will lead the service. as with all funerals there is a huge sense of privilege that you are with the family, any family, at this remarkable point in their lives. the queen will sit alone as she says goodbye to her husband of 73 years. crowds have been asked to stay away from windsor this afternoon. welcome to windsor castle, where the funeral of the duke of edinburgh will take place later this afternoon watched by millions of people around the world. it ll be a small family service, because in line with covid restrictions, only 30 mourners will be allowed into st george s chapel. the queen will sit alone as she says goodbye to her husband of 73 years. buckingham palace said the ceremony will celebrate and reflect the duke s life and mark his unwavering loyalty to the queen. our first report this lunchtime is from our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. a husband and wife, a photograph from the queen s private collection, an image from a strong marriage. and a reminder
like this before. many of them we ve seen in various variants of concern so far, but it s the complexity of the mutations that we re seeing today and the effects that it may have on both the immune response and transmissibility that are a huge concern. with belgium recording europe s first case of the omicron variant, the european commission in brussels called for a suspension of air travel to affected african countries. we do know that mutations could lead to the emergence and spread of even more concerning variants of the virus that could spread worldwide within a few months. it is now important that all of us in europe act very swiftly, decisively and united. vaccine companies say they can prepare updated versions of theirjabs, perhaps within 100 days, if the omicron variant is found to evade immunity. fergus walsh, bbc news. health authorities in the netherlands say based on initial test results, there were likely dozens of people infected with covid 19 among some 600 pas
alive their hopes of qualifying for their first world cup. good evening. there is growing anxiety over the discovery in southern africa of a new variant of coronavirus. the world health organization has designated it a variant of concern and given it the greek name 0micron. there are fears that the highly mutated 0micron might be more transmissible and that vaccines may be less effective against it. it s been circulating in south africa for several days, and today officials in belgium said they d discovered the first case in europe. from midday today, the uk suspended direct flights from several countries in southern africa and from 4am on sunday, anyone arriving here from those countries will have to quarantine at their own expense for ten days in an approved hotel. many other countries, including eu member states, have also restricted travel from southern africa. with ourfirst report tonight, here s our medical editor fergus walsh. after months of opening up, the newl
the journey is full of risk, but some afghans still feel this is their best hope. the prince of wales tells the bbc that he sympathises with the aims of eco protesters but not with their methods. and, captain kirk takes a real life journey into space the 90 year old actor william shatner explains why. and coming up in the sport on the bbc news channel. wales continued their quest to feature at a first world cup since 1958. they re in qualifying action away to estonia. good evening. pregnant women are being urged by the nhs to get fully vaccinated against covid. the appeal was made following official figures which show a significant proportion of patients needing intensive care treatment are unvaccinated, pregnant women with covid. the royal college of midwives says pregnant women have a higher risk of becoming seriously ill from coronavirus. nhs england found that betweenjuly and september, out of 118 people who needed the most intensive kind of life support, 20 were preg
the growing economies here, so it s natural that the uk, you know, wants to have a presence and a say and be involved in this really important region. important new data from the uk shows that one in six of those most critically ill with covid 19 are pregnant women who ve not received a vaccine. and captain kirk takes a real life journey into space the 90 year old actor william shatner explains why. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it s newsday. it s 6am in morning in singapore and 1am in istanbul, where turkish authorities have boosted security on their border with iran and warned they won t accept an influx of migrants and refugees fleeing the taliban in afghanistan. many afghans make the journey through iran to turkey hoping to travel onwards to other european countries. turkey already has the world s biggest refugee population of around 4 million people. our international correspondent orla guerin has been to the turkish border province of van and se