Your gp. ring the nhs. make sure you get that diagnosis as early as possible. give yourself the best chance of a good outcome. thank you. good luck. thank you. good luck. thank you. the world s biggest industrial complex to extract carbon dioxide from the air has opened in iceland. considered by some to be an important tool in the fight against climate change. this is the first plant ever in commercial operations for air capture and storage that start serving customers today. a futuristic vision of how to save the planet from runaway climate change? or a futile expense that distracts from the urgency of slashing co2 emissions? in 2017, we celebrated a pioneering moment.
And so, what we re doing, i think, has to be the right thing, which is to give those residents the maximum protection and that means staff looking after those vulnerable people should be vaccinated. we ve had the latest figures on the nhs backlog caused by the pandemic. a record high 5.6 million patients were waiting for routine operations in england injuly. 293,000 have been waiting more than a year, which is down on the previous month but still far higher than pre pandemic levels of under 2,000. 7,980 patients waiting more than two years for routine operations and treatment. we re joined now by saffron cordery, deputy chief executive of nhs providers, which represents hospitals and other nhs trusts in england. thank you so much forjoining us. well, they are relatively stable but still record high levels. what is your reaction to that?
Levels up. because with what we have to remember is if vaccinations are made mandatory, staff who were originally on the front line have to be deployed elsewhere and we have significant staff vacancies up and down the nhs, so we re still at 90,000 vacancies, so we are not in a position necessarily to take people away from the front line. position necessarily to take people away from the front line. thank you ve much away from the front line. thank you very much for away from the front line. thank you very much forjoining away from the front line. thank you very much forjoining us. away from the front line. thank you very much forjoining us. saffron i very much forjoining us. saffron cordery of nhs providers. scotland could become the first part of the uk to introduce covid vaccination passports. proof of a double jab will be required to get into nightclubs and big events. the scottish parliament will vote on the measures this afternoon. the first minister, nicola sturgeon, says i
Because of the introduction of vaccine passports. england has plans to introduce vaccine certification. wales is considering it for higher risk settings. northern ireland has not yet announced a position. holyrood will debate it later. the scottish government insists vaccine certification is a limited, targeted and proportionate response to a very difficult situation. lorna gordon, bbc news. a man has been arrested after a standoff at a morrison s store in bristol in which half a dozen shots were fired. armed police were called to the scene to deal with a man with a knife. one person was injured but their condition is not believed to be life threatening. the headlines on bbc news. new tactics to deal with people crossing the english channel in boats. the uk border force is told that it can order boats to turn back to france. the government looks at whether it should be compulsory for frontline health service staff in england to be vaccinated against covid i9. the number of people in en