Trump news – live: President attacked for 'vague and inconsistent' reopening instructions after prematurely claiming victory over coronavirus with only 1% of public tested
NHS staff may refuse to work this weekend if there are not enough gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for them, a union has warned, as the UK death toll rose by 888 on Saturday. This came as Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said he could not guarantee hospitals would have enough PPE to get through the next few days.
The World Health Organisation has also questioned whether antibody tests could help the UK end its lockdown, insisting they may not prove if someone is protected from reinfection. Britain has placed the tests – which check if someone has had Covid-19 – at the centre of an eventual “back-to-work” plan to restart normal life.
Elsewhere, Donald Trump has urged supporters to “liberate” three states led by Democratic governors, apparently encouraging protests against stay-at-home restrictions. Some states under Republican leadership have edged towards lifting certain measures aimed at stopping the coronavirus.
Supply of clinical gowns “now critical”, NHS Providers warns
The supply of clinical gowns is “now critical” and in an “extremely worrying situation”, NHS Providers has warned.
“The absolute priority is for frontline staff to be able to feel safe and have access to the best possible PPE available,” Saffron Cordery, the organisation’s deputy chief executive, said.
“Trust and national leaders have been working around the clock to secure supplies of gowns, but the stock is just not yet available in the quantities needed.”
Ms Cordery added that the new guidance on PPE usage issued on Friday to manage the shortage was endorsed by the World Health Organisation.
“We all hope that this temporary disruption to supply will be short-lived and that the gowns that were ordered a long time ago, and should have already arrived, start arriving consistently and reliably rather than in the current fits and starts,” she said.
Thousands rush to beach in Florida as local mayor orders partial end to lockdown
Thousands of people rushed to a beach in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday after the city’s mayor ordered a partial reopening of public spaces during the US coronavirus outbreak.
Mayor Lenny Curry ordered the reopening in what he claimed was the “beginning of the pathway back to normal life” and asked the public to “stay within the guidelines” when visiting the beach.
However, few people appeared to be following social distancing guidelines as they visited the area on Friday evening.
Our reporter, Richard Hall, has the full story below:
Donations to The Independent’s Help The Hungry appeal have surged past the £1.5m mark as some of London’s wealthiest families step up to the plate to support our work in the capital.
A YouGov survey for the Food Foundation has found that eight million people in Britain are facing food insecurity and that three million are going hungry since lockdown started three weeks ago, causing a huge rise in demand for free food.
The Independent is encouraging readers to help groups that are trying to feed the hungry across the country – find out how you can help here. Follow this link to donate to our campaign in London, in partnership with the Evening Standard.
BREAKING: A total of 15,464 patients have died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Friday, the Department of Health said, up by 888 from 14,576 the day before.
The number of confirmed cases has risen to 114,217, the department added.
Portugal considers face masks under lockdown exit strategy
Portugal may make face mask use compulsory on public transport and impose beach restrictions during the summer months as part of a plan to ease the coronavirus lockdown.
In an interview with the Expresso newspaper, prime minister Antonio Costa said he hopes to relax restrictions on schools, stores, restaurants and cultural spaces from May onwards but such a plan would require new rules to keep people safe.
Portugal declared a state of emergency to halt the spread of coronavirus on 18 March and on Thursday extended it until 2 May. Until then most non-essential businesses will remain shut, and restrictions on movement and gatherings will remain in place.
Mr Costa said the plan, which is likely to be announced on 30 April, could limit the number of people visiting beaches across the country which are usually crowded during summer.
A leading global health scientist has warned it is “very unrealistic” that the Olympic Games will take place next year unless a vaccine for Covid-19 is found, reports sports news correspondent Jack de Menezes.
The International Olympic Committee announced last month that Tokyo 2020 will be delayed by 12 months following the outbreak of coronavirus, with Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe declaring a nationwide state of emergency at the start of April.
The global pandemic has seen almost all professional sport worldwide put on hold, with July’s 36th Olympic Games called off following lengthy discussions between the IOC, the Tokyo 2020 organising committee and the Japanese government.
But plans to stage the Games 12 months on in July 2021 could remain affected if there is no known vaccine for Covid-19, according to Professor Devi Sridhar, chair of global health at the University of Edinburgh.
China battles surge in cases in province bordering Russia
China reported 27 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, as it tries to stem an upsurge in infections in a north-eastern province bordering Russia.
Twenty of the new cases were in Heilongjiang province, including 13 Chinese nationals who had returned recently from Russia.
The land border with Russia has been closed.
The latest confirmed cases brings the total to 82,719, of which 77,029 have recovered and been discharged, the National Health Commission said.
Eighteen officials in Heilongjiang province have been punished for failures in their response to the outbreak, state media reported. They include the deputy mayor of Harbin, the provincial capital, and a vice president of Harbin Medical University.
They were given warnings or demerits in their personnel files.
Medical staff may refuse to work this weekend if there are not enough gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for them, a union has warned, reports Whitehall editor Kate Devlin.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has said he cannot guarantee hospitals will have enough PPE to get through the next few days.
In a major shift, doctors and nurses were asked to treat patients without full length waterproof gowns, where necessary, and even use plastic aprons as an alternative.
Sara Gorton, head of health at the union Unison, said: “Health managers must be truly honest with their staff … over the weekend. If gowns run out, staff in high risk areas may well decide that it’s no longer safe for them to work”.
The number of coronavirus deaths in the Netherlands has risen by 142 to 3,601, according to Dutch health authorities.
Confirmed cases in the country have also increased by 1,140 to 31,589, the Dutch Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in its daily update on Saturday.
Elsewhere, the Swiss death toll has reached 1,111, the country's public health agency said, rising from 1,059 a day earlier.
The number of people showing positive tests for the disease increased to 27,404, the agency said, up from 27,078.
South Korea records smallest jump in cases since February
South Korea reported 18 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, its lowest daily jump since 20 February, continuing a downward trend as officials discuss more sustainable forms of social distancing that allows for some communal and economic activity.
The figures, released by South Korea's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, bring the country's national totals to 10,653 cases and 232 virus-related deaths.
The caseload continued to wane in the hardest-hit city of Daegu, where officials say the number of active cases dropped below 1,000 for the first time since a surge of infections in late February. (A group of people wearing masks walk along a street in Seoul, South Korea)
At least 993 of overall infections have been linked to arrivals from overseas. Most of these cases were detected in the Seoul metropolitan area over the past month as thousands of students and other South Korean nationals returned home amid worsening outbreaks and suspended school years in Europe and the US.
Vice health minister Kim Gang-lip on Saturday called for vigilance to maintain the hard-won gains against the virus, raising concern over continuing infections at hospitals and local transmissions health workers have been unable to trace.
France bars cruise ship from disembarking passengers
French authorities have barred a cruise ship that has been at sea since early January from disembarking more than 1,000 passengers before its final destination in Italy.
The regional administration for the Bouches-du-Rhone in southern France cited a nationwide ban on allowing foreign cruise ships to dock, as part of France's virus-related confinement measures.
The French administration said that the Costa Deliziosa sought to make a stop in Marseille on Friday to disembark 1,400 passengers who wanted to get out before the final stop in Venice.
The administration granted exemptions to six other cruise ships in recent weeks to allow French passengers to get off, but refused this time.
The Costa Deliziosa left on an around-the-world cruise and is expected to reach Italy in the coming days.
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has asked the public to help protect what he called the country’s fourth emergency service – newspapers.
The minister pleaded with people across the UK to "add one small thing" to their to-do list and buy a paper as he admitted the coronavirus pandemic had caused the “biggest existential crisis” in the history of the press.
National and regional titles have seen advertising revenues plummet and circulation decline amid the Covid-19 crisis.
“Newspapers are at heart of the British media and essential to its vibrant mix,” the MP for Hertsmere said. “People across the country are rising to the coronavirus challenge and I suggest we all add one small thing to our to-do list: buy a paper."
‘Other countries have been very open about what they've done’
Ministers are underestimating the public by refusing to discuss exit strategies for ending the coronavirus lockdown, senior Tory MPs have warned.
The government has set out what needs to happen before it will consider lifting the measures, but there has been no detail on how the easing of restrictions will take place.
Tory backbenchers and former ministers say there needs to be "strategic clarity" and that the argument put forward by the Government about not wanting to "confuse the message" is not the right way forward.
Former Brexit secretary David Davis said: "Other countries have been very open about what they've done.
"There's really no reason, there's no argument for not debating and discussing with all the facts available.
"There are lots and lots of benefits of being open about this. The argument that was put, that we don't want to confuse the message, I think is just wrong. It underestimates the public. The public understand that there are phases to this."
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the Government should stop treating people "like children" by refusing to discuss exit strategies.
He told The Times: ""We need to trust the British people and not treat them like children. We must respect their common sense. They need to know that the sun is rising at some point, in an economic sense."
‘No one really knows the true number of cases in Britain because you’ll struggle to get tested - even if you are working on the NHS frontline,’ writes chief business commentator James Moore.
British detective dies after contracting coronavirus
A British Transport Police (BTP) officer has died after contracting Covid-19.
Detective constable John Coker, 53, died on Friday night after being taken ill on 22 March, the BTP has confirmed.
After his health did not improve he was admitted to hospital and transferred to an intensive care unit to receive critical treatment.
Mr Coker had worked for the BTP for more than 10 years, during which time he became Detective Constable at Euston's criminal investigation department (CID).
Paying tribute to Mr Coker, BTP chief constable Paul Crowther said: "My thoughts are with John's family, for whom the last three weeks have been incredibly difficult and who will be struggling to deal with this most distressing outcome.
"Local colleagues have been in constant contact with John's wife and will pass on the heartfelt condolences of us all.”
Mr Coker is survived by his wife and their three children.
Spain's death toll from coronavirus rose by 565 on Saturday, down from a rise of 585 on Friday, the country's health ministry said, bringing the total to 20,043 deaths in one of the world's hardest hit countries.
The number of overall coronavirus cases rose to 191,726 from 188,068 on Friday, it added.
This week, health authorities said there were discrepancies in the statistics of virus deaths and infections reported by regional administrations. The central government has ordered regions to give more precise data and use the same parameters.
As the outbreak's spread slows, pressure on hospitals has relaxed. Authorities have closed one part of a huge field hospital with thousands of beds set up by the military in a convention centre in Madrid.
But strict confinement rules are expected to be extended beyond 26 April.
Hundreds of Britons to be repatriated from Bangladesh
Britons stuck in Bangladesh will be repatriated after the government chartered four flights as part of a new push to rescue more than 7,000 passengers from south Asia.
Those deemed most at risk from coronavirus, such as the sick and elderly, will be given priority, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said.
Up to 850 Britons are expected to board the new flights, which will leave the capital Dhaka for London on April 21, 23, 25 and 26, the department said.
Tickets will cost £600 per person and travellers will also be able to board transfer flights to the capital from Sylhet, in the country's north east.
The Bangladesh operation comes after the government announced 17 chartered flights from India and 10 from Pakistan, expected to bring home around 4,000 and 2,500 passengers respectively.
'While supermarket shelves have been restocked, beneath the surface, parts of the nation's food system are in urgent need of support,' reports business correspondent Ben Chapman.
British researchers to assess Chinese response to coronavirus
A team of researchers is to examine the response of the Chinese Government to the coronavirus outbreak.
Led by Professor Jane Duckett of Glasgow University, the team will assess the measures put in place in China to combat the virus, which originated in the city of Wuhan.
The study will look over policy documents from the government, as well as Chinese social media and field work in four areas of China - Beijing, Guangdong, Hubei province - where Wuhan is located - and the neighbouring Anhui province.
Reported infection and death rates in China have dropped in recent weeks, with some calling into question the reports coming from the Chinese state.
Prof Duckett said: "We urgently need to understand Chinese Government measures to deal with Covid-19. Rates of infection have slowed down in China but are accelerating worldwide.
"Given the apparent success of Chinese measures, other countries may consider adopting them.
"Yet we do not fully understand China's measures, which extend well beyond health and clinical management to include policing, travel restrictions and support for businesses, or their effects, both negative and positive."
