The UK is “past the peak” of the coronavirus outbreak and “we are on a downward slope,” Boris Johnson said at his first government briefing since he was hospitalised with Covid-19.
The UK’s coronavirus death toll has risen to 26,771, a rise of 674 in the last 24-hours, the Department of Health and Social Care announced.
It comes as a poll shows that two-thirds of the British public believe the government was too slow to enforce a lockdown. The government is also under pressure over testing on the crunch day for its target of carrying out 100,000 daily by the end of April. Robert Buckland, admitted the the government “probably won’t” hit that ambitious goal.
Johnson to hold daily press conference today
Boris Johnson is to hold the government's daily press conference later for the first time since recovering from the disease.
The PM will address the nation at 5pm following cabinet talks a day after the birth of his child with partner Carrie Symonds.
Johnson is expected to give an update on the UK's lockdown and explain how the decicision to ease it may be made, but is not thought likely to announce any major change to restrictions enforced last month to slow the spread of the virus.
No 10 said the cabinet meeting this morning would look at the "response in general" to outbreak.
Deadline day for government testing target
Today is the crunch day for the government's target of carrying out 100,000 coronavirus tests by the end of April.
The prospects do not look good. Only 52,429 tests were carried out yesterday, a little more than half of the ambition announced by health secretary Matt Hancock at the start of the month.
That aim itself is far below the 250,000 tests a day Boris Johnson had promised two weeks earlier.
The target has been condemned by the NHS Providers as a "red herring" which distracts from shortcomings in the government's long-term coronavirus strategy.
Minister admits government may miss testing target
A senior Tory minister has admitted that the government is likely to miss its own target for 100,000 daily tests for coronavirus by the end of April.
Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, told Sky News: "We'll have the results I think tomorrow.
"Even if we don't hit it, and it's probable that we won't, we will in the next few days hit that target.
"We're up to 52,000 people being tested, the capacity is rising. I think it was right to set an ambitious target."
My colleague Lizzy Buchan has more:
Testing target 'a red herring' which distracts from strategy failures, say NHS trusts
Focus on the government's 100,000-a-day testing target is "a distraction from the key issue of how the government’s testing strategy needs to develop", according to NHS Providers.
In a report published today, the membership organisation of NHS Trusts said the testing regime had "started from a poor position" and "struggled to catch up ever since".
Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said: "The 100k tests target is a red herring distracting us from the key issue: the need for an updated testing strategy."
The group highlighted testing and the supply of personal protective equipment as "the two areas where NHS trust leaders would have liked the English health and care system to have been able to perform better as part of the response to coronavirus".
Mr Hopson said: "There’s been insufficient capacity, questions over strategy, ineffective co-ordination early on.
"And many trusts have been frustrated by what they see as an excessive focus on the testing needs of acute hospitals. This has potentially been at the expense of ambulance, community and mental health trusts and primary and social care whose needs are just as important."
NHS Providers said "it will be for any subsequent public inquiry to determine why these problems have occurred and whether the response was adequate".
Hopes for treatment after 'very promising' drug trials
A drug used to treat Ebola patients has shown "very promising" early results in a trial of people admitted to hospital with coronavirus, scientists have said.
Patients given remdesivir had a recovery time that was almost a third faster than those given a placebo, the first results from an international clinical trial showed.
Abdel Babiker, professor of epidemiology and medical statistics at University College London, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "These are very encouraging results from the first large-scale randomised trial to report on any treatment of Covid-19."
He said the group of adults admitted to hospital with advanced coronavirus who received remdesivir recovered "much faster" than the group that received a placebo.
Preliminary results also suggested a survival benefit, with a lower mortality rate of 8% for the group receiving the drug, compared with 11.6% for the placebo group, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said.
The US Food and Drug Administration has said it plans to authorise the emergency use of remdesivir to treat coronavirus patients.
Captain Tom's NHS fundraiser hits £30m on his 100th birthday
Donations to Captain Tom Moore's NHS charity fundraiser have just hit £30m as the Second World War veteran celebrates his 100th birthday.
Moore, who was this week promoted to the rank of Honorary Colonel to mark his efforts, launched the fundraiser earlier this month with the aim of bringing in just £1,000 to his JustGiving page.
Sabrina Barr has the full story:
No new infections in South Korea for since time since February
South Korea has reported no new cases of coronavirus transmitted in the country for the first time since 15 February.
The Koreas Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced four new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the first time that its daily jump has marked below five in about two months. All were brought in from overseas, it said.
The new cases take the country's total to 10,765, with 247 deaths
South Korea's caseload has been slowing in recent weeks after it recorded hundreds of new cases every day between late February and early March.
The government has subsequently relaxed some of its social distancing guidelines and is expected to go further in the coming days if infections maintain a downward trend.
'Go vegan or risk further pandemics'
Experts are urging people to stop eating all animal products to prevent future pandemics.
In an open letter published today, 10 scientists and campaigners have joined forces to warn that factory farms and wildlife markets provide "a fertile environment" for disease to thrive and transmit to humans.
“Ending the exploitation of animals is one of the biggest actions humankind can take to protect itself against future pandemics," adds the letter.
My colleague Chiara Giordano has the full story:
Sexual harassment including has got worse since lockdown, say women
Young women say sexual harassment, including men indecently exposing themselves, has become worse during the lockdown.
One in five women have suffered harassment on the streets since the government implemented stringent social distancing measures — with a fifth of them saying the issue of harassment has got worse during lockdown, a survey by Plan International UK found.
The poll of more than 1,000 women aged between 14 and 21 discovered cat-calling and even sexual assault has persisted despite the fact there being substantially fewer people out and about, reports Maya Oppenheim:
Oxford University partners with Astra Zenenca to distribute Covid-19 vaccine
The pharmaceutical giant Astra Zenenca has agreed a deal with the University of Oxford for the development, manufacture and large-scale distribution of a potential Covid-19 vaccine is currently being trialled in the UK.
The move will allow for rapid vaccination around the world if the candidate proves to be effective, said Oxford, which begin trials in human last week.
Hundreds of people volunteered to take part in the study led by the university's Jenner Institute, which has received £20 million in government funding.
Professor Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine, described the partnership with Astra Zeneca as a "major force in the struggle against pandemics" for the foreseeable future.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he added he hoped that some results from the trial would be available by the middle of June.
Sir John said: "We also want to make sure that the rest of the world will be ready to make this vaccine at scale so that it gets to populations in developing countries, for example, where the need is very great.
"We really need a partner to do that and that partner has a big job in the UK because our manufacturing capacity in the UK for vaccines isn't where it needs to be, and so we are going to work together with Astra Zeneca to improve that considerably."
Lifting lockdown 'not going to be a flick of the switch moment'
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, has warned the easing of the social distancing restrictions will have to be "very slow, very gradual".
Lizzy Buchan, political correspondent for The Independent, has filed this:
Nicola Sturgeon has poured cold water on hopes that lockdown measures could be lifted next week when the government reviews the draconian restrictions on daily life.
Scotland’s first minister, who sits on the government’s Cobra emergency committee, told ITV’s Peston: “People talk about lifting the lockdown, that is not going to be a flick of the switch moment - we're going to have to be very careful, very slow, very gradual.
"I'm far from convinced at this stage that when we get to the next review point on 7 May we'll be in a position to lift any of these measures right now, because the margins of manoeuvre that we're operating in right now are very, very, very tight and narrow."
Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, said Ms Sturgeon was "right to be cautious" in her warning, adding: "I think the common thread between the [devolved] governments is one of extreme caution following the evidence of the Sage committee, making sure that we don't do anything in a premature way that could risk a second spike. That would be a disaster."
Meanwhile, Downing Street has dismissed speculation that Boris Johnson will announce any changes to the current restrictions when he delivers his first press conference on Thursday since recovering from coronavirus.
A No10 source said it was expected to be “more an assessment of where we are” rather than a focus on future plans.
The crucial missed opportunity weeks before doomed testing target
There is next to no chance of the government hitting its target of 100,000 tests a day target by the end of April – but the real question is not simply how many people are being tested, writes The Independent's deputy political editor Rob Merrick.
What really matters is who is being tested, where, and why.
The UK was left in the dark about the spread of the virus because of a crucial decision seven weeks ago, when the government's efforts to “contain” the spread of the disease were abandoned in favour of “delay” – which meant community testing and the tracing of the contacts of positive cases was stopped.
Here Rob takes an in-depth look at the pivotal moment which experts say effectively allowed the virus to spread widely across the UK:
Swiss researchers analyse sewage for early warning signs of Covid-19 flares
Researchers in Switzerland have been able to detect coronavirus at even low concentrations in wastewater, offering a potential early warning system for flare-ups in infections as countries emerge from emergency lockdowns.
Sewage samples could potentially alert public health officials to a resurgence of Covid-19 infections earlier than with diagnostic tests, perhaps by around a week, according to the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology.
"Wastewater doesn't lie, and it reflects what is excreted by the public within a few hours," said team leader Christoph Ort.
While the method still requires improvements to able to draw robust conclusions about viral concentrations,
Scientists at the Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne analysed wastewater from the two cities and a third town, Lugano.
Coronavirus was detected in all the samples, including water from the end of February when only seven cases had been recorded in Zurich and Lugano.
"We didn't expect that we'd already be able to measure a signal in wastewater from Lugano, with only one, and from Zurich, with only six known cases," said researcher Tamar Kohn.
New antibody test ‘with 99 per cent accuracy’ approved for use across Europe
A new antibody test to check whether someone has been infected with coronavirus, and said to be 99 per cent accurate, has been certified for use across Europe.
Global diagnostics specialists Abbott, which has a UK base in Maidenhead, has said it is expecting to have shipped millions of the laboratory based lab tests across Europe by the end of May.
Shaun Lintern has the full story:
Flights to resume between Mexico City and London in June
The airline Aeromexico has announced it will start flying again between Mexico City and London Heathrow on 1 June, reports The Independent's Simon Calder.
The Mexican carrier says: “If any passengers exhibit symptoms at the airport, we will notify the health authorities.
"If deemed necessary by these authorities, we will rebook them onto an alternative flight.
“If any passengers exhibit symptoms of respiratory illness on board, we will notify the health authorities and proceed according to the appropriate protocols.”
60 bodies found in trucks outside Brooklyn funeral home
Police in New York City, the global epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, have discovered dozens of bodies stored in four trucks parked outside a Brooklyn funeral home after someone alerted them to a bad smell.
NYPD investigators who responded to a 911 call yesterday found the home had rented four trucks to hold almost 60 corpses, an official said.
The home appeared to have run out of room for bodies, which were awaiting cremation, and used the trucks for storage, reports Gino Spocchia:
Around four in 10 key workers are concerned about their health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic, according to survey.
Some 179 people (59.7%) of key workers questioned by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said their jobs were being affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Some 39.6% said they have health and safety fears, while others were also concerned about increased working hours and home-working.
The ONS has included estimates of the experiences of key workers for the first time in its weekly analysis of the impact of coronavirus on society and the economy.
Kate Osamor: Boris Johnson thinks the UK's coronavirus response has been a success. What planet is he living on?
Labour MP Osamor has attacked Boris Johnson's "spin and lies" after he hailed the "apparent success" of the UK's strategy to tackle coronavirus, which has killed more than 26,000 people in the country.
Writing in the The Independent, Osamor pointed to the UK's high death toll, PPE shortages and a lack of funding for council.
She said: "We know we are living in the hardest of times –we can handle that truth. What we cannot abide is the lie that the government is handling this crisis successfully."
Read her full piece here:
Sainsbury's braced for £500m profit hit and social distancing in supermarkets for rest of year
Sainsbury's has warned it expects to suffer a coronavirus profits hit of more than £500m despite surging grocery sales.
The supermarket giant said the impact of Covid-19 was expected to leave underlying profits broadly flat for the year to March 2021 as it faces soaring costs for measures to protect staff and customers, as well as falls in non-food and fuel sales.
The company's outgoing chief executive, Mike Coupe, said although it expects the UK's lockdown to start being lifted by the end of June, he sees business disruption lasting until mid-September.
Social distancing measures - such as shopper limits and physical distancing - may remain in place for the rest of the year, he added.
