the cabinet office minister stephen barclay. we hard from a health minister this morning saying that he is cautiously confident that the nhs has enough to manage with the increased strain it is likely to see from omicron cases. there will be a review on wednesday of the restrictions that are in place at the moment. as you heard from stephen barclay, at the moment it looks unlikely that ministers will bring in more rules in england. and this warning that the government has said about the contingency planning for ten, 20, 25% absences in the public sector and warning firms to have contingency plans in place. what more have they said about that? you saw in the package a few minutes ago, many of us will be familiar with some of the strain that self—isolation has put on various people over the last few weeks. that's likely to increase in the next few days. i think there are a number of businesses who are frustrated that more hasn't been done already. we've had a lot of calls for more action. what the prime minister said this morning is that he wants ministers to go away and to come up with contingency plans for various levels of absence right up to... what we don't have is that comprehensive plan in place yet, that hasn't been completely sorted out by the government and i suspect there will be some who want to see it quite rapidly. police scotland believe a fire at a covid testing centre was started deliberately. it happened in dumbarton shortly after midnight yesterday. officers say an item was thrown at a canopy causing it to catch fire. no one was injured and testing at the site has not been affected. in the uk, 20 conservative mps and peers have called on the prime minister to tackle the spiralling cost of living. five former ministers are among the signatories of a letter to the sunday telegraph, which follows huge increases in wholesale gas prices. our political correspondent, chris mason, reports. wholesale gas and electricity prices are rising steeply. the boss of one energy firm is predicting an enormous crisis this year as a consequence. now 20 tory parliamentarians are expressing their concerns, too. their letter has been organised by what is called the net zero scrutiny group of conservatives, which keeps an eye on the consequences of the government's environmental commitments. the government is meeting energy firms and the regulator ofgem regularly to work out how to help consumers. this will be, without question, one of the government's most pressing problems in the early weeks and months of the new year. chris mason, bbc news. ajudge in the united states has thrown out prince andrew's attempt to halt proceedings in a civil lawsuit against him. the duke of york's lawyers had argued that virginia giuffre — who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager — lives in australia, so is not a us resident. prince andrew has consistently denied the allegations. aruna iyengar has this report. seen here at the age of 17, virginia roberts, now giuffre, with prince andrew on the left and ghislaine maxwell in the background. ms giuffre has accused prince andrew of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager at the homes ofjeffrey epstein, the convicted child sex offender, and ghislaine maxwell. prince andrew has consistently denied the allegations. the civil lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. two efforts to stall the case were blocked on saturday. us federaljudge lewis a kaplan told the prince's lawyers they must hand over key legal documents before a crucial court hearing in new york on tuesday. he also rejected arguments by the prince's lawyer, andrew brettler, that the lawsuit should be dismissed because ms giuffre, a us citizen, no longer lives in the us. this comes after ghislaine maxwell was convicted this week of recruiting and trafficking young girls to be sexually abused by her boyfriend, the late american financier jeffrey epstein, between 1994 and 200a. on tuesday, judge kaplan will hear oral arguments to decide whether virginia giuffre�*s lawsuit against prince andrew will proceed. aruna iyengar, bbc news. the latest headlines on bbc news: face masks are to be required to be worn by secondary school pupils in england as coronavirus cases continue to surge across europe. fears that a quarter of uk public sector workers could be off due to covid as firms are warned to make contingency plans. ministers say there's nothing in the current covid data to suggest more restrictions are required in england. sport, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah. we start in the premier league where three of four matches today are now under way. pressure continues to mount on everton pressure continues manager rafa benitez — they're losing 2—0 at home to brighton. aston villa did lead against brentford — but have been pegged back so it's i—i there. and leeds are beating burnley i—0 — jack harrison with the opener. they have just equalised. after those games, there's a huge battle at the top of the table as second place chelsea face liverpool, who are third — with both sides looking to make up ground on leaders manchester city. there'll be two noticeable absences from the game though — chelsea are expected to leave striker romelu lukaku out of the squad after telling italian media he wasn't happy with the part he was playing under thomas tuchel. liverpool will be without their managerjurgen klopp after he tested positive for covid—i9 but before he caught the virus he spoke about the importance of the game. the only chance to catch anybody who is ahead of you is to win football games and that's not so easy when we play against chelsea, they are a pro football team, might have similar issues like we have. i'm not sure what the executive decision as at chelsea but that's probably the case. we go there, we try everything and it's a tricky place to go anyway. you don't win there with an average performance so we should be concerned about how good we can be to play the best football game we are able to play. it's hard because we are so ambitious and it's hard for the team to take _ ambitious and it's hard for the team to take these results and stay positive — to take these results and stay positive because we are so ambitious and we _ positive because we are so ambitious and we know what we can deliver and we know _ and we know what we can deliver and we know we — and we know what we can deliver and we know we can play better and everybody is fully aware but everybody is fully aware but everybody is fully aware but everybody is trying hard and it's not a _ everybody is trying hard and it's not a matter of one click. it's tough — there'll also be a moment of history at stamford bridge — as some fans will be legally standing as part of a trial. all—seater stadiums became the law following the 1989 hillsborough disaster but several premier league clubs are now trialling safe standing. the ashes resumes on tuesday evening uk time but ahead of the match, it's been confirmed that england's head coach chris silverwood has tested positive for covid—i9. silverwood has been isolating in melbourne since late december following a positive test from one of his family members. he will remain in isolation until saturday. england's squad have also undergone another round of routine pcr tests after a local bowler tested postive for covid in sydney where the fourth test is being played. england are 3—0 down and have already lost the series. obviously every positive case is not a good thing but we are dealing with the facts at the moment and getting tested every day. the doctors say we are in a good place to carry on. i'm concentrating on what i'm trying to do and so are the lads and we are pretty focused on the game. great britain have become their atp cup campaign off to a winning start. they beat germany 2—1 in sydney. dan evans gave great britain the perfect start, beating jan—lennard struff in straight sets, but cameron norrie was then beaten by alexander zverev as germany levelled the tie. which meant it came down to the doubles, and evans and jamie murray secured the win in gb�*s favour, winning in straight sets. great britain are next in action against canada on tuesday. and there's been medal success for great britain's bobsleigh team today with two silvers at the world cup in latvia. there's more on that story on the bbc sport website, but that's all the sport for now. football supporters at this afternoon's match between chelsea and liverpool will be the first to take part in a safe standing trial. standing terraces were banned at most grounds in 1994, following the hillsborough stadium disaster. ministers say safety is paramount — some police chiefs have expressed concern about fans moving into standing areas from other parts of the stadium. i think it's a significant moment forfootball. these were measures brought in after the hillsborough tragedy and the taylor report and those measures have served us well to keep football safe for 30 years so i think anything we do to alter those messages is significant. this has been in since the start of the season, obviously the clubs had to put the engineering work on, and we have seen some positive experience but also some challenging experience so from our perspective in policing, we think it is an opportunity to implement this in a way that's really safe. some of the recommendations we made have not been implemented yet as part of this pilot. some of the concerns we've got are, if crowds are stood up, it's easier to throw missiles, engage in hate chanting, racism, sneaking in alcohol, cocaine. in modern stadium, the bowls, you can migrate all around the stadium so the concern as you get crushing issues if it becomes overloaded and it's quite an exclusionary crowd. i'm nowjoined by liverpool fan, gareth roberts, from the anfield wrap podcast who has been a supporter of safe standing. there is already standing at the match and there has been for a long time. the issue is the standing was taking place in venue that was made for seating, with not enough space between the rows. anyone who has gone home and away watching their football team for years like i have will have war wounds that they can show on their shins and their legs where they've fallen over the seats in front, the seats behind, and it's a miracle there hasn't been serious injuries or worse. fans like myself have been campaigning for bespoke areas for standing at football grounds and that's what we've finally got. mark there doesn't seem to acknowledge at all that this has improved safety and all of the things you mentioned, i don't see those things at football matches. how does it improve safety in terms of the design of these areas? i've been to celtic park where there is a safe standing section and the difference is that where i mentioned you could fall over the seats in front or behind while celebrating a goalfor example, at celtic park and now at chelsea and various other grounds, there is a bar in front of you, at chest level, and one behind you at back level. you have a space but you cannot fall forwards or backwards, there cannot be a domino effect. so you can celebrate goals, you can sing and shout and enjoy yourself and stand up safely and watch the football. what we've had for the best part of 30 years is people standing up watching football in an unsafe manner so this improves that situation. mark doesn't mention the improvements in safety which i find flabbergasting. what i find interesting is you support this move to safe standing but there will be some liverpool fans with memories of hillsborough who still feel very uncomfortable about this. absolutely, and there has been a lot of work to educate people that felt that way because hillsborough was no fault of the fans, it was not down to people standing up watching a football match. mark roberts references the taylor report. the taylor report places the blame for the hillsborough south yorkshire police. it was not the fault of the fans in a standing situation. it's worth saying the situation over the rail seating is a million miles away from the terraces of the 1980s. i stood on the old cop and liverpool could score a goal and you could end up anywhere else. you could be scooped up by the crowd and taken somewhere else. now you cannot move forward, you cannot move backwards in this situation, it's a safe standing area. it's long been said that "laughter is the best medicine" — and it seems that's being taken quite literally. trauma patients are being —invited to free comedy sessions to try to boost their wellbeing in a scheme backed by the nhs in bristol this month. the new approach has been developed by health experts and professional comedians to give people a new perspective. angie belcher is comedian in residence at bristol university and has helped develop the course— shejoins me now from bristol. how did all this come about? just from the live _ how did all this come about? just from the live circuit, being a comedian and realising that we have a special place that we can have horrible things happen in our lives and then we can write about them and perform them and it makes us feel better. i realised, wouldn't it be great if everyone had that opportunity to process their trauma, learn how to do it in a comedic way and put it on stage? find learn how to do it in a comedic way and put it on stage?— and put it on stage? and has it worked, and put it on stage? and has it worked. has — and put it on stage? and has it worked, has the _ and put it on stage? and has it worked, has the scheme - and put it on stage? and has it. worked, has the scheme started and put it on stage? and has it - worked, has the scheme started yet? it starting next week, i have my first course working with people who have been referred by social prescribers who are people who, a doctor can give you medication but a social prescribers can give you arts —based therapy, gym memberships, things that you may not have financially or socially had the time to do and they can give you things like this to help you recover. how does it work. _ like this to help you recover. how does it work, do _ like this to help you recover. how does it work, do they _ like this to help you recover. how does it work, do they turn up and you tell them jokes? it’s does it work, do they turn up and you tell them jokes?— you tell them jokes? it's a psychotherapeutic - you tell them jokes? it's a - psychotherapeutic intervention you tell them jokes? its —. psychotherapeutic intervention using comedy. it's using your story. it could be your trauma or your experience or something in your life and then i help people to put comedic devices into it, show people how to use a stage, how to use their body, their voice and their breath, how to use an additive to change the perspective of who's in control and so they create their first five minutes of stand—up and in doing so, thatis minutes of stand—up and in doing so, that is something that will help them to recover from that is something that will help them to recoverfrom much that is something that will help them to recover from much trauma they have had. them to recover from much trauma they have had-— they have had. how long does the course last? _ they have had. how long does the course last? once _ they have had. how long does the course last? once a _ they have had. how long does the course last? once a week- they have had. how long does the course last? once a week for- they have had. how long does the course last? once a week for six l course last? once a week for six weeks. course last? once a week for six weers- two _ course last? once a week for six weeks. two people _ course last? once a week for six weeks. two people put - course last? once a week for six i weeks. two people put themselves forward for it _ weeks. two people put themselves forward for it or _ weeks. two people put themselves forward for it or does _ weeks. two people put themselves forward for it or does it _ weeks. two people put themselves forward for it or does it have - weeks. two people put themselves forward for it or does it have to - weeks. two people put themselves forward for it or does it have to be | forward for it or does it have to be prescribed to them? == forward for it or does it have to be prescribed to them?— forward for it or does it have to be prescribed to them? -- do people? no one is going — prescribed to them? -- do people? no one is going to — prescribed to them? -- do people? no one is going to force _ prescribed to them? -- do people? no one is going to force you _ prescribed to them? -- do people? no one is going to force you to _ prescribed to them? -- do people? no one is going to force you to do - one is going to force you to do comedy. you may go to your prescriber and see you are in a place where you have to process what has happened to you in some way and they get shown an array of different artistic interventions on things and people get to choose stand—up comedy and i've been speaking to people i will be working with next week and they've chosen it and are looking forward to using a slightly different approach to processing their experience. it’s different approach to processing their experience.— different approach to processing their experience. it's a very brave choice. their experience. it's a very brave choice- the _ their experience. it's a very brave choice. the reaction _ their experience. it's a very brave choice. the reaction i _ their experience. it's a very brave choice. the reaction i get- their experience. it's a very brave . choice. the reaction i get sometimes from colleagues when i telljokes, the idea of standing up in front of a group and telling people you're material is quite daunting! do you think you might inadvertently discover brand—new comedic talent through all of this? j discover brand-new comedic talent through all of this?— through all of this? i hope so, i've been lecturing _ through all of this? i hope so, i've been lecturing for— through all of this? i hope so, i've been lecturing for ten _ through all of this? i hope so, i've been lecturing for ten years - through all of this? i hope so, i've been lecturing for ten years on - through all of this? i hope so, i've| been lecturing for ten years on this and often you get people who come to workshops because it's a hobby or something on their bucket list but then they realise they really enjoy it. the feedback they get from the audience is good, people laugh at their stuff, and they've gone on to do open mics and do it professionally.- do open mics and do it professionally. do open mics and do it rofessionall . ., , ., professionally. how did you get involved with _ professionally. how did you get involved with it? _ professionally. how did you get involved with it? the _ professionally. how did you get involved with it? the did - professionally. how did you get involved with it? the did the i professionally. how did you get l involved with it? the did the nhs come to you or did you put it forward to them? j come to you or did you put it forward to them?— come to you or did you put it forward to them? i kind of realise eo - le forward to them? i kind of realise people want _ forward to them? i kind of realise people want to — forward to them? i kind of realise people want to tell _ forward to them? i kind of realise people want to tell me _ forward to them? i kind of realise people want to tell me about - forward to them? i kind of realise | people want to tell me about their trauma and funny things that happened to them. if people have had fines to make friends or their parents have died or they have had breakdown azure, because i'm a comedian, they come to me and say, there's this funny thing that happened, you'll understand because you're a comedian. we spoke about the funny things that happen in the most horrific situations and they realise they get some sort of help from analysing it in that way which is what comedians do. i suddenly started thinking, wouldn't it be great to offer the so to the community and not only help that individual but there's also a ripple effect of listening to the comedian mirror your experience on a stage so if you watch a comedian who is talking about something that's happened to them and it's also happened to them and it's also happened to them and it's also happened to you, it gets to the point where you think, i feel much easier now about talking about it. as we know with things like suicide and mental health, we must want to encourage people to talk about it because they get help and they don't harm themselves or harm other people or do anything silly because they find a way of letting it out. it’s find a way of letting it out. it's an outlet- _ find a way of letting it out. it's an outlet. thank _ find a way of letting it out. it's an outlet. thank you very much for speaking to us, angie. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz. after yesterday's record—breaking mild new year's day, in terms of today's weather, we have a few scattered showers, you might have had one or two cracks of thunder already across the south of the country. this is what it looks like at 6pm so 11 celsius in london in the lowlands of scotland and you can see where the showers are spreading across parts of the country through the course of the evening and overnight but it changes taking place in scotland, weatherfront arrives with much colder air behind it. there's the possibility of snow on stronger winds in places across scotland through the course of the