Summary of the news
Thanks everyone. I will be closing the live feed today. Below is a summary of the latest developments. Please do get in touch to share any news tips and insights.
- The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said just over 85,000 coronavirus tests took place yesterday. That’s a second day where the headline total has fallen below 100,000, the target for the end of April.
- The work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has been updating MPs on her department’s work in tackling the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis. She said the “hidden heroes” in her department had processed an extraordinary 1.8m new claims for universal credit (UC) since mid-March – as well as 250,000 claims for jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), and 20,000 for employment support allowance (ESA).
- Councils could restrict access to rubbish tips by only allowing cars with particular number plates to visit on a given day, the local government secretary has said.
- Last week MPs on the Commons culture committee had a frustrating time at a hearing when they tried to get answers from representatives of Facebook, Google and Twitter about what they were doing to halt the spread of disinformation about coronavirus. Now Julian Knight, the committee chair, has written to the three companies with a series of follow-up questions. In a statement he accused them of being “deeply unhelpful”.
Updated
Law centres and the not-for-profit legal advice sector have been given more than £5m in emergency government funding to help those dealing with housing, debt, discrimination and employment problems during the coronavirus crisis.
The Ministry of Justice says it is witnessing an increase in people seeking advice for social welfare cases in the pandemic and numbers are expected to increase demand on the legal support sector.
The Access to Justice Foundation and the Law Centres Network will administer the funding and be overseen by the Community Justice Fund. The extra money will help provide vital legal advice throughout the crisis, increase capacity and deliver services remotely.
The justice minister Alex Chalk said: “Law centres and charities in the advice sector play a vital role in helping people access justice and resolve their legal problems. That is why they should be supported to continue to operate safely and effectively during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This additional £5.4m support fund will help do just that – giving providers the support they need to boost remote capability and help as many people as possible during these challenging times.”
Ruth Daniel, chief executive of the Access to Justice Foundation, said:“We are delighted with this support for specialist social welfare legal advice agencies who are providing essential help to people and communities at this difficult time.”
The Law Centres Network chair, Helen Rogers, said: “The pandemic’s uneven impact is a grim reminder of the deep inequality in our society that affects every aspect of life. This support recognises the key role of legal assistance in reducing inequality and bringing justice for all.”
Updated
Matt Hancock's press conference - Summary
For what felt like the first time in weeks, the government press conference was not dominated by questions about personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing. Here are the main points.
- Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that from tonight contact tracing will go live in the Isle of Wight. A new government app that will alert people if they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus is being piloted on the island, and Hancock urged islanders to dowload it. He said:
Last week we put in place the testing capability on the island, from tonight the contact tracing capability will go live and from tomorrow NHS staff on the island will be able to download the app. From Thursday, each one of the 80,000 households on the island will get a letter from the chief nurse with comprehensive information about the trial. Islanders will then be able to install the app.
Addressing islanders directly, he said:
By downloading the app you are protecting your own health, you are protecting the health of your loved ones and the health of your community.
- Hancock said he would hire more than the 18,000 contact tracers already being recruited if necessary. That was just the initial number being trained this month to operate contact tracing on a national basis, he said. He went on:
There is no magic around the 18,000 figure, that is the initial scale that we think is necessary.
If it needs to be bigger, when we find out from the ONS survey that is in the field at the moment what the prevalence of the disease is – the number of new cases per day actually out there rather than that we find through positive tests – then we will adjust that figure.
- He said, although the contact tracing scheme would help the government to suppress the coronavirus, the national system did not have to be in place before lockdown measures could be eased. He said:
We haven’t said we can’t make changes [to lockdown] before [contact tracing] is up and running. It is just that the test, track and trace system will help us get R [the reproduction number] down and the lower the number of new cases, the more effective it will be.
- He said that 85,186 coronavirus tests were carried out in the 24 hours to 9am this morning. That means, for the second day in a row, the government has failed to hit the target of 100,000 tests a day set for the end of April.
- Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said that it would take some time before scientists find out whether people who have had coronavirus develop immunity. But “the overwhelming majority” of people who have had it have antibodies, a precursor for immunity, he said. Hancock revealed that, as someone who has had the illness himself, he is taking part in trials to check his antibody levels. But he said he would not feel confident going into a crowded room because he could not assume he was immune. And he could not make policy yet on the basis that people with the antibody are immune, he said. (See 5.45pm and 5.47pm.)
- Van-Tam said the number of new cases of coronavirus was still too high. “We have to get the cases lower,” he said. (See 5.19pm.)
Updated
The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in prisons across England and Wales continues to rise, a daily update from the Ministry of Justice shows.
As at 5pm on Sunday, 357 prisoners have tested positive for the virus across 73 prisons, a 3% rise in the three days since the last update, while the number of infected prison staff rose by 6% to 395 workers across 67 prisons in the same period. A total of 13 prisoner and custody services have tested positive. The figures include those who have recovered.
A total of 19 prisoners and six prison staff are known to have contracted Covid-19 and died. There are 80,100 prisoners in England and Wales and around 33,000 staff in public-sector prisons.
Updated
Senior Tory urges ministers to lift lockdown 'as quickly as possible'
In the Commons MPs have been debating the lockdown restrictions, aka the Health Protections (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020. Despite their extremely draconian nature, the regulations are secondary legislation, and they were introduced under a procedure that meant they became law before MPs had voted on them.
Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, used his speech to urge ministers to lift the current lockdown measures “as quickly as possible”. He said:
I hope that as ministers approach the second 21-day review they will do so always with a view to removing restrictions and removing these arbitrary rules and limitations on freedom as quickly as possible.
It will become even more important that we rely on common sense and voluntary cooperation rather than arbitrary rules.
Referring specifically to the rules affecting the over-70s (see 9.43am), he went on:
We have today the most healthiest, active elderly generation of all time and it would be tragic if government threatened this by trying to extend a so-called lockdown for those judged to be most at risk based on age. Why don’t we just give them the best information and advice and let them limit their risk themselves?
Updated
People involved in a study to track coronavirus in the general population have been reporting issues with testing, saying they have been booking appointments that no one turns up to.
Some 20,000 households in England have been contacted to take part in a study which aims to improve understanding of infection levels and how many people may have immunity to the virus.
All participants have to provide a nose and throat swab to test for whether or not they currently have the virus, while adults in some 1,000 of the households will provide a blood sample to find out what proportion of the population has developed antibodies to Covid-19.
One of those selected, Will Murray, said: “We were meant to have appointments booked last week but no one turned up. We had to contact IQVIA again who assured us someone would turn up to take our blood and swabs the next day. Again, they didn’t.”
Bernie Spratt said: “We replied to the invitation on 23 April and were given a home visit date of 27 April when an IQVIA nurse would arrive and test us both. Nobody arrived so we phoned the study contact line and rebooked for Thursday the 30th. Once again nobody arrived so we re-booked for Saturday 2 May. Saturday came and went and so I rang the study contact line again this morning and was told that the reason for the ‘no shows’ was that there were no test kits available in our area (Shipston on Stour).”
The study involves the University of Oxford, data science company IQVIA UK and the National Biosample Centre in Milton Keynes. IQVIA have been fielding responses today on social media from people in a similar situation.
The Office for National Statistics, which alongside the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is leading the study, said: “We were aware of this issue via the social media activity and have been getting it sorted out this afternoon.”
It added that it already had some initial findings which had been shared with the government.
Updated
Michael Gove has acknowledged that a new international effort to find a coronavirus vaccine, led by the EU, was not a Boris Johnson initiative, despite front-page reports today. The Daily Express was one of a number of national newspapers to carry the prime minister’s call for the world to work together to find a cure for Covid-19 on their front pages, with its headline reading: “Boris leads £6bn global race for vaccine.”
Responding to a question from Labour’s Paul Blomfield, Gove told parliament: “We will cooperate not just with our European neighbours but with other countries in the fight against Covid-19. He’s right to say the prime minister is joining the call today in order to ensure that we can support the effort to secure a vaccine. The effort to secure a vaccine is necessarily an international one.”
Blomfield asked Gove if, given the UK’s involvement with the EU’s initiative, the government would be joining the bloc’s early warning and response system (EWRS) for pandemics, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The Guardian reported this weekend that the British government was quietly seeking to access the EWRS, despite early reluctance to cooperate on health after Brexit.
Gove dodged the question about the EWRS, but said: “We will of course look pragmatically at how we can co-operate with our European friends and partners. But participation in the EMA would involve, certainly at the moment, the acceptance of the ECJ (European court of justice) oversight and that’s not something that the British people voted to do.”
Commenting on Gove’s response, Blomfield said. “Michael Gove was right to recognise this international partnership to find a coronavirus vaccine as an EU initiative and not a Boris Johnson project as claimed by some of the Conservative press. But he should also pledge to join the EU’s pandemic early warning system, as the NHS wants, and think again about leaving the European Medicines Agency.”
Updated
Q: Given the lockdown still applies on the Isle of Wight, will it generate enough data for the app?
Hancock says he thinks it will. There is a busy hospital on the island. And new cases are occurring, he says.
He says test, track and trace will be more effective when there are fewer cases.
And that’s it. The press conference is over.
I’ll post a summary soon.
Q: Can you assure people from the Isle of Wight that there data will be safe?
Yes, says Hancock.
He says the app has been designed with privacy in mind. It has been signed off by the national cyber security centre. The data is stored on your phone, until it needs to contact other people. The highest level of privacy is built in, he says.
Newton says the app itself does not hold personal information. He goes on:
It is a very safe use of data and people should feel reassured by all the precautions that have been taken.
Q: Last year you said there was a strong argument for making vaccines compulsory for children going to school. Would that apply to a coronavirus vaccine?
Hancock says the public reaction to the lockdown suggests there would be “very, very high” levels of take-up without compulsion.
He does not rule anything out, he says. But he is proceeding on the basis that compulsion would not be necessary.
Van-Tam says it is “more likely than not” that the first vaccines will be licensed for adults. He says it is the elderly, not children, who are mot at risk of death.
Q: So what is your message to anti-vaxxers?
Hancock says coronavirus shows how essential vaccines can be. Vaccines will only be licensed if they are safe.
Q: What do you make of research suggesting a link between air pollution and susceptibility to coronavirus?
Van-Tam says there is already extensive evidence that air pollution contributes to other illnesses. He has not looked at the link with coronavirus, but he finds the link entirely plausible.
Q: You probably have antibodies. Would you feel happy going into a crowded room?
Not yet, says Hancock.
He says he hopes that people with antibodies will have a low rise of transmitting the disease, and a low risk of getting it. That is normally the case with coronaviruses.
But he does not know yet. So he cannot base policy on that, he says.
Updated
Q: How has your understanding of immunity developed?
Hancock says there are surveys taking place looking at how many people have antibodies.
The test shows if antibodies are there. The next phase will be to know what impact those have on someone not getting the illness again. The science on that is getting clearer, he says.
Van-Tam says they need to find out if people to get antibodies after having the illness. Some research is underway. The “overwhelming majority” of people who have had Covid have antibodies in their bloodstream.
Do those antibodies protect you from further infections? Van-Tam says we just don’t know yet. But he says he hopes the answer will be yes.
The next question is, how long do those antibodies last? With other coronaviruses, antibodies do not persist for years and years and years. He says we do not know yet if that is the case with Covid-19. But a “massive” piece of work is underway to find out. He says they cannot make the science go any faster. They just have to be patient.
But, when they do have the answers, antibody testing could be an essential part of the strategy.
Hancock says he is in one of these trials. He had coronavirus. And his blood is regularly tested to see if he is developing antibodies.
Q: How low do you have to get transmission rates?
Hancock says he cannot put a figure on that.
Q: Some Isle of Wight Radio listeners are worried social distancing will be lifted early on the island because of the pilot.
Hancock says there are no plans to lift the social distancing measures early on the island. The plan is to ease the restrictions at the same pace everywhere, he says.
Q: [From Isle of Wight radio] We ran a poll today showing 80% of listeners said they would install the app. But the island has an elderly population. Why was the island chosen?
Hancock welcomes the 80% poll result. The more people download the app, the better, he says.
But he accepts that not everyone has a smartphone on the Isle of Wight.
But that is another reason for choosing the island, he says. If you tested it somewhere were everyone had a smartphone, that might be too easy, he says.
Newton says the island is very suitable. Travel on and off the island is relatively restricted, he says.
And he says some elderly people are tech-savvy.
He also says people do not need the app to benefit.
The people most likely to be mobile will be the people most likely to have a smartphone, he says.
Q: The most successful contact tracing systems rely on people, as well as technology. Are you putting too much faith in an app?
Hancock says he accepts that the part played by people, the contact tracers and members of the public, is vital.
Prof John Newton from Public Health England agrees. He says “shoe leather epidemiology”, having people on the streets, is essential too.
He says he hopes the Isle of Wight pilot will provide useful lessons.
Q: Isn’t it hard to pilot this when people are social distancing?
Hancock does not accept that. There are still new cases, he says. So contact tracing can have an impact.
Q: How will businesses be able to get PPE if the NHS also needs those supplies?
Hancock says the government will make sure the NHS take priority.
He says this factor will be taken into account as the government considers the way forward.
Hancock says the government is making rapid progress in recruiting its 18,000 contact tracers.
The first ones will start work this week, as they deal with the Isle of Wight.
But there is no magic about 18,000, he says. If more are needed, the government will hire them.
Hancock reads out a question from Conrad from Ashford. He asks if the aim is to suppress the virus, or to keep it at manageable levels.
Hancock says the aim is to keep the numbers down. Test, track and trace becomes more effective these less transmission there is. The goal is not just to flatten the curve. It is to keep pushing it down. He says he wants to keep the reproduction number below 1.
Hancock is now taking questions from members of the public.
The first is from a man who asks what is being done to protect BAME workers in the NHS.
Hancock says a disproportionate number of NHS and care workers from a BAME background have died. He pays tribute to them. He says a programme has been put in place to help address this.
Van-Tam says the NHS is taking this “incredibly seriously”. A large programme of work has been put in place. He says the NHS will get to the bottom of this.
But it is complicated, he says. He says different age cohorts are a factor. And underlying health factors. And deprivation.
Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, is going through the daily charts now.
Here are the daily testing figures.
Here are the figures for new cases. Van-Tam says new cases need to fall even lower.
Here is the final slide, showing the global death comparison.
Van-Tam stresses that these figures show numbers, not rates. They are not adjusted per head of population.
Here is the government dashboard with latest UK data for coronavirus cases and deaths.
Hancock confirms that the NHS contract tracing app will be trialled this week in the Isle of Wight.
He appeals to anyone living on the island to download the app. By doing so, they will be protecting themselves and the whole community, he says.
He says he is confident that people will help.
He says he wants to hear how people find it.
And he says this does not mean the end of social distancing.
Updated
Hancock says another 288 people have died with coronavirus in the UK, taking the total to 28,734.
He says that is the smallest daily rise since the end of March, although he acknowledges that after a weekend, the daily reported rise in deaths tends to be lower than later in the week.
Daily testing again falls below 100,000 target, Hancock confirms
Hancock says just over 85,000 coronavirus tests took place yesterday.
That’s a second day where the headline total has fallen below 100,000, the target for the end of April.
Updated
Matt Hancock's press conference
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is leading for the government at this afternoon’s press conference. He has just started.
He says he will be focusing mostly on the government’s plans for test, track and trace.
Here is the start of a Twitter thread from the FT’s Chris Giles, who has been trying to model the total number of coronavirus-related deaths.
Update: Following the latest hospital figures for the number of people who have died after testing positive for coronavirus, a cautious estimate of the UK excess deaths linked to the outbreak is
— Chris Giles (@ChrisGiles_) May 4, 2020
50,200
some methodology follows
1/
Some rough sleepers may have to be put up in hostels or night shelters when lockdown measures begin to be eased, Housing minister Robert Jenrick said.
He said he does not want to “lose the opportunity that we have here and see those people drift back onto the streets when the lockdown starts to be eased in due course”.
But he said there is a limited capacity of “good quality move-on accommodation” for the more than 5,000 rough sleepers currently being put up in places such as hotels.
He said: “What we will do in the days and weeks ahead is assess what the capacity is in accommodation of that nature, how we can build more capacity at pace, what other accommodation is available on an interim basis, some of which will, I think unfortunately, be more basic, such as hostels and night shelters, simply because there isn’t sufficient of the type of accommodation we all want to be available, and then see how we can have a national strategy to try to move as many people as possible into that sort of accommodation and wrap care around them as well, because this is not simply a housing challenge, it’s one of mental health and addiction as well.”
The work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has been updating MPs on her department’s work in tackling the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis. She said the “hidden heroes” in her department had processed an extraordinary 1.8m new claims for universal credit (UC) since mid-March – as well as 250,000 claims for jobseekers’ allowance (JSA), and 20,000 for employment support allowance (ESA).
Job centres have been closed and turned into claim processing centres, Coffey said, and hundreds of civil servants have been redeployed from other departments. The number of new applications has now “stabilised”, at 20,000 to 25,000 a day.
Coffey’s shadow counterpart, Jonathan Reynolds, one of several opposition frontbenchers making their debut today, called for “legacy benefits” such as JSA and ESA to be increased for a year, to help claimants through the crisis, as UC has been.
Coffey said that was not possible, saying that the complexity of the computer systems used to administer those benefits means that it takes “quite some time” to make changes – by which she said she meant months.
Updated
Here are the latest figures on take-up of the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme, the initiative that allows employees to be “furloughed” on 80% of wages, up to £2,500 per month. They mean that an extra 6.3m workers have, on a temporary basis, effectively been added to the government’s payroll.
The Job Retention Scheme launched on 20 April.
— HM Revenue & Customs (@HMRCgovuk) May 4, 2020
By midnight 3 May a total of:
➡️ 6.3m jobs furloughed *
➡️ 800K employers furloughing **
➡️ Total value of claims £8bn
Apply for a grant to cover the wages of your furloughed staff now: https://t.co/bx1Nszshsr pic.twitter.com/29n9h0RB2k
In an article for the Guardian, Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine, says that increasing the amount of coronavirus testing to more than 100,000 tests per day (on one measure, for some of the time) is not by itself enough. He explains:
The real concern is our capacity to act on the results of the tests. Simply doing tests in response to demand will be inadequate. Instead we must use each result to find cases, trace those who have been in contact with a person who has tested positive and ensure that those infected, or potentially infected, self-isolate. Only these four steps used in conjunction will prevent a second wave of the virus and protect vulnerable people.
The full article is here.
Matthew Gould, head of the NHS’s digital arm, has defended his agency’s choice of a “centralised” contact-tracing app as opposed to the type of decentralised system chosen by many other European countries.
Speaking over a videolink to MPs and peers on parliament’s joint committee on human rights, Gould, the head of NHSX, said:
If the only thing we were optimising for [were privacy] it may well be that decentralised system would be the default choice but we are balancing privacy with the need for public health to get insight into what is happening.. [to learn] what contacts are most risky, what is the difference [in exposure] three days before symptoms or one day.
A centralised system gives us the chance to get important data about the virus that will help us, he added. The type of system could be altered. “Just because we have started down one route doesn’t mean we are locked into it,” Gould said.
He acknowledged there could be difficulties on the island of Ireland where the government in Dublin has chosen a non-centralised system. “We are about interoperability,” Gould insisted. “The French are taking a similar approach [to the UK].
It should not be possible to identify individuals from the data sent to the centralised system, Gould noted. “We have said very clearly that data will only be used for public health purposes. It will not be used for law enforcement.”
Elizabeth Denham, the UK information commissioner, denied that her office was compromised by having been involved at an early stage with NHSX as it developed the system. She told peers and MPs that her office would still be able to carry out its independent oversight responsibilities.
Updated
Visits to council rubbish dumps could be restricted by booking system, Jenrick suggests
Councils could restrict access to rubbish tips by only allowing cars with particular number plates to visit on a given day, the local government secretary has said.
Robert Jenrick said:
My view has been that local councils should reopen their waste and recycling sites.
We all know the pressure that’s building up in some people’s homes, particularly those people who live in flats and apartments, without very much space, having bin bags and recycling and boxes from deliveries building up is both a challenge in terms of space but also a public health issue that needs to be resolved.
He said an “orderly reopening” of sites was possible in most areas and guidance was being updated to class a trip to the tip as a “necessary journey”.
There are ways in which councils can manage demand, by asking people to come with different registration plates on their cars or booking appointments and so on.
There are options available to councils if they are concerned about long queues
.
Updated
IFS suggests government should offer subsidies for home working
Although the UK government has yet to produced details of its plan to relax the lockdown restriction (the term “exit strategy” has apparently been banned by No 10, and given that there may never be an exit in the sense of a return to the status quo ante, perhaps they’ve got a point), that has not stopped lots of other people and organisations having a go. The Scottish government and the Welsh government have published outline proposals, here (pdf) and here respectively. The former prime minister Tony Blair has released at least three papers on the topic (here, here and here). The Institute for Government, a thinktank, has produced its own blueprint. And now the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the public spending thinktank, has also offered its thoughts on the topic.
In a 23-page paper (pdf), it floats the idea of offering firms subsidiesto get employees to work from home. Here is an extract.
As lockdown is eased, ensuring that those who could work from home reasonably productively are doing so should be a policy priority. It dampens the trade-off between the level of economic activity and the rate of virus transmission. It benefits not only those who can work from home; it also enables more of those who cannot work from home to go to work, without society once again seeing a spike in virus infections large enough to precipitate the re-introduction of lockdown which would once again threaten their livelihoods. But there is obvious potential for market failure here resulting in insufficient working from home. Some of the benefits from doing so accrue not to the individuals or firms themselves but to others in society (through lower virus transmission); and working from home may require investments and adaptations that the uncertain environment could inhibit ...
Potential policy levers include:
Subsidies for firms or workers who are operating from home. The theoretical case for these is clear, given the externalities, though the practical design could be challenging, e.g. to avoid large deadweight.
Norm-setting. Simply sending a strong signal that certain sectors or occupations are expected to work from home, and that failing to do so is deemed unacceptable and irresponsible, may have a significant effect.
There is a summary of the IFS paper here.
A report from a multidisciplinary group convened by the Royal Society called Delve – Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics – has weighed up the evidence and come out in favour of the public wearing facemasks, including homemade cloth coverings, in a bid to tackle covid-19. It says:
Our analysis suggests that their use could reduce onward transmission by asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic wearers if widely used in situations where physical distancing is not possible or predictable, contrasting to the standard use of masks for the protection of wearers.
If correctly used on this basis, face masks, including homemade cloth masks, can contribute to reducing viral transmission.
However the report stresses clear instructions should be given to the public, including that the wearing of masks is to protect others, rather than the wearer themselves, as well as information on reuse, and the importance of other measures such as washing hands.
While there has been some concern that masks may cause some to become complacent, the authors say there is no evidence for this.
“While there is anecdotal evidence of individual risk compensation behaviour, at a population level the introduction of safety measures like HIV prevention measures, seatbelts and helmets have led to increased safety and even increased safety oriented behaviour,” they write. “There is no evidence for individual risk compensation amongst the public during epidemics.”
However, the team say more research is needed, including into the routes of transmission of Covid-19, when a mask may be most necessary and the extent of transmission from those who are infected but asymptomatic.
Updated
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Even if only 20% of the population downloads the tracing-contact app it will start generating useful health information, the head of the NHS’s digital arm has told MPs and peers.
Giving evidence to parliament’s joint committee on human rights, Matthew Gould, chief executive of NHSX said children as young as 16 – and possibly younger - could be recruited to the pilot project being launched on the Isle of Wight.
“If we are going to gain the level of engagement from the public we need to win their trust,” he told committee members. The app will not know the identity of those who join it but they will be asked to register the first half of their post code “so that we can tell where hotspots [of infection] are building up”. He added:
We have put privacy right at the heart of the app and the way it works. You don’t have to give your personal details. You can always choose to delete it. The app by itself is not a silver bullet. It’s part of a wider strategy.
Even if the take-up rate is 20% that gives us important insights into how the virus is spreading. At 40 or 50% it will make a big difference. We have tried to have an approach of transparency …. but there will be unexpected consequences. Data is deleted in a 28-day cycle from the phone.
Updated
Twitter, Facebook and Google accused of being 'deeply unhelpful' to MPs over Covid-19
Last week MPs on the Commons culture committee had a frustrating time at a hearing when they tried to get answers from representatives of Facebook, Google and Twitter about what they were doing to halt the spread of disinformation about coronavirus. Now Julian Knight, the committee chair, has written to the three companies with a series of follow-up questions. In a statement he accused them of being “deeply unhelpful”. He said:
The defensive position demonstrated by the representatives sent by Twitter, Facebook and Google was deeply unhelpful and failed in clarifying what they are doing to tackle the threat posed by record levels of misinformation and disinformation online about Covid-19, some of it deadly.
The lack of information and detail in the answers we were given showed a disregard for the important process of scrutiny.
We’re again asking the social media companies for information that was so woefully lacking in order to prove to parliament and their users that their organisations are open and accountable for their behaviour.
Updated
An elderly resident has died at the care home on Skye where nearly all the residents and half the staff have contracted Covid-19. The BBC has reported the owners of the Home Farm home in Portree confirming one of its residents had died, after it emerged 29 of its 34 residents, and half its 52 staff had tested positive for the virus.
“Our thoughts and sympathies are with the family who has lost a loved one,” a spokesman said.
The army has set up a mobile testing centre on Skye after local NHS managers ordered an urgent test and trace programme, to track the virus within the wider community. All the affected staff have been ordered home to self-isolate for seven days, while their immediate families have been asked to isolate for 14 days.
Scottish government data shows more than half of Scotland’s care homes have had at least one Covid-19 case since the start of the pandemic, with some reporting multiple fatalities. There have been 3,500 confirmed or suspected cases in care homes and as of last Sunday, 40% of care homes had at least one live case.
Updated
Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, said the government would ensure councils were “fully compensated” for the Covid-19 tasks they were asked to undertake. He told the housing and local government committee:
Of course some councils are doing things over and above what we’ve asked and that’s absolutely their right to do so, and I respect them making those decisions and those are matters for councils, but where we’ve asked councils to do things, we are going to ensure they are fully compensated.
The committee chairman, Clive Betts, said multiple councils were saying they had committed to spend, or had already spent, more money than the government had given them.
Jenrick replied: “From the returns that we have received so far, covering the first two months of the response, March and April, it’s clear that the funding we have provided is more than enough in total for the response that is being done brilliantly on the ground by local councils.”
Some additional funding has also been directed to lower-tier authorities which have suffered “irrecoverable losses” due to fees lost from car parks and leisure centres.
Updated
The Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke, fears fans will not be returning to football stadiums “any time soon”, PA Media reports. “The reality is that we just don’t know how things are going to pan out,” Clarke said in a letter to the FA Council sent on Friday. “But with social distancing in place for some time to come, we do face substantial changes to the whole football ecosystem.”
The full story is here.
Britain and Ireland should make more use of their island status in tackling the Covid-19 outbreak, a public health expert has said.
Speaking at the “independent Sage” meeting (see 9.29am) chaired by Sir David King, Prof Gabriel Scally, visiting professor of public health at the University of Bristol, pointed to the approach of countries such as New Zealand. He said:
There are countries that appear to have taken major advantage of their island status, like New Zealand and Taiwan, or virtual island status like South Korea, and have very successfully dealt with the virus.
And here we are sitting in Britain, adjacent to Ireland, two islands with an opportunity to take maximum advantage of that island status and it seems to me that has not entered into discussion to any significant extent.
Scally noted that unlike many countries, Britain and Ireland had maintained open borders in the face of Covid-19.
“That seems to me, as we go into a situation where we are thinking of lifting restrictions, places us in sudden jeopardy,” he said, adding that a key issue in countries including China at present was cases of coronavirus imported into the country, including from citizens who had returned from travelling abroad. Scally went on:
I would strongly suggest that we look at the issue of port health and what might be done in future, and looking at the experience from other countries and the contribution that improving and tightening our port health to make use of this island advantage, to explore what a contribution that could make.
Updated
The TUC has warned that the government’s draft guidelines for getting employees back to work (see 2.50pm) during the coronavirus crisis will put people’s health at risk and cannot be supported in their current form, our colleague Rowena Mason reports.
Updated
BuzzFeed has published details of the seven draft guidance documents drawn up by the government intended to show what firms in seven different sorts of work settings will need to do to protect staff when the lockdown gets lifted.
And these are from Alex Wickham, who published the story.
A lot of these proposed rules do seem draconian
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 4, 2020
But this line could give huge leeway:
“It will not always be possible to keep a distance of 2m. In these circumstances both employers and employees must do everything they reasonably can to reduce risk"https://t.co/sidlFbX79N
👀 In all seven documents, under a heading on the potential provision of personal protection equipment and facemasks for workers, it just says “guidance to follow”https://t.co/sidlFbFwif
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 4, 2020
Boris Johnson is now contributing, via a pre-recorded video speech, to the coronavirus global response international pledging conference. He said finding a vaccine was “the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes”.
Northern Ireland reports six new coronavirus deaths, taking total to 387
And in Northern Ireland a further six coronavirus deaths have been announced, taking the total to 387.
The dashboard with the full details is here.
Updated
Wales reports 14 new coronavirus deaths, taking total to 997
Public Health Wales has reported 14 new coronavirus deaths in Wales, taking the total to 997.
The latest number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Wales have been updated.
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) May 4, 2020
Data dashboard:
💻 https://t.co/RwgHDufHE7
📱 https://t.co/P6UF1MTOwc
Find out how we are responding to the spread of the virus in our daily statement here: https://t.co/1Lza9meaTL pic.twitter.com/cAarr5aJs1
Scotland reports five new coronavirus deaths, taking total to 1,576
A total of 1,576 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by five from 1,571 on Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, said earlier.
She said that there are 99 people in intensive care with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms in Scotland, no change from yesterday. And she said there are 1,720 people in hospital in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, an increase of 54.
The full figures are here.
England reports 204 new coronavirus hospital deaths, taking total to 21,384
NHS England has announced 204 new deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 21,384. The full details are here (pdf).
Of the 204 new deaths announced today, 54 occurred on 3 May, 108 occurred on 2 May and 24 occurred on 1 May.
Updated
The government has announced a £14m fund to help zoos and aquariums look after their animals in the face of pandemic closures.
Zoos and aquariums have lost visitor income having been forced to shut due in the lockdown, but still face the costs of looking after the animals in their care.
The government said the funding would help zoos cover costs relating to keeping the animals and ensuring welfare standards are upheld – helping pay for things such as feed, heating and security.
The environment department (Defra) also said it would continue to work with some of the largest zoos to discuss additional concerns about funding in the longer term.
Updated
The chief medical officer for Wales, Frank Atherton, is going to “formalise his advice” to the Welsh government on whether people should wear non-clinical face coverings, the first minister, Mark Drakeford, said. Drakeford explained:
What we are talking about are not masks of the sort that are worn in hospital.
We’re not going to embark on a course of action where members of the public end up competing with the health service for the use of masks which are needed in a clinical setting, and for which there isn’t evidence for use in the community.
What we are talking about are non-clinical face coverings, that’s the phrase the Scottish government has used in its guidance.
Updated
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Easing the lockdown has the potential to divide communities that have come together during the the coronavirus outbreak if changes to the rules are perceived to be unfair, a senior scientist has warned.
Prof Susan Michie, a behavioural psychologist at UCL, said that while the lockdown had led to a collective spirit in communities, the uneven lifting of lockdown measures risked harming the solidarity that will be needed in the longer term. Speaking at the “independent Sage” (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] meeting (see 9.29am) chaired by Sir David King, Michie said:
People were very surprised at how adherent the population has been and a lot of that is down to collective solidarity as people have been rising to the challenge.
Going forwards, in terms of lifting lockdown, it’s going to to be a very different situation.
A lot of thought has to be given to how this will be managed. If it’s not handled well, it risks potential divisions between groups.
She added that if changes to the rules were seen as unjust and unfair, they could “lead to resentment and anger and people being alienated from the collective and what’s being asked of them.”
Michie, who is also a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza group on behaviour, which feeds into the official government Sage, added that lockdown has already hit the disadvantaged hardest and that the way it was lifted risked driving inequality further.
She told the meeting that it was crucial people from across society had financial security, that messaging was specific to different groups of society, and that more effort should be put into bottom-up community-level approaches to emerging from the lockdown.
“Communities have been very impressive in how they’ve come together and this needs to be kept going,” she said. “Communities need to be mobilised for the longer term.”
Updated
Government publishes list of Sage members
The government has now published a list of the experts who have participated in meetings of Sage, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, as well as other expert groups that have been giving advice to the government on coronavirus. The details are here.
Sage does not have a fixed membership. Different experts are invited to attend depending on what topic is being discussed. The government has named 50 members, who it says “have provided input as experts at one or more meetings”. It says two other participants asked not to be named.
But the list does not include the names of non-expert government officials who have also attended. Downing Street was furious when the Guardian reported recently that Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, has attended and participated in meetings. Cummings is a history graduate, not a scientist, and although some Sage members did not object to his participation, others claimed it was not appropriate.
NHS Nightingale hospital in London to be put 'on standby' after running out of patients, No 10 says
The daily Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished. Here are the key points.
- The prime minister’s spokesman said that the NHS Nightingale hospital in London - the 4,000-bed emergency hospital set up within days in the ExCel centre, would be put “on standby”. He said that it was not expected to admit any new patients in the coming days, and he said as a result it would be put on standby, ready to receive patients if needed. He said there were five Nightingale hospitals open in total in England, and another two being prepared. The spokesman would not confirm that the ones outside London would also be put on hold too. But he said that the fact that the Nightingale hospitals were largely not be used did not mean that opening them was a mistake. He said:
We view the fact that the Nightingales have not has to be used in a significant way as something that is positive.
Asked if they had been a waste of money, he said: “Absolutely not.”
- The spokesman did not contest reports saying that Boris Johnson is planning to unveil details of his plan to start relaxing the lockdown in a speech on Sunday. The spokesman said the government has to review by current lockdown measures by Thursday. But there was no fixed date for an update to be given to the public, he said. He would not confirm the reports that Johnson is planning a speech for Sunday. But he went on:
We are at a critical moment in the fight against this virus and it it going to be crucial that we get the advice to the public right. If it means taking some extra time to do that, then that’s what we will do.
- The spokesman did not challenge a comment from Nicola Sturgeon saying the lockdown will continue beyond Thursday. Asked about Sturgeon’s comment, the spokesman said:
I don’t think I can pre-empt the review. But if we do ease the social distancing measures in any way, it is likely to be a gradual process.
BREAKING: Nicola Sturgeon says it is "very likely that on Thursday I will be asking you to stick with lockdown for a bit longer".
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) May 4, 2020
Read the latest on #COVID19 here: https://t.co/Eoki8JfvaT pic.twitter.com/vSrX3fWLzb
- The spokesman said that lifting the lockdown too soon would be “the worst thing” that could be done. He said:
The British public have sacrificed an enormous amount to fight this virus, to protect the NHS and to save lives. We are at a critical point and the worst thing that we could do is lift the measures too soon and risk a second peak which overwhelms the NHS.
- The spokesman played down suggestions that the government would relax its two-metre rule. Asked about Ben Wallace’s comment to this effect this morning (see 8.49am), he said:
There has been no change to the two-metre rule. We continue to advise that people should remain two metres apart from each other. That has not changed.
The spokesman said that Wallace had been “reflecting the existing advice, which says that people should remain two metres apart wherever possible”.
- The spokesman said that a list of members of Sage, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, would be published today. And this week the government will publish more of the Sage advice to government on coronavirus.
Updated
The Scottish health secretary, Jeane Freeman, addressed the situation at the Home Farm care home on Skye, which has experienced a “significant” outbreak of coronavirus.
On Sunday, it was announced that 26 members of staff and 28 residents had contracted Covid-19.
She said all residents had been isolated in their rooms while the local GP and advanced nurse practitioner undertake “medical assessments”.
The health secretary said her “best thoughts and good wishes” went out to those who had tested positive at Home Farm and other care homes across the country.
Around 20,000 members of staff in health and social care have responded to the call to return to the respective sectors, Freeman added.
Updated
A tweet summarising the measures in Scotland:
FM @NicolaSturgeon is outlining plans for a test, trace, isolate and support strategy for suppressing #coronavirus in Scotland as #lockdown is lifted pic.twitter.com/SKEuLwz12a
— Glenn Campbell (@GlennBBC) May 4, 2020
Scottish government publishes contact tracing plan
Nicola Sturgeon has warned that people may be asked to self-isolate themselves repeatedly once ministers introduce a new “test, trace, isolate” policy after the coronavirus lockdown eases.
The Scottish government published a new policy paper (pdf) on how it will tackle future Covid-19 infections during later phases of the pandemic, which will focus heavily on “early and effective” identification of new cases through testing, and then tracking down and isolating other people in contact with infected people.
The paper said Scottish labs would need to conduct at least 15,500 tests a day, to cover about 2% of the population. The NHS would also need to find and train 2,000 additional people to specialise in contact tracing.
The document said the new “test, trace, isolate, support” strategy would underpin the post-lockdown approach, alongside all existing measures such as social distancing, good hygiene such as regular hand washing, use of face-coverings in crowded public places and disease surveillance.
It was “designed to help us interrupt chains of transmission in the community by identifying cases of Covid-19, tracing the people who may have become infected by spending time in close contact with them, and then supporting those close contacts to self-isolate, so that if they have the disease they are less likely transmit to it to others.”
Anyone would had been closer than two metres from an infected person for 15 minutes or more would be required to self-isolate for 14 days, the document said.
Testing capacity would need to expand dramatically to cope: Scotland’s daily testing potential would hit 8,000 samples a day by mid-May, with another 4,000 tests a day done at the UK government’s Lighthouse laboratory at Glasgow university.
The first minister warned this would, in effect, become the new normal. It would be effective once community transmission rates were at a much lower level than at present, she indicated.
It is important to stress that ‘test, trace, isolate, support’ will be most effective when levels of infection are low – lower than now – and stay low, and that its success relies on all of us knowing and agreeing what to do if we have symptoms, and being prepared to self-isolate when advised to do so.
This will not be easy. In this next phase, we will be asking people to self-isolate, not for their own benefit, and not because we know for certain that they have contracted the disease, but in order to protect others in case they have.
People may face self-isolation not just once, but on repeat occasions.
Updated
Care home workers say employers are playing “Russian roulette” with their lives as personal protective equipment (PPE) is withheld or rationed amid unclear guidance, according to a union.
In some homes PPE is being locked away, Unison said, while in others staff are being told they only need to wear it once a resident has confirmed coronavirus.
Care workers have told the union they are being forced to use bin bags to protect themselves from potentially contracting or spreading Covid-19.
Other staff said they had asked for PPE such as masks and visors, but were told “head office is following government guidelines and will only give them out when they suspect someone might have Covid-19”.
PHE guidance states that staff “should have access to the PPE that protects them for the appropriate setting and context”.
Updated
Courts in England and Wales have managed to keep going during the Coronavirus crisis unlike those in most other European countries, the justice minister Chris Philp has told MPs.
Giving evidence to the justice select committee, the minister denied that any cases had been dropped because of the pandemic and said courts are operating at around 49% of their previous workload.
Philp told MPs: “Our jurisdiction has done pretty well in keeping functioning when compared to the rest of Europe. In most of Europe, the courts have shut down completely. “
On an average pre-Coronavirus day, Philp said, courts would handle around 8,320 cases. By comparison on 27 April, the courts in England and Wales handled 4,066 cases. Around 85% of those heard involved some form of remote hearing by video link or phone. Many of the hearings, he acknowledged, were procedural hearings rather than full trials.
Extra cleaners have been hired to ensure that the 149 courts that remain open during the pandemic are cleaned more regularly, MPs have been informed.
Philp told the committee that the right to jury trial would be upheld once they resume. The only change being considered, he said, is whether the minimum jury size could be reduced to seven jurors to improve social distancing. It is currently nine.
A consultation on raising the compulsory retirement age for magistrates would be conducted immediately after lockdown ends, he added. The current mandatory retirement age is 70.
Updated
Hello everyone. I am helping Andrew today on the live blog. As ever, your input is really valuable. Please do share with me any comments, thoughts, and news tips. Thanks in advance.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
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Jennie Formby to stand down as Labour's general secretary
Turning away from coronavirus for a moment, there is big news in Labourworld. Jennie Formby has announced that she standing down as general secretary. In a statement she said:
When I applied for the role of general secretary in 2018 it was because I wanted to support Jeremy Corbyn, who inspired so many people to get involved in politics with his message of hope, equality and peace
It has been a huge privilege to be general secretary of the largest political party in Europe for the last two years, but now we have a new leadership team it is the right time to step down. I would like to thank Jeremy, our members and my staff colleagues who have given me so much support during what has been a very challenging period, in particular when I was suffering from ill health.
This is important because the general secretary runs Labour HQ and Formby’s resignation means that Sir Keir Starmer can now install one of his own allies in the post. Formby, who worked for Unite before becoming general secretary in 2018, was close to Jeremy Corbyn and his faction in the party. In the Conservative party a new leader is free to install his or her acolytes in top jobs at party HQ but in the Labour party the general secretary is more independent, and harder to move if he or she has the backing of the national executive committee. It took Corbyn more than two years to instal a general secretary viewed as a loyalist.
Paying tribute to Formby, Starmer said:
I would like to thank Jennie for her service, and for the personal and professional efforts she has made in advancing the cause she has fought all her life for.
Jennie has led our party’s organisation with commitment and energy through a period of political upheaval, including a snap general election last year. I wish her the very best for the future.
Labour’s NEC will meet soon to decide the timetable for electing a new general secretary.
Updated
Asda has offered priority delivery slots to thousands of care homes for the next six months and donated 250,000 face masks to protect workers and residents, the supermarket said.
Bosses said 3,500 care homes across the country will be able to book the slots.
It follows similar moves by other supermarkets to offer deliveries to those finding it hardest to get to stores during the coronavirus lockdown.
The Asda chief executive, Roger Burnley, said: “The impact of Covid on our care system has been the subject of numerous news reports in recent days, and the challenges facing our nation’s care homes and the staff who are working so hard to protect some of our most vulnerable people have been heartbreaking to see.
“Giving priority access to these amazing care homes is, I believe, the right thing for us to do - and I am proud that, having built the capacity of our online delivery service in recent weeks from 450,000 slots to 700,000 weekly slots, we are able to do this for our care homes.”
The medical-grade masks will be delivered later this month, he added.
Updated
The “alternative Sage [Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies]” meeting (see 9.29am) organised by Sir David King, the government’s former chief scientific adviser, is just getting going now. There is a live feed here.
Sir David King - live via https://t.co/bCAIyKqXwI https://t.co/c4O3H5GQuk
— Sir David King (@Sir_David_King) May 4, 2020
ONS reports big increase in number of people anxious or unhappy following pandemic and lockdown
The Office for National Statistics has published a report this morning on well-being (or happiness, to put it crudely, although the ONS uses various different measures to assess this). As you would expect, coronavirus has led to an increase in the overall level of misery.
Here are the main points.
- Almost half (49.6%) of people in Great Britain reported “high” levels of anxiety between 20 and 30 March. (The lockdown was announced on 23 March.) That is more than double the level at the end of 2019 (21%). This chart makes the same point in another way. It shows how the average level of anxiety in that 10-day period was 5.18 out of 10, compared to a long-term average of about 3.
- Over the same 10-day period 20.7% of people reported low levels of life satisfaction. That is more than double the figure for the final quarter of 2019, when just 8.4% of people said they felt like this. A low level of life satisfaction means a score of 0 to 4, when people are asked to give their satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10.
What standards committee said about Conor Burns
Here is the full standards committee report into Conor Burns.
An investigation was launched after a complaint was made to the parliamentary commissioner for standards saying that Burns had written a letter on Commons notepaper in an attempt to help his father recover money that was allegedly owed to him following a loan. In the letter to the complainant, who is not named in the report, Burns also suggested that he might raise the case in the Commons chamber using parliamentary privilege if his father did not get the money he felt was owed to him.
In his conclusion the standards committee said:
Like the [parliamentary commissioner for standards], we are persuaded by the evidence that Mr Burns used his parliamentary position in an attempt to intimidate a member of the public into doing as Mr Burns wished, in a dispute relating to purely private family interests which had no connection with Mr Burns’ parliamentary duties. Mr Burns persisted in making veiled threats to use parliamentary privilege to further his family’s interests even during the course of the commissioner’s investigation. He also misleadingly implied that his conduct had the support of the house authorities.
Parliamentary privilege, particularly the privilege of freedom of speech, is precious to our democracy. The right of members of parliament to speak in the chamber without fear or favour is essential to parliament’s ability to scrutinise the executive and to tackle social abuses, particularly if the latter are committed by the rich and powerful who might use the threat of defamation proceedings to deter legitimate criticism. Precisely because parliamentary privilege is so important, it is essential to maintaining public respect for parliament that the protection afforded by privilege should not be abused by a member in the pursuit of their purely private and personal interests. We, like the commissioner, conclude that Mr Burns was guilty of abusing his privileged status in an attempt to intimidate a member of the public.
Burns told the committee that he accepted he should not have written the letter he did on Commons notepaper, but that he was under a “huge amount of personal stress” at the time. He said he was sorry for what he had done.
Updated
Conor Burns resigns as international trade minister after inquiry rules he abused position as MP
Downing Street has announced that Conor Burns has resigned as an international trade minister. A No 10 spokesman said:
Conor Burns has resigned as minister of state for international trade following a report from the parliamentary commissioner for standards. A replacement will be announced in due course.
On the basis of a report from the parliamentary commissioner, the Commons standards committee said that Burns should receive a seven-day suspension from the House of Commons for abusing his position as an MP in order to further his private family interests.
Burns became an MP in 2010 but only became a minister last summer, when Boris Johnson became PM. His promotion was seen as a reward for his having been one of Johnson’s most loyal backbench supporters.
I will post more from the standards committee report shortly.
Magistrates should be able to impose sentences of up to 12 months for a single offence as a temporary response to the coronavirus crisis in order to take pressure off the crown courts, MPs have been told.
Addressing the justice select committee, John Bache, national chair of the Magistrates’ Association, called for JPs to be given enhanced sentencing powers so that they can deal with an anticipated backlog of criminal cases once lockdown ends.
Jury trials across England and Wales have been postponed during the pandemic because of the impossibility of maintaining social distancing during the crisis.
Magistrates have long campaigned to be giving greater sentencing powers. The current limit for any single offence is six months. Legislation under the last Labour government raised that limit to 12 months but it has never been brought into effect.
On Monday, Bache told a session of the justice select committee considering the impact of Covid-19 on the justice system that:
Giving magistrates the ability to impose 12 months sentences would take the pressure off crown courts. Even if it’s only for a temporary time.
Around 192 magistrates courts in England and Wales have been closed by the coronavirus crisis. Others are still dealing with urgent cases. Many magistrates are working remotely from home, dealing with significant quantities of single justice procedure cases such as driving fines.
Updated
Last week Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, announced that small firms could apply for “bounce back” loans worth up to £50,000. These loans are meant to be simpler to obtain than some of the other coronavirus loans available, and they are 100% backed by the government (not 80% backed, liked the others, which means banks should have no qualms about lending).
The scheme is now open. Here is the Treasury’s news release, and firms can apply here.
Last Monday I announced Bounce Back Loans, today they open for business.
— Rishi Sunak #StayHomeSaveLives (@RishiSunak) May 4, 2020
✅Borrow between £2,000 and £50,000
✅Easy 7 question form to fill
✅Interest-free first year
✅Repay over 6 years, 2.5% interest rate, no early penaltyhttps://t.co/5c52bOZE8z #BounceBackLoans pic.twitter.com/UzGAzjJIgx
Updated
The Times has more details about plans for that contact tracing app – about which more is expected to be announced by the health secretary at this evening’s press conference.
The paper reports that researchers at Oxford University have set up a model in computer code, which simulates a city of 1 million people – all behaving as we do in normal times, using public transport, seeing friends and family – in order to track how the app would work.
Early tests have been a success and the next stage is to roll the app out to residents on the Isle of Wight, where eight out of 10 people with smartphones need to download it in order for the trial to be effective. If this stage of the trial is a success it will be introduced across the rest of the country in weeks.
The app uses bluetooth to record everybody you come in close contact with. The data it gathers will stay on your phone until you notify the app that you have symptoms, at which point it will be uploaded to a central server and people who need to self-isolate will be alerted.
At least 15,000 staff will be needed to arrange testing for those with symptoms. In a separate report, the Times says that this work will be outsourced to private call centre operators including Serco. Staff will be given about a day of training before starting work.
The Times reports that there is disagreement in government about how much data the app should gather. The app used in South Korea, for example, records real time location data, so that authorities can see where there are clusters of infections. There are no plans for the UK app to do this. The paper says:
[The] essential dilemma is this: The more intrusive the app is - the more information it gathers and relays to a central database - the more useful it will be in tracking localised outbreaks and guiding the ‘human’ tracing work.
Yet at the same time the more intrusive it is the less people are likely to download it and unless it has significant take up it is more of a gimmick than a genuinely useful tool.
Updated
Demonstrators have blocked access to building sites for the HS2 high-speed railway in London and Warwickshire, in protest at construction work continuing amid the coronavirus crisis, PA Media reports. The group, who call themselves HS2 Rebellion, claim the work is non-essential and that, by failing to sop during the lockdown, it is putting the lives of workers and their families at risk. They say that health workers remain without personal protective equipment (PPE) and that money used for construction projects should be channelled to such medical supplies instead.
Here is a tweet from HS2 Rebellion explaining their case.
Euston #hs2 site entrance blocked by protestors because this non-essential work continues during lockdown.
— HS2 Rebellion (@Hs2Rebellion) May 4, 2020
Allowing these sites to continue...puts the lives of the workers and their families at risk#NHSnotHS2 #shutthesites@ReelNewsLondon @CNplus @LBC pic.twitter.com/Tq2Jq6itBQ
Updated
In an interview on the Today programme this morning Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust, a medical research charity, and a member of Sage, the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies, said that there was “nothing magical” about the two-metre rule and that other ways of minimising contact might be as effective . He told the programme:
It’s based on old data about how far when we cough and we sneeze that the droplets and the aerosols that may come from that spread. There’s nothing magical about two metres. Perhaps more importantly is the time you spend in contact with somebody else. Not just the distance but also the time.
(As this BBC analysis by David Shukman explains, some of this “old data” goes back to the 1930s.)
In his interview Farrar also said that, when the lockdown eased, he would not approve of separate rules applying to the over-70s just on the basis of their age. He said:
I think it’s very difficult to have different rules for different age groups. I think isolating certain groups and saying you’re different to the rest of society is a very, very difficult message to give and I personally would not be in favour of that.
Updated
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, joining the blog for the day.
We’ve already covered the main lines from the interviews giving by Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, this morning. (See 8.49am.) Here are some of the other points he’s been making.
- Wallace refused to back President Trump’s claim that evidence exists to show the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, went further yesterday, claiming there was “enormous” evidence to this effect. But Wallace would not endorse these claims. Asked if he agreed, he replied:
I think the time for postmortem into this global pandemic viral spread is for once we all have as much data as possible, the testing around the world produces solid and realistic results about who is infected, how it acts with different people, and also when there’s potentially a vaccine in place.
That’s the time to have those types of discussions.
By me speculating or talking about what I think about China or anyone else isn’t going to help the fight against coronavirus in the UK right now.
- Wallace rejected claims there was a blanket rule saying the over-70s have to rigorously self-isolate. He said:
It’s not a blanket view of the over-70s. If you are over 70 and you have a range of conditions you are viewed as very highly clinically vulnerable and you should take extra measures.
If you are over 70 you should take extra precautions but it is not a blanket rule that if you are over 70 at the moment you are going to be treated differently from other people.
Wallace’s comment is correct, but it is striking that six weeks into the lockdown, there is still confusion about what the rules actually say. The problem was also highlighted by this tweet at the weekend from Matt Hancock, the health secretary, in response to the Sunday Times splash.
Sad to see another factually wrong & misleading article on p1 of the Sunday Times.
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) May 2, 2020
The clinically vulnerable, who are advised to stay in lockdown for 12 weeks, emphatically DO NOT include all over 70s.
I’ve asked for an urgent correction. pic.twitter.com/WGj1eOtqHl
The confusion arises because there are three groups of people covered by social distancing rules: non-vulnerable people; around 1.5m people described as “clinically extremely vulnerable”, who have been told to “shield” at home at least until the end of June; and the over-70s and other “clinically vulnerable” people.
Special rules (pdf) apply to the “clinically extremely vulnerable”. But people who are just “clinically vulnerable” are told to apply the same rules as everyone else, with the proviso that they should take “particular care” to minimise contact with people outside their home.
- Wallace said the absentee rate from coronavirus in the armed forces was about half that seen in the rest of the community. He said that might be because of the “strong personal discipline” imposed on members of the armed forces to follow hygiene routines.
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Half the workforce at a care home on Skye have been sent home after contracting Covid-19, in a major outbreak which has infected nearly all the facility’s elderly residents.
NHS Highland tested all the staff and residents at Home Farm care home in Portree after cases emerged last week and found 28 out of its 34 residents were positive for Covid-19 and 26 of its 52 staff.
Soldiers from Royal Regiment of Scotland have set up a mobile testing site in Broadford, a village on Skye, and extra staff have been drafted into help run the home with the help of the local council and NHS Highland. Infected staff have been told to self-isolate for seven days and their immediate family for 14 days.
Dr Ken Oates, the board’s director of public health, said:
There is no evidence at this stage that the covid infection has spread further into the community. The assessment centre in Portree and local GPs are not reporting an increase of cases.
The measures that have been put in place will support us in ensuring, as best as we can, that the outbreak is as contained as possible.
Ian Blackford, the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, said the outbreak was particularly worrying because the nearest hospital ventilators were in Inverness, 112 miles away.
Sir David King, a former government chief scientific adviser who will chair an “independent” alternative to the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) at midday, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the new board was necessary because he feared experts were deferring to ministers. Asked if that meant they were not free to speak their minds, he responded:
I believe that’s the case, yes. I think there’s a very big difference between the situation today and the situation as it was in 2010-11. That is quite simply the permission to speak in the public domain has been changed.
I think the main point I’m making is that an independent science advisory group really needs to be dominated by people whose income is not determined by the fact they are working for the government.
King will launch his “alternative Sage” – in which experts will discuss the UK’s approach to coronavirus – on YouTube at 12pm. You can watch it here. He’ll follow up with a press conference at 4pm.
King said yesterday that public trust in science risked being damaged by potential political interference. He cited the government policy on face masks, which he said appeared to be politically convenient, but ran in contradiction to the best available evidence.
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Two-metre rule could be relaxed as lockdown eased, defence secretary suggests
The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has been speaking to broadcasters this morning. The PA Media news agency has quotes from his interview with Sky News, in which he said that ministers were trying to source as many masks as possible in case they change the advice to recommend the public wears them.
It’s not the amazing thing if you wear a mask that no one’s going to get it but there is obviously this issue about human nature and interactions; if you go on public transport and wear a mask, will you feel able to go back to work?
At the same time, to anticipate should different rules be made around masks, we’re trying to source as many masks as possible as we speak, and have been for the last few weeks.
Wallace was asked whether people would be hesitant to return to work when the lockdown is eased after weeks of strict stay-at-home messaging. He said:
I strongly believe the public aren’t stupid. They read advice, they listen to the media. They took on board the government’s advice ... and I think they will be perfectly able to read the government’s next stage when we get to it. I’m totally confident when it comes to the next step we will all together be able to move forward.
Wallace suggested the two-metre distancing rule could be relaxed to allow people to go back to work.
You can look at shielding, you can look at how long you stay near people. The two-metre rule reduces the possibility of infection by a certain amount of time.
If you halve that it still keeps people away from being infected but for a lesser time. The probability of being infected is much less.
I think there are options about how we can do it. You can wear PPE, that could be a possibility if you have to be in close proximity or indeed you could find other ways of doing it.
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Labour – Businesses need time to plan for lockdown easing
Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister, has been speaking to BBC Breakfast. She said the public “deserve to be levelled with” over a detailed plan for easing lockdown measures.
We’ve been urging government to publish a plan because businesses and other organisations ... need time to plan and to prepare to put in place very different organisation in their businesses and, for example, schools.
Government need to put in a range of measures – whether that is mass community testing, contact tracing, and also those things like potentially the face coverings.
But also I think the public who have overwhelmingly stuck by these very tough lockdown rules over the last few weeks deserve to be levelled with and also want some hope for the future, so that’s why we’re urging the government to give much more detail, and face masks are one part of that.
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Primary school pupils to return to school on 1 June
An article in today’s Guardian reports that government scientific advisers are examining the impact of letting children in their final year of primary school return to classrooms from 1 June.
Boris Johnson is due to announce next Sunday that year six children, aged 10 and 11, will be the first cohort allowed back into schools since he announced their closure on 18 March, to be closely followed by other primary school years, and years 10 and 12 in secondary schools.
The scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) is said to be focusing on allowing back older primary school children initially, with the year group deemed a priority because of their need to transition to secondary school in September.
Downing Street confirmed that 1 June after the half-term holiday was its target – subject to the latest data on the spread of Covid-19 – and that the prime minister would make a significant announcement on Sunday offering a roadmap out of the lockdown. Sage is expected to meet on Tuesday.
You can read the full report here -
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In the second instalment of his interview with Sun newspapers – the first having been published in the Sun on Sunday – Boris Johnson said he feared he would not live to see his son born when he was admitted to intensive care with Covid-19.
Asked if he had ever worried he might not live to meet his son Wilfred, who was born on Wednesday, he said:
Well, yes, of course. We’ve all got a lot to live for, a lot to do, and I won’t hide it from you, I was thinking about that, yes.
The prime minister said he “couldn’t see the way out of the skip” but that he had a “natural buoyancy or refusal to give in or harbour negative thoughts”.
I never really thought that I wouldn’t come back from it. It was more frustration.
Johnson added: “I owe my life to our doctors and nurses and the healthcare workers. They pulled my chestnuts out of the fire, no question.”
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Guardian political correspondent Kate Proctor reports on today’s front page that tech firms are in talks with ministers about creating health passports to help Britons return safely to work using coronavirus testing and facial recognition.
Facial biometrics could be used to help provide a digital certificate – sometimes known as an immunity passport – proving which workers have had Covid-19, as a possible way of easing the impact on the economy and businesses from ongoing physical distancing even after current lockdown measures are eased.
The UK-based firm Onfido, which specialises in verifying people’s identities using facial biometrics, has delivered detailed plans to the government and is involved in a number of conversations about what could be rolled out across the country, it is understood.
Its proposals, which have reached pilot stages in other countries, could be executed within months, it says. The firm could use antibody tests – proving whether someone has had the virus – or antigen tests, which show current infections.
Guardian front page, Monday 4 May 2020: Ministers in talks over immunity passports to get UK back to work pic.twitter.com/GKQ8ECy3SP
— Guardian news (@guardiannews) May 3, 2020
What to expect today
- The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, is speaking to broadcasters this morning. He’ll be on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme at 8.10am. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves is also doing interviews with a range of broadcasters. I’ll bring you highlights from what they say.
- A selection of bankers, including the heads of commercial banking at HSBC and RBS, will give evidence on the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis
- The government’s former chief scientific adviser David King will launch his “alternative Sage” meeting of experts on YouTube at midday. They will discuss the UK’s approach to coronavirus. It should be worth a watch. He’ll follow up with a press conference at 4pm.
- The business secretary, Alok Sharma, will take questions in the Commons from 2.30pm. Expect him to be asked about that draft guidance for employers.
- The information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, and Matthew Gould, who is heading up the NHSX contact tracing app, will also appear before parliament’s joint committee on human rights at 2.30pm. They will discuss the privacy issues surrounding the new app. The NHSX app is being trialled on the Isle of Wight this week.
- The health secretary, Matt Hancock, will take this evening’s Downing Street coronavirus press conference at 5pm. Politico’s London Playbook reports that he will unveil plans for a vast South Korean-style “test, track and trace” scheme.
- As reported yesterday, it is expected that the government will extend the current lockdown measures on Thursday and that Johnson will use Sunday’s press conference to set out a more detailed plan for how and when they will start to be lifted.
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Draft plan for businesses post-lockdown leaked
Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s UK coronavirus live blog. I’m Frances Perraudin and I’ll be bringing you the latest updates in the country’s response to the pandemic.
A draft government plan to ease the coronavirus lockdown has been seen by the BBC. It includes the suggestion that employers should minimise the number of people using equipment, stagger shift times, reduce hot desking and maximise home-working. The guidance also states that – where the 2 metre physical distance between employers can’t be maintained – PPE, screens and additional hygiene procedures should be used.
The director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, Adam Marshall, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that businesses needed the government to be as specific as possible in its guidance.
We need as much specificity as possible so businesses can ensure they’ve taken all the steps they can in order to protect their people.
And as much as possible we want to see consistency across the UK it would be very confusing and costly for businesses if we saw different nations going in very different directions.
They (bosses) will want to know that they’re not going to be held liable to horrible things that may unfortunately happen if they’ve done everything in their power to keep their people safe.
Whereas by contrast you’d want to see those employers who didn’t take adequate steps face the consequences of that so the question of legal liability is extremely important.
Elsewhere, a request by UK universities for a £2bn bailout has been rejected by the government. Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, has instead said that institutions could continue to charge the full £9,250 annual tuition fee for undergraduates while campuses remained closed and face-to-face classes were suspended, as long high standards of online teaching were maintained. The government will also bring forward £2.6bn in tuition fees that universities would have received at the start of the next academic year, as well as £100m in research funding. You can read the full story from our education Richard Adams here –
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