the full extent of the covid crisis
facing the nhs has become
more apparent today more than 50 000 new
cases were reported in the past 24 hours
that's yet another record for the uk and
a matter of extreme concern
according to public health england the
head of the nhs in england says that
health workers are once again in the eye
of the storm
while a leading scientific advisor to
the uk government says urgent action
is now needed to prevent what he called
a catastrophe in the new year any
changes to england's tear restrictions
will be announced tomorrow our health
correspondent catherine burns has the
latest
we all wanted to have a few days off
over christmas
but instead of being asked to come back
to work this time
it's a wave this time we've seen a
massive increase
if we continue with the current rate of
admissions we are very very close to
becoming overwhelmed
so it is affecting anyone and everyone
people are
just beginning to be exhausted it's been
such a long year
doctors and nurses from the nhs front
line
telling us what it's like dealing with a
pandemic that after months and months of
hard work
is getting worse queens hospital in
romford today
20 ambulances waiting outside some on
double yellow lines because the parking
bays are
all full at one stage you can see staff
bringing hot drinks out to patients
waiting in the ambulances the hospital
says they were being cared for
safely but that it's under considerable
pressure
and is asking staff to take extra shifts
it's a similar picture across london and
the southeast of england
i'd say this is the most challenging
extended period
that i've ever seen and i'd like to just
take the
opportunity to pay tribute to the staff
who have worked
phenomenally hard and well more than 21
000 people are being treated in hospital
for covid across the uk
in wales they're dealing with their
highest level of patience now
the patients who are coming to itu now
are a degree
sicker a lot of them are desperately
unwell
and we've seen a real reflection of that
in
in the amount of patients that have died
in northern ireland hospitals say they
are under pressure but
coping and in scotland people are being
asked to stay at home
over new year as cases hit a record high
this new surge in cases couldn't come at
a worse time of year for the nhs
winter always brings extra pressures
with more respiratory illnesses
as well as slips trips and falls in icy
weather
this year on top of that and the
pandemic
social distancing means hospitals need
to keep patients further apart
and the nhs in england is operating with
around 10
fewer beds than usual in england
24 million people are already living
under tier 4 restrictions
the highest level the government is
about to decide if that's enough
and this warning from a scientific
advisor act now
to avoid catastrophe in the new year in
my view if we don't
introduce tougher restrictions in
areas in the north and areas that are
not currently in tier four
they will rise to very high levels of
disease
and hospitalization similar to those
seen in london
the nhs chief executive's annual thank
you message to staff acknowledges that
this year has been the toughest
that most can remember but there's hope
too
by late spring we think that with
vaccine supply continuing to come on
stream we will have been able to offer
all vulnerable people across this
country this covert vaccination
three weeks ago margaret keenan became
the first person to have a covid vaccine
outside of clinical trials
today she's had her second booster dose
a real piece of good news
but now millions more need to be
vaccinated too
catherine burns bbc news
well one and a half thousand military
personnel are to help with the roll
out of mass coronavirus testing in
schools in england next month
they will hold online advice sessions
and give telephone guidance to staff
with children mostly carrying out the
tests themselves
but teaching unions say that schools
have not been given enough time to make
plans
and some head teachers are calling for
the government to delay the start of
term
our political correspondent damian
gramaticus has the story
empty classrooms now but will it be safe
if millions of children start
filling them next week or could these
become incubators for the new more
infectious strain of covid19
the current plan is for a staggered
return with mass testing of secondary
pupils and staff
in many cases children themselves
carrying out the tests
under supervision it's not going to be
easy
it will be difficult we are in a
national emergency but it will make a
huge difference
to teachers and children and hopefully
mean that schools will remain open
the government wants children back home
schooling for many
isn't viable lacking the support in the
space the computers and ipads
to make it work but scientists unions
and head teachers
are all urging a delay
for now the idea is that the military
have already been running testing will
help
not in schools but remotely giving
guidance online or over the phone
and the plan envisages less than one
soldier per school
are educationists we can support the
government it's good we're going to have
some members of the army
but for three and a half thousand
secondary schools 1500 troops doing
webinars
probably isn't the government response
that we were looking for
in some parts of the uk the return to
school is already happening later
in england and northern ireland children
are due to start next week
in wales most should be back by the 11th
of january in scotland it won't be
before the 18th
many head teachers want more time to
prepare
things have just come through to schools
very late and i think it's
it's certainly led to a lot of stress
and a lot of panic over the
christmas holidays to try to get people
recruited
our community have been excellent since
we've had um
press coverage and since we've talked to
our community we've had some
volunteers but we've still got nowhere
near enough schools have
stepped up right the way from march
delivering online learning
turning things at the turn of a coin
we're very used to being adaptable
we really want this to work but we don't
know where we're going to get the
volunteers from
if there is a delay primary schools and
children of key workers may not be
affected but in secondaries
it might mean online learning or even an
extension to the holidays for a week or
two
than those taking exams back first an
announcement could come as soon as
tomorrow
damien gramaticus bbc news
well let's take a look then at the
latest government figures and they
showed that there were 53
135 new infections recorded in the
latest 24 hours
but not all of the four nations reported
the full set of data
over the christmas period the average
number of new cases reported per day in
the past week is now
38 936
414 deaths were reported that's people
who died within 28 days
of a positive covet test it means on
average in the past week
466 deaths were announced every day
and it takes the total number of deaths
so far across the uk
to 71 567 and with me is our health
correspondent catherine burns
report we saw a little earlier so we
have this record number of infections
today uh catherine and tomorrow of
course we're looking ahead to
the announcement on tears in england and
possible changes there so
where do we stand do you think well
let's start with those numbers those
number of people testing positive
53 000. i mean there was
like you said there was a bit of a lag
over christmas with some nations not
reporting their data as quickly
but let's be very clear about this
public health england says this is a
real
increase and it's of extreme concern
and there are some things that we just
don't actually have an accurate picture
of right now
for example how many people are being
treated in hospital
for covid so the latest figures we've
got just over 21
000 they're a week old now and at that
point we were just a few hundred cases
shy of reaching the level we got to at
the peak back in april
now since then england's had an extra 2
000 cases
so it's pretty reasonable to expect that
we have now broken that record we've
gone past that peak
which obviously is another record that
nobody wanted to break
so where does all this leave as well we
know the government
has boris johnson he chaired a meeting
tonight looking at the tier system in
england and we're expecting an update
from the health secretary matt hancock
tomorrow
so right now we've got about 40 of the
population in england
in tier four the highest level of
restrictions
and some people are questioning is this
going to be high enough
another thing i think we should look out
for tomorrow is areas where there are
really high numbers of people testing
positive but are still only in
tiers two or three so an example of that
is eden in cumbria
it's having about 500 cases for every
100 000 people right now
and to give you some context the uk
average is more like 400
but really for all of us no matter what
tier in what level of restrictions we're
looking at
right now it's time to go back to the
basics stick to the rules for the area
that we're in
and go back to those basics washing
hands social distancing
wearing masks everything to give us a
fighting chance to get these infections
down
catherine once again many thanks
catherine burns the health correspondent