the health secretary matt hancock has
warned that flexing lockdown rules
could be fatal urging everyone to adhere
to restrictions aimed at bringing
coronavirus infections
under control as hospitals continue to
be under intense pressure there is
concern about public compliance with the
rules
the labour leader shakir stamina says
the current ones may not be tough enough
our first report is from our political
correspondent ian watson
central london on a sunday shops usually
open
now shuttered streets eerily quiet
government ministers say the early signs
are more people are complying with this
lockdown than the last one in england in
november
but the data also shows that in some
parts of the country more people are on
the move than during the first lockdown
in march
so the government is making its message
even more stark
careless actions cost lives the
government rules only
are one part of this what really matters
is what every single person does because
that's how the virus spreads
we can all do something to help which is
to stay at home because every every time
you try to flex the rules
that could be fatal okay we're going to
go all over on three
one two three so is this the consequence
of flexing the rules
the scenes in university college
hospital in london show the huge
pressure the nhs is under
and battling a new variant of the virus
and scientists who advise the government
say that what may be needed isn't simply
more compliance
but more restrictions whether the
current restrictions are enough
i think it remains to be seen it will be
a week or two before it becomes clear
that they may be sufficient but but we
have to
be very vigilant and if there's any sign
that they're not then we're going to
have to be even strict i'm
afraid the view from downing street is
that the current measures are pretty
harsh and they'd much
rather encourage people to follow the
rules rather than impose new
restrictions
they say that in any case their options
are quite limited
but the path of this pandemic has forced
politicians to change course before
and a man who wants to occupy number 10
downing street
says the current restrictions may have
to be tightened
they may not be tough enough but in a
sense i think the most
important thing is for people to get
that message about stay
at home the labour leader says he now
wants to summon the spirit of the first
lockdown in march
parliament agreed then to close some
things which remain open now
so what would tougher restrictions look
like well i think there's a case for
looking at nursery schools we're talking
to the scientists about it but i think
quite a lot of people are surprised
that primary schools are closed and the
nurseries
probably yes i think they probably
should be close
tonight at westminster the streets are
calm but activity in government is
frantic
in the coming days the medics and
scientists not just the politicians
will be telling us that following the
rules will save lives ian watson bbc
news one of the highest infection
areas uh infection areas for infection
rates in the country is in surrey where
every hospital mortuary is now full and
almost 200 bodies are being stored in a
temporary morgue
other local authorities have told the
bbc they expect to open similar
facilities soon
our home editor mark easton and
cameraman james anderson were given
access to the emergency surrey site
located at a former military hospital
this is the cold conclusion of a
pandemic out of control
an emergency body storage facility has
been assembled in woodland in surrey
with hospital mortuaries almost
overflowing the counties dead
are brought here 20 more body bags
unloaded today
to respect the dignity and sensitivities
of the dead and their families we're not
showing the bodies
but i can tell you that in this fridge
there are around
50 body bags among 170 bodies currently
stored here
these racks are expected to be full in
just a few days
around half the body bags stored here
are marked covered positive
surrey now has one of the highest
infection rates in the country
the numbers have increased dramatically
and rapidly um over the last two and a
half weeks
you know and that is causing us some
concern and
at present there's no sign of that
actually diminishing either
the message from from the guidance and
from government is really clear
and i think we should be doing our
utmost to to uphold that
and this facility is sort of testament
of where
i think we're actually failing to do
that at present
fire and police officers have been
drafted in to help some brought back
from retirement
until recently kirsty was a detective on
surrey's murder squad
it's been a dreadful year for everyone
however working here i can see that the
numbers are increasing not decreasing
and i would hate for the sake of people
staying indoors rather than going out
and meeting people
that their loved ones or they themselves
were to end up here that's exactly what
we don't want
surrey is struggling to cope with a
raging pandemic that shows little sign
of abating
health officials worry the current
restrictions are simply not enough to
turn the tide
this lockdown doesn't look or feel like
the one
last spring some are urging the
government to introduce a curfew
but the prime minister's understood to
regard that idea as unworkable
and unbritish just asking people whether
they think the public's taking this
lockdown
seriously enough i think there are shops
open that aren't essential
and also previously you couldn't have
cleaners in your house and
um other tradesmen which you are now so
i don't think this lockdown is a strict
i think people have got complacent over
it think it won't happen to me and
they're just
going about things as normal and like
nothing's different
there are 845 spaces at surrey's
emergency body storage facility
some fear that may not be enough mark
easton bbc news
surrey well the latest government
figures show that there were 54
940 new coronavirus infections recorded
in the latest 24-hour period
that means the average number of new
cases per day in the last week is now
fifty nine thousand
eight hundred and fifty three hospitals
have had an
average of twenty nine thousand six
hundred and thirty covered nineteen
inpatients
another 563 deaths have been recorded
of people who died within 28 days of a
positive covid test it's the first time
in four days
that figure has been below a thousand
but the numbers at the weekend
are often lower because of delays in
collecting the data
on average there were 909 deaths
announced every day
in the last week the total number of uk
deaths is now 81
431.
today the health secretary promised that
by the autumn every adult in the uk
will have been offered a coronavirus
vaccination in england new nhs centers
are opening from tomorrow
in london bristol manchester stevenage
surrey birmingham and newcastle our
health correspondent dominic hughes has
the details
this is our best hope of escaping the
coronavirus pandemic
mass vaccination on a scale the country
has never seen before
at this centre in stevenage local nhs
staff are among the first to receive the
jab
everybody's been struggling um we you
know you know you never know whether
you're going into work
and what you're finding so by having
this we just know that we can start to
to work together and build and really
make a difference in
in terms of everyone that's out there
and hopefully
get out of this pandemic that we're in
i'm happy and excited that i got it
because i know i'll be protecting not
only myself but the
people i work with as well as the centre
in stevenage this one in manchester and
five other hubs will start offering
vaccinations
this week it marks a big acceleration in
the vaccination programme and it's
needed
if the government's going to hit its
mid-february target of offering the jab
to 15 million people
including some of the most vulnerable
and health and care workers
in scotland the oxford astrazeneca
vaccine will be more widely available
through a thousand gp
practices and centers wales and northern
ireland have each administered more than
70 000 vaccines
long-term ambitions go further an
announcement this morning that all
over 18's could receive the jab by
autumn
but that seems a long way away while a
combination of soaring hospital
admissions and staff sickness
is creating a crisis that is entering
uncharted territory
we're seeing hospitals having to divert
patients because they're too full
and that's having a knockout effect on
other hospitals who then also become
uh too full uh and we're concerned this
will be a situation that could
spread to other parts of the country so
um the situation is quite desperate in a
bid to break the transmission chain of
the virus this week we'll also see the
start in england of regular rapid
lateral flow testing for people who
can't work from home
the tests deliver results in 30 minutes
and aim to identify people who aren't
showing any symptoms
but that's unlikely to ease the
pressures the health service faces right
now
and will over the weeks to come dominic
hughes bbc news