That’s all from the UK side for today – thank you for following and writing in. Head over to our our global liveblog to keep up with the latest developments from around the world.
You can buy one of the Guardian’s “Work From Hope” prints here to support the NHS. Seventy per cent of the Guardian’s profits will be paid to NHS charities.
Made it home just in time tonight to join my neighbours again in the #ClapForCarers #ClapForTheNHS - now such a special moment in the week. Deep gratitude to all our health and care workers - and to everyone keeping the country going 🙏❤️ pic.twitter.com/j3eKQfAeki
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) April 23, 2020
Out for my end of day walk with little dog. My lovely neighbours have put this up. Hear hear I say!! Wouldn’t survive the @NHSNEY #COVID19 day without all these people Thank you @Tesco @RoyalMail and countless others #ClapForTheNHS #ClapForOurCarers #ClapForCarers pic.twitter.com/gqdnkM2Kck
— Alex Morton (@alex___morton) April 23, 2020
To every key worker across this incredible city:
— Mayor of London (gov.uk/coronavirus) (@MayorofLondon) April 23, 2020
👏🏾 We are so proud of you.
👏🏿 We are so grateful to you.
👏🏻 We are so inspired by you.
#LondonTogether #ClapForOurCarers
Clap for carers
For the fifth week running, people across the UK will come to their doorsteps, balconies, windows and gardens to clap for frontline workers. The weekly show of support will take place in a few minutes.
It's that time again! The time we look forward to every week - #clapforourcarers - join us this evening at 8pm to show your appreciation. Share and spread the word! #clapforcarers #nhs #keyworkers #clapfornhs #coronavirus #stayhome #thankyou #WeAreInThisTogether pic.twitter.com/ytFhgNn4ef
— Clap for our Carers (@ClapforCarers) April 23, 2020
Updated
Evening summary
- The Scottish government published a framework for leaving lockdown and adjusting to a “new normal” of living with Covid-19, increasing pressure on the UK government to a) produce its own plan and b) make clear that it has one. The Scottish document states that easing restrictions won’t mean life returning to normal. Some of the details include: crucial behaviours such physical distancing and hand-washing will remain essential; those most at risk will continue to be shielded; workplaces and education settings would need to be redesigned to enable proper physical distancing; restrictions could be lifted and then re-imposed at short notice; and restrictions are likely to be lifted in stages. The priority, it says, is minimising overall harm. The report earned Nicola Sturgeon praise from the likes of George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor, who said the UK government should “treat the public like adults” by adopting the same approach.
- Essential workers will be able to book their own free tests online from Friday, Matt Hancock announced. The health secretary said key workers will be able to go on the gov.uk website to book tests for themselves and their relatives, the whole process will be free and the results will be sent out by text. He added that anyone unable to go online can book through their employer.
- The UK government is introducing a contact tracing app and is also recruiting 18,000 people to work on manual contact tracing. Hancock said this figure would include 3,000 clinicians and the 18,000 workers would be trained over the coming weeks. The former Tory health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who has led calls for the implementation of a mass contact tracing programme, said the announcement signalled “a clear exit route from the lockdown”.
- 48 mobile laboratories are planned to be up and running to help the testing effort by the end of the month, the lobby briefing heard. The PM’s spokesman said there are four already operating as well as 28 drive-through testing centres. The plan is for this to be extended to 48 by the end of April and for each testing centre to have a mobile lab attached to it.
- Around a quarter of firms may have halted trading since the lockdown, findings from an ONS survey suggested. But only 0.3% said they had permanently ceased trading. Since the lockdown was announced on 23 March, 82% of firms surveyed in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector said they had temporarily stopped trading. Among businesses still trading, 93% said turnover was lower than normal, and 60% said they had sufficient financial resources available.
And that’s it for today. From us on the UK side, thank you so much to everybody who got in touch throughout the day with tips and stories. If you’d like to continue following the Guardian’s coverage of the pandemic, head over to our global live blog.
Updated
Matt Hancock's press conference - Summary
Here are the main points from Matt Hancock’s press conference.
-
Hancock, the health secretary, said the government was recruiting 18,000 people to work on coronavirus contact tracing - tracing people who have been in contact with those infected by coronavirus, so that they can be told to self-isolate. About 3,000 of those will be clinicians, he said. He said that the recruits would be trained over the coming weeks and that having a system of “test, track and trace” in place would make it easier for physical distancing measures to be relaxed. He said:
Test, track and trace, done effectively, can help to suppress the transmission in a way that allows you then to have lesser rules.
Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative former health secretary who has been pushing for a mass contract tracing programme, said this meant the UK now had “a clear exit route from the current lockdown”. (See 6pm.)
- Hancock said that from tomorrow essential workers will be able to book their own free coronavirus tests. He said:
From today, employers of essential workers will be able to go on gov.uk to get a test for any of their staff. From tomorrow, any essential workers who need a test will be able to book an appointment on gov.uk themselves, directly. This all applies for people in essential workers’ households too who need a test. It’s all part of getting Britain back on her feet.
- He claimed the government was on track to meet the “challenging” target of carrying out 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month. Giving more detail, Prof John Newton, the government’s national testing effort coordinator, said:
We have also introduced new tests, new types of test, so for example at least two NHS labs are now using a test that has no RNA extraction stage, which means no need for the chemical reagents which are in such high demand around the world.
In addition, we have the three new lighthouse labs which are all now on stream - these are the ones in Milton Keynes, in Manchester and in Glasgow.
Each of these labs will be able to process tens of thousands of tests per day and we’re introducing automation into those processes which really ramps up the capacity.
We are currently on track to reach 100,000 tests a day. In fact, we’re somewhat ahead of where we thought we’d be at this stage.
- Hancock said anyone invited to take part in the coronavirus antibody survey, a mass exercise to test how many people have had the virus, should participate because the information it yielded would help the fight against the disease.
- He indicated that a package of support for bereaved relatives of NHS staff who died during the outbreak would be announced soon.
- He rejected claims the UK government should follow its Scottish counterpart, and publish a guide to how it might exit the lockdown. Doing that would dilute the clarity of the government’s ‘stay at home’ message, he said.
- Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said he did not think there was any evidence that public support for physical distancing measures was tailing off.
Updated
The increase in confirmed cases of Covid-19 within prisons continues to slow, according to daily figures released by the Ministry of Justice.
As of 5pm on Wednesday, 300 prisoners had tested positive for the coronavirus across 69 jails, a 2% rise in 24 hours. Fifteen prisoners are known to have contracted the virus and died. There are around 81,500 prisoners in England and Wales across 117 prisons.
The number of prison staff known to have contracted the disease increased 3% to 237 workers across 57 prisons in the same period, while the number of prisoner escort and custody services staff increased by one to 10.
The figures reflect the total number of recorded positive cases of Covid-19 and include individuals who have recovered.
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.
Updated
UK now has 'clear exit route' after government's contact tracing announcement, claims Hunt
Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative former health secretary, who has been leading calls for the implementation of a mass contact tracing programme, has welcomed what Matt Hancock has announced today.
I have been pressing for concrete action on contact tracing but today @MattHancock has delivered. With 18,000 people being recruited - alongside widespread testing - we have a clear exit route from the current lockdown & our approach comes much closer to global best practice
— Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) April 23, 2020
Updated
From our colleague Lisa O’Carroll
NEW: Foreign office announces 14 more charter flights from India taking the number of people repatriated from India to 13,000. In total it has chartered 52 flights to India so far, it said. 700 rescued from Pakistan, over 1,700 from South Africa and over 1,200 from Peru, it added
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) April 23, 2020
Teaching unions and school leaders have welcomed the announcement that school staff will get priority for testing, with some calling it an essential precondition before reopening schools.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said:
School staff have been on the frontline in the national response to coronavirus. We have been clear from the start that governments across the UK understand they must honour this effort with the appropriate level of support and safety. If testing can be delivered effectively, then it will be welcomed by the education sector.
Kevin Courtney of the National Education Union said the immediate priority was for teachers who were self-isolating to get tested.
Our call for testing has been unceasing. The government has been slow to respond, and there will be a fear amongst school staff that this promise will follow the pattern of previous pledges to contain the virus.
Our members will not tolerate dither and delay. They need certainty and, from the health secretary, swift action to make this promise a reality.
Updated
Q: Why has the UK government been unable to produce a plan like the Scottish government’s?
Hancock says the UK has set out its own five tests. Having the four nations of the UK work together on this has been important. The country has “essentially moved together”, he says. The UK-wide approach “is the best way to go”, he says.
Vallance says the scientists from the four nations all work together. It is a unified approach, he says.
And that’s it. The press conference is over.
Q: Many people are coming to Brighton beach, flouting lockdown rules. What can be done about that?
Hancock says the police have done a good job. They have been stopping people on the beach.
The measures being taken are working. Everyone should follow the rules. That is how we come through this, he says.
Q: If London is ahead of other parts of the UK, wouldn’t it make sense for London to come out of lockdown first?
Vallance says there are more similarities than differences between different parts of the country. He says there might be differences of up to two weeks.
He says relaxing measures is something you want to do when you are absolutely on top of the virus.
Q: Isn’t it the case that death certificates do not always mention coronavirus in the case of coronavirus deaths, because people in care homes have not been tested. Shouldn’t all people dying in care homes get tested?
Newton says one reason for having more testing is to get better statistics.
He says even if the doctor does not write coronavirus on a death certificate, if someone has tested positive for coronavirus, that will be picked up.
Updated
Vallance says there is no evidence that support for the lockdown measures is tailing off.
Hancock says it is not just clap for the NHS tonight. It is Clap for Carers.
He says he is looking into what more can be done to support the families of NHS workers who have lost their lives. He hopes to be able to announce something soon.
Hancock says it has been “phenomenal” to see how the public have risen to the challenge of following social distancing.
Q: How many of the 18,000 contact tracing staff are in place? What level does the new case number need to get to for this to be effective?
Hancock says they are recruiting now. He says that process is ongoing.
They should be ready in a matter of weeks, he says.
And for this to be effective, the case numbers have to come down.
Q: What is the position on face masks?
Hancock says the position is unchanged. But ministers will consider new advice, if that is what they get, as and when they need to.
(Downing Street said earlier new advice had gone to ministers.)
Vallance says the evidence on face masks is weak. He says the scientists will give their advice to ministers.
The evidence on face masks has always been quite variable, quite weak and difficult to know.
There aren’t any real trials on it.
We have undertaken a review, we will give our advice to ministers and they will make decisions around what to do around that.
Updated
Q: Does a proper contact tracing system have to be in place before you can ease any lockdown measures? And are you willing to accept a certain level of community transmission?
Hancock says these are both ultimately political decisions.
Hancock says there is no automatic link between the two.
But test, track and trace can help to suppress transmission in a way that allows for fewer social distancing rules.
And test, track and trace works better when transmission rates are lower.
He says it appears they have got the R number (rate of transmission) down. But they need to see the number of cases come down too, he says.
Both these questions are connected.
Vallance says the scientists advised on what had to happen to keep the numbers below critical care capacity.
Now they are advising on what needs to be done to get transmission numbers lower, and to get the numbers down to a level where test, track and trace can work.
Updated
Q: Are overweight people more at risk?
Newton says Public Health England is looking at this, as well as at whether other factors contribute to people’s susceptibility.
Q: How many people do you know are expected to die?
Vallance says there are still a lot of things we don’t know about this virus.
It is difficult to speculate, he says.
There have been large numbers across the world.
The overall excess deaths is the key statistic, he says. He won’t try and put a number on that. Clearly every death is regrettable.
Updated
Q: Nicola Sturgeon and some of your MPs think you should be more open about what comes next. Are they right?
Hancock says the government has set out critical tests for what needs to happen before the rules can be lifted. He says they want to maintain clarity on the message: stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.
Q: Are different parts of the country peaking at different times?
Vallance says it is an artificial peak. It is the product of the lockdown. London is ahead of the rest of the UK, but generally all parts of the country are within two or three weeks of each other.
Newton is now talking about testing.
He is introducing his own slides. This one covers capacity.
He says different types of test are available. He says two laboratories are doing tests that do not require reagents, which is helpful because they are in short supply around the world.
He shows a slide illustrating where the testing centres are.
And he says there will be 48 pop-up testing centres (ie, mobile test centres).
(Earlier No 10 said 50, but that might just have been a rounding up.)
Updated
Vallance is now introducing slides. He starts with this one.
It shows social distancing is having an effect, he says.
He says the number of cases in hospital is going down.
Here are the figures for the percentage of Covid-19 patients in intensive care.
And here are the hospital death figures.
Updated
Hancock says 18,000 people being recruited to work on contact tracing
Hancock says the government is introducing a contact tracing app.
But it will also use manual tracing.
- Hancock says 18,000 people, including 3,000 clinicians, are being recruited to work on coronavirus contact tracing.
They will be trained over the coming weeks, he says.
Updated
Hancock says anyone asked to take part in the mass antibody survey (see 1.54pm) should take part. If they do, they will be contributing to the fight against coronavirus.
Essential workers can book their own free coronavirus tests online, says Hancock
Hancock says they can only lift the lockdown when it is safe to do so.
When they get to that point, they will use a rigorous process of test, track and trace to keep the infection rate down.
He turns to testing.
He says he knew the 100,000 tests a day target was demanding.
But capacity is being increased ahead of target. There is now the capacity to carry out 51,000 tests per day.
As capacity has increased, access has increased, he says.
He says today he can go further. He says from today employers of essential workers can go on the gov.uk website and book a test for their staff. From tomorrow, essential workers will be able to do this themselves too. Relatives will be covered too. And the whole process will be free.
Results will be sent out by text.
People who cannot go online will be able to apply through their employer.
There are more than 30 test sites across the UK, he says.
Home tests kits are being introduced, and mobile testing sites too, he says.
Updated
Hancock says, although the mortality figure is going down, he tries to think of every person. They will not be forgotten, he says.
Hancock starts by summarising the government’s action plan.
He reads out the latest testing and mortality figures.
The Rolling Stones are releasing a new song called Living in a Ghost Town, Mick Jagger announced in a post on Twitter. How apt.
The Stones were in the studio recording new material before the lockdown & one song - Living In A Ghost Town - we thought would resonate through the times we’re living in. It’s out at 5pm BST today and you can hear the track and interview on @Beats1 now! https://t.co/MkrRESZwY6 pic.twitter.com/4rHPctkwws
— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) April 23, 2020
Updated
Matt Hancock's press conference
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has just arrived at the daily government press conference now. He is with Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, and Prof John Newton, direct of health improvement at Public Health England and the government’s national testing effort coordinator.
And here is a Wellcome Research academic article that challenges the claim that many of those who are dying from coronavirus are people near the end of life anyway. As the FT’s John Burn-Murdoch says, the paper suggests people who have died could have lived on average for another decade or more.
Important new study:
— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) April 23, 2020
Analysis by @PHanlon17, @JonMinton and co estimates more than 10 years of life are lost for each UK Covid death on average, and much more in some cases.
More evidence against "they were going to die soon anyway" line.
Full paper: https://t.co/SXWa8DbGwv pic.twitter.com/U40VGkkNr0
Updated
The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford has today published this report on the coronavirus situation in Scotland. It says the data suggests the peak of coronavirus activity in Scotland has passed. It says:
The date of the peaks follows a trajectory from a community peak (23rd March); admissions to hospital beds (31st March); ambulance transfers (6th April); deaths the 9th April and ICU admissions the 12th of April.
Deaths in Northern Ireland rise by 13 to 263
Northern Ireland has recorded a further 13 deaths of patients who tested positive for Covid-19, up from 250 the day before.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) in NI. pic.twitter.com/nP8BVQ5GHH
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) April 23, 2020
Scottish government's outline plan for easing lockdown - Summary and analysis
The Scottish government’s press release today about its report looking at how it might ease some of the social restriction measures is headlined “Looking beyond Lockdown”. It is a better title that the one on the actual report, “Covid-19 - A Framework for Decision Making” (pdf) but although the document does look to what might happen after the full lockdown, it does not present a clear picture of what will and will not be allowed. Looking, but not finding; it’s not a precision blueprint for the future.
That said, it is considerably better than anything the UK government has produced about the options facing policy makers as they try to ease the lockdown restrictions. It adopts a tone of realism, it accepts the need for hard choices, and it gives some idea of how society might have to adapt to a new normal. All the UK government has published on this topic are its five tests, which are no more than bullet points.
Here are some of the main points from the Scottish document.
- Life will not return to exactly how it was before, the report says. It explains:
Easing restrictions will not mean returning to how things were before the virus. Physical distancing, hand hygiene, and other critical behaviours will be essential in each sector. We will engage with experts in each sector to understand the practical consequences, for example, of what physical distancing would mean for schools and education, transport, business, and recreation. The capacity of business and industry to innovate to find different ways to function will be critical here.
- It says those most at risk will continue to have to be shielded.
Some form of continued shielding to protect those who are most at risk will almost certainly be required as restrictions are lifted. This means that we will have to redouble our efforts as a government and society to support those people who have to remain shielded.
- It says physical distancing rules are likely to remain in place even as other restrictions are lifted.
Easing restrictions in particular settings is likely to see the continuation of physical distancing and other hygiene measures (such as maintaining 2 metre distancing when premises re-open and/or limiting the number of people that can be in confined spaces at the same time).
- It says pubs are likely to be closed for some time to come.
We are likely to require that gathering in groups, for example in pubs or at public events, is banned or restricted for some time to come.
- It says restrictions are likely to be lifted in phases, with rules on outdoor activities likely to be eased first.
Over the next few weeks, based on the evidence and expert advice, a number of options will be considered – not all of which may be selected. These are likely to include the easing of restrictions in a phased manner, opening up different parts of the economy sector by sector, considering different restrictions in different areas dependent on how the pandemic is progressing, and considering options for different groups of the population – as is currently the case with those shielded for clinical reasons. It may be that restrictions on some outdoor activity are eased before those on indoor activities - however, all of this will be evidence led.
- It says restrictions could be lifted, but then re-imposed.
Our plans to respond and recover must take account of the possibility of a cycle of lifting and re-imposing restrictions.
According to some of the briefing coming out of No 10, this is one option London is particularly keen to avoid. See 3.06pm.
- It envisages not so much a return to the status quo, but the restoration of “some semblance of normality to our everyday lives”.
- It rejects the concept of “acceptable loss”. It says:
While it is obvious that government cannot guarantee that no one will become infected with this virus in future, we are clear that an assumption that there is a proportion or section of the population that it is safe or acceptable to allow to be infected forms no part of the Scottish government’s policy or approach.
Every individual member of Scottish society matters and our entire strategy is focused on preventing every avoidable death. There is no such thing as a level of “acceptable loss”. That is an approach which reflects our commitment to safeguarding human rights and upholding human dignity. It is the ethically correct approach to take. And it reflects the caring, compassionate and inclusive ethos of Scottish society.
Our objective is to contain and suppress the virus in order to minimise the harm it can do.
- It says the priority must be minimising overall harm. That means considering not just the threat to life posed by coronavirus, but also the wider health threat posed by the pandemic (missed treatments etc), the health threat posed by the lockdown and the health threat posed by recession. It says:
Navigating the right course through the crisis will involve taking difficult decisions that seek to balance these various, inter-related harms so as to minimise overall harm.
- It says that while the Scottish government wants to align with the four-nation framework “as far as possible”, it will also take “distinctive decisions for Scotland if the evidence tells us that is necessary”.
- It says the best estimate is that the reproduction number (the rate at which the infection spreads from one person to others) is now between 0.6 and 1. To stop the disease spreading, that number must be below 1.
Updated
Updated
The London mayor Sadiq Khan has published figures showing dramatic improvements in the capital’s air quality due to a halving of road traffic.
The figures suggest that levels of nitrogen dioxide at some of the capital’s busiest roads are on average about half what they were before the lockdown. One of London’s busiest roads, Marylebone Road, has seen a reduction in daily average nitrogen dioxide of 48%, while Oxford Street has seen a reduction of 47%.
Welcoming the figures, Khan urged the government to put air quality at the centre of the UK’s recovery from the pandemic. He said:
This cleaner air should not just be temporary as Londoners deserve clean air at all times.
So, once the current emergency has passed and we start to recover, our challenge will be to eradicate air pollution permanently and ensure the gains we’ve made through policies such as ULEZ (ultra-low emissions zone) continue.
It is critical that government keeps this in mind as part of the country’s recovery from the pandemic.
Human trials for a coronavirus vaccine in the UK are due to get under way, with hundreds of people volunteering to be part of the study.
Researchers from the University of Oxford will administer the first dose to a healthy person on Thursday afternoon, while another will be given a meningitis vaccine, used in the trial for comparison.
The Oxford Vaccine Group hopes to repeat the process with six more volunteers on Saturday, moving to larger numbers on Monday.
Up to 1,102 participants will be recruited across multiple study sites in Oxford, Southampton, London and Bristol.
Lydia Guthrie, who will begin taking part in the Oxford vaccine trial in a week, told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One programme:
They’ve [the clinical team] been very clear with participants about the potential risk, and vaccine trials are very carefully regulated, so we’ve had to give explicit consent at every step of the way.
They’re really clear with us that as participants we can pull out at any time if we change our minds.
She added that after receiving either the Covid-19 vaccine candidate or the meningitis jab, she would go about her normal life, keeping a diary about how she feels, or any symptoms.
Asked why she volunteered, Guthrie said:
I guess when I saw the advert looking for participants, it felt to me like a small contribution I can make to this team of over 500 participants and scientists and clinicians working hard together to develop a vaccine.
Dedicated staff at a care home are living in tents to help protect the residents from Covid-19.
The move has been taken by nine members of staff at the Victoria House Care Home in Ryde, Isle of Wight, as part of its “no one in and no one out” policy to provide maximum protection for their 20 residents aged between 82 and 103. Manager Claire Leggett told the PA Media news agency:
It was the staff that came up with the idea of the tents, I was initially thinking of arranging for them to stay in the home but we don’t have facilities.
This is an old Victorian house with 20 residents in 20 rooms, there is no extra space so it was a case that we will put the staff where we need to put them.
I’m not sure how it will work long term but they are coping really well, I have such a good team around me.
She added:
We have been locked down to the public now for about three weeks, and the staff have been living in for about eight days.
We have some really old residents, our eldest is 103 and they are just like family, I would be mortified if anything were to happen.
The virus is going through care homes like wildfire, and I didn’t want it to come in and then to lock it down inside, I felt I had to take action, I had no choice.
Updated
A 12-year-old boy has raised more than £4,000 for the NHS by cycling 740km during a 36-hour indoor cycling challenge to accompany Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas.
Mak Larkin, from Hastings, East Sussex, set himself the target of riding three 12-hour shifts with the Olympic gold medallist using the indoor cycling app Zwift to raise money for NHS Charities Together.
His mother, Lynsey Larkin, told the PA Media news agency that her son had received messages of support from around the world, including from from cyclists such as Tom Pidcock, Cameron Mason, Ben Tulett and Team Ineos, and a tweet from Thomas who completed 1,200km and raised £360,000.
Something amazing has just happened!! The total I’ve raised has hit £4000!! Thankyou so so much to everyone that has donated. I’m in total shock! 😱These last few days have been surreal. Still time to donate https://t.co/hvRnIAjBN7 #OurNHSPeople #GsNHSZwiftShifts pic.twitter.com/pjvKo6sF7w
— Mak Larkin (@LarkinMak) April 22, 2020
Updated
Walsall council has adopted the use of digital postmortem technology in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing non-invasive autopsies using CT images.
The West Midlands authority has entered into a five-month agreement with pathology services company iGene to use the technology to carry out postmortems from next Monday. The digital autopsies are undertaken at the Sandwell Valley Crematorium, where iGene’s CT equipment is based.
Walsall joins Dudley, Sandwell and Wolverhampton in using the technology, which will examine bodies deemed suitable for a digital autopsy as the first line of intervention.
Councillor Garry Perry, Walsall’s cabinet portfolio holder for community, leisure and culture, said of the procedure:
In approximately 70% of cases it can help identify the cause of death without having to use invasive autopsies.
The technology has the added benefit of being able to identify the cause of death much quicker. At a time of this national emergency we must do everything possible to keep the NHS safe and save lives.
Using digital autopsies will help us achieve this.
Updated
From PA Media’s Ian Jones
Here are today's updated numbers for #coronavirus hospital deaths in England, by date of death.
— Ian Jones (@ian_a_jones) April 23, 2020
April 8 is now clearly identifiable as a peak. The next thing to watch is whether the trend post Apr 8 is for a plateau or a gentle decline. Remember these numbers are revised daily. pic.twitter.com/DWjaF5GslQ
Updated
Physical activity in England was at its highest ever level before the coronavirus outbreak, a new report has found, but there is emerging evidence that those gains could be undone because of the disruption caused by the pandemic. Our colleague Sean Ingle has the full story here.
In his column in this week’s Spectator, James Forsyth, the magazine’s political editor, says government insiders expect just a mild easing of the lockdown restrictions when they are reviewed next month. He says:
Some [in government] are proposing a variable lockdown: loosening restrictions and then tightening them again if infections spike. But in Whitehall, there’s a fear that this approach would be ineffective. Once the virus gets going it’s extremely hard to contain, and it might be tricky to persuade people to accept curbs on their liberty for a second time. One influential figure likens it to ‘ripping off a plaster and then trying to stick the same plaster back on again’. Government insiders now expect only a mild easing of the lockdown restrictions at next month’s review.
UK hospital death toll rises by 616 to 18,738
The Department for Health and Social Care has published the latest figures for the number of UK hospital coronavirus deaths. Another 616 people have died, taking the total hospital death tol to 18,738.
Yesterday the equivalent daily rise was 759.
As DHSC explains in the small print of its tweet, today’s death toll is actually 638 higher than the total announced yesterday, but it has given the increase as 616 because the other 22 are accounted for by Northern Ireland revising their historic data.
The full details are available here.
As of 9am 23 April, 583,496 tests have concluded, with 23,560 tests on 22 April.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 23, 2020
425,821 people have been tested of which 138,078 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 22 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 18,738 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/0quyQMCheo
Updated
The former Labour prime minister Tony Blair has been calling this week for the government to bring in outside experts to help it implement mass testing, and all the other initiatives that will be needed for the lockdown to be eased. At an event for Tortoise Media last night, Blair said that Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative former health secretary, was the sort of person he had in mind. As Matthew d’Ancona reports in his write-up for the Tortoise daily email, Blair said:
[Hunt’s] not of my politics ... but he’s a perfectly smart, capable guy ... You should be unafraid to say - right, just lift him out there and put him in charge of one of the aspects of this that correspond with his own experience.
Updated
Here is a Guardian graphic showing the progress being made towards the target Matt Hancock set for coronavirus testing to reach a rate of 100,000 a day by the end of April.
Updated
Osborne urges UK government to 'treat public like adults' by publishing lockdown options paper like Scotland's
George Osborne, the Conservative former chancellor who now edits the Evening Standard in London, has praised Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, for her willingness to discuss with the public options for ending the lockdown. He accuses the UK government of refusing to treat people “like adults” because it is not willing to adopt the same approach.
Sturgeon’s approach is right: an open discussion about the hard tradeoffs we face living with the virus for the foreseeable future. UK Ministers refusing to discuss the lockdown in public while briefing ideas to ease it in private can’t last. Time to treat the public like adults https://t.co/7TiouAhnSB
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) April 23, 2020
Updated
England records 514 more hospital deaths taking total to 16,786
NHS England has announced 514 more deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 16,786. The full details are here (pdf).
Of the 514 new deaths announced today:
- 111 occurred on 22 April.
- 216 occurred on 21 April.
- 75 occurred on 20 April.
The figures also show 110 of the new deaths recorded took place between 1-19 April, and the remaining two deaths occurred in March, with the earliest new death taking place on 25 March.
NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago. This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for postmortems to be processed, and for data from the tests to be validated.
The figures published today by NHS England show 8 April currently has the highest total for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day: 831.
Updated
Another 17 deaths in Wales bring total to 641
A further 17 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Wales, bringing the total number of deaths there to 641, Public Health Wales said.
Another 234 people had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 8,358.
On Wednesday 816 tests were carried out, with a total of 28,904 carried out across Wales. There is current capacity for 1,800 tests daily.
Dr Robin Howe, from Public Health Wales, said there was emerging evidence suggesting a levelling-off in the number of new cases of Covid-19 in Wales, which may be an indication of the effectiveness of lockdown measures. He added:
However, it is still too early to tell for sure, and it is too soon to end the current social distancing rules.
Public Health Wales continues to fully support the extension of lockdown measures, which is essential to avoid reversing the gains we have made in slowing the spread of this virus, protecting our NHS, and saving lives.
The latest number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in wales have been updated.
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) April 23, 2020
Data dashboard:
💻https://t.co/RwgHDufHE7
📱https://t.co/P6UF1MTOwc
Find out how we are working with our partners to respond to the spread of the virus here: https://t.co/1Lza9meaTL pic.twitter.com/r7LQgg4K4y
Updated
The CEO of a suicide prevention charity has said it has seen an increase in calls from NHS workers during the lockdown.
Simon Gunning of Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm) told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One that almost exactly as the stricter measures were introduced the charity recorded an immediate rise in calls of 37% compared with where they would expect to be at this time of year. He said:
We have had a large number of calls from NHS workers – that’s a frightening and incredibly stressful place to be at the moment.
Yes we’ve had NHS workers who have been isolated from their families, but also it’s the exposure to ... the threat is understandably extremely stressful.
Asked about the latest suicide statistics, Gunning said:
They’re worrying, most definitely. 2018 to 2019 showed an 11% rise in suicide across the board. The trend is unquestionably there prior to all of this.
In the last week we prevented 16 suicides directly, there was a lot more emergency in the nature of the calls and the situations they are facing.
Updated
50 mobile laboratories planned to help coronavirus testing effort, says No 10
The Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished. Here are the main points.
- Fifty mobile laboratories are planned to help the coronavirus testing effort, the prime minister’s spokesman said. He said four mobile laboratories were already operating, including in Teesside, the Isle of Wight and Salford. There are 28 drive-through testing centres already open, and the government wants to extend that to 50 by the end of the month. The spokesman said the plan was for every testing centre to have a mobile laboratory attached to it. He also said that Amazon was being used to deliver testing kits to some people who needed them at home.
- The spokesman said that there was still a “great deal more to do” on testing. The capacity for testing has reached 48,273 tests a day, he said. But the latest daily figure for the number of tests carried out (in the 24-hour period up to 9am yesterday) is 22,814 tests. The number of people tested in that period was just 13,522. (Some people need to be tested twice.) The spokesman said that 111,637 NHS and care workers and their relatives in total have been tested - up more than 10,000 on the previous day’s total. The government is committed to getting the number of tests carried out up to 100,000 a day by the end of this month.
- The spokesman confirmed reports saying that the government is recruiting 20,000 households to take part in antibody testing to establish how widespread coronavirus infection has been in the population. Eventually the study aims to cover 300,000 people over the course of year, he said.
- No 10 played down the prospect of an early announcement about a new policy on wearing masks. The prime minister’s spokesman said that Sage, the scientific advisory group for emergencies, has finalised its latest advice, but the recommendation has only just gone to ministers and they will review it before a decision is announced. A formal announcement now seems unlikely before the end of the week.
- The spokesman said the NHS England staff absence rate linked to coronavirus was now 4.2% for doctors and 8.3% for nurses, down from 4.4% and 8.4% respectively the previous day, and 6.6% and 9.5% respectively on 4 April.
- Boris Johnson spoke to Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, yesterday, the spokesman said. And Johnson also had an audience with the Queen by telephone. The spokesman said that Johnson continued to receive regular updates on government business. But he was still not doing government work, the spokesman claimed. He was unable to say when the PM would return to work from Chequers, where he is recovering from illness.
- Johnson will take part in the Clap for Carers tonight, the spokesman said, but No 10 will not be releasing pictures.
- Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will take this afternoon’s press conference, the spokesman said. Hancock will be joined by Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, and Prof John Newton, the government’s national testing effort coordinator.
- The spokesman said that when Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, said yesterday that disruptive social distancing measures might have to stay in place “in the next calendar year”, Whitty was talking about until the end of 2020. He said he had checked this with Whitty personally. There has been a dispute about whether Whitty meant until December 2020, until April 2021 or until December 2021. Asked if the government agreed with Whitty’s analysis, the spokesman said the government agreed that it was essential not to have a second peak.
- The spokesman rejected claims that the government was not having a grown-up conversation with the public about how the process of easing the lockdown might take place. Asked why the government was not treating the public like grown-ups, he said: “It is.” Asked why the government had not published an options paper equivalent to the one published by the Scottish government today (see 12.38am), the spokesman referred to the five tests for easing the lockdown announced by Raab.
If mass cancellations across the sporting world have left a gaping hole in your life as summer approaches, Guardian Sport has compiled this helpful list breaking down when sports might return to our screens and stadiums.
Updated
Echoing the words of Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, Dr Andrew Goodall, the chief executive of NHS Wales, told the daily Welsh government briefing on Thursday that things would not return to normal immediately after the lockdown ended. He said:
We are part of a UK approach in terms of the mechanisms in place for the lockdown and we are still in that period for another couple of weeks.
If we assume that everything can return to normal because a lockdown date is finished, that cannot be the case. We are going to have to take a progressive approach on this.
One of our worries about the development of the virus is that while we have got these encouraging signs at this stage we also need to make sure we don’t allow it to reoccur, in particular to some of the peaks described.
Goodall added:
One of our concerns is that we have to continue with the range of mechanisms in place because given we have had such a significant impact in the way the public has worked with us, including staying at home, we have some concerns that what would happen is that we have a second or possibly even third peak.
Our actions at this stage are to ensure we can keep things stable and improving but we will need to continue to work with the public at large.
The University of Manchester, the biggest university in the UK, says it expects to lose 15-20% of its annual income due to a “major” fall in international students, amounting to £270m a year.
This is based on a projected reduction of 80% in all international and 20% in all home/EU students, who the university thinks may be reluctant to travel.
Dame Nancy Rothwell, the president and vice chancellor, has announced that she will be taking a voluntary 20% pay cut, along with other members of her senior leadership team, in recognition of the cashflow problems ahead.
In an email sent to all staff, Rothwell said job losses may be required for the university to weather the storm:
Pay represents well over 50% of our budget (over £600m pa). So, reducing pay costs must be a key part of meeting a major loss of income. We will maintain a freeze on all non-essential appointments and vacancies.
We will need to restructure activities and ways of working, not least to further enhance online learning and ensure our students have the best possible experience of studying with us.
We will also consider a range of means for reducing our pay costs such as deferring pay awards due to promotions, suspending annual increments and national pay awards; offering unpaid (part or full-time) voluntary leave or retirement; implementing a pay cut for a defined period across the university. Job losses may also be required.
Updated
The GMB Union scored a “significant” win for cleaners at Lewisham hospital, who had walked out in February after private outsourcing company ISS left them underpaid for several weeks and threatened to pull a promised pay rise in light of the dispute.
As of Thursday, the union said the wage increase has now been paid in full - with backpay - bringing the cleaners’ hourly rate of pay up to £10.55 an hour.
Helen O’Connor, a GMB organiser, said:
We have long campaigned for outsourced workers in Lewisham hospital to be paid the London Living Wage and have held a number of protests outside the hospital which were backed by the community and the TUC.
These brave hospital cleaners endured threats and bullying throughout their dispute, but their persistence has now paid off.
The success of the campaign shows that when unions and communities work together to stand up for themselves, they can and do win against corporate power.
These brave hospital cleaners endured threats and bullying throughout their dispute, but their persistence has now paid off.
— GMB_Union (@GMB_union) April 23, 2020
There is power in union ✊https://t.co/sLEssIbqmq
Updated
High debt levels in the north of England and Wales leave people ill-prepared for the post-Covid economic downturn, according to research from the Centre for Cities.
Mapping debt levels in England and Wales, the research found that people in large cities and towns in the north and in Wales have the highest levels of debt relative to their income and would be hit hardest by a recession.
On average, for every £5 people earn in Warrington, Swansea, Sunderland and Wigan, they owe around £1. Meanwhile in Oxford and Cambridge, people owe on average just 35p for every £5 they earn.
💷 For every £5 people earn in Warrington, Swansea & Sunderland, they owe a £1. Meanwhile in Oxford & Cambridge, people owe just 35p for every £5 they earn.
— Centre for Cities (@CentreforCities) April 23, 2020
Our latest research on household debt 👇 https://t.co/S8ppPvcFfZ
The inability to pay it off – or problem debt – is a cause for concern. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, many cities outside south-east England wereexperiencing steep rises in the number of people suffering from problem debt. For example, in Newport, which had the sharpest increase of all – an increase of 2,359 adults per 100,000 since 2013.
These high debt increases leave people particularly exposed to income shocks such as redundancy or furlough.
Andrew Carter, the chief executive of Centre for Cities, said the government needed to step in to protect people at risk from problem debt. He said:
To avoid people without a decent financial cushion falling into severe hardship, lenders should continue to offer relief to those in debt, and the government should reduce the wait time for the first Universal Credit payment down from five weeks.
Failure to support people with high levels of debt during this crisis will have a broader negative impact on the local economies of places where people are indebted – particularly those in Northern England and Wales.
Updated
Scotland's death toll rises by 58 to 1,120
A total of 1,120 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by 58 from 1,062 on Wednesday, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said.
Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing at the Scottish government headquarters in Edinburgh, she said 9,409 people had now tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 371 from 9,038 the day before.
There are 148 people in intensive care with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms, a decrease of seven on Wednesday, she added.
There are 1,748 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, down 28 from 1,776 on the previous day.
She said the fall in number of those in hospital and intensive care were a cause for “real optimism”.
Updated
Scotland publishes framework for leaving lockdown and adjusting to 'new normal'
Scotland must adjust to “new normal” of living with Covid-19, which may include cycling in and out of strict lockdown at short notice, according to a document just published by the Scottish government, which sets out its framework for progressing beyond the current lockdown restrictions.
The 26-page document (pdf) summarises the Scottish government’s approach as follows:
Suppress the virus through compliance with physical distancing and hygiene measures, ensuring that the reproduction number remains below 1 and that the NHS remains within capacity.
Care for those who need it, whether infected by the virus or not.
Support people, business and organisations affected by the crisis.
Recover to a new normal, carefully easing restrictions when safe to do so while maintaining necessary measures and ensuring that transmission remains controlled, supported by developments in medicine and technology.
Protect against this and future pandemics, including through effective testing, contact tracing and isolation.
Renew the country, building a fairer and more sustainable economy and society.
It warns the public to expect a cycle of lifting and re-imposing restrictions, with the possibility of restrictions being re-imposed quickly if transmission suddenly escalates; talks about the urgent need to redesign workplaces and education settings to allow for proper social distancing; the need for “unprecedented levels of support and compliance from the whole population”.
It also concludes that now is not the right time to relax restrictions, but that over the next few weeks, based on the evidence and expert advice, options will be considered that include the easing of restrictions in a phased manner, for example easing restrictions on some outdoor activity before those on indoor activities, as well as tailoring options to specific geographies and sectors, or parts of the rural economy, or those able to work outdoors.
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Britons need 'bit of hope' from government about return to normality, says Tory MP
Last night Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt reported on how there was a “very tense” meeting of the executive of the backbench Conservative 1922 Committee where members expressed concern about the impact of the lockdown on the economy. In his report Watt said:
Some members believe the lockdown needs to be relaxed after the first week of May.
“If we don’t do that we really will see thousands of businesses go under,” one 1922 member told BBC Newsnight.
As a first step, gardening centres and DIY stores should open immediately, they suggested.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the committee, made the same argument in an interview on the Today programme this morning. Stressing that he was speaking in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of the committee, he said:
We need to start this discussion about how we get back to normality.
Whatever we do needs to be done gradually, but I think that we could, when the figures start to stabilise a bit more ... we could begin to think about what are the next steps on a step-by-step basis to begin to get back to normality.
We’ve got to think about the number of businesses, particularly small businesses, that unless they get some form of indication when they might be able to get back into business, that they are actually likely to cease trading. Every business that ceases trading is a job or more than one lost.
We have to, on behalf of the businesses of this country, begin to give them a little bit of hope as to when we might be able to get back to normality.
Updated
Decades of “systematic discrimination” and “racial segregation” has left BME healthcare workers with less autonomy and bearing a disproportionate burden of the risk from Covid-19, a senior NHS nurse and diversity champion has said.
Carol Cooper, head of equality, diversity and human rights at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS, said:
The failure to address stark inequities in the workforce and racial segregation is what has put those workers at the front lines with less autonomy than others and literally having to be there at the cliff face.
Speaking to the Nursing Times last week, she spotlighted how BME nurses and healthcare assistants felt they were being picked to work on coronavirus wards more so than their white colleagues.
BME staff feel that they are being put on Covid wards and exposed to patients with Covid over and above their colleagues.
She told the Guardian she spoke up because while people felt it needed to be said, they are often fearful of raising these issues. She said there was also a fear of a “well, everybody is dying” response.
Cooper, who comes from a public health background, called for a “centre for BME health” – a model which exists in the US – that would look at variances and make sure communities were represented in the treatments and research.
While accepting that there were co-morbidities in certain communities, she described recent conversations about the role of vitamin D deficiency in BME healthcare workers’ deaths as a “red herring”. She said:
You cannot, as has been the case, adopt a colour-neutral approach and then, when people are dying pull it out and say: ‘Oh it’s because of your vitamin D’.
If it’s because of our vitamin D then there has been negligence in not ensuring that people were prescribed adequate doses before. It’s a red herring. The fact is that systemic discrimination over a period decades is that puts us in the position we are in.
As for the government’s failure to record and publish real-time data on the ethnicity of Covid-19 patients, Cooper said it was clear that Public Health England and the ONS had decided in the past that race was not an issue.
We are now in a position where they are scrambling backwards to try to marry the ethnicity data to the mortality and morbidity data.
Updated
Shadow cabinet minister Tony Lloyd out of intensive care
Tony Lloyd, the Labour MP and shadow Northern Ireland secretary, is out of intensive care, he announced last night. Lloyd, who is 70, was admitted to Manchester Royal Infirmary three weeks ago after falling ill with coronavirus. Faisal Rana, a councillor in Lloyd’s Rochdale constituency, posted this on Twitter.
Message from Tony Lloyd MPThank you all for the many messages of support. I have now been moved out of ICU. It certainly is a tough condition and it has no doubt left me literally gasping for air. But I am happy to say that I am, and continue to be, on themend. Best wishes,Tony”. pic.twitter.com/oyM2tzKExi
— Cllr Faisal Rana (@FaisalRana48) April 22, 2020
A Greater Manchester police officer made it to the birth of his second child after his coronavirus test results were fast-tracked.
Neighbourhood officer Joe Burrows was sent for testing by the force after showing Covid-19 symptoms. The next day his wife Gemma went into early labour and restrictions meant he couldn’t join her. His superintendent managed to get his results fast-tracked, Joe received his negative result just eight hours later (rather than 72), and he made it to the hospital a few hours before their daughter was born.
GMP Neighbourhood Officer Joe Burrows made it to the birth of his second child just in time thanks to COVID testing 👶
— Greater Manchester Police #StayHomeSaveLives (@gmpolice) April 23, 2020
See more details here ➡️https://t.co/yEj79M8Uct pic.twitter.com/2it6kalp5u
Alok Sharma, the business secretary, has told the Commons business committee this morning that he will soon introduce measures to protect firms that are facing “undue pressure” from commercial landlords. He said:
I do think the majority of landlords and tenants are working well, they are reaching agreements on debt obligations but I am certainly aware that certain landlords are putting undue financial pressure with aggressive debt recovery tactics.
What I’m very happy to say to you is I will look to introduce temporary measures on this particular issue which will ease commercial rent demand and protect the UK high street ... that is something I will be doing very very shortly.
Updated
Will Quince, a welfare minister, told the work and pensions committee this morning that there were 1.5m applications for universal credit in the six weeks to 12 April. He said that there had been a “significant slowdown” since then, but he said applications were still three times the normal level.
The surge in applications, and an increase in the value of universal credit, will take the annual amount spent on working-age benefits to more than £100bn for the first time, Quince said.
The chief constable for Northamptonshire police force, Nick Adderley, has sent letters to the children of his officers, thanking them for helping “mum or dad – or in some cases both of them” – keep people safe.
I want to thank you for helping Northamptonshire police keeping people safe by keeping quiet when mum or dad have calls to make; by washing your hands properly, by doing your school work or by taking one walk a day. They may seem like small things but these make it possible for your mum or dad to work and this makes your part of our team.
The full letter, complete with a smiley sign-off, is here:
Letter from @NorthantsChief to the children of his police officers. #LeadershipMatters #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/pHPSPtYg4R
— Inspector Gadget (@InspGadgetBlogs) April 23, 2020
Updated
Scientists are monitoring sewage for traces of Covid-19 to help health experts identify outbreak hotspots, PA Media reports. While the virus does not readily spread through waste water systems, non-infectious genetic residues can be detected. Scientists from Newcastle University are collaborating with Spanish academics in Santiago de Compostela to monitor sewage in their local networks in both countries, supported by Northumbrian Water and Labaqua in Spain. Using this analysis, they will be able to estimate the prevalence of Covid-19 in north-east England and across Spain.
The work will not identify if specific people are infected, but will allow researchers to estimate local concentrations of the virus by testing sewage from different locations, PA Media reports.
Updated
More than 100,000 people are grieving in isolation as a result of the pandemic, a bereavement charity has said.
Andy Langford, clinical director of Cruse Bereavement Care (CBC), said the tragic death toll in tandem with the nationwide lockdown has meant that hundreds of thousands of people will be left grieving in isolation. More than 18,000 people in the UK have died after testing positive for Covid-19.
CBC estimates that six people suffer intense grief for every one that dies, meaning at least 108,000 people may be trying to cope with a death.
🆕ℹ️ A month on from the UK being placed on lockdown, over:
— Cruse Bereavement Care (@CruseCare) April 23, 2020
🟣 100,000 extra people are grieving in isolation
🟣 900,000 people have been unable to attend funerals, or hold a funeral in the way they would have wanted
🟣 3.5 million people have been affected by a bereavement
And physical distancing means funerals, which are on average attended by 50 people, are not able to go ahead as planned. CBC believes that around 900,000 people have been unable to attend funerals or to say goodbye in the way they would have wanted.
The coronavirus-related deaths come on top of the average of around 50,000 people who die in any given month, according to CBC. Langford said that not being able to spend time with loved ones at such a difficult time will only serve to compound grief:
At times like this, and in the face of increased isolation, people across the country also have an opportunity to reach out to those who may be struggling, to make sure they don’t feel alone.
The charity has a network of 5,000 volunteers who offer free help for bereaved people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Langford urged anybody needing support to get in touch:
We are on hand to support anyone who needs us. We are here to listen.
Contact details for CBC can be found on their website.
Good morning. I’m Lucy Campbell, joining Andy to bring you all the latest UK developments on Covid-19 throughout the day. As always, if you’d like to get in touch with me with news tips or stories, please feel free to email me at lucy.campbell@theguardian.com or message me on Twitter.
Quarter of firms may have halted trading since lockdown, ONS survey suggests
The Office for National Statistics has published the latest findings from its new buiness impact of coronavirus survey. Here are the main points.
- Around a quarter (24%) of firms surveyed said that they had temporarily closed or stopped trading after the lockdown was announced on 23 March. But only 0.3% said they had permanently ceased trading.
- Some 82% of firms surveyed in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector said they had temporarily ceased trading.
- Two-thirds (66%) of firms surveyed that said they were still trading said their financial performance was outside the “normal” range, with 93% saying turnover was lower than normal.
- Among businesses still trading, 60% said they were confident they had sufficient financial resources available.
The ONS survey is a voluntary one, and so the results are only indicative, and do not provide a statistically robust picture of what is happening in the economy. But more than 6,000 businesses responded, out of almost 18,000 businesses - a mixture of large and small ones - that were invited to participate in the survey. The ONS says that although these findings do not replace official statistics, they are “designed to give an indication of the impact of Covid-19 on businesses” and that the results provide “a timelier estimate than other surveys”.
Updated
P&O Cruises and Cunard, the two UK cruise lines in the Carnival group, have announced extensions to the “pauses” in their operations, until 31 July this year.
The 11-week extensions take the shutdown in cruise holidays a month further than most other global brands. Others are however likely to follow suit after US medical authorities said that they would close ports to cruise sailings, in an order that could last until late July.
Cruises have played a grim role in the spread of coronavirus, with passengers and later crew marooned on several ships where the virus has rapidly spread. One Carnival-owned cruise ship, the Ruby Princess, has also accounted for a significant proportion of all coronavirus cases in Australia.
P&O Cruises president, Paul Ludlow, said the line was “considering the evolving advice as well as potential restrictions in ports of call as we look at how and when we phase our ships back into service”, and said future holidaymakers would likely have to adhere to “new stringent measures” that “will become the new normal”.
Updated
NHS staff from BAME backgrounds accounted for 63% of those who have died from the coronavirus, though they make up approximately 21% of the workforce, according to an analysis.
The analysis, published in the Health Service Journal, of 119 NHS staff by three leading clinicians confirms the disproportionately high rate of BAME individuals who have died during the pandemic.
The findings also show that BAME patients also accounting for 34% of the patients admitted to UK intensive care units with covid-19, but only 17% of the UK population.
Last week, the government announced a formal review by NHS England and Public Health England into why ethnic minorities appear to be disproportionately affected by the virus.
The analysis said the distribution of deaths by occupation among nurses, healthcare support workers and doctors is broadly consistent with employment ratios. Distribution of deaths by geographical region also correlates well with known regional distribution of cases.
The clinicians note the dominance of women in this dataset, compared with the male-dominated figures among those infected or admitted to ICU, is a reflection of the female dominated population delivering health and social care.
The government has been urged to recognise that race and racial inequalities are a risk factor for Covid-19 after Guardian research that has revealed that ethnic minorities in England are dying in disproportionately high numbers compared with white people.
Updated
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, joining the blog for the rest of the day.
Jenny Harries, who as deputy chief medical officer for England has been a regular participant at the government’s daily coronavirus press conferences, has revealed that she has had the virus. She disclosed that in an interview with Good Morning Britain with Lorraine Kelly. Describing her experience, Harries told the programme:
I found it a very unpleasant experience. I wasn’t well at all. I didn’t necessarily have some of the clear respiratory symptoms and I think it’s always useful as a doctor, it’s a good dose of medicine for us to experience things and to know how other people feel ...
I was probably off for about 10 days. I knew I was unwell. The offness had more to do with the fact I hadn’t been eating and was generally quite frail.
Over a million frozen airline meals are to be distributed to people in need across Greater Manchester, after nine out of 10 flights were grounded during the UK’s lockdown.
Food waste social enterprise, Open Kitchen MCR, is currently storing the meals in a giant freezer provided by cold storage company Lineage Logistics, before handing them out.
1.1 MILLION frozen airline meals rescued 🤯 These meals were marked as waste with so many flights grounded, but will now be distributed across Greater Manchester to those most in need. Yay! Thanks to @OneLineage for all their hard work and this giant freezer pic.twitter.com/0Av5m2Mm22
— Open Kitchen MCR (@OpenKitchenMCR) April 22, 2020
Earlier this week, experts warned that some airports were at risk of closure because of the huge drop in passenger numbers during the pandemic.
Last week, flight tracking website Flightradar24 recorded only 711 departures from the 10 biggest airports in the UK.
Updated
British Airways pilot Charles Price tweeted pictures of the latest supply of PPE being brought to the UK for NHS staff.
Just completed a run down to Singapore to collect literally tonnes of PPE and bring back to #LHR for the #NHS. Full in the cargo holds, full in the cabin and full in the overhead lockers. 1000’s of protective gowns etc. Unusual look for a #B777 Feels good to be helping out. 😷👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/PK2t0ae6hj
— Charles Price (@ChuckIOM) April 22, 2020
The medical supplies have filled up the cargo holds, cabin and overhead lockers, Price said.
It is one of several flights being operated by British Airways from Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai, which is taking supplies to the NHS. The flights are being operated in partnership with the UK government.
Alex Cruz, British Airways’ chairman and chief executive, said: “We are doing all we can to support the global response to Covid-19, whether it’s flying important medical supplies in to the UK or helping to bring Britons home. We will continue to use all available resources to support the government, the NHS and communities all over the world who might be in need of our help.”
Updated
A major anti-poverty charity has called on the government to increase child benefit by £10 per week per child after finding the coronavirus shutdown is disproportionately affecting families with children.
Research by Turn2us has found that more than 10 million children in nearly 6m households across the UK are facing financial crisis because one or both of their parents have lost income due to the pandemic.
According to the charity’s nationwide survey, parents are more likely to have experienced a change in their employment status than any other group of working-age adults.
Nearly two-thirds of households with children have already seen their employment situation affected by coronavirus, compared with just 43% of households without kids.
Tom Lawson, chief executive of Turn2us, said the crisis threatens to push more children into poverty.
It’s a worrying time for families, many of whom will have suddenly lost income as a result of changes to their employment situation. Whether you’ve lost your job, are working reduced hours, or have been furloughed, you still need to put food on the table and pay the bills.
There are already 4.5 million children in the UK living in poverty. Ultimately, families need more support to see them through this crisis and we urge the government to intervene and increase child benefit payments, which have been subject to freezes since 2011, by £10 per child, per week.
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The government plans to borrow £225bn from bond market investors in just four months to fund the dramatic increase in public spending during the coronavirus pandemic.
In an early indicator of the spiralling financial costs of the crisis, the Treasury said its debt management office – which sells bonds to finance the government’s spending requirements – would offer investors £180bn worth of gilts to buy between May and July, on top of £45bn already planned for April.
Taken together the borrowing requirement in the first four months of the new year comes close to the annual peak in gilt sales recorded during the financial crisis, when Britain sold £227.6bn of bonds in 2009-10.
Before coronavirus struck, the government had planned to sell around £160bn worth of bonds in 2020-21 to fund its expenditure and service its debts.
The Treasury said it expected the bulk of gilt sales this year to come in the four months to July, given the “immediate financing needs resulting from Covid-19”, and that it hoped higher levels of bond issuance were not required for the remainder of the financial year.
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Brandon Lewis admitted he did not know how many people had been tested for coronavirus in the past 24 hours as concern continues over the government’s 100k target.
The Northern Ireland secretary, in an interview with Piers Morgan, said he did not know the number despite it being readily available online. Instead he discussed that the government had the capacity to carry out 40,000 tests a day and carried out 22,000 yesterday.
Morgan said the capacity “sounds good” but “do you know how many people were tested?” Brandon said: “We did 22,000 tests but how many individual different people that was I don’t have that data in front of me at the moment, no.” “How can you not know that?” Morgan asked repeatedly, before telling him it was 13k individuals. Lewis responded: “Ok. Well as I say 22,000 tests were done.”
The government has promised to hit a target of 100,000 tests a day in just one week’s time but there is confusion again this morning on whether this refers to capacity or 100k tests being completed.
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Nurse speaks of treating Boris Johnson
A nurse who cared for the prime minister when he was in intensive care has spoken of his pride at being publicly praised.
Luis Pitarma, 29 from west London, was one of two nurses thanked by the prime minister after he received treatment for the coronavirus at St Thomas’ hospital earlier this month.
Pitarma said he initially nervous when he was chosen to look after the prime minister. He said:
I was changing into scrubs before my night shift when the matron called me over and told me the prime minister was about to come to ICU. I had been chosen to look after him because they were confident I would cope with the situation well.
I felt nervous at first – he was the prime minister. The responsibility I was going to hold in my hands was quite overwhelming. I didn’t really know how to address him – should I call him Boris, Mr Johnson or Prime Minister? My matron reassured me and said to be myself like I am with any other patient.
Pitarma added that the prime minister asked to be called Boris.
He admitted he felt strange looking after someone so high profile, but said “he was also a patient like any other patient, a life like any other life. It was a big responsibility and I gave it the same respect as I would with any other patient.”
He was amazed to see he was singled out by the prime minister, along with his colleague Jenny McGee, for praise in a video Johnson released thanking staff at St Thomas’ for the care he received. “I don’t have the words to describe how I felt when I watched it. It made me quite emotional. I was really surprised but so happy.”
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Brits are turning to books in lockdown, with one in three reading more since Boris Johnson told the country on 23 March to stay at home, according to a new survey.
Marking the annual World Book Night on Thursday, the survey from the Reading Agency of more than 2,000 people in the UK found that 31% were reading more since lockdown began, with the charity noting a “particular spike”, of 45%, among young people aged between 18 and 24.
“It takes me to another, better place and allows me to escape the current situation for a while,” one 67-year-old female respondent told the Reading Agency.
Total physical book sales in the UK jumped 6% in the week before the national lockdown began, with sales monitor Nielsen BookScan noting a 35% week-on-week boost for paperback fiction. Adult non-fiction, however, was down by 13%, as readers sought solace in imaginary worlds. That same week, Waterstones, the UK’s biggest book chain, reported that its online sales were up by 400% week-on-week.
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The Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, has been making the rounds on breakfast news shows this morning, responding to questions on testing.
When asked whether the government would be able to meet its pledge to test 100,000 people a day by the end of the month, Lewis said:
This was a virus that had no test at the beginning. Gone into 2,000 pretty quickly and we’ve upscaled it now to 40,000, getting to 100,000 by the end of the month.
He told the BBC that the government has been focused on getting the capacity up to meet the demand by expanding test centres and get testing swabs to people at home.
"This was a virus that had no test at the beginning," says NI Secretary Brandon Lewis, "we've upscaled it now to 40,000, getting to 100,000 by the end of the month"
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) April 23, 2020
He adds government is "opening up" amount of people who can get testshttps://t.co/n0uX70euNh #BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/wlQQmFId7S
Lewis told Talk Radio that he was “confident” the government would be able to carry out 100,000 coronavirus tests a day.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis: I'm "confident" we will reach 100,000 coronavirus tests a day then we can "start to expand further", but until then NHS workers need them "in the first instance." Listen live ► https://t.co/sv3MZUm41c@JuliaHB1 | @BrandonLewis pic.twitter.com/Afcr32llI1
— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) April 23, 2020
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Dr Medhat Atalla, a consultant geriatrician at Doncaster Royal Infirmary in South Yorkshire, is the latest NHS worker to die after contracting the coronavirus.
Dr Atalla, who was described as “hugely popular and respected colleague”, became a full-time member of the trust in 2014, but had worked with elderly patients in the north of England since the early 2000s.
In a joint statement, Dr Tim Noble, medical director, and Richard Parker OBE, chief executive at Doncaster and Bassetlaw teaching hospitals, said:
A hugely popular and respected colleague, Dr Atalla was a very special human being who practised medicine across three continents throughout his career, affecting the lives of so many in such a positive way. He was a truly gentle gentleman and he will be hugely missed by us all.
We would also like to take a moment to thank colleagues who cared for Medhat during his illness, and who did all they could to care for and support him as he bravely battled Covid-19.
As a trust, we share our deepest sympathies with Dr Atalla’s brother and sister, and loved ones in Egypt, and we ask that the media respect their wishes during this extremely challenging time.
My colleague Sarah Marsh has been writing tributes to NHS workers and private healthcare staff, from heart surgeons to nurses, porters and volunteers who have lost their lives to the coronavirus in the UK. She has recorded over 100 deaths so far.
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Politicians have warned that the government is considering a “blanket ban” to prevent older people leaving their homes during the coronavirus crisis.
The health minister, Lord James Bethell, twice refused to deny that older people will be told to stay in extended lockdown in response to questions in the Lords on Wednesday.
“I was very concerned by the government’s refusal to answer my question,” said Lord Blunkett, the former home secretary. “Older people must not be subjected to arbitrary incarceration as well as isolation.”
Blunkett asked Bethell what assessment the government had made of the impact of the restriction of movement on those defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable and what plans they have to change those restrictions.
“The more the government make restrictions age-related rather than risk-related, the more they risk people pushing back very heavily and refusing to keep to the rules,” he said.
“The government picked the arbitrary age of 70 out of the air back in March when they announced the initial lockdown based on age. Age is no longer a risk factor unless underlying health conditions are attached.”
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UK plans to test 300,000 for immunity
The UK is embarking on a large-scale study of 300,000 people to find out what proportion of the population has already had the coronavirus and how many may have some immunity to it as a result.
Studies are being undertaken around the world to work out how widespread the infection is. So far, they have found the proportion of people with antibodies showing they have been infected is low. The World Health Organization said this week it appears that only around 2 to 3% of people in the general population had been infected – with or without symptoms.
The results of the new major British study will be crucial for planning a strategic endgame to the pandemic in the UK. Some 25,000 people will be invited to take part in the first wave of the study in England. It is expected it will be extended to 300,000 people over the next 12 months.
All those who take part will provide samples from self-administered swabs of their own nose and mouth and answer questions from a visiting nurse, to determine whether they have the virus at the outset. Over the next year, they will be asked to take further tests every week for the first five weeks, then every month for 12 months.
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Government scientists expected to recommend against public wearing medical face masks
Morning, welcome to the UK coronavirus liveblog.
Who should wear a face mask to stop the spread of the coronavirus? While opinion among experts around the world is divided, Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said there is no research to support wearing a mask if you’re fit and well.
Marshall echoes the advice from the World Health Organization, which said there is little evidence that wearing a mask in the community prevented healthy people from picking up respiratory infections including Covid-19.
Marshall said it would however make sense for someone to wear a mask if they are “coughing and spluttering”. He added people can chose to cover their faces with a bandanna to stop the spread of coronavirus.
The scientific advisory group on emergencies (Sage) is expected to discuss the usage of masks in a meeting on Thursday. It follows a decision by all German states to make face masks compulsory when travelling on public transport and going to the shops to combat the spread of coronavirus.
Marshall told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
There’s no research evidence to support wearing masks if you are basically fit and well, indeed if people wear masks there’s a risk they play around with it, they play with their eyes more and maybe you’re even at a higher risk of picking up an infection.
However, it is common sense that if they are coughing and spluttering then it makes complete sense to wear masks in order to protect other people.
I think the guidance that we’re expecting to hear is that the wearing of face masks is a voluntary activity not mandated and it certainly makes a lot of sense to focus limited resources that we have at the moment on those who have greatest need and that’s the health professionals.
This sophisticated kit is likely to be more rigorous, more useful, but actually it’s perfectly reasonable to wear a bandanna around your mouth or whatever, that will work, it won’t be quite as good but it will be good enough.
I’m Aamna Mohdin and will be manning the liveblog until Andrew and Lucy come on later this morning. If you want to get in touch, you can email me (aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com) or tweet me.
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