it's still far too early to offer a

timetable for easing the covid

restrictions

that's the warning from the health

secretary for england matt hancock

who said today that the pressure on the

nhs was just too great

with the number of patients being

admitted almost double the peak in april

last year

and he said the success of the vaccine

rollout meant that progress

should not be put at risk there is a

group of conservative mps demanding the

restrictions be relaxed

and schools reopened as soon as key

groups have had their vaccinations

but public health england warned today

that death rates and hospitalizations

will need to fall much further before

considering a return

to the old tiered system our political

editor laura kunsberg reports on the

latest debate about

ending the lockdown barely a footprint

where snowballs would normally be thrown

lockdown's most profound effect perhaps

about 8 million of the next generation

out of school and their garden in

bromley

can't fill the gap i've got two children

an eight-year-old girl and a

ten-year-old boy and my son's school

have decided

not to provide any online learning at

all and his confidence is absolutely

zero he feels

like he's a failure and when your 10

year old is telling you that they're not

good enough

they don't want to be here that is

really

scary to hear i would just ask

for some idea about how

we can get back to normal ministers have

mentioned before or after easter

but the prime minister today suggested

once the most vulnerable have had their

jabs

next month before then we'll be looking

at the

potential of relaxing uh some measures

but don't forget that this country has

made huge progress in reducing infection

i don't think

people want to see another big surge in

infection

you might wonder hearing that if the

rules might be

rolled back a bit next month well the

law

says they have to be reviewed in the

middle of february but don't

expect any major changes ministers want

to be sure

the cases are falling deaths are falling

the vaccines working

and that there aren't any new dangerous

variants of the disease around

and this time they want to be confident

that when they unlock

they don't later have to slam the

country's doors again

yet there are growing demands over there

for at least a sketch

of what the way out might look like

people are going through a really hard

time at the moment we're all kind of

grinding this lockdown out

and then people will hear this and get

all sorts of uh perhaps even false hopes

so

i don't think that that lack of clarity

helps i think it's better if

if the government a bit more consistent

in their messages so would the health

secretary be more specific today

can you secretary of state spell out how

if not when

lockdown will start to be lifted and if

you won't tell us

why not the pressure on the nhs remains

huge and we've got to get that case

straight down

but of course i understand why the

yearning people have

everybody wants to have a timeline for

that but i think most people understand

why

it is difficult to put a timeline on it

because it's a matter of

monitoring the data and the facts but

there are costs to the weight too

in cheshire dan wright's vehicles are

parked up in the snow instead of out on

the road

self-employed he's had to apply for

benefits money's running tight

all the future works been cancelled we

have no

income whatsoever we still have yard

rent pay we still have

business loans on the vehicles

unfortunately without any help

we can't continue there are signs

lockdowns starting to control the deadly

disease

but the numbers and the risks are still

so high three weeks in

no certain end laura kunsberg bbc news

westminster

parents in england will be told as soon

as possible when schools can reopen

that was the prime minister's response

as we heard when asked to provide more

certainty

for teachers parents and pupils alike mr

johnson said he understood why people

wanted a timetable

but he didn't want to lift restrictions

while the infection rate was still

very high in his words and he would not

guarantee

that schools would reopen before the

easter break

in april there's growing concern about

the effect that the school closures are

having

as our education editor brahman

jefferies has been finding out

the decimal point okay schools in

england are busier this lockdown

the fears about children missing out

have grown

but millions like ten-year-old katarina

are learning at home

she says her teachers help a lot but day

after day without friends

is hard at school they're always there

and you can always laugh and cheer with

them

um you can call them and play with them

online and stuff but it's never going to

be the same

as in real life head teachers should get

two weeks warning of full reopening but

say they need

to know more to get ready we need to

know are we testing and if we are

testing

who are we testing which test we need to

know

how many children are coming back to

school is it all

children or is it certain year groups

like exam groups

is it going to be full time is it going

to be part-time

is it going to be on a rotation all of

these things are

absolutely crucial for running a school

today not much more detail from the

education secretary

students want to see all children back

into school at the very earliest moment

the government said again today that

reopening schools fully

is its top priority as soon as it's safe

to do so

but for millions of families this has

become one of those

touchstone issues for parents trying to

get work done at home

and keep an eye on their kids schoolwork

who

just want to know how much longer will

they have to manage

but the political heat over schools is

increasing

leading mps calling for a clear plan

what i'd like to understand is what are

the

risks to children and staff i think the

chief medical

officer should set out what impact does

the new variant

had and if it if as the chief deputy

chief medical officer said that

it's relatively low then surely this

must be one of the conditions

met in terms of children going back to

school

from this warehouse laptops are going to

schools

more than 800 000 said to be delivered

so far

but being able to connect is one thing

not everyone has a place

and parental support to study research

from the first

lockdown found that um

disadvantaged young people were less

likely to

or likely to have fewer hours of online

learning

and on average um around 73 to 75

minutes

less time engaging with learning

than their more affluent peers

katarina has parents willing and able to

support her

but as long as schools are mainly closed

others

may be falling even further behind

brownman jeffries bbc news