Boris Johnson has spoken in detail about his hospital battle with coronavirus and revealed there were contingency plans put in place in case the prime minister died in intensive care.
Mr Johnson's interview came as the government announced plans to trial its NHS contact tracing app on the Isle of Wight this week as ministers work on an exit strategy for the UK's weeks-long lockdown.
Meanwhile, a former government chief scientific adviser, who worked under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, has assembled a new group of experts to look at how the UK could work its way out of lockdown, following concerns about a lack of transparency within the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
More than 3.44 million people have been infected by Covid-19 globally and more than 240,000 people have died.
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More than 200,00 key workers and families tested
More than 200,000 key workers and their families have so far been tested for coronavirus, said the cabinet office minister.
He said criteria for testing had been extended beyond key workers to anyone over 65 displaying symptoms and anyone who has to travel to get to work.
Mr Gove said the government will be piloting new "test, track and trace procedures" on the Isle of Wight this week, with a view to having them in place more widely later this month.
More than 200,000 key workers and their families have so far been tested for coronavirus, said the cabinet office minister.
He said criteria for testing had been extended beyond key workers to anyone over 65 displaying symptoms and anyone who has to travel to get to work.
Mr Gove said the government will be piloting new "test, track and trace procedures" on the Isle of Wight this week, with a view to having them in place more widely later this month.
PM will share details of 'comprehensive plan' this week
Gove says the prime minister's "comprehensive plan", to come this week, "will explain how we can get our economy moving, how we can get our children back to school, how we can travel to work more safely, and how we can make life in the workplace safer".
Gove says the prime minister's "comprehensive plan", to come this week, "will explain how we can get our economy moving, how we can get our children back to school, how we can travel to work more safely, and how we can make life in the workplace safer".
The prime minister will this week give more details of when people how people will get back to work, Gove says.
The number of daily Covid-19 tests has dropped to 76,496 - below the government target of 100,000.
The total UK death toll has increased to 28,446.
The briefing is now underway.
Michael Gove, who is giving the latest UK coronavirus figures, says there has been an increase of 315 deaths since yesterday.
Today's briefing has been delayed slightly until about 4.30pm. We'll bring you updates throughout as soon as it gets underway.
The government's daily coronavirus briefing is expected to begin shortly.
It will be delivered by Michael Gove today, and we will also hear from NHS England medical director Professor Stephen Powis.
Alternative scientific advisory group will emphasise ‘importance of transparency’, Sir David King says
Former chief scientific adviser Sir David King has said his alternative scientific group to discuss possible ways out of the UK's lockdown will emphasise the “importance of transparency” in its work.
Sir David said he wanted to “demonstrate to the public what I mean about independent advice” and insisted the group’s work would be conducted in the public domain.
The former advisor added that he thought there were issues over transparency at meetings of the government’s official Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).
“I think there's a real question. The ministers and the prime minister are saying they are following science advice, and that's what is determining the path into the future,” he said.
“But if we're not given access to the science advice it's very difficult to evaluate that, and by given access I mean, when I was chief scientific adviser I explained to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown that every bit of advice I put into them I would put into the public domain as well.
“I recognised I was giving advice, but they were making the political decision, they would bring in strategy advisers and other advisers, but the advice was purely scientific.”
Scottish health secretary announces more funding for mental health services
A number of measures to support mental health during the coronavirus pandemic have been announced by Scotland’s health secretary.
Jeane Freeman encouraged the public to take advantage of mental health services, telling Scottish people: “Help is there if you need it.”
Ms Freeman said £105,000 was being provided to the organisation Young Scot to create “a range of digital content on mental wellbeing” and a total of £700,000 was being provided to The Spark, a charity which provides relationship counselling services.
“The most important message I want to get across today is simply this - help is there if you need it,” she said.
“The NHS Inform website can help you to find the services that are best for you and the website clearyourhead.scot has advice and tips on how to maintain your mental wellbeing.
“So please reach out, help is there for you.”
Today's Downing Street press briefing will be at 4pm (in 20 minutes) and will feature Michael Gove and Stephen Powis, the National Medical Director of NHS England.
Third of people test positive for Covid-19 in random tests in Afghanistan
A third of people who were randomly tested in Afghanistan’s capital have been found to have coronavirus, Afghan health officials have said, raising fears of widespread undetected infections in the country.
Wahid Mayar, the Public Health Ministry spokesperson, said the results of the random tests on 500 people in the capital of Kabul were “concerning”.
Afghanistan has performed only limited testing so far - close to 12,000, with more than 2,700 confirmed infections in a nation of 36.6 million people.
As more testing becomes available, the country's confirmed infection numbers will likely rise sharply, Mr Mayar said.
Kabul and most other cities are in lockdown, but compliance has not been widespread.
The death toll, which is officially at 85, could also be much higher.
More than 250,000 Afghan people have returned home from Iran, the original epicentre of coronavirus in the Middle East, since the beginning of the year, travelling across their country without being tested or quarantined.
McDonald’s trials social distancing measures in Netherlands
McDonald’s in the Netherlands is trialing measures to maintain social distancing in its restaurants when they are allowed to reopen, with designated waiting spots for customers and hand sanitisers being installed at entrances.
“We have tried to figure out how to keep our customers and employees safe, while maintaining a restaurant atmosphere,” McDonald's Netherlands spokesperson Eunice Koekkoek told Reuters.
“These are drastic changes, but we hope to make them in a way that customers don't notice them too much.”
Restaurants, bars and other public places in the Netherlands have been closed since 15 March but new infections have been dropping in the country in recent days, prompting calls for the lockdown to be loosened soon.
A decision on whether to reopen restaurants and bars is expected around 12 May, but prime minister Mark Rutte has ruled out a return to normal business.
Customers and staff will have to keep at least 1.5 metres apart to avoid a new wave of infections if restaurants are allowed to reopen.
McDonald's says it could introduce table service, with burgers and fries wheeled to customers on trolleys from which they can pick up their orders.
Other new features would include hand-washing stations at the entrance and a host behind a plastic screen showing customers their place in line.
Although many restaurant owners fear social distancing will put them out of business, McDonald’s expects its new set-up to work at 180 larger restaurants out of its 252 franchises in the Netherlands.
“On average this will allow us to serve around 66 per cent of our normal number of customers,” Ms Koekkoek said.
“We don't expect reopening to be allowed before June. But even then, we will move in steps. Readjusting 180 restaurants is a tall order.”
Trump adviser does not rule out providing more money for states and small businesses
Donald Trump’s economic adviser has said he will not rule out providing more money for state and local governments and the small business programme.
More than 30 million Americans have signed up for unemployment benefits over the past six weeks and lawmakers in Congress are discussing a fourth coronavirus relief bill to protect the economy.
Democrats have called for aid to cities and states, and some governors have warned of massive layoffs if they fail to get funding.
“We know the economy is still in a terrible, contractionary phase, tremendous hardships, everywhere,” Larry Kudlow, the White House’s economic adviser, said on CNN's State of the Union.
“We're trying to work through this. I don't want to rule in or out anything right now. We are in discussions internally and with leading members of Congress.”
Mr Kudlow was asked whether aid given to small businesses would be increased again, given how quickly the money was being claimed.
“It may be,” he replied.
“We haven't made a decision yet. This has been an extremely popular and effective program. Keeping folks on the payroll is extremely important.”
A segment of Mr Kudlow’s interview can be found below:
Number of Scottish patients in intensive care drops below 100 for first time since March
The Scottish health secretary had said the number of people in intensive care in the region has fallen below 100 for the first time since March, as the number of deaths in Scotland rose by 12 today.
Jeane Freeman revealed the figures, which showed 99 patients in intensive care, at the Scottish government’s press briefing on Sunday
“It's obviously very encouraging news,” Ms Freeman said of the intensive care numbers.
“It does show that the restrictions are working, but it also underlines the reasons why we need to stick to them.
“So I want to thank all of you for the sacrifices you have made and I know will continue to make. I know it is not easy, but I hope you are beginning to see - as we do - that those sacrifices are beginning to show results.”
A total of 1,571 patients have now died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus and there are 1,666 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19.
Work times could be staggered to avoid crowded commutes, transport secretary says
UK businesses could be asked to stagger working hours as part of plans to return to work after the coronavirus lockdown is eased, the transport secretary has said.
Grant Shapps told the BBC on Sunday that the government was looking into how to prevent public transport becoming crowded on commutes.
“There are a series of different things that we can do including staggering work times, working with businesses and organisations to do that,” Mr Shapps said, adding that he wanted to encourage a “massive expansion” of cycling or walking to work to help keep numbers down.
The minister also said he was working with train companies and unions on plans to maintain social distancing rules on platforms and at bus stops once the lockdown is lifted.
‘Clear line’ linking austerity and lack of preparedness for Covid-19, expert says
The “lack of preparedness” for the coronavirus pandemic in the UK was linked to austerity measures over the last decade, the chairman of a government-commissioned review into health inequalities has said.
Professor Sir Michael Marmot, director of University College London’s Institute of Health Equity, has blamed a lack of financial support for the health and social care systems during the 2010s for some of the problems the country is facing today.
“We're terribly worried about the health of workers in social care. The reduction in adult social care spending over the last decade was 7 per cent in real terms,” Sir Michael told BBC Radio 4’s World This Weekend.
“But in the most deprived 20 per cent of areas, the reduction was 16 per cent. In the least deprived 20 per cent, the reduction was 3 per cent.
“So we're wringing our hands about how awful it is in social care - we just haven't been spending - in fact doing the opposite.”
He added: “So there's a clear line between our lack of preparedness in the healthcare system, in the social care system and in community resources more generally - the decline of support for the voluntary sector - a clear line between austerity and our lack of preparedness to cope with this pandemic.”
Sir Michael also noted that the pandemic was exposing “underlying health inequalities” and amplifying them, with the lockdown affecting people unequally.
His comments come after analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that people living in the most deprived areas of England have experienced coronavirus mortality rates more than double those living in the least deprived areas.
