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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Lucy Campbell (now), Aaron Walawalkar (earlier)

PM's fiancee Carrie Symonds self-isolating with symptoms – as it happened

Evening summary

  • The Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said there was “no fixed point” at which the government could say the lockdown will end – it will depend on compliance from the public. The message came as police, health officials and local authorities issued pleas to the public to stay at home this weekend and not be tempted by good weather to go outside. Among them was the CEO of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, who said today: “You can’t clap for carers one day and flout the stay at home rules three days later”.
  • The number of deaths in UK hospitals saw a record daily rise, increasing by 708 from 3,605 to 4,313 – a rise of 20%. Among the dead was a five-year-old child, thought to be the UK’s youngest victim so far, who had underlying health conditions.
  • Up to 4,000 low-risk offenders are to be temporarily released as part of measures to try to contain the spread of Covid-19 in prisons in England and Wales. So far, 88 prisoners and 15 staff have already tested positive for Covid-19. Three prisoners have died.
  • Thirteen people died in the space of a week after a suspected Covid-19 outbreak at a care home in Glasgow. The deceased had not been diagnosed with Covid-19 though two members of staff had tested positive and are being treated in hospitals.
  • Carrie Symonds, the prime minister Boris Johnson’s fiancée, who is pregnant, said she had spent the last week in bed with coronavirus symptoms. Symonds shared that she was “on the mend” and had not been tested for Covid-19. The prime minister continues to self-isolate.
  • The national medical director for England, Stephen Powis, condemned the actions of people acting on a conspiracy theory linking 5G technology to the pandemic. He said “it is absolute and utter rubbish and I can’t condemn it in stronger terms than that”.
  • Watford general hospital closed its A&E department to all new patients and visitors, even in an emergency, until further notice. The hospital is known to be under significant strain from the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Boris Johnson has written to all opposition party leaders to invite them to a briefing next week and insisting “we have a duty to work together at this moment of national emergency”.

That brings us to the end of another day of coverage here on the UK side. If you would like to continue following the Guardian’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, head over to our global live blog.

Updated

Carrie Symonds 'recovering' after a week of coronavirus symptoms

Carrie Symonds, the prime minister Boris Johnson’s fiancée, who is pregnant, has said she has been self-isolating for the past week with coronavirus symptoms.

She wrote on Twitter:

I’ve spent the past week in bed with the main symptoms of coronavirus. I haven’t needed to be tested and, after seven days of rest, I feel stronger and I’m on the mend.

Symonds described being pregnant with symptoms as “obviously worrying” and encouraged other pregnant women to consult the latest guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Updated

Blood Cancer UK has written to the communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, and to six major supermarkets, calling on them to take urgent action to make sure people with blood cancer can get food deliveries.

The charity said it has been contacted by people with blood cancer, of whom there are some 115,000 in the UK, who are struggling to access food, after being told not to leave their home for a minimum of 12 weeks as they are classed as “very high risk”.

Gemma Peters, chief executive of Blood Cancer UK, said:

We are now at the point where some people are being forced to choose between going hungry and making a trip to the supermarket that could be fatal if they pick up the coronavirus there.

That’s why we’ve written to the supermarkets and the government today. We need them to work together to fix this now. The blood cancer community is going through the most difficult time it has ever faced – we urgently need their help.

One woman was told by a supermarket that she could not be prioritised because it was her daughter, not her, who had blood cancer. Another man said he had tried unsuccessfully for many hours to get a supermarket delivery slot.

Helen Payne, a former NHS physio from Wokingham, has leukaemia and has been struggling to order food. She said:

I am on chemotherapy and have had my NHS letter but it’s absolutely impossible to get any food. I am seriously thinking of going shopping myself. God knows what I have left for tonight.

Updated

Gove said there were now more than 8,000 ventilators in the NHS and the aim was to produce and secure more.

Updated

Powis called the 5G story “rubbish” and “the worst kind of fake news”.

He said he was “disgusted” and “outraged” at reports of people taking out 5G masts at this time of national crisis.

He stressed that phone networks were crucial for people staying in touch with loved ones at this difficult time, but also vital for the emergency services.

It is absolute and utter rubbish and I can’t condemn it stronger terms than that.

Updated

Gove said he would talk to the health secretary about reports of NHS staff being turned away from testing sites and report on progress on Monday.

Updated

Powis said it was likely the virus would become established in countries across the world, so a long-term strategy as opposed to an “exit strategy” was needed.

Updated

Gove said there was “no fixed point” at which we could say the lockdown will end – it depended on compliance from the public. The prime minister will review the measures next week.

Updated

Powis said it was clear deaths happen in the community.

The figures reported by the NHS were those in hospitals, the ONS figures reflected those in the community.

He expects deaths will be higher but it will only be in the days and weeks ahead and as that data comes through the ONS it will become clear how much higher.

Updated

Powis said a reduction in transmission would, over a number of days and weeks, be reflected in a reduction in infections, hospitalisations and then in deaths.

He said there was reason to be hopeful that physical distancing was having an effect, but it would take time for it to have a maximum effect.

If we take our foot off the pedal, those charts will start to go in the wrong direction again.

Stay at home and then we will see the benefits of those actions.

Updated

Powis said we were learning about the virus all the time and more would become clear over the next few months.

It is too early to outline what the exit strategy will be – the priority and critical objective now is to reduce transmission in order to get on top of it. Only then can we discuss what the next steps are.

Updated

They are taking questions from the press now.

Gove said everyone should ask themselves: What am I doing to relieve pressure on the NHS?

He acknowledged that lockdown is challenging but people must, at every stage, respect the guidelines as it is the only way to restrict the spread of the disease.

If people deliberately flout the guidelines, police have the powers to enforce the rules.

If we weight up an hour or two outside and weight it against the lives of those we love and the lives of those on the NHS frontline, then it should be clear, I hope to all, that we should follow the advice.

Powis said the NHS workers on the frontline would “absolutely plead” with the public to follow the measures – “their safety, their lives, depend on that”.

We absolutely know that this can work. This is everybody’s chance to save a life.

Updated

Stephen Powis is speaking now.

He reiterates that the key to slowing the spread is reducing contact with others.

Transport use remains “extremely low”.

The sun might be out, but that doesn’t mean you should be out.

The number of new cases has stabilised in the last few days. We mustn’t read too much into a day’s or a few days’ data.

It will be a week or two before the measures in place translate into lower hospitalisation rates. In London there has been a plateau, but this is not the time to be complacent, he says.

The number of deaths continues to be high, unfortunately that is likely to continue for the next week or two until we get on top of the virus and see a reduction in the number of deaths, he says.

Updated

Gove says the government welcomes robust scrutiny – “it is the duty of the media” – and aims to communicate more clearly and effectively in guiding the public through the pandemic.

Updated

Gove said invasive ventilators had been purchased from partners abroad including Germany and Switzerland.

Today 300 new ventilators arrived from China. He thanked the Chinese government for their support.

New sources of supply here in the UK would come on-stream soon, he said.

The first models that have been scaled up will be coming off production lines this weekend, more are to come into operation in the coming weeks, subject to safety and regulatory approvals.

He added the first of the ventilators the government has ordered from Penlon would begin arriving in hospitals this week for final clinical checks.

The first devices from Smiths Group have also been received at MoD Donnington, which have been approved by the regulator.

Updated

Gove said new non-invasive ventilator capacity had been secured with the help of UK manufacturers.

A team from UCL working with Mercedes-Benz have produced a new device which has been clinically approved. 200 were produced yesterday, the same will be produced today and tomorrow, rising to 1,000 a day next week, he said.

Updated

Gove said 10,984 tests of NHS staff were administered yesterday.

Michael Gove is speaking now.

183,190 people have been tested, 41,903 of whom have tested positive.

15,073 people in England have been admitted to hospital with Covid-19 symptoms.

The pattern of hospital admissions has regional differences. In London, admissions fell slightly between 1-2 April. Admissions are steady in Wales. They have gone up 35% in Yorkshire and the north-east. In the Midlands, they have gone up by 47%.

708 have died, the highest daily total recorded, bringing the total to 4,313.

These numbers emphasise the importance of maintaining physical distancing measures to contain the spread.

Updated

Downing Street press briefing

This afternoon’s news conference, due to begin shortly, will be fronted by Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister. He will be joined by NHS England’s national medical director Stephen Powis.

Deaths in Wales rise by 13 to 154

There have been a further 13 deaths in Wales bringing the total number of to people to have died after tested positive for Covid-19 to 154, health officials have said.

Dr Chris Williams, incident director for the Covid-19 response at Public Health Wales, said the number of confirmed cases had risen by 387 to a total of 2,853 as of 2pm on Saturday.

A group of volunteers have set up a public database to help people find farmers so people can source fresh vegetables and fruit, as well as other goods during the coronavirus outbreak.

The database – which includes links to local farms and where they operate – includes a page explaining the mission.

It says:

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK, we decided to create a database of smaller scale farmers, growers, dairies, wineries, bakeries and independent shops that will now sell directly to consumers. Many of them sold exclusively to wholesalers or restaurants in the past.


It added that for those who want to add a farmer, fisher or food producer to the database, they can submit a request via the online form.

We chose to share this database as an online spreadsheet in the first instance, as it’s a quick and easy way for many people to access it.

Link to the database here.

Updated

Tesco has just given an update on its efforts to boost the capacity of its online delivery service in order to help its most vulnerable customers.

The Tesco chief executive, Dave Lewis, said:

On Thursday we were given an initial list of 110,000 clinically and socially isolated people. From these, we were able to match 75,000 existing customers and we’ve already contacted them to let them know we’re making home delivery slots immediately available to them. As we receive more data from government, we’ll make even more slots available.

We have increased our online delivery slots by 145,000 in the last two weeks with hundreds of thousands more due to become available shortly; but we know it’s still difficult to get an online delivery slot at the moment due to high demand, and we ask those who are able to safely come to stores to do so, instead of shopping online, so we can start to free up more slots for the more vulnerable.

Updated

UK nationals flying home after being trapped on cruise liners in Florida

Britons who were trapped on board two cruise liners embroiled in a bitter coronavirus dispute are flying back to the UK, the PA news agency reports.

Holland America Line guests disembarked the Zaandam and its sister ship the Rotterdam in Florida, US, on Friday following a battle between federal and state authorities.

Many of the 200 UK nationals caught up in the saga boarded a charter flight which departed Fort Lauderdale airport shortly after 3am on Saturday (local time). The flight is due to land at London Heathrow at 4.11pm (BST), the British Consulate General in Miami said.

Messages posted on a Facebook group created for passengers to share updates state that some people have not been allowed to fly home yet.

Holland America Line had previously said guests with coronavirus symptoms “will remain on board and disembark at a later date”.

More than a dozen Covid-19 cases were reported on the Zaandam, plus some 190 people with flu symptoms. Four people have died aboard the liner, including two officially diagnosed with the virus.

Earlier this week, the ship offloaded its healthy passengers onto the Rotterdam.

Florida officials were reluctant to allow the ships to dock - for fear that taking more Covid-19 patients would further burden the state’s already-stretched hospitals - until US president Donald Trump intervened to approve the docking on humanitarian grounds.

The four included 75-year-old Briton John Carter, who died on 22 March. The cause of death has yet to be officially revealed, but he was reported to have been on a ventilator in his last days.

On Friday, passengers from both ships were finally allowed to touch dry land in Fort Lauderdale.

Fourteen critically-ill patients were wheeled off the Zaandam on stretchers to be taken to local hospitals before their fellow passengers disembarked.

Asymptomatic patients, after being screened and cleared by paramedics, were taken by bus directly to the local airport, escorted by police officers on motorcycles.

Before disembarking from the ships, passengers received instructions to wear face masks at all times when travelling and to go immediately into 14 days of self-quarantine when they arrived home.

A London bus driver wears a mask to try and protect him from the coronavirus as he drives on his route.
A London bus driver wears a mask to try and protect him from the coronavirus as he drives on his route. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

Five London bus workers who tested positive for Covid-19 have now died, the Unite union said.

the Unite regional secretary, Peter Kavanagh, said:

Each of these deaths is a terrible tragedy and the thoughts of everyone at Unite go to the families of the bus workers who have died of coronavirus.

Unite will assist the families of our members in every possible way during this terrible time.

Unite has been working continuously with Transport for London (TfL) and the operators to ensure the safety of drivers and others in the industry who are performing a heroic job in getting NHS and care workers to their places of work.

Measures include deep cleaning of buses, additional cleaning of touch points, the sealing of screens around the driver, the provision of hand sanitiser for all and placing the passenger seating closest to the driver out of bounds.

The union is also calling on the government to make provisions for transport workers in terms of PPE.

Updated

Borough market, London’s famous produce market and foodie haven, is spearheading a national campaign to provide free fruit and vegetables to frontline workers battling coronavirus.

The Feed the Frontline campaign is being funded for the rest of April by private businesses and aims to run throughout the peak of the crisis. The initiative aims to provide regular deliveries of fruit and vegetables to frontline workers at three NHS hospitals in London; St Thomas’, Kings College hospital and the Maudsley.

An estimated 4,000 bags of seasonal fruit and vegetables are being packed and delivered by the Borough market trader Turnips each week. Once at the hospitals, the bags will be distributed to frontline staff by NHS volunteers. The food is accompanied by recipe cards from Borough market chefs to inspire easy, healthy, home cooking.

The market is now calling for more companies to help fund the expansion across the UK, with the help of food markets and fruit and vegetable wholesalers. Bradford St James’s wholesale market is already following suit by delivering 1,000 fruit and vegetable bags to Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust each week, with more hospitals in Leeds and Bradford set to follow.

Darren Henaghan, managing director of Borough market, said:

With the UK in lockdown, we owe an enormous debt to the fantastic people of the NHS and other frontline workers battling Covid-19. They are working around the clock to save lives, care for the sick and control the spread of coronavirus.

With London at the heart of the UK epidemic we want to play our part in the national effort against Covid-19 by caring for the carers – giving them fresh, high quality food to help them stay healthy and feed themselves and their families.

Updated

England death toll rises by 637 to 3,939 with five-year-old child among the dead

A further 637 people in England who tested positive for the Covid-19 have died, including England’s youngest victim – a five-year-old child – bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 3,939, NHS England said.

Patients were aged between five and 104 years old. Forty of the 637 patients had no known underlying health condition; they were aged between 48 and 93 years old.

NHS England said 212 of the deaths were in the Midlands, 127 in London, 97 in the north-west, 73 in the north-east and Yorkshire, 70 in the east of England, 41 in the south-east and 17 in the south-west.

Updated

Northern Ireland deaths rise by eight to 56

The number of people who have died in Northern Ireland after contracting coronavirus has risen by eight to 56, health officials said.

Testing has resulted in 94 new positive cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases there to 998.

Watford hospital tells people not to attend A&E even in an emergency

Watford general hospital has closed its A&E to new patients and visitors “until further notice”, West Hertfordshire hospitals NHS trust announced. People have been instructed to go to their “next nearest hospital with an emergency department” or to seek advice via 111 in a non-urgent situation.

Though no reason has yet been provided, the hospital is known to be under significant strain from the pandemic. The Watford Observer reports that several wards are dedicated to Covid-19 patients and, as of Friday, 29 patients at West Herts trust hospitals have died after testing positive.

In a post on Twitter, the trust wrote:

Please DO NOT attend Watford General’s emergency department until further notice, even in an emergency. Go to your next nearest hospital with an emergency department. Anyone with non-urgent issues should seek advice via https://111.nhs.uk

The Watford Observer has more on this story.

Updated

Further 46 deaths in Scotland take total to 218

The number of people who have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus is 218, up by 46 from 172 on Friday, the Scottish government confirmed.

A total of 3,345 people across Scotland have now tested positive for the virus, up from 3,001 on the previous day, according to the latest figures.

In total, 20,798 patients have been tested across the country.

Updated

With anger growing toward “selfish” people who continue to flout physical distancing rules during the crisis, NHS Providers, the main organisation representing hospitals in England, has joined calls for people to “stay at home this weekend”.

Chief executive Chris Hopson’s words are worth quoting in full:

This weekend’s warmer weather, though normally welcome, poses a significant threat. It is absolutely vital that people heed the government’s instructions and stay home.

We’ve been struck by how many times trust leaders have told us over the last 24 hours that they and frontline NHS staff are getting increasingly angry with the ‘selfish’ people who are not obeying the rules about staying at home.

They can’t see why any member of the public would want to make the job of frontline staff more difficult and risk other people’s lives.

NHS staff are absolutely bowled over by the huge amount of public appreciation and affection they are receiving, but their number one message to every single member of the public is to stay at home.

The more people stick to the clear rules, the fewer infections, the fewer deaths, the easier their job.

They have a very simple message: you can’t clap for carers one day and then flout the stay at home rules three days later.

UK hospital death toll rises by 708 to 4,313

The UK’s coronavirus death toll has risen to 4,313 in the deadliest day since the outbreak began.

Department of Health and Social Care figures show that 708 people have died in UK hospitals since 5pm on Thursday, when the total was 3,605.

Updated

A nurse takes a swab at a Covid-19 drive-through testing station at Manchester Airport.
A nurse takes a swab at a Covid-19 drive-through testing station at Manchester Airport. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Updated

John Lewis has become the latest shop to reward its staff working through the coronavirus pandemic.

All frontline workers at the department store and Waitrose supermarkets will get an extra £25 for each week they work in April and May.

The discount at Waitrose for all employees across both shops has also been increased from 15% to 25% and will remain at 20% after Covid-19 has peaked, the company said.

These new rewards follow a 2% bonus that was handed to all staff last month.

John Lewis has closed its high-street shops, but is still operating online.

Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said staff had made “significant sacrifices to ensure that we are able to continue to serve and support our customers”.

She said:

The measures that we have announced today are in recognition of their hard work and commitment and are part of a wider package of support available to help partners during this extraordinary time.

Empty shelves are seen at a Waitrose supermarket in north London.
Empty shelves are seen at a Waitrose supermarket in north London. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/AFP via Getty Images

Staff at Morrisons have also been told to expect a £1,000 bonus, as their earnings will be topped up by 6% over the next 12 months.

This means an extra £1,050 for full time employees, including those who have been sick or are self-isolating, and new hires who have been taken on to deal with the extraordinary demand.

Ocado has said that staff would be given a 10% bonus on all hours they work from 23 March “while the crisis continues”.

Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have all echoed the 10% pledge and Asda has promised an extra week’s pay in June.

Updated

A spate of mobile phone mast fires around the UK are being investigated as possible arson, amid concerns that people are attacking telecoms infrastructure because of a conspiracy theory linking 5G technology to the spread of coronavirus.

The mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, also revealed he had received threats relating to the “bizarre” theory, which has gained traction on social media.

My colleagues Nazia Parven and Jim Waterson have the full story:

The death rate of those admitted to intensive care with Covid-19 has topped 50%, according to the latest figures.

The figures come from data compiled by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) based on a sample of 2,249 coronavirus patients.

The data showed that 50.1% (346) of the 690 patients in the sample whose care outcomes were known, had died. The other 344 had been discharged.

The remaining patients, 1,559, were reported still to be in critical care.

By way of comparison, just 22.4% of patients admitted to intensive care with non-Covid-19 viral pneumonia between 2017 and 2019 died of the disease.

The Covid-19 figures come from 286 NHS intensive care and combined intensive care and high-dependency units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as of midday on Friday.

Some specialist and non-NHS critical care units also submitted data.

A reader who works at a care home has been in touch to ask people to spare a thought for those working in the care sector, whose work is equally essential to that of the NHS in keeping vulnerable people safe and has so far been neglected in terms of PPE.

The nursing home employee, who wished to remain anonymous, described working in close contact with numerous vulnerable residents “with no masks, nothing more than our usual gloves and plastic aprons” and how the home was struggling to minimise the risk of infection. She told the Guardian:

It is stressful knowing that we are a potential risk to our residents, and they to us. We are letting them down by not having the masks we need to protect them, and we are being let down too.

I take pride in doing a valuable job that most people wouldn’t want to do. I accept the insulting minimum wage but I don’t accept that I should have to risk my health, and even my life, to do this job.

We should have masks for all close contact care. We deserve that protection. The lack of adequate PPE for all health care workers – NHS or otherwise – is a shameful scandal.

Her words come as Sky News reports that 13 residents at a care home in Glasgow have died in the space of a week after a suspected coronavirus outbreak.

Two members of staff are being treated in separate hospitals after testing positive for Covid-19. As tests are currently only carried out for people admitted to hospital, it is not known whether the residents who died, who all had underlying health condition, also had coronavirus.

More on that story here.

Updated

With Sunday set to be UK’s warmest day in six months, police forces around the country have issued new warnings to people not to travel and to stay at home.

Going on holiday is not an excuse to travel and second homeowners are being told to keep away, as police said they would issue fines and punishments if they see people making non-essential journeys this weekend.

Police officers patrol the beach in Brighton as people are reminded to obey the lockdown and stay at home.
Police officers patrol the beach in Brighton as people are reminded to obey the lockdown and stay at home. Photograph: Anthony Harvey/Rex/Shutterstock

Gloucestershire police issued the warning on holidays, saying officers would be stopping people who looked like they may be heading away for a few days. The force said “there has been particular concern among some communities that people who own second homes in the area will be visiting over the Easter holiday” and visitors would put extra pressure on the local NHS.

Meanwhile, in Hampshire, officers and paramedics have told people to stick to physical distancing after three ambulances were called on a “selfish and avoidable deployment” to a man having a bad acid trip after a house party.

Authorities in Wales have closed beachside car parks to deter people from “using the weather to treat what is a national crisis like a national holiday,” as has Dorset council, which closed seafront parking bays and stopped the RNLI patrol in an attempt to prevent people from gathering at the seaside.

Chief constable Shaun Sawyer, from Devon and Cornwall police, told BBC Breakfast officers would explain and encourage people to stick to the rules, but would enforce them with fines and punishments if people were not listening:

When we come to enforcement, that really is a last resort because, in a way, if we come to enforcement, then everybody has failed to understand the significance of this endeavour.

It’s not just visitors, even within my 4,000 sq miles I’ve got my own population that really just want to jump in the car and travel. They want to go to the moors, they want to go to the beaches.

He described this weekend as “a time to remember the importance of stay at home and save lives”.

Updated

There have been many joyous sights of animals taking advantage of quieter roads and exploring new spaces as people stay at home during the lockdown, but this could be my favourite. From BBC Breakfast this morning:

Burnley FC have underlined the dire financial consequences of the coronavirus crisis on the Premier League by announcing they stand to lose around £50m from the continued suspension of the season.

The Premier League confirmed on Friday that the 2019-20 season “will only return when it is safe and appropriate to do so” and will only be resumed with the full support of the government. Burnley’s estimated losses of £50m, it believes, are only half of what other Premier League clubs stand to lose this season.

The full story is here.

Burnley are set to lose around £5m in lost revenue from remaining club games and up to £45m in broadcasting revenue, the club said.
Burnley are set to lose around £5m in lost revenue from remaining club games and up to £45m in broadcasting revenue, the club said. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

A Stay at Home notice in Graves Park, Sheffield.
A Stay at Home notice in Graves Park, Sheffield. Photograph: Matthew Chattle/REX/Shutterstock

Addison Lee has launched a Donate a Ride campaign by which London’s largest private hire vehicle operator will partner with its corporate clients to offer free rides to and from hospital for NHS workers at trusts within the M25.

The British public matched Addison Lee’s contribution of £50,000 in just over 12 hours, with the fund breaking through the £100,000 mark as donations continued to rise. For members of the public who still want to contribute, Addison Lee has established a GoFundMe page.

Over the coming days, Addison Lee will work with NHS trusts to distribute the donations and allow their workers to access the free rides. As more partners join the scheme, more free rides will be offered.

The capital’s key workers can also claim a 25% discount on rides.

Updated

Two Best Western hotels in the south-west are believed to be the first in the country to be turned into discharge hospitals to help the NHS cope with the Covid-19 crisis, by accommodating low-risk patients and care workers.

The hotels are the Grange hotel at Oborne, run by husband and wife team Jon and Jenny Fletcher and the Rembrandt hotel in Weymouth, run by the general manager Massimo Menin.

The Grange will initially accommodate 12 patients and six carers and the Rembrandt 31 patients and 13 carers. Both have worked closely with Dorset countycCouncil and four local hospitals to start taking patients as early as Monday.

The patients are recovering from conditions that have required hospitalisation and would ordinarily be able to go home to continue rehabilitation with the support of home visits. Under the hotel support scheme, patients and carers will live into together to reduce the risk of care workers travelling the country and becoming infected, and to give the patients the daily care they need.

Rob Paterson, the chief executive of Best Western Great Britain, said:

We are so proud of these two amazing hotels. These are unprecedented times and so as a hotel group we are taking unprecedented steps to support the NHS. We want to help free up urgent bed space in the NHS by taking low risk patients and carers and being part of the solution. These two hotels are proof we can do it, we have 230 other hotels prepared to reopen their doors and help the nation fight this terrible disease.

Updated

A fifth coronavirus drive-in test centre has opened for NHS workers as the Department of Health and Social Care discloses plans to run 50 centres nationwide and the Swiss healthcare company Roche says it is on track to open 10 laboratories in the UK.

NHS Wales confirmed on Saturday that the Dragons rugby stadium in Newport had been turned into a drive-in site but asked that non-NHS workers do not visit.

The other sites, also for NHS workers exclusively, are at Boot’s headquarters in Beeston in Nottinghamshire, the Ikea carpark in Wembley in London, North Greenwich in London and Chessington theme park in Greater London.

NHS staff being tested for Covid-19 at a drive-through facility at Ikea in Wembley, north-west London.
NHS staff being tested for Covid-19 at a drive-through facility at Ikea in Wembley, north-west London. Photograph: Ray Tang/REX/Shutterstock

Overnight, the DHSC disclosed it was planning to have 50 sites up and running in the coming weeks as part of the health secretary Matt Hancock’s plan for 100,000 tests a day by the end of April. It said:

We are establishing these centres around the UK, starting in the main hotspots of the disease, such as London, the Midlands, growing to around 50 across the country. Most will be drive-throughs, set up in car parks, with trained staff taking nose and throat swabs.

On the laboratory side, Roche, the company credited with enabling Germany to test 500,000 a week, has revealed it is “currently on track to have more than 10 sites up and running before the end this month”.

It said in a statement its new diagnostics test is already being used in labs in London, Manchester and Gateshead, with a new lab opening in Wales on Monday followed by other facilities in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The first three opened last week after successful pilots were completed.

The company said its polymerise chain reaction (PCR) test to detect current infection could determine “if a person has Covid-19 in less than three and a half hours”.

Updated

A social distancing banner on the Undercliff walk at Saltdean, East Sussex.
A social distancing banner on the Undercliff walk at Saltdean, East Sussex. Photograph: Jon Santa Cruz/REX/Shutterstock

The indefinite school closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic threaten to widen the attainment gap between rich and poor children, the former chair of the government’s social mobility commission has warned.

The increased use of private tuition by well-off middle class families during the pandemic lockdown will further disadvantage pupils from deprived backgrounds, said Alan Milburn, who now chairs the Social Mobility Foundation.

A fifth of better-off households are either already using private tutors or are likely to do so during the school shutdown, compared with just 7% of low-income households, according to research for the charity, which organises mentoring and work experience for underprivileged 16- to 17-year-olds.

A quarter (24%) of those considering private tuition said they were willing to spend more than £100 a week, according to the YouGov poll of 2,215 young people for the foundation’s campaigning arm, the Department for Opportunities.

The survey also found that 40% of children from households with income of less than £20,000 a year lack a quiet room in which they can study during the lockdown. This compares with just 19% of children in households with income of more than £70,000 a year.

The findings come after the tutoring industry reported a boom in demand due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and a number of agencies said they were offering lower cost or free tutoring to less-affluent schoolchildren.

Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister, said the findings showed lower-income families were less able to offset the detrimental impact of the pandemic on their children’s education. He said:

Access to a private tutor, even at a reduced rate, is well beyond the means of most families and will be impossible for families who do not have internet access and who live in crowded accommodation.

Tutors offer parents a break and children the opportunity to learn from an experienced adult, their appeal is clear. But not all children will have access to this resource, indeed, they are a pipe dream for families living on low income.

Milburn called on universities to recognise that the school shutdown could magnify the huge educational disparity between children from richer and poorer backgrounds, and to take that into account when deciding who would get a university place.

The Institute for Public Policy Research has said the shift to school lessons being delivered online during the pandemic made it difficult for those children without suitable technology to keep up with their studies. Around a million children do not have access to a device suitable for online lessons, or do not have an internet connection, according to the thinktank.

Rosamund McNeil, assistant general secretary of the National Education Union, said the SMF poll showed “just how unequal families’ home learning environments are”:

There is just not the same access to internet access, tutors, gardens, spare room, books, bikes and musical instruments – and the opportunities for wellbeing that they provide.

Updated

Smokers face a greater risk from coronavirus and may also be jeopardising the welfare of their loved ones, Public Health England has warned.

Prof John Newton, PHE’s director of health, said that in light of the “unprecedented” pandemic sweeping the globe:

There has never been a more important time to stop smoking, not only for your own health but to protect those around you.

PHE said that smoking can cause damage to the lungs and airways, and Covid-19 attacks the respiratory system.

Officials also point to a “small but highly impactful” survey from China which finds that smokers with Covid-19 are 14 times more likely to develop severe disease.

More information on the campaign to help people quit smoking can be found here.

Updated

Boris Johnson says all parties 'have duty to work together at this moment of national emergency'

The prime minister Boris Johnson has written to opposition party leaders inviting them to a briefing next week and insisting “we have a duty to work together at this moment of national emergency”.

An extract from the letter reads:

As party leaders, we have a duty to work together at this moment of national emergency. Therefore, I would like to invite all leaders of opposition parties in Parliament to a briefing with myself, the chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser next week. I want to listen to your views and update you on the measures we have taken so far, such as rapidly expanding testing and providing economic support to businesses and individuals across the country.

The government I lead will act in the national interest at all times and be guided by the best scientific evidence, and of course we will continue to engage constructively with all political parties on the national effort to defeat this pandemic.

Updated

Up to 4,000 low-risk offenders to be temporarily released from prison in England and Wales

Risk-assessed prisoners within two months of their release date are to be temporarily released from jail in an effort to try and control the spread of coronavirus, the lord chancellor and justice secretary, Robert Buckland, has announced.

The move follows campaigners’ calls for early release to avoid thousands of prisoners, many of whom share cells, becoming infected after a total of 88 inmates so far have tested positive for Covid-19.

Buckland said:

This government is committed to ensuring that justice is served to those who break the law.

But this is an unprecedented situation because if coronavirus takes hold in our prisons, the NHS could be overwhelmed and more lives put at risk.

All prisoners will face a tough risk assessment and must comply with strict conditions, including an electronic tag, while they are closely monitored. Those that do not will be recalled to prison.

No high-risk criminals such as those who have been convicted of violent or sexual offences, anyone who is a national security concern or a danger to children, will be considered for release.

Prisoners who have not served at least half their custodial term will also not be among those who are released.

The Ministry of Justice added that no offender convicted of Covid-19-related offences, including coughing at emergency workers or stealing personal protective equipment, will be eligible.

In addition, the MoJ said no prisoner would be released if they have symptoms of coronavirus or without housing and health support being in place.

Northern Ireland is to release 200 of its 1,500 prisoners early while the authorities in Scotland are considering taking similar action.

Updated

Good morning. I’m Lucy Campbell and I’ll be bringing you all the latest UK coronavirus news throughout the day.

This morning, Prof Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London and author of a report which warned of mass deaths if the UK did not introduce strict controls, said the lockdown could be relaxed in weeks – but only if Britons abide by physical distancing restrictions in the meantime.

He said a high level of coronavirus infections could last for “weeks” if people broke physical distancing rules this weekend.

He told BBC Radio 4 that the epidemic was expected to plateau in the next week to 10 days, but said people’s behaviour was critical to determining what happens next. Asked what would happen if people flouted physical distancing rules this weekend, he said:

That moves us to a slightly more pessimistic scenario.

We still think things will plateau but we’ll be at quite high levels of infection for weeks and weeks rather than seeing quite a rapid decline as the type seen in China.

We want to move to a situation where at least by the end of May that we’re able to substitute some less intensive measures, more based on technology and testing, for the complete lockdown we have now.

His warning echoes the heartfelt plea issued yesterday by the chief nurse Ruth May that anyone thinking of gathering outdoors when the weather is sunny this weekend should remember the two nurses, Areema Nasreen and Aimee O’Rourke, who died after contracting Covid-19. She said:

Please stay home, for them.

If you would like to share some insight or tips, please feel free to contact me via email or Twitter:

Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com

Twitter: @lucy_campbell_

Updated

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