we introduced before christmas, we have a chance to ride out of this omicron wave without shutting down our country once again. we ll bejoined on the programme by a public health expert to discuss the latest numbers and anti covid strategies. also ahead: lawyers for prince andrew argue for the first time in court, that the sexual assault civil lawsuit against him should be thrown out. they say he can t be sued because of an agreement signed by his accuser. and running out of time a tribute to an historic travel hub in thailand as it prepares to close for good. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it s newsday. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. china is showing its determination to continue with its zero covid strategy. the authorities have put an entire city into lockdown after the discovery of just three asymptomatic cases. residents won t be allowed to leave their homes in yuzhou, which has a population of 1.2 mil
accept payment for consultancy work. the express says boosterjabs will save christmas, after the health secretary encouraged over 40s to get their third covid vaccine. the guardian leads with a warning from conservative mps to borisjohnson, who are angry about plans to scale back the social care cap. growing unrest in some european countries over anti covid measures makes the front page of the telegraph. the ft leads with a story on a hypersonic weapon tested by china back injuly, which is capable of firing a missile and carrying a nuclear warhead while travelling at five times the speed of sound a world first urgent action needed on social mobility the yorkshire post leads with new research on the divide in prosperity between the north and south of england. the daily mail has a report on the circumstances behind the return to jail of convicted murderer and six offender colin pitchfork and ole gunnar solskj r is is no longer at the wheel at manchester united. but who
Hospitalisations and deaths? well, it s a really important hospitalisations and deaths? -ii it s a really important question. so far, of course, the bad news is that the 0micron variant is perhaps the most contagious pathogen on the planet and one of the most contagious that we ve ever seen in history of humankind. 0f contagious that we ve ever seen in history of humankind. of the better news is that the cases don t reflect the same level of hospitalisations and deaths, so we are seeing more and deaths, so we are seeing more and more people hospital his eyes, but that s only because we ve got more and more cases hospitalised. but the truth is that it does appear to be more mild and there is a certain level of natural or vaccine induced immunity and much of the population in europe, the uk and the us. ., , , population in europe, the uk and the us. professor, ust focusing on the united states us. professor, just focusing on the united states for us. professor, just focusing o
A number of countries around the world have been seeing record numbers of cases as the fast spreading omicron surge continues. in britain, nearly 220,000 new coronavirus cases a new high have been recorded. it comes as pupils returned to school in england and northern ireland. france registered more than 270,000 new covid cases on tuesday, confirming its position as europe s worst hit country. meanwhile, the us has recorded more thani million the highest one day tally of new cases anywhere in the world. speaking at the white house a few hours ago, president biden pleaded with the american people who haven t been vaccinated, asking them to get the jab. let me be absolutely clear. we have in hand all the vaccines we need to get every american fully vaccinated, including the booster shot, so there s no excuse, no excuse for anyone being unvaccinated.
This for about 18 months now. and that s a strategy that includes things like this pop up tents where you can get a booster on the way home and win prizes as well. but it also includes very, very harsh measures that can be imposed on a city in a matter of hours. harsh measures, brutal enforcement. it s been part of china s covid containment since the beginning. just last month, some cities were parading covid spreading offenders in public. keeping cases at near zero is now even more important as china prepares to host another olympics. the winter games in beijing is just a month away. china s president, xijinping, saw for himself the final preparations on tuesday. on the brink of a third term in power, he wants and needs a smooth ride at the games. zero covid is central to that. robin brant, bbc news, shanghai.