Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has just been talking about the UK’s new ban on travellers from South America.

He tells BBC Breakfast the ban is “precautionary” as the UK is “so close now” with its vaccination programme. The number of people in the UK to have received the first dose of a vaccine is now approaching three million.

“We want to make sure we don’t fall at this last hurdle, so it’s really a precautionary principle,” Shapps says.

He says there is concern the variant first identified in Brazil could be more transmissible and “we don’t need more complications”.

There haven’t been any flights from Brazil to the UK in the last week, he adds, while travellers from these locations would have already had to quarantine – this is an “additional precaution”.

Read more: How worrying are the UK, South Africa, and Brazil Covid variants?

Image source, Reuters

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.

The city, in Amazonas state, has seen a rapid rise in deaths and infections.

Health professionals, quoted by local media, warned "many people" could die due to lack of supplies and assistance.

Brazil has recorded more than 205,000 virus deaths - the second-highest tally in the world, behind the US.

Amazonas suffered heavy losses in the first wave of the pandemic but is also being badly hit by a new rise in infections linked to a new variant of the virus.

Jessem Orellana, from the Fiocruz-Amazonia scientific investigation institute, told the AFP news agency that some hospitals in Manaus had "run out of oxygen" with some centres becoming "a type of suffocation chamber" for patients.

In a widely shared video from the region, a female medical worker asks for help: "We're in an awful state. Oxygen has simply run out across the whole unit today."

"There is no oxygen and lots of people are dying," she says in the clip, external. "If anyone has any oxygen, please bring it to the clinic. There are so many people dying."

Read more here.

Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online

Image source, Getty Images

Travellers from South America are no longer allowed to come into the UK, amid fears over a new coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil.

It is just the latest variant to emerge that is more infectious than the original one that started the pandemic.

But how worried should we be?

Experts' concerns currently focus on a small number of new variants of coronavirus:

• A UK variant that has become dominant in much of Britain and has spread to more than 50 other countries
• A South Africa variant that has also been found in at least 20 other countries, including the UK
• A new variant from Brazil

It's not unexpected that new variants have developed - all viruses mutate as they make new copies of themselves to spread and thrive.

All three have undergone changes to their spike protein - this is the part of the virus which attaches to human cells.

As a result, these variants seem to be better at infecting cells and spreading.

The South Africa variant has more potentially important changes in the spike protein than the UK variant.

It has one of the same mutations as the UK one, plus two more that scientists think may interfere more with vaccine effectiveness. One of these may help the virus evade parts of the immune system called antibodies.

The Brazil variant emerged in July and was recently detected in four travellers arriving in Japan from Brazil. It has three key mutations in the spike protein that make it similar to the South Africa one.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Thanks for joining us today. Here is an update of the latest developments from around the world.

• President-elect Joe Biden has unveiled a $1.9tn (£1.4tn) stimulus plan for the United States as the pandemic saps the economy
• 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
• Hospitals in the city of Manaus, in Brazil, have reached breaking point while treating Covid-19 patients, amid reports of severe oxygen shortages and desperate staff. Health professionals warned "many people" could die due to lack of supplies and assistance
• Experts warn a new variant of coronavirus, first detected in Manaus, could be driving a rapid rise in infections there
• France has announced a new national curfew starting at 18:00 (17:00 GMT) on Saturday
• Portugal has announced new lockdown measures. Remote working will be compulsory and non-essential shops and services must close, but schools will remain open
• A man has been executed in the United States after the Supreme Court rejected a ruling that he should be allowed to fully recover from Covid-19. Corey Johnson, who was executed by lethal injection in Indiana, tested positive for the virus last month

• Israel has now inoculated 2 million people against coronavirus
• People from the Cook Islands can start quarantine-free travel to New Zealand next week. The Cook Islands is one of the few countries to remain free of coronavirus

Travellers from South America are no longer allowed to come into the UK, amid fears over a new coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil.

Like the variants that were first spotted in the UK and South Africa, it is thought the Brazil variant could be more contagious.

The UK's new travel ban, external applies to people who have travelled from, or through, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela in the last 10 days.

It also applies to Portugal - because of its strong links to Brazil - and the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde off the coast of west Africa, as well as Panama in central America.

However, British and Irish citizens and foreign nationals with residence rights are still allowed to return - but must isolate for 10 days.

Read more here

The UK economy shrank by 2.6% in November after England’s second shutdown forced many businesses to close.

The Office for National Statistics said UK gross domestic product at the end of November was 8.5% below its pre-pandemic peak.

November's decline came after six consecutive months of growth, with a 0.6% improvement in October.

Darren Morgan, director for economic statistics at the ONS, said the economy had taken “a hit” because of the lockdown, with pubs and hairdressers experiencing the biggest impact.

But, he said, the impact on the economy was “significantly smaller” in November than during the first lockdown in March as many businesses "adjusted to the new working conditions during the pandemic, such as widespread use of click and collect".

Image source, Getty Images

Morning and welcome to our live page. Here are the main coronavirus headlines from the UK this morning:

• A UK ban on travellers from South America and Portugal has come into force, amid fears over a new coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil
• The UK economy fell by 2.6% in November after England’s second shutdown forced businesses to close
• Fake news is likely to be causing people from ethnic minorities to reject the Covid vaccine, a doctor leading a NHS anti-disinformation campaign has warned
• Footballer Marcus Rashford and a group of celebrity chefs and campaigners have called on Boris Johnson to review the government's free school meals policy
• Small businesses are waiting to hear a Supreme Court ruling on insurance payouts for those forced to close during the first national lockdown
• An A-level student has started a campaign to scrap any external exam assessments in Wales this year, calling for grades to be decided by teachers
• A large London plumbing firm plans to rewrite all of its workers' contracts to require them to be vaccinated against coronavirus