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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Andrew Sparrow and Sarah Marsh (now); Simon Murphy (earlier)

UK coronavirus news: Britain unites again to applaud key workers on Covid frontline - as it happened

That’s it from me, Nadeem Badshah.

To continue following our coronavirus coverage, you can check out our global blog -

Chancellor Rishi Sunak heralds a day of brighter developments.

From the man of the moment, Captain Tom Moore, marking his 100th birthday.

SNP leader Nicola sturgeon takes part in the nationwide applause.

Carrie Symonds, Boris Johnson’s fiancee who gave birth to a boy yesterday, has thanked the NHS and paid tribute to the fund-raising efforts of Captain Tom Moore.

England’s men’s and women’s football teams have given their thanks to health service and key workers.

Hospital staff outside King’s College Hospital in London, join in the applause for keyworkers.
Hospital staff outside King’s College Hospital in London, join in the applause for keyworkers. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
NHS workers and people applaud outside Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.
NHS workers and people applaud outside Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. Photograph: Kevin Coombs/Reuters
Nuns applaud outside St Anthony’s convent of Mercy Tunstall in Sunderland.
Nuns applaud outside St Anthony’s convent of Mercy Tunstall in Sunderland. Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters
The family of Retired British Army Captain Tom Moore, daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and grandchildren Benji and Georgia react outside his home before the Clap for our Carers.
The family of Retired British Army Captain Tom Moore, daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and grandchildren Benji and Georgia react outside his home before the Clap for our Carers. Photograph: Paul Childs/Reuters

Updated

Labour leader Keir Starmer has tweeted this tribute.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson applauds outside 10 Downing Street during the Clap for our Carers campaign.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson applauds outside 10 Downing Street during the Clap for our Carers campaign. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

London mayor Sadiq Khan has posted a montage of tributes.

The Labour party has posted this message on Twitter.

Boris Johnson was outside 10 Downing Street to applaud NHS and key workers on his first week back to work after recovering from Covid-19.

Thousands of people across the UK are now applauding the NHS and key carers from their gardens, porches and drives with some holding placards and banging utensils.

The Shard is among the buildings which have turned blue to pay homage.

In ten minutes time, the UK will unite once again to applaud the NHS and key workers at 20:00 BST (19:00 GMT).

It is part of the Clap For Carers initiative which is now in its sixth week.

Police have issued a warning to Londoners ahead of the nationwide applause to remain in their homes.

Anyone gathering at the city’s landmarks will be told to go home, the Metropolitan Police said.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: “Members of the public who are not away from their homes for one of the reasons outlined in the government’s emergency legislation should expect to be asked to return home.”

Summary of the latest from today

Hello all, we will be putting the blog on hold until 7.50pm (GMT). Below is a summary of the developments of the day. If you have any news tips or thoughts, please do share them with me.

  • Boris Johnson said the UK did the “right thing at the right time”. Johnson says people should understand that the collating of data internationally is bedevilled with difficulties. The only real comparison will be possible at the end of this, when you look at total excess deaths. He said the UK avoided an “uncontrollable and catastrophic” epidemic that could have caused 500,000 deaths and that we were now “past the peak”.
  • Following the lead of various world cities including Bogotá and Berlin, Manchester has announced plans to close part of one of its main streets to cars and widen the pavements along others in order to help people walk and cycle safely while maintaining physical distancing — and move towards a car-free future.
  • There have now been 26,771 coronavirus deaths in the whole of the UK in all settings, an increase of 674 on yesterday. These figures are just for people who tested positive for coronavirus. They do not include people who may have died from coronavirus who were not tested.
  • The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has issued a stern warning that GCSE and A-level grade assessments this summer should not unfairly penalise children from minority ethnic minority backgrounds, as well as disabled pupils and those with special educational needs.
  • More than 9,000 fines have been handed to people in England and Wales for allegedly flouting coronavirus lockdown laws, according to new figures. As PA Media reports, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said 8,877 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) had been recorded by forces in England between March 27 and April 27, while 299 were issued in Wales over the same period. Some 397 were for repeat offenders, with one person fined six times.

Boris Johnson's press conference - Summary and analysis

Here are the main points from Boris Johnson’s press conference.

  • Boris Johnson warned Britons that they could face an “even bigger” coronavirus outbreak if the government rushed or mishandled the relaxation of the lockdown. He made the point in an opening speech which, while not giving any firm details of the government’s plans, effectively paved the way for an announcement next week that seems likely to involve the lockdown being extended yet again in most significant respects. He made the point with a slightly confused Alpine metaphor. He said.

We have come through the peak.

Or rather we’ve come under what could have been a vast peak, as though we’ve been going through some huge alpine tunnel.

And we can now see the sunlight and pasture ahead of us.

And so it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain.

And so to avoid that disaster our fifth and final test is that nothing as I say we do should lift the R or the reproduction rate of that disease back above one.

Johnson then showed a video explaining the R number (the reproduction number - the rate at which a virus spreads) and why it was so important to keep this below 1. It was very hard to see the video as anything other than an attempt to explain the stringent social distancing measures will have to stay in place for a considerable time to come. You can watch it here.

  • He said that the government would publish “a comprehensive plan” next week explaining how it would be possible to move away from the lockdown. The Scottish and Welsh governments have already published their own version, and Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has repeatedly called for a UK version. Johnson said:

I will be setting out a comprehensive plan next week to explain how we can get our economy moving, one, how we can get our children back to school, back into childcare, second, and third how we can travel to work and how we can make life in the workplace safer.

And in short how we can continue to suppress the disease and at the same time re-start the economy.

A huge amount of work has been going on on that that plan and as we produce it we are being guided by the science, and we will try to build the maximum political consensus as we produce it across all parties and across the UK.

But, in response to a question from a member of the public (Michelle from Cornwall), Johnson also said that that the plan would not commit the government to relaxing particular restrictions by particular dates. That would depend on the data, he said. Michelle wanted to know when holidaymakers would be able to return to Cornwall. Johnson was unable to give her any firm indication at all.

  • Johnson said the government may find “ingenious ways” of suppressing coronavirus. He said:

We have to .. make sure we not only unlock the economy gradually, but also find ways of continuing to suppress the disease, and possibly find new, more ingenious ways of suppressing the disease. That’s what we are working on now and you’ll be seeing a lot more of that, I hope, next week.

Johnson did not elaborate on what he meant, but he may have given a clue in his answer to a question on face coverings.

  • Johnson backed the wearing of face coverings by members of the public in some circumstances. He said.

What I think Sage [the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] is saying, and what I certainly agree with, is that as part of coming out of the lockdown, I do think that face coverings will be useful both for epidemiological reasons but also for giving people confidence they can go back to work. But you’ll be hearing more about that thing next week.

The Scottish government has already backed the wearing of face coverings on public transport and in certain shops. Johnson’s words suggest the UK government is going to issue very similar advice.

  • Johnson said the UK has passed the peak of the epidemic. He said:

I can confirm today for the first time that we are past the peak of this disease. We are past the peak and we are on the downward slope.

That was less significant than it sounded, because it has been clear for some time now that the UK has passed the peak. This week scientists said the peak for coronavirus deaths in English hospitals was passed on 8 April - 22 days ago.

  • Johnson claimed that he did “the right thing at the right time” when it came to imposing the lockdown. He said:

I think it was completely right to make our period of lockdown coincide as far as we possibly could with the peak of the epidemic.

That peak, as I said just now, has passed. I do think that broadly speaking, and we’re learning lessons every day, but I do think that broadly speaking, we did the right thing at the right time.

This is is not a view shared my most members of the public; a poll today suggests two thirds of people think the lockdown was imposed too late. (See 1.01pm.)

  • Johnson claimed that it would be best to wait until all-cause excess death figures are available for all countries before making a judgment as to which countries have been the best and the worst at fighting coronavirus. This is an argument also endorsed by government scientists, but Johnson sounded more defensive today than on Monday, when in his speech outside No 10 he was talking about the UK’s “apparent success”. As this chart illustrates, in terms of total coronavirus deaths, the UK now has the third most in the world, behind only the US and Italy.
  • He claimed that he would not resort to austerity to manage the increased debt generated by this crisis. Asked if there would be a new era of austerity, he replied:

I think the economy will bounce back strongly, I think that this government will want to encourage that bounce back in all kinds of ways.

I’ve never particularly liked the term that you just used [austerity] to describe government economic policy and it’ll certainly not be part of our approach.

This might turn out to be more of an aspiration, or an insight into Johnson’s linguistic preferences, than a guide to his likely economic policy. As explained earlier, this crisis is set to leave a £200bn hole in the national finances this year. (See 4.20pm.)

  • Johnson announced that a further 674 people have died from coronavirus, taking the UK total to 26,771. This counts coronavirus deaths in all settings. But it only includes people who have tested positive for the virus, and it is thought that the true death toll is much higher.
  • He said 81,611 coronavirus tests were carried out yesterday. The government has set a target of getting testing up to 100,000 by today.
Boris Johnson at his press conference.
Boris Johnson at his press conference. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/Crown Copyright/PA

Updated

The Department of Health has clarified the total number of UK coronavirus deaths is 26,771, and not 26,711 as prime minister Boris Johnson said in his press briefing earlier.

Following the lead of various world cities including Bogotá and Berlin, Manchester has announced plans to close part of one of its main streets to cars and widen the pavements along others in order to help people walk and cycle safely while maintaining physical distancing — and move towards a car-free future.

Soon, Deansgate, home to many shops and bars (and the Guardian’s northern office), will be closed from King Street West to Blackfriars Street. The pedestrianisation will be on a “share with care” basis, the council says, creating a shared space for pedestrians and cyclists. Last summer part of Deansgate was occupied by Extinction Rebellion and it has been a long-term goal of local campaign group Walk Ride Greater Manchester to see the street closed to cars.

In other busy areas of Manchester, pedestrians are to be given more space using heavy-duty “Rhino” barriers to create extended pavements, including on Princess Street and London Road in the city centre.

The move comes after the Scottish government announced a £10m fund to support pop-up active travel infrastructure across Scotland to help support physical distancing while walking or cycling.

Updated

Hello everyone. I will be running the blog for the next 30 minutes before handing over to the night team.

If you want to share any thoughts, insight or news tips, then please do via any of the channels below.

Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

Boris Johnson has suggested that the use of face coverings could be advised as part of measures to ease the lockdown.

The prime minister said on Thursday that they would be “useful” both for stemming the disease and “giving people confidence” that they could go back to work.

Johnson, in his first Downing Street press conference since being stricken with Covid-19, said the UK was “past the peak of this disease” and “on the downward slope”.

Updated

Another coronavirus surge similar to the rapid onset of the infection would be very difficult to manage in Ireland, an official has warned.

The country has played down hopes of a swift easing of social distancing restrictions and is expected to extend the emergency measures early in May.

In early March, the country went from 50 people in intensive care to 140 - and that total remained “significantly elevated”, Prof Philip Nolan said. He added: “Currently, there are 106 patients in ICU.

“If a similar surge occurred on top of our current ICU figure, we would find it very difficult to manage the treatment of patients.”

Updated

Fly-tipping has increased by 300% in rural communities during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to new analysis.

Researchers from the universities of Southampton and Portsmouth said the increase in illegal waste dumping has followed the closure of almost all tips, while at the same time the number of DIY projects has increased by householders stuck at home.

The problem has been worsened with nearly half of all local authority recycling services in the country having been stopped or reduced, and charity shops being closed and not able to take unwanted goods.

Updated

The use of face masks to limit the spread of Covid-19 risks social isolation for people with hearing difficulties, an academic has warned.

Prof Kevin Munro, of the University of Manchester, believes that tackling the pandemic with increased use of masks could bring an “unintended consequence” of preventing lip reading and hampering speech intelligibility.

The audiologist said: “At the very least, removing visual cues can make communication more difficult because of the exertion required to listen - especially when there is background noise.

Here is the full text of Boris Johnson’s speech at the start of the press conference.

And here are the slides (pdf) shown at the start of the press conference.

The children’s commissioner for England has issued a strong rebuke to the government, urging ministers to revoke controversial changes to regulations protecting children in care.

The amendments, which came into force last week as temporary emergency measures intended to ease the pressure on overstretched local authorities during the coronavirus crisis, have attracted widespread criticism.

Anne Longfield has now added her voice to mounting opposition to the changes, tweeting: “We would like to see all these changes revoked and do not believe that there is sufficient justification for them. This crisis must not remove protections from extremely vulnerable children, particularly at a time of increased vulnerability.”

Her intervention comes as children’s rights campaigners begin to mount a legal challenge to the changes which they say remove vital legal safeguards which have been built up over decades to protect children in care.

One of the key concerns is the removal of the requirement for a social worker to visit - or even telephone - a child in care every six weeks, reducing it to “as soon as is reasonably practicable”. A requirement for a six monthly review of a child’s care has been similarly relaxed, raising concerns that children’s voices will not be heard.

In a strongly-worded statement, Longfield said: “Children in care are already vulnerable, and this crisis is placing additional strain on them - as most are not in school, less able to have direct contact with family and other trusted professionals, and facing the challenges of lockdown and anxiety about illness - all on top of the trauma they have already experienced. If anything I would expect to see increased protections to ensure their needs are met during this period.

“I would like to see all the regulations revoked as I do not believe there is sufficient justification to introduce them. As an absolute minimum, if the government refuses to revoke these regulations I wish to see guidance make clear that these changes will only every be used as a last resort and for as short a time as possible.”

The Department for Education maintains that the vast majority of statutory duties remain unaltered, but the changes will allow temporary flexibility to be used where absolutely necessary and expire in September.

Pilots’ leaders have repeated criticism of British Airways over plans to cut one in four jobs at the airline.

Of the 12,000 jobs under threat at the company because of the dramatic impact of the current lockdown, about 1,100 are expected to involve pilots.

Brian Strutton, general secretary of the pilots’ union Balpa, said: “Balpa is fighting to save every pilot job at BA.

“The company has declined Government support, claiming it is financially secure enough to survive the coronavirus crisis, so it is hard to see how these cuts can be justified.

“There are many options to ensure BA can continue its business and survive coronavirus, and Balpa does not accept that job losses are the only answer.

“Pilots want evidence that all options have been explored fully.”

Another 43 people with Covid-19 in Ireland have died, taking the total to 1,232, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre said.

Tax will be cut on sales of personal protective equipment from tomorrow, the Treasury announced.

A zero-rate of VAT will apply to sales of PPE to help combat the spread of Covid-19 from May 1 until July 31.

The three-month tax break, worth more than 100 million, will apply to PPE purchased by care homes, businesses, charities and individuals to protect against the virus.

Treasury officials said the government acted as soon as possible to bring the measure into force.

During the Brexit transition period, the UK is bound by European Law on VAT which the Treasury said required the UK to charge VAT on the equipment.

But the European Commission has indicated support for member states to introduce temporary VAT reliefs to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Q: Key workers in Stoke are being told they have to drive to Manchester for testing. The testing site in Stoke is only available for NHS workers. Will that change?

Johnson thanks the journalist for alerting him to this.

In principle, every key worker should be able to get a test, he says.

He says the UK is doing about as much testing as any other country.

It has been ramped up, and it will be ramped up again.

On the point about Stoke, he says he will be onto it.

Q: How vital a role are Royal Stoke patients playing in the coronavirus drug trials.

Whitty and Vallance say the people take part in hospital trials are playing a vital role.

And that’s it. The press conference is over.

Q: Why is the UK’s death rate so high, especially in care homes?

Johnson says there are arguments about co-morbidities, and why some populations are more at risk. But he says he thinks it is too soon to come to conclusions. He says it is best to wait until all-cause excess death figures are available.

Q: Do you think remdesivir, the Ebola drug, will be useful?

Vallance says there have been two studies. The results are promising. It seems to have some effect. But it is not a magic bullet.

Whitty says, as a cautious medical scientist, he wants to wait until he has read the peer-reviewed paper on this. The oral report has been promising, but he wants to see the final research.

And he says it is important to remember that treatments get developed in stages. This is an encouraging first step. He says he thinks in the future good treatments will be available.

Johnson backs use of face coverings in some circumstances

Q: You have made the R rate the guiding star of your policy. What is a manageable R rate?

Johnson says he will give a layman’s account.

There are different Rs in different environment. What matters is stopping the national rate go above 1.

We are starting to get much better data now about what is happening, he says.

He says this means, as they go forward, they can be much more “sophisticated” in the way they respond.

Q: Can we expect some clarity on face masks next week?

Johnson says, as part of coming out of the lockdown, face coverings will be “useful”, both for epidemiological reasons, and also to give people confidence to go back to work.

  • Johnson backs the use of face coverings in some circumstances.

Whitty says the government is very concerned that people are not seeking treatment for other conditions, like cancer.

The NHS is trying to ensure that as much as possible services are now switched on.

Those services that are most urgent will be prioritised, he says.

Johnson says people should be going to hospital if they have urgent conditions.

UK did 'right thing at right time', says Johnson, rejecting claims lockdown came too late

Q: The UK may have the worst death toll in Europe. What lessons have you learnt from this?

Johnson says people should understand that the collating of data internationally is bedevilled with difficulties. The only real comparison will be possible at the end of this, when you look at total excess deaths.

He says he put in the lockdown at an earlier stage, relatively, than France and Spain.

He says he thinks the UK did the right measures at the right time.

They made it coincide with the peak, he says.

But he says the peak has based.

He says, “broadly speaking”, he thinks they did “the right thing at the right time”.

There was a real risk that people might not get ventilators, or access to intensive care.

This country did come together to protect the NHS, he says.

On the international data, wait and see.

Whitty says we are “nowhere near the end of this epidemic”. He goes on:

Let’s not go charging in to who’s won and who’s lost.

He says there is an excellent article in today’s Guardian on this by David Spiegelhalter. It says we need to wait to make these comparisons.

Q: National debt is rising by hundreds of billions. How great a risk is there of a new era of austerity after this?

Johnson says he thinks the economy will bounce back strongly.

He says the government will encourage that in a number of ways.

He says he has never liked the term austerity. It won’t be part of his approach, he says.

Johnson says government may find new 'ingenious ways' to fight coronavirus

Q: There have been 26,000 deaths since you last stood at that lectern. And huge economic damage has been done. Are you telling people they will have to wait before you can reopen the economy?

Johnson says we mourn for lives lost, but for the economic damage too. People’s dreams are being shattered. The government has made a huge effort to protect people. It is doing everything it can. He pays tribute to Rishi Sunak. But if the UK is to bounce back as strongly as it can, we must not have another bout of this, or “another bad spike”. That is why we have to calibrate our measures so carefully, he says.

That might involve finding “new ways, more ingenious ways” of suppressing the disease too.

Q: What level has R have to be?

Whitty says there is no obvious answer. But it must be below 1. If it is above 1, exponential growth in the disease will happen.

But he warns that there are other health impacts of coronavirus.

Vallance says before this we were talking of the “doubling time” of the epidemic. We are now talking about the “halving time” he says.

Katie from Liverpool asks what help is available for people with mental health issues.

Johnson says this is very important. He says the fact that pressure has been taken off the NHS means it now has the capacity to deal with other patients.

He says money is being put into mental healthcare charities.

This is why it is all the more urgent to come out of lockdown, but to continue to suppress the disease.

Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, says the gov.uk website has contact details not just for the NHS, but for organisations like the Samaritans. If people are feeling low, they should use these numbers. There are people out there to help you.

Johnson says it is vital that people use these helplines.

Johnson is now taking questions from members of the public.

Michelle from Cornwall asks what the plan is for tourism in places like Cornwall. She says she is getting questions daily about when lets will open again.

Johnson says people have been staying away. It is vital that that does not fray yet. Next week the government will publish a road map, listing options. As for dates, that will depend on the data.

He says he does want to reopen tourism. But they have to get the timing right.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, is presenting the daily slides now.

Here is the chart for hospital admissions, which are coming down.

Hospital admissions
Hospital admissions Photograph: No 10

Here is the chart showing the decrease in the number of deaths.

Daily deaths
Daily deaths Photograph: No 10

That video sounded very much like one produced to explain why the lockdown will not be relaxed next week.

A video is now being played explaining the five tests.

It focuses on the R number.

And it explains how if R is more than 1, the virus will spread quickly.

If it is less than 1, the rate of infection will slow down and come under control.

In March, at its peak, R was around 3.

But since then, thanks to the social distancing measures, it has fallen below 1.

But it is vital it stays below 1, the video says, and the government will be monitoring it carefully.

Updated

Johnson says UK now 'past the peak'

Johnson says that at no stage has the NHS been overwhelmed.

He says the UK avoided an “uncontrollable and catastrophic” epidemic that could have caused 500,000 deaths.

He says he can confirm that the UK is now “past the peak”.

(In fact, that has been obvious for some time.)

He says the UK will have to beat this “by our resolve and ingenuity”.

He says he will publish a comprehensive plan next week.

It will cover three things: how we can restart the economy; how we can get our children back to school; and how we can get people into work.

There will be five key tests, he says.

First, we must be able to protect the NHS and its ability to cope.

Second, there must be a sustained fall in deaths.

Third, the infection rate must be falling.

Fourth, we must deal with the challenges of testing and PPE.

And, fifth, we must ensure that there is no second peak that could overwhelm the NHS.

He says we can see the pasture ahead of us. But it is vital not to run straight into another disaster.

That means nothing we do can lift the R, the reproduction number, above 1.

Updated

Boris Johnson is holding his press conference.

He says 81,611 tests were carried out yesterday.

There have now been 26,771 coronavirus deaths in the whole of the UK in all settings, an increase of 674 on yesterday.

(These figures are just for people who tested positive for coronavirus. They do not include people who may have died from coronavirus who were not tested.)

Updated

Opinium has some new polling about trust and coronavirus that will shed some light on the controversy generated by the No 10 claim that public confidence in the media has “collapsed”. (See 1.58pm.) It is good to see the Guardian ahead of all other newspapers in the trust column. We are not as trusted as the UK government (the public aren’t right about everything), but, looking at the most trusted column (the 7-10 one) Downing Street should be wondering by the Welsh government (a bit) and the Scottish government (a lot) are both trusted more than the UK government.

Updated

Downing Street has released this picture of Boris Johnson chairing a largely digital cabinet meeting this morning.

Boris Johnson chairing cabinet today.
Boris Johnson chairing cabinet today. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/AP

From the BBC’s health editor, Hugh Pym:

Updated

The health department in Northern Ireland has now released today’s detailed coronavirus figures. The headline numbers were announced by the health minister, Robin Swann, earlier. (See 3.12pm.)

Updated

A police car parked where a swastika has been spray painted on a sign at the entrance to a closed road and car park near Whitley Bay lighthouse, Northumberland. Graffiti has appeared on signs at several car parks along the Northumberland coastal road as the lockdown continues.
A police car parked where a swastika has been spray-painted on a sign at the entrance to a closed road and car park near Whitley Bay lighthouse, Northumberland. Graffiti has appeared on signs at several car parks along the Northumberland coastal road as the lockdown continues. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Updated

The Guardian’s latest Science Weekly podcast is out. Sarah Boseley talks to Prof Helen McShane about why there has been interest in the tuberculosis vaccine and whether it could play a role in protecting us against Covid-19.

The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has issued a stern warning that GCSE and A-level grade assessments this summer should not unfairly penalise children from minority ethnic minority backgrounds, as well as disabled pupils and those with special educational needs.

David Isaac, the EHRC’s executive chair, said Ofqual, England’s exams regulator, should warn schools to account for potential bias in making assessments to determine grades in the place of exams.

“If we don’t get this right the future of some disadvantaged young people is severely at risk. We can’t let the crisis happening now affect the future of disadvantaged pupils when so many, particularly disabled pupils and those of ethnic minority background, already face an uphill battle,” Isaac said.

“At this time it is critically important that public authorities meet the requirements of the public sector equality duty, and consider the needs and disadvantages facing pupils with different protected characteristics when they are deciding and implementing their response to the coronavirus emergency.”

In its response to Ofqual’s consultation, the EHRC called for teachers to be told how to “minimise the risk of conscious or unconscious bias” in assessing pupils, and for pupils to have a “meaningful and timely route of appeal, including on grounds of suspected unlawful discrimination”.

In March the government and Ofqual announced that formal exams for A-levels and GCSEs would be scrapped and replaced by assessments by schools, moderated by examination boards and Ofqual’s formula to award individual grades to each pupil. Governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have adopted similar methods.

A spokesperson for Ofqual said: “We do recognise there are concerns about the potential for students to be disadvantaged by this approach and published an equality impact assessment, informed by a review of research literature on bias in teacher assessments, when our consultation was launched. We have and will be engaging further with organisations and groups that have raised concerns about this issue.

“Our standardisation model will be designed to ensure, so far as is possible, that students are not advantaged or disadvantaged on the basis of their socio-economic background or because they have a particular protected characteristic.

“Students who do not feel their calculated grade reflects their performance will also have the opportunity to sit an exam in the autumn. We will shortly consult on details of the autumn exam series – we hope anyone with views about how the series might run, or its impact on particular students, will respond to our further consultation.”

How much is coronavirus costing the government?

Here is a good question from below the line.

User avatar for JellyBellyUK

@Sarah Marsh @Andrew Sparrow

How much have the government 'spent' so far on this coronavirus pandemic? And what are the losses so far? Does anyone know?

There is no accurate running total, but the Office for Budget Responsibility produced a good, provisional guess in the report (pdf) it published two weeks ago looking at the impact of coronavirus on the public finances. The news reports focused on the OBR’s suggestion that GDP could fall by 35% in the second quarter of the year, leading to unemployment rising by more than 2m, and so these figures were slightly overlooked.

These OBR figures are based partly on government policies already announced and partly based on a “reference scenario” - a plausible assumption as to what might happen, including a three month lockdown followed by three months of partial lockdown.

The figures are breathtaking. The government would have to spend an extra £100bn this year, the OBR suggests. The figures are on page 18, or in this chart here.

Government coronavirus policies that could cost £100bn
Government coronavirus policies that could cost £100bn Photograph: OBR

But that’s only the start. The OBR also looked at the amount the government was likely to lose through lost tax revenue, and this sum came to an astonishing £130bn for this financial year. The chart is on page 20.

How lost tax revenue could cost the government £130bn
How lost tax revenue could cost the government £130bn Photograph: OBR

That is why the OBR thinks the coronavirus crisis could see government borrowing rise by more than £200bn, creating the biggest single-year deficit since world war two.

Public Health Wales has released this week’s survey of how the public feel about the coronavirus and its impact on their lives. The survey is the second full report after an initial pilot to quiz members of the public, and involved more than 679 Welsh residents selected at random, with results adjusted to population demographics.

Among results, the survey reveals 11% of people think they have had coronavirus – down from 13% the week before – with 9% unsure. “Of those that think they have been infected, 8% have had this confirmed with a test,” the survey adds. What’s more, 12% of people say a family member or friend has been hospitalised or died from Covid-19, up from 8% the week before.

And while 58% of people think the government is doing a good job, 26% disagree or disagree strongly.

The virus also appears to be fuelling concerns, with 65% of those living with children worried about the children’s wellbeing and almost one in five worrying a lot about their mental health. A similar proportion, 20%, said they worry a lot about losing their job or getting a new one.

Prof Karen Hughes, who coordinates the survey for Public Health Wales, added: “Week on week, we are monitoring the views and behaviours of people in Wales during the coronavirus restrictions. Over the coming weeks we will be examining how age, gender and poverty affect people’s ability to cope and ensure such information is available to those delivering support services.

Updated

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases among prison staff has outripped prisoners for the first time since the lockdown restrictions were imposed, the latest daily update from the Ministry of Justice shows.

As at 5pm on Wednesday, 341 prisoners had tested positive for the coronavirus across 72 prisons, a 1% rise in 24 hours, while 364 prison staff across 64 prisons were confirmed to have the virus, an 8% rise in the same period.

Prison staff have had access to testing, while prisoner testing has been “limited and variable”, according to a recent Public Health England report.

There are around 81,100 prisoners in England and Wales across 117 prisons, and around 33,000 staff work in the public sector prisons.

The figures published by the MoJ are not live cases but include individuals who have recovered.

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As lockdown transforms the UK into a nation of DIY barbers and hairstylists, Community Integrated Care - one of Britain’s biggest social care charities - is asking celebrities and the public to “show they care” with their hair.

The #CareWithHair challenge encourages people to share their DIY hair styling experiences on social media and donate the money they would have spent on professional hair treatments. All money raised will help support the wellbeing of social care workers and the people they support through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Famous faces committed to taking part include several leading Super League rugby league stars, such as Peter Mata’utia (Castleford Tigers), Willie Isa (Wigan Warriors), and Danny Walker (Warrington Wolves), England Rugby and Saracens hero Owen Farrell as well as England lioness and Manchester City footballer Georgia Stanway - shown clipping the hair of boyfriend and rugby player Oliver Ashall - and Sky Sports host Terry O’Connor.

Updated

Parliamentarians in Wales have been told there is “no easy way out” of the coronavirus crisis. Giving evidence to the Welsh assembly’s health committee, Dr Rob Orford, Wales’ chief scientific adviser for health, said the government did not have “a lot of headroom” because infection levels would increase if lockdown restrictions were significantly lifted. He said:

There is no easy way out, there is no easy answer. This is going to be a hard-fought battle and we will need to feel our way forwards working with colleagues at a UK level and internationally to find the best ways ... There is no silver bullet to this problem.

More than 9,000 fines issued to people breaking lockdown rules, say police

More than 9,000 fines have been handed to people in England and Wales for allegedly flouting coronavirus lockdown laws, according to new figures. As PA Media reports, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said 8,877 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) had been recorded by forces in England between March 27 and April 27, while 299 were issued in Wales over the same period. Some 397 were for repeat offenders, with one person fined six times.

Police have been given powers to hand out a £60 penalty, that is reduced to £30 if paid within two weeks, for breaches of the government’s restriction of movement rules.

Police officers patrolling the beach at Brighton earlier this month.
Police officers patrolling the beach at Brighton earlier this month.
 Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Updated

A woman walking past a banner today in support of the NHS opposite King’s College Hospital in south London.
A woman walking past a banner today in support of the NHS opposite King’s College hospital in south London. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

Updated

Boris Johnson has released the text of a letter he has written to Capt Tom Moore, the war veteran and NHS fundraiser who is celebrating his 100th birthday today.

Another nine coronavirus deaths reported in Northern Ireland, taking total to 347

Robin Swann, the health minister in the Northern Ireland executive, has said there have been another nine deaths in Northern Ireland of patients who tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths in the region recorded so far by his department to 347.

Updated

England reports another 391 hospital coronavirus deaths, taking total to 20,131

NHS England has announced 391 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 20,131. The full details are here. NHS England says:

Patients were aged between 15 and 101 years old. 15 of the 391 patients (aged between 49 and 97 years old) had no known underlying health condition.

Of the 391 new deaths announced today, 78 occurred on 29 April, 140 occurred on 28 April and 42 occurred on 27 April.

Updated

Wales records another 22 coronavirus deaths, taking total to 908

Public Health Wales has reported a further 22 deaths from coronavirus, taking the total in Wales to 908. The full details are here.

Drivers queuing up today at an NHS coronavirus drive-through testing facility at Chessington World of Adventure in Chessington, Britain.
Drivers queueing up today at an NHS coronavirus drive-through testing facility at Chessington World of Adventures near London. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

Updated

Boris Johnson has been urged to publish the UK’s exit strategy from the coronavirus lockdown to give clarity to businesses and communities across the country.

The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said that, while there was an understanding of the need for lockdown, transparency was needed for what comes next.

In an interview with ITV News, Starmer also said he believed an inquiry into the UK’s response to the pandemic was “inevitable”.

“I think the government were slow into lockdown, slow on testing, slow on protective equipment, and may now be slow on our exit strategy,” he said.

Updated

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Updated

No 10 says it won't 'gamble away' lockdown success by relaxing it too soon

The Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished. Here are the main points.

  • The prime minister’s spokesman again played down the prospect of any significant change to the lockdown next week, saying it would be wrong to “gamble away” what has already been achieved. No 10 has been transmitting this message for some days, but this seemed to be an even stronger hint that people should not expect too much from the review of the lockdown due by Thursday next week. The spokesman said:

We don’t want to relax the social distancing measures or do anything which could lead to the virus, which the British public have done so much to suppress, being able to spread in an exponential way again, and that will guide our approach as we move forward. People have made huge sacrifices in order to bring down the rate of infection, to protect the NHS and ultimately to save lives and we are not going to gamble those sacrifices away by taking steps that could lead to an exponential growth in the disease again.

When asked if the lockdown could continue until June, the spokesman said people would have to wait for the government decision. But he also reminded reporters of what Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, has said about how the virus will be around for a significant period of time. The spokesman went on:

As the PM himself has said, the worst thing we could do is relax the social distancing measures too soon and throw away all of the progress that has been made.

  • The spokesman said that Sage, the scientific advisory group for emergencies, is still examining the impact that different relaxation measures might have on R, the reproduction number (the infection rate of the virus), and that it did not present any findings to cabinet today. This work will be crucial because the government will only implement measures relaxing the lockdown that, taken together, do not push R above 1.
  • The spokesman said Boris Johnson chaired a political meeting of cabinet before the normal cabinet today. At normal cabinet ministers received updates from Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser.
  • The spokesman came close to ruling out the lockdown measures being eased region by region, instead of on a UK-wide basis. Yesterday Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, said that although he favoured maintaining a UK-wide approach, there might be a case for letting island communities do their own thing. But the spokesman played down the prospect of this happening. He said:

We did consider, when we introduced the social distancing measures, bringing them in in some parts of the country ahead of others. We decided not to do that. We decided it was more effective to bring in the measures on a nationwide basis.

The spokesman indicated that this would be the approach the government would follow going ahead. He also said all four nations of the UK were keen to carry on moving ahead as one.

  • The spokesman refused to concede that the government was not likely to meet its target of getting coronavirus testing up to 100,000 per day by today. He pointed to the progress made in recent weeks towards hitting this target as evidence that testing had intensified.
  • The spokesman was unable to cite evidence defending a claim that “public confidence in the media has collapsed during this emergency”. At the end of last week another Downing Street spokesman made that claiming in a response to the Guardian’s story about Dominic Cummings taking part in Sage meetings that included the line: “Public confidence in the media has collapsed during this emergency partly because of ludicrous stories such as this.” Asked to defend the statement, the spokesman, who is a civil servant, said this was a matter for his party political press colleagues (who also speak on the PM’s behalf). As this YouGov chart illustrates, polling suggests that the crisis has not led to a collapse in trust in the media.
  • The spokesman said Johnson would be taking part in the Clap for Carers event tonight.
  • The spokesman refused to give any more information about the PM’s new baby son. He would not even say whether or not Carrie Symonds and the baby remained in hospital.
Prof Chris Whitty.
Prof Chris Whitty. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

An attempt to overturn the judiciary’s temporary freeze preventing evictions and home repossessions during the pandemic is being made in the court of appeal.

Lawyers for an insolvency firm have lodged an emergency application over the alleged failure to keep up payments on mortgages on two houses in Hertfordshire that were already the subject of a legal dispute.

The judicial practice direction ensuring that no one would lose their homes during the outbreak or be the subject of legal action that could result in being made homeless was authorised by the master of the rolls, Sir Terence Etherton, who is head of the civil judiciary in England and Wales.

Philip Rainey QC, acting for Mehmet Arkin, an insolvency practitioner, told the court of appeal in a hearing conducted over remote video links on Thursday, that the rules were “ultra vires” - having not been made in accordance with the law.

“It’s particularly important during an emergency that restrictive measures have a proper basis in law,” Rainey told the court. “There are very good reasons why parliament would wish to impose restrictions on what would normally be acceptable in a democracy but there must be a proper legal basis.”

The practice direction used by the judiciary, number 51.2, only refers to matters that the courts are “piloting” as experiments within the court system, Rainey said. It could not legally be the basis for the suspension of repossession actions which had been imposed.

But Sir Geoffrey Vos, chancellor of the high court, suggested that the practice direction had been imposed in an emergency and that it was effectively “trialling” changes to the rules. “This is to see what measures can deal with [cases] in the context of a clogging up of justice”.

Lady Justice Simler said the emergency rules did not prevent access to justice but merely imposed a 90-day delay on the process of house repossessions.

Lawyers for the justice secretary, Robert Buckland QC, have intervened in the case because of its significance.

The Housing Lawyers Practitioners Committee has also been permitted to intervene. In a statement issued before the hearing, the organisation’s co-chairs, Marina Sergides and Simon Mullings, said: “The issues are crucial to our members and their clients.”

In their legal submissions to the court, lawyers for the HLPA said: “If the appellants succeed in persuading the court that [the practice direction] is ultra vires then [this freeze] will cease to apply to all possession claims.”

That would expose many vulnerable people to losing their homes during the lockdown, they argued. “A significant proportion of members’ clients are also vulnerable as a result of physical and/or mental health problems, as a result of which they find it difficult properly to understand information and provide their solicitors with documents and instructions even face-to-face.”

The submission added: “This is a time when litigants, particularly those of limited means, are liable to find it particularly difficult to engage with the courts and with their lawyers if they have them. Practitioners and the courts are under exceptional pressure and the resources available to them are depleted. The provisions take effect for a temporary period while court procedures in response to Covid-19 are evaluated and they are subject to review.”

The hearing continues.

Updated

Consumers still panic-buying toilet roll have another option from today. A brand new recycled toilet paper brand has been launched, with all profits helping to fund wellbeing packs along with travel and accommodation costs for NHS frontline workers.

So-called Serious Tissues was set up by the brains behind Change Please, a Big Issue Invest-backed social enterprise which helps get homeless people off the street by training them as coffee baristas. The new product is made from paper and cardboard recycled from offices and homes.

Originally designed to help tackle the climate change crisis and save some of the 10m trees cut down every year to make toilet paper, the new product was meant to go on sale in the summer. But the launch was brought forward in response to the Covid-19 outbreak and to direct all profits to NHS Charities Together.

Updated

Reports from adults concerned about child abuse have increased by almost a fifth during the coronavirus lockdown, the NSPCC has said.

Its helpline received 2,216 calls about children facing neglect, physical and emotional abuse in the first four weeks of the lockdown.

This compares with 1,867 calls made in the four weeks prior. Lockdown measures are likely to be “intensifying abuse and increasing the impact it has on children who can’t escape it”, the child protection charity said.

Updated

Relaxing lockdown next week 'may well be too early', says Sturgeon

At her daily briefing, Nicola Sturgeon has told the Scottish public it is highly unlikely that there will be a loosening of lockdown restrictions next week.

Noting the next review lockdown guidance planned for 7 May, she warned that “it may well be too early even by this time next week to reduce the current restrictions”. Saying she wanted to be as open as possible, she stressed that “our assessment as of today of the data and the evidence is that it would not be safe” to lift the restrictions.

She urged the Scottish public not to ease up on travel restrictions in particular, revealing that there has been a significant increase over the last week: people using concessionary bus travel by one-sixth, and car traffic up by 5%.

Saying that she remained “an eternal optimist” that the situation would improve, she acknowledged that “everybody is getting really frustrated”, adding that it was “much tougher for certain groups of people, people with children, people who don’t have a garden, people who live in tenement flats”. She told reporters: “I can’t wave a magic want and make that frustration go away. What I can do is tell you why it is necessary.”

Nicola Sturgeon.
Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: Scottish Government/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

Evidence is building that Covid-19 can cause blood clotting abnormalities in patients, which could increase their risk of death.

Researchers in Ireland have reported finding that patients with severe coronavirus infection have micro blood clots in their lungs – something they say is not seen in other lung conditions, and could explain why people with severe Covid-19 have a drastic drop in blood oxygen levels.

The study, published in the British Journal of Haematology by researchers at the Irish Centre for Vascular Biology, RCSI and St James’s hospital, Dublin, also reveals the higher the levels of various markers indicating abnormal blood clotting, the worse a patient’s prognosis.

“Further studies will be required to investigate whether different blood thinning treatments may have a role in selected high-risk patients in order to reduce the risk of clot formation,” said Prof James O’Donnell director of the Irish Centre for Vascular Biology.

It is not the first study to highlight clotting issues among those with Covid-19. Previous studies have suggested severe Covid-19 may be associated with an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and stroke – even in young people – while recent work by other researchers has also raised concerns about blood-clotting complications in Covid-19 patients.

The Irish team say unusual blood clotting may help to explain why people of some ethnicities appear to be at greater risk from Covid-19 than others, since black people have a higher risk of blood-clotting problems than white people and Asian people have a lower risk than both.

“Our findings raise the intriguing possibility that pulmonary vasculopathy may contribute to the unexplained differences that are beginning to emerge highlighting racial susceptibility to Covid‐19 mortality,” the Irish team write.

Updated

Two thirds of people think government imposed lockdown too late, poll suggests

The number of people who believe the government did not act quickly enough in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak is increasing, according to a poll.

Two thirds of adults think ministers brought in strict measures to deal with the emergency too late, a rise from 57% two weeks ago, the Ipsos Mori survey (pdf) found.

The snapshot poll said people were also becoming less concerned about the risks to them personally from the outbreak. In the past month, the percentage of people expressing concern about the risk to themselves over time has dropped nine points to stand at 69%.

Polling on government’s response to coronavirus
Polling on government’s response to coronavirus Photograph: Ipsos MORI

Updated

Tony Lloyd, the Labour MP for Rochdale in Greater Manchester, spent 25 days in Manchester Royal Infirmary with Covid-19, including 10 days in an induced coma on a ventilator. He spoke to the Guardian’s north of England editor, Helen Pidd, about the humbling experience, from strange dreams to how it’s changed him for good.

Updated

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The government is to step up its campaign to find British workers to pick fruit and vegetables during the coronavirus lockdown.

The environment, food and rural affairs minister Lord Gardiner of Kimble said farms currently had sufficient seasonal labour.

But he said the campaign to plug the gap left by having fewer pickers from abroad would be “escalated” next month.

In a virtual Lords question time session, Gardiner said he was confident people would come forward to pick “excellent” British fruit and vegetables.

Updated

Scotland records another 60 coronavirus deaths, taking total to 1,475

Nicola Sturgeon starts her daily briefing by confirming 11,353 positive cases of coronavirus in Scotland, an increase of 319 from yesterday.

There are now 1,748 patients in hospital with suspected or confirmed Covid-19, an increase of 21; 109 in intensive care, a decrease of five from yesterday. She also said that 2,538 patients who had the virus had left hospital since 5 March.

But in the last 24 hours there were a further 60 deaths registered, taking that total to 1,475.

Updated

A fifth of high street stores plan to stay closed permanently after the coronavirus lockdown unwinds, retail leaders have told MPs.

Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, told the business, energy and industrial strategy select committee it has been the “worst time ever for retail” after the pandemic hit the UK.

He said 20% of retailers surveyed by the trade body claimed they did not intend to reopen after the lockdown.

Goodacre added: “For those even saying they would look to reopen, there is a huge caveat about the level of trade on whether they would continue to reopen.

“If the footfall is impacted and social distancing exists and they find it hard to meet needs of customers and workers, it would be more expensive to reopen than to stay closed.”

Updated

A soldier saluting a 14-foot mural painted in honour of Capt Tom Moore on his 100th birthday at Aldergrove Flying Station in Co Antrim.
A soldier saluting a 14-foot mural painted in honour of Capt Tom Moore on his 100th birthday at Aldergrove Flying Station in Co Antrim. Photograph: Robbie Hodgson/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA

At the government press conference on Tuesday Matt Hancock, the health secretary, was asked by the New Scientist’s Adam Vaughan how many contact tracers the government has already recruited. There are supposed to be 18,000 in place by the middle of next month. Hancock did not know, but he said he would try to get an answer.

Now Vaughan has been told the Department for Health and Social Care won’t release that information. As he writes, “a spokesperson [for the department] confirmed that recruitment had begun and said work was under way to ensure a rapid increase in tracers, but would not say how many there are now.”

Updated

More than 1,800 workers are set to lose their jobs at Oasis and Warehouse and two other brands, after administrators said they were unable to find a buyer for the business.

Deloitte said that all stores would close indefinitely and online sales would be stopped.

The failure to save any part of Oasis Warehouse Limited, the company behind the two brands, along with The Idle Man and Bastyan Fashions, will result in the loss of 1,803 jobs.

Deloitte said it had sold the intellectual property and the company’s stock to restructuring expert Hilco Capital, but Hilco had decided not to buy the rest of the business.

Administrator Rob Harding said: “Covid-19 has presented extraordinary challenges which have devastated the retail industry. It is with great sadness that we have to announce a sale of the business has not been possible and that we are announcing so many redundancies today.”

He added: “This is a very difficult time for the group’s employees and other key stakeholders and we will do everything we can to support them through this.

Updated

A man wearing a mask walking past a ‘Stay Safe’ message on a shop in London this morning.
A man wearing a mask walking past a ‘Stay Safe’ message on a shop in London this morning. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

New video technology is being introduced to enable criminal trials in crown and magistrates courts to be conducted securely over remote video links during the pandemic.

The first phase of the new video platform, known as Kinly Cloud Video Platform (CVP), will be rolled out to more than 100 courts in England and Wales.

HM Courts and Tribunal Service has so far run 412 remand hearings using CVP, brought on line 26 police custody suites and connected 95 advocates, 42 crown prosecutors, 20 probation officers and two translators.

The courts minister, Chris Philp, said:

It is essential that justice continues to be served in these difficult times and this new platform will help equip courts across England and Wales with secure and robust video technology to enable them to carry out more of their vital work.

We have already seen a huge rise in the number of cases being heard remotely, and this innovation will ensure the wheels of justice continue to turn.

Updated

Researchers say the preliminary results from UCL trials to treat Covid-19 with the drug Remdesivir are “really promising,” but acknowledged that there was “a little way to go”.

They said that “in principle” the treatment could assist in the process of easing the UK lockdown but that it would depend more on dealing with transmission within the community. They added that more informative results would be available near to the end of May.

Updated

Supermarkets have been urged to welcome all families “with kindness and compassion”, following a surge in reports of single parents across Scotland being challenged or turned away by staff and abused by members of the public as they try to shop with their children, our colleague Libby Brooks reports.

There is a lot of concern that the lockdown could disproportionately affect women - even if the disease itself kills more men. The Fawcett Society put it like this:

Women are more likely to be in low paid and insecure work, and existing inequalities, especially for BAME women, mean that they are being disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak. Women still do the majority of unpaid care and school and nursery closures mean women are having to give up work or reduce their hours. On top of this, the majority of key workers in highest risk role are women and with PPE shortages their lives are being put at risk.

Reflecting these concerns, Caroline Nokes, the chair of the Commons women and equalities committee has called on the government to publish the equalities assessment of the Coronavirus Act, the emergency legislation passed giving the government powers to deal with the crisis.

The impact assessment for the act states that an equalities assessment was “carried out separately as part of the public sector equalities duty” - but it hasn’t been published.

In evidence to the committee, Liz Truss, the women and equalities minister, said that this was because of the potential “chilling effect on being frank in those assessments” if the people preparing them knew they would be published.

But the committee has argued that the assessment isn’t only to inform the government - its also to inform those likely to be hit hardest, and help experts and organisations mitigate the worst effects.

Nokes said in a letter to Truss:

Many individuals and groups submitting evidence to our inquiry have highlighted how they consider the existing measures to have disproportionately impacted them.

Such measures may, of course, be necessary and unavoidable. Surely, in a fair and democratic society, it is only right that we are able to have an open conversation about the equality assessment; to allow committees such as ours, individuals and other groups to scrutinise the government’s work and contribute to mitigating any negative consequences.

Caroline Nokes.
Caroline Nokes. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

High Street coffee chain Pret a Manger is to reopening a further 20 of its shop kitchens from tomorrow, offering takeaway and delivery only via Deliveroo, Just Eat and UberEats. It is also rolling over a 50% discount for NHS workers until 15 May.

The 20 shops being reopened are in central and Greater London, and follow earlier openings of 10 outlets near major hospitals in the capital. As well as a limited menu of its most popular sandwiches, salads, baguettes, drinks and snacks, it will be selling essential items such as milk, butter and coffee. Customers and staff will be separated by perspex screens at the till areas, and subject to strict social distancing measures in all areas of the shops.

Updated

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Hundreds of people gathered to pay tribute to an NHS staff member who died after contracting coronavirus as her funeral cortege passed the hospital where she worked.

Jane Murphy, 73, worked at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for almost 30 years, first as a cleaner before being retrained as a clinical support worker.

She had been placed on sick leave when the coronavirus outbreak first emerged due to her age and is believed to have died on 16 April.

Her funeral cortege passed the hospital on Thursday morning to allow colleagues to pay their last respects.

The road up to the accident and emergency department was lined by medical staff who threw flowers on to the hearse, and it stopped outside the entrance so more floral tributes could be placed inside.

Janice Alexander, the hospital’s site director, said: “Jane was an exceptionally well-respected and well-loved colleague at the Royal Infirmary, who will be greatly missed by many.

“From everyone at the site, and across NHS Lothian, I would like to extend our heartfelt thoughts and wishes to Jane’s family at this difficult time.”

Updated

Around four in 10 key workers are concerned about their health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic, a survey has revealed.

Some 179 (59.7%) key workers questioned by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said their jobs wre being affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Of these, 39.6% said they had health and safety fears, while others were also concerned about increased working hours. The ONS has included estimates of the experiences of key workers for the first time in its weekly analysis of the impact of coronavirus on society and the economy.

Updated

The allocation of a £1.6bn government bailout to help councils meet extra coronavirus costs has triggered a familiar political row after it emerged smaller authorities in the leafy south of England had benefited at the expense of poorer northern authorities.

Steve Rotheram, the elected mayor of Liverpool city region, said the government had in effect chosen to take money away from councils which were struggling to meet spiralling costs on the frontline of the social care battle against coronavirus.

He said Liverpool city region would be left hundreds of millions out of pocket as a result of a change in the way bailout cash was allocated, while one of its six councils, Knowsley, the second most deprived in the country, would see its share cut by 39%.

Having issued a first £1.6bn bailout in March using an allocation formula based on need, which favoured many of those councils which provide social care, the second tranche of government bailout ordered this month switched to a population-based formula, favouring districts, which don’t provide social care.

Analysis by urban councils body Sigoma showed that the switch favoured authorities in the south-east and east of England, whose average bailout share went up 20% and 11% respectively, compared with councils in London, down 4%, the north-west, -13%, and the north-east, -19%.

But the sense of being short-changed did not fall neatly along straightforward regional or political lines. The Tory-run county councils’ network was furious that its members, all of which provide social care services, had recevied a 29% cash reduction compared with the first bailout, and faced a collective financial shortfall of £600m.

Cllr David Williams, the county councils’ network chair, said: “Unless a solution is forthcoming to address these growing additional pressures as the crisis goes on, and, crucially, our lost income, it is inevitable that the resources in shire counties made available to life-critical social care services will be reduced, resulting in extremely difficult choices facing our member councils.

“Most importantly, unless further support is provided to all councils, some may feel that they have no choice but to suspend all non-essential expenditure, hampering our national efforts to defeat the coronavirus and prepare for the economic recovery.”

The big winners are smaller districts. Most will receive at least £1m extra, the government said. They had been lobbying ministers hard for more funding, arguing that the wipeout of key income streams on which they are heavily reliant under lockdown, such as car parking and fees had left many districts close to bankruptcy.

Cllr John Fuller, chairman of the District Councils’ Network, said: “We are pleased that government has listened to districts and acted on our call for vital extra funding so that we can continue to fight coronavirus, reduce homelessness, protect the vulnerable and collect waste.

English councils fear that a continuation of lockdown trends of soaring service cost and shrinking income will leave them with a shortfall of at least £5bn for the year, and there are likely to be fresh calls for extra government cash.

The government said it has for the time being abandoned plans to implement a new “fair funding” formula to allocate annual grant funding for English councils. This caused a huge political row earlier this year when modelling showed Tory-run shires would benefit at the expense of mainly-Labour-run urban authorities.

Updated

Seven more charter flights to repatriate 2,000 British travellers from India have been announced by the government.

More than 15,000 Britons will have been brought home from the country on 59 rescue flights once the latest schedule is completed, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said.

The seven additional flights will operate daily from Amritsar to Heathrow airport between 5 and 11 May.

The minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, said: “Our charter programme has already helped more than 10,000 British travellers return home from India by ensuring flights to the UK have run every day since 8 April, with thousands more due to depart in the coming days.

“These additional flights will help over 2,000 more people get back to their loved ones here in the UK.

“I would like to thank the government of India for their help in making it happen.”

Jan Thompson, the acting high c0ommissioner to India, said: “This fifth round of flights brings the total number of planes we have organised from India to 59.

Updated

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, told the business select committee that 69% of non-food retailers have been “significantly” impacted by the virus. She added:

There is no way that anybody is expecting that demand will revert to what it was before - there will be a slow gearing back up.

What implementing social distancing will mean is that normal capacity to serve customers will be restricted and, certainly from a public perspective, I have no doubt that people will be very cautious about how they shop, for safety reasons and because of pressure on money in their pockets.”

It’s important not to turn off the tap, so the government has to be careful about how financial support schemes taper off.

Updated

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At the start of this week there were reports suggesting that Boris Johnson would be using his appearance at the daily government press conference to give some details of his plans to relax the lockdown. No 10 was very keen to play down those suggestions, and today it is expected that his tone will be much more cautious, stressing the dangers of any significant move away from the restrictions currently in place.

In the Daily Mail Jason Groves quotes a Whitehall source using an interesting image to suggest that only modest changes are in the pipeline for next week. The source told him:

We are looking at whether we can undo the top button and make things more comfortable in one or two places for the economy. But any idea of a widespread lifting is plain wrong.

In his column in this week’s Spectator, James Forsyth makes a similar prediction.

Next week’s review of the lockdown will lead only to the mildest of easing. I am told that what relaxation there will be will mostly concern outdoor activities. (Though it is worth remembering that there is more flex in the current guidelines than is generally realised. Anyone can go to work, for instance, if they can’t work from home.) Schools in England are likely not to return until after half-term. Next week’s review will, according to one of those involved, be about a ‘timeline for when we can do things’ rather than an opportunity to do them straight away.

Nicola Sturgeon’s interview last night (see 9.53am) may have constrained Johnson even further. Until now the four nations of the UK have (with minor exceptions) been adopting a joint approach to coronavirus, agreed at meetings of the emergency committee Cobra, at which the devolved administrations are represented. But Sturgeon has repeatedly said that Scotland would diverge from the UK approach if she thought that was justified. If she were to decide next week that any relaxation of the lockdown would be unacceptable (which is what she hinted last night), it would be risky for Johnson to set different rules for England. Perhaps he would get credit for opening up the economy, but if coronavirus infection rates were to start to soar again south of the border, he would be open to the charge of being reckless with people’s lives.

Updated

More than 3,000 additional officers have joined police forces under the recruitment pledge that formed a centrepiece to Boris Johnson’s election campaign, new figures have shown.

Johnson promised to recruit 20,000 officers during the summer 2019 election campaign, which many noted would in fact replace roughly the same number that had been lost under 10 years of Conservative party austerity.

The government set out its plans to recruit 20,000 additional officers by March 2023 in September and the Home Office on Thursday published the first official set of statistics on progress towards that number.

They show 3,005 recruits joined the police specifically as part of the uplift programme. In total, forces recruited 6,435 officers from November 2019 to March 2020, including recruitment planned before the government campaign was announced.

Updated

Larry the Downing Street cat sitting on the doorstep of No 10 this morning, where children’s drawings of rainbows - symbols of hope during the lockdown - are displayed in the windows.
Larry the Downing Street cat sitting on the doorstep of No 10 this morning, where children’s drawings of rainbows - symbols of hope during the lockdown - are displayed in the windows. Photograph: Alberto Pezzali/AP

All families of frontline NHS Scotland staff who die as a result of coronavirus will receive financial support, Holyrood’s health secretary, Jeane Freeman, has confirmed.

After England and Wales announced similar schemes earlier in the week, the Scottish government will pay a total lump sum of twice the staff member’s annual earnings and a continued pension to surviving partner or dependent child in the event of a death in service. The median NHS Scotland wage is £36,241.

Westminster health secretary Matt Hancock has announced a £60,000 payment for families of NHS and social care workers who die from coronavirus. The Scottish scheme does not yet include social care workers. The death in service benefit, which is already part of the NHS Scotland pension scheme, is being extended to include temporary, bank and locum staff, as well as permanent NHS staff who are not in the pension scheme.

A total of 11 NHS staff and carers have died as a result of coronavirus in Scotland since the start of the pandemic.

Updated

PM's five tests for relaxing lockdown not enough for long-term exit strategy, says thinktank

Boris Johnson’s five tests for starting a relaxation of the lockdown are “not a good enough” guide for the long-term exit strategy from the coronavirus pandemic, the Institute for Government has warned.

In a new paper, Lifting Lockdown: how to approach a coronavirus exit strategy, the independent thinktank says what was good at the outset of the outbreak is not necessarily good for the end.

Joe Owen, one of the report’s authors, said:

How to ease the coronavirus lockdown will require Boris Johnson to make some of the toughest choices to have faced any prime minister.

There can be no grand plan for exit, only a process of edging forward. The government’s approach will have to evolve to take account of the best evidence, but these will be overwhelmingly political choices – and the government will need to be straight with the British people about the steps that will be taken in the months ahead.

The government has set out five tests for starting to lift the lockdown, which look for: signs that the NHS is able to cope, which it believes it has achieved; that it has sufficient protective personal equipment (PPE); a “sustained and consistent” fall in the daily death rate; reliable data on decreasing infection rates; and signs that the risk of a second peak that would overwhelm the NHS can be avoided.

But the IfG says that while these tests might be appropriate measures of bringing a pandemic under control, they are not the basis for a long-term exit strategy.

An exit strategy must be based on a different approach ensuring measures are put in place “that reduce the risk of resurgence of the the disease” and give the economy a decent chance.

This means it must increase the capacity for testing and contact tracing and considering tighter border controls to stop fresh importation of the virus.

It says the next phase will be about walking the tightrope between guarding the nation’s health and re-opening businesses, schools and services, and warns against “keeping the economy on ice”.

Updated

Oxford partners with AstraZeneca to distribute coronavirus vaccine if trial succeeds

The University of Oxford has partnered with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca for the development, manufacture and large-scale distribution of the coronavirus vaccine candidate that is currently being trialled in the UK, PA Media reports. The agreement was announced today, with the details set to be finalised in the coming weeks.

The move will allow for rapid vaccination around the world if the candidate proves to be effective, the university said. Human trials of the vaccine developed by the University’s Jenner Institute began last week, with hundreds of people volunteering to be part of the study which received £20m in government funding.

There are more details in a news release from AstraZeneca here.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has welcomed the news.

Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, said he hoped some results of a human trial of a coronavirus vaccine would be available by the middle of June.

He told Today “several hundred” people have been vaccinated and the challenge now is to be able to manufacture at scale once it is approved by the regulators.

Updated

Sturgeon right to warn that it might not be possible to relax lockdown next week, says Buckland

Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, was doing the government media round for No 10 earlier. As reported already (see 8.06am), he conceded that the government might miss its target of getting the daily number of coronavirus tests up to 100,000 by the end of April. (Although today is the last day of April, the government has said we might have to wait until Saturday until we officially know whether or not the target has been hit, because it takes time to find out what has happened with home-testing kits.)

Here are some of the other lines from his interviews.

  • Buckland said that Nicola Sturgeon was right to warn that it might not be possible to lift any lockdown measures next week. The government has to review the lockdown measures by next Thursday, three weeks after the original measures were extended. In an interview on ITV’s Peston programme last night Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said that it might be impossible to relax any of the measures currently in place. She said:

People talk about lifting the lockdown - that is not going to be a flick of the switch moment, we’re going to have to be very careful, very slow, very gradual. I’m far from convinced at this stage that when we get to the next review point on the 7 May we’ll be in a position to lift any of these measures right now, because the margins of manoeuvre that we’re operating in right now are very, very, very tight and narrow.

Asked about her comment, Buckland said Sturgeon was “right to be cautious”. He went on:

I think the common thread between the governments is one of extreme caution following the evidence of the Sage [Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] committee, making sure that we don’t do anything in a premature way that could risk a second spike. That would be a disaster.

He also said that, although a lot of work was going on in government on what might happen in the next phase, that did not mean there would be a sudden move towards relaxing the rules. He said:

That’s, of course, not saying that we’re suddenly going to move into a new phase - we need to be absolutely sure that the five tests that were set out some weeks ago are going to be met, and in particular the need to avoid that second or even third spike in the disease is clear to me both in terms of health and the well-being of the economy as well.

  • He said that he was considering legislating to reduce the number of jurors needed for trials. (See 9.14am.) But he also said that that would “take time” and that he was looking at other measures that could be introduced to allow jurors to return to courts as early as next month.
  • He said getting information about the number of coronavirus deaths in care homes was not straightforward, which was “frustrating” for government. He explained:

It’s a lot more localised and it works through the local registration process, and that’s frankly been frustrating because obviously we want that information as early as possible.

The fact is that the care sector is huge, many tens of thousands of different settings for people and the picture isn’t going to emerge as quickly as it would do, say, in the hospital network in the UK.

Robert Buckland.
Robert Buckland. Photograph: Barcroft Media/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Updated

Capt Tom Moore, who is celebrating his 100th birthday today (see 8.32am), has now raised more than £30m for NHS charities, according to the latest updates on his JustGiving page.

Number of jurors hearing trials could be cut, lord chief justice suggests

The number of jurors in trials could be reduced to enable courts to restart soon while observing social distancing, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales has suggested.

Lord Burnett of Maldon said the judiciary was also looking at whether larger venues, such as university lecture theatres, could be used to ensure jurors keep sufficiently apart from one another during the coronavirus outbreak.

“I would support a move to reduce the number of jurors. That was done during the second world war,” Burnett told the BBC. “Plainly, it would be easier to ensure a safe trial for everybody, with social distancing and other precautions.”

Twelve jurors sit on trials in England and Wales but more are usually gathered together in a confined courtroom for the process of selecting the jury.

During the second world war the number of jurors was reduced to seven for most trials. More than one courtroom might have to be used, Burnett suggested, for each trial with a video link to a separate room for the media and public to observe.

The justice secretary, Robert Buckland, said that he hoped jury trials – suspended during the pandemic – might be able to restart as early as next month. Emergency legislation might be required if new forms of the trial system are adopted.

The suspension of most hearings has heightened concern about the backlog of cases that was already building up in the criminal justice system due to cuts in the number of judges’ sitting days. At the end of last year there were 37,434 cases waiting to be heard in England and Wales.

David Lammy, the new shadow justice secretary, said:

Covid-19 presents an unprecedented challenge to our criminal justice system. Defendants and the victims of crime cannot languish indefinitely awaiting trial.

We need to get on with radical solutions which can allow jury trials to restart in a way which is safe for everyone and follows public health advice. Large courtrooms currently sitting empty and other big public spaces should be considered for socially distanced trials. If we don’t, come the autumn, the justice system will be at breaking point.

Lord Burnett, the lord chief justice.
Lord Burnett, the lord chief justice. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

Updated

Aged 108, she is the UK’s oldest known victim of coronavirus after surviving the Spanish flu outbreak nearly a century ago – but the care home where Hilda Churchill died does not want her to be forgotten.

Kenyon Lodge, in Salford, Greater Manchester, is appealing to the community to help build a memorial garden to celebrate the home’s “angels”, including those who have died during the pandemic.

Churchill, who died last month just eight days before her 109th birthday and a day after testing positive for Covid-19, was cared for at the home in the final months of her life.

Hilda Churchill, the UK’s oldest known Covid-19 victim, reading a birthday card from the Queen.
Hilda Churchill, the UK’s oldest known Covid-19 victim, reading a birthday card from the Queen. Photograph: Anthony Churchill/PA

The former seamstress lived through two World Wars, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 which killed 50 million people, including her baby sister. Born in 1911, the grandmother and matriarch of her family, had four children, 11 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

Now the 60-bed nursing home where she lived is asking gardeners, builders and members of the public to help create a garden of remembrance at the home.

Nurse practitioner Emma Rogers made a public appeal for a tree surgeon, to trim back trees in the grounds, ground workers to build a pathway for wheelchairs, skip hire firms and fencers. Meanwhile, Local school children have also been asked to paint stones as decoration.

The home also hopes to install a decking area where residents and bereaved family members, who have been denied a proper funeral due to social distancing rules, can go to reflect and remember. Rogers, launching the appeal on the Go Fund Me website, said:

We want to celebrate the lives of our angels, pay our respects and say our goodbye with their loved ones by our sides. We decided to create a memorial garden in the grounds of their home. We have been given so many generous donations already at the home and we are very grateful for the kindness shown.

We want to give our angels the best they deserve, with a lovely place to go to, spend time to reflect and share our happy memories, we will always remember them, they are our Kenyon Lodge Angels.”

The home’s manager, Gulzar Nazir, said the home has lost “quite a few people” during the pandemic.

Updated

A flypast is helping to mark the 100th birthday celebrations of Capt Tom Moore, the second world war veteran who has been elevated to national hero status after raising almost £30m for the NHS.

Moore, who captivated the country with his fundraising effort to walk 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday today, smashed his initial target of £1,000.

Captain Tom Moore holding the Yorkshire Regiment medal after he was promoted to the rank of Colonel on his 100th Birthday.
Captain Tom Moore holding the Yorkshire Regiment medal after he was promoted to the rank of colonel on his 100th birthday. Photograph: Cpl Robert Weidemane/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA

A Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flypast of a Spitfire and a Hurricane has been organised by the RAF to mark Capt Moore’s birthday, and he has been appointed as an honorary colonel of the Army Foundation College. After watching the flypast, Capt Moore said:

I’m one of the few people here who has seen Hurricane and Spitfires flying past in anger. Fortunately today they’re all flying peacefully.”

Earlier this morning, he received a special video message from the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and performer Michael Ball sang him happy birthday. In a message, which he dictated to his grandson Benjie, to mark his birthday, Capt Moore said:

Reaching 100 is quite something. Reaching 100 with such interest in me and huge generosity from the public is very overwhelming. People keep saying what I have done is remarkable, however it’s actually what you have done for me which is remarkable.

I felt a little frustrated and disappointed after I broke my hip and it knocked my confidence. However, the past three weeks have put a spring back in my step. I have renewed purpose and have thoroughly enjoyed every second of this exciting adventure, but I can’t keep walking forever.

The donations page will close at midnight this evening. NHS Charities Together still have their urgent appeal, so people can donate to them that way. I am going to spend my birthday with my family, both here in person and with my daughter remotely, and then I am going to have a few days’ rest. My legs may be tired, but my mind is racing and I’m hoping to be back very soon with other ways in which I can help people, help others. Please always remember, Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day.”

Updated

Minister acknowledges government may miss Covid-19 testing target

A cabinet minister has acknowledged that the government may not meet its target of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests by the end of the month.

After intense criticism, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, pledged the country would be conducting the tests by the end of April but, with only 52,429 carried out in the 24 hours to yesterday, the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, has now conceded it might not happen. He told BBC Breakfast:

Even if it [the target] isn’t met, we’re well on our way to ramping this up and 100,000 is an important milestone, but frankly we need more.

He added: “Yes, 52,000 isn’t 100,000, I know that ... but we are straining every sinew to get there... If he [Hancock] hadn’t set a target he would have been criticised for being unambitious. I think now is the time in respect of this to be bold ... being brave, I think, is something we should acknowledge even if the target isn’t met today.”

Just 52,429 tests were carried out in the UK in the 24 hours to yesterday, on 33,455 people.

Updated

An antiviral drug originally used to treat Eebola has shown “very encouraging results” at cutting recovery times for Covid-19 patients, according to a scientist leading the trials.

Abdel Babiker, professor of epidemiology and medical statistics at UCL, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

These are very encouraging results from the first large-scale randomised trial to report on any treatment of Covid-19.”

The group of hospitalised adults with advanced coronavirus who received Remdesivir recovered “much faster” than the group that received a placebo, he said.

Updated

Better air quality caused by the Covid-19 lockdown has resulted in an estimated 1,700 fewer deaths in the UK, according to a study.

The Europe-wide report found that levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) - produced by road traffic and heavy industry - have dropped by 40% in the past 30 days and that there has been a 10% reduction in the average level of particulate matter pollution.

It has caused an estimated 11,000 fewer deaths related to air pollution across Europe, including an estimated 1,752 in the UK – the second-highest number in the study behind Germany (2,083).

However, the numbers are dwarfed by the Covid-19 death death toll across Europe, including the UK, where fatalities passed 26,000 yesterday and are set to rise further.

The study, by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), found there had been a 37% drop in power generation from coal across Europe as a result of the lockdowns, while oil consumption had fallen by 33%.

Other avoided health impacts included 6,000 fewer new cases of asthma in children, 1.3 million fewer days of work absence, 1,900 avoided emergency room visits caused by asthma attacks, and 600 fewer premature births, the study said.

The study’s authors Lauri Myllyvirta and Hubert Thieriot said their analysis used detailed air quality statistical modelling to separate the effects of weather conditions and changes in emissions. The researchers wrote:

The Covid-19 crisis has brought about untold human suffering, and its side-effects should not be celebrated.

“The major public health benefits of reduced coal and oil burning, over just one month are, however, a striking demonstration of the benefit to public health and quality of life if European decision-makers prioritise clean air, clean energy and clean transport in their plans to recover from the crisis, and reduce coal and oil consumption in a rapid and sustainable way.”

Updated

Boris Johnson to hold afternoon press conference after chairing cabinet

Good morning folks, it’s Simon Murphy here at the helm of the live blog to steer you through the start of the day’s coronavirus developments in the UK.

As the Covid-19 death toll in the UK passed 26,000 yesterday – with new figures including fatalities in care homes as well as hospitals – Boris Johnson will today face the cameras at 5pm as he returns to the Downing Street conference later after overcoming the virus himself. Following the birth of his new child yesterday, both Johnson and others will have a chance later to thank healthcare staff battling the pandemic as the nation again unites later for Clap for Carers at 8pm.

First though, the prime minister will chair cabinet as the government today looks set to miss its deadline for carrying out 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of April. Just 52, 429 tests were carried out in the UK in the 24 hours to yesterday, on 33,455 people.

Elsewhere, later this morning at 9.30am there will be a business, energy and industrial strategy Committee on coronavirus impact and digital, culture, media and sport Committee quizzing Facebook and Twitter. A World Health Organization Europe briefing will take place at 10am.

Updated

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