Summary
Covid passes pass... despite a huge Tory revolt.
MPs have backed the government’s Plan B measures (for England) in a Commons vote, despite nearly 100 Tory MPs rebelling against the plans. The BBC's Vicki Young joins Adam to chat through what went down in Parliament.
And Dr Angelique Coetzee, the South African doctor who first spotted the new Omicron variant, joins Newscast to explain why it’s different from the rest.
Today’s episode of Newscast was made by Sam Bonham with Ben Cooper, Georgia Coan, Sally Abrahams and Ros Jones. The studio manager was Emma Crowe.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts Hello, shall we cheer ourselves up after all this |
| 0:07.0 | Omicron Gloom? I've had an amazing brain wave. Do you remember a professor |
| 0:11.6 | as to John Bell from Oxford University who famously said this when he was asked if things |
| 0:16.8 | would get back to normal? Yes, yes, yes. Well this morning he was on the radio and he was |
| 0:22.7 | answering a whole load of questions and one of them he answered in the negative, like this. |
| 0:27.3 | No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Which kind of reminded me of those magic eight balls |
| 0:32.0 | from America where you shake them and they give you advice and I thought why don't we create a magic |
| 0:38.4 | eight bell where we can use the clips of Sir John to give us advice about Covid. |
| 0:44.6 | So we've got some questions and we're going to see what the magic eight bell says to them. |
| 0:49.6 | Question number one. Do I have to book my booster online before I go to the vaccine centre? |
| 0:56.2 | No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That is a no. If you're eligible for a booster you can go to your |
| 1:00.8 | local walk-in site with no appointment. Next question. Can I now get my booster if I had my second |
| 1:08.1 | jab less than six months ago? Yes, yes, yes. Yes, the gap is now in minimum of three months. |
| 1:17.4 | Next question. Do I have to wait to have my booster if I've recently tested positive for Covid? |
| 1:24.2 | Yes, yes, yes. That's right. If you've tested positive for Covid you need to wait four weeks, |
| 1:31.2 | 28 days, from the day of your positive test to have a booster jab and that helps to prevent potential |
| 1:37.7 | side effects. Final question. Do I have to take a Covid test before I visit family and friends |
| 1:44.0 | for Christmas? Yes, yes, yes. Correct. The government has advised people. It's advice, not obligatory, |
| 1:52.2 | but the government does suggest you take a lateral flow test before going to a party or to see |
| 1:57.6 | friends and family. And we'll be talking about some more government advice from all across the UK |
| 2:02.6 | on this episode of newscast. Thank you, Sir John. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. |
| 2:07.6 | Newscast. Newscast from the BBC that will take some time before we figure out what our new normal |
... |
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