Mark Savage
Music reporter, BBC News

Image source, Flaming lips

The Flaming Lips have staged a unique pair of gigs in the US, with both the band and their audience inside individual inflatable balls.

Each show accommodated 100 bubbles, holding up to three people each, with the band inside their own capsules.

The concept came from frontman Wayne Coyne, who often rolls over the crowd in a Zorb ball during the band's gigs.

Speaking ahead of the concerts in Oklahoma, Coyne said they would be "safer than going to the grocery store".

Inside each bubble was a high frequency supplemental speaker - which helped prevent the sound being muffled - as well as a water bottle, a battery-operated fan, a towel and a "I gotta go pee/hot in here" sign.

The shows were postponed from their original dates in December due to a spike in coronavirus cases in Oklahoma before Christmas.

Read the full story here.

Doctors in Zimbabwe have protested against a Twitter comment by the government spokesperson, who referred to them as "medical assassins" in the wake of the deaths of senior government officials from Covid-19.

The doctors' association said it was unfortunate that a government official could make such references despite health workers risking their lives to save Zimbabweans.

"We are in difficult times as a nation in as much as the whole world is also troubled. We empathise with the sick and the bereaved. Attacking a whole profession at such a time does not add any value to alleviation of our challenges," the association tweeted.

Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said he was only "amplifying" a matter that was being debated publicly.

He added that the doctors "will hear something from the police".

Image source, Reuters

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the government is "definitely looking at" the possibility of travellers being required to quarantine in hotels on arrival in the UK.

"We have to realise there is, at least, the theoretical risk of a new variant that is a vaccine-busting variant coming in - we've got to be able to keep that under control," Mr Johnson said, while visiting a vaccination hub in north London.

He said the UK vaccination programme was "on target - just" to vaccinate the four most vulnerable groups by the middle of February, with roughly 6.4 million people vaccinated so far.

The ongoing vaccination rollout made it imperative that "we protect our population, protect this country, against re-infection from abroad", he added.

"Looking at hotels is certainly one thing we're actively now working on.

"We need a solution that gives us the maximum possible protection against reinfection from abroad."

Image source, Getty Images

The combined wealth of the world's 10 richest men has increased by $540bn (£400bn) during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Oxfam.

The charity says that's enough to pay for every single person in the world to be vaccinated.

A report by Oxfam, the Inequality Virus, external, found the total wealth of all the world's billionaires was equivalent to the entire spending by all G20 governments on recovering from the virus.

The charity is urging governments to consider taxes on the super-rich.

Unprecedented support from governments for their economies saw the stock market boom, driving up billionaire wealth while the real economy faces the deepest recession in a century, it says.

The 10 richest people include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla founder Elon Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Oxfam estimates that as many as 500 million more people were living in poverty as a result of the pandemic.

Image source, PA

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says teachers and parents would be told "as much as we can, as soon as we can", amid calls for more detail on how, and when, schools will reopen.

On a visit to a vaccination site at Barnet Football Club in north London, the prime minister faced questions from reporters about whether classes in English schools can resume before Easter.

He said: "Daily we're looking at the data and trying to work out when we're going to be able to lift restrictions.

"Schools obviously will be a priority, but I don't think anybody would want to see the restrictions lifted so quickly, while the rate of infection is still very high, so as to lead to another great spread of infection.

He added: "We don't want to see a huge surge of infection just when we've got the vaccination programme going so well and people working so hard."

Read more about the situation with schools across the UK in our explainer.

Image source, Getty Images

People in England are three weeks into a third national lockdown - which bans almost all mixing of households inside.

But some people have admitted breaking the rules by continuing to meet up with friends or going to parties.

Speaking to BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat, Max said he has hosted dinner parties and been to gatherings of more than 20 people throughout the pandemic.

"You make decisions, and you take risks," he said. "Sometimes the risks get you fined, sometimes the risks get you arrested, sometimes the risk spreads a massive disease to the rest of the world."

England's deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, has described such behaviour as "utterly foolish" - saying it could "lead to networks of new transmissions".

Read the full story here.

Earlier we reported that Tory MPs are asking the government to set out a "route map" for the reopening of schools in England.

The chairman of the education select committee, Robert Halfon, has asked for a plan to be laid out in the Commons.

He tweeted that he had requested to table an urgent question on the matter, meaning an education minister would need to respond to his queries.

However, the Labour whips' office has tweeted that there would be no urgent questions on Monday.

The government has said it is "too soon" to say when schools will reopen to all pupils.

But it will not be until after the February half-term at the earliest.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweets that he is self-isolating, after learning he has been in contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.

He says he has no symptoms and will be working from home.

Read more here.

Image source, Science Photo Library

Demand at Northern Ireland's regional vaccination centres is starting to decline as health workers have received their first dose of a vaccine, the Department of Health confirms.

Instead, health trusts are planning to invite clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) patients into these regional centres to receive their vaccine.

The department says CEV patients will be contacted in due course and also urges healthcare workers to take up the offer of a jab quickly.

However, in a letter seen by BBC News NI, the Southern Health Trust has told vaccinators that because of some services being stood down, the need for vaccinators at a centre in Craigavon "will be limited" over the next four to six weeks.

"This is because we have staff who require shifts delivering vaccines to make up their core working hours," it says.

Read the full story here.

Image source, Reuters

Closing schools has had an "enormous impact" on children, Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield warns.

Longfield tells BBC Radio 4's Today schools should open "as soon as possible".

"Children are more withdrawn, they are really suffering in terms of isolation, their confidence levels are falling," she says.

"Families around the country will need hope and clarity about what comes next," she says, adding that the ongoing speculation causes "confusion, but also worry about where they as a family go from here".

Image source, EPA

Here's what's happening around Europe:

• In the Netherlands, riot police have clashed with protesters angry at new coronavirus restrictions mainly in the city of Eindhoven after the government introduced its toughest measures - including a new evening curfew - since the start of the pandemic
• There's increasing talk of tighter restrictions in France with the country's top medical adviser saying on Sunday that a third national lockdown would probably soon be needed to curb coronavirus in the country
• Germany's health minister says the country has bought 200,000 doses of the experimental antibody treatment given to former US President Donald Trump when he was hospitalised for coronavirus in October. It would help to prevent some high-risk patients from developing severe complications, Jens Spahn told a German newspaper
• A number of EU countries have expressed frustration at production delays by two of the main vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca - with Italy saying such delay was unacceptable and warning it would take legal action against the two firms to secure agreed supplies
• Germany is now demanding negative test certificates (no more than 48 hours old) for thousands of cross-border workers coming from the Czech Republic - after the country was classed as a high-risk area - leading to criticism on the other side of the border for making the life of thousands of cross-border workers more difficult.

Image source, Getty Images

A professor is defending the UK's approach to the Covid vaccine regime - which is seeing many patients facing a 12-week gap between having their first and second doses.

Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, says he expects the immune response to increase - rather than decline - in the weeks following a jab.

His comments come after the British Medical Association urged for a rethink over the delay.

It wrote to England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, saying in the case of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine a maximum gap of six weeks had been mandated by the World Heath Organization, rather than the 12 being used in the UK.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Prof Finn tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "What we are expecting to see first of all is that the impact is as was shown in the studies done by Pfizer - that by around two weeks we see protection.

"Actually, I would anticipate that we will see that protection continue to rise over subsequent weeks rather than fall."

He says this is because what scientists know from other vaccines and from the human immune responses is they "don't plateau and fall in that kind of time period".

"Perhaps most important of all, we expect to see much better protection after the second dose when it's delayed," he adds.

"Other countries are looking at what the UK is doing with enormous interest and this may well turn out to be another example of a long tradition in us being innovative, creative with our resources and producing a much better way of using the vaccine."

BBC Radio 5 Live

5 Live's Your Call programme this morning (until 10:00) is asking whether the prospect of more home schooling fills you with dread.

Listen live on the free BBC Sounds app or join in the debate. Text 85058 or call 08085 909 693.

Image source, Getty Images

Vaccination appointments for people aged 70-79 in Scotland are being delivered from today - but plans to use distinctive blue envelopes have been delayed.

On Sunday morning the Scottish government said the letters would be sent out in blue envelopes and given Royal Mail priority - but they've since said the envelopes are not ready yet.

The letters are currently sent out in white envelopes which have a window and a black NHS logo on the right hand side.

The aim is to have those in the 70-79 age group receive their first dose by mid-February.

The government says the delay to the envelopes has no impact on the vaccination programme timetable.

Read more on this story here.

Image source, Getty Images

US President Joe Biden is expected to re-impose a travel ban that Donald Trump lifted just days before his term ended.

The restrictions expected to be reinstated later on Monday would apply to non-US citizens travelling from South Africa and Brazil, which are facing new variants of coronavirus.

Travellers from the UK, Ireland and 26 other European countries are also expected to be banned.

The Trump administration's decision to lift the travel ban which had been in place since last March was criticised by President Biden's press secretary Jen Psaki, who had tweeted that the incoming government didn't intend to abide by the change.

Read:

• South Africa coronavirus variant: What's the risk?

Image source, Gareth Fuller

Most pupils across the UK have not been in school since before the Christmas holidays and it's not yet clear when they will return.

It's leading to some Tory MPs asking the government to set out a "route map" for the reopening of schools in England, amid growing concerns about the impact of closures on children's education.

The chairman of the education select committee, Robert Halfon, is asking for a plan to be laid out in the Commons.

Mr Halfon, Conservative MP for for Harlow, tweeted that he had requested to table an urgent question in on the matter.

He tells BBC Breakfast: "The government should come to parliament and explain to the public, to teachers, support staff, parents, who are incredibly worried.

"There are enormous pressures on parents at the moment, some of them are giving up their jobs or working part time, they are losing income because they have to stay at home to look after their children, they need to know what is going on."

The government has said it is "too soon" to say when schools will reopen to all pupils.

Read more on this story here.

Good morning and thank you for joining us here.

Here is what has been happening across the UK.

• Tory MPs are asking the government to set out a “route map” for English schools to reopen amid concerns about coronavirus closures on children’s education
• Former prime minister Gordon Brown has said Covid has exposed “tensions” between Whitehall and nations and regions as he warned the UK must reform its governance or risk becoming a “failed state”
• Fashion retailer Boohoo has bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m - but not its 118 stores or workforce after the High Street firm collapsed amid the pandemic
• A plan to deliver vaccination appointments to people aged 70-79 in blue envelopes in Scotland has been delayed, with the first tranche of letters arriving in white envelopes instead
• Demand at Northern Ireland’s regional vaccination centres has started to decline as health workers have received their first dose of a vaccine, the Department of Health has confirmed