Covid tier rules: Tory rebellion fails to defeat government on new system for England - BBC News
MPs back new Covid rules which come into effect at midnight - despite a sizeable Tory rebellion.
News that tests are to be sent to care homes to allow relatives to visit over Christmas will be welcome for those in England who have waited a long time to visit loved ones and friends inside care homes, rather than trying to communicate through windows or on videolinks.

But therein lies the problem. The danger is that expectations will be raised of visits before Christmas which cannot all be fulfilled.

The biggest care home operators have been sent rapid testing kits but the smaller providers have not yet heard details about how they can obtain them. One told me that, while welcoming the initiative, he was concerned at the level of administration which would be required to book in visits and organise the testing and this might mean taking on more staff.

Some doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of the rapid testing technology with a relatively high number of false negatives if administered by less trained staff.

The scheme will not be fully rolled out by Christmas but officials hope it will be more accessible to a wider public early in the new year.