New COVID-19 variant reaches Europe

The spread of a new variant of COVID-19 in South Africa begins to alarm health officials. Several governments, including the UK, Spain and Israel, announced travel restrictions from southern Africa as a precaution. We hear from Dr. Shabir Madhi, a professor of Vaccinology at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, as well as Dr. David Nabarro, Special Envoy on COVID-19 for the World Health Organisation. The WHO is meeting today in Geneva to assess the new variant. Also in the programme: the tragic deaths of 27 people who tried to cross the English Channel by boat has caused a diplomatic spat between France and Britain. And the war in Ethiopia is becoming increasingly opaque, with the government in Addis Ababa banning all reports from the battlefield unless they're from government sources. We speak to Beverly Ochieng, a senior security analyst with BBC Monitoring. Photo: COVID-19 virus illustration. Credit: Getty Images