Coronavirus news – live: Christmas ‘may lead to third wave’ but life ‘could start to normalise by spring’

Lancashire's council leaders have submitted a proposal to the government to divide the county into two different tiers when the lockdown ends next week.

A request has been made for Hyndburn, Rossendale, Burnley, Pendle and Preston to go into tier 3 restrictions while Fylde, Wyre, Lancaster, Chorley, South Ribble, Ribble Valley and West Lancashire would go into tier 2.

Shaun Turner, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Lancashire County Council, said: "We are seeing rates reduce across almost all parts of the county and that is down to the hard work and sacrifices of our residents. I can only thank everyone for playing their part.

"With lower rates we believe it is appropriate for some parts of the county to go into tier 2 and hope it will be very soon before they are joined by the rest of the county."

Over in the United States, a 70-year-old nurse who left retirement to teach future frontline workers during the pandemic has reportedly died of Covid-19 complications after being exposed to the virus in one of her lessons.Iris Meda, who retired as a nurse in January, returned to a teaching role after the coronavirus hit, The Washington Post reports.

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Scotland’s first minister has warned that Christmas rules will likely be tighter north of the border once the guidance is unveiled. 

Nicola Sturgeon remained tight-lipped on the details, but suggested definitions of “household” could vary if the rest of the UK chooses to regard “social bubbles” as one household.

In his spending review for the financial year ahead, Rishi Sunak has set aside £55bn for the fight against coronavirus, including £6bn for vaccines.

The Chancellor said £3bn will be provided to support NHS recovery – allowing the health service to carry out up to one million checks, scans and operations.

Meanwhile, £15bn will be made available for Dido Harding’s ailing Test and Trace programme to support “enhanced testing capacity”, including regular testing of NHS staff and social care workers.

Our health correspondent Shaun Lintern has the details here:

After decades as the world’s leading city for aviation, London has lost its crown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, writes our veteran travel correspondent Simon Calder.

With Europe’s busiest airport, Heathrow, and the world’s busiest single-runway airport Gatwick, the capital handled 126.5 million passengers in 2019 – more than any other city. Once Stansted, Luton, London City and Southend were added, the UK’s biggest metropolis looked unassailable, with tens of millions more passengers annually than any other city.

But according to the latest figures from the International Air Transport Association (Iata), London’s connectivity has fallen by two-thirds. It is now in eighth place – behind no fewer than five Chinese cities, as well as two US hubs.

After, Boris Johnson warned that “many more” areas will be placed in higher tiers after lockdown ends than were previously, Greater Manchester’s mayor has said the city region will “more likely than not” be in the highest tier.

“We don't know what tier we will be in, that still has not been communicated to us. I think it is fair to say we are heading at some speed to Tier 3, Tier 2 borderline, given the figures,” Andy Burnham told an online press conference.

He said although infection numbers in Greater Manchester were still high, the rates were falling.

He added: “If things continue in this direction at the rate at which we are seeing change in Greater Manchester, I would want to ask the government for a serious review of Greater Manchester's position at the first review of tiering arrangements which is scheduled to take place two weeks from now.”

Mr Burnham said he did not agree with the Tier 3 measures which had been put forward by the government, saying: “Tier 3, in my view, is too punishing on hospitality and will be too hard on city centres, particularly as we go through Christmas and the New Year period.”

England's chief medical officer has said that life could start to steadily return to normal around spring time, but warned this would not happen “immediately”.

Speaking at the ukactive summit on the importance of exercise, the the nation's top medic said being active is “the single simplest and most important thing people can do to improve their physical and mental health”, adding that those who have reduced their levels of exercise during the pandemic should be encouraged to reverse this trend.

“One of the real problems in 2020 - one of the ways Covid has damaged health - is, for some people, making it more difficult for them to do exercise.”

He added: “As we come out of the Covid crisis, which is not going to be immediate but is going to be steady... spring is a point where many of us hope that things will begin to normalise.

“But [it won't be] straight back to normal in one band. It is very important that we get people who have got out of the habit of regular exercise back in the situation where they are doing so and encourage others who have taken up exercise in a way they previously hadn't to continue to do so.”

A further 696 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, the highest daily figure reported since 5 May.

Christmas is supposed to be the most magical time of the year, but for some of us it’s also the most stressful, especially when it comes to deciding who to spend 25 December with, writes Sarah Young.

From clashes with the in-laws to visiting multiple groups of friends and extended family, knowing how to divide your time between different homes is often a major source of tension and, regrettably, it seems this year things are only going to get worse.

With the tier system set to return once lockdown ends, and some now beginning to plan journeys home for Christmas, our deputy travel editor Helen Coffey has this explainer on the rules between moving between areas in different tiers.