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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says the detection of six cases of the Brazilian coronavirus variant shows the UK has not "secured our borders in the way we should have done".

"It demonstrates the slowness of the government to close off even the major routes, but also the unwillingness to confront the fact that the virus doesn't travel by direct flights," he said, at a virtual meeting with Welsh businesses to mark St David's Day.

Starmer said the experience of last summer told us that a lot of the spread of the virus was through people travelling on indirect routes, which the government had not addressed.

"I still think we haven't secured our borders in the way we should have done, and the sooner that's done the better," he said.

Wales's First Minister Mark Drakeford told the meeting he had "worries" about the prime minister's suggestion that international travel could return in May.

“I would build the walls higher, for now, against the risk that we would bring into this country the variants that could be brewing in any part of the world, and could then put at risk all the careful work we have done to try and keep Wales safe," he said.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Getty Images

Health officials are trying urgently to trace someone in the UK who's tested positive for the coronavirus variant that first emerged in northern Brazil.

Scientists are concerned the variant may be more transmissible than the original virus, and more resistant to a vaccine.

Prof Stephen Reicher, social psychologist and Sage adviser, told BBC Radio 5 Live that despite the variant being "no more deadly” nor "causing more damage" than the original virus, "it does seem to be more infectious and at this stage we don’t know whether it can evade the vaccine or not".

He said the public needed to do everything it could to stop transmitting the infection and the government needed to have more effective control of the borders.

"While [the vaccine] is great news, on its own, it’s insufficient because if we don’t stop the reproduction of the virus, there’s always a danger of new variants that will undermine the vaccine," he added.

"We’ve got to combine the vaccine strategy with an infection suppression strategy... we haven’t put enough emphasis on this."

Listen to 5 Live on the BBC Sounds app.

Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics

Image source, PA Media

In early December, the Office for National Statistics took finger-pricks from about 7,000 teachers in 15 local authorities across England.

About 15% of those teachers tested positive for antibodies.

This is not very different to the 18% of people of working age in the same local authorities tested around the same time – in fact, given the margin of error on any study like this, they’re basically the same number.

The study authors are not claiming that teaching is risk-free: they say that going into work increases your risk in any profession.

So the key question is “by how much?" While the study can’t give a precise answer, the numbers should offer some reassurance.

It can’t give a precise answer because “working-age adults” includes people who were working over the summer, who work in restaurants or retail (who might have higher risk) or those who work from home, are unemployed or furloughed (who might have lower risk).

So the study doesn’t give a neat like-for-like comparison that allows us to identify the effect of returning to the classroom compared to teaching remotely.

But the study authors say that similar tests in really high risk environments – care homes or in healthcare – give very different answers: ranging from 25% to 50%.

So it does suggest that teaching, with the measures currently in place to reduce transmission, does not put teachers at markedly higher risk.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is "choosing a course that will actively make the situation worse", claims his Labour counterpart Anneliese Dodds.

She says families have "sacrificed so much" but his "reward" is to hit them with council tax rises, social security cuts and pay freezes.

"Now is not the time for tax rises," she says.

Dodds says in private he said he wanted to get tax rises done now ahead of a general election - something Mr Sunak has denied.

She claims he was "putting the interests of the Conservative party ahead of that of the country".

Dodds called for the chancellor to bring in specific measures.

She says Sunak "must heed Labour's call" to extend the furlough scheme beyond the end of April "for as long as health restrictions are in place and demand remains low".

He should also "right the wrong of always treating" self-employed people as "second-class citizens", clarifying the future of the self-employment income support scheme and expanding its scope.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Tamsin, a former Topshop worker in London, has been telling 5 Live how it felt to pack up the store she worked in, after 20 years with the brand.

"I wanted to be part of the close-down team, just to close that chapter on my life," she said. "It was very strange.

"We had nearly 50,000 units of stock to get rid of, and you just kind of leave it as an empty shell.

"It was really sad actually. That last time the shutter came down, I think we all shed a little bit of a tear."

Tamsin is going to start looking for new work this week.

"Whether I'll be staying in retail or not, I don't know," she said. "I'm hoping that the High Street will survive. I'm pretty optimistic."

Watch the interview here, external or listen to 5 Live on the free BBC Sounds app.

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds is making a speech in central London, saying Chancellor Rishi Sunak "hasn't had a plan" throughout the Covid crisis and has "just been looking for the escape hatch".

The Budget on Wednesday is the "last chance to put that right" and "take the country forward", she says.

Dodds says the government was too slow to enter lockdown last Spring, meaning it was "more severe" and there was "more damage to businesses and jobs".

When the second lockdown came, it lasted four weeks which was "another unnecessarily large hit to our economy".

"Throughout the whole crisis, the chancellor has failed to make that link between health and our economy," says Dodds.

"He can't see that targeted effective funding to support self-isolation for example would constitute a net gain for our economy, not a net cost."

She claims Sunak has "no plan for the short term" or what comes after that - and should have ensured the economy "could be firing on all cylinders" when lockdown lifts.

Image source, Getty Images

The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the NHS's "insufficient" number of critical care beds, the group which represents England's hospital trusts has said.

NHS Providers is calling for a review, saying the UK has one of the lowest numbers of beds per person in Europe.

There are 7.3 critical care beds per 100,000 people in the UK, compared to Germany's 33.8 and the US's 34.3.

"It's neither safe nor sensible to rely on NHS hospital trusts being able to double or triple their capacity at the drop of a hat as they've had to over the last two months, with all the disruption to other care and impossible burdens on staff that involves," NHS Providers said.

The government said it was investing £72bn in the next two years in the NHS, as well as spending £9.4bn to build and upgrade 40 new hospitals.

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Ministers are discussing Northern Ireland's lockdown exit plan on Monday morning - but it is not yet clear whether it will be published later as planned.

It is understood the plan will focus on nine areas across social and businesses settings. Each section will take five steps out of lockdown, guided by data.

That includes numbers on the virus infection rate (R number), hospitalisations, vaccine roll out and progress in testing and tracing positive cases.

But there is concern the meeting today could be overshadowed by a row among ministers about post-Brexit border control posts.

Northern Ireland's lockdown has been extended until 1 April, with a review due on 18 March.

Secunder Kermani
BBC News

The city of Mirpur in Pakistani-administered Kashmir is beginning a lockdown today over fears around the high spread of coronavirus - in part fuelled by passengers arriving from the UK.

For the next week all non-essential businesses in Mirpur have been ordered to close. Schools will be shut for the next fortnight.

Officials in the city told the BBC around a third of all current coronavirus infections were either travellers visiting from Britain or their primary contacts.

It’s not yet known whether the UK’s newer, more transmissible variant of the disease has been detected or not, as genetic sequencing work is yet to be completed.

Overall, with just under 13,000 coronavirus deaths, Pakistan has not been as badly affected by the pandemic as many had feared, likely due to its younger population.

BBC Breakfast

Image source, Reuters

Prof Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, says scientists are "optimistic" Covid-19 vaccines will still prevent severe disease when tested against new variants.

He told BBC Breakfast: "At the moment, the evidence we have suggests that certainly the South African variant, and potentially this Brazilian variant - which is somewhat similar - the vaccines that we have at the moment are less effective at reducing at least mild disease and possibly transmission.

"We're optimistic that the vaccines will continue to prevent severe disease but the evidence for that is still fairly limited.

"I think all the manufacturers are now working on the preliminary steps, if you like, to revising the vaccines if that proves necessary."

Prof Finn added that vaccines being used at the moment are "very effective" against the predominant strains in the UK, however.

Image source, Getty Images

Lord Lloyd-Webber says his new show - a Cinderella adaptation delayed for over a year - will finally open in mid-July, when he expects social distancing rules to be lifted according to the government's roadmap.

But the composer and theatre impresario tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he will "advocate strongly" for masks to be worn by the audience members.

"Theatre goers are a pretty responsible lot," he says, adding that many will probably prefer to wear a mask.

Lloyd-Webber says the theatre and music industries want to see a "level playing field" for reopening, saying that there is likely to be "a little bit of mutiny" if they cannot reopen at full capacity while shops and restaurants are packed - as he says happened in December.

Katie Town of the Theatre Royal in Wakefield says many theatres will find it "very difficult" to open on 17 May, when the government said it may allow them to hold performances with 50% of the audience up to a maximum of 1,000 people.

Lots of shows need a greater capacity to be financially viable, she says.

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Forty-five Conservative MPs from constituencies in the North of England have urged the chancellor to cut business rates in England to help "save the High Street".

Writing to him ahead of the Budget, the MPs said the tax should be cut from 50% of market rent to 35%.

Rishi Sunak has promised to offer businesses support while Covid restrictions remain in place.

However Labour is set to criticise his approach to the pandemic.

Read more here.

Annabel Rackham
Newsbeat

Image source, Becca

The lack of appetite for going full glam in lockdown is having a major effect on the beauty industry.

We've already seen what the pandemic has done to fashion retail- with big-name shops disappearing from our high streets forever.

Now Becca Cosmetics has become the first major beauty casualty of the pandemic, with the Australian company announcing it is shutting down after 20 years.

A statement on its website, external said "an accumulation of challenges, together with the global impact of Covid-19, has sadly been more than our business can withstand", calling the decision to close down from September "heartbreaking".

Owned by beauty conglomerate Estee Lauder, Becca has has been a big name in luxury beauty since 2001, with thousands of counters across the world.

But beauty influencer Amelia Liana says during the pandemic her followers have been more interested in skincare routines than make-up.

"I've gotten so used to wearing minimal make-up," she says.

"I think that look will probably hang around for a little bit longer, especially with masks. Getting your make-up all over a mask and lines all over your foundation - it's very annoying!"

Image source, PA Media

The P1 variant from Brazil is one of thousands of coronavirus variants, but experts are concerned about three which are now present in the UK.

• A UK or Kent variant (also known as B.1.1.7) now dominant in much of Britain, which has spread to more than 50 countries and appears to be mutating again
• A South Africa variant (B.1.351) found in at least 20 other countries, including the UK
• A variant from Brazil (P1) detected in four travellers to Japan, external which has now been found in the UK too

For the UK variant, there is some research suggesting it may be associated with a 30% higher risk of death. The evidence is not strong and the data is still uncertain, external though.

The UK, South Africa and Brazil variants could be much more contagious or easy to catch.

Current vaccines were designed around earlier versions of coronavirus, but scientists believe they should still work against the new ones, although perhaps not quite as well.

A recent study, external suggests the Brazilian variant may be resisting antibodies in people who should have some immunity because they have caught and recovered from an earlier version of coronavirus.

Early lab results, external, however, suggest the Pfizer vaccine can protect against the new variants, external, although slightly less effectively.

Even in the worst case scenario, vaccines could be redesigned and tweaked to be a better match - in a matter or weeks or months, if necessary, say experts.

Image source, Reuters

Here’s a reminder of the latest headlines from across Europe:

• In Germany, hair salons are reopening from today, despite an increase in the rate of cases over the past seven days
• Germany will also increase restrictions on travellers from the French border region of Moselle after midnight after a number of cases involving coronavirus variants were discovered
• Large crowds of people were seen in the French capital over the weekend, despite the high rate of infection in the Paris region
• Norway’s capital Oslo is to tighten measures over an increase in cases involving the UK variant, with restaurants and non-essential shops to close
• Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis says his country may use Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine without approval from the EU drugs agency

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Yvette Cooper, home affairs select committee chair, says the government needs to take stronger action to prevent other more dangerous variants arriving in the UK.

"We need to be looking at how these cases have arrived in the country in the first place in order to prevent others doing so," the Labour MP tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It does show the problems with some of the delays that we've had from the government in bringing the stronger measures in.

"These cases seem to have arrived a month after the Brazil variant was first identified and we were raising with the government the need to bring in stronger measures and stronger action."

The situation highlights "gaps and weaknesses" in the current system, with many travellers taking indirect flights from Brazil, she said.

The government should be learning from other countries - like New Zealand and South Korea - which have other precautions in place like testing at airports, transport home from airports, and an expanded hotel quarantine scheme, said Ms Cooper.

"There is a concern that the government is raising expectations about summer holidays that they may not be able to meet," she says.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Dr Susan Hopkins, Public Health England's Covid-19 strategic response director, says the P1 variant from Brazil is concerning because it is more transmissible and there have also been cases of people being reinfected by it - which may mean the vaccine response is also affected.

She tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that health authorities are "clamping down" with a number of measures because with these new variants, the "risk starts to increase when you open up" as the UK intends to in the coming months.

They haven't detected anyone with the virus who does not have a history of travel, "but we are prepared to search it out in communities if it is there".

Hopkins says the remaining unidentified person who tested positive for the Brazil variant probably took a home test or used a local authority drop and collect system on February 12 and 13 and they are appealing for them to come forward.

She says they want to "make sure we have gone through every option to find this individual", including tracing them through the postal service or local authorities.

Image source, AFP

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that restrictions put in place to control the spread of coronavirus will be lowered to alert level one, from level three.

He said that restrictions put in place over the country's holiday period had succeeded in reducing infections levels - from 90,000 a week at the end of December, to 10,000 new infections last week.

Under level one, most remaining restrictions on economic activity will be lifted.

President Ramaphosa said all energy and effort must now go into growing the economy, whilst exercising extreme caution to prevent further spread of the virus.

He said the threat of a third wave is constantly present, as is the threat of new variants emerging.

He said social distancing, avoiding crowds and wearing masks, are more important than ever.

• South Africa coronavirus variant: What is the risk?

Zahawi also tells BBC Breakfast that the number of vaccine doses given each day is set for a sharp increase to cope with people requiring their second dose within the 12-week period.

He says "March will be a very big month" for the vaccine programme, which will be operating at "probably twice the rate over the next ten weeks as we’ve done over the last ten or eleven weeks".

Zahawi says the NHS has been stockpiling doses for ten days to ensure that there are enough supplies to ensure everyone gets a second jab of the correct vaccine.

Vaccine Minister Nadhmin Zahawi says the emergence of the P1 Brazil variant in the UK is "concerning", as it has similar mutations to the South Africa variant - meaning it is likely to spread more easily and vaccines may be less effective against it.

Zahawi also tells the BBC that the two cases identified in South Gloucestershire had "followed the rules", getting a test before returning to the UK and filling out the passenger locator form.

He says Public Health England is working with the postal service to try and trace one person who has tested positive for the variant but did not complete the paperwork on their test, which was sent through the post.

The UK's travel controls are "pretty robust" and Zahawi says he is confident that Public Health England would be able to track any cases with surge testing and genomic sequencing as they had been doing with the South Africa variant.