At Prime Minister's Questions today, Boris Johnson defended his new three-tier system of restrictions for England, saying it's "the right way forward".

The regional approach can reduce the rate of transmission and "bring down the virus"

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer thinks it does not go far enough, however, and has called for a short national limited lockdown.

Most of the country is in the lowest tier, which is medium, with the Liverpool region the first to enter the highest alert level.

Mr Johnson said the plan is "to seize this moment now to avoid the misery of a national lockdown".

Read more about it here.

Image source, Getty Images

A decision on restricting travel into Wales from other areas of the UK that have high levels of coronavirus is to be made in the coming days.

Welsh ministers have been asking for controls, but none were forthcoming in Monday's announcement from Boris Johnson about putting the UK into different "tiers" of Covid risk.

Wales' health minister Vaughan Gething told the BBC it would work in a similar way to the "stay local" rule enforced by police during the initial lockdown. That saw people from England being turned away from entering Wales.

Mr Gething said it had been "disappointing" to hear there would be no legal protection brought in by the UK government to prevent people in English hotspot areas from travelling outside their region.

That's the rule in the parts of Wales currently under local lockdowns.

He said there's particular concern about people travelling to holiday destinations in Wales like Pembrokeshire, Powys and Anglesey. They are not currently under any lockdown restrictions.

Image source, PA Media

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has asked people in Scotland not to go to Blackpool. She says a large number of cases in the nation are associated with visits to the Lancastrian seaside town.

In the last month, 180 people in Scotland who had Covid reported that they had recently been in Blackpool, Ms Sturgeon said.

She specifically asked people not to travel to Blackpool to watch the Old Firm game, between fierce Glasgow footballing rivals Rangers and Celtic, in a pub on Saturday.

It's something they can't currently do nearer home.

The first minister said the Scottish government is currently advising against non-essential travel to the parts of England which are classified as on "very high alert" under the new three tier system.

That is the Liverpool City Region at the moment.

She also asked people from these areas not to travel to Scotland either.

House of Commons
Parliament

Following on from today's announcement of increasing restrictions in Northern Ireland, DUP MP Gregory Campbell asks the prime minister what plans he has to offer support for the hospitality sector which is in "dire need".

He describes how much of it will be forced to close as part of measures taken by the Northern Ireland's government today, which take effect from Friday.

Mr Johnson says Northern Ireland will receive at least £2.4bn in funding as a result of Barnett consequentials - the formula which decides funding for devolved nations.

And, he said, there will be further imaginative creative measures to support jobs across the whole of the UK.

The SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford urges the government to continue the furlough scheme - warning that otherwise, there will be a "tsunami of unemployment" this winter.

When Boris Johnson replies by citing new job retention measures introduced by the chancellor, and the fact that Universal Credit has been increased, Mr Blackford says this shows "the prime minister doesn't get it".

Thousands have already lost their jobs, says Mr Blackford, and the PM will never be forgiven "for the damage he is about to cause" to people.

And, quoting the cyber security job ad criticised earlier this week, says: "The prime minister's next job could be on the backbenches - he just doesn't know it yet."

You can read about the scheme which is replacing furlough payments here.

House of Commons
Parliament

Sir Keir also asks if it is the case there is an 80% chance that the PM will back a circuit break after all, quoting government sources which have surfaced today.

Boris Johnson replies by defending the regional, three-tier system for England - announced on Monday and in force from today.

"I rule out nothing in combating the virus but we are going to do it with the regional approach - that's what he should be supporting," he replies.

He says this current approach is "an opportunity to keep things going" - with children still in school and businesses staying open - and "suppress the virus where it is surging".

House of Commons
Parliament

Sir Keir tells MPs he has "genuinely concluded a circuit break (or limited lockdown) is in the national interest" and says it is the failure of the prime minister's strategy that means tougher measures are needed.

"A circuit breaker should set the R (the rate at which the virus is reproducing) below one," he says and asks Mr Johnson what his plan is to get there?

The prime minister says that the plan is to "seize this moment" to avoid going into the "misery of another national lockdown" by delivering a regional solution.

Both accuse each other of being opportunists.

Mr Johnson says "let's work together" to keep children in school, keep the economy going and keep livelihoods supported.

You can read about the R number here.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Labour leader quotes the Sage documents, which said the current system of test and trace had only had a "marginal impact" and risked "further decline".

Sir Keir asks: "Let's have a straight answer, why does the prime minister think it has gone so wrong?"

But the PM defends the NHS Test and Test system, saying it has tested more people than any other country in Europe.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Prime Minister's Questions is under way in the House of Commons - and Sir Keir Starmer is questioning Boris Johnson on why he has chosen to "abandon science".

He accuses the PM of rejecting the advice of scientific advisers who had suggested a short "circuit break" lockdown and says this is in the national interest.

But Mr Johnson says the three-tier system being introduced today is the right way to go because the rates of infection vary so much in different areas.

It's the "logical thing to do", he adds.

He says he wants to "avoid the misery" of a national lockdown.

The Labour leader also wants to know why test and trace has "gone so wrong" in the fight against the virus.

Naomi Grimley
BBC News

Did the UK fare badly in the first wave because it had a combination of an underlying health problems in the population, ineffective test and trace, and less resilience in its healthcare and social care system?

A team of international researchers – led by Imperial College London - thinks so.

They studied excess deaths from mid-February to the end of May in 21 industrialised countries. Excess deaths compare the number of deaths in this period with the five-year average.

They found Belgium, Italy, Spain, Scotland, England and Wales experienced the highest number of deaths during that period.

England and Wales, for example, had a 37% increase while there was a 38% increase in deaths in Spain. The team then looked at whether underlying health factors such as higher levels of obesity and diabetes were to blame for this.

But New Zealand and Australia, which had no detectable excess deaths, have an even higher prevalence of obesity than the United Kingdom.

So that alone doesn’t explain it.

Then they looked at policy responses – such as timely lockdowns and effective test and trace. They found countries with effective community-based testing and contact tracing programmes, or those without such systems but which implemented prompt lockdowns, had lower death tolls.

The researchers also believe that nations with the highest excess deaths in the first wave are typically those which have had lower investment in their health systems.

They point to Austria’s success. It had very low numbers of excess deaths but has nearly three times the number of hospital beds per head of population than the UK – making it more resilient once the pandemic took hold.

The researchers are warning governments to study their findings and learn the lesson for the future.

Image source, House of Commons/PA Wire

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions as England's new tiered system comes into effect.

The Labour leader has previously called for a two to three week circuit-break limited lockdown, including over the half-term school holiday.

Production of television talent show Little Mix The Search has been postponed after members of the team tested positive for coronavirus.

In a statement on Twitter, the production team said that a "small number of people" on the production had tested positive and were now self-isolating.

"Due to the format of the show we have made the decision to postpone Saturday's programme," it said.

The production team hopes the show will be back on air on 24 October.

The show sees members of pop band Little Mix auditioning hopefuls to form a new group to tour with them.

As we have been reporting, new rules have been introduced in Northern Ireland to stem the rise in coronavirus cases.

As well as the closure of schools and the hospitality sector, other changes will be introduced from Friday including:

• A 10 person and two household limit on bubbles
• No overnight stays outside of bubbles
• A ban on close contact services other than those essential for health
• No indoor sport or any sport with mixing of households other than at elite level
• 15-person limit on mass events
• Funerals and weddings limited to 25 people with no pre or post-event gatherings
• Off licences and supermarkets unable to sell alcohol after 20:00

The rules will initially be in place for four weeks, before being reviewed. First Minister Arlene Foster said she was determined for them to be a "time-limited intervention".

You can follow events in Stormont here.

England, Wales and Scotland are among the nations which had the highest number of excess deaths as a result of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, a study has found.

Research, led by Imperial College London, analysed weekly data from 19 European countries, Australia and New Zealand, between mid-February and the end of May.

England, Wales and Spain experienced the largest increase in mortality, with nearly 100 excess deaths per 100,000 people.

According to the researchers, this is an increase of 37% for England and Wales and 38% for Spain, when compared to how many deaths would have been expected without the pandemic.

In Scotland, the excess death deaths rate was 84 per 100,000 people during the first wave, which is a 28% increase from average expected deaths.

Australia has recorded several clusters of cases in the country.

New South Wales recorded 13 new cases prompting the state to delay the easing of restrictions on restaurants and weddings.

The state of Victoria recorded five deaths and seven cases. Four of those cases were in Melbourne. Currently, people in Melbourne are only allowed to leave their house for recreation for two hours.

Three cases in Shepparton, north of Melbourne, are linked to a Melbourne resident who did not tell contact tracers that they had visited the city.

Anyone who has symptoms in Shepparton has been told to get tested. Images from a testing site in Shepparton show long queues.

Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

There were 6,526 new Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours, the Polish health ministry tweeted, an increase on last Saturday's record of 5,300.

The number of Covid-related deaths - 116 - also topped the previous record of 76 set last week. The new records were based on 43,800 tests, up from 33,800 a day earlier.

Poland has reported a total of 141,804 cases and 3,217 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The country's second coronavirus wave is much bigger than its first. The number of cases now is more than 10 times higher than the highest number in the spring.

As a result, new nationwide restrictions were reintroduced from last weekend with the requirement for all Poles to wear a face mask while outdoors in public. In the worst affected "red zone" areas, bars and restaurants must close at 22:00.

The number of hospital admissions has increased rapidly in recent weeks. There are now 6,084 hospital beds occupied, an increase of 415 in the past 24 hours, and 467 patients are on ventilators, up by 46.

The health ministry has said it is increasing the number of beds available by 2,000 to a total of 11,000 nationwide, and the number of ventilators by 300 to a total of 1,100. Individual hospitals are reporting a shortage of beds and ventilators and of trained staff needed to operate them.

Following late night talks, new measures have been confirmed in Northern Ireland with pubs and restaurants forced to close other than for takeaway services.

The hospitality industry has reacted to the news with many fearing it could be the end of their businesses.

Colin Neill from Hospitality Ulster told BBC News NI: "We understand that obviously health comes first, but I think it's fair to say the hospitality industry has done more than any other industry to step up with measures.

"We have a health crisis, we accept that, but we also now have a hospitality crisis."

"To be honest I think we're done," said Dan's Bar owner Gerard Keenan.

"In a couple of weeks or so, if it hasn't changed I think we've no choice, we'll have to sell our bar, I don't really want to do this anymore."

North Belfast pub owner Kelvin Collins said it is "crunch time number two" for his business.

"It's a hard time for everybody," he said.

First Minister Arlene Foster said the executive would provide financial support to those affected by the latest measures "as best we can" while her deputy, Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O'Neil, said it would "do everything we possibly can to make sure there are protections in place".

Image source, Getty Images

Schools will close for two weeks and hospitality businesses face tighter restrictions in Northern Ireland in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus.

First Minister Arlene Foster has outlined the new measures, which also include limits on weddings and funerals, and come into force on Friday.

Pubs and restaurants will close for four weeks, except for takeaways and deliveries, while the Halloween half-term break for schools has been extended to two weeks.

BBC Radio 5 Live

The head of the UK's vaccine taskforce has told BBC Radio 5 Live's Your Call that life will not entirely return to normal before the end of 2021.

But Kate Bingham said the UK would have a working life closer to normal than to lockdown.

She said the earliest a vaccine could be available would be the end of this year, but any vaccine would be given to the most vulnerable first, before being rolled out to the wider population.

Ms Bingham said: "I think it's highly unlikely people will be protected forever... it is possible that we'll need to continue to re-vaccinate people after they've had an initial vaccination in order to maintain immunity."

She added that the speed of the hunt for a vaccine would not mean compromising safety.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Reuters

Intensive care units (ICU) at Liverpool hospitals are at 90% capacity, the city council has warned, as health facilities deal with a second spike of Covid-19 infections.

Paul Brant, cabinet member for adult health and social care at Liverpool City Council, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Our intensive, critical care beds are filling up very fast.

"The most recent figures I've seen suggest they are over 90% full and our acute hospital trusts have occupancy levels of Covid-positive patients of over 250.

"At the current rate of increase, we would expect Liverpool to surpass the peak of the first wave probably within the next seven to 10 days."

He said not all patients in intensive care were suffering from Covid, but warned units were "running-very full" with an increasing number of coronavirus-positive people requiring care.

He added: "It has become clear that the intensity of the demand on hospital services here in Liverpool is crowding out anything other than dealing with Covid."