Phil Mercer
BBC News Sydney

Image source, Reuters

Australian authorities say coronavirus restrictions will be eased slightly for three days over Christmas as a cluster of infections continues to grow in Sydney.

Lockdown orders will remain in place for some coastal suburbs over Christmas, but the rest of the city will enjoy “modest changes” over the festive period with small gatherings allowed for three days.

The cluster in Sydney, the state capital of New South Wales, has grown to 97 cases.

Australia has recorded 28,200 Covid-19 infections since the pandemic began, and 908 people have died.

The outbreak has the nation on edge.

All Australian states and territories have imposed travel bans on residents from Sydney.

Police checkpoints have been put in place on the border of New South Wales with Victoria and Queensland. Many flights have also been suspended.

Australia’s coronavirus strategy has relied on mass testing, sophisticated contact tracing, strict lockdowns and the closure of its international borders to foreign travellers.

Image source, PA Media

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has said schools in England will open in January, despite scientists investigating the possibility the new variant of coronavirus spreads more easily in children.

“We’ve made it our long-standing priority to reopen schools," he told BBC Breakfast.

However, he said the government was also taking a number of steps to protect young people and teachers, including working with schools to encourage them to introduce testing schemes in the new year and staggering the return of pupils.

The government is considering whether England's tier system is "sufficiently robust" to deal with rising coronavirus rates, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has said.

He told BBC Breakfast the Covid Operations Committee, chaired by the prime minister, would meet in a couple of hours to see whether further steps needed to be taken.

Reports have suggested ministers are considering extending the toughest tier four restrictions to more parts of England, with changes coming as early as 26 December.

While he said he would not pre-judge the outcome of the meeting, Jenrick added: "The virus is rising in a worrying way in many parts of the country and the new variant which has really been a significant game-changer is now prevalent outside of just London and the south-east.”

However, he said there was "absolutely no plan" to change restrictions before Christmas.

Read more here

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EU member states have begun lifting temporary bans on travellers from the UK over the new variant of coronavirus described as more transmissible than before. France is requiring a negative test before travel; Italy has begun allowing residents to come back, but Spain has reportedly halted non-residents of Gibraltar from crossing from the Rock after a case of the new variant emerged there. The Netherlands is requiring a negative test before travel.

Germany has recorded a new high of 962 deaths in the past 24 hours. In the eastern state of Saxony, bodies are being temporarily stored outside a crematorium in Zittau because of the area’s high death rate.

The first 107,000 coronavirus vaccines have arrived in Switzerland and two cantons, Lucerne and Appenzell Innerrhoden, plan to start vaccinating today. The rest of the country isn’t starting vaccinations until at least next week and a leading doctor has appealed for cantons not to compete with each other.

Danish health experts say restrictions on movement that came in on 7 December have begun to halt the curve of infection. Health Minister Magnus Heunicke says the reproduction rate has also fallen from 1.2 to 0.9, so each person infected is passing on the virus to less than one person.

Lithuania has recorded a record 54 Covid deaths in 24 hours. Almost all 812 Covid hospital beds have been filled in the main Vilnius region.

Image source, EPA

Here's your latest headlines from around the world today:

• Authorities in Sydney have extended Covid restrictions on social gatherings across Christmas in a bid to curb an outbreak. Most Sydneysiders will be able to have 10 adult visitors to their home during the festive period. Sydney reported eight cases on Wednesday
• US President Donald Trump has condemned a Covid-19 stimulus bill passed by Congress. In a video released on Twitter, he demanded that direct payments to individuals to help them through the pandemic be tripled to $2,000 each (£1,488)
• President-elect Joe Biden told the American people on Tuesday that the darkest days of the battle against Covid-19 still lie ahead. In a televised address, he shared his coronavirus response plans
• Mexico will start vaccinating people against the virus on Thursday. Authorities approved the Pfizer-BioNTech jab last week and the first shipment will arrive on Wednesday. Mexico is set to receive 7.5 million doses by March
• The organisers of the delayed Tokyo Olympics say they have had to change their plans for the opening and closing ceremonies due to the pandemic. The delay has already added nearly $3bn to the cost of the Games

French politician Alexandre Holyroyd, who is a member of President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche party, has defended his country’s handling of a travel ban with the UK.

The MP, who represents French expats living in northern Europe, said he had an “enormous amount of sympathy” for those who were stuck in the UK but said the French and UK governments had worked “as quickly as possible” to reopen the border.

He also denied any political motivations for imposing a travel ban with the UK.

“This is about protecting against the spread of the virus and against the spread of a dangerous new strain of the virus. It is the only reason which is behind those measures,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Image source, Getty Images

Rail, air and sea services between the UK and France are resuming this morning after the French government agreed to ease its travel ban.

Under the agreement between the UK and France, those travelling for urgent reasons, including hauliers, French citizens, and British citizens with French residency will be allowed into France.

But in order to travel, they will need to have received a negative test result less than 72 hours before departure.

Soldiers have joined NHS Test and Trace staff in Kent to carry out rapid tests on the thousands of lorry drivers who have been stranded since the border shut on Sunday.

More than 50 other countries, including Italy, India and Pakistan, are continuing to block travellers from the UK amid concerns over a new variant of coronavirus.

Read more.

Image source, Getty Images

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are the latest stories from the UK:

• Rail, air and sea services between the UK and France are resuming this morning after the French government agreed to ease its travel ban over concerns about a new Covid variant
• French citizens, British nationals living in France and hauliers are among those now able to travel - if they have a recent negative test
• The Netherlands has also lifted a ban on travel from the UK, as long as arrivals have a recent negative test
• But more than 50 other countries, including Italy, India and Pakistan, are continuing to block travellers from the UK
• Ministers and officials in England are meeting to consider extending tier four restrictions to more areas
• Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has apologised for breaching Covid rules by taking her face mask off at a wake
• November saw the lowest number of planned redundancies in Britain since lockdowns began, suggesting the chancellor's decision to extend the furlough scheme to the spring has helped to protect jobs