we re very much not a racist family. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we re covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first. president biden has signed into law his one point nine trillion dollar stimulus bill. the package provides a direct payment to most americans of $1,400, as well as $350 billion for state and local governments. mr biden wasn t taking any questions from the reporters gathered in the oval office but he is due to make a nationally televised address in the us in the next hour we will, of course, bring you that here on bbc news. well, for more on what that address may hold, i m joined by the bbc s laura trevelyan from washington. what can we expect? this is president biden is first prime time 0val president biden is first prime time oval office address to americans. and his aides have said in the last 15 minutes that they expect the president to set a goal of allowing americans to gather in
and in his first comment since harry and meghan s bombshell interview prince william insists the britsh royal family is not racist. reporter: have you spoken - to your brother since the interview? no, i haven t spoken to him yet, but i will do. can you just let me know, is the royal family a racist family, sir? we re very much not a racist family. the oxford astrazeneca vaccine, one of the most widely used covid 19 vaccines in the world, has been suspended in three european countries amid reports that some people who ve had the jab have developed blood clots. each country s health authority have stressed the move was precautionary, and that evidence of the vaccine s safety and efficacy was good. norway and iceland announced their decision to pause its use, after denmark stopped its rollout for m days. astrazeneca says the safety of the vaccine has been extensively studied in clinical trials. here s denmark s prime minister. denmark will suspend the use of the astrazenec
the spring. but when the cap is lifted prices will have to go up because we have seen unprecedented increases in the global price for gas and as you just reported in that your segment, we use gas to generate electricity and we use gas in almost all of our homes. although the price cap can help temporarily, you cannot put a domestic sticking plaster on a global problem. that is really what is underlying this. let s go back to omicron, and speak to professor markjit, an epidemiologist at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. he s also part of spi m a committee that provides disease modelling advice to the government. it sounds a bit more glamorous than it is, it is not that kind of spying, it is, it is not that kind of spying, it spelt differently! . can ifoster will
mrjohnson is expected to get details on how fast the omicron variant is spreading and whether the nhs is coming under unsustainable pressure, even though omicron is now thought to be milder than previous variants. professor markjit is an epidemiologist at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. he s also part of spi m, a committee that provides disease modelling advice to the government. he told me what the situation is like in london. london is ahead of the rest of the country, because the first cases started there, but i think where london goes the rest of the country will follow in a couple of days time, so the proportion of cases as the total population of london is greatest there because they started taking off about a week before the rest of the country. in terms of what we know about omicron, we had that encouraging news from the health security agency before christmas, about the likelihood
will see this increased tidal wave of cases of omicron translating into more people ending up in hospital. if these people are vulnerable and older, and more people are likely to mix over christmas, then this could put a huge strain on the nhs, and thatis put a huge strain on the nhs, and that is one huge thing politicians, clinicians and everyone will be watching and hoping that the booster programme will help prevent some of that. ,, ., ., ~ , ., , . that. smitha, thank you very much. lookin: that. smitha, thank you very much. looking through that. smitha, thank you very much. looking through all that. smitha, thank you very much. looking through all the that. smitha, thank you very much. looking through all the latest - that. smitha, thank you very much. looking through all the latest data. | looking through all the latest data. let s stay with this and talk to. professor markjit is an epidemiologist at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. he s also part of spi m