Nurses are being abused by their neighbours for "driving off to work", the Chief Nursing Officer for England has said.
Ruth May told today's coronavirus press briefing at Downing Street that it was "frustrating" to see members of the public not following social distancing rules during the lockdown while medical staff face "abuse from their neighours.
She told the briefing: "It is very, very frustrating. It's personally frustrating to see people clearly not doing social distancing and clearly coming out in large groups.
"I was only on the way here, going over Westminster Bridge seeing a whole horde of cyclists coming together. It is enormously frustrating.
"The reason that is frustrating, is there are still occasions where my colleagues are getting abuse from their neighbours for driving off to work.
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"Sam, a nurse in a mental health organisation in the east of England, had grief from her neighbours because she was travelling to work.
"Our nurses, our healthcare staff, need to be able to get to work. It's right and proper that they do, but my ask of everybody, please stay at homes, save lives and protect my staff."
Also at the press briefing today, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced a "three-strand" plan to ensure every health worker who needs it can get personal protective equipment (PPE).
This came as frontline medical staff across the country continue to express fears they are being put in danger due to a dire lack of PPE.
Hancock said the three strands were ensuring it's only used when needed; making sure it's distributed properly; and beefing up future supply.
Over the next three weeks officials will roll out an online portal so care and NHS workers can request PPE from a central hub.
Hancock adding the UK was creating a domestic PPE manufacturing industry, as it has done already with ventilators, and urged other firms to join in.
He said: "Many businesses have generously come forward to turn over production lines as part of this national effort. In particular, I want to thank Burberry with their offers of gowns, Rolls Royce and McLaren who are creating visors."
Hancock said that since the start of the outbreak there have been more than 742 million pieces of PPE delivered to the frontline.
That includes 161 million masks, 127 million aprons, a million gowns and 345 million pairs of gloves, he said.
Hancock also appeared to suggest that responsibility lay with NHS staff to ensure PPE was used only when needed.
He said: "There is enough PPE to go around, but only if it's used in line with our guidance. We need everyone to treat PPE like the precious resource that it is.
"That means only using it when there's a clinical need, and not using more than is needed," he said.
Hancock and Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said the government is not recommending mass face-mask wearing for the general public.
They both said that is because it is not proven to be effective.
But Hancock also admitted mass mask wearing could cause a shortage in the NHS.
He said: "The World Health Organisation have themselves looked into this very recently, and came to the conclusion that face masks should be saved for those in health and care who really need them.
"So it is not a risk-free option to have face masks, for everybody to wear face masks, because that means that it's harder to get hold of face masks for the people where the science says that they're needed."
On testing, Hancock said 15 testing drive-through centres had been opened across the UK to enable more testing for frontline staff.
"I can announce today that we have capacity for all key social care staff and NHS staff who need to be tested to get those tests," he told the briefing.
He said that two more "Lighthouse mega-labs" were on track in Cheshire and Glasgow, after he opened the first one in Milton Keynes on Thursday.
He added that AstraZeneca and GSK were also opening another testing facility in Cambridge.
Hancock said 19,116 coronavirus tests were carried out across the UK on Thursday, of which 5,706 came back positive.
While the number of people in hospital who have tested positive for the disease stood at 19,304, of which 8,958 had died.
He also reiterated warnings to Brits to now be tempted to break the coronavirus lockdown and said Easter will be a “test of everyone’s resolve”.
“However warm the weather, however tempting your local beach or park we need everyone to stay at home,” he said.
He added: “NHS staff are battling day and night to keep desperately sick people breathing. They need you to stay at home.”
Today's PPE announcement comes after the Government has faced heavy criticism for a delay in PPE reaching frontline NHS staff fighting the coronavirus outbreak.
Dr Rinesh Parmar, of the Doctors' Association, said 43% of doctors, surveyed by his organisation, had no eye protection at all and 20% don't have them for the most severe and high risk procedures.
At the end of March, desperate NHS staff wrote to Boris Johnson demanding proper PPE.
The letter signed by 15,000 medics called on the PM to provide the same masks, goggles, gowns and gloves as workers in other countries.
Just yesterday, it emerged a doctor who warned the PM that frontline staff urgently needed more PPE has died after from coronavirus.
Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, a 53-year-old locum urologist at Homerton Hospital in East London, died on Wednesday at Queen's Hospital in Romford after testing positive for coronavirus.
On March 18, Dr Chowdhury wrote an urgent message to Boris Johnson appealed for PPE for "each and every NHS worker in the UK".
There was further outcry after it was reported yesterday that three NHS nurses who were forced to wear bin bags for protective clothing as they bravely treated coronavirus patients had themselves tested positive for the disease.
Frontline staff at Northwick Hospital in Harrow, north London, claimed they had had to use makeshift PPE due to severe shortages of gloves, aprons and footwear.
Photographs showed the nurses wearing clinical waste bags on their hands, feet and head as emergency rooms filled with sick patients.
Doctors and nurses responded with disbelief this week after Prof Andrew Goddard, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, told them not to "burn through" PPE suplies.
He suggested the lack of protective wear was due to "frivolous" use.
Nursing staff are desperate for enough equipment and the shortages are not caused by frivolous use,” Rose Gallagher, the professional lead for infection prevention and control at the Royal College of Nursing.
At the press conference today, Matt Hancock reiterated a previous warning by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, standing in for the Prime Minister, who billed this Saturday and Sunday as a 'make-or-break weekend' and urged restraint amid signs social-distancing was beginning to work.
