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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Nicola Slawson (now); Andrew Sparrow, Frances Perraudin and Simon Murphy (earlier)

UK coronavirus live: Britain claps for carers on the Covid frontline - as it happened

NHS staff outside King’s College Hospital in London, join in the applause to salute local heroes during Thursday’s nationwide Clap for Carers.
NHS staff outside King’s College Hospital in London, join in the applause to salute local heroes during Thursday’s nationwide Clap for Carers. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

I’m closing our UK live blog for the day. Thanks so much for joining us.

Please follow our global live blog for all further developments this evening.

Boris Johnson appeared with his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, for the first time since they announced the birth of their son, Wilfred.

The prime minister later tweeted a video and shared his thanks.

The Leeds United football team has shared a video of players and staff clapping and putting their thumbs up.

The video ends with Paul Reaney speaking to the camera to thank the NHS and a shot of the Elland Road stadium flooded in blue light.

Firefighters applaud outside Hertford Fire Station.
Firefighters applaud outside Hertford Fire Station. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Reuters
A band plays outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.
A band plays outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

Updated

Amir Khan, an NHS doctor, paid tribute to the key workers who lost have lost their lives to coronavirus by lighting a candle ahead of the applause.

Bognor Fire Station have shown their support for “NHS hereos and all the key workers” with clapping and sirens.

Here’s a nice view in Glasgow where Thomas Kerr, councillor for Shettleston, filmed this video of the applause and car horns.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted his thanks to the key workers keeping the country going.

Sisters Honor and Iris Hall show their appreciated for the NHS staff, London.
Sisters Honor and Iris Hall show their appreciated for the NHS staff, London. Photograph: Rick Findler/Story Picture Agency
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria applaud for key workers outside their home in London.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria applaud for key workers outside their home in London. Photograph: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and partner Carrie Symonds applaud outside 10 Downing Street.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and partner Carrie Symonds applaud outside 10 Downing Street. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Updated

Police forces across the country have paid tribute to NHS and key workers.

Staff at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London.
Staff at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London. Photograph: Ben Cawthra/LNP
NHS staff gather in a doorway at the Aintree University Hospital in Fazakerley, Liverpool.
NHS staff gather in a doorway at the Aintree University Hospital in Fazakerley, Liverpool. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
NHS workers at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
NHS workers at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

Britons joined in the eighth weekly round of applause on Thursday to pay tribute to care workers and hospital staff as the country gingerly starts to return to work.

People across the United Kingdom have been cheering, banging pots and pans and playing musical instruments every Thursday evening since the applause become an emotional weekly ritual when it first took place on 26 March.

Some very good boys and girls have barked for our carers in Essex, paying tribute to the nation’s key workers.

People are seen with a banner celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth outside the Aintree University Hospital during the Clap for our Carers in Liverpool.
People are seen with a banner celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth outside the Aintree University Hospital during the Clap for our Carers in Liverpool. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Hi, this is Nicola Slawson. I’m taking over the reins of the live blog now as Britain prepares to celebrate the key workers who are on the coronavirus front line with the weekly clap for carers at 8pm.

Please do tweet or email me your pictures and videos: Twitter: @nicola_slawson
Email: nicola.slawson@theguardian.com

Evening summary

  • The first national snapshot of Covid-19 rates has revealed that 148,000 people in England were infected with the virus over the past two weeks. The study, by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), tested 10,705 people in more than 5,000 households and estimated 0.27% of the population in England were currently positive for Covid-19.
  • A further 428 people had died from Covid 19 in UK hospitals, care homes and in the wider community as of 5pm on Wednesday, according to figures from the department of health – bringing the total to 33,614. In the 24-hour period up to 9am on Thursday, 126,064 tests were carried out or dispatched.
  • No 10 is facing questions about why it did not disclose that Sir Mark Sedwill, the UK’s most senior civil servant, had coronavirus at about the same time as Boris Johnson, Chris Whitty and Matt Hancock were struck down with the illness. The revelation – many weeks after Sedwill was diagnosed – means that almost all the senior people in charge of the UK’s coronavirus response had the illness in late March or early April.
  • A health minister has hailed the UK’s approval of an immunity test for coronavirus as a game changer that could allow more people to go to work with confidence, although the government has not yet managed to buy any of the tests. Edward Argar said the test developed by Roche “appears to be extremely reliable and it’s got the green light from Public Health England testers”.

That’s it from the UK coronavirus live blog. Thank you for reading. If you would like to continue following the Guardian’s coverage of the pandemic, head over to the global live blog for the worldwide picture.

The number of confirmed cases in the prison estate continues to rise, a daily update from the Ministry of Justice shows.

As at 5pm on Wednesday, 404 prisoners had tested positive across 74 prisons, a 0.7% rise in 24 hours, while the number of infected staff rose 0.9% to 506 workers across 70 prisons.

The number of prisoner escort and custody services (Pecs) staff who have tested positive for the virus rose by one to 19, a 6% increase.

There are around 81,000 prisoners in England and Wales across 117 prisons, while around 33,000 staff work in public sector prisons.

At least 21 prisoners have contracted Covid-19 and died, while at least eight staff have died, including one prisoner escort and custody services worker.

Grant Shapps hints fares may have to rise in London as TfL bailout close to being agreed

Here are the main points from Grant Shapps’ press conference.

  • Shapps, the transport secretary, signalled that fares would have to rise in London as part of the bailout being organised for TfL. He says he was “optimistic” about reaching a deal with TfL (Transport for London) and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who has said he will have to cut services unless he gets more funding. Shapps said he was confident that the trains and buses in the capital would continue to run. But, asked if he expected fares to have to go up, he signalled that the four-year fare freeze that Khan has implemented since he became mayor in 2016 would have to end. Shapps said:

On higher fares, it is very important in providing a rescue package for TfL that the London mayor can work with, that we don’t end up in a situation where the people from outside the capital are unfairly carrying the burden. By which I mean - sadly I do have to do them each year - fares do end up having to rise by inflation, otherwise everyone knows there’s less money going into the system.

And if you have consistent fare freezes it means that more money isn’t going into the system. You can’t then have an unfair settlement where other British taxpayers are effectively bailing out the system, albeit that the system in this case is in trouble because, clearly, of coronavirus. So there is the right balance to be made.

  • Shapps claimed the “vast majority” of care homes had not had any coronavirus infections. He said:

In the vast majority of care homes, Covid-19 hasn’t been reported at all. However, it certainly is the case when we’ve seen these figures from the WHO who say that in Europe as a whole over 50% of deaths have taken place in care homes - not so in English care homes, the figure has been around 25% overall.

  • He said people had a “civic duty” to avoid public transport if possible during the coronavirus crisis.
  • He said 126,064 coronavirus tests were carried out yesterday - the highest daily total yet.
  • Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, played down prospects of competitive football matches returning in June. Asked if this would be possible, he replied:

The overall approach with easing social distancing has been one that has been tentative, measured, slow and stepwise, and that is exactly the plan that is underway for all of elite sport - not just football.

There will be small, carefully measured, stepwise approaches to seeing what can be achieved safely.

The first of those is, really, is to return to safe training, still observing social distancing and measures are taking place, plans are taking place in quite some depth to be ready to do that, and that will be a stepwise thing.

We will have to see how that goes before it is time to move on or even think about moving on to the return of competitive football matches.

Grant Shapps at the press conference.
Grant Shapps at the press conference. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

UK's privately run PPE stockpile was 'in chaos', sources say

The private firm contracted to run the government’s stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) was beset by “chaos” at its warehouse that may have resulted in delays in deploying vital supplies to healthcare workers, according to sources who have spoken to the Guardian and ITV News.

The allegations from delivery drivers and other well placed sources raise questions about whether Movianto, the subsidiary of a US healthcare giant, was able to adequately manage and distribute the nation’s emergency stockpile of PPE for use in a pandemic.

The investigation by the Guardian and ITV News also established that in previous years Movianto temporarily stored the emergency pandemic equipment in a smoke-damaged warehouse that was found to contain asbestos.

You can read the full story here -

Updated

Police have said they will break up anti-lockdown protests advertised on social media for this weekend if necessary, amid warnings that the events could be exploited by the far right, reports Dan Sabbagh.

Flyers for around 60 protests to be held in parks in cities such as Manchester, Leicester and Southampton have circulated online, produced by the little-known UK Freedom Movement which aims to say “no to the new normal and no to the unlawful lockdown”.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester police said: “We have patrol plans in place throughout the area to respond to these protests if required.” Similar comments have been made by several other forces.

Rules on physical distancing mean no large-scale gatherings are permitted. People are allowed to meet just one other person from outside their household at a time, and must keep two metres apart.

Updated

Shapps has now finished taking questions.

He ends by saying it is important to stay alert. That means things like washing hands, staying two metres apart and self-isolating if you’re ill.

And that’s it.

Shapps says he spoke to his French opposite number last night. France is two or three weeks ahead of the UK.

Q: Will holidays outside, like camping and caravanning, carry less risk than staying in a hotel? Will they reopen sooner?

Shapps says outdoors is a lesser risk than indoors.

Van-Tam says outdoor environments are less risky.

But a tent is a small, enclosed space with little ventilation. The same applies to a caravan. So this will take careful thought, he says.

Shapps says more than half of people on the Isle of Wight have downloaded the contact tracing app. He says people coming into the UK will also be asked to download it.

Shapps says he is 'optimistic' about agreeing bailout for Transport for London

Q: I understand you are close to a rescue deal for Transport for London. But they need long-term help, if social distancing stays for years. Are you willing to help them long term?

Shapps says the government has bailed out rail companies. He says he is “optimistic” of having a solution with TfL.

As for what would happen if this went on longer, he says they do not know.

He says he is “confident” that the buses and trains in London will continue to run. He hopes the mayor will be able to put on more services.

Q: Would you expect TfL to have to put up fares?

Shapps says it would be unfair if people outside the system were expected to lose out. He says you need to find the right balance.

Q: Does it make sense to exclude France from quarantine measures?

Van-Tam says discussions are still ongoing about a possible exemption for France.

He says quarantine makes most sense when there is a low rate of inflation in the receiving country, and a high rate in the sending country.

Q: Does the government know how many urgent operations were cancelled in March? Data was meant to be released today, but it was held back.

Shapps says he does not know. He says he thinks the data was not released today because of a prioritisation issue, but he says he will try to ensure that this information is released.

Q: Is the government doing an exclusive deal with Roche to get its tests?

Shapps says they want to get as many tests as possible.

Van-Tam says, as a doctor, he is not privy to those commercial negotiations.

Q: The PM described antibody tests as game changing. Do you still see them like that? If so, when will people see the difference?

Shapps says the antibody test being approved is a very exciting development.

Van-Tam says he thinks the test will be rolled out as soon as is practical.

He says they needed a test that was highly specific; ie, extremely unlikely to give a false positive. Telling people they had antibodies when they didn’t would have been very undesirable, he says.

He says people have only been studying this virus for five months. In most cases there is an antibody response after infection.

But it is going to take time to find out whether the antibodies protect against infection, he says. Hopefully they will.

And if people are protected, they need to find out how long that protection lasts. He says you can only find this out over time.

Updated

Q: There is growing anger in the care sector about the way they feel their needs are being ignored. When will this change?

Shapps says care homes are specialists in infection control. In the majority of care homes coronavirus has not been reported.

In other European countries more than half of deaths have been in care homes. That has not been the case in this country, he says.

Q: In Scotland care home patients who have tested positive will need two negative tests before being allowed back. Will that apply in England?

Shapps says that is one for the medical experts.

Van-Tam says there is an enormous effort to increase the number of tests in care homes. Patients are tested before being discharged to care homes.

Q: Will the Premier League be able to return to competitive playing by 12 June?

Van-Tam says the overall approach has been tentative, measured, slow and step-wise. That applies to the approach in football, and other elite sports.

The first step is to return to safe training, while observing social distancing. Plans for that are underway. They will have to see how that goes before they can return to competitive matches.

Updated

Shapps reads out a question from another member of the public. When will elective surgery recommence?

Shapps says the health secretary will say something about this soon.

Van-Tam says the NHS wants to resume normal services as soon as is humanly possible. But this must be done in a safe way.

Shapps is now taking questions.

The first comes from a woman whose son is due to start his final year at university in the autumn. What is the government’s plan for students?

Shapps says he also has a child at university. He says Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, is looking at this and will make further announcements. Shapps says he would like to hear the answer too.

Van-Tam is now presenting the data slides.

He starts with new data about the extent of social distancing taking place. (The figures come from this ONS report.)

Social distancing figures
Social distancing figures Photograph: No 10

Here is the chart for testing and new cases. Van-Tam says it shows new cases falling.

Testing and new cases
Testing and new cases Photograph: No 10

Here are the figures for hospital admissions, and critical care bed use by coronavirus patients. There has been a long, steady decline, he says.

Hospital and critical care bed cases
Hospital and critical care bed cases Photograph: No 10

Shapps says “bureaucratic bindweed” makes British infrastructure some of the most expensive in the world.

But the government wants to revive infrastructure, he says.

Shapps says that while the country has been in lockdown, transport repairs and upgrades have been carried out.

There were 419 Network Rail projects over Easter, he says, and 1,000 upgrades through the bank holiday weekend.

In the north, rail improvements worth £96m were carried out in England.

Highways England has delivered upgrades worth £200m, and Network Rail upgrades with £550m, he says.

He says he can announced a £2bn transport package, including £1.7bn for local roads.

Updated

Shapps says the UK has been in lockdown for two months.

Transport has a critical role to play as the country moves to recovery, he says.

He says that in order to reduce crowding he has set out a £2bn programme to put cycling and walking at the heart of transport.

Three pieces of guidance have been produced: advice for councils on encouraging cycling; advice for operators; and advice for passengers.

He says if people cannot walk or cycle, and have access to a car, they should use it. This is to stop the public transport system getting crowded.

Updated

Shapps says he is going to talk about how the government has been using the lockdown to carry out infrastructure repairs.

But first he shows the usual slides setting out the government’s strategy.

Shapps starts by reading out the daily testing and death figures.

He says 126,064 tests were carried out yesterday. That is a record, he says.

Grant Shapps' press conference

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, is taking the UK government’s daily press conference. He is with Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England.

Reacting to new data that shows a quarter of people who died in English hospitals from coronavirus had diabetes, Bridget Turner, director of policy at Diabetes UK, said:

We [...] need urgent action from government to understand the detail behind this figure, including diabetes type, age, ethnicity, medical history and comorbidities of those who have sadly died, so that we can know how to keep all people with diabetes safe.

Government must ensure urgently that employers take all the necessary measures to keep employees with diabetes safe, if they are expected to attend work outside the home as restrictions are eased. This includes ensuring the guidance for employers is clear, consistent, and focused on the safety of employees above all else.

We still urgently need to understand through research why people with diabetes are affected in such numbers. But until we know more, people living with diabetes should be supported to manage their condition, attend appointments as normal either online or in person at Covid-19 protected sites and, most importantly, should continue to have access to their local clinical team if they have concerns.

Armed police were scrambled to a Cardiff park after a member of the public reported spotting a man with a sword.

It turned out that he was a local man out on his permitted lockdown exercise who had simply chosen to wear a fancy dress knight’s outfit – complete with a toy sword.

A spokeswoman for South Wales police later said:

At 3.10pm on Wednesday 13th May, South Wales police received a report from a member of the public that a man was seen at Hendre Lakes in Cardiff with a sword.

Officers were deployed to the scene where they located a young man who was in fancy dress carrying a toy sword. No criminal offences were committed and the man was given suitable advice.

Updated

Here is a question from below the line where I’ve got an answer to hand.

User avatar for plenty01uk

@Andrew
"NHS England has reported that there have been another 207 coronavirus hospital deaths in England, taking the total to 24,159. "

You are giving us important numbers that really matter, but I think we are not getting enough context to make these numbers meaningful.

Can you provide the same numbers as produced yesterday, last week and two weeks ago, so we can see whether the 207 deaths today (tragic though each death obviously is) is a government doing well or badly?

This chart is probably quite a useful way of answering the question. It shows coronavirus hospital deaths in England, by day of death. It is from this analysis by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford.

Hospital deaths in England, by date of death
Hospital deaths in England, by date of death Photograph: CEBM

Quarter of Covid-19 hospital deaths were diabetic, data shows

A quarter of Covid-19 patients who have died in hospitals in England had diabetes, according to figures released by NHS England.

Data published for the first time breaks down deaths from coronavirus by pre-existing conditions.

Of the 22,332 patients who died since 31 March, when pre-existing conditions began to be reported, 5,873 (26%) had diabetes, while 4,048 (18%) had dementia. Some 3,254 (15%) were reported to have chronic pulmonary disease, while 1,549 patients had asthma.

NHS England said the accuracy of the data was reliant on the availability and transfer of information by healthcare providers, and patients may have had more than one pre-existing condition.

Updated

Delivery men waiting today outside a reopened McDonald’s in London.
Delivery men waiting today outside a reopened McDonald’s in London. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Nadine Dorries and two Tory MP colleagues reprimanded by whips over anti-Starmer smear

Nadine Dorries, a health minister, and two other Conservative MPs, Lucy Allan and Maria Caulfield, have been reprimanded by the party whips for sharing a tweet that contained a false smear about Sir Keir Starmer. (See 11.49am.) A Downing Street spokesman said:

These tweets have rightly been deleted. The MPs involved have been spoken to by the whips’ office and reminded of their responsibility to check the validity of information before they post on social media sites.

UPDATE: Caulfield is a government whip herself, which makes this especially embarrassing for her.

Updated

UK coronavirus economic rescue package 'moderate' by G7 standards, says IFS

On Tuesday, in an interview with the BBC to mark the extension of the furlough scheme until the end of October, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, said:

We’ve put in place tremendous economic support for the economy. I think if you look around the world and what different governments have done, I genuinely believe that we have taken actions in scope and in speed and in scale that are almost more than almost any other developed country anywhere in the world.

This afternoon the Institute of Fiscal Studies has published an analysis suggesting that this is not true. It says most other G7 countries are spending more on their coronavirus rescue packages for the economy. Here is the chart, showing spending on coronavirus measures as a proportion of national income.

There are two figures for the UK, based on two different estimates of what the overall cost will be. The IFS says the higher, OBR figure for the UK does not take account of the extension of the furlough scheme beyond July that was announced on Tuesday. This spending could take the UK higher up the league table, although it is hard to see it catching the US or Japan.

Spending by G7 countries on coronavirus economic rescue package
Spending by G7 countries on coronavirus economic rescue package Photograph: IFS

The IFS says:

Despite the unprecedented size of the UK’s intervention, IMF estimates suggest that the response in other G7 economies has typically been larger. The bespoke coronavirus packages interact with the pre-existing benefit system in each country. Here, the UK stands out by offering a relatively low level of income support to employees without children who become unemployed. This is especially true compared with other European countries, whose insurance-based systems already provided a much greater level of insurance before any bespoke coronavirus schemes were implemented ...

[Taking the higher costing] the UK package represents 5.9% of national income or £123bn, comprising £118bn of spending increases and £5bn of tax cuts. While this is huge, it looks moderate in comparison with some other countries’ interventions.

Police in Greater Manchester have recorded more than 170 assaults on emergency service workers since the lockdown was introduced on 23 March, new figures show.

The force said emergency service workers had been physically assaulted, spat at and coughed on while carrying out their duties over the past seven weeks.

Footage released by Greater Manchester police shows a man deliberately coughing in an officer’s face while he was being handcuffed. He was subsequently jailed for 20 weeks after pleading guilty to two counts of assault and one count of assaulting an emergency worker.

GMP’s assistant chief constable Chris Sykes said:

This is disgusting behaviour. Police officers, paramedics and firefighters are working especially hard to protect people at this time and should not be subjected to assaults of any kind.

Updated

It’s always worth reminding oneself that all across the country local people are coming together to do amazing things in their communities.

Today the volunteers at Branchton Community Centre, Greenock, are getting ready to deliver their 10,000th hot meal to Inverclyde residents in need. The project is powered by 25 food preppers, cooks, packers and delivery drivers, including the local MP Ronnie Cowan.

Organiser Willie Wilson says that he started out aiming for 200 meals a day, but this has now risen to 360, with referrals from agencies or word of mouth, and deliveries from Wemyss Bay to Port Glasgow.

Today’s meal is chicken soup and curry, with a cake for any children in the household. The 10,000th recipient is getting a presentation of flower and chocolates when the delivery vans go out later this afternoon.

England records another 207 hospital deaths, taking total to 24,159

NHS England has reported that there have been another 207 coronavirus hospital deaths in England, taking the total to 24,159. It says the people who died were aged between 33 and 100 years old. All but six of the patients had underlying health conditions, it says.

The full details are here.

Newnight’s Lewis Goodall has more on Sir Mark Sedwill’s coronavirus illness that we were never told about. (See 2.07pm.)

ONS survey suggests around 150,000 people in England had coronavirus in early May

New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate that an average of 0.27% of the population (148,000 people) had Covid-19 at any given time between 27 April and 10 May 2020.

Updated

Sculptor Luke Perry standing today by his winged medical worker, which has been installed at a park near Birmingham paying tribute to the NHS and care workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sculptor Luke Perry standing today by his winged medical worker, which has been installed at a park near Birmingham paying tribute to the NHS and care workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

A further 428 die in the UK, taking total to 33,614

The Department of Health said a further 428 people had died from Covid 19 in UK hospitals, care homes and in the wider community as of 5pm on Wednesday, bringing the total to 33,614.

In the 24-hour period up to 9am on Thursday, 126,064 tests were carried out or dispatched. Overall a total of 1,593,902 people have been tested of whom 233,151 tested positive.

Further details are on the government’s coronavirus dashboard.

Updated

This is just the sort of thing the Welsh government has been worried about since Boris Johnson gave the go-ahead for people to drive as far as they like for exercise in England ...

Police have stopped a motorist in Snowdonia, 180 miles from his home in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

Under the lockdown rules in Wales, people must only exercise close to home.

North Wales police said the driver was advised to return home. He said he was unaware of the different legislation and apologised.

Wales records a further 10 coronavirus deaths, taking total to 1,164

Public Health Wales said a further 10 people had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the nation to 1,164. Ten more people have died after testing positive for the virus.

Updated

No 10 admits cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill has had coronavirus - but public weren't told at time

The Downing Street lobby briefing is over. Boris Johnson chaired cabinet this morning, and ministers were given an update on coronavirus, from Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser and Sir Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser, and an update on Brexit from David Frost, the PM’s chief Europe adviser. Surprisingly, you might think, we got a read-out on the Brexit discussion, but not on the coronavirus discussion.

Here are the main points.

  • Downing Street restated its claim that the EU is making unreasonable demands of the UK in the post-Brexit trade talks. David Frost, the PM’s Europe adviser, gave the cabinet an update on the talks, the spokesman said. The spokesman went on:

David reiterated that we weren’t asking for anything special, bespoke or unique from the European Union. We’re looking for a free trade agreement based on precedent similar to those the EU has already got with other countries like Canada. He said, however, that the EU had asked far more from the UK than they have from other sovereign countries with whom they have reached free trade agreements. For instance, they have asked for the same access to our waters as they did when we were still in the EU, for the UK to stay bound to their laws and rules .... Cabinet agreed that we won’t agree to demands to give up our rights as an independent state, especially when the EU has shown through their agreements with other countries like Canada that these controls are not necessary.

There will be requirements for live animals and agrifood, building on what already happens at ports like Larne and Belfast, where checks already take place. Beyond the limited changes introduced by the protocol, there will be no changes to GB/NI trade.

(The final line of that is a masterpiece of spin: “apart from the changes, there will be no changes.”) The spokesman said that Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, had already made this clear to a committee last week. And Gove said it was possible to have “light-touch checks which will ensure all requirements can be met”, the spokesman said.

When it was put to the spokesman that this seemed to contradict what Johnson told business leaders in Northern Ireland during the general election, when he said anyone asked to fill in new forms under the terms of his Brexit deal should just throw them in the bin, the spokesman said the government was committed to ensuring the new procedures were “streamlined and efficient”. (Johnson’s comment came in response to a question about exports from Northern Ireland to Britain, but even trade going in that direction will be subject to new requirements under the Brexit deal.)

  • The spokesman said the government was at “an advanced stage” in talks about a bailout for Transport for London. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has said TfL will have to reduce services if it does not receive further funding by the end of today. (See 1.05pm.) The spokesman said:

It is a commercial discussion. We remain in close contact with the mayor and TfL to look at how we can support them.

Our priority is on reaching an agreement which keeps critical services running for those passengers who must use public transport to get work, ensuring we keep London moving safely.

That means protecting key routes, rapidly increasing the number of services available and protecting the interests of taxpayers in the long term.

  • The spokesman confirmed that Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, has had coronavirus - without the public being told. Sedwill, who is also national security adviser, is the most powerful civil servant in Britain. He was ill around the time the PM was ill. But Sedwill continued working, the spokesman said. When it was put to him that journalists had been misled, because they weren’t told at the time that Sedwill was ill despite questions being asked at lobby, the spokesman said that he personally only became aware recently that Sedwill had been ill and that Sedwill had continued to work over that period. This is from Sky’s Sam Coates.
  • The spokesman said Transport for London were reporting no “significant increase” in transport use in the capital this week. In response to claims that some buses and tube trains are getting crowded, the spokesman said tube use was 93% down on this time last year, and broadly in line with the figures for last week.
  • The spokesman said the government remained committed to working with the teaching unions to find a safe means of enabling pupils to start returning to school in England from June. He declined invitations to criticise them for non-cooperation.
  • The spokesman was unable to explain why the PM has still not set up a new intelligence and security committee, even though it is now more than five months since the general election. Until a new committee is set up the long-awaited report into Russian interference in British politics, which is thought to be embarrassing to the Conservative party, cannot be published.
  • Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, will take this afternoon’s government press conference, the spokesman said. Shapps will be joined by Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England.

Updated

Keir Starmer: lack of consensus between four nations not helpful

The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has expressed concern over the differences in lockdown restrictions between England and Wales.

While residents of England can travel as far as they want for exercise, people in Wales must stay local. The “stay-at-home” message has been dropped in England but remains in Wales.

Speaking ahead of two virtual public meetings in Wales, Starmer said:

There’s a difference of message. That’s not helpful. The stay-at-home message was clear. Having different messages is not helpful.

It would have been far better if the prime minister had been able to get all four nations to agree a plan instead of doing a speech on Sunday and trying to put the plan together afterwards.

There’s obviously differences in policy now as well in terms of what you can do outdoors. The sooner the four nations consensus can be brought back together, the better as far as I’m concerned.

The commissioners of all four police forces in Wales have called on the Welsh government to increase the fines for people breaking the lockdown.

But Starmer said:

The vast majority of people in England and Wales are trying very hard to obey the rules. The problem they [the police] have got is that there are different rules in place on either side of the border. That makes it much more difficult for people to understand and much more difficult for the police. I would focus less on the powers of the police and more on the clarity of the rules.

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

Updated

Scottish ministers and health boards are still unable to see the results of coronavirus tests carried out since early April by the UK government’s rapid testing centres due to continuing problems processing the data.

The Guardian disclosed earlier this month that none of the data had been shared because of tight restrictions on data sharing and patient confidentiality applied by the Department of Health and Social Care when its rapid testing centres were launched.

Those restrictions have led to long delays in Scottish health bodies and ministers finding out the results of tests – now being carried out at airports and other sites in cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness.

Ministers had hoped to start using and publishing that data last week, but the Courier newspaper in Dundee has reported the results from 30,000 swabs have still not been released because of an ongoing “data exchange” between both governments. That includes matching results for specific patients with their personal health identifier number.

The Courier reported “it means Scotland’s confirmed figure of 13,929 is likely to be significantly higher and also casts doubt on recent regional figures”.

Rapid testing centres have been at the centre of a series of controversies and glitches, including the reported disappearance of tens of thousands of test results, with the UK government consistently failing to meet its target of 100,000 tests per day.

The Courier quoted a Scottish government spokesperson saying:

The data exchange from the UK government programme has commenced and we are in the process of quality assurance, testing, and community health index matching.

Significant progress has been made in the last week and the patient information including results from this feed will be provided to Public Health Scotland for inclusion in public health records shortly.

While the publishing of results at individual UK government testing centres in Scotland is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care, these results are communicated directly to the individual being tested.

Updated

More than 3m EU and European Economic Area citizens and their families have now been granted an immigration status that will secure their right to remain in the UK after Brexit, the Home Office has said.

Future borders minister Kevin Foster said the milestone was reached with over a year still to go until the closure of the settled status scheme “making it the biggest scheme of its kind in British history”.

But figures published today show that 1.29m of them have received “pre-settled status”, which is granted to those that have been in the country for less than five years.

This suggests that almost half of the previously estimated number of EU citizens in the country, which has ranged from 3m to 3.8m, came to the UK in the past five years, undeterred by Brexit.

The high number could also reflect problems with the process. Previous studies have suggested that some who were qualified for settled status were only granted pre-settled status because they did not provide evidence satisfactory to the Home Office that they were in the country for more than five years when they first applied.

In total the Home Office said it has now received 3.5m applications for settled status with 3.1m concluded. It said:

Of the concluded applications 58% 1.8m were granted settled status, 41% (1.29m) settled status and 1% had other outcomes, including 640 refused applications, 23,740 withdrawn or void applications and 10,030 invalid applications.

Updated

London transport services will be cut without bailout today, says mayor

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has told LBC that without the government agreeing a grant for Transport for London today, they will be forced to cut services on buses, tubes, trains and trams across the capital.

Over the last two months we’ve lost more than 90% of our fares and advertising is down and so is the congestion charge. So we’ve been spending £600m a month, paying for services and getting nothing back from our customers, or very little.

So although we had at the start of this crisis a cash reserve of north of £2.1bn, that’s running out and we’re required by law to keep two months’ worth of money in reserve to pay for services.

So we’ve been involved in weeks and weeks of negotiation with the government and its really hard in getting support from them. Being blunt, today is the last day. Unless the government today gives us confirmation of the grant that we need then the consequences could be quite severe and ramifications for all of us will be huge.

He continued:

[There’s] something called the Local Government Act, section 114, and that says basically we’re treated like a local authority and because we can’t go bust, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the money to pay for services. The only way to balance the books is to cut services.

So ironically at a time when the government’s wanting us to increase services, ramp up services to get into the recovery phrase, we may be required to cut services because the government is failing to give us the grant support we desperately need.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

A further 34 die from Covid-19 in Scotland

The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is holding her daily press conference, which you can watch live here.

She has said that a total of 2,007 patients have died after testing positive for the virus, up by 34 from 1,973 on Wednesday.

Sturgeon said 14,117 people have tested positive for the virus, up by 188 from 13,929 the day before. There are 71 people in intensive care with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms, an increase of one on Wednesday.

There are 1,480 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of 54. Since 5 March, 3,253 people who have tested positive for coronavirus have been able to leave hospital.

Updated

Cost of coronavirus furlough scheme could reach £83bn by October, OBR estimates

The Office for Budget Responsibility has published a revised assessment of the impact of coronavirus on the national finances. Faisal Islam, the BBC’s economics editor, has the key findings.

Updated

Gordon Brown has called for international coordination to prevent a second or third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying the crisis cannot truly be ended “unless it is eradicated in every continent”.
Writing in the foreword of a new report – Tipping Point: How the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to push the world’s poorest to the brink of survival – by international development charity Christian Aid, he said:

It is in all our interests to prevent a second or third wave starting in the poorest, least protected countries with the most underdeveloped health systems. So a threat to others is a threat to us, and we help ourselves by helping others. Protecting ourselves locally means we need to act globally...

Seventy-five years after VE Day, it is more critical than ever that in another global crisis we rediscover how we can work together to make this world a safer, more connected and a far fairer place. Today we face a global medical emergency, and we cannot end the coronavirus pandemic unless it is eradicated in every continent.

The report examines the situations and the solutions for vulnerable adults and children in a range of countries, where they say the need for cross-border cooperation is clear.
Brown said: “South Sudan is a story about a conflict-affected context with no functioning health system; the Sierra Leone example highlights the merits of a faith-based response and makes the case for debt cancellation; Bangladesh is about the desperate plight of Rohingya refugees; and the situation in Gaza and the surrounding region calls for cooperation across political boundaries.”

Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Updated

Only 3% of people think their lives will never return to normal after Covid-19, ONS survey suggests

Turning back to the Office for National Statistics report on coronavirus and social impacts (see 10.35am), its survey also shows that people are increasingly resigned to it taking a while before life returns to normal.

As the ONS explains in its summary, 46% of adults now think it will be longer than six months for their life to return to normal, compared with 33% after the first week of lockdown.

But when you look at the detailed figures, what is surprising perhaps is that people do seem to think that one day life will get back to normal. Politicians have not been promising that. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, talks about how people will have to get used to a “new normal”. And the UK government’s coronavirus recovery plan (pdf) does not talk about returning to normal. It says the plan is for life to return life “to as close to normal as possible”, but it also says life post-Covid will be different. It says:

The world will not return to ‘normal’ after Covid-19; much of the global economy is likely to change significantly. The UK will need to be agile in adapting to and shaping this new world if the government is to improve living standards across the nation as it recovers from Covid-19.

But only 3% of people told the ONS that their lives would never return to normal. People were asked how long it would take for their lives to return to normal. Here are the results.

Less than 3 months - 10%

4 to 6 months - 23%

7 to 12 months - 26%

More than 12 months - 20%

Never - 3%

Not sure - 18%

The number of mortgages in arrears crept up during the first three months of 2020, in what appears to be early signs of the impact Covid-19 is having on personal finances.

The PA Media news agency reports that 72,380 homeowner mortgages were in arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance in the first quarter of 2020, up from 70,880 in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The figures from a UK Finance report show there were 4,420 mortgages in arrears in the buy-to-let sector, up slightly from 4,390 the previous quarter.

Mortgage arrears levels for both homeowners and landlords were lower when compared with the first quarter of 2019, and they remain low by long-term comparisons.

The report said:

The relatively small increase in arrears compared to quarter four 2019 is likely due to the early effects of Covid-19, and the industry has since introduced multiple forbearance measures to reduce financial difficulties for borrowers who are in need of support.

Updated

A cyclist using a pop-up cycle lane in Park Lane, London, this morning.
A cyclist using a pop-up cycle lane in Park Lane, London, this morning. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Health minister Nadine Dorries deletes tweet sharing anti-Starmer smear

Labour has expressed alarm after a series of Conservative MPs, including a minister, shared a video tweeted by a hard-right Twitter account which falsely claimed Sir Keir Starmer obstructed the targeting of grooming gang victims when he led the Crown Prosecution Service.

The tweeted video was shared by Nadine Dorries, who is now a junior health minister, as well as Telford MP Lucy Allan and Maria Caulfield, who represents Lewes. All expressed alarm at what the video purported to show, with Dorries calling it “revealing”.

The 22-second clip from 2013 shows Starmer apparently recounting reasons why victims of grooming gangs might not be credible, talking about “the assumption that a victim of child sexual abuse will swiftly report what’s happened to them to the police; will be able to give a coherent, consistent account, first time; that they will not themselves have engaged in any offending or other behaviour; and that they will not have misused drugs or alcohol at any stage”.

The original tweeter, who also regularly posts anti-Islam messages and other hard-right content, titled the clip, “Keir Starmer explains why he didn’t prosecute grooming gangs when he was head if the Crown Prosecution Service”.

However, a fuller version of the video shows this is completely misleading. Starmer is in fact explaining why he had changed the prosecution guidelines, to move away from “a number of assumptions, which didn’t withstand scrutiny”.

A Labour source said:

This is a doctored video tweeted by far-right social media account. As a government minister, we hope Nadine Dorries acknowledges this and takes it down.

Dorries later did remove her tweet, as did Allan. Caulfield appeared to delete her entire Twitter account. None had as yet apologised for sharing the misleading message.

Updated

Around 44% of firms have said they do not have enough cash in the bank to last longer than six months, according to a new survey by the Office for National Statistics. As PA Media reports, the ONS’s latest business impact of coronavirus survey also revealed that 22% of companies halted trading over the two weeks between 20 April and 3 May. Meanwhile, 6% of companies who said they were trading during the period said they had restarted operations following a pause in trading after the lockdown.

The ONS said fewer than 1% of firms surveyed said they have had to permanently close as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.

However, firms still trading raised significant concerns over cash flows, with 4.3% of businesses reporting that they have no cash reserves to fall back on. The survey found 44% believed their cash reserves will last them less than six months, with 27.1% of firms confident they have enough cash to last over six months.

Updated

A woman wearing a protective face mask on a platform at Clapham Common underground station this morning.
A woman wearing a protective face mask on a platform at Clapham Common underground station this morning. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Plans to make 12,000 British Airways workers redundant, which is equivalent to more than a quarter of the workforce, remain unchanged despite the government’s extension of the coronavirus furlough scheme to the end of October, the airline’s owner has said. The IAG chief executive, Willie Walsh, made this point in a letter to the transport committee, where he gave evidence on Monday.

Walsh also said British Airways had processed cash refunds on 921,000 bookings, with vouchers given on a further 346,000 bookings.

Updated

More than 25% of English people may have already had coronavirus, study claims

A new study published this week in the International Journal of Clinical Practice suggests that more than one in four people in England are likely to have been infected already by the coronavirus.

The study, by researchers from the University of Manchester, Salford Royal and Res Consortium, is the first to use case data from 149 local authorities on the number of people infected in their areas. From this data, the researchers calculated the R-value - the number of people infected by one person with Covid-19 – within each area.

The data shows, they say, that more than 25% of people in England could already have had the virus by the second half of April – higher than previously thought.

The researchers said the UK’s R value, which was over three at the start of the outbreak in the middle of March, was now “well below 1”. This tallies with data published by Public Health England, showing that the overall UK R-value is 0.7 with variation from 0.4 in London to 0.8 in Yorkshire and the north-east of England.

Dr Adrian Heald from the University of Manchester, one of the researchers, said:

Covid-19 is a highly infectious condition and very dangerous for a small group of people. However, a much larger group seem to have low or no symptoms and have been unreported.

This study tries to provide an estimate of the number of historic infections – and gives us all a glimmer of hope that there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

Updated

Rees-Mogg restates call for MPs to 'lead by example' in returning to work despite reservations from Speaker

Yesterday Downing Street refused to endorse the claim from Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, that MPs should “lead by example” by returning to work in parliament in June. The prime minister’s spokesman backed Rees-Mogg in saying MPs should get back to working more normally at some point, but the spokesman drew the line at using Rees-Mogg’s “lead by example” phraseology (which implies MPs needing to take a risk).

As my colleague Rajeev Syal reports, yesterday Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, also signalled his opposition to Rees-Mogg’s plan to get the house working again as normal from next month, telling MPs that he would suspend sittings if he thought conditions were not safe.

But Rees-Mogg is not backing down. This morning he has restated his call for MPs to “lead by example”.

Updated

In an interesting article on the impact the coronavirus crisis is having on the union of the four nations of the United Kingdom, CNN’s Luke McGee says that Boris Johnson himself thought the message he was delivering in his speech on Sunday night was confusing. McGee writes:

Since the late 1990s, Westminster has ceded much power to legislative bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, allowing devolved governments to set domestic policy in areas such as health and education.

So it is little surprise that [Nicola] Sturgeon [the Scottish first minister] was confused when Johnson began talking about the opening of schools, among other things, on Sunday night. “Discussing schools, for example, he used year group terms that don’t even make sense in Scotland. It wasn’t at all clear in the statement what guidance applied to the whole UK and what applied to England specifically,” says Nicola McEwen, professor of territorial politics at the University of Edinburgh.

Sources inside Downing Street have told CNN that Johnson himself thought the message was confusing. “Filming was a total nightmare. He was stopping and starting, asking to change bits, complaining about the length, saying it was all too complex,” said one government source who was not permitted to speak on the record.

Updated

Situation in care homes 'absolutely terrible', says cabinet minister

In an interview with Radio 5 Live this morning Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, said the situation in care homes was “absolutely terrible”. He said:

I don’t deny that what is happening in care homes is absolutely terrible. It’s a huge challenge. But we are trying to put as much support as we can around care homes.

Jenrick said the £600m package for care homes in England announced yesterday would help. According to the Department for Health and Social Care, the infection control fund will “support measures to reduce staff movement between care homes, protect wages and provide training”. Every care home in England will also get “a named clinical lead to fast-track the care of residents and staff”.

Updated

Dr Nick Scriven, a past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, has said that today’s figures showing a fall in A&E attendance in England is a “a significant concern” and people’s conditions may have worsened as a result. He said:

This is a ticking timebomb in itself and it will be exacerbated by a myriad of other pressures in the coming weeks.

There will be an ongoing need to keep people with coronavirus separate from others to prevent transmission, with segregated wards effectively reducing immediately available beds, so attempting to manage increased demand will be very challenging.

I am also highly concerned about the resilience of staff who have been working flat out with little time for recovery, which means they will continue to suffer personal sacrifice as we move through the stages of this crisis.

Heavy traffic queues on the approach to enter the Blackwall Tunnel heading north towards central London during rush hour this morning.
Heavy traffic queues on the approach to enter the Blackwall Tunnel heading north towards central London during rush hour this morning. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images

Results of a human trial of a coronavirus vaccine could be available by the middle of June, an expert has said. As PA Media reports, Prof Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, said “several hundred” people had been vaccinated and the challenge now was to be able to manufacture at scale once it was approved by the regulators. At the end of April a team of researchers at Oxford started testing a Covid-19 vaccine in human volunteers. Around 1,110 are expected to take part in the trial, half receiving the vaccine candidate and the other half (the control group) receiving a widely available meningitis vaccine.

Updated

People think Britain will be kinder and more united country after Covid-19, ONS survey says

A reader emailed the other day to suggest that we publish some more optimistic news amid all the doom and gloom. That hasn’t been easy - people are continuing to die in large numbers, and life will be disrupted for the foreseeable future - but buried in a report from the Office for National Statistics this morning is something that might encourage the reader in need of cheering up.

  • People think Britain will become a kinder and more united country after the coronavirus crisis than it was before, the ONS has found.

People were asked how united/equal/kind they thought Britain was before the crisis, and how united/equal/kind they thought it would be afterwards.

As this chart shows, there is strong evidence that people think it will make a difference. Some 67% say Britain will be a kind country afterwards, compared with fewer than 40% who see it as a kind place at the moment. And 57% say it will be united afterwards, which is more that double the proportion who see it as united now.

But only 22% say Britain will be an equal society after the crisis. That is a slight increase on the proportion who see it as equal now, but on this measure people are much less confident of change.

Here is the chart.

Survey on how coronavirus will change Britain
Survey on how coronavirus will change Britain. Photograph: ONS

And here is an excerpt from the report with more detail.

Younger adults saw the largest change in their feelings of unity. For adults aged between 16 and 69 years, 19% believed Britain was united before the coronavirus, compared with 56% thinking this would be the case afterwards. For adults aged 70 years and over, the change was from 28% to 59%.

Similarly, nearly four in 10 (39%) adults believed that Britain was somewhat or very kind before the coronavirus pandemic, and a larger proportion of just under seven in 10 (67%) said that Britain would be kind once we have recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.

Again, the change is larger for younger adults. For adults aged between 16 and 69 years, 37% believed Britain was kind before the coronavirus, compared with 66% believing people will be kind following the recovery. For those aged 70 years or over, the change was from 51% to 72%.

There was a smaller change in expectations for equality in Britain. Around 1 in 6 adults (16%) felt that Britain was somewhat or very equal before the pandemic, with the proportion feeling that Britain would be equal after the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic rising to 22%.

Younger people had lower expectations for a change in equality. For adults aged between 16 and 69 years, 16% believed Britain was equal before the pandemic, compared with 20% expecting it to be equal following the recovery. For those aged 70 years or over the change was from 16% to 29%.

Updated

White people almost four times more likely to have outdoor space at home than black people, ONS says

Black people in England are nearly four times as likely as white people to have no access to outdoor space at home, a new release from the Office for National Statistics has revealed.

The dataset shows 37% of black people have no access to a private garden, patio or balcony during lockdown, compared to 10% of white people.

The ONS data confirms Guardian analysis published last month which found BAME people and those living in deprived areas had less access to garden space and were disproportionately affected by park closures.

The Guardian report found a third of all land in the wealthiest 10% of London wards was taken up by private gardens, while in the poorest 10%, just over a fifth was used as garden space.

You can explore garden and public green space in your local area here.

Updated

Transport for London says there were 10% more tube journeys made between 5am and 6am this morning than the same period last week, although demand has fallen compared with yesterday, PA Media reports.

And data published by location technology firm TomTom shows that the level of road congestion in London at 8am on Thursday was 19%, up from 16% a week earlier. Other cities to experience an increase in traffic over the same period include Belfast (from 12% to 15%), Birmingham (from 9% to 11%), Cardiff (from 8% to 11%), Edinburgh (from 12% to 15%) and Manchester (from 10% to 13%).

The figures represent the proportion of additional time required for journeys compared with free-flow conditions.

Updated

The UK’s biggest mobile operator O2 is partnering with environmental charity Hubbub to encourage people to donate old or unused smartphones to help elderly and vulnerable “digitally disconnected” members of the community.

The trial of so-called “Community Calling” will involve hundreds of handsets being distributed to residents of Southwark in London, which has been badly affected by the pandemic. An estimated 1.9m UK households are deemed “digitally excluded” with no internet access. In the UK, an average of four phones sit unused for every phone in use.

A pre-identified list of households has been put together by a number of local organisations in Southwark, which includes the elderly, those in low-income households, survivors of domestic abuse and asylum seekers.

Gavin Ellis, director and co-founder at Hubbub, said:

Community Calling offers a simple way to get unused smartphones to people who need them most during the current pandemic, allowing them to access essential services, to educate their kids or to stay in touch with loved ones. Plus it has the bonus environmental benefit of avoiding electrical waste going to landfill or incineration. We’re trialling the approach with O2 in Southwark and if successful, we’ll look to replicate it elsewhere in the UK.

Updated

A&E attendances at hospitals in England were down 57% in April compared with the same month a year ago - falling to the lowest figure on record, new NHS data shows.

Agenda for day

Here is the agenda for the day.

11am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.

12pm: The Office for Budget Responsibility publishes an update on the impact of coronavirus on government borrowing.

12.30pm: The Scottish and Welsh governments hold their daily briefings.

12.30pm: Downing Street lobby briefing.

1.30pm: Sir Keir Starmer holds a virtual public meeting with residents from Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales.

2pm: The Office for National Statistics publishes the first regular results of its Covid-19 infection survey in England.

2.30pm: Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, gives evidence to the Northern Ireland select committee.

2.30pm: Chris Hopson of NHS Providers, Richard Murray of the The King’s Fund, Nigel Edwards of the Nuffield Trust and Jennifer Dixon of the Health Foundation give evidence to the Commons health committee.

2.30pm: Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, gives evidence to the Commons Scottish affairs committee.

5pm: The UK government holds its daily press conference.

Updated

Hunt admits he should have done more to develop testing capacity as health secretary

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, joining the blog for the day.

In his Today interview this morning Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary who now chairs the Commons health committee, said that in the past the government, including when he was in cabinet, had failed to build up testing capacity. He explained:

I think the practical thing that we can all see needed to have happened was to make sure that everyone discharged from hospitals into care homes was tested for Covid before they were sent to a care home. But because we didn’t have that testing capacity at the time, it wasn’t possible to do that.

In retrospect, and I have responsibility for this as someone who was health secretary for six years, because we were over-focused on pandemic flu, and not on pandemic Sars-like viruses, we haven’t been thinking for some time about the importance of testing.

And had we done that, and that’s why I think transparency over scientific advice is so important, then maybe some of these things could have been avoided.

Jeremy Hunt
Jeremy Hunt. Photograph: House of Commons/PA

Updated

He has already raised millions for the NHS by walking lengths of his garden but second world war veteran Captain Tom Moore is showing no signs of slowing down. The 100-year-old is publishing two books later this year as he launches a new charitable foundation, it has been announced.

The veteran’s autobiography, Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day, and a children’s picture book will be released in support of the Captain Tom Foundation. The new foundation is being established to help combat loneliness, support hospices and help those facing bereavement.

Captain Tom Moore, who raised nearly £33m for the NHS, is publishing two books
Captain Tom Moore, who raised nearly £33m for the NHS, is publishing two books. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

It comes after the veteran captivated the nation by raising nearly £33m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden in Bedfordshire before his 100th birthday on April 30.

His autobiography, published on 17 September, will detail his time on the battlefields of Burma in the second world war.

Updated

The extraordinary boom in civic action that has seen more than a million new volunteers step up to help out in their communities during the coronavirus crisis is disproportionately concentrated in wealthier areas of the UK, according to an all-party MPs committee.

The MPs warned that while the crisis has produced “an outpouring of neighbourliness and mutual aid” in many areas, it had also seen marginalised individuals become more isolated, especially in poorer neighbourhoods. “If lockdown is a shared experience we have all been aware it has not been experienced equally,” the report by the all-party parliamentary group on social integration said.

Supplies are sorted at the Goose Green Mutual Aid and Southwarks Pecan food collection point held at OruSpace in East Dulwich, London, during the coronavirus pandemic on May 4, 2020
Supplies are sorted at the Goose Green Mutual Aid and Southwarks Pecan food collection point held at OruSpace in East Dulwich, London, during the coronavirus pandemic on 4 May 2020. Photograph: John Phillips/Getty Images

The surge in volunteering, including 750,000 applicants for the NHS first-responder scheme, was lauded by Boris Johnson as a sign of “incredible public spirit” and proof that Margaret Thatcher was wrong to claim there was “no such thing as society.”

But the report says Mutual Aid Groups, the social media-led local networks that have sprung up in recent weeks to help vulnerable people isolated by the lockdown were more likely to be found in “close knit” smaller towns with already strong civic traditions.

These informal groups were less prevalent in deprived areas of cities that suffered from income and social inequality, including a number of so-called “left behind” communities, the report said.

It identified 25 areas it said had relatively low levels of mutual aid group coverage, including Sunderland, Hull, Doncaster, Nuneaton, Stoke-on-Trent, Dartford, Knowsley and Oldham.

It said the government needed to do more to tackle digital divides to ensure that the most marginalised communities were not excluded from vital services vital to accessing Covid-19 support, from universal credit to health and care advice.

Updated

We still need to make more testing capacity available for care homes, minister concedes

Health minister Edward Argar has conceded that the government still needs to “make available” Covid-19 testing capacity so all care home residents and staff can get tested, amid claims that those without symptoms have been unable to do so.

Pressed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on when care homes will be able to test people, including those without symptoms, Argar said:

My understanding, and I base this on anecdotal experience, as well as what I’ve seen in the department from my own constituency, is that care homes are being able to do that. That is being rolled out very rapidly.

But, questioned further on whether care homes are able to test those without symptoms, he replied:

There is still some capacity there that we need to put in ... make available, I should say, to care homes to make sure everyone can access it quickly.

He added: “To make sure they get their results back quickly so they know when they have someone who didn’t test negative - that’s fine. Or when they have someone who has tested positive, they know to use that... if they are accepting a discharge back to the care home, they know to put in place those isolation rules and those isolation procedures.”

Earlier, the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt told the programme that it was “pretty clear now” that community testing should not have been abandoned on 12 March. “I think it’s very important not to finger point at the individuals, and I think the government is getting excellent scientific advice,” he said.

“But actually, to ask why it is that Sage, the government’s scientific advisory committee, didn’t model the South Korean test, track and trace approach that we are now adopting right at the beginning?

“The government was given two very extreme options, the sort of extreme lockdown we’re just coming out of, or kind of mitigated herd immunity. And that middle way, the South Korean route, wasn’t modelled.”

Updated

Government wants "game-changer" antibody test to be rolled out to key workers first, says minister

The government wants to roll out a new “game-changer” antibody test to frontline workers first, according to health minister Edward Argar.

It emerged last night that an antibody test, which can determine whether someone has had Covid-19, has been approved by Public Health England. The blood test, developed by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, will be able to help determine how much of the population has been infected, raising the prospect those who have had the disease may be immune.

Health minister Edward Argar, pictured in February, says the government wants to roll out a new antibody test to key workers first
Health minister Edward Argar, pictured in February, says the government wants to roll out a new antibody test to key workers first. Photograph: RMV/Rex/Shutterstock

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Argar said: “We’re in discussion at the moment with Roche on this. It’s only just gone through the Public Health England assessment as being reliable, as doing the job, and therefore we are having those discussions.

But we are keen to get as many as we can and get them out, primarily to the front line first, the NHS, social care and then more widely. Because this really will be - as the prime minister said - this has the potential to be a game-changer.”

But he cautioned that the government was not yet in a position to roll out the new antibody tests to the public. He added: “It has only just got the green light. Obviously we will have had kits to test, but we are not in a position at this point to give these tests out.”

He continued: “So we’re not in a position yet to roll it out to the public and have those tests ready to go.”

Updated

England footballer Dele Alli has spoken of his “horrible experience” after being held at knifepoint and punched during a robbery at his home.

The Tottenham player, who has been isolating at his north London property during lockdown with his brother and their respective partners, was hit in the face during the incident. The 24-year-old sustained a facial injury before the intruders fled.

Dele Alli
Dele Alli, pictured last year, tweeted about his ‘horrible experience’ after being held at knifepoint Photograph: John Walton/PA

Scotland Yard is investigating after the attackers broke into Alli’s home just after midnight on Wednesday morning, stealing jewellery and watches. Alli tweeted last night:

The Metropolitan police said: “Police were called at approximately 00:35 on Wednesday 13 May to reports of a robbery at a residential address in Barnet.

Two males gained entry to the property and stole items of jewellery, including watches, before fleeing. One male occupant of the property, aged in his 20s, suffered a minor facial injury after being assaulted. He did not require hospital treatment. No arrests; enquiries into the circumstances continue.”

A Spurs spokesperson added: “We have been offering our support to Dele and those isolating with him. We encourage anyone with any information to help the police with their investigation to come forward.”

Alli and his Spurs teammates are in the process of meeting the Premier League over Project Restart as they work towards a return to action next month.

Updated

WH Smith has warned of a “significant” hit to its business prompted by Covid-19 lockdown, with revenues plunging by 85% last month.

The retailer’s travel arm was the worst impacted, with sales crashing by 91%. It sales were down 74% in its high street chain in April.

The firm has been forced to shut the majority of its stores, many of which are in railway stations and airports.

A branch of WH Smith in London
A branch of WH Smith in London Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA

Carl Cowling, group chief executive of WH Smith, said:

Since March, we have seen a significant impact on our business as a result of Covid-19, with the majority of our stores closed around the world. We were fast to react to the situation and issued new equity via a placing, raising around £162m on 6 April 2020.

“We also secured an additional £120m of bank funding. We are a resilient and versatile business and with the operational actions we have taken including managing costs and the new financing arrangements, we are in a strong position to navigate this time of uncertainty and are well positioned to benefit in due course from the normalisation and growth of our key markets.”

Updated

The government’s promised £600m fund to help Covid-19 infection control in care homes has been labelled a “drop in the ocean” compared with what is needed by the shadow housing, communities and local government secretary, Steve Reed.

Highlighting a funding gap for local authorities, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The £600m is very welcome and that is going to focus on infection control. The problem we’ve got is the total gap is £10bn, so £600m is a drop in the ocean.”

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, detailed the funding in a tweet yesterday:

It comes as ministers faced fresh allegations on Wednesday of failing to prepare care homes for a pandemic, as it emerged that Covid-19 may have killed 22,000 residents in England and Wales – more than twice the official toll.

The shadow minister also urged the government to fully fund all additional spending on Covid-19 by local authorities. “The government told councils they would fund them ‘whatever was necessary to get communities through this crisis’,” he said.

“But last week we heard backtracking from the communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, who changed the language to say they would not necessarily reimburse councils. Now councils are facing a £10bn funding gap, a third of that relating to social care.”

Councils in England fear they will have to make budget cuts of 20% and face a social care funding shortfall of £3.5bn due to the coronavirus pandemic. Labour claims local authorities are facing a £10bn black hole as they encounter spiralling costs while revenue streams such as parking charges dry up amid the lockdown.

Updated

Good morning, readers. It’s Simon Murphy here kicking off the UK live blog coverage today. It emerged last night that an antibody test which can determine whether someone has had Covid-19 has been approved by Public Health England.

Boris Johnson has previously described antibody testing as a “game-changer” as it can help determine how much of the population has been infected, raising the prospect those who have had the disease may be immune. However, whether a person who has overcome Covid-19 is immune and if so, how long that immunity lasts, are still very open questions.

The test, made by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, detects whether antibodies are present in someone’s blood. Prof John Newton, national coordinator of the UK coronavirus testing programme, told the Daily Telegraph that experts at PHE’s Porton Down labs had evaluated the test and confirmed the 100% accuracy.

“This is a very positive development, because such a highly specific antibody test is a very reliable marker of past infection,” he said.

This in turn may indicate some immunity to future infection, although the extent to which the presence of antibodies indicates immunity remains unclear.

Later this morning at 9.30am MPs on the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee will look into the impact of the pandemic on businesses and workers. It comes days after official figures showed that people in low-paid, manual jobs face a much greater risk of dying from coronavirus than higher-paid, white-collar workers.

At 11am cabinet will meet to discuss the ongoing pandemic. This afternoon at 2pm, the Office for National Statistics is expected to give the clearest picture yet of how many people in England have currently got Covid-19 when it releases the results of its infection survey. The Health and Social Care Committee will hold an evidence session on delivering core NHS services at 2.30pm. And, finally, at 8pm the nation will take to doorsteps to show appreciation to Clap for Carers.

Updated

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