Andrew Harding
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Reuters

For weeks now, South Africa has been wrestling with an aggressive new wave of Covid-19.

The virus here has mutated to make it much more transmissible – very much like the British variant.

So far there’s no evidence that the virus has become deadlier. But scientists in South Africa are now racing to establish whether the mutations may have affected the virus’s ability to resist current vaccines.

There’s no hard evidence either way yet. But the concern arises from the fact that the virus here has mutated more than the one in Britain, and one of those mutations is linked to its ability to connect to antibodies.

Vaccines teach the body to mount an immune response - which includes creating antibodies - to fight the coronavirus, should it ever encounter it.

Antibodies are small proteins made by the immune system that stick to the surface of viruses, effectively disabling them.

If that ability to connect is weakened, then the antibodies created following the introduction of a vaccine might not be as effective.

Experts here are carrying out urgent tests and say they should know if that’s an issue within a matter of weeks.

But they also point out that it should be relatively quick and easy to adjust the vaccines. What’s more, they say, the current vaccines would still have some effect in neutralising South Africa’s variant of Covid-19.

Millions of mask-wearing pupils in Kenya have returned to school nine months after they were closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The students' temperatures were checked and they were required to use sanitiser before entering classrooms.

There was excitement in most schools as the pupils were reunited, the BBC's Ferdinand Omondi reports from Nairobi.

The authorities say efforts have been made to ensure that pupils and teachers will be safe.

"I was really happy and excited to see my friends," said 13-year-old student Nina Kemunto.

"It was fun but we had to social distance and I couldn't really hug my friends or interact with them like normal."

But Kenya's National Union of Teachers' Secretary General Wilson Sossion told the BBC's Newsday programme that the return to school plan was "inadequate".

He said the government had not released funds to schools to buy thermometers, sanitiser and other items required to implement the health protocols.

Education Minister George Magoha has especially been criticised for suggesting that schools should consider learning under trees as a way of avoiding overcrowding in classes.

Read more here.

Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor

The prime minister is expected to announce a set of new national restrictions for England at 20:00 GMT, similar to the national lockdown in March, that he is likely to urge the public to follow from midnight.

It’s expected that people will be told to work from home unless they are a key worker, or it is not possible for them to do so, for example if they work on a construction site.

Schools will close again for most pupils.

It is not yet clear when the measures will be reviewed, but MPs are likely to be given a vote to approve them retrospectively on Wednesday.

This comes after the rapid rises in coronavirus cases and admissions to the NHS.

And after the Joint Biosecurity Centre raised the alert from the pandemic to level five tonight, which means the NHS is at risk from being overwhelmed and that a national lockdown is imminent.

It is also understood that the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, told the prime minister the new more infectious variant of coronavirus is spreading now throughout the country.

As we told you earlier, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has issued a stay at home order to people in Scotland.

It will only be permissible to leave home for an essential purpose, she said, adding that the situation now "is at least as serious as the first lockdown".

You can read more on the measures in Scotland here.

Image source, Reuters

A large dance party attended by about 1,000 people in the state of Veracruz has caused outrage in Mexico. Several bands played at the party held in the local baseball stadium, and videos shared online suggested that party-goers weren't abiding by social distancing rules.

A local politician denied having organised the party. Mexico has the fourth-highest number of Covid fatalities in the world with more than 127,000 deaths.

There is also concern in Argentina over packed beaches in Buenos Aires province. Enio García, who leads a team advising the health ministry in the province, said he didn't rule out the introduction of a curfew to curb the spread of the virus. "We have to be careful though, because we don't want people to hold clandestine parties instead," he said.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, private health clinics say they have been negotiating with the Indian pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech to buy five million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine. While a number of countries in Latin America have begun vaccinating people, Brazil's government has still not given a date for the arrival of vaccines the country, which has the second highest number of Covid-related deaths worldwide.

The architect of the Oxford vaccine, Professor Sarah Gilbert, says her team is “keeping a close eye on the emergence of new variants”.

Speaking to 5 Live’s Naga Munchetty, Prof Gilbert said the team knew variants of Covid-19 would emerge and that “in the future” there may have to be a “tweak” to the vaccine.

Listen to 5 Live on the free BBC Sounds app.

If you are just joining us it has been a busy day around the world.

Here are some of the headlines:

• A new lockdown has been announced in Scotland from midnight as Nicola Sturgeon warned she was "more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year"
• The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to set out "further steps" for England at 20:00 GMT, with sources telling the BBC that the country's Covid alert system is to rise to the highest level
• The news comes on a day when the UK began the rollout of a second coronavirus vaccine, with the first Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs being given
• Meanwhile in France, President Emmanuel Macron is reportedly furious at the slow rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - with only 516 vaccinations reported to have been given in the first week
• And there has been anger in Poland where an investigation has been launched after celebrities and politicians jumped the queue to receive coronavirus vaccinations
• In Northern Ireland, the Stormont executive is due to meet this evening to discuss further coronavirus restrictions
• And in sport, England test cricketer Moeen Ali has tested positive for Covid-19 upon arriving for the team's tour in Sri Lanka. He had tested negative before flying but must now isolate for 10 days

Image source, Getty Images

French Health Minister Olivier Veran has said "several thousand" people will be vaccinated against coronavirus in the country on Monday, versus just over 500 in total in the past week.

"Today, we will have given thousands of vaccine shots across the country," Veran said after visiting a Paris hospital.

It comes after the French government was accused of going far too slowly with its vaccination rollout.

President Emmanuel Macron has reportedly been furious, criticising the pace as like a "family stroll".

France is among Europe's hardest-hit countries in the pandemic. Its Covid-19 death toll so far is 65,037 - just behind Italy and the UK.

There have been a further 58,784 coronavirus cases confirmed across the UK, the government says., external

There have also been a further 407 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, taking the total by that measure to 75,431.

No deaths data is available from Scotland today.

Figures are often lower after a weekend because of a lag in reporting deaths.

It's been a busy day for Covid updates in the UK. Let's take a look now at what's been happening in other countries.

An investigation has been launched in Poland after 18 celebrities and politicians jumped the queue to receive coronavirus vaccinations.

Currently only medical workers and their families are eligible to be vaccinated.

But actress Maria Seweryn, singer Michal Bajor, and TV journalist Edward Miszczak have all confirmed they have received the jab.

They were reportedly among 18 "cultural figures" who agreed to serve as ambassadors as part of a vaccination drive.

They got the jabs at the Warsaw Medical University, which said it had an additional supply of doses that needed to be used before the end of last year.

In a separate case, Poland's governing Law and Justice Party expelled a local politician after he received a vaccination ahead of schedule, prompting considerable public anger.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called it “a real scandal”.

“There is no justification for breaking the rules,” he told local media.

Security officers removed Covid-19 "deniers" taking pictures of empty corridors at a NHS hospital where the intensive care unit is at maximum capacity, its chief executive says.

The incident took place at Colchester Hospital at the weekend.

Chief executive Nick Hulme says it "beggars belief" some people are calling the pandemic a hoax.

He says keeping corridors in outpatients units as empty as possible is "the right thing to do".

"When you've got that sort of social media pressure and those people denying the reality of Covid it really concerns us. Words fail me," he says.

The Covid threat level is to be increased to five, the highest level, sources tell the BBC.

The decision is made by the Joint Biosecurity Centre, which includes the UK's chief medical officers.

Level five would not automatically signify a lockdown being introduced - the alert level system is used by the UK governments to help their decisions on lockdown rather than as strict rules.

The threat level is different from tiers.

You can read more on the threat levels here.

Image source, Reuters

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make a televised address at 20:00 GMT tonight as No 10 says further steps must now be taken to address a surge in coronavirus cases in England.

We don't know what the PM is going to announce, but our science editor David Shukman has taken a look at some of the possibilities.

Clues about such measures to tackle the new more infectious variant come from the government's Sage advisory committee, external.

We'll particularly be looking out for whether there will be a return to only being allowed one form of daily outdoor exercise,, external or stricter controls on travel around the country,

Sage advisers suggest considering a return to the two-metre rule because it's more effective than the one-metre plus guidance adopted last year.

Masks also need to be made of three layers, not just one, and worn in more locations than now - including workplaces, schools and crowded outdoor spaces.

The key message is that it is vital to reduce social contact - so expect tier four-type bans on visiting other households to become normal.

Read the full article.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says he hopes the prime minister has been listening to his calls for tougher lockdown restrictions.

Starmer was responding to the announcement that Boris Johnson will give a televised statement to set out new coronavirus restrictions this evening.

"I hope the Prime Minister has been listening to the clear calls for tough national restrictions," he says.

New measures are needed to "get the virus under control, protect the NHS and create the space for the vaccine to be rolled out as quickly as humanly possible", he tells PA news agency.

On Sunday, Starmer called for a national lockdown in England within 24 hours.

Image source, BBC Sport

England cricketer Moeen Ali has tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival at Hambantota airport in Sri Lanka.

Moeen, 33, will now isolate for 10 days, in line with the Sri Lankan government's quarantine rules.

Fellow all-rounder Chris Woakes is deemed as a possible close contact, and will self-isolate before further testing.

England's two-Test tour of Sri Lanka starts in Galle on 14 January.

The rest of the touring party will be retested on Tuesday morning, before being allowed to train for the first time on Wednesday.

Moeen is the first England player to test positive for the virus, with a full summer of games against West Indies, Pakistan, Australia and Ireland being completed without any cases.

England's last overseas tour, in South Africa, was cut short after positive cases in the Cape Town hotel where England were staying. England returned two positive tests - that were later verified as false positives.

Read more on this story.

Boris Johnson will set out "further steps" this evening, a No10 spokesman says.

The UK prime minister is to give a televised address at 20:00 GMT and parliament will be recalled on Wednesday.

A No10 spokesman said: "The spread of the new variant of COVID-19 has led to rapidly escalating case numbers across the country.

"The prime minister is clear that further steps must now be taken to arrest this rise and to protect the NHS and save lives.

"He will set those out this evening."

Here are the new rules announced by Nicola Sturgeon which will come into force in mainland Scotland from midnight:

• People will only be allowed to leave home for essential purposes, such as essential shopping, exercise and caring responsibilities
• No limit is to be put on how many times people can go out to exercise, but outdoor meetings are to be limited to a maximum of two people from two households (excluding children under 12)
• Schools are to remain closed to the majority of pupils until at least February
• Everyone who can work from home will be required to, and people in the "shielding" category are advised not to go in to work at all
• Places of worship are to close, the number of people who can attend weddings is to be cut to five, and funeral wakes will no longer be allowed

These rules we be in place until at least the end of January, and will be kept under review.

Island areas will remain under Scotland's level three restrictions - but Nicola Sturgeon says they would be monitored carefully.

Davidson goes on to ask for clarification on working from home - asking what constitutes a key worker and what is essential labour.

The First Minister said the government would be discussing the restrictions with trade unions "to make sure we help people as we did in March".

She said: "The message to businesses is we are asking you to very rigorously scrutinise your own operations and assure yourselves that the people you are requiring to be at work are genuinely people who cannot do their job at home. There's a need to make sure as many people who can work at home."

Ruth Davidson, Leader of the Conservative Party in the Scottish Parliament, says "nobody wants to be under restrictions for a moment longer than is absolutely necessary" but agrees that the new variant is a cause for concern.

She says with the rollout of vaccines "we can see a time when this will begin to be over".

"That being said, this is hard news at a hard time when the resilience of people across the country has already been worn down for the past year," she says.

She warns of the harms of closing schools for pupils and ask what the Scottish government will do to reduce these.

Sturgeon says this was the hardest decision and she wants the closures to be for a short time only.

Ms Davidson also highlights the need for a "comprehensive test and trace system", and asks why testing is below the 65,000 testing capacity in Scotland.

Sturgeon replies saying this is mainly down to demand.

Nicola Sturgeon says "it’s most certainly not the New Year’s statement" she wanted to give and it’s one that “no-one wanted to hear”.

She says everyone must do everything they can to slow down the spread of the virus and she calls on everyone to stick to the rules and, above all, “stay at home”.

"I know the next few weeks will be incredibly difficult. I’m sorry to ask for further sacrifices after nine long months of them but these sacrifices are necessary."

She says the difference between now and last March is that the availability of vaccines mean we “now have confidence that these sacrifices will pave the way for brighter days ahead”.

The first minister finishes her statement by saying: “For everyone’s sake and for everyone’s safety, please stick with it and stay at home."