Image source, Carolina Leite

Carolina Leite, who is currently visiting family in Brazil, says she is "very concerned" about the UK's travel ban from South America.

Leite, who has lived in London for seven years, says her British partner did not make the trip with her because of coronavirus restrictions and now she does not know when she will see him again.

Leite, who has a Portuguese passport, is due to leave Brazil on 5 February but she doesn’t know if her flight will be cancelled.

"I’m already very anxious as I might not be able to return home if they ban flights departing from Brazil to the UK," she says.

"I miss my partner and not knowing when I will be able to see him again is terrifying."

Leite, who runs a cake decorating business, says she has already warned her clients that she may not be able to meet their orders.

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us here are some of the coronavirus headlines in the UK and around the world:

• Virus expert Professor Wendy Barclay says a coronavirus variant from Brazil has already been detected in the UK
• Earlier Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the new strain was not here '"as far as we are aware"
• He said a ban on travel from South America, which came into force today, was a "precaution"

• Fake news is likely to be causing some people from ethnic minorities to reject the Covid vaccine, a doctor leading a NHS anti-disinformation campaign has warned
• Insurers must pay small businesses for losses during the coronavirus lockdown, the Supreme Court has ruled
• The UK economy fell by 2.6% in November after England’s second shutdown forced businesses to close
• China has reported its highest single-day infection tally since 1 March, as a team from the World Health Organization (WHO) arrives in Wuhan to investigate the origin of the coronavirus
• Hospitals in the Brazilian city of Manaus have reached breaking point while treating Covid-19 patients, amid reports of severe oxygen shortages and desperate staff. Cases of a new variant have been traced back to the Amazonas region

Image source, PA Media

Passengers planning to travel into Wales from abroad will have to test negative for coronavirus before their departure, the nation's health minister said.

Vaughan Gething said the requirement, which comes into force from 04:00 GMT on Monday, would help protect against new variants of Covid-19 which are circulating internationally.

The move brings it inline with England, while Scotland has introduced the rule from today and Northern Ireland will bring it in tomorrow.

It applies to inbound passengers arriving by boat, plane or train from countries outside the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Tests must be taken up to 72 hours before departure - but a mandatory 10-day quarantine for arrivals will still remain in place if they're travelling from countries not on the Welsh government's travel corridor list regardless of the result, external.

Wales remains under alert level four lockdown restrictions so travel for a holiday into the country is not permitted and people must stay at home unless travelling for essential reasons.

Image source, Science Photo Library

One of two variants discovered in Brazil has been detected in the UK, a leading virologist has said.

Professor Wendy Barclay, head of G2P-UK National Virology Consortium, a new project set up to study the effects of emerging coronavirus mutations, said: "There are two different types of Brazilian variants and one of them has been detected and one of them has not.

"In the databases, if you search the sequences, you will see that there is some some evidence for variants from around the world, and I believe including the Brazilian one, which probably was introduced some time ago.

"And that will be being traced very carefully."

It comes after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps earlier said the Brazilian variant of coronavirus was not in the UK "as far as we are aware".

The United Nations estimates that around 200 million girls around the world have experienced female genital mutilation (FGM).

There are concerns it's on the rise in some countries to the restrictions imposed during the pandemic.

In Kenya, activist Sadia Hussein says some families have taken advantage of curfews and restrictions on movement to force girls to have the painful and distressing procedure.

An investigation led by the World Health Organization (WHO) into the origins of Covid-19 is beginning today with virtual meetings between a team of international scientists and their Chinese hosts in the city of Wuhan.

The virus was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019 and investigators finally arrived on Thursday after months of negotiations between the WHO and Beijing.

The long-awaited probe hit its latest bump when two WHO team members failed Covid-19 tests in Singapore and were unable to travel to China. One of the them has since passed a test and their travel is being arranged, China's foreign ministry said

Zoologist Peter Daszak tweeted on Friday that he had arrived in Wuhan, where the investigators would start virtual meetings while in quarantine.

China has been saying for months that the although Wuhan is where the first cluster of cases was detected, it is not necessarily where the virus originated.

In the early days of the outbreak, it was traced to a so-called "wet market" in Wuhan, and it was suggested that this was where it made the leap from animals to humans.

Since then, many other theories have emerged, including unsubstantiated rumours that the virus leaked from a lab there.

The US, which has accused China of hiding the extent of its initial infection, has called for a "transparent" probe.

The WHO investigation comes as China reports its highest single-day infection tally since 1 March.

A total of 144 new infections were reported by the National Health Commission on Friday, mostly in Hebei province where more than 22 million people are in lockdown.

Image source, @frontline19

Ten months of Covid-19 has left many healthcare professionals' mental health at breaking point, according to Claire Goodwin-Fee.

The Frontline19 organisation she runs with fellow therapist Ellen Waldren has received more inquiries in the past week than it did in the whole of December.

The free service, external, which is funded by donations, is currently helping about 1,800 healthcare workers a week.

Doctors are "seeing multiple deaths on a shift - someone the other day saw eight or nine people pass away", she says.

"Someone else got in contact with us and said 'I know by the time I go back on my shift tomorrow six of my patients won't be there. How do I manage that?'"

Read more on the scale of the mental health problem she is witnessing here

Image source, PA Media

France will no longer accept lateral flow tests - which can give a result in about 20 minutes - for those travelling into the country from the UK, the French government says.

Instead it will require a negative result from a PCR test, carried out less than 72 hours before departure.

These types of test can take a day or longer to get a result because the nose and throat sample need to be sent to a laboratory.

But French transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari tweeted that hauliers were exempt from this "pending a co-ordinated approach between European countries".

Speaking on BBC Breakfast earlier, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed lateral flow tests - rapid tests which involve a handheld kit that does not need to be sent to a lab - could still be used for hauliers.

However, he acknowledged that if this changed it could cause problems.

Image source, Getty Images

Epidemiologist Mike Tildesley suggested the UK’s South America travel ban came into force slightly late - but he says it will still "minimise the risk" of the new coronavirus variant identified in Brazil from entering the UK.

"We always have this issue with travel bans of course, that we're always a little bit behind the curve," he told BBC Breakfast.

"With Covid we need to remember that when you develop symptoms you could have been infected up to a couple of weeks ago.

"So it's really important that these travel bans come in quickly so that we can prevent any risk.”

He also says scientists will know "in the next few days" whether the ban has had "a significant effect".

He adds that the new "more transmissible" coronavirus variant found in Brazil was "first detected in travellers going to Tokyo" before it was traced back to South America.

However, scientists "don't believe there is anything to worry about" in terms of vaccine efficacy, Tildesley says.

The higher transmissibility could mean "people potentially might end up developing severe symptoms more rapidly which could cause more issues with our health service".

Kevin Peachey
Personal finance reporter

Tens of thousands of small businesses are set to receive insurance payouts covering losses in the first national lockdown, following a court ruling.

The Supreme Court found in favour of small firms receiving payments from business interruption insurance policies.

For some, it could provide the lifeline allowing them to trade beyond the coronavirus crisis.

The ruling could cost the insurance sector hundreds of millions of pounds.

In the lockdown of last spring, many small businesses made claims through these insurance policies for loss of earnings when they had to close.

But many insurers refused, arguing only the most specialist policies had cover for such unprecedented restrictions.

It was agreed that a selection of policy wordings be tested in court, setting the parameters for a valid claim.

The Supreme Court dismissed the insurers' appeals.

Image source, Reuters

While countries rush to inoculate their most at-risk members of society from coronavirus, Indonesia has put a surprising group at the front of the queue - social media influencers.

Raffi Ahmad, who boasts almost 50 million followers on Instagram, wrote: “Alhamdulillah [Praise be to God] a vaccine ... Don’t be afraid of vaccines" under a video of him receiving the jab.

While the decision to roll out jabs to the young, healthy and wealthy as a priority may raise eyebrows, Ahyani Raksanagara, head of Bandung’s health agency, told Reuters that it was in an effort to eradicate increasing scepticism around the vaccine.

The influencers would “hopefully convey positive influence and messages” about the vaccines, especially to young people, she said.

The government has not said how many influencers will be first in the vaccine line, but others due to receive the early jab have included musicians Ariel, of the band Noah, and Risa Saraswati.

Indonesia is taking a markedly different approach to others. Instead of vaccinating elderly people in the first phase, after frontline workers, it will target younger working people aged 18 to 59.

Professor Amin Soebandrio, who advises the government, told the BBC: "We are targeting those that are likely to spread the virus."

Read more: The vaccination drive targeting younger people

Image source, Getty Images

China has reported its highest single-day infection tally since 1 March.

A total of 144 new infections were reported by the National Health Commission on Friday, mostly in Hebei province where more than 22 million people are in lockdown.

Meanwhile, more than 20,000 rural residents in the region have been sent to state-run quarantine facilities.

There is widespread concern in China, as numbers begin to climb after it had almost completely brought the virus under control through strict lockdowns.

The latest rise appears to be down to asymptomatic cases in rural areas, experts say.

It is the highest number of new cases since the 202 cases reported on 1 March.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Visitors to Thailand will now be able to spend their time in quarantine playing golf, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

Six resorts have been approved by the government for quarantine for foreign golfers with advance arrangements.

Quarantining visitors will be able to move around the resorts and also play golf, rather than just isolate in their rooms.

"The open-air set up and private villas make the propagation of the Covid-19 less likely while attracting a high-contribution clientele," said Benoit Badufle, a luxury tourism expert.

Thailand’s tourism industry has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The country has been attempting to re-open its borders to tourists, including by offering extended 90-day tourist visas, which can be renewed twice.

However, anyone entering Thailand must have a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure as well as $100,000 worth of insurance that covers treatment of Covid-19.

Read more here.

Anyone who has been in - or transited through - South America or Portugal in the previous 10 days is now barred from entering the UK, to protect against a new, potentially more contagious variant of coronavirus in Brazil.

Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela are included in the ban.

Portugal is included because of its strong links to Brazil, as is the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde off the coast of west Africa and Panama in central America.

Travel is already banned from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique and Angola, the Seychelles and Mauritius.

The rules do not apply to British and Irish nationals, long-term visa holders or those with residency rights - but they must self-isolate, even if they would normally be exempt. Hauliers coming from Portugal are also exempt.

Read more about UK travel restrictions here.

Image source, Reuters

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has been asked about the delay in the new rule requiring travellers to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test before departure to England.

The policy was originally scheduled for come into force this morning but will now start on Monday at 04:00 GMT.

"It’s simply a matter of practicality," Shapps told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "There are over 200 countries and territories in the world they all are using different types of coronavirus tests.

"We needed to check them all in order to be able to inform people which ones would be adequate to meet our very exacting standards."

He adds that travellers "from just about anywhere" should be quarantining on arrival anyway, with the pre-departure test "only a secondary check".

The UK's transport secretary was asked on Radio 4's Today programme whether the Brazilian variant of coronavirus was in the UK now.

"Not as far as we are aware, I think, at this stage," Grant Shapps replied.

"There haven't been any flights that I can see from the last week from Brazil, for example."

He also said: "There are thousands, I think 12,000, different mutations of coronavirus, so this is not unusual in itself."

Read more here

Image source, Reuters

Concerns about child poverty have been raised throughout the pandemic, with a focus on school food vouchers, holiday meal provision and food parcels.

Now campaigning Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford has been joined by celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver, Tom Kerridge and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, as well as actress Dame Emma Thompson, in backing charities' calls for a review to "fix" the free school meals policy in England.

Downing Street insists "no child will ever go hungry" because of the pandemic.

Read more here

A surprise delivery of pizza from school pupils who clubbed together left staff at a hospital critical care unit in England "lost for words".

Nurse Tina Waltho says the gift came as a welcome boost to deflated staff at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.

"The nurse who had been in charge on the day shift was in tears," Waltho says.

"She had barely eaten all day and was a little emotional."

While the act drew praise on social media, the identity and school of the pupils remains a mystery.

Image source, Tina Waltho

US President-elect Joe Biden has unveiled a $1.9tn (£1.4tn) stimulus plan for the coronavirus-sapped US economy before he takes office next week.

If passed by Congress, it would include $1tn for households, with direct payments of $1,400 to all Americans.

The relief proposal includes $415bn to fight the virus and $440bn for small businesses.

Biden, a Democrat, has promised to beat the pandemic that has killed more than 388,000 people in the US.

Each day brings well over 200,000 new cases in the US and the daily death toll sometimes tops 4,000.

In a primetime speech on Thursday night from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said: "A crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight and there's no time to waste."

"The very health of our nation is at stake," he added. "We have to act and we have to act now."

Read more here.

Image source, EPA

More than two million Covid cases have now been officially reported in Germany since the start of the pandemic and 1,113 deaths have been registered in the past 24 hours. Chancellor Angela Merkel wants a tougher lockdown, because of the spread of the more infectious UK variant, and has brought forward a Covid summit with Germany’s 16 state leaders to next week. From Monday, Bavaria will require people to wear more effective facemasks with particle filters in shops and buses - and that could be considered nationwide.

Elswhere, Portugal has gone into lockdown overnight, at least until 30 January. People are being told to stay at home but schools will remain open as well as outlets providing “essential” goods and services. Vets and bakeries, florists and hotels are among businesses being allowed to stay open.

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban is keen to start using China’s Covid vaccine and hopes to get a quick decision from the national medicine authority approving it in a few days. No other EU country has yet accepted the Chinese vaccine.

The Austrian ski resort at Kitzbühel is offering Covid tests for the entire district after an outbreak involving a group of 17 ski trainers, many of them British. The cases have prompted two weekends of World Cup skiing to be cancelled and moved to another area.

Spain has seen a steep rise in infections since Christmas with almost 19,000 people currently in hospital. But vaccinations are speeding up too in the third week of a national campaign. More than 94,000 people were inoculated yesterday, which is almost as many as in the first week alone.