a senior minister has warned that a
third spike of coronavirus infections is
possible
as the government seeks to win over
conservative mps unhappy with its plans
for the system that would replace the
england lockdown
this week most areas will be placed into
the top two tiers of restrictions
the government says it is listening to
the criticism and will publish an
analysis tomorrow to support
the measures with the vote due in the
house of commons on tuesday
here's our political correspondent ian
watson
it's been difficult finding cheer in
this festive season
in glensburg greater manchester they've
been living under some form of
restrictions since the summer
what's even more cutting is they'll be
placed in tier three the highest form of
restrictions
from next week if you look at some of
the figures and things like that you
study it um
it seemed to crack down a bit hard on
greater manchester in my opinion so
just speaking amongst the people
they seem to be uh kind of
fed up but some are putting a brave face
in it
we've got to be careful if we're all
sensible
it'll all end soon enough not this year
the season of goodwill hasn't extended
to westminster
boris johnson's facing a growing
rebellion in his own ranks
ministers haven't ruled out a third
lockdown but they say
new restrictions are the best way to
avoid this and that they'll reach out to
those mps who have concerns
mps say to me we just want to understand
that the measures you're taking
take into account not just the cost and
benefit of tackling the virus but also
the non-covered
health economic and social implications
we'll publish more analysis on that
and we do take uh seriously the the
principle of parliamentary
accountability
and the prime minister himself has
written to mps to say that if they back
him this week
he'll give them a new vote on the
restrictions on january the 27th
if they don't support them then the
restrictions would end
on february the third and he says a
review of restrictions next month
means that some areas could come out of
tier 3 on december the 19th
though that will depend on the evidence
apparently there is smoke without fire
at westminster because some
very vocal potential rebels now say
they'll back the government in tuesday's
crucial vote on the restrictions
but for others the prime minister hasn't
gone far enough
it's absolutely right that mps uh are
scrutinizing what the government does
that is their job
all the more important to take place
during an enduring emergency
and we have a couple of days to get this
right to advance what's going on
concessions have been made but i would
like to see more now you may have to
just
pinch yourself a little because wasn't
it just a year ago that boris johnson
won a stonking
80-seat majority yet such as a level of
unease with the new restrictions he
wants to introduce in england
that is going to have to meet a whole
range of mps tomorrow
to try to keep them on side what he
wants to avoid at all costs is relying
on
labour votes to get his new measures
through parliament because their support
would come at a price the reason that
i'm not committing to vote for these
measures
is because we're not convinced at the
moment that they are either sufficient
or workable it's not too late for the
government to convince us of that
political pressures have led the prime
minister to consider a new vote on his
measures in january
so at best he may be postponing a
rebellion beyond christmas
rather than avoiding it entirely
now michelle the contents of one
document could determine the size of
this week's conservative rebellion
because tomorrow the government
is considering a key rebel demand to
produce an assessment of the social and
economic impact of their measures
or to put it very very crudely mps want
to know
whether saving lives will outweigh the
damage these restrictions will cause
to livelihoods now speaking to some of
the potential rebels tonight
it looks as though they're willing to be
convinced by the government but they say
they're withholding the support until
they see the hard data
behind boris johnson's decisions ian
thank you very much ian watson there at
westminster
well the latest government figures show
that there were 12 155
new coronavirus infections recorded in
the latest 24-hour period
that takes the average number of new
cases reported per day in the last week
to 15 224
1524 people have been admitted to
hospital on average
each day over the week to last wednesday
another 215 deaths have been reported
that's people who died within 28 days of
a positive covert 19
test it means an average of 460 deaths
per day
in the last week the total number of uk
deaths is now
58 thousand two hundred and forty five
another two million doses of the moderna
coronavirus vaccine have been bought by
the government it's one of the three
that are being put forward for
regulatory approval after their clinical
trials
but when might the first vaccinations
take place
here's our science editor david shukman
there's so much talk about vaccines it's
easy to lose track of what's going on so
here's what we know
so far the government has ordered 357
million
doses of seven different vaccines so
crucially
none has been approved for use so far
here's the list of those seven and the
numbers of doses ordered of these the
oxford astrazeneca vaccine
has now been sent to the regulators the
mhra for approval
and they're going through the data right
now but the biontech
pfizer vaccine was the first to start
that process
and it's possible we'll get an answer on
that very soon
my understanding is that there's been
quite an interactive process with the
regulators whilst these trials have been
going on so they have actually had cited
a lot of information ahead of time
i wouldn't be too surprised if um an
announcement
would be made between within the next
two weeks possibly even as early as next
week but they'll have to wait and see
you know mustn't be rushed it has to be
safe so what are the regulators looking
for well
three things safety quality and
effectiveness and of these three the
regulators keep emphasizing the safety
of the public
must always come first so they're
working fast but carefully
because the worst thing would be for
doubts to start creeping in
about these new vaccines now doses are
already being manufactured
in the hope that approval is given so
everything
hinges on that coming through so when
might we start to see the benefits well
if that approval is given next month
it's possible
that the first doses could be
administered ahead of christmas so
people will need
two injections a month apart so they
won't get immunity
straight away beyond that the government
hopes that by next spring to have
vaccinated
the most vulnerable people such as
residents of care homes and
health and care workers but everything
hinges
on distribution and production on a
massive scale and that's a huge
challenge
david chuckman our science editor
reporting there