Plus, the small business owners who could lose everything
   
  Having trouble reading this email? View it in your browser. You can unsubscribe here.  
   
 

By Andrew McFarlane

 
 

Concern over stalled vaccine programmes

 
 
Story detail

Other big stories top this morning's news agenda - namely the additional charges brought following the death of Floyd George in police custody in Minneapolis, which has sparked protests across the US and around the world, and the police identification of a new suspect in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann, in 2007. But the severity of the coronavirus pandemic continues to be felt in new ways. There's a warning millions of children could die from preventable disease because of disruptions to vaccination programmes. At least 68 countries have been affected, with some stopping inoculations completely, after the World Health Organization (WHO) advised their suspension to help slow the spread of coronavirus. 


Now the WHO is one of several groups expressing concern about  the long-term impact of stalled vaccination programmes. 
"Measles is on the rise... diphtheria, cholera," United Nations Children's Fund executive director Henrietta Fore says. In a clinic in Niamey, Niger, our global health correspondent Tulip Mazumdar finds a once-packed waiting room quiet . The country has reported almost 1,000 coronavirus infections but four new cases of polio, which can cause paralysis or even death, have been identified since February. Zeinabou Tahirou, who has brought her daughter to the clinic, says: "I was so scared to come here because of the coronavirus.  But health workers have told me how important these immunisations are."


 

 

Lockdown sleep problems

 
 

Struggling to sleep? You're not alone. More than half the UK population has struggled to get a good night's rest during lockdown, suggests a survey of more than 2,250 adults by pollster Ipsos MORI, and King's College London. Sleep problems were more common in people facing financial hardship, while two in five reported having more vivid dreams than usual. Others, particularly the young, slept for longer than usual but without feeling rested.

In other coronavirus-related news, the charity Crisis is warning that thousands of homeless people who have been housed since the UK went into lockdown could be back on the streets by the end of the month. The Prince of Wales has been talking about how he "got away with it quite lightly" when he contracted the virus in March. And  Business Secretary Alok Sharma is self-isolating at home after becoming unwell in Parliament. Remember, our live page has all the latest from around the world, including fears of a second wave of cases in Iran.

 
 

 

Football and festivals

 
 

If you're desperate to have football back on TV, a fixture list for the first few rounds of England's rebooted Premier League season should be available later after a meeting of clubs. They're also due to talk about how the league table will be finalised if the season has to be cut short. Meanwhile, if music is your preferred form of entertainment, Newsbeat hears one festival boss's grand plan to get events up and running in 2021.

 
 
 
 

'I may lose everything, but there’s no help for me'

 

Layla Barnes is one among many thousands of small business owners left financially and emotionally devastated by more than 10 weeks of government-imposed lockdown. She was forced to close her Doncaster-based beauty therapy and training business which was profitable in February before lockdown began.
 

Yet the government's excluded Layla, 30, and her limited company from any form of crisis-related support, forcing her on to benefits of £408 per month. She's running up thousands of pounds in credit card debt to try to preserve her business. "I'd spent all my life's savings - about £60,000 - on equipment and machines. I moved in with Mum and Dad... in the same box-room I moved out from aged 17."

 
 
 
 
 
  Read full article >   
 
 
 
 

Andy Verity

Economics correspondent, BBC News

 
 
 
 

 

What the papers say

 
 
Story detail

Most papers lead on the police identification of a new suspect in the Madeleine McCann case. However, Boris Johnson is under fire for insisting that travellers arriving in the UK should quarantine for a fortnight. The Times leads on top scientists complaining the plan makes "no sense". The PM also faces criticism from Tory backbenchers "for forcing 'unnecessary economic isolation' on Britain", reports the Daily Telegraph. The Metro says the number of people to have died in the UK with coronavirus has passed 50,000, after new figures from Scotland were added to data from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, the Financial Times says the prospect of a no-deal Brexit is fuelling concerns over a shortage of Covid-19 drugs in the new year. Read the review.

 
 
 

One thing not to miss today

Is it OK to join a protest during lockdown?
 
 
 
 

From elsewhere

 
 
 

Governments and WHO changed Covid-19 policy based on suspect data from tiny US company (Guardian)

 
 
 
 

Downturns tend to reduce gender inequality. Not under Covid-19 (Economist)

 
 
 
 
 
 

Are we heading into another Depression? (Financial Times)

 
 
 

A midlife dater, a mistress and a thruple: how lovers are coping with the 'new normal' (Telegraph)

 
 
 
 

Listen up

 
 

The Food Chain asks whether the pandemic has made us more generous, while the Coronavirus Newscast team examines the quarantine rules applying to those arriving in the UK from Monday.

 
 
 

Need something different?

 
 

With matters of race under the microscope in the US, Kenyan journalist Larry Madowo describes what it's like to be an African living in the States. Any day now, two men might be executed in the only European country where the death penalty still exists - but their family will never find out when they were shot, or where they were buried. And BBC Stories is exploring grief, in particular the way men feel treated differently when they are dealing with loss.

 
 
 

Let us know what you think of this newsletter by emailing [email protected]. If you’d like to recommend it to a friend, forward this email. New subscribers can sign up here.

 
 
 
 
UK News World News Politics Magazine Reporters Video & Audio
 
 
 
 
News Sport Weather iPlayer Sounds Arts
 
 
 
 
BBC logo
Terms of use    |    Privacy and Cookies    |    Unsubscribe
 
 
 
.
 
Please note that some features and content in this newsletter are only available to people in the UK.
You can update your personal details including your postcode and email address in your account settings.

Find out everything you need to know about using your BBC account, all in one place.

BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1A 1AA
Copyright © 2‌019 BBC
 
.