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12.01am GMT

Members of the armed forces will be drafted in to support coronavirus testing operations for thousands of school and college students in England, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced.

The MoD said 1,500 military personnel would be deployed to ensure that testing systems were up and running by the time pupils returned for the new term in January.

11.36pm GMT

News of planned New Year's Eve parties in Los Angeles is sparking outrage as the region faces a catastrophic Covid crisis, record deaths and a crushed healthcare system.

In the lead up to the new year, LA has become the new centr of America's out-of-control pandemic, with one Covid death now happening every 10 minutes and hospitals faced with unthinkable choices as they run out of intensive care unit beds. But doctors' warnings of apocalyptic" scenes at hospitals have not stopped some businesses from planning in-person events to ring in 2021, drawing sharp criticism from health officials.

Related: Outrage over planned New Year's Eve gatherings as Los Angeles faces crush of Covid cases