also tonight. the bank of england raises interest rates for the first time in more than three years, amid warnings inflation could hit 6% by april. honestly, i can t remember, actually. and coming up on the bbc news channel. another bad day at the ashes for england. good evening, and welcome to the bbc news at six. the number of new covid infections across the uk hasjumped again to a new record more than 88,000 cases in the past 2a hours 10,000 more than yesterday. as the 0micron wave accelerates, the uk s chief medical adviser, professor chris whitty, has told mps that he expects the peak to come incredibly fast but subside more quickly than previous variants because of the boosterjabs. more than 745,000 people had their booster yesterday a new record as the long queues continue. here s our medical editor fergus walsh. what do you want for christmas? for millions it is a booster. these people in newcastle today were prepared to wait for hours or a covid vaccination
and in turkey, the currency keeps falling. the government s cut interest rates again and inflation s getting worse. hello, welcome. we begin with the latest on the omicron variant of coronavirus. the uk has reported a record number of cases for the second day in a row. 88,000 positive tests were recorded on thursday. that s around 10,000 more than wednesday. the uk is racing to deliver booster jabs, the third shot of the vaccine. almost 750,000 people received it yesterday, also a record. here s england s chief medical officer. because of the steepness of this, even if this ends up in a situation where boosters do hold this to a large degree for a lot of people, there ll still be a lot of people in the nhs a lot of people will simultaneously fall ill and be unwell, isolating or caring for others at the same time across the whole economy. so that side of things, i also do think we need to take quite seriously. that was professor chris whitty. and this is the view of professo
businesses who need it in my immediate to make sure that that money gets to those businesses as quickly as possible. the omicron wave has prompted france to shut its borders to most british travellers from saturday halting christmas holidays and other news, the bank of england raises interest rates for the first time in more than three years amid warnings of inflation could hit 6% by april. and more people are signing up to learn sign language since the actress appeared on strictly come dancing who is deaf. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the number of new covid infections across the uk hasjumped again to a new record more than 88 thousand cases in the past 2a hours 10 thousand more than yesterday. as the omicron wave accelerates, the uk s chief medical adviser, professor chris whitty, told mps that he expects the peak to come incredibly fast but subside more quickly than previous variants because of the boosterjabs. more than 745,000 people had th
covid i9 variant capable of spreading rapidly so you have to look at leveraging the tesoro omicron advance. and a woman is convicted of murdering her partner s 16 month old daughter. the court hears that star hobson died of utterly catastrophic injuries scotland s first minister nicola sturgeon has advised people in scotland to limit their socialising before and after christmas to help combat the omicron coronavirus variant. but she made it clear that this is just guidance and that the rules have not changed. it s the toughest approach of any of the four uk nations. let s take a look at the new guidelines: people in scotland are being asked to reduce the number of households meeting at home or any social settings to a maximum of three. but this does not apply on christmas eve, christmas day or boxing day, when there are no limits on socialising. and working from home where possible has been upgraded to a legal requirement rather than simply guidance. businesses are also