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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Andrew Sparrow, Frances Perraudin and Alexandra Topping

Weekly round of applause for NHS staff – as it happened

NHS workers
NHS workers outside Chelsea and Westminster hospital during the Clap for our Carers. Photograph: Kevin Coombs/Reuters

Thank you for following today’s UK-focused coronavirus coverage. You can keep up with all the latest developments from around the world on our global liveblog.

An NHS worker
NHS worker

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, applauds on the steps of the Foreign Office. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

A man plays violin
A man plays violin in tribute to NHS staff outside his house in the Georgian Quarter, Liverpool. Photograph: Iain Watts/Mercury Press

Sir Kier Starmer
Sir Kier Starmer, the Labour leader, applauds from his home in north London. Photograph: Joshua Bratt

Firefighters in Edinburgh
Firefighters in Edinburgh … Photograph: Euan Cherry
Police officers in Luton applaud.
… and police officers in Luton applaud. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Reuters

Residents of Ilkley
Residents of Ilkley, West Yorkshire clap for NHS workers. Photograph: Simon Wilkinson/Rex/Shutterstock

People stand on their balcony in central London

Updated

NHS workers stand outside the Aintree university hospital during the 8pm clap to thank Capt Tom Moore, the 99-year-old war veteran who has raised more than £15m for the health service.

Staff

The UK’s weekly round of applause for NHS workers is to take place in less than five minutes.

Updated

Evening summary

  • Britain’s lockdown is to continue for at least another three weeks because experts still cannot be sure the coronavirus epidemic has peaked, Dominic Raab has said. The foreign secretary said there was hope that the number of new infections was no longer rising in the community daily but there was less certainty about some hospitals and care homes. You can see the full summary of this evening’s Downing Street press conference here.
  • A further 861 people have died from coronavirus in UK hospitals, taking the running total to 13,729. Yesterday the daily figure was 761, but Prof Chris Whitty, the UK government’s chief medical adviser, said in the press conference yesterday afternoon that he expected today’s figure to be higher.
  • The prime minister’s spokesman has insisted there will be no extension to the Brexit transition period, despite the coronavirus crisis. “We will not ask to extend the transition. And, if the EU asks, we will say no,” he told the daily briefing of lobby journalists. “Extending the transition would simply prolong the negotiations, prolong business uncertainty, and delay the moment of control of our borders.”
  • The comments came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the UK and EU should “not add to uncertainty” from coronavirus by refusing to extend the period to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal.
  • The UK was among a handful of countries singled out by the World Health Organization (WHO) for having “tempered” the “positive signals” that Europe is passing the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak. Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said the UK was one of the states to have “sustained or increased levels” of the virus.
  • A slimmed-down “virtual House of Commons” featuring ministers in the chamber being questioned by MPs via video link is set to convene next week after Commons authorities agreed to the idea. The scheme, the first time part of the Commons will have sat remotely in its 700-year history, will allow up to 50 ministers and backbenchers to physically be in the chamber at any one time, with up to 120 appearing on screens.
  • The GMB union has called on the government to make sure furloughed workers are paid at least minimum wage rates, saying the current rules are already causing “significant hardship”. The government’s current guidance states that furloughed workers can be paid the lower of 80% of their salary or £2,500 even if this would be below their appropriate minimum wage.
  • Prof Neil Ferguson, the Imperial College epidemiologist whose coronavirus research influenced the government’s decision to introduce the lockdown, said that even when the measures starts to relax, “we will have to maintain some form of social distancing, a significant level of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available”. It is thought that a vaccine could take 18 months to develop.

Updated

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, represented the UK in a virtual summit of G7 leaders to discuss the coronavirus pandemic this afternoon. Here is Downing Street’s statement on the meeting:

All leaders expressed their best wishes for the Prime Minister’s recovery and welcomed the cooperation that has already taken place between G7 countries.

They agreed that the rapid development and production of coronavirus treatments and a vaccine will be crucial to stop the spread of the virus around the world. The First Secretary of State stressed the need for the response to be internationally coordinated.

Leaders discussed the particular risk coronavirus poses to developing nations and agreed on the need to fight coronavirus in every country. They committed to continue to support developing countries through bilateral assistance, multinational organisations and by ensuring governments around the world have access to the medical supplies they need.

G7 leaders also agreed on the importance of financial measures to defend the global economy against the impact of coronavirus. The First Secretary of State welcomed the efforts that have been made to coordinate economic responses, including agreements on debt relief earlier this week, and urged all countries to support long-term economic recovery.

Dominic Raab attending a remote G7 meeting inside 10 Downing Street.
Dominic Raab attending a remote G7 meeting inside 10 Downing Street. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/AFP via Getty Images

Dominic Raab's press conference - Summary

Here are the main points from the press conference.

  • Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, confirmed that the coronavirus lockdown will continue for at least another three weeks. In his opening statement he said:

The advice from Sage [the scientific advisory group for emergencies] is that relaxing any of the measures currently in place would risk damage to both public health and our economy ...

Based on this advice, the government has determined that current measures must remain in place for at least the next three weeks.

He said the cabinet and Cobra, the government’s emergency committee, considered the advice from Sage earlier. Summarising what it concluded, he told journalists:

There are indications that the measures we have put in place have been successful in slowing down the spread of the virus.

But, Sage also say that it is a mixed and inconsistent picture and, in some settings, infections are still likely to be increasing.

Sage assess that the rate of infection, or the R value, is almost certainly below 1 in the community.

That means that on average each infected person is, in turn, infecting less than one other person

But, overall, we still don’t have the infection rate down as far as we need to.

As in other countries, we have issues with the virus spreading in some hospitals and care homes.

In sum, the very clear advice we have received is that any change to our social distancing measures now would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus.

That would threaten a second peak of the virus, and substantially increase the number of deaths.

It would undo the progress made to date, and as a result, would require an even longer period of the more restrictive social distancing measures.

  • Raab refused repeated invitations to speculate on how or when the lockdown measures might be relaxed, but he came close to confirming that they would be eased in stages when he said there might be a “transition”. He said:

We have been very clear that we will take the right decisions at the right moments based on the evidence. And they may well involve a transition out of the current measures. And, of course, they could be calibrated in different ways.

He also said that Boris Johnson’s claim on 19 March that the UK would be able to “turn the tide” in the fight against coronavirus within 12 weeks was still realistic. Raab said:

The prime minister said at the outset that it would take three months to come through the peak and I think that, broadly, is still the outline.

(Presumably, then, this would be another transition period that No 10 would hope to be over by the end of 2020.)

  • Raab said five tests would be used to decide when it was safe to start relaxing the lockdown. He said:

First, we must protect the NHS’s ability to cope ...

Second, we need to see a sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rates from coronavirus so we are confident that we have moved beyond the peak.

Third, we need to have reliable data from Sage showing that the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels across the board.

Fourth, we need to be confident that the range of operational challenges, including testing capacity and PPE, are in hand, with supply able to meet future demand.

Fifth, and this is really crucial, we need to be confident that any adjustments to the current measures will not risk a second peak of infections that overwhelm the NHS.

  • Raab said that lifting the lockdown now would harm the economy, not help it. At this stage there was no conflict between health and the economy, he argued. He said:

It’s not a trade-off here, if we get a second peak it’s not just damaging for people’s health and public safety, we will also end up back in a second lockdown which will prolong the economic risks.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, made the same point. He said:

At the moment this is not a tension between the economy and health, it’s very clear what we need to do now, which is to keep this down, stop this from coming back again, stop a second wave, which would need a second lockdown.

  • Vallance said he agreed with Prof Neil Ferguson that a vaccine might provide the clearest exit strategy. (See 8.07am.) Asked about Ferguson’s comment, Vallance said:

I completely agree that the way out of this is vaccines and therapeutics [medicines]. Those are going to be critically important.

  • Vallance suggested that there might be a need for people to carry on working from home for a prolonged period of time. He said:

There may be a number of measures that need to continue in order to allow [the virus] to be suppressed and controlled whilst vaccines and therapeutics come along ...

There will be some changes, I think, that will need to take place, that have already taken place, around things like home working, that are going to be important to maintain that ability to break transmission.

  • Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, said that three other factors were more obviously risk factors for coronavirus than ethnicity. But the government did want to investigate further the extent to which BAME people seem to be more at risk, he said. He said over 90% of people who have died with coronavirus in the UK had at least one other disease, while other factors included being old and being male. He went on:

Being a member of an ethnic minority group is less clear [a risk factor], and I’ve had discussions with scientists about this in terms of trying to tease this apart today.

This is something we are very keen to get extremely clear. We’ve asked Public Health England to look at this in some detail and then what we really want is, if we see any signal at all, we want to then know what next we can do about it to minimise risk.

  • Whitty said that the government hoped to have a “crude” idea as to what proportion of the public have had coronavirus soon, but that establishing a serology test (an antibody test) was complicated. (See 5.23pm.)
Dominic Raab at the press conference.
Dominic Raab at the press conference. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon has asked that people continue to make “difficult sacrifices” and adhere to Covid-19 restrictions in order to save lives.

Speaking after the UK government’s Cobra meeting, Sturgeon said:

If we were to lift any of these measures now, we would risk an immediate and potentially exponential resurgence of the virus. And that could result in our NHS being quickly overwhelmed.

It could result in even more cases in our care homes, and it would also mean much more loss of life. It could of course also lead to the reintroduction of even more stringent restrictions in the future and substantially more damage to the economy.

As a result, in short, all of the progress we have achieved together in these last few weeks, through high compliance with the lockdown restrictions, would be lost.

Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: Scottish Government/AFP via Getty Images

CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn has said businesses will support the extended lockdown because public health is the main priority.

At the same time, extending restrictions will bring serious challenges for many companies. The government’s lifelines for business will matter more than ever. In particular, it’s vital that the Job Retention Scheme starts delivering cash to struggling companies next week, as HMRC is working hard to achieve.

Firms also need urgent clarity on the scheme’s duration. When scientific evidence shows it’s safe to do so, eyes will turn to how the lockdown can be lifted. To build public trust and the right action, many voices will need to be heard, from health experts and political leaders to business, unions and local communities.

It’s not too early to start to plan, cautiously, and with public health paramount, for the revival of our economy.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI
Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI Photograph: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock

The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said the decision to continue the lockdown was agreed by all four UK nations.

I along with the first ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland attended the UK government’s Cobra meeting. We each confirmed our decisions that the current restrictions on movement to protect the NHS and so to save lives should continue for another three weeks.

I know that the last three weeks have been very difficult for many people. I want to thank everyone in Wales for the way each of us is dealing with these challenging circumstances.

While we have seen some positive signs in the data, it is still too early to change course in dealing with this deadly virus. Many more lives are at stake, and too many families have already lost loved ones.

Nevertheless, the decision to extend the lockdown is not one that has been taken lightly. But I am clear that we cannot risk throwing away all the sacrifices we have made here in Wales over the last few weeks by lifting the restrictions too soon. That could mean more deaths and, in the long run, even greater impact on people’s jobs and livelihoods.

Updated

The Crown Prosecution Service has produced guidance about what constitutes a reasonable excuse to be outside the home during the lockdown.

It follows confusion caused in part by a difference between government statements and emergency laws. The guidance has been reproduced and published by the College of Policing, and the National Police Chiefs Council.

According to the document, meant to inform police officers enforcing the lockdown, the following are examples of reasonable excuses to be outside the home:

  • Buying several days’ worth of food, including luxury items and alcohol.
  • Collecting surplus basic food items from a friend.
  • Going for a run or cycle or practicing yoga.
  • Walking in the countryside or in cities.
  • Attending an allotment.
  • Driving to countryside and walking (where far more time is spent walking than driving).
  • Stopping to rest or to eat lunch while on a long walk.
  • Buying tools and supplies to repair a fence panel damaged in recent bad weather.
  • Taking an animal for treatment.
  • Moving to a friend’s address for several days to allow a ‘cooling-off’ following arguments at home.

An explanatory note says:

The Regulations allow people to move house. This means that individuals can move between households. But this should be a genuine move (ie. measured in days, not hours).

Examples of excuses that are not reasonable include:

  • Buying paint and brushes, simply to redecorate a kitchen.
  • Driving for a prolonged period with only brief exercise.
  • A short walk to a park bench, when the person remains seated for a much longer period.
  • A person who can work from home choosing to work in a local park.
  • A person knocking on doors offering to do cash in-hand work.
  • Visiting a vet’s surgery in person to renew a prescription (where this could be done over the phone).
  • Visiting a friend in their address or meeting in public to socialise.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has put out this statement backing the decision to extend the lockdown. He said:

I fully support the government’s decision to extend the lockdown. ‬

The priority now must be to ensure we see a ramp up in testing, that staff get the PPE they desperately need and more is done to protect our care homes from the virus.

We also need clarity about what plans are being put in place to lift the lockdown when the time is right.

Q: Why are the death figures so high in the north-west?

Whitty says until recently the north-west was tracking some other parts of the country. Now new cases in the north-west are trending down.

He says quite a few of the cases in care homes have been in the north-west.

Q: If cases stay high in the north-west, could the lockdown be relaxed there more slowly?

Raab says the critical thing is to wait for the analysis from Sage.

Vallance says there is not a “huge variation” in timing across the country.

There is much more similarity than difference in terms of the time course and trajectory across the country.

That’s it. The press conference is over.

I’ll post a summary shortly.

Updated

Q: Is there a reckoning coming with China?

Raab says there needs to be a deep-down look at what caused the virus.

But this has also shown the importance of international cooperation, he says.

He says the UK has had very good cooperation from the Chinese in relation to the returns of Britons from Wuhan, and with the supply of equipment.

Q: So what does that mean?

Raab says the first thing is to establish what happened.

Updated

Q: Why are you so sure masks are of no use outside care settings? Could they be of use on London Underground? Is your view affected by the fact that there are not enough masks to go round?

Whitty says, if there was a tension between the need for healthcare workers to have masks and the need for members of the public to have them, healthcare workers should take priority.

But he says this is a live subject for discussion. Sage looked at it today, he says.

He says his view at the moment is that the case for masks being worn generally is “weak”. But the point about science is that the evidence changes, he says.

Updated

Q: Will there be a lot more deaths in care homes?

Vallance says the reproduction number may be below 1 in the community, but not below 1 in other settings, like some care homes.

Raab says there may have to be a “transition” out of the lockdown

Q: Prof Ferguson said today social distancing might have to last until a vaccine is found. Are you scared of discussing an exit strategy because there will be no real exit?

Raab says the government has been clear it will take the right decision at the right time. That could involve a “transition” out of the current measures, he says.

  • Raab says there may have to be a “transition” out of the lockdown, meaning rules could be relaxed one by one.

Vallance says he agrees that vaccines and therapeutics (medicines) are the way out.

He says the social distancing measures are needed to get the infection down.

At that point there may be decisions about what can be relaxed and what can’t.

That is not the same as saying what is in place now will have to be in place long-term, he says.

Updated

Q: Do you accept that the measures in place in care homes have been inadequate?

Raab says Matt Hancock, the health and social care secretary, is gripping this. He has published a plan.

Q: Are you confident that care homes are now getting all the support they need?

Raab says Care England welcomed what the government is doing. It wants to get the equipment and the testing in place.

Q: Have you modelled the number of indirect deaths we will see from the lockdown? Is there a point at which the number of deaths from this cause could outnumber the deaths from coronavirus?

Whitty says he has always stressed the need to consider indirect deaths.

There are four factors, he says: direct coronavirus deaths; indirect deaths through the NHS being overwhelmed, which has not happened or is not close; indirect deaths from other NHS treatments being delayed; and health effects of poverty.

He says Sage has been looking at this in detail.

Vallance, who chairs Sage, says at the moment there is no tension between health and the economy.

Q: The debate about what happens next is happening anyway. Is it sensible for the government to absent itself from this debate?

Raab says the government is not doing that. It is being open. But it does not want to pre-judge these decisions.

Updated

Q: Sky analysis shows 70% of health and care staff who have died from coronavirus were from a BAME background. What can you do about that?

Raab says the government wants to investigate this.

Whitty says it is critical to find out who is most at risk.

Three risk factors are very clear: age, having a disease such as cardiovascular disease, and being male.

He says being a member of an ethnic minority group is less clear as a risk factor.

He says he has been looking at this carefully. Public Health England is looking at it too.

But at this point in time, “this is not yet clear, in terms of ethnic minorities”.

Q: Are older people going to have to stay in doors for another year?

Raab says the government has not decided what will happen next. But its priority is to save lives.

It does not want to disadvantage older people; it wants to help them.

Vallance says the aim is very clear: to get the numbers down.

That will bring the R (reproduction number) down, but also the absolute number of cases down.

At that point you can decide what measures to relax, with a view to things moving towards normal.

He says it may be necessary to consider how you do that in a way that is safe.

Updated

Whitty says the ONS data about deaths gives an indication of excess mortality.

That has been changing, he says.

He says the excess mortality in the last week covered by the ONS was either 5,000 or 6,000, depending on what you compare it with.

He says during epidemics you get excess deaths from, for example, people staying at home when they are ill.

It is important for people to realise that, if they have a medical emergency, “the NHS is open for business”, he says.

People should contact the NHS if they have to, he says.

Updated

Q: What is happening to the antibody tests? Is it the case that they are not working, and so we don’t know how many people have had the virus?

Whitty says this information is very important.

He says a lot of work is going on, at Porton Down and elsewhere, on this.

A lot of people are working on this, he says.

But there are three problems.

First, there is not a good, accurate test yet.

Second, there is not a good sampling frame.

Third, it takes at least 21 days from infection for tests to be reliable.

But he says he thinks we will probably have a “crude ranging shot” (ie, an approximate figure for the number of people in the population who have been infected) fairly soon.

Raab says economy would suffer if lockdown lifted too early

Q: Can you give the public any indication of how long this will last? Are we looking at another three weeks or another three months?

Raab says at the outset the PM said it could take three months [for the tide to turn]. That is still the broad outlook, he says.

But he says it will take time.

Q: People have listened to the government’s guidance. So why can’t you share your thinking about what comes next?

Raab says the government has shared its thinking with the public. But it does not want to pre-judge the evidence. Sage is constantly reviewing the facts. It is an iterative process, he says.

We must stay the course. If we let up now ... it would be damaging for public health, but also damaging for the economy.

He says giving an artificial timescale would be “irresponsible”.

Updated

Vallance is presenting the daily slides.

The first covers transport use. It has gone down significantly, he says.

He says Sage considered the evidence and concluding the reproduction number was below 1. That means, for every one person with the virus, less than one new person is being infected.

He shows the slide for coronavirus cases in hospital. In some regions the number of people in hospital beds is decreasing.

Even small changes could lead to the R going above 1, he says. That could lead to the spread growing, and the risk of another peak.

At the moment it looks as if we are in a “good space”. The number of cases is stabilising, or coming down, he says.

Updated

Raab says the government must do what is right for the UK.

But he appreciates the impact of these measures are considerable, he says.

He says he “gets it” when it comes to the impact.

But he is also very conscious of the suffering of those who have lost loved ones, he says.

He says we have come too far to give up now.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, he says.

But if we rushed now, we would risk all the progress that has been made. And that could lead to a second outbreak, and a second lockdown.

He ends by urging people to stay home and save lives and help the NHS.

Now is not the moment to give the coronavirus a second chance.

Raab says the government could subsequently decide to relax the measures in some respects, while strengthening them in others.

He says he knows people want more clarity.

But it would not be right to prejudge the decisions being taken in the next few weeks, he says.

Raab identifies five things that will have to change before the measures can be relaxed.

Raab says lockdown will continue 'for at least next three weeks'

Raab starts by summarising what the government has been doing.

He reads out the latest data.

He says he chaired cabinet and Cobra. He says Sage, the scientific advisory group for emergencies, told them that some of the measures were effective, but that in some respects the picture was patchy.

He says they advised that relaxing the measures would lead to a resurgence of the virus. He says this would damage the economy.

So relaxing the measures would make the economic impact worse, not better, he says.

He says on that basis the government has decided the restrictions will remain in place.

  • Raab confirms lockdown measures staying in place “for at least the next three weeks”.

Dominic Raab's press conference

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, is starting his press conference now. Earlier he was chairing the Cobra emergency committee, deputising for Boris Johnson who is recovering from his illness at Chequers.

Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, are also here.

Just 1.72% of the social care workforce has had Covid-19 tests extended to themselves or a family member, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard has calculated following his questioning of Nicola Sturgeon at the virtual leaders’ Scottish parliament question time session this afternoon

The first minister said “just under 20% of the 12,300 health and care workers who have been tested are in the social care sector”. Leonard says that Scottish government estimates there are just under 143,000 people employed in adult social care services in Scotland, meaning the number tested is equivalent to just 1.72%.

Speaking after the session, Leonard said:

Staff absences have soared in the care sector, and families across Scotland are deeply worried about their relatives living and working in our care homes. It is deeply concerning that such a small proportion of social care staff have had tests extended to themselves or a family member.

More than half of prisons have coronavirus

More than half the prisons in England and Wales now have confirmed cases of coronavirus, the latest update from the Ministry of Justice shows.

As at 5pm on Wednesday, there were 232 prisoners who had tested positive for Covid-19 across 60 prisons. This was up 6% from the same time the previous day. Twelve prisoners are known to have contracted the virus and died.

There are 83,000 prisoners in England and Wales, across 117 prisons.

The number of prison staff who have tested positive for the coronavirus continues to rise at a faster rate than confirmed cases among inmates, with 96 prison staff testing positive across 38 prisons, up 17% from the previous day.

The number of infected prisoner escort and custody services (Pecs) staff increased by one to seven in the same period.

The Prison Service is to temporarily release up to 4,000 inmates who are within two months of their release date, as well as build 500 cells within the existing prison estate to increase single-cell occupancy.

The Cobra emergency committee meeting is over. Arlene Foster, the first minister of Northern Ireland, posted this on Twitter once it was over.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, is due to announce its conclusions at a press conference at 5pm.

According to snap polling from YouGov, 91% of Britons say they would support an extension to the lockdown measures, with a majority (67%) saying they would strongly support the measure. The results saw support across all three major parties and all regional and age groups.

Public Health Wales has announced 32 new deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed hospital deaths in Wales to 495. The total of confirmed cases in Wales has reached 6,401, a rise of 284, while 22,627 tests have been carried out.

A flag supporting the NHS is seen outside of a house in Sowerby Bridge today.
A flag supporting the NHS is seen outside of a house in Sowerby Bridge today. Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters

Supplies of PPE for Birmingham council 'desperately low', ministers told

Ian Ward, the Labour leader of Birmingham city council, has written an open letter to Matt Hancock, the health secretary, and Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, saying the city urgently needs more supplies of personal protective equipment. The letter is also signed by the Labour MP Liam Byrne and the Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell on behalf of the city’s MPs.

They say supplies of PPE for the city are running “desperately low”.

Dog owners using more rural routes in order to socially distance are being warned to act responsibly after a spate of attacks on deer and livestock across Scotland. There have been 13 dog attacks on deer in the past six weeks, while Police Scotland have recorded 25 livestock attacks in the past month.

Scottish SPCA chief superintendent Mike Flynn said:

As people are seeking more rural areas to walk their dogs due to the pandemic and social distancing, more people are venturing into the Scottish countryside. We are urging members of the public to keep their dogs on a lead at all times for contamination reasons but especially around farm animals as a dog’s natural instinct is to chase.

Meanwhile, the National Farmers’ Union Scotland has received over a hundred complaints from members since lockdown regarding irresponsible walkers. While guidance suggests that exercise should be taken close to home, many are stretching the definition to take advantage of nearby countryside as the weather gets warmer.

NFU Scotland, which has circulated a poster setting out good countryside behaviour for farmers and crofters to display, has heard reports of people walking through fields of cows with calves, ewes with lambs and pregnant animals, with their dogs off the lead. They have also heard reports of gates being left open, including one incident where Highland Pony stallions were allowed access to juvenile mares, and another where a farmer came across people playing golf in an arable field.

Updated

Healthcare workers should be screened for Covid-19 every week to protect patients from asymptomatic infection, the head of the Francis Crick Institute’s testing facility has said.

“For all our fuss about social distancing we’re ignoring one of the main routes of infection in front of our eyes,” said Prof Charles Swanton, who is leading the testing effort at the institute in London. “It’s almost untenable to argue you shouldn’t be screening and isolating healthcare workers.”

You can read the full story here –

The politics professor and Brexit specialist Simon Usherwood has posted a Twitter thread on that latest No 10 line on not extending the post-Brexit transition. It starts here.

Here is the BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler, on the thinking behind the government’s decision to rule out extending the Brexit transition - even if the EU requests that.

This is from Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England and the UK government’s chief medical adviser.

The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator has tweeted, reiterating the position outlined by the prime minister’s spokesperson in today’s lobby briefing – they will not agree to an extension of the transition period.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, has joined those praising the 99-year-old veteran Capt Tom Moore for his NHS fundraising achievement. Moore has now raised £13m for NHS charities by walking laps of his garden.

More than 200,000 people have now signed an online petition calling for Moore to receive a knighthood.

Updated

The housing secretary has announced that essential safety work to replace unsafe cladding on high-rise buildings will continue despite the Covid-19 emergency.

Robert Jenrick, along with the mayors of Greater Manchester, Sheffield city region, London, Liverpool city region and the West Midlands, have pledged their support to ensure vital safety work can continue as long as social distancing rules are being followed.

Last month the G15, made up of London’s largest housing associations, identified over 2,000 buildings needing to be rectified in the capital alone.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has pledged £1bn to pay for the removal and replacement of unsafe cladding for high-rise buildings, following the Grenfell tragedy.

Updated

Shoppers following social distancing rules today as they queue outside a Tesco supermarket in Kensington, London.
Shoppers following social distancing rules today as they queue outside a Tesco supermarket in Kensington, London. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

UK hospital coronavirus deaths rise by another 861, taking total to 13,729

The Department for Health and Social Care has issued the latest daily figures for coronavirus hospital deaths in the UK. There were 861, taking the running total to 13,729.

Yesterday the daily figure was 761, but Prof Chris Whitty, the UK government’s chief medical adviser, said in the press conference yesterday afternoon that he expected today’s figure to be higher.

There is more information about today’s figures here.

Updated

Scotland’s makar, or poet laureate, Jackie Kay, has written a paean of praise to key workers titled, simply, Essential.

Her poem begins:

Up, doon, the length of our land -

Aberfeldy, Ardnamurchan -

There’s uplift, sharing; pass the baton!

A frontline forming, hand to fierce hand.

Kay says that she wrote the piece as a “huge, big thank you” to those working on the frontline in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

Updated

A banner thanking NHS and Key workers outside a house in Anfield, Liverpool, today.
A banner thanking NHS and Key workers outside a house in Anfield, Liverpool, today. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters

There have been another 18 coronavirus deaths in Northern Ireland, taking the total in the region to 158, according to the latest daily bulletin (pdf) from its Public Health Agency.

Updated

The organisers of Download have announced the event will be transformed into a “virtual festival” after it was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The three-day rock festival, which takes place at Donington Park in Leicestershire, had been scheduled to take place from 12 to 14 June.

Instead, music, interviews, and unseen performances by some of the artists who were due to perform will be streamed over the weekend instead.

A full line-up is yet to be announced by organisers, but bands including Iron Maiden, Kiss and System of a Down had been due to headline this year.

Updated

The home secretary has agreed a date to appear before MPs after a row with the chair of an influential parliamentary committee was aired in public.

Priti Patel has told the home affairs select committee, chaired by Yvette Cooper, she will give evidence to a hearing online on 29 April.

The offer comes after the select committee last week published a tranche of correspondence between Patel and Cooper, revealing an increasingly acrimonious dialogue between the two politicians, culminating in the home secretary warning she was becoming “disappointed at the increasingly adversarial tone of our exchanges”.

It emerged Cooper had written to Patel six times - most recently in a letter issued on 8 April - in an attempt to fix a date for the home secretary to give evidence in public to the committee.

In the most recent correspondence from Patel, published today, the home secretary said:

I want to assure you that I am committed to ensuring the Home Office is better open to scrutiny and transparency – hence my offer of regular briefings for you and your committee.

During this national crisis I am conscious of the need to give Home Office members of staff the time and space they need to carry out their essential duty of keeping the British public safe.

The committee has been pressing Patel to provide evidence since the end of January, during which time the secretary of state has been accused of belittling officials and presiding over an “atmosphere of fear” at the Home Office.

Ibuprofen can be taken to treat Covid-19, experts have said – the latest twist in the debate about the use of such drugs to tackle symptoms of coronavirus infection.

The Commission on Human Medicines’ expert working group on coronavirus has said that at present there is simply not enough evidence to link ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to contracting Covid-19 or the worsening of symptoms. The report says:

Patients can take paracetamol or ibuprofen when self-medicating for symptoms of Covid-19, such as fever and headache, and should follow NHS advice if they have any questions or if symptoms get worse.

Ibuprofen has previously been found to increase the severity of certain diseases, such as chicken pox, but is used to lower temperatures in conditions such as flu.

The question of whether ibuprofen could exacerbate Covid-19 was raised last month when the French health ministry recommended against the use of anti-inflammatory medications including ibuprofen for treatment of Covid-19 after reports that four people – without underlying health conditions – had taken these drugs and were experiencing worse symptoms.

In the days that followed, the WHO maintained that it did not recommend against the use of ibuprofen, while the NHS came under fire for continuing to recommend either paracetamol or ibuprofen for those with symptoms of Covid-19. It subsequently shifted its stance, saying that while there was little evidence that ibuprofen made symptoms worse, it recommended paracetamol instead.

At present the NHS website still says: “There is currently no strong evidence that ibuprofen can make coronavirus (Covid-19) worse. But until we have more information, take paracetamol to treat the symptoms of coronavirus, unless your doctor has told you paracetamol is not suitable for you.”

Paracetamol sold out in some Pharmacies as the UK adjusted to life during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Paracetamol sold out in some pharmacies as the UK adjusted to life during the coronavirus pandemic. Photograph: Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images

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740 more people die in England

A further 740 people who tested positive for the coronavirus have died, NHS England has announced, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 12,396.

The patients were aged between 28 and 103 years old. Forty of the 740 patients – aged between 45 and 93 years old – had no known underlying health condition.

The full details are here (pdf). Yesterday the equivalent figure announced for England was 651.

Updated

In this issue of the Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast (which is currently published three days a week), science and health reporter Nicola Davis speaks to Dr Jenna Macciochi about something lots of listeners have written about; immunity to Covid-19. While the jury is still out, we hear how our bodies gain immunity to something and how immunity to other pathogens might give us clues about Sars-Cov-2.

The Duke of Cambridge today opened Birmingham’s Nightingale hospital – built inside the NEC exhibition centre in just eight days – and praised NHS workers for their “selfless commitment”.

Prince William, who performed the official opening via video-link, said the temporary field hospital was a wonderful example of people pulling together during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recognising the hard-working staff who made the project a reality, he said “hospitals are about the people not the bricks”.

With 500 beds already installed, it is the second of the seven planned Nightingale NHS facilities.

People observe social distancing as a giant screen displays Prince William, during the official opening of the NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham
People observe social distancing as a giant screen displays Prince William, during the official opening of the NHS Nightingale hospital in Birmingham. Photograph: Jacob King/AFP via Getty Images

Addressing the 50 healthcare, military and civilian personnel – all socially distancing – William said:

The building you are standing in is yet another example of how people across the country have risen to this unprecedented challenge.

The Nightingale hospitals will rightly go down as landmarks in the history of the NHS.

I know that the Nightingale Birmingham will provide invaluable resources for hospitals from miles and miles around.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, also speaking over video-link, said the hospital would create vital extra NHS capacity. “I’m glad to say that the huge efforts of the people of the West Midlands and across the country appear to be now working,” he said.

Updated

NHS chiefs in Wales have expressed concern that people who are seriously ill with conditions other than Covid-19 may be staying away from hospital or GP surgeries.

The number of people attending A&E departments in Wales is 60% of the figure from this time last year and the number of patients attending GP surgeries is 20-25% down.

The NHS Wales chief executive, Andrew Goodall, said:

I’m concerned that people may not be seeking medical help for illnesses and symptoms not related to Covid-19. Some people may be waiting too long to seek urgent assessment and treatment.

Goodall said 46% of hospital beds in Wales were empty and 49% of its critical care beds available. There are 1,335 people in hospital in Wales with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. Staff absences are around double what they normally would be at this time of year – at 9%.

He said the field hospital set up at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff had yet to treat a patient because the existing NHS capacity was coping.

Asked at the daily Welsh government press conference if the peak had been reached in Wales, he replied:

There are encouraging signs. There are lots of unknown elements about how this virus develops. We hope it’s possible we may be seeing some stabilisation soon but I think it’s too early to call whether that is the peak of the curve and whether there may be some other times during the course of the year where we may see some of this curve up here again.

Updated

Health Secretary Matt Hancock speaks via videolink as he officially opens the NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham, in the National Exhibition Centre (NEC).
Health Secretary Matt Hancock speaks via videolink as he officially opens the NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham, in the National Exhibition Centre (NEC). Photograph: Jacob King/AP

MPs to be able to quiz ministers via Zoom

The House of Commons authorities have agreed proposals that would enable MPs to quiz ministers via Zoom.

Approval has been given to allow up to 120 MPs at any one time take part in proceedings virtually, while only up to around 50 could remain in the chamber under strict social distancing rules.

All MPs would be encouraged to work virtually and any MP sitting in the chamber would be treated the same as one appearing remotely, and would only be called to speak if listed.

The measures still need the approval of MPs when they return from their extended Easter recess at 14.30 on 21 April.

The plan was drawn up at great speed by the House of Commons Commission – on which the Speaker, leader and shadow leader of the house and an SNP spokesperson sit – and is designed to be “an achievable first step towards a virtual parliament”.

The Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, said:

By initiating a hybrid solution, with steps towards an entirely virtual parliament, we are enabling members to stay close to their communities, while continuing their important work scrutinising the government.

I do not want members and house staff putting themselves at risk. By working virtually, this is our contribution to the guidance of stay home, protect the NHS and save lives.

A number of screens will be placed around the chamber to allow the Speaker and MPs present in the chamber to see their “virtual” colleagues.

The commission decided that if an MP was called “but cannot be heard or seen for technological reasons, it should be possible for them to be called later in the proceedings and that there can be no opportunity for interventions and no points of order should be raised when hybrid proceedings are under way”.

Once the working of the “hybrid proceedings” are judged satisfactory and sustainable, the House Service will work to extend the model to debates on motions and legislation as quickly as possible. They will also decide on any change to a system of remote voting.

The National Cyber Security Centre has advised that, for public parliamentary proceedings, the use of Zoom is appropriate, if the installation and the use of the service is carefully managed.

A person wearing a face mask walks along the Thames River past the Palace of Westminster.
A person wearing a face mask walks along the Thames River past the Palace of Westminster. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

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Downing Street lobby briefing - Summary

And here is a full summary of what was said at the Downing Street lobby briefing.

  • Downing Street claimed that the coronavirus crisis strengthened the need for the UK to be free of EU regulation after 2020. The prime minister’s spokesman made that argument as he said the UK would refuse to extend the post-Brexit transition - even if the EU requested an extension. (See 1.12pm.)
  • The spokesman strongly hinted that some social distancing measures could remain in force for potentially months - or even longer. (See 12.57pm.)
  • The spokesman claimed Britain now has the capacity to carry out more than 35,000 coronavirus tests a day. NHS laboratories could do about 20,000 a day, and the rest could be carried out in commercial laboratories, the spokesman said. But he said the most recent figure for the number of tests carried out was 15,994 in the 24-hour period up to 9am yesterday. Asked why the government was testing less than half the number of people it could test, the spokesman said capacity was being build all the time, and the reasons testing had been flat was because of a lack of demand, not a lack of capacity. He said the long bank holiday weekend was a factor.
  • The spokesman said the pledge to carry out 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month applied to tests that would be carried out, not test capacity.
  • The spokesman said a review would take place into why people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds appear to be disproportionately affected by coronavirus.

The prime minister has been clear about the debt of gratitude that we all owe the NHS workforce. Our thoughts are with anyone who has lost a loved one to coronavirus, including NHS staff who have died protecting others from this disease.

The NHS is doing a fantastic job and the nation will want to find a way to say thank you once we have defeated this virus.

  • The spokesman said that Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, will lead this afternoon’s press conference, alongside Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser. It is due to start at 5pm.
  • The spokesman said that Boris Johnson is still not working and still continuing his recovery at Chequers. The spokesman said he had nothing to add to previous updates. Asked if the PM would be taking part in the Clap for Carers moment this evening, the spokesman said the PM would be expressing his thanks, but that he would not be appearing for the media.
10 Downing Street.
10 Downing Street. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

Price of high-demand food in UK rises sharply

The price of high-demand food and sanitary products has risen sharply in online shops over the past month as the coronavirus crisis mounts, according to official figures.

In an early sign of rising living costs across Britain during the pandemic, prices in a basket of high demand products compiled by the Office for National Statistics, which includes long-life food, toilet roll and cleaning products, increased by 4.4% since just before lockdown measures began a month ago.

Prices rose by 1.8% in the last week alone, driven by soaring pet food prices and a sharp increase in the cost of rice, nappies and handwash.

Guardian economics correspondent Richard Partington has the full report here –

The Guardian’s defence editor reports that 13,000 members of the armed forces are absent because of coronavirus. The shadow defence secretary earlier called for protections for soldiers helping with the efforts to tackle the virus (11.42am).

You can read the full story here –

Updated

No 10 claims coronavirus crisis strengthens need for UK to be free of EU regulation after 2020

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesman also significantly toughened the UK’s stance on Brexit. The government has always ruled out requesting an extension to the post-Brexit transition period, and it has stuck to that position even though coronavirus has made it increasingly hard to see how the UK and the EU will be able to conclude a trade deal by the end of this year when crisis management is a full-time job and officials cannot even meet in the same room to carry out the negotiation.

But, as James Forsyth, the Spectator’s political editor reports this week, there has been speculation that the EU itself could request an extension of the transition. One theory was that it would be hard for the UK to refuse.

But the UK would refuse such a request, the spokesman said this morning. He told journalists:

We will not ask to extend the transition. And, if the EU asks, we will say no. Extending the transition would simply prolong the negotiations, prolong business uncertainty, and delay the moment of control of our borders. It would also keep us bound by EU legislation at a point when we need legislative and economic flexibility to manage the UK response to the coronavirus pandemic.

What is also interesting about this comment is that it shows No 10 is now arguing that coronavirus strengthens the case for the UK to break away from regulatory alignment with the EU. Opposing regulatory alignment could end up with the UK having to negotiate with the EU on WTO terms (what used to be called a “no-deal” Brexit), although of course the government says it wants a Canada-style trade deal.

Updated

EasyJet may keep middle seats empty to follow physical distancing rules once coronavirus travel restrictions are lifted, its chief executive has said.

Kalyeena Makortoff reports that Johan Lundgren said it was one of the options being explored as the low-cost airline starts planning for flights to resume, following the grounding of EasyJet’s entire fleet on 30 March. The chief executive said a drop in passenger demand would make it easier to keep middle seats empty when travel restrictions are eased.

Furloughed workers must get at least minimum wage, says GMB

The GMB union has called on the government to make sure furloughed workers are paid at least minimum wage rates.

The government’s current guidance states that “furloughed workers who are not working can be paid the lower of 80% of their salary or £2,500 even if, based on their usual working hours, this would be below their appropriate minimum wage”.

The GMB’s general secretary said this was already causing “significant hardship”, and was a violation of the National Minimum Wage Act. He called on the government to amend the scheme ahead of the opening of HMRC’s claims portal next Monday.

Tim Roache said:

It is a moral outrage to pay workers less than the minimum wage. Instead of hiding behind a legal loophole, ministers must ensure that all furloughed workers continue to receive minimum wage rates at the very least.

Failure to do so is already causing unnecessary and significant hardship for many low-paid workers. It is not too late to change course. GMB calls on the Chancellor to act urgently and remedy this serious flaw in the job retention scheme.

GMB General Secretary Tim Roache.
The GMB general secretary, Tim Roache. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

Updated

No 10 suggests some social distancing measures may remain in force for months

The Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished. The prime minister’s spokesman deflected a lot of questions by telling reporters to wait until the press conference this afternoon, but he also strongly hinted that some social distancing measures would remain in force for potentially months - or even longer.

Asked if the government agreed with what Prof Neil Ferguson told the Today programme this morning about how a significant element of social distancing might have to remain until a vaccine is available (see 8.07am), the spokesman said:

The position of the government is that we will be guided by scientific and expert advice in deciding what measures to keep in place and that we will make the right decisions at the right point in time.

It was then put to the spokesman that this implied that some form of social distancing would remain in place for many, many months. Was that fair? The spokesman replied:

My answer on this is not going to change at this point in time, which is that we will be guided by the scientific and expert advice.

And, to repeat - we must not undo all of the progress which has been made so far by releasing the social distancing measures too soon.

If No 10 is saying that it will be “guided by scientific and expert advice”, it is worth stressing that Ferguson is the scientific and expert advice - or at least a big component of it. Scientists do not always agree with each other, but Ferguson is a member of Sage, the scientific advisory group on emergencies, and he heads the team at Imperial College that produced the coronavirus modelling that persuaded the government to impose the lockdown in the first place.

In the report (pdf) that prompted Boris Johnson to announce the lockdown, Ferguson and his team said the “suppression” strategy would have to remain in place for potentially 18 months. They said:

The major challenge of suppression is that this type of intensive intervention package – or something equivalently effective at reducing transmission – will need to be maintained until a vaccine becomes available (potentially 18 months or more) – given that we predict that transmission will quickly rebound if interventions are relaxed. We show that intermittent social distancing – triggered by trends in disease surveillance – may allow interventions to be relaxed temporarily in relative short time windows, but measures will need to be reintroduced if or when case numbers rebound.

And this morning Ferguson said:

It’s not going to be going back to normal. We will have to maintain some form of social distancing, a significant level of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available.

Updated

On Tuesday we told the story of Wren Hall nursing home in Nottinghamshire, where the manager, Anita Astle, expressed her anguish at losing 10 of her 26 residents to confirmed or suspected coronavirus in the space of just a few weeks.

There has been some good news since then, reports Robert Booth, the Guardian’s social affairs correspondent. There have been no further fatalities and while 13 people remain in isolation, one person has just come out, Astle said on Thursday.

But just as heartening has been the response to our coverage which on Wednesday saw the local community lay on a buffet lunch for the carers, while deliveries of essential personal protective equipment arrived from nurses at the nearby Nottingham University hospitals. They donated a consignment of masks, face shields and gloves. Health colleagues at King’s Mill hospital also sent hampers of food, in what Astle described as a moving display of solidarity after the home’s plight was revealed.

Finally, the actor Miriam Margolyes, an ambassador for Age UK, recorded a video message to cheer up the staff. Earlier in the week Astle told us staff were feeling “broken inside”. Things are looking up, for now, and the home has had a good 24 hours, she said.

Anita Astle, managing director, Wren Hall nursing home, Nottinghamshire
Anita Astle, managing director, Wren Hall nursing home, Nottinghamshire. Photograph: Credit: Anita Astle

Updated

Sturgeon announces 80 more deaths in Scotland

Ahead of this afternoon’s Cobra meeting, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has taken part in a virtual first minister’s question time.

She confirmed a further 80 deaths, taking the running total to 779, and 7,102 positive tests, an increase of 354.

She made it clear that the Cobra decision was unlikely to change the current restrictions, stating that she would “not begin to do so until I am convinced we have done as much as is necessary to suppress the virus”.

Updated

Situation in UK "tempers positive signals" in Europe, says WHO

The UK is among a handful of countries singled out by the World Health Organization (WHO) for having “tempered” the “positive signals” that Europe is passing the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak.

During the body’s weekly Europe briefing on Thursday morning, Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, described how “the storm cloud” of Covid-19 “still hangs heavily over the European region”. And the UK was one of a handful of countries he singled-out for providing an antidote to optimism elsewhere among the 53 members in the WHO’s European region.

Of the 10 countries in the region with the highest numbers of cases, there have been optimistic signs in terms of the climbing numbers in Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland in recent weeks.

But small positive signals in some countries are tempered by sustained or increased levels of incidents in other countries, including in the UK, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Dr Kluge said the number of positive coronavirus cases reported in Europe “nearly doubled in 10 days” to nearly 1 million, accounting for around half of all cases reported worldwide. He added:

The next few weeks will be critical for Europe. Make no mistake - despite the spring weather, we are in the middle of a storm.

Updated

The Old Vic will need to launch a “critical and major fundraising campaign” in the future as it undergoes a process of rebuilding, according to the theatre’s artistic director.

PA Media quotes Matthew Warchus saying the money would need to be raised to ensure the London venue could “continue operating with the creative daring and vibrant social mission that we are determined for”.

Warchus said audiences would play “a significant part in supporting our return” after the coronavirus lockdown by buying tickets for future scheduled performances.

We are a charity which operates with no government funding as a safety net and rely instead entirely on ticket sales and donations.

He said it was “not unreasonable” to think the theatre may be open by November, when it is due to stage a production of A Christmas Carol, which has been adapted by Jack Thorne.

The Old Vic has postponed its summer production of the musical Local Hero and is working to organise new dates for the postponed run of Amy Herzog’s play 4000 Miles, which stars Timothee Chalamet and Eileen Atkins.

A poster for the postponed Old Vic theatre production, 4000 Miles.
A poster for the postponed Old Vic theatre production, 4000 Miles. Photograph: Old Vic

Updated

The chancellor has congratulated Capt Tom Moore, who has raised more than £13m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden. He paid tribute to his “true Yorkshire grit”.

Updated

Pupils in England will receive their examination results as planned this summer, with A-level grades published on 13 August, and GCSEs a week later on 20 August.

There had been speculation that the dates would change as a result of the cancellation of exams this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the Department for Education has confirmed results dates will remain the same.

The school standards minister, Nick Gibb, said: “I am pleased to confirm that GCSE and A-level students will still receive their exam results as planned this summer, on Thursday 20 August and Thursday 13 August respectively. I want to thank all those who are helping to make this happen despite the challenges we are facing.

“We know that this is an important milestone for students, parents and teachers and so I hope this news will provide them with some reassurance and clarity.”

Instead of exams, results will now be calculated based on a combination of teacher assessment, class ranking and the past performance of their schools.

Updated

The Green Lane Masjid in Birmingham was among the first to shut its doors to worshippers after the coronavirus outbreak, well before large gatherings were banned in the UK. But their work at the centre of the community continued, expanded and evolved.

Guardian video producer Richard Sprenger has spoken with Saleem Ahmed, the head of welfare at the mosque, about the changes they have made to continue to serve their local community, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

People on a mostly-empty beach in Margate this morning, as the coronavirus lockdown continues.
People on a mostly-empty beach in Margate this morning, as the coronavirus lockdown continues. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

A medical ventilator to help Covid-19 patients breathe has been granted regulatory approval, meaning hundreds could be rolled out to hospitals from next week. The Cabinet Office press notice with details of the announcement is here, and here is the full story from our colleague Rob Davies.

Firefighters are working 12-hour day and night shifts to remove the bodies of those who have died of coronavirus from hospitals, care homes, and private properties in one of the hardest hit parts of the UK.

A “body movement team” is made up of firefighters from West Midlands fire service (WMFS) with experience and training to move bodies from their work as frontline emergency workers.

“We hoped that it would never come to this, but there are now a considerable number of casualties in the West Midlands and firefighters are ready to step up and assist with the movement of bodies,” said Andrew Scattergood, West Midlands regional secretary of the Fire Brigades’ Union (FBU).

Almost a quarter of all deaths across the West Midlands have been attributed to coronavirus, according to figures released this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Some 529 who died in the first week of April were victims of the virus, out of 1,812 people who died.

Training and health and safety arrangements for firefighters undertaking the work were put in place after a national agreement was reached between the union, fire chiefs and service employers.

Those involved have all volunteered to do the work and will have appropriate training and personal protective equipment, including a face mask with a reusable respirator designed for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) response.

The team have also undergone psychological readiness training covering emotional resilience, welfare, compassion fatigue, and burnout. There will be 24/7 support available from West Midlands fire service.

Updated

Labour calls for more protection for armed forces

The new shadow defence secretary, John Healey, has written to the defence secretary Ben Wallace to call for new measures to protect armed forces personnel from coronavirus.

He argues that the armed forces are increasingly playing a major role in the UK’s response to the pandemic, including supporting the NHS, local community efforts and performing coronavirus testing. The Ministry of Defence has created a 23,000-strong Covid Support Force, which could be used for further frontline support in settings such as hospitals and prisons.

Healey is calling for the following measures:

  • Testing armed forces personnel and publishing the results as other countries are doing, with priority given to the Covid Support Force.
  • Postponing large-scale training exercises where these cannot be done safely, to prevent outbreaks that other country’s armed forces have experienced.
  • Ensuring support for deployed personnel including full PPE for frontline staff in the UK, withdrawal from non-essential overseas postings to places where it is easier to protect personnel and urgent provision of adequate medical supplies to deal with any coronavirus outbreak.

US and French navy ships have recently experienced coronavirus outbreaks, with the first US death on active duty reported on Monday. Yet, as Healey points out, one of the UK’s two flagship aircraft carriers, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, is reportedly due to set sail on a training exercise later this month.

The US is one of the countries to publish aggregate data on testing of military personnel. The MoD does not currently do this.

John Healey said:

Coronavirus is showing again how our armed forces help keep us safe. It is vital the government does everything it can to keep them safe too.

Ministers should step up measures to protect military personnel from coronavirus, including making testing available and publishing the results, postponing large-scale training events wherever needed and supporting personnel deployed overseas.

John Healey, shadow secretary of state for defence
John Healey, shadow secretary of state for defence. Photograph: Richard Gardner/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

We have already covered some of the lines from Matt Hancock’s round of morning interviews today: Hancock saying that returning to normal is “not likely in the short term” (see 10.08am), and his explanation as to why the government won’t discuss its exit strategy yet (see 8.41am).

(My colleagues Rowena Mason and Heather Stewart have an alternative explanation as to why ministers won’t talk about the exit strategy; as they report, there isn’t one yet.)

Here are some other lines from Hancock’s interviews.

Everybody needs to do their bit, and the way I am doing my bit is working every hour God sends.

Pressed on taking a pay cut, he said:

I’m not proposing to do that, but what I am proposing to do is work every hour that there is.

  • He defended the decision not to routinely test people arriving in the UK at airports. Only around 15,000 people a day were flying into the country, he said. He went on:

At the current rate of transmission here, the scientists say that the epidemiological impact of keeping the travel open is very small, because there’s already large transmission here.

  • He claimed that the government now has the capacity to carry out 25,000 coronavirus tests a day. He said:

In the middle of March, we expected the rate to be, in around four weeks, at around 25,000. That is what our capacity is today.

At his news conference yesterday Hancock denied promising that 25,000 tests a day would be carried out by the middle of April (now). Four weeks ago his department issued press releases implying that this is what would happen, although you could argue that the small print of the press releases means the timetable only applied to testing capacity, not actual number of tests carried out. The latest figures for tests show just 16,000 tests a day taking place. Asked why it was not more if the government had the capacity to carry out 25,000 tests a day, Hancock replied:

We have increased the capacity, over the Easter weekend far fewer people came forward to be tested frankly than we expected.

Hence, yesterday, I could say that all social care staff who needed to be tested can be tested, and residents in social care and people coming from hospital to social care, precisely because we have got that capacity.

We’ve increased the capacity and that is on a trajectory to get to the 100,000 by the end of the month.

  • He said there had been 27 verified deaths of NHS staff with coronavirus. This morning the Nursing Notes website has lists 56 health and social care workers who have died with coronavirus on its online memorial.

Billboards in Kensington, London, promoting tonight’s Clap for our Carers event.
Billboards in Kensington, London, promoting tonight’s Clap for our Carers event. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, told the BBC this morning that Labour believed a three-week extension of the lockdown would be “reasonable”. He said:

We would expect the lockdown to continue, we would support that, I actually called for a lockdown before the government introduced one.

But we also want more details from the government about what happens next.

I mean, last night the junior health minister Nadine Dorries [see 9.02am] was complaining on Twitter saying that people shouldn’t be asking about an exit strategy because there’s no exit strategy until we get a vaccine.

Well that could be 18 months away so if the government are saying we’re in lockdown for 18 months they probably need to tell us.

And I would argue that the best way to come out of lockdown or to manage a way out of lockdown is to move to a testing and contact-tracing strategy.

Ashworth’s call for the development of an extensive contract-tracing system echoes what the government adviser Prof Neil Ferguson was saying this morning. Ferguson said a “small army” of people would need to be hired to carry out this work. (See 8.07am.)

Updated

The Institute of Directors is calling for urgent clarification on what activities company directors can carry out while furloughed, saying government advice is “conflicting”. As PA Media reports, the IoD said information published on Wednesday by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was more restrictive than guidance available online. It appears to prevent a furloughed director, where no other director is available, from undertaking basic tasks such as paying suppliers or administering the furloughing of other employees, said the IoD.

Roger Barker, head of corporate governance at the IoD, said:

This new guidance appears to raise a whole host of unintended consequences. It’s hard to believe the government has thought through the implications for small companies with only one or two directors.

If the intention is to help keep businesses afloat during the lockdown, directors must be able to continue working while furloughed, to try and get their company off life support.

Updated

An ONS survey of more than 5,000 businesses found that 25% of them said that they had temporarily closed or paused trading. Of those who are still trading, 21% said they were furloughing staff, under the terms of the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme, and 41% said they were reducing staffing levels in the short term.

The ONS says responses to the survey were voluntarily, and therefore the findings might not be representative of business as a whole.

Analysis: men twice as likely to die from coronavirus

Men were twice as likely to have died of coronavirus than women in March, according to an analysis of deaths registered in England and Wales, according to ONS statistics.

Men were twice as likely to have died of coronavirus than women in March

Men had a significantly higher rate of death due to Covid-19, double the rate of women, and were more likely to die from the disease across all affected age groups.

A total of 3,912 deaths involving coronavirus were registered in the month of March. In 86% of these cases it was found to be the underlying cause of death.

At 3,372 deaths, Covid-19 was the third-highest cause of death, accounting for 7% of all fatalities. Only dementia and Alzheimer disease, which accounted for 14% of all deaths, and heart disease at 9% caused more deaths.

The ONS found that the mortality rate in England was significantly higher than in Wales, at 69.7 deaths per 100,000 people compared with 44.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

The figures exclude some deaths involving Covid-19 which occurred in March which have not yet been registered.

Updated

Returning to normal 'not likely in short term', says Hancock

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has been doing the rounds this morning, and has told Sky that it will take time for life to return to normal.

He stressed the number of deaths is still “far too high” for any exit strategy to be set out, adding the public must instead focus on staying at home.

On Wednesday night, the health minister Nadine Dorries tweeted that journalists should stop asking about an exit strategy.She said:

There is only one way we can ‘exit’ full lockdown and that is when we have a vaccine. Until then, we need to find ways we can adapt society and strike a balance between the health of the nation and our economy.

Hancock told Sky News:

I think what Nadine was saying is the idea that we’ll immediately ... we’ll just switch off all of the measures and return to some kind of ... to things exactly as they were - that is not likely in the short term.

He added:

The point that Nadine was making is that we will not be returning to some ... just straight back exactly how things were before. This will take time.

Matt Hancock.
Matt Hancock. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Majority of Britons think life will return to normal within six months, survey suggests

According to some of the findings from the ONS wellbeing research, a majority of Britons think life will return to normal within six months. Only just over 10% of people think that it will take more than a year.

Survey on when people think life will return to normal
Survey on when people think life will return to normal. Photograph: ONS

People may be in for a shock. Prof Neil Ferguson, one of the government’s most influential advisers on coronavirus (see 8.07am), and Nadine Dorries, a health minister, (see 9.02am) have both said some social distancing measures are likely to remain in place until a coronavirus vaccine is available - which many experts believe could be up to 18 months away.

Updated

Powerful story in the Manchester Evening News today, which highlights how some people have been plunged into destitution as a result of the lockdown:

Ashley Khan and Katie Bland had been homeless before but a few weeks ago were living in a shared house in Bolton and 37-year-old Ashley was earning a wage working as a painter and decorator.

Then, the pandemic began and his job disappeared, leaving the pair with no way to pay their rent and no other choice but to go back to the streets.

Khan said:

I was working, but the coronavirus situation happened and that led me to being unemployed. I had given my landlord money but once that was eaten away they gave us a notice and said we had to go.

Because the weather is OK we came out and we decided to get a tent. I had a little money left from my wages and we started camping in the wild areas of Bolton.

We don’t do drugs and we’re not alcoholics we’re just living in the woods at the moment in Rivington. Times are hard, we’ve got no food.

Updated

Nearly half adults reporting high levels of anxiety, ONS coronavirus study finds

Here are the main findings from the ONS survey looking at coronavirus and well-being. The ONS says:

Over 4 in 5 adults in Great Britain (84.2%) said they were very worried or somewhat worried about the effect that the coronavirus (Covid-19) is having on their life right now.

Just over half of adults (53.1%) said it was affecting their wellbeing.

Nearly half of adults (46.9%) reported high levels of anxiety.

Just over 1 in 5 adults (22.9%) said it was affecting their household finances.

Updated

Interesting polling from the Institute for Public Policy Research and YouGov released this morning, which surveyed healthcare workers’ perceptions of their safety and whether the government is doing enough to protect them with PPE and testing.

The top lines are:

  • 72% of health workers are dissatisfied with government actions on prevention and testing.
  • One in three health workers say their physical health has got worse since the crisis began.
  • The general public overwhelmingly support government going further – 96%.
  • In London, where the Covid-19 outbreak has been worst, over 80% of healthcare professionals felt too little has been done.

The polling covered 996 healthcare professionals across the whole UK, and in all roles – including nurses, midwives, doctors, allied health professionals and managers, among others.

Chris Thomas, IPPR health research fellow, said:

The bravery and commitment of healthcare professionals in the face of the Covid-19 crisis is clear to see. But the health workers we all rely on have been put at needless risk. That almost a third feel their health has declined in the last eight weeks is entirely unacceptable.

Just as you wouldn’t send an army into battle without body armour, hardworking health workers shouldn’t be forced to work without adequate protection.

Our new polling shows they feel government have failed in their duty to protect the UK’s most vital workers. The government must now do everything in their power to manufacture and distribute the right supplies to everyone working in health and care who needs them.

Updated

The Office for National Statistics has this morning published four coronavirus-related reports. They are:

An analysis of coronavirus-related deaths in England and Wales in March

An analysis explaining how it is decided if those who died had pre-existing conditions

A survey looking at the impact of coronavirus on business

A report on the social impacts of coronavirus

We will be looking at their findings in detail shortly.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, arriving at No 10 this morning when, in his role deputising for the PM, he will be chairing cabinet before taking part in a G7 conference call and then chairing Cobra.
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, arriving at No 10 this morning when, in his role deputising for the PM, he will be chairing cabinet before taking part in a G7 conference call and then chairing Cobra. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The Welsh government has announced that it is extending a scheme offering free mental health support for doctors to cover all frontline healthcare workers.

Agenda for the day

Here are the timings of the key events coming up today.

9.30am: The Office for National Statistics publishes more analysis relating to coronavirus deaths.

11am: Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, chairs cabinet, in the absence of Boris Johnson, who is still recovering from his illness at Chequers.

12pm: Downing Street lobby briefing.

1.30pm: Raab represents the UK in a G7 conference call, or “virtual summit”.

3.30pm: Raab chairs a meeting of Cobra, the government’s emergency committee, to approve the decision to extend the lockdown.

Around 5pm: Raab holds the government’s daily press conference.

IMF boss calls for Brexit transition to be extended

The UK and EU should “not add to uncertainty” from coronavirus by refusing to extend the period to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

Its managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, told the BBC that because of the “unprecedented uncertainty” it would be “wise not to add more on top of it”.

Asked if she would advise an extension to trade talks, Georgieva said:

My advice would be to seek ways in which this element of uncertainty is reduced in the interests of everybody, the UK, the EU, and the whole world.

The UK formally left the EU on 31 January, but it remains in a transition period up to 31 December - by which time an EU-UK trade deal is supposed to be in place.

Updated

Some elements of lockdown will have to stay until vaccine available, health minister warns

This morning Prof Neil Ferguson, the Imperial College epidemiologist whose coronavirus research directly led to the government introducing the lockdown, said that even when it starts to relax, “we will have to maintain some form of social distancing, a significant level of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available.” (See 8.07am.)

That is not something Downing Street or people at the top of government have said but last night Nadine Dorries, a junior health minister, made exactly the same point on Twitter.

Updated

Three major UK chains have said they will reopen a limited number of their restaurants for deliveries.

Restaurants and pubs have been allowed to remain open for deliveries or takeaways under government guidance but many chains decided to close when the lockdown began on 23 March.

  • Burger King is to reopen four restaurants as part of a phased re-opening of more restaurants in the coming weeks: two in Bristol, one in Coventry, and one in Swindon, with a pared-down menu. It says it will also donate 1,000 meals per week to NHS staff in nearby hospitals.
  • KFC has reopened 11 UK restaurants for delivery only in the past week in Aldershot, Birmingham, Glasgow, Ipswich, London, Manchester, Portsmouth, Stockport, and Tamworth. It said it has donated “thousands” of meals to frontline workers.
  • Ten Pret a Manger stores near hospitals in London are due to open from today. The chain says it will donate an additional 7,000 meals per week to homeless charities, and offer NHS workers a 50% discount until the end of the month. Pret’s chief executive officer, Pano Christou, wrote: “We are incredibly grateful that 160 team members have volunteered to help reopen 10 shops in London, located close to hospitals.”

Updated

Updated

Hancock: we will not be distracted from lockdown message

An at-times testy Matt Hancock has told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the government does not want to discuss the lockdown exit strategy because it does not want to deviate from the core “stay at home, save lives” message.

Asked to respond to Prof Neil Ferguson’s comments that the government had to ramp up plans for coming out of lockdown (see 8.07am) Hancock said Ferguson “advises; he is not in government”.

He added:

How we communicate has a direct impact on the amount of cases we have and the amount of people who die.

Asked if current statistics were vastly underestimating the number of deaths in care homes - with some reports suggests that as many as half or two-thirds of care homes were dealing with a coronavirus outbreak - Hancock said he was confident that only 15% of care homes had an outbreak of two or more people. He said testing would be increased in care homes but insisted “we are testing in care homes and have since the start”.

On the testing of care workers, the Health Secretary said:

1,500 were tested the day before yesterday, which is the latest figures that I’ve got. And, as I say, 4,100 have been referred to testing, and that means the test is immediately available to them.

Of course we want as much testing capacity as possible, but I would say we’re committed to 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month. That is a big target and we’ve got some of the best brains in the country working on it both public and private sector.

Hancock said the government needs “to do more” for the care sector, which is why he unveiled a new plan on Wednesday.

Responding to reports of elderly residents in care homes receiving letters asking them to promise they will not ask for hospital care if they are seriously ill, Hancock said:

It has always been the case that people are asked for their wishes in the terrible instances in which they might get very ill, especially as they get towards the end of their lives.

It is a standard procedure that has happened for a long time.

Asked whether it was standard procedure for all care home residents to be asked at the same time, he said:

It isn’t inappropriate so long as the decision is made on an individual basis according to the clinical needs of that person and their wishes.

But he said it would be “deeply inappropriate” if residents were pressured into signing such letters.

Updated

Government coronavirus advisor: some social distancing measures likely to be in place "indefinitely"

Prof Neil Ferguson, whose modelling has guided Downing Street’s crisis strategy, this morning told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that when the UK lockdown does eventually end, social distancing measures are likely to remain in place “indefinitely” until a coronavirus vaccine can be rolled out.

Ferguson warned that it would not be possible to relax the lockdown until a significant infrastructure was in place.

He said the UK’s ability to come out of lockdown would “depend on how quickly case numbers go down”. But it would also require an emphasis on scaling up testing and contact tracing, because if measures were relaxed without a strong plan in place there was too much risk of a resurgence in cases.

Discussing whether lockdown measures could be eased after another three weeks, Ferguson said:

I think that will very much depend on quite how quickly case numbers go down, and that does require us to get on top of things like transmission rates in hospitals and care homes.

I think the other thing I would say is that it really requires a single-minded emphasis in government and the health system on scaling up testing and putting in place the ability to track down cases in the community and contact-trace.

Because without that, our estimates show we have relatively little leeway; if we relax measures too much then we’ll see a resurgence of transmission.

What we really need is the ability to put something in their place. If we want to open schools, let people get back to work, then we need to keep transmission down in another manner.

And I should say, it’s not going to be going back to normal. We will have to maintain some form of social distancing, a significant level of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available.

Ferguson said there were some first signs that social distancing measure in the UK may be working, with trends such as the number of calls to 999, 111 and admissions to hospital beginning to flatten.

But he said more needed to be done to ensure the UK could leave lockdown safety. He called for a “command and control centre”, and suggested that any tracing provided by mobile phone apps would have to be supplemented by a “small army” of people-testing and tracing.

Asked whether the government was moving towards having an exit strategy in place, Ferguson said:

I’m not completely sure. I think there’s a lot of discussion. I would like to see action accelerated.

We need to put in place an infrastructure, a command and control structure, a novel organisation for this.

I’m reminded by the fact we had a Department for Brexit for government - that was a major national emergency, as it were - and we’re faced with something which is, at the moment, even larger than Brexit and yet I don’t see quite the same evidence for that level of organisation.

Asked whether lockdown measures could be continued again in three weeks’ time, he said:

I think we will take each step as it comes, I don’t have a crystal ball to say how rapidly cases will decline.

All I would say is we have limited leeway to release current measures unless we have something new to put in their place.

Prof Neil Ferguson
Prof Neil Ferguson Photograph: J-IDEA

Updated

Care bosses criticise government response to coronavirus in leaked letter

Social care bosses have said the national handling of providing protective equipment for care workers has been “shambolic”, while raising fears about funding, testing, personal protective equipment (PPE) and the shielding scheme for vulnerable people.

In a letter leaked letter, first reported by the Local Government Chronicle yesterday afternoon, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) told a senior official at the Department of Health and Social Care that mixed messages from the government have created “confusion and additional workload”.

Written on Saturday, the letter said early provision of equipment had been “paltry” and more recent deliveries have been “haphazard”, with some even being confiscated by border control for the NHS.

The letter accused the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care of providing contradictory messages on the shielding scheme for vulnerable people.

And while the rollout of testing for care workers was welcomed, the letter states “testing for care workers appears to be being rolled out without being given thought to who is going to be tested and what we are going to do with the result”, raising concerns about false positives.

Adass was also critical of the way central government has recruited volunteers, saying the national scheme has “diverted 750,000 volunteers away from supporting local communities and left them with nothing to do for the first three weeks”, and claiming it was “shameful that this was not done in collaboration with local government”.

Updated

The 99-year-old veteran Tom Moore - who is walking 100 laps of his garden before he turns 100 - has now raised an astonishing £12m for the NHS.

The veteran has made more than 12,000 times his initial target of £1,000 for NHS Charities Together, thanks to donations from over 615,000 people online on his JustGiving page.

With the help of his walking frame, he is set to complete his aim of walking 100 laps of the 25-metre (82ft) loop in his garden in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, in 10-lap chunks, this morning.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has called Moore “an inspiration to us all”. He said:

I want to pay a special tribute today to Captain Tom Moore. Captain Tom, you’re an inspiration to us all, and we thank you.

Moore started raising funds to thank the NHS staff who helped him with treatment for cancer and a broken hip.

“Every penny that we get, they [the NHS] deserve every one of it,” he said.

NHS Charities Together, which support health service charities and will benefit from the funds, said it was “truly inspired and humbled”.

After he hit £10m he told BBC One:

I think that’s absolutely enormous. At no time when we started off with this exercise did we anticipate we’d get anything near that sort of money.

It just shows that people have such high regard for matters of our National Health Service and it’s really amazing that people have paid so much money.

His daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, told the BBC that the amount raised was “beyond our wildest expectations”.

She said:

No words can express our gratitude to the British public for getting behind Tom, for making this into a heartfelt story. He’s a stoic Yorkshireman, he’s an unruffled straight-down-the-line kind of person and has embraced this adventure as the next stage of his life.

I believe that life is all about purpose, we all need purpose, and, whilst he’s had a life full of purpose, he did fall and break his hip and became much less independent than he had been for the preceding 98 years, and what you have done, the British public, and everyone who’s supported him, is giving him his next purpose.

He is articulate, he’s alive, he’s doing this and I think he’ll do this until everyone says: ‘Stop, don’t do it any more.’”

Originally from Keighley in West Yorkshire, Moore trained as a civil engineer before enlisting in the army for the second world war, rising to captain and serving in India and Burma.

Updated

UK lockdown likely to be extended

The UK government is expected to announce a three-week extension to the coronavirus lockdown later today.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, will lead emergency Cobra committee and cabinet meetings about the continuation of physical distancing measures.

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has said the party will support an extension, but has demanded the publication of an “exit strategy”.

Ministers and their advisers do not yet have a plan for how to leave the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, according to multiple government sources.

This is despite the fact that chief medical officer saying the country is “probably reaching the peak” of the epidemic, with signs that the rate of new infections is flattening.

At Wednesday’s daily press briefing, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said restrictions on movement were beginning to help reduce the spread of the virus.

But he warned “we will not lift these measures until it is safe to do so”.

This is Alexandra Topping at the helm of the UK coronavirus liveblog. If you want to alert me to a story please do email me on alexandra.topping@theguardian.com or on Twitter I am @lexytopping. My DMs are open.

Updated

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