The u. N. His bio is Available Online so let me be very brief in introducing him. Mark has more than 30 years of experience in both humanitarian and development context. Most of it spent with the u. K. s department for international development, which he eventually led as permanent secretary. He had led their humanitarian responses to such context as iraq, syria, nepal, several cases in africa, and haiti. He was also their directorgeneral for policy and corporate performance and finance. An extraordinary wealth of experience both in the context working where operations occur and on the infrastructure that helps to manage them. So were delighted to have sir mark with us today. Mark, there are innumerable humanitarian crises under way right now and at large scale. I know you Just Launched the u. N. s consolidated humanitarian appeal for the funding to support that effort. But today we want to focus on covid. And what the pandemic has meant for the crises that you helped to manage and for
Failed to track down nearly half the close contacts of people with coronavirus in some of the worst hit areas. Good afternoon and welcome to this bbc new special building up to the latest briefing from downing street on coronavirus led today by matt hancock. The latest data from the office for National Statistics suggests Coronavirus Infection rates are levelling off in england and scotla nd are levelling off in england and scotland and decreasing in wales. Thejermainejenas scotland and decreasing in wales. The Jermaine Jenas number, the scotland and decreasing in wales. Thejermainejenas number, the rate at which the virus spreads, has fallen again and is now between one and 1. 1, not reflecting the impact of the second lockdown in england. People aged 50 to 64 are being offered for free flu jabs from first december part of an expanded scheme. Just half of close contacts given to englands test and trace are being reached in some areas. Our Health Correspondent is here to talk through s
Test does not guarantee a safe holiday. America is back. Those were the words from president elect joe biden as he announced key cabinet picks and a promise that the United States is ready to lead. Biden making moves as the formal president ial transition finally gets underway. He says communication from the Trump Administration to help with his transition has been, quote, sincere, and the white house has now signed off on a major step in that process. President ial daily briefings for the president elect. All this comes as biden became the first president ial candidate in history to get more than 80 million votes as ballots are still being counted. Earlier he spoke about the nominees for his administration. This is not a third obama term because we face a totally different world than we faced in the obamaBiden Administration. The president President Trump has changed the landscape. Its become America First, its been america alone. We find ourselves in a position where our alliances ar
Speak tojoe biden since he entered the white house. Hello and welcome to bbc news. In the last few hours, theres been an extraordinary rescue of 11 gold miners trapped underground in china for two weeks. The first miner was brought to the surface to cheers from emergency workers. He was described as extremely weak and immediately carried to a waiting ambulance. Over the following hours, the others were pulled out in small groups. A total of 22 workers were trapped 600 metres below ground at the mine in shandong province following an explosion. Joining me now live from beijing is our correspondent, stephen mcdonell. How have they got them out . Remarkable story, events are moving very quickly in shandong province, ii very quickly in shandong province, ii miner ploo might have been brought to the surface alive. We had been told it would take two weeks for them to dig 600 metres through to where they were. Ii miners. But somehow or other today a separate group of rescuers managed to clear
This is bbc news. The headlines further restrictions are expected to control the spread of coronavirus this is bbc news with the latest in both england and scotland. Headlines for viewers in the uk in england, the Prime Minister has and around the world. Warned of tough weeks to come. Im rebecca jones. What we have been waiting for is to see the impact of the tier 4 measures on the virus. The roll out of the oxford it is a bit unclear at the moment, astrazeneca jab begins in the uk this morning but if you look at the numbers the government describes it as a Pivotal Moment in the pandemic. There is no question that we are going to have to take the vaccine means everything to me. Tougher measures and we will be announcing those in due course. I mean, to my mind, its the roll out of the the only way of getting back Oxford Astrazeneca jab has begun to a bit of normal life. The Prime Minister says tens you know, this virus of millions of doses will have been is terrible, isnt it . Administe