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A little bit more on the news that Latvia has introduced a month-long lockdown to curb rising infections. It's the first European country to bring back wide-ranging restrictions as winter approaches.

Only essential services are now available - with almost all shops, restaurants, schools and entertainment venues closed until 15 November.

Critical jobs will be allowed to continue in person and a curfew will come into effect from 20:00 local time tonight.

Until recently, Latvia had been relatively successful in limiting Covid-19 infections and deaths. But since the start of September, infections have been rising steeply, putting the country’s health system at risk.

The spike in infections has been blamed on the Baltic state’s vaccination rate, which is below the EU average.

The latest EU figures show only 54% of adults in Latvia have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus, as opposed to the average across the bloc of 74%.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us - or you want a recap of what's been going on - here's a quick look at some of the main headlines of the day.

• Doctors are saying that the high level of Covid cases means Plan B should be implemented by the government - that could mean measures are brought in again, like working from home and having to wear masks in some settings
• The British Medical Association says the government is being "wilfully negligent" for not taking further steps right now
• Health Minister Edward Argar says there isn't any justification for implementing them at the moment
• He's also said it's up to Conservative MPs to decide for themselves whether or not they wear a mask in the Commons chamber - it comes after Health Secretary Sajid Javid urged people in England to cover their faces in "really crowded" places
• It is "really worrying" that some care homes are reporting that they have not yet been contacted about getting a booster coronavirus vaccine for residents and staff, Nadra Ahmed, chairwoman of the National Care Association, says
• The World Health Organization has warned that Covid will go on for a year longer than it needs to, because poorer countries are not getting the vaccines they need
• Dr Bruce Aylward, senior leader at the WHO, said it meant the Covid crisis could "easily drag on deep into 2022"
• Latvia has become the first European country to bring back lockdown, closing almost all shops, restaurants, schools and entertainment venues until 15 November

The government was also keen to stress today that people should not hang back over having a vaccination booster.

In the Commons, Health Minister Maggie Throup was asked if there is a problem with people coming forward for booster jabs - or if the slowness of the rollout is connected to the way it is being administered.

She said: "People do not need to wait to be contacted by their GP or their community pharmacy or by the NHS, as long as they have got six months plus one week past the time when they had their second jab.

"We're encouraging everybody to come forward, even if they haven't formally been invited."

Across the UK, Covid booster jabs are being offered to frontline health and social care staff, the over-50s, younger adults with some chronic health conditions, and adults who live with vulnerable people.

BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live’s Your Call programme has been asking listeners what they think of the government’s decision to reject fresh restrictions in England.

Speaking at a Downing Street news conference on Wednesday, Sajid Javid said that "at this point" the government would not bring in its Plan B measures - including compulsory face coverings and Covid passports for entry to nightclubs and large events.

Lorraine, from Leeds, says she wanted to see stricter measures because she doesn’t trust the public to take responsibility for reducing the spread.

“It just feels like we’re heading to another train crash and the government are watching it happen,” she says.

The 76-year-old says she feels scared when she uses public transport.

“The buses are sometimes crowded and there’s very, very few people wearing masks,” she says.

“I feel quite frightened but I do feel that I’ve got to get out there, that I can’t be isolating myself much longer.”

Nick, aged 60, is a village hall manager in Barnsley. Even when facemasks stopped being mandatory, he asked visitors to the hall to carry on wearing them.

“I did get a bit of abuse for it,” he says.

Nick says compulsory facemasks made visitors to the hall “feel more secure that they can come out”.

Yesterday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid urged people in England to cover their faces in "really crowded" areas.

Debate continues over whether the government should ask people to wear masks. At the same time, MPs from different sides cannot agree on whether they should wear them in the House of Commons.

This morning, the Health Minister Edward Argar has said his Conservative colleagues should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to wear a mask in the Commons chamber.

Edward Argar said colleagues should form an "informed view" on whether government guidance to wear one in enclosed places applies.

Outside of Westminster, outside of England, the situation is not the same across all the nations.

You can read about where masks are compulsory in the UK, here.

The subject of masks also came up in the Commons earlier, where Labour's Clive Betts said he's recently been to France and Italy, where there's a lot more mask-wearing and people have to have vaccine passports to get into some venues.

Those countries have case rates about one tenth of that in the UK, he remarks.

He wants to know, have those measures have brought down the case levels there? Or if the minister thinks there is any other reason why cases are higher in the UK?

Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup says again that the government has its Plan A in place - and that people can make their own decision on non-intervention measures like mask wearing.

As people see levels rising, they might reconsider and decide to wear face coverings in venues, she says - but Betts shakes his head at this answer.

In response to a later question, asking for all Conservative MPs to wear masks, she says: "Plan A outlines the guidance that we have in place and that's the guidance that people should be following, and it's up to individuals to work out what works for them and what's best for them.

"Plan B incorporates mandatory wearing of masks but we're on plan A."

Nick Beake
BBC News, Brussels

Image source, Reuters

In the UK, the conversation has returned to whether or not people should keep wearing masks, to help stop virus transmission, as daily case rates remain high.

Across Europe, Covid rules have been as varied as the local dishes I've sampled on my recent travels.

Some areas of Germany have stricter rules than others but you still see masks widely used on public transport and in offices.

Meanwhile, in sparsely populated northern Norway there wasn’t a mask in sight. Not even when we had a quick drink with the then prime minister in a packed bar after a day of election campaigning.

This month Belgium dropped the requirement for face coverings in shops and restaurants, although you still have to wear one in the Brussels region, where you must also now prove your vaccination status to eat indoors.

But no matter where you are in Belgium you still have to wear a mask on public transport – just like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, although not England.

In Poland, face masks are supposed to be worn in all public places, apart from a handful of exceptions like forests and parks, but it felt like it was a matter of personal preference. We'll see if that changes across Europe if cases continue to rise.

Jeremy Hunt, former health secretary and chair of the health select committee, says the number of jabs every day has fallen - while cases are rising.

He wants to know if there can be flexibility about when people get their booster jabs, and if this can be after five months after their second jab instead of six - especially with Christmas so close.

He asks Throup why, as vaccines minister, she is not in the government's Cabinet? Her predecessor Nadhim Zahawi had a seat at the table.

Throup says she has regular meetings with the PM and that he takes the vaccine rollout very seriously.

On the timescales, she says the JCVI have set a minimum of six months. People still have levels of immunity - it does not "fall off a cliff edge", she adds.

Minister for Vaccines and Public Health Maggie Throup has been answering questions in the House of Commons.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth asked a range of questions about the government's handling of its coronavirus response.

He asked about flu jab cancellations and why supplies are apparently so low? He also talked about the "stuttering" rollout of Covid jabs for children and the "waning" protection of vaccines.

Throup said vaccines have created a wall of defence and that it is "incredible" how many have taken up the invite. She also says there is more choice for parents now, as 12-15 year olds can get their jabs at vaccination centres - as well as at schools.

It's important to make sure the 4.7m who've not had their first jab are encouraged to, she says.

And on flu jabs - that people are being called forward.

"My message is - if you get your call for you flu jab, don't wait to get your call for your booster jab. Get whichever jab you're invited to first."

She says while Covid protection has been waning, it has not totally fallen.

On the question of vaccines, Dr Bruce Aylward, a senior official at the WHO, said wealthy countries needed to take further action following donation pledges made at summits such as the G7 in Cornwall in July.

He appealed to wealthy countries to give up their places in the queue so that pharmaceutical companies could prioritise the lowest-income countries instead.

He said wealthy countries needed to "stocktake" where they were with their donation commitments.

"I can tell you we're not on track" he said. "We really need to speed it up or you know what? This pandemic is going to go on for a year longer than it needs to."

We've heard from the WHO today that the pandemic is set to last longer that it should, because poorer countries are not getting the vaccines they need.

The WHO was referring to the Covax scheme, a UN-backed global programme: the original idea behind it was that all countries would be able to acquire vaccines from its pool, including wealthy ones.

But most G7 countries decided to hold back once they started making their own one-to-one deals with pharmaceutical companies.

The vast majority of Covid vaccines overall have been used in high-income or upper middle-income countries. Africa accounts for just 2.6% of doses administered globally.

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

So, Plan A is what is currently happening in England.

By my reckoning, Plan B has been partially implemented.

In the government's Autumn and Winter Plan, external, published last month, there are three strands to Plan B - one voluntary, the other two mandatory.

The first strand of Plan B is described like this, on Page 22, Paragraph 77: "Communicating clearly and urgently to the public that the level of risk has increased, and with it the need to behave more cautiously."

It seems to me that happened yesterday.

The second two strands, Covid status certification or vaccine passports, and legally mandating wearing a face covering in busy indoor public places haven't happened in England.

So, onto Plan C.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting , externaldiscussions among officials in government about what might happen if Plan B was implemented and it didn't work.

The paper suggests civil servants in the Cabinet Office have talked about banning mixing between households in that circumstance.

On the face of it, you might expect a government to have contingency plans for all sorts of scenarios, particularly ones that have actually come to pass relatively recently.

But I was told it was nonsense, and then a Cabinet Office spokesman said ‘this claim is untrue,’ even though we know that ministers have consistently said they would do whatever was necessary to make sure the NHS wasn't overwhelmed.

In practical and political terms, there's a world of difference between private conversations - flatly denied - and something with the label 'Plan C' and with it conversations about Christmas being cancelled and plenty more besides.

The government wants people in England to be cautious, and is being very cautious itself about what it is, and isn't saying.

Image source, Getty Images

There have been rumours that after A and B, there is a Plan C to tackle the pandemic, but speaking this morning, Health Minister Edward Argar said it was not being considered.

What is it? Well, 'Plan C' would mean a ban on household mixing over Christmas, alongside the reintroduction of other Covid restrictions, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.

But Argar told Sky News this morning that rumours about tougher Covid restrictions - like a holiday household mixing ban "is not something I'm aware of. I checked it out and I'm told that is not a story with foundation".

He says the government is considering alternatives to start easing pressure on the NHS, like the Plan B we've been detailing.

The prospect of even tougher restrictions “isn’t something that is being actively considered”, he said.

As we've been saying, the UK is seeing a high rate of infections at the moment; in fact, it has the highest rate of infections compared with its neighbours.

The number of people testing positive for Covid in the UK has been rising in recent days to more than 40,000 daily cases.

This chart shows where the UK stands in terms of average numbers of cases over a week, and how it fares compared with some other European countries.

Image source, EPA

How do you vaccinate a billion people? This is what India has achieved in less than a year, administering more than a billion Covid jabs since it started its vaccination drive in January.

It achieved this milestone in 278 days - the first vaccine was given on 16 January.

To do that, it, on average, administered 3.6 million doses per day.

It has fully vaccinated about 30% (291 million) of the eligible population and 707 million have had a first dose.

India aims to fully vaccinate about a billion people by the end of 2021 but experts say the drive needs to pick up pace further to meet the target.

This milestone makes India the second country to reach the one billion mark - China crossed it in June.

Read more here.

If you've been following the latest Covid figures, you'll know that they've been on the rise in the UK - the most recent, from Wednesday, showing there were more than 49,000 new cases.

And the more virus there is about, the more chances there are for it to break through the defences of vaccines, reach vulnerable people and put pressure on health services.

A number of factors could explain why cases are so high. They include less mask wearing, more mixing and people's immunity waning, if they've not had a third dose or a booster.

There's also the fact that the vaccination rollout, for the first two doses, has stalled.

Take a closer look here on what the issues are.

Image source, Getty Images

One issue that affects the pressure on the NHS is what the vaccination take-up is like in the UK.

But the head of one care body says residents in care homes are still waiting for their booster jabs.

The issues are either around availability or "the actual rollout isn't as smooth as the previous one", Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association, tells Radio 4's Today programme.

"We have got some homes who are telling us they have not been contacted (about booster jabs) at all, which is really worrying because they know that they are in the cohort to be having it. They are worried."

People living in care homes are among the most vulnerable.

The worry comes as cases of coronavirus in the UK have been above 40,000 each day for the past eight days.

"There is a concern because obviously the six-month gap is getting bigger and bigger so the efficacy of the vaccine is reducing," says Ahmed.

"We have infection rates that are rising so, for both staff and residents, there is this fear."

On top of that, visitors are coming in to care homes who are not vaccinated and there is a chronic staff shortage, she adds.

So, we've been hearing about the government's Plan B for England this winter. It's the plan for what measures would be put in place if case levels get too high for the NHS to cope.

But what's actually in the plan? Our graphic here explains:

And if you want to read more we have set it all out here.

Speaking this morning about the current situation in the UK, where cases remain high, Health Minister Edward Argar says the government's original plan for tackling Covid is still working.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that what his colleague, the Health Secretary Sajid Javid has highlighted is that "now is that we are facing a challenging period - winter.”

"More “people are indoors and infection rates are rising”.

Argar says Javid has “levelled early with people”. But “the single biggest way you can impact on that and mitigate it is to have the jabs".

He says that Plan A - the current state of play in the country “is still working” in terms of managing the pandemic.

However, it is also “a race between the vaccines, and getting those in people's arms, and the virus” he says, emphasising the government's desire that everyone is jabbed.

Argar says the country is “still winning that race at the moment, but it's narrowing, that lead is narrowing”.

He adds that now we need to “sprint for the line”.