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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Lucy Campbell (now) and Amy Walker (earlier)

UK coronavirus: restaurants, pubs and gyms to close; government to pay 80% of wages of those not working – as it happened

Boris Johnson holds a news conference with The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries.
Boris Johnson holds a news conference with The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries. Photograph: Reuters

Evening summary

  • All cafes, pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants, gyms, leisure centres, nightclubs, theatres and cinemas must close tonight, Boris Johnson announced as the government brought in stronger measures to enforce social distancing.
  • The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced the government would for the first time step in and pay people’s wages, as he launched an unprecedented economic rescue plan. The government will cover 80% of the salaries of retained workers up to £2,500 per month, and defer the next quarter of VAT payments due from businesses. He also outlined £6bn of extra support for the welfare system.
  • Social distancing may be needed ‘for at least most of a year’, scientists advising the government said in evidence made public today.
  • EasyJet announced it would ground the majority of its aircraft fleet from Tuesday 24 March, as the number of passengers collapsed in recent weeks.
  • The UK death toll rose by 40 in 24 hours. The total number of confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in the UK now stands at 177. There have been 167 such deaths in England, six in Scotland, three in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.
  • Pupils whose GCSE and A-level exams were cancelled will receive calculated grades by the end of July, the Department for Education announced.

That’s all from us for today on the UK side – and what a day it’s been.

But the global coverage of the pandemic continues over on our worldwide coronavirus blog, which you can continue to follow here.

Updated

What are the symptoms of Covid-19, what treatments are available and how do I protect myself and the people around me from infection?

Our health editor, Sarah Boseley, answers some key questions as coronavirus spreads across the globe in this video explainer.

Following the government’s announcement that pubs, clubs, cinemas and theatres are to close from tonight, the Guardian’s data team have found this will affect some 1.4 million workers across the country.

There are some 39,000 pubs and bars across the UK employing 450,000 between them, all of which will be forced to close their doors from this evening while a further 75,000 people working in 7,600 clubs will be affected.

The closure of social venues including pubs, clubs and theatres will affect some 1.4m workers.
The closure of social venues including pubs, clubs and theatres will affect some 1.4m workers.

There are 63,000 licenced and unlicenced restaurants and cafes, employing some 820,000 people. Restaurants will still be able to offer take out services so it does not follow that all of these people will be affected but it is impossible to know right now how many will continue to go to work.

There are 840 cinemas in the UK, according to the UK Cinema association, and this industry employs more than 21,000 people.

The details of the government’s announcement that it will protect workers, by paying up to 80% of their wages with a cap of £2500 per month, is not yet clear but will likely include many of these employees.

The median earnings of affected workers include bar staff whose median earnings stand at £7,553 in 2019 and waiters and waitresses who earned £8,091 on average. Around 75% of workers in both groups are part-time. Bar managers’ median wage is £19,691.

People working in gyms earn a median of £11,927 rising to £29,982 for managers.

The median wage for all full- and part-time employees stood at £24,897 last year.

Updated

Torsten Bell, head of the Resolution Foundation think tank, has also found a couple of problems with the chancellor’s plan - including limited support for the self-employed or low paid workers.

Resolution are broadly supportive of Sunak’s announcement, saying:

The Chancellor’s hugely welcome and unprecedented pledge to pay 80 per cent of the wages of employees without work to do in struggling firms is a crucial step change in the government’s economic response to the current crisis

However....

The big gaps that remain in support are for two million low earners that are not entitled to Statutory Sick Pay and for the self-employed seeing work dry up because of the crisis, beyond those benefitting from the abolition of the Minimum Income Floor in Universal Credit.

Updated

Labour’s shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has given Rishi Sunak’s announcement a lukewarm response.

He says the chancellor has moved in the right direction, but not “far enough or fast enough”.

McDonnell is disappointed that the government hasn’t boosted statutory sick pay, or providing more help for carers. He’s also worried that the wage guarantee scheme won’t be up and running fast enough to save jobs:

Speaking from Bute House this evening, Nicola Sturgeon has repeated the UK government’s call for restaurants, cafes, pubs, gyms and cinemas across Scotland to close, telling the public that staying at home “will save lives”.

Sturgeon said that people working in the NHS and care services “will be tested like never before”, and also promised “unprecedented” support from the Scottish government for the economy,

Speaking directly to particular groups, the first minister began with older people:

We’re asking you to stay away from your grandkids, from the people you love. That’s hard, but it’s so you can stay around to see them grow up.

To children: I know this is a strange time, you’re away from school and won’t be able to spend as much time with friends. The adults around you are probably feeling a bit anxious too. So help them, follow their advice, study and do your homework, but don’t forget to have fun, and wash your hands.

Describing modern technology as a “lifeline”, she urged people to call, text and Skype loved ones and neighbours:

At times of crisis we need each other more, but we are boing told to stay apart, but we can still communicate and offer comfort.

Asking the public once again to follow health advice, she concluded:

This crisis is reminding us just how fragile our world is but also reminding us what really matters, health, love, solidarity. With compassion and kindness and with the dedication and expertise of our NHS we can and we will get through this.

Fire and rescue service personnel must receive priority testing and vaccination for coronavirus, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has said after some brigades reported losing hundreds of staff to self-isolation.

In a letter to ministers, the FBU has said that without testing, firefighters and control staff could be self-isolating unnecessarily, when they could be on hand to protect the public.

The union also says that testing could help reduce the risk of frontline staff transmitting the infection to vulnerable members of the public.

London Fire Brigade has at least 280 personnel in isolation, 5% of its overall staff; West Midlands Fire Service, which covers Birmingham, has 105 staff in self-isolation, 5.5%; Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has 285 staff in isolation, 3.75%; Essex County Fire and Rescue Service has 61 staff in isolation or 4%.

Fire and rescue services across the UK are operating with 11,500 fewer firefighters than in 2010, and, unless services are able to test their employees, they could face dangerous shortages.

Economic rescue plan: instant reaction

Business leaders and unions have both welcomed the government’s new economic emergency plan, as they brace for Britain to slump into a deep recession.

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI director-general, believes the coronavirus job retention scheme could be the start of the “economic fightback”.

“This is a landmark package of measures for business, people and jobs. The Chancellor’s offer of substantial payroll support, fast access to cash and tax deferral will support the livelihoods of millions. Firms and employees will respond with relief and determination.

“It marks the start of the UK’s economic fightback - an unparalleled joint effort by enterprise and government to help our country emerge from this crisis with the minimum possible damage. An important day for our country.”

Dave Prentis, general secretary of the UNISON union, believes Rishi Sunak’s plan will protect jobs:

“People concerned about their jobs and livelihoods will feel hugely reassured today that the chancellor has acted swiftly.

The whole country is understandably anxious about the spread of the virus, being unable to see their loved ones or buy the food they need in the shops.

“Now at least the fear of being laid off and having no income shouldn’t be one of them.

“UNISON will continue to work with employers and businesses providing our public services to make sure the money gets to people as a matter of urgency.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady is also impressed, saying Sunak is showing “real leadership”:

Updated

Following Boris Johnson’s press conference, first minister Nicola Sturgeon has asked all restaurants, cafes, pubs and cinemas in Scotland to close.

Speaking in a televised address from Bute House in Edinburgh, she said the number of cases of Covid-19 are set to rise sharply.

She said everyone must act now to slow the spread of the virus, adding that we must also reduce the number of people we meet and come into contact with.

The Wetherspoon’s in Leytonstone, east London seemed to be filling up in the moments following the prime minister’s announcement, whereas the nearby Bird pub was not as busy as it normally would be on a Friday evening.

The publicans were not shocked by the news pubs would be closed at the end of the night and felt it was “about time”.

Andrew Rose, a study abroad administrator is returning to Sydney, Australia tomorrow. “Pubs are not as packed as they usually would be and they’re the only hubs we have. I’ve been practicing self isolation all week.

“I think the uk has had adequate restrictions, people have been practicing social distancing. It’s the same in Australia.”

“Closing pubs now is fine, they said people shouldn’t go but had no protections for them. The pub today only has about 20 people in it so people are practicing social distancing.”

Caitlin Morgan and her colleague Nick Slotnick are both from Woodford, and work in a local college. “It’s sad but inevitable. It had to happen.”

They went to the Red Lion pub on the high road closed earlier in the week.

Brid Fitzgerald said: “I’m surprised they weren’t shut sooner. I needed a break because I’m working from home.”

A group of three teachers who did not want to be named said they felt “expendable”.

“If we’re gonna catch something it will be from the tube, which is packed, rather than from the pub.”

Updated

The word ‘unprecedented’ can be bandied about too easily, but tonight’s package from Rishi Sunak absolutely deserves it.

It’s an absolutely gigantic package of stimulus – and the unheard-of step of the UK government paying a large slice of the nation’s pay cheques, to hopefully prevent unemployment on a scale not seen since the great depression.

Handily, the chancellor has tweeted the key points:

Updated

Morrisons is to take on staff from Marie Curie and CLIC Sargent charity shops whose doors may need to close because of the coronavirus.

Morrisons will take on up to 500 colleagues to help the elderly and vulnerable in stores across Great Britain.

They will be working alongside Morrisons’ staff who currently work with local charities and community groups.

Their role will focus on:

  • Helping the elderly and vulnerable with their shopping trip so they get what they need
  • Assisting the elderly and vulnerable at the checkouts and helping them with their bags
  • Taking items to food banks and other charities, who are desperately in need of supplies
  • Replenishing items that are needed by the community

More than 375 mosques, community centres and prayer facilities across the UK remained closed for Friday prayers today after the Muslim Council of Britain called for the suspension of congregational activities earlier this week.

They included some of the biggest mosques in Britain, including East London Mosque, which holds 7,000 worshippers, London Central Mosque which can accommodate more than 5,000 people, and Birmingham Central Mosque which regularly hosts over 2,500 people on Fridays.

Harun Khan, Secretary General of the MCB, said:

It’s reassuring so many mosques and prayer facilities have heeded this advice in trying their best to minimise the spread of the coronavirus.

We all have an Islamic and public duty to protect one another from harm, and I hope the remaining mosques, Islamic centres and prayer facilities across the UK take this extraordinary step in these unprecedented times and suspend all congregational activities.

The Arcadia Group - Sir Philip Green’s retail empire which includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge is closing all its stores with immediate effect:

The health and wellbeing of our employees, customers and communities remains our highest priority and we continue to closely follow the government guidelines.

In line with many other retailers the Group has made the difficult decision to close until further notice all of our stores from 4PM this afternoon. All store staff remain employees during this time and will be paid their normal pay for March plus any outstanding overtime payments, after which we will review this situation and will be keeping our store teams updated.

In the meantime we will be focusing on our digital and social platforms to keep our customers engaged during this challenging time.

Pubs in Penge, south-east London, had already started filling up well before the prime minister’s announcement that they must close down.

The high street, whose environs host six pubs, still had five open as Boris Johnson addressed the nation. There were surreal scenes as the big-screen televisions beamed Downing Street’s daily press conference that carried news of one of the most wide-ranging peacetime changes to British life while, directly underneath them, games of pool continued undisturbed.

Shortly after the announcement, as the prime minister was still speaking, one customer headed out to call a friend: “Listen, you’d better hurry up and get here because all the pubs are shutting at 7pm. Hurry up,” he was heard to say.

At another pub about 250 metres away, a sign on the door assured customers that, as a response to the Covid-19 alert, children would no longer be allowed in until further notice. The bar was full, friends were greeting each other with handshakes and horse racing continued to be shown on the televisions.

At a Wetherspoon’s further up the road, customers had been told that they must sit apart and try to use the app when ordering, but it too stayed open. It too was still was doing a roaring trade.

At the Fork ‘n’ Ale taproom in Weston-super-Mare, owner Dave Turner was letting customers finish their pints and meals.

“The prime minister has said we’ve got to close as soon as is reasonable,” said Turner. “I think that means that we should let our customers finish their drinks and meals and when it gets quiet we’ll close.”

The end of the week is celebrated with “Thank Cod it’s Fryday” - fish and chips and a pint for a tenner. “This has been the roughest week ever,” said Turner. “It would have been nice if we’d had the weekend to try and balance that out but it’s not going to happen.”

Seven staff work at the pub and another six at its brewery. “I feel very sorry for all of them,” said Turner. “I’m hoping the help they say they’ll put in to assist with salaries will work properly.

“It’s going to be very difficult but we have to do what is morally right for the country as a whole. We have to do what is best for everyone. We will be closing down tonight.”

An update from the Department of Health and Social Care:

As of 9am on 20 March, a total of 66,976 people in the UK have been tested for coronavirus: 62,993 negative. 3,983 positive.

As of 1pm, 177 patients who tested positive for coronavirus have sadly died.

Q: What support will the government provide for charities and voluntary groups, who will be facing extra strain from the economic crisis?

Rishi Sunak says the government’s business rate relief schemes will help the charity sector, who are also covered by today’s unprecedented wage protection scheme.

He also suggests the government could increased funding for voluntary community groups.

The announcements made by the chancellor during the press conference have gone down well with Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.

She said the chancellor had shown “real leadership” and called the measures announced “a breakthrough”.

We’re glad he’s listened to unions and taken vital steps to support working families. Employers can now be confident they’ll be able to pay their wage bills. They must urgently reassure staff that their jobs are safe.

The communities secretary Robert Jenrick has said the new social distancing measures announced by the Prime Minister will be in place for 14 days then reviewed, and has also provided a definitive list of places that are to close.

These are:

  • Food & drink venues
  • Pubs, bars and clubs
  • Cinemas, theatres, concert and bingo halls
  • Spas, indoor leisure and gyms
  • Casinos & betting shops
  • Museums & galleries

Updated

Boris Johnson said of people not practising social distancing:

To people going against the scientific advice, you’re not only putting your own life and the lives of your family at risk, you’re endangering the community and you’re making it more difficult to protect the NHS and save lives.

Q: How much will the government’s economic rescue plan cost, and how will you pay for it?

Rishi Sunak says it is a “significant intervention”, but doesn’t put a sum on it (perhaps because he simply doesn’t know how long it will last).

It will be financed through the usual government borrowing channels - which means the UK’s Debt Management Office will be issuing bonds (called ‘gilts’ in City jargon), to pay for it.

After outlining his unprecedented economic intervention, Rishi Sunak spoke about the need to show compassion for each other during the crisis.

In a rather moving moment, the chancellor looked beyond the economic cost of the crisis to declare:

When this is over, and it will be over, we want to look back on this moment and remember the many small acts of kindness, done by us and to us.

Updated

Asked about supermarkets, Johnson reiterates that people should shop reasonably and be considerate of others.

Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer, says social distancing applies to children just as it does to adults. She stresses the importance of maintaining physical and mental health, washing hands regularly, and encouraging children to exercise but not in groups. Piling up in shared cars is not a good idea, cut right down on social connections.

We’re not saying don’t go outside but if you do, do it in a way that reduces your social contact.

Chancellor Sunak also outlines £6bn of extra support for the welfare system, to help families through the coronavirus crisis.

The Universal Credit standard allowance will increase by £1,000, for the next 12 months, as will the Working Tax Credit basic element.

These measures will benefit just over 4 million households, Sunak says.
Sunak also outlines help for self-employed people -- suspending the minimum income floor for universal credit [used by the DWP to assess how much money someone receives under the scheme] .
That means self-employed people can now access, in full, Universal Credit at a rate equivalent to Statutory Sick Pay for employees, he explains.

No plans to restrict travel around the UK

Asked about the prospect of restricting travel around the country, Johnson says major transport networks are too vital for delivering public services to immobilise.

Updated

Johnson repeats the importance of flattening the curve and lifting up NHS resilience, including having enough ventilators.

Asked whether he will see his mother on Mother’s Day, he advises people to think very carefully about visiting any elderly person or anyone who may be in a vulnerable group due to the risk of transmission of the virus.

VAT bills deferred

Rishi Sunak also announces that he is deferring the next quarter of VAT payments due from businesses.

That means no business will pay VAT from now to June, and they’ll have until the end of the financial year to repay those bills. That should help companies struggling with a cash flow crisis.

The chancellor this will injection £30bn into the economy.

The government is also extending its coronavirus business interruption loan scheme, to be interest free for 12 months (up from 6 months).

Boris Johnson said the government would be continually assessing the situation around pubs and cafes and other requested closures “to see if we can relax any of these measures”.

You may be tempted to go out tonight and I say to you please don’t, you may think that you are invincible - but there is no guarantee that you will get mild symptoms.

And you can still be a carrier of the disease and pass it on.

We want you as far as possible to stay at home.

Updated

Government outlines "unprecedented" economic rescue plan

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is now outlining the government’s new package to protect workers and their employers, at the daily coronavirus press conference in Downing Street.
This is a crucial issue for the economy, with some firms already laying staff off in response to a slump in demand this week.

Sunak says the economic intervention is “unprecedented” in the history of the British state, and will be one of the most comprehensive in the world.

People listening must realise “they will not face this alone, but it will take a collective national effort”, he declares.

To protect jobs, the chancellor announces that the government will step in and help pay wages, for the first time in UK history. It’s called the coronavirus job retention scheme.

Companies and organisations will be able to apply for a grant from HMRC to cover the wages of people who are not working due to coronavirus shutdowns, but who haven’t been sacked.

It will cover 80% of the salaries of these retained workers, up to £2,500 per month.

It means that workers across the company can retain their jobs, even if their bosses can’t afford to pay them, Sunak explains.

Update. This scheme is backdated to the start of March, and there’s ‘no limit’ to the funding available.

Updated

Cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants must close tonight

Johnson says the government is strengthening the measures announced on Monday to avoid unnecessary social contact.

Following agreement of all the four nations of the UK, Johnson said all cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants must close tonight.

Nightclubs, theatres, gyms, cinemas and leisure centres must also close on the same timescale.

Updated

Boris Johnson's press conference

Boris Johnson is starting his press conference now. New measures are expected as he updates the nation on his government’s response. He will be joined by Rishi Sunak, the chancellor and Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer.

A “critical incident” that had been declared at Northwick Park hospital following a surge in coronavirus patients has been stood down after lasting for 24 hours, the hospital confirmed.

Updated

Staff and residents at St Vincent’s retirement home have been using a combination of pen and paper and social media to send a message home to reassure families after the home was put on lockdown.

“To my family. Missing you! See you soon! Hope the new dog is doing well! Love you all. x”
“To my family. Missing you! See you soon! Hope the new dog is doing well! Love you all. x” Photograph: St Vincent’s Retirement Home/PA
“P.S. send us toilet roll and pasta! x”
“P.S. send us toilet roll and pasta! x”
 Photograph: St Vincent’s Retirement Home/PA

Updated

The chief constable of Merseyside police has tested positive for the coronavirus, the Liverpool Echo reports.

Andy Cooke began self-isolating last week after displaying symptoms associated with the illness. He received confirmation that he had the condition today.

As of this morning, 32 cases had been confirmed on Merseyside, with 13 in Liverpool.

Updated

EasyJet to ground most of its fleet from next Tuesday

EasyJet will ground the majority of its aircraft fleet from Tuesday 24 March, the airline has announced.

It will conclude rescue flights to repatriate customers by Monday, and will at most continue to run “a minimal schedule” of essential, mainly domestic routes.

With so many no-shows in recent weeks, EasyJet urged customers who do not intend to travel to rebook now to match any remaining flights to demand.

The airline has asked staff to take three months unpaid leave, but angered unions by also trying to reduce terms and conditions such as flexible rosters and meals.

Updated

Data from Italy indicates the coronavirus fatality rate is twice as high for men across all age groups, according to Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force response coordinator.

Birx reiterated the virus appears to be less deadly for younger people, but she emphasised younger people still need to take precautions.

“No one is immune,” Birx said. “We know it’s highly contagious to everyone. Do not interpret mild or moderate disease as lack of contagion or that you’re immune.”

You can follow all our US coverage here.

A small transport operation, but one close to the Prime Minister’s heart, has fallen victim to the coronavirus.

The Emirates Air Line – the east London cable car built on the instructions of the then mayor, Boris Johnson – will stop operating indefinitely from tomorrow.

Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London, during the opening of the Emirates Air Line on 28 June 2012.
Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London, during the opening of the Emirates Air Line on 28 June 2012. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

UK death toll rises by 40 in 24 hours to 177

The total number of confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in the UK now stands at 177.

There have been 167 in England, six in Scotland, three in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.

The number of deaths across the UK is up 40 on the equivalent total for yesterday – the biggest day-on-day rise since the outbreak began.

The first coronavirus-related death in the UK was reported 15 days ago, on March 5.

Updated

Manchester Airport will work from a single terminal following a fall in passenger numbers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Deserted parking bays at Manchester Airport as passenger numbers collapsed amid the Covid-19 crisis.
Deserted parking bays at Manchester Airport as passenger numbers collapsed amid the Covid-19 crisis. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images

A spokesman said from Wednesday the airport, which has three terminals, will only operate Terminal One:

All flights that were due to depart from Terminal Two and Terminal Three, will now do so from Terminal One. This means passengers should check-in and pass through security in Terminal One from this date.

Anyone due to return to Manchester Airport will arrive into Terminal One, regardless of the terminal they originally departed from.

Updated

Luxury perfumer Miller Harris is donating its entire stock of 11,000 hand washes, hand lotion and hard soaps as treats for the elderly via Age UK.

The company is distributing soaps and hand washes to Age UK across the country. Support workers will then deliver the package to those in need within their local areas.

Iconic luxury store Harrods has announced it will be closing its doors amid the coronavirus crisis.

The department store in Knightsbridge, London, said it will keep its food halls and pharmacy open to continue providing “essential services” - but the rest of the store will shut from 7pm this evening.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden is to remain open, free of charge, from this Saturday, 21 March, until further notice.

Botanic Garden Friends said it was hugely important for accessible outdoor spaces to support physical and mental health at this difficult time.

M&S, Lidl, Aldi, Danone and Coca-Cola European Partners have partnered with donations platform Neighbourly to create the Neighbourly Community Fund, funnelling funds directly to community organisations helping those most at risk during coronavirus crisis.

The partners have already committed a combined total of almost £500,000 to the fund, to provide immediate micro-grants to community organisations that are helping the people most affected by the outbreak, including the elderly, those on low incomes and people at risk of food insecurity.

The launch of the fund follows a new survey of Neighbourly’s front-line charity and community partners, which showed:

  • More than 60% of charities have already seen a reduction in food surplus donations from businesses in recent weeks
  • 75% of organisations expect to provide emergency provision after schools close
  • 77% of charities supporting older people expect services to be disrupted, with 75% of organisations who support young people fearing the same

Updated

'Critical incident' declared at major London hospital after surge in Covid-19 patients

Northwick Park Hospital declared a “critical incident” due to a surge in patients with coronavirus that lasted for 24 hours, the Health Service Journal reported.

In a message to staff seen by the HSJ, the hospital in Harrow said it had no critical care capacity left and had contacted neighbouring hospitals about transferring patients who need critical care to other sites.

As of today, the ‘critical incident’ had been stood down.

The hospital is run by London North West University Healthcare Trust, which has since reported six deaths related to coronavirus, all at Northwick Park.

The news comes on the same day the Daily Telegraph reported (paywall) that Covid-19 patients were being turned away by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust as demand for lifesaving treatment surges.

The death toll in London has risen more sharply than the rest of the country, with figures revealing yesterday that four in 10 coronavirus-related deaths so far in the UK have been in London.

You can read the full HSJ story here.

Updated

Number of deaths in England rise by 39 to 167

A further 39 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in England to 167, NHS England said.

The patients were aged between 50 and 99 years old and had underlying health conditions.

They died at hospitals run by the following NHS Trusts:

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Trust - 2
Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust - 1
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - 1
Medway NHS Foundation Trust - 1
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust - 2
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust - 1
Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust - 2
Great Western Hospital NHS Trust - 1
Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust - 2
Royal Gloucester NHS Foundation Trust - 1
Royal United Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - 1
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - 4
Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust - 1
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust - 4
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust - 1
Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust - 3
London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust - 1
Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - 4
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - 3
University College London Hospitals NHS Trust - 1
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust - 2

Total: 39.

Updated

WhatsApp is in talks to set up a dedicated NHS chatbot to allow people to access basic information about the coronavirus pandemic, sources with knowledge of the discussions have told the Guardian, as the messaging service seeks to shed its growing reputation as a hub for disinformation about the pandemic.

Any NHS chatbot is likely to follow the same pattern as the one the World Health Organization launched on Friday, which gives people access to up-to-date information about the virus, and emoji-laden guidance on how to combat its spread, through the messaging service.

WhatsApp sources said separately that it had also considered whether it should further limit the number of people and groups to whom a single message can be forwarded, but that no change was imminent. The service introduced a limit last year that prevents a single message or piece of content from being forwarded to more than five people or groups at a time in an attempt to reduce the spread of fake news.

You can read the full story here.

Updated

The government needs to introduce food rationing urgently to prevent key workers and disadvantaged families going hungry, leading food experts have said in a letter to the prime minister today.

Tim Lang, a former government adviser and professor of food policy at London’s City University, said a major food crisis was rapidly unfolding. Rationing is already taking place unofficially in supermarkets but in a way that takes no account of people’s need, he has told Downing Street along with fellow authors, Prof Erik Millstone of Sussex University, and Prof Terry Marsden of Cardiff University.

They warn that food banks and food share schemes that give food to those on low incomes are reporting serious shortages, while key workers who can only shop at the end of their shifts are finding shelves empty and nothing to eat.

Lang said:

I am aware of at least one London borough where the food bank has alerted the council of serious shortages despite an 80% rise in visitors.

The food bank was unable to source food and essentials such as tinned meat and vegetables, long-life milk, and toiletries such as toilet paper and soap even though it had funding to buy them.

Kris Gibbon-Walsh, head of operations at Fareshare, a charity that supplies food manufacturing and retail surplus to charities that would usually feed 1 million people a week, said it too was struggling to get supplies. He called for the government to step in immediately with funding and mandatory allocation of supplies:

We have more demand than ever, and some of it is different demand – people who can’t go to food banks or might be self-isolating, people who might have eaten at a lunch club for the elderly before. Government needs to instruct industry to keep supplying us.

The experts’ letter to the prime minister says “there is a dangerous tendency to blame consumers” and that the problems only arise because of panic-buying. In the absence of clearer planning, with market mechanisms failing, consumers are only acting rationally in preparing for being confined at home, the authors add.

Before coronavirus struck, nearly 8bn meals a year in the UK were being eaten out of home. Suddenly people are having to make nearly all their meals at home.

Gibbon-Walsh said supermarkets were struggling to adapt their algorithms quickly enough. These limit the amount delivered to stores to the amount of shelf space, number of people available to stack them, and number of drivers, so even though retailers have surplus at distribution centres, they cannot get it to stores to meet current demand.

Updated

Parking app JustPark has launched a nationwide appeal to increase the number of free parking spaces near hospitals by allowing the general public to list spaces for free via their app.

The aim is to ease pressure on NHS staff and patients with more parking options and to help them avoid using public transport to and from the hospital.

The app will not be levying any fees from the listings, in order to say a huge thank you to NHS workers and a ‘get better soon’ to patients.

Details here.

When Boris Johnson says we’ll turn the Covid-19 tide in 12 weeks, it’s just another line for the side of a bus, writes columnist Marina Hyde.

It has been quite something to watch Johnson’s smirk kick back in, live on air, even while people are asking him about the soon-to-break ventilator crisis in intensive care.

Read the full piece here.

Updated

Television channels are scrambling to commission new programmes suitable for a stay-at-home audience, with Channel 4 today announcing that it has commissioned Jamie Oliver to present a daily show providing tips for cooking simple recipes in a crisis.

The programme, entitled Keep Cooking and Carry On, will be broadcast every weekday next week at 5.30pm – with Oliver pledging to teach people “how to make the most from kitchen staples and how to be creative with whatever ingredients they’ve got at home”.

The BBC is already preparing its own new public service programming slate, including daily educational programmes and recipes for people with limited food supplies.

Updated

Pupils to be given calculated grades by end of July

The Department for Education has announced more details on how assessments will replace the cancelled A-levels and GCSE exams in England this year, with pupils to be told their grades before the end of July.

The DfE says the exam regulator Ofqual will set grades using national criteria, with each student’s individual grades then ratified by their teachers. Pupils will have the option of sitting an exam early in the next academic year.

The statement reads:

The government’s priority is now to ensure affected students can move on as planned to the next stage of their lives, including going into employment, starting university, college or sixth form courses, or an apprenticeship in the autumn.

This means ensuring GCSE, A and AS level students are awarded a grade which fairly reflects the work that they have put in. There will also be an option to sit an exam early in the next academic year for students who wish to.

Ofqual will develop and set out a process that will provide a calculated grade to each student which reflects their performance as fairly as possible, and will work with the exam boards to ensure this is consistently applied for all students.

The exam boards will be asking teachers, who know their students well, to submit their judgement about the grade that they believe the student would have received if exams had gone ahead.

To produce this, teachers will take into account a range of evidence and data including performance on mock exams and non-exam assessment – clear guidance on how to do this fairly and robustly this will be provided to schools and colleges.

The exam boards will then combine this information with other relevant data, including prior attainment, and use this information to produce a calculated grade for each student, which will be a best assessment of the work they have put in.

Ofqual and exam boards will be discussing with teachers’ representatives before finalising an approach, to ensure that it is as fair as possible. More information will be provided as soon as possible.

The aim is to provide these calculated grades to students before the end of July. In terms of a permanent record, the grades will be indistinguishable from those provided in other years.

We will also aim to ensure that the distribution of grades follows a similar pattern to that in other years, so that this year’s students do not face a systematic disadvantage as a consequence of these extraordinary circumstances.

Updated

The government is investigating a sharp rise in the number of coronavirus deaths in the West Midlands, with one of the region’s NHS trusts reporting nine deaths from the illness, the highest number for any trust in the country.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, confirmed this morning that the government was looking “very, very closely” at why a hotspot seems to have emerged in the region, where 28 deaths have been recorded so far. The majority of deaths have been of elderly and at-risk patients.

Following suit, Aldi has announced a recruitment drive to hire 9,000 new workers, including 4,000 permanent jobs, to help keep shelves filled during the coronavirus outbreak.

The supermarket added that all nappies and paper products, including toilet and kitchen roll, will now be restricted to two items per customer. All other products will remain restricted to four items per customer, with a few exceptions.

The government has banned the parallel export of 80 crucial medicines – including adrenaline, insulin, paracetamol and morphine – to protect supplies during the coronavirus outbreak.

The government describes parallel exporting as “when companies buy medicines meant for UK patients and sell on for a higher price in another country, potentially causing or aggravating supply problems”.

The department of health said that any company found to be parallel exporting could face tough action from the country’s drug regulator, including the removal of their trading licence. The full list of medicines is here.

Car giant Jaguar Land Rover is to suspend production at its UK plants because of the coronavirus crisis.

The company said production will be temporarily halted over the course of next week, with the intention to resume on 20 April, subject to review of the “rapidly-changing circumstances.”

The firm has plants across the UK, including Castle Bromwich, Solihull, and Halewood.

Other firms including BMW, Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Vauxhall have already halted production in the UK.

Farnborough International Airshow, which had been due to take place in July, has been cancelled.

Hotel Chocolat is the latest retailer to announce all NHS workers will get a 50% discount in stores on presentation of their staff pass during the coronavirus crisis.

All performances at “major commercial” West End theatres are cancelled until 26 April, according to the Society of London Theatre.

The leader of Cornwall council, Julian German, and the Cornish MP Steve Double have asked people not to travel to the far south west of England.

Politicians and doctors fear an influx of people to Cornwall from London and other cities could put pressure on the health service in the area – and spread the virus.

In an open letter they said:

It is important that everyone follows the advice laid out by the government to slow and stop the spread of this virus and do everything we can to support our essential public services, especially our NHS.

That includes avoiding non-essential travel.By anyone’s assessment a holiday at this time is not essential. So therefore, regrettably we are asking people not to come on holiday to Cornwall at this time.

We need to stop the spread of this virus and also need to protect our NHS and keep our supermarket shelves stocked. An influx of thousands of tourists in the coming weeks will put unnecessary pressure on our services.

As a supporter of the tourism and hospitality industry we fully understand the huge and grave challenges facing the sector at this time and why some businesses may want to take this opportunity to bring visitors to Cornwall.

However, this is first and foremost a medical and health crisis. We must not underestimate how serious this is and our first priority has to be to protect the public from this dangerous virus.

Please take all the appropriate steps to keep you and your family safe, and help Cornwall stay safe and well by avoid coming here on holiday at this time.”

Asda has announced plans to hire more than 5,000 temporary employees who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19.

The supermarket is working with more than 20 companies nationally to bring in staff from industries including food and travel.

Chief executive Roger Burnley said: “During these difficult times everyone has to work together to help people most affected by Covid-19 and Asda is pleased to play its part.

“That is why today we have committed to hiring more than 5,000 employees who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 and have been left with deep concerns about their household budgets.”

Earlier, Lidl announced plans to recruit 2,500 workers on four-week contracts to help keep up with high demand in stores as customers continue clearing shelves over the coronavirus outbreak.

Social distancing may be needed 'for at least most of a year', say scientists advising the government

Here’s some more on the publication of the scientific evidence that has been supporting the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Among the guidance laid out by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies SAGE, is that social distancing measures may be needed for most of the year.

“It was agreed that a policy of alternating between periods of more and less strict social distancing measures could plausibly be effective at keeping the number of critical care cases within capacity. These would need to be in place for at least most of a year,” the report said.

Meanwhile, a potential drop in police numbers due to workplace absences could lead to an increase in “opportunistic crime”, although “large scale rioting is unlikely”.

The guidance also sets out that government messaging to the public during this time should “promote a sense of collectivism” in order to rule out “increasing tension between different groups”.

Updated

Government discussing plan to ask London pubs, cinemas and gyms to shut down

The government was today actively discussing a new clampdown on London with pubs, cinemas and gyms possibly being ordered to close to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

An announcement could be made within hours, after crisis planners became increasingly concerned that too many people were continuing to ignore social distancing advice, making the spread of the virus more likely.

The British capital is the target of tougher measures because it has the highest rate of infection and deaths so far. Debate within government is continuing about whether non-essential shops - that is those not selling food or medical supplies - would be included in the ban.

The government had been considering a formal ban on Thursday and was braced to announce it - but pulled back. Among senior government figures there is a deep reluctance to issue banning orders.

Officials believe they would have the power to order bans even without special emergency laws to address the pandemic.

Crisis planners and government advisers have been looking at a range of data, such as transport usage in the capital and hospital admissions, to assess if the pleas made on Monday for people to stay home were being heeded.

Continuing anecdotal evidence of people, especially younger Londoners, continuing to go to pubs despite repeated pleas has led to the government believing it may have no choice but to issue the ban.

Updated


Giving her daily briefing, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said that it was not helpful to use words like “lockdown”, which only confused the public, but added that “it should not be assumed that what we are asking people to do now will not become stricter in the future”.

There are 56 new cases in Scotland overnight but no change in the number of deaths.

Asked about Boris Johnson’s pledge to beat the virus within twelve weeks, Sturgeon said she was hopeful that progress would be made if the public followed the guidance properly, but said: “I cannot stand here and say with certainty when we will be in the position to lift these measures.”

Sturgeon also said she “unreservedly condemned” the case of the Aviemore hotel which sacked and evicted staff members yesterday.

Scotland’s chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood said that the country was now witnessing a “rapid escalation” in cases with sustained community transfer.

She said the situation was not the same around the UK, with numbers and community transmissions concentrated around London, and Scotland’s rates much slower,

“If we can suppress the spread [through these measures] then perhaps we can slow that community transfer and slow that explosion of cases that has been seen in other countries and not yet in London but may happen there.”

Updated

The number of Scots who have been diagnosed with coronavirus has grown by 56 since yesterday to 322. Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon revealed the new total during a briefing on the outbreak.

Schools across Scotland will close today as part of an effort to combat the spread of the disease.

I’m Amy Walker and I’ll be running the live blog over lunchtime.

Updated

Agencies recruiting seasonal workers to pick the fruit and vegetables that will help feed the nation have issued an urgent call for British people to sign up to work.

Normally, 99% of the 80,000 workers come from abroad, mostly from eastern Europe. But travel restrictions and anxieties about the coronavirus pandemic have led many workers to cancel.

The Hops agency said it has already had 3,000 applications since Wednesday and its website is struggling to cope with the interest. The soft-fruit picking season is due to get fully under way in April, with vegetable picking to follow after that.

Hops operations director Sarah Boparan said:

We urgently need a UK labour force who can help harvest crops to feed the nation. At a time when international travel is restricted and people are panic buying due to the coronavirus, it is crucial that growers can provide enough British produce to our supermarkets and local shops.

We are aware that there are many people facing sustained periods away from their usual employment or studies and Hops can offer paid positions.

Workers are paid at least the minimum wage and Hops said all the farms they work with are following the correct procedures around safe working conditions during the coronavirus outbreak.

A spokesman for the National Farmers Union said:

Growers that rely on seasonal workers to pick, pack and grade our fruit and veg are extremely concerned. The industry is already working hard to promote available roles on farms locally, recognising that this could help those who unfortunately find themselves out of work. We are urging the government to address this situation as soon as possible and to implement any solution as a matter of urgency.

Recruitment of seasonal workers has been affected by Brexit, with farmers forced to leave tonnes of crops to rot last year as it struggled to find staff.

The Landworkers’ Alliance, a union representing more than 1,000 small- and medium-scale farmers and landworkers across the UK, said measures must be put in place to ensure the resilience of the domestic food supply in the months ahead.

Jyoti Fernandes, at the Landworkers’ Alliance, said:

This crisis highlights the vulnerability of our globalised food system. We demand immediate and significant government action to ensure everyone can access healthy, affordable food; to secure our food supply; and to guarantee people and small businesses get the help they need to survive this crisis.

Updated

National Express is advising passengers to check online before they travel as it introduces an extensive reduction to its timetable with effect from 00:01 Tuesday 24 March 2020.

This follows the news yesterday that the coach operator will be temporarily running limited services across its scheduled national network in response to the impact of the coronavirus.

Chris Hardy, managing director of National Express UK Coach, said:

We will do our best to let customers know about the changes but strongly advise that if they still intend to travel, to check the National Express website before they start their journey.

For any passengers that turn up to find their service no longer running, we will accept their ticket on any available alternative service or accommodate their travel by other means.

For passengers who no longer wish to travel as planned, we will honour a change to their booking, free of charge, regardless of the ticket terms and conditions. This can be done anytime within 12 months so customers do not need to contact us until they wish to re-book.

If a passenger does not want to re-book and their coach journey has been cancelled directly by National Express, a full refund will be issued in line with our terms and conditions.

Full details on their website.

A Scottish hotel has sacked more than a dozen members of staff over the coronavirus outbreak, making them homeless, our Scotland correspondent, Libby Brooks, reports.

The workers at the Coylumbridge hotel near Aviemore received a letter yesterday informing them management was “taking the latest government advice” and that staff employment had been terminated, with those who live at the hotel complex asked to leave the premises immediately.

The full story is here.

Updated

The Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katherine Viner, has written to readers about how we aim to cover the coronavirus crisis, emphasising the value of expertise, scientific knowledge and careful judgment in our reporting.

She writes:

With you, we are trying to face this unsettling moment with fortitude, and we’re remembering our history – the Guardian and Observer continued to publish throughout the 1918 flu pandemic and both world wars, and we will do our best to do the same during this global coronavirus pandemic.

Supermarket Lidl has announced plans to recruit 2,500 workers on four-week contracts to help keep up with high demand in stores as customers continue clearing shelves over the coronavirus outbreak.

The grocer said recruits can start immediately and will be paid at least £9.30 an hour, adding “the new hires will be responsible for working together to keep the store clean, tidy and the shelves well stocked so that customers can get the products they need”.

Lidl is the latest supermarket to announce a recruitment sweep of temporary workers to cope with the surge in demand during the pandemic.
Lidl is the latest supermarket to announce a recruitment sweep of temporary workers to cope with the surge in demand during the pandemic. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

Police chiefs have today asked employers to give workers who volunteer as special constables paid leave during the coronavirus crisis.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council say the move will boost the number of volunteers available, with police ranks expected to be depleted by illness and self-isolation in the coming months.

Special constables have the full powers of a paid officer and there are 10,000 of them in England and Wales. Police expect to be placed under “great strain” during the national crisis caused by the pandemic.

Other measures police chiefs are considering include making it easier for retired officers to rejoin. Martin Hewitt, chair of the NPCC, said:

Our Special Constables play a vital role in the police service, a service which will be placed under great strain over the coming months.

We appreciate that this would be placing a further burden on businesses who are already suffering the economic impact of this virus, and we do not make this appeal lightly.

Businesses who are able to release their staff to undertake these important roles will be supporting the national effort against Covid-19 by helping us to maintain services and keep people safe.

This is part of our contingency planning for the coming weeks and months.

Forces are considering how to manage up to 25% of officers being absent at any one time, include extending shifts to 12 hours.

Updated

Scientific evidence behind government's Covid-19 response published

The government has made public the scientific evidence from SAGE that has been supporting its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Updated

Covid-19 patients are being turned away by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust as demand for lifesaving treatment surges, the Telegraph is reporting (paywall).

The news comes as the death toll in London rose more sharply than the rest of the country, with figures revealing yesterday that four in 10 coronavirus-related deaths so far in the UK have been in London.

More on this story to come.

First details of the cuts to train services show around 50% of the timetable is expected to be cut initially, although decisions are being left to individual operators.

All train companies nationwide are expected to have new timetables published for next week available on National Rail by Sunday lunchtime, 22 March.

Among the first to announce new emergency timetables this morning were the big London commuter franchises.

South Western Railway will cut services on a few branches entirely. Its last trains will depart earlier from London Waterloo, and many major commuter lines will have only half-hour or hourly services, particularly outside peak hours.

Southeastern said it would attempt to keep all stations open for now and run as early and late as possible to support key workers.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which has had extensive experience in slashing timetables at short notice for strikes and staff shortages, will be announcing timetable changes on Sunday for Monday.

GTR, which operates Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express services, will make further cuts to start from the following Monday, 30 March.

Steve White, chief operating officer, said GTR was doing its utmost to keep an an essential service running for key workers. He said:

The message from the government is clear – travel only if you have to. The changes we are making should allow us to sustain a timetable for those who absolutely have to travel such as doctors, nurses and the emergency services.

Its Gatwick Express trains will be slashed, with air passenger numbers at less than 10% of normal levels, and the airport set to reduce its operating capacity by one third to cut costs.

Network Rail has said retailers in its stations will not have to pay rent for the first quarter, as it attempts to help them survive as footfall vanishes.

Updated

Farmers and farmworkers have been included on a list of key workers whose children can still go to school during the coronavirus crisis.

According to Farmers Weekly: “Some pointed out the irony of farmers and farmworkers being catapulted in just two weeks from ‘unskilled workers’ in the government’s post-Brexit immigration list to ‘key workers’ in the response to the coronavirus pandemic.”

Refuse collectors and other waste and recycling employees are also on the list.

Jacob Hayler, at the Environmental Services Association, said: “We are pleased to see the government acknowledge the essential role of recycling and waste operatives during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The competition watchdog has said it will clamp down on retailers using the coronavirus outbreak as an opportunity to exploit customers.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the outbreak has prompted concerns that people could be exploited by companies “charging excessive prices or making misleading claims about their products”.

It said it has already contacted traders and platforms over excessive pricing of hand sanitiser as part of its efforts.

The CMA has now launched a taskforce to tackle businesses looking to exploit the coronavirus outbreak to take advantage of customers.

Related to this story:

A letter to the chancellor calling for the introduction of a universal basic income to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak has been signed by 150 MPs.

The Labour MP for Enfield, Feryal Clark, tweeted a copy of the letter, which said the crisis “must act as a catalyst for innovative and bold solutions”.

The letter reads:

Our economy has seen a fundamental shift since 2008. The number of self-employed has risen from 3.25 million to more than five million people.

The app-based driver is not paid when there is no work. Nor is the zero-hours warehouse worker, the children’s entertainer or the agency-supplied care worker.

Many people do not have employers incentivised by the government to keep paying them.

The letter followed a similar call from almost 500 experts, organised by Dr Neil Howard of the University of Bath.

Updated

One of London’s most famous live music venues which has hosted David Bowie, Adele and Amy Winehouse is to reopen on Monday as a hub for the local coronavirus response.

The Union Chapel in Islington has cancelled forthcoming performances but will become the base for the local Covid-19 task force supporting rough sleepers. It will host a food bank and an initiative to proactively contact the most vulnerable people who may be in self-isloation.

Staff including sound and lighting engineers will be asked if they want to take roles helping handle and distribute donations of food, but particularly hand sanitiser and soap which they plan to distribute to rough sleepers.

The venue, which doubles as a non-conformist church, will also periodically open bathrooms to allow rough sleepers to wash themselves regularly to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.

The food and soap collection and distribution is being operated with Islington Council, the Museum of Homelessness, and Streets Kitchen, while the venue will work with the charity Help on Your Doorstep to contact the vulnerable in isolation.

It will also continue to operate a night shelter for rough sleepers, providing hot meals and a place to wash clothes, as well as offering advice.

Michael Chandler, the chief executive, said:

Since 1992, when first registered as a charity, Union Chapel has been home to a number of very special services and activities aimed at aiding the most in-need and disadvantaged members of our community.

These services are largely funded by the profits from the venue’s ticket sales and our events. During this crisis Union Chapel will escalate our community emergency support work, continuing to aid those in need.

Updated

The British Fashion Council, the not-for-profit organisation that promotes British design globally, has put a call out asking those with “production capacity” to help with shortages.

Saying in a post on Instagram that “in times of need, the fashion industry can be of service,” they are working with both the Department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) and the Department for health and social care (DHSC) to manufacture essential products such as facemasks.

The call follows some designers already taking matters into their own hands: Phoebe English, a London-based designer known for her focus on sustainability, announced earlier this week she would be turning her sewing machines to making face masks for medical professionals. While Kerby Jean-Raymond, the New York-based designer of Pyer Moss, has made his head office into donation centre.

Third death in Wales recorded

A third person has died in Wales after contracting coronavirus, the chief medical officer for the country has confirmed.

They were aged 71 and had underlying health conditions, and were being treated at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.

The Police Federation has called for officers in Northern Ireland to be tested for Covid-19 amid fears the spread of the virus could result in a skeleton workforce.

The representative body for Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers has also called for personal protective equipment to be made available for officers, including masks, gloves and scenes-of-crime white suits, as well as “spit and bite guards”.

There are currently around 200 coronavirus tests being conducted each day in the region. Only people being admitted to hospital and those in care settings are being routinely tested.

Plans were announced yesterday to increase that number to 800 within the next 10 days and also to widen the scope of the testing to cover certain groups of healthcare workers.

Police Federation chairman Mark Lindsay stressed the importance of testing for PSNI officers, saying it will allow many more to remain at work:

We are not as well-resourced as other parts of the UK. We do not have cadets. We do not have access to military, so, we are very much left on our own.

It is therefore imperative that testing for police officers is brought in without any further delay. This will increase workforce resilience and will be a major factor in ensuring that our officers can remain at work.

We could be left with a skeleton workforce trying to enforce legislation, trying to keep the lid on normal crime trends. It is very difficult to predict but I can assure the public that we will do our best. That’s what we are here for.

Updated

There is still a lot of confusion about provision of school places for the children of key workers.

What we do know however is that the government has now clarified in its latest advice that households with at least one parent or carer identified as a critical or key worker will be able to send their children to school if necessary.

This is important because previously the Department for Education had advised that if just one parent was a critical worker, the other would be expected to stay at home to look after the children, but the changed guidance will be a relief to many families.

It’s perhaps inevitable in such a fast moving and unprecedented scenario that advice will adapt and change.

Much of the detail about how this emergency school/childcare system will work is still to emerge, but schools will be expected to be flexible to demand.

Some parents who are key workers may need only part-time care for their children in the emergency setting, others may choose not to send their children to school, but find alternative arrangements instead.

The government has published this Q&A for parents, but there are still many uncertainties for parents and headteachers who will close their schools for most children this afternoon, but will be working over the weekend to draw up plans for their new-look school on Monday.

Updated

After the Department for Education issued its guidance on occupations to be classed as key workers who qualify for childcare in school over the coming weeks and months, school and business leaders have reacted with their concerns.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said parents should keep their children at home if possible from Monday, and to only send them to school if there was no safe alternative:

The key worker list is extensive and schools will not be able to cope with the number of children who could potentially arrive on Monday morning. It is important that the public understands that this is not business as usual.

Schools will endeavour to do their best to provide continuity of learning for all children whether at home or in school, but the provision in school is likely to be more akin to childcare than a normal timetable.

Schools are working to an incredibly tight timescale to turn round this provision and we would ask everybody to show patience and understanding in this extremely challenging situation.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, wants the government to offer more clarity, amid worries that the number of potential children attending could be far higher than the 10% figure suggested by Gavin Williamson, the education secretary for England.

“School leaders have many questions that remain unanswered about how this will work in practice. We will continue to work with government throughout the day to provide greater clarity to schools to enable this reduced offer to be up and running as soon as possible,” Whiteman said.

Matthew Fell, the CBI’s director of UK policy, said:

Defining which workers are critical to the national effort is a difficult task. Today’s list will help business and individuals to plan. But the need for different jobs will change in the weeks ahead, so the list must be kept under constant review with additions where necessary.

Updated

The World Snooker Championship has been postponed until at least July, PA reports.

The installation of the next Fourth Plinth sculpture in Trafalgar Square has been postponed because of coronavirus.

Heather Phillipson’s The End - a sculpture of a whirl of cream topped with parasites - was due to be installed on 26 March.

The End was due to be installed as the next Fourth Plinth sculpture next Thursday.
The End was due to be installed as the next Fourth Plinth sculpture next Thursday.
 Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Anywhere but Westminster is back, and needs your help covering the impact of the coronavirus outbreak across the UK.

John and John are aiming to produce a weekly film, centred on how people and places are responding to the crisis, dealing with the issues they have always covered: questions about power, community, and how everyday life is actually lived.

More details on the new project and how you can take part here.

The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle has been cancelled until further notice, ITV’s royal editor Chris Ship reports.

First arrest in British Isles for failing to self-isolate

A man has been arrested on the Isle of Man for allegedly failing to self-isolate.

The detention of the man, reportedly aged 26, came after the Crown dependency’s government announced earlier this week that everyone arriving on the island must self-isolate for 14 days, regardless of whether they have symptoms.

The emergency legislation came into effect at 23:59 GMT on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle said anyone breaching the quarantine regulations could face a fine up to 10,000 or three months in jail.

The island recorded its first case of Covid-19 yesterday.

Updated

The coronavirus crisis could push the vulnerable ambulance service over the edge, writes NHS paramedic Jake Jones.

Coronavirus is currently having a serious impact on the ambulance service. Call numbers are soaring, interactions with patients are changing, and staff on the road and in the control centres are under acute pressure. At a time when most people are distancing themselves from others, ambulance crews are doing what they always do: going into the homes of sick and vulnerable strangers to offer help.

You can read the full piece here.

The Rugby Football Union has announced the end of the season for all league, cup and county rugby in England, except the Gallagher Premiership, PA reports.

The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Frost, is self-isolating after showing symptoms of coronavirus.

The news, which was reported by various sources today and attributed to the UK government, comes after Frost’s EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, said he had tested positive for the disease yesterday.

Updated

If you had any reservations about the government’s response to the crisis, Politico’s Jack Blanchard has highlighted its capacity to copy and paste is still going strong, to put your mind at ease.

Updated

A critical care nurse has made a tearful appeal to members of the public to stop stripping supermarket shelves of food after she came off a shift and was unable to buy supplies for her family.

“Those people who are stripping the shelves of basic foods. You just need to stop it because it is people like me who will be looking after you when you are at your lowest, so just stop it,” said the nurse, named as Dawn.

The British Museum has seen a surge in online visitors with the Benin Bronzes and the Lewis Chessmen in the top 10 of searches.

The Benin Bronzes are in the top ten most searched items on the British Museum website, which has seen a surge as all UK museums and galleries closed this week.
The Benin Bronzes are in the top ten most searched items on the British Museum website, which has seen a surge as all UK museums and galleries closed this week.
 Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

It said the number of online visitors between 1-18 March was 978,548, up from 472,890 in the same period last year. Most of the increase has happened over the last 7 days.

The largest number of online visitors are people from Italy: 203,250 in March so far, followed by the UK (175,734), USA (113,741), Spain (111,707), Turkey (54,133), Russia (22,764), Canada (15,610), Australia (15,575).

The reasons are obvious. Every UK museum and gallery closed down this week so people self-isolating at home are desperate for a diversion.

The top 10 searches are: Egypt, Virtual tour, Benin bronzes, Rosetta stone, Netsuke franks, Lewis chessmen, Virtual, Rosetta, and Vase Exekias.

The museum’s director, Hartwig Fischer, said:

Culture gives comfort in times of turmoil, it unites us and makes us understand what it means to be human. As the world grapples with this current crisis, I am glad that so many people are coming to the website and online collections of the British Museum.

Updated

Sales at Wetherspoons have been falling after Boris Johnson told members of the public to stay at home and not visit pubs.

The pub chain said that sales, which had risen by 3.2% in the previous six weeks, started falling by 4.5% in the week ending March 15, as the coronavirus pandemic scared customers off.

The decline picked up even further when the prime minister told people that it was vital they do not visit pubs in order to slow the spread of the highly infectious disease.

A sign on a JD Wetherspoon pub in Birmingham stating that to improve ventilation the doors will remain open.
A sign on a JD Wetherspoon pub in Birmingham stating that to improve ventilation the doors will remain open. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

“In the early part of the current week ... sales have declined at a significantly higher rate,” Wetherspoons chairman Tim Martin said in a statement to shareholders on Friday.

Earlier this week the Guardian reported on how staff at the pub chain had spoken of their fears about having to continue working in busy pub environments without masks, hand gel or other protective equipment.

They spoke out as the company announced that its pubs would remain open – but customers would have to pay by card, avoid standing at the bar and sit at alternate tables.

“We’re effectively going to become petri dishes,” said one worker who added that he and others should be provided with hand gel, gloves and face masks.

We come into contact all day with the general public, we handle money, dirty plates, glasses, sometimes bodily fluids, and the fact we can’t wear a mask/gloves front of house is making people feel on edge. We of course are washing our hands as often as possible but it’s just bizarre we aren’t allowed to protect ourselves.

Updated

An iconic Italian deli which has served London for more than 75 years is raising money so it can supply pasta and sauce to people in need amid the coronavirus crisis, reports London’s Evening Standard.

Lina Stores, which has a site in Soho and another in King’s Cross, wants to make provisions for hospitality staff whose jobs have been cut and people in at risk groups.

“We want to look after London - the community that has been supporting us for over 75 years,” the store, which opened in the 1940s, said in a Go Fund Me page, which has raised more than £11,000 so far and has an aim of £20,000.

Rail services in Scotland will move to a reduced timetable from Monday 23 March onwards as people follow the extraordinary advice to limit social contact and stay at home.

Network Rail Scotland and ScotRail announced they would be operating a reduced service so emergency staff can travel and emergency supplies such as medicines can be moved around the country.

David Simpson, ScotRail operations director, said: “We are facing an unprecedented challenge on Scotland’s railway and the revised timetable will help to provide a critical service for the key workers across the country.

“Our own people are absolutely committed and are working flat out on the frontline to help keep the country moving, while also keeping themselves and customers safe.

The Scottish transport secretary Michael Matheson said the government was in discussions with rail unions to protect rail staff during unprecedented times.

“We are also investigating ways to provide proportionate relief to operators, while also ensuring contractual incentives remain to mitigate the impact of doing so. Any changes to rail franchise contracts, including funding mechanisms, will be made in the best interests of the public and business communities.”

Glasgow Central station, normally packed with people, during morning rush hour on Thursday.
Glasgow Central station, normally packed with people, during morning rush hour on Thursday.
 Photograph: Robert Perry/EPA

Updated

BT is to remove all caps on home broadband plans to give customers unlimited data while working from home or self-isolating.

Questions remain unanswered about how school places will remain open to the children of key workers, Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the NAHT, the school leaders’ union, has said.

In a statement he said:

The government has made clear that every child who can be safely cared for at home should be. And their advice makes clear too that this applies to children of key workers.

For the vast majority of children and young people, school buildings will close tonight and not reopen for the foreseeable future.

Taking up a place at school during this time of wider closure is the offer of last resort, for the minority of key workers, who have no alternative.

School leaders have many questions that remain unanswered about how this will work in practice. We will continue to work with the government throughout the day to provide greater clarity to schools to enable this reduced offer to be up and running as soon as possible.

The Conservative MP for Lewes, Maria Caulfield, has said she will be returning to the NHS to support efforts to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

She told PA Media she had kept her nursing registration since becoming an MP in 2015 and would return to her job as a nurse alongside her political role.

Her announcement follows a call from the health secretary Matt Hancock for doctors and nurses who have recently left the NHS to return to help fight Covid-19.

She said she was returning to nursing because “the NHS will be getting unprecedented numbers of patients needing care, but also because staff are liable to get sick themselves. They can only go at 110% pace for so long and will need breaks themselves.”

Updated

Good morning. As schools close to most children across the UK today, the government has published a list of key workers whose children will still be able to go to school, following some confusion over who would be classed as a “key worker” after the announcement on Wednesday. It includes doctors, nurses, midwives, teachers, nursery staff, police, transport workers and others.

Later, at the daily coronavirus press conference, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is set to announce an employment and wage subsidy package to try to protect millions of jobs, with many firms including Marks & Spencer and Next warning of collapse. Letters are also being sent to more than 65,000 retired doctors and nurses in England and Wales asking them to come back to help the NHS fight the outbreak. Train services across Britain are to be stripped back from Monday after Covid-19 caused a 70% drop in the number of passengers. And the Catholic Church will suspend public masses from this evening until further notice.

We will be covering the latest on this, and all other UK coronavirus developments, as the day goes on.

For the worldwide picture, do read our global coronavirus outbreak live blog.

You can find all the latest Guardian coronavirus articles here, including this morning’s edition of Today in Focus on social distancing and the new normal – here.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @lucy_campbell_. Tips are always welcome.

Updated

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