and thanks the russian president for sending troops. england battle back on the third day of the fourth ashes test as jonny bairstow hits a century. hello and welcome to bbc news. 200 members of the armed forces are being drafted in to help hospitals in london struggling to deal with covid related staff shortages. the royal college of nursing said the government could no longer deny there was a staffing crisis in the nhs. pressure on london hospitals has increased over the past month, with 4,000 patients currently in hospital with covid compared with 1,100 in december. meanwhile, outside of london, hospitalisations have also been ticking upwards with almost 18,000 patients currently in hospital with covid. as of thursday afternoon, 17 hospital trusts in england were experiencing critical incidents concerned they might not be able to provide core priority services, such as emergency care. it means they can get extra help and draft staff in from other duties. health secreta
at the weather with matt taylor. some eastern areas will stay dry but snow in some places. persistent rain in south wales and south west england, affecting the channel island for a time. a blustery wind, feeling chilly. temperatures typical for this stage injanuary. tonight, the sky is clear, is sharp but temporary frost which will lift as we start to see cloud and outbreaks of rain pushing across most areas by dawn on saturday. snow in the scottish mountains. still cold in eastern areas to begin with, could be some ice, sunshine and showers after a wet start. many places will finish with a bit of sunshine. temperatures on saturday 4 8. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. nhs hospital staff covid related absences in england are up by more than a0 percent in the space of a week according to the latest figures. meanwhile the armed forces have sent 200 personnel into hospitals across london to help with staff shortages. the president of kazakhstan addresses the nation after
labour says the prime minister still has serious questions to answer over the refurbishment of his downing street flat. england battle back on the third day of the fourth ashes test asjonny bairstow hits an unbeaten century in sydney. a letter has made its way to a care worker in northern ireland without having his actual address on it itjust contained his life story instead. we ll hear more from the letter s recipient. hello and welcome to bbc news. new figures reveal a sharp leap in covid related absences in the nhs in england. according to the latest data, on average over 35,000 staff at acute nhs trusts in england were off due to covid during the week ending two january. this is an increase of al% on the previous week, but some regional authorities showed much higher absences than the national average. north west england reported an 85% week on week increase in absences in the last few minutes it has been announced the army will help the ambulance service in the north
A tense exchange between Novak Djokovic and his wife during his French Open match earlier this week raised a few eyebrows, until the tennis star explained