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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Andrew Sparrow and Lucy Campbell (now); and Matthew Weaver (earlier)

UK coronavirus live: Some 'disruptive' lockdown measures set to remain in force for rest of year, says Whitty

Evening summary

  • Social distancing is likely to be needed until a vaccine is available for Covid-19, according to the chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty. He told the daily news briefing he was hopeful for a vaccine within a year but there is a long way to go between having a vaccine and widespread immunity. It would therefore be “wholly unrealistic” to think that restrictions would be relaxed any time soon and some “very socially disruptive” measures would almost certainly have to remain in force for the rest of the year, he said. Whitty added that coronavirus was not going to be eradicated, so we must accept we will be working with it globally for the foreseeable future.
  • We are at the peak of the outbreak, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, told the Commons. But this was put into further perspective by Chris Whitty at the press briefing, who highlighted that the peak was an “artificial peak” as it was the result of the lockdown. The first secretary of state, Dominic Raab, also reiterated that the biggest risk was a second spike. This all reinforces that an “exit strategy” from physical distancing measures is proving more and more difficult to devise.
  • A contact-tracing system will be in place “in a matter of weeks”, Hancock also said. He said the effectiveness of “test, track and trace” every new case as a method rested on the incidence of transmission in the community.
  • The UK’s hospital death toll surpassed 18,000, as a further 759 deaths took the total to 18,100. The ONS said there had also been 1,043 coronavirus-related deaths in care homes in England and Wales by 10 April. In a joint statement with the CQC, the government conceded that the true number “could be double”. Chris Whitty also said he thought the ONS figures were “an underestimate”. And analysis from the Financial Times suggested the real UK death toll could be as high as 41,000.
  • The EU denied the UK government’s claim that a mix-up was to blame for its non-involvement in its coronavirus procurement scheme. The European commission said the UK was well aware of the initiative when it decided not to participate, contradicting the government’s claim that it didn’t get involved because of a “misunderstanding” about eligibility. Facing questions from the Commons foreign affairs committee, Sir Simon McDonald, the head of the Foreign Office, said it was a “political decision”, though he later issued a retraction and said non-involvement had been due to a “communication problem”.
  • The Welsh government is to fund free “school meals” for disadvantaged children during the summer holidays. It is the first UK nation to make such a pledge.
  • And the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, urged the government to ban evictions over rent arrears built up as a result of the coronavirus crisis. He also called for an increase in housing benefits and that the government should cover, for the duration of the crisis, any shortfall in payments by private renters.

Thank you so much to everyone who got in touch throughout the day with news tips, suggestions, comments and advice.

That’s it from us on the UK side, we’ll be back tomorrow to bring you all the latest updates on the pandemic. But in the meantime you can continue to follow the Guardian’s coverage of the worldwide picture over on the global live blog.

Updated

Chris Whitty's press conference - Summary and analysis

Dominic Raab was chairing that press conference, but in news terms it was dominated by Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser. Here are the main points from what he said, with some analysis.

  • Whitty said that some “very socially disruptive” measures would almost certainly have to remain in force for the rest of the year. (See 6.22pm.)
  • He stressed that it would take a long time to get vaccine development and production to a stage where it would be able to be used to protect the bulk of the population. That was why social distancing measures would apply for so long, he explained. On vaccines he said he was “very hopeful that we will have vaccines which have proof of concept much earlier than a year”. He went on:

But there is a long path between having a vaccine that’s proof of concept, and until we have either a vaccine or a drug ... what we will have available to us are social measures.

  • He said the government could not allow the R number, the reproduction number (the rate at which the virus spreads), to get above 1 for any extended period of time. He said:

We cannot allow R, the force of transmission, to go above one for any extended period at any point because, if it does, exponential growth of this will continue, it’ll resume and we will get back to a situation where the NHS could have its emergency services overwhelmed. It does not take very long from where you get from bad numbers to really bad numbers ...

What we are trying to work out is what are the things that add up to an R of less than one. That narrows our options quite significantly.

This chart, from a report (pdf) published by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change on Monday, illustrates quite how narrow the government’s options are, because it estimates the specific impact on the R number of lifting the various lockdown measures in place.

Risk of lifting lockdown measures
Risk of lifting lockdown measures Photograph: Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
  • Whitty said coronavirus was not going to be eradicated. He said:

This disease is not going to be eradicated, it is not going to disappear so we have to accept that we are working with a disease that we are going to be with globally for the foreseeable future.

  • He said that the existence of the new temporary Nightingale hospitals “does actually mean that when we are planning forward this does give us a number of options we would not have had if those were not there”. Whitty did not elaborate, but his remark probably alluded to an option described as “running hot” in the Sunday Times write-through by Tim Shipman and Caroline Wheeler at the weekend. Here is an extract from their article (paywall).

Ministers who foresee economic disaster if the lockdown continues believe the NHS has a cushion that can be exploited. “The debate is now between people who think we should suppress the virus completely and those who think we should run things quite hot, use the spare capacity in the NHS and aim to keep the R number just below one,” one official said.

Another senior insider said: “You have to be clear. Running hot means more people are likely to die. That’s the decision the prime minister will have to take.”

  • Whitty said he thought the ONS figures for coronavirus deaths in care homes were an underestimate. He said:

The numbers that have been ascribed to Covid directly in ONS statistics are still relatively modest. I have said repeatedly, the fact that the ONS said in their last weekly report, 826 deaths, every one of them a tragedy, but I think that could be an underestimate. What we need to look at, in these data and other data, if we want to get a true picture, is - and I’ve said this right from the beginning - is the all-cause, seasonally adjusted mortality over time.

And that is because, as I’ve said here before, deaths from Covid will be a combination of direct deaths from the virus, and also indirect deaths, if for example people are nervous about going into hospital.

  • He said coronavirus was peaking, but that it was an “artificial peak”, because it was the product of the lockdown.
  • He said that the public should not expect the number of Covid-19 deaths to “fall away” suddenly. As he presented a new graph (see below) he said:

It is important for people to fully understand that ... even in those countries which started their epidemic curve earlier than in the UK, and which are still ahead, the downward slope from the point which we change is a relatively slow one.

We should anticipate the same situation in the UK. We should not expect this to be a sudden fall away of cases.

Global deaths - seven-day rolling sum
Global deaths - seven-day rolling sum Photograph: No 10

Updated

Some 'disruptive' lockdown measures set to remain in force for rest of year, says Whitty

The most striking thing from that press conference was what Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, said about the so-called “exit strategy” from the lockdown. Downing Street has reportedly banned the use of the term “exit strategy” from its planning. That is because it is getting harder to see how there will be any firm exit from some aspects of social distancing for quite a long time to come. Officials, and to a lesser extent ministers, have been signalling it for a while, but Whitty was this afternoon more explicit than anyone else has been about this at these press conferences.

Here are his key quotes on this point.

  • Whitty said that some “very socially disruptive” measures would almost certainly have to remain in force for the rest of the year. He said:

We have to be very realistic if people are hoping it’s suddenly going to move from where we are in lockdown to where suddenly into everything is gone, that is a wholly unrealistic expectation

We are going to have to do a lot of things for really quite a long period of time, the question is what is the best package and this is what we’re trying to work out.

If you release more on one area, you have to keep on board more of another area so there’s a proper trade-off and this is what ministers are having to consider.

Later he was even more explicit.

In the long run, the exit from this is going to be one of two things, ideally. A vaccine, and there are a variety of ways they can be deployed ... or, and/or, highly effective drugs so that people stop dying of this disease even if they catch it, or which can prevent this disease in vulnerable people.

Until we have those, and the probability of having those any time in the next calendar year are incredibly small and I think we should be realistic about that.

We’re going to have to rely on other social measures, which of course are very socially disruptive as everyone is finding at the moment.

But until that point, that is what we will have to do but it will be the best combination that maximises the outlooks but it’s going to take a long time and I think we need to be aware of that.

I will post a full summary from the press conference soon.

Prof Chris Whitty at the press conference.
Prof Chris Whitty at the press conference. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

The increase in confirmed cases of Covid-19 in prisons in England and Wales appears to have slowed, daily figures have shown.

There were 294 confirmed cases of the coronavirus among prisoners in 66 prisons, a 2% rise in 24 hours, the lowest increase in cases since the Ministry of Justice started releasing the figures. There are around 81,500 prisoners in England and Wales across 117 prisons.

The number of prison staff infected rose by 6% in the same period to 231 workers across 55 prisons, slower than recent increases among the prison staff population.

At least 15 prisoners are known to have contracted Covid-19 and died. The figures reflect the total number of recorded positive cases of Covid-19 and include individuals who have recovered.

The Prison Service is to temporarily release up to 4,000 inmates who are within two months of their release date, as well as build 500 cells within the existing prison estate to increase single-cell occupancy.

Updated

Thankyou messages for key workers in Belvedere, Kent.
Thankyou messages for key workers in Belvedere, Kent. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon said she was increasingly optimistic Scotland has passed the peak in cases after “really encouraging” data showed a continuing fall in hospital admissions and intensive care cases.

The number of intensive care patients in Scotland fell for the seventh day running to 155, the lowest number since 1 April. Covid-19 hospital admissions by ambulance fell to 156 on Tuesday, the lowest level since 18 March, down from a peak of 363 on 6 April. Sturgeon said:

These figures for hospital admissions and admissions to intensive care are really encouraging and they’re cause for optimism – still cautious optimism – but optimism nevertheless.

The first minister warned, however, it was too early to start relaxing the strict lockdown and social isolation rules.

The progress is definitely there but it’s fragile at this stage, so any easing up that will very quickly send all of that into reverse.

After disclosing 77 further deaths were recorded in hospitals over the last 24 hours, taking Scotland’s hospitals fatalities total to 1,062, Sturgeon said she believed the number of fatalities would start to fall “very soon”.

She admitted, however, she was distressed by new data showing a sharp 60% increase in care homes deaths last week.

The National Records of Scotland said 1,616 people had died from confirmed or suspected Covid-19 by Sunday in hospitals or in the community since the start of the outbreak.

By last Sunday a third of those, 537, had died in residential homes, echoing the experience in other parts of Europe. The same data last week showed 25% of deaths occurred in care homes.

Opposition parties said those figures raised challenging questions about whether enough had been done to prevent the virus overwhelming care homes. Residents’ families claim in some cases GPs have refused to send ill patients to hospital or refused to visit care homes.

Sturgeon and Jeane Freeman, the Scottish health secretary, said extra emergency measures were being introduced, including extra deliveries of gowns and masks, and setting up an NHS rapid reaction unit.

But they said care homes had been told in March to introduce strict isolation and shielding protocols for their residents, and it was the homes’ responsibility to ensure staff were properly trained and equipped.

Updated

Pharmacists have voiced growing concerns about contracting Covid-19 at work due to lack of PPE and difficulties maintaining physical distancing.

Some said vital community dispensaries may be forced to close if the risk of infection became too great, and that more than “warm words” were needed to keep staff safe.

A survey conducted by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) found that almost over a third (34%) of respondents were still unable to access continuous supplies of PPE, and almost 95% said they could not maintain the recommended two-metre distance from colleagues, due to the size of their workplace.

The RPS said there should be “no compromise” when it came to the safety of its staff.

Ash Soni, who owns Copes pharmacy in Streatham, south-west London, told the PA news agency he had been forced to pay for PPE supplies personally and questioned why he was not considered “front-line enough” to be given access to sufficient equipment.

Others warned that if dispensaries were forced to close, entire communities could lose out. Raj Matharu, a locum pharmacist in Bexleyheath, south-east London, told PA that local pharmacies needed to remain open as they were in the “unique position” to serve deprived communities.

And Ade Williams, a pharmacist in Bristol, told PA local people had donated masks and gloves in a show of support to staff putting themselves at risk. He said:

You’re trying to do your best and in the back of your mind you’re thinking ‘I feel very vulnerable doing this.

RPS president Sandra Gidley said:

Pharmacy teams are essential in the battle against this pandemic and patients are depending on us more than ever. Teams must be safeguarded if pharmacy services are going to be able to continue to function.

It is essential the government steps up and provides sufficient PPE to enable pharmacists to face the realities of working in a pharmacy during the pandemic.

Cruise ship MV Ventura of the P&O Cruises fleet is anchored in the bay in Weymouth.
Cruise ship MV Ventura of the P&O Cruises fleet is anchored in the bay in Weymouth. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

There were bound to be some teething problems when it came to realising parliament via Zoom – and who better than senior politicians to demonstrate how not to do it.

During a virtual plenary session with up to 28 Assembly Members, the Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething made a major boo-boo when he forgot his microphone was on and launched into a rant about fellow Labour AM Jenny Rathbone.

Gething dropped a certain four-letter word as he criticised his colleague, who had asked a question after his finishing statement. The Llywydd, Elin Jones, swiftly weighed in:

I think the Vaughan Gething needs to turn his microphone off. Vaughan Gething needs to turn his microphone off.

The meeting had to be paused after the incident.

The reactions speak for themselves.

The blooper called into question Gething’s professionalism and Plaid Cymru called for the minister to resign claiming he does not have the “right attitude, skills or temperament”.

Writing of his feeling “obviously embarrassed” over the incident later on Twitter, the minister said he had reached out to Rathbone to apologise.

Q: Could the lockdown measures be lifted early in somewhere like Bristol?

Raab says it would be counter-productive, or dangerous, if the government eased up on the restrictions too early.

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

Q: Matt Hancock says the UK has reached the peak. Does that cover places like Bristol, where cases are lower? Or will it peak later? And will its Nightingale hospital still be needed?

Whitty says the south-west has has probably the least impact from Covid. That applies to care homes too, he says.

But he says this is not the natural peak of an epidemic without the government doing anything.

It is a peak generated by the lockdown. So it is an artificial peak. He says this means you would expect the peak to hit everywhere at about the same time.

On the Nightingale hospitals, he says that has created new capacity. That means the government has more options as it plans ahead.

The NHS is going to be under pressure from Covid “for really quite a long period of time”, he says.

Updated

Q: Will you rely on this new app for contact tracing? Or are you going to use other techniques too?

Raab says two things will help the government as it moves to the next phase: getting the infection level down, and testing with contact tracing.

Whitty says they will be doing a lot more population testing, so that they find out at the earliest point if the R is heading above 1 in any part of the country.

Q: What about people who do not have a smartphone, or do not want to use the app?

Raab says the public would expect the government to innovate.

Whitty says he is very hopeful that they get vaccines with “proof of concept” well within a year.

But there is a long way to go between having a vaccine, or a drug, and widespread immunity, he suggests.

That is why social distancing measures are so vital, he says.

Whitty says social distancing likely needed until vaccine

Whitty says, until a vaccine is available, the government will have to rely on social distancing measures.

Updated

Raab rules out publishing the findings of the government exercise a few years ago that modelled a pandemic of this sort.

Q: Sage have looked again at masks, and we are told that wearing maks would be a good idea for people who are asymptomatic. What is your advice to people going out tomorrow?

Raab says Sage always looks at the evolving evidence. He says it has not come back with new advice yet. When it does, the government will look at it.

Q: What work are you doing on lifting the restrictions, and avoiding a second peak?

Whitty says the government cannot allow the R, the reproduction number, to go above 1 for any sustained period of time. That would lead to exponential growth. And it would not be long before you moved from “bad numbers to really bad numbers”, with the NHS at risk of being overwhelmed.

He says this disease will not be eradicated. So it will be with us for the foreseeable future.

He says it is “wholly unrealistic” to think that the restrictions will be largely relaxed any time soon.

The government will have to maintain a lot of measures for a long period of time, he says.

Q: Does R have to go well beyond 1, or just slightly below 1?

Whitty says getting it below 1 is essential,

But there are other ways in which coronavirus could harm people’s health.

What optimises outcomes for one group (ie, those who die directly) might not optimise it for those in other groups (ie, those who might die because other health procedures are being affected).

Updated

Whitty says the government does not yet have an antibody test that is as good as they want. This is critical. He is hoping they will soon have a test that wil give them a “ranging shot” as to what proportion of people, of different ages and in different parts of the country, have had the virus.

Q: Are you underusing the MoD?

Raab says the government is always considering what more can be done.

It has to deploy resources where they are most useful.

Carter says the MoD has deployed all the personnel it needs to deploy.

Q: Will the armed forces be more involved in drive-through centres?

Carter says the armed forces are trying to design the right sort of testing model. That is why they have tried mobile “pop-ups”. Some really good people are working on this.

Q: When will PPE shortages be resolved. A day? A week? Or can’t you say?

Whitty says he is not an international procurement expert. So he is saying what he is told, he says. He says the NHS has been “tight” for different items at different times.

At a national level we are not under water for anything, that I am aware of.

But there may be “local issues”, he says.

To promise that in two or three days this would all be sorted would be a mistake, he says. He says the government is trying to manage this as best it can.

Q: Matt Hancock said we have reached the peak. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Will some measures be eased on 7 May?

Raab says there is light at the end of the tunnel. But we are not there yet. We are at the peak, he says.

Q: The Irish PM has said he will give the Irish people at least a roadmap for exiting the lockdown. Can’t you at least give people some idea of what is planned?

Raab says he has set out the five tests for easing the lockdown. The government needs more data, he says.

Q: The TSSA transport union has been told to prepare for more people using the rail service between 11 and 18 May. Is that when the lockdown might be eased?

Raab says he does not recognise those figures. He says it would be a mistake to take the eye of the ball at this point.

That is not a government timetable, he says. He says he does not know where the union got those dates.

Q: Why should foreign workers have to pay a surcharge for NHS use?

Raab says the home secretary has already outlined measures to ensure that foreign workers have their interests protected.

Updated

Q: There are figures suggesting a doubling of care home deaths. (See 1.19pm) Is that inevitable?

Raab says he does not see anything as inevitable.

Whitty says the CQC figures have not been published yet.

But he says he expects to see a high mortality rate for care homes. The people in care homes are a very vulnerable group, he says.

Whitty is now presenting the daily slides.

First, the transport one. Whitty say this is a proxy for compliance with the lockdown.

Transport use
Transport use Photograph: No 10

Here are the hospital figures numbers. Whitty says they are either stable or improving (in London).

Hospital cases
Hospital cases Photograph: Hospital cases/No 10

Carter is speaking now. He says he has been asked to give an update on what the armed forces are doing.

They have concentrated on supporting the “heroic” frontline NHS staff, operating with “humility”, he says.

He says there is an established system for using the military to provide help to the civilian authorities. He says decision-making is decentralised. That has proved “extraordinarily successful”, he says.

He says this has been the single biggest logistical challenge the MoD has faced in his 40 years of service. He quotes figures highlighting what has been involved.

The armed forces are also in involved in testing, both in designing the tests, manning the test centres and providing innovative initiatives, like mobile testing.

The armed forces have helped with repatriation. And its 77 Brigade (its cyber warfare component) has been involved in tackling disinformation, he says.

As an example, he cites a reservist, a major who works for Google’s supply network in his day job. He has been involved in designing the coronavirus distribution effort.

Carter says the armed forces are still defending the UK, and are still involved in operations abroad.

He says 99-year-old Capt Tom Moore illustrates the sense of service everyone in the armed forces shares.

Updated

Raab says there have been problems.

But he says he has been on the phone every day pursuing PPE deliveries from abroad.

As the government works with partners to get PPE, it is also working with other countries to bring home stranded Britons. Over 13,000 people have been brought home on charter flights, he says.

Raab pays tribute to the work of the armed forces.

He says people used to joke in this country that the UK could never build a hospital as quickly as the Chinese built theirs.

But, with the help of the military, the UK built not just one, but seven, he says.

Raab summarises the government’s strategy.

It has been tough going, he says, for businesses, for families and for vulnerable people.

It has been a mental strain on people too, he says.

We are making progress through the peak of this virus, he says. But we are not out of the woods yet.

He says the biggest risk is a second spike.

He says the government has set out the five conditions that must apply before the government moves to the next phase.

Raab starts by reading out the latest testing and mortality figures.

Dominic Raab's press conference

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, is holding the daily government press conference. He is appearing with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Gen Sir Nick Carter, the chief of the defence staff (ie, the head of the armed forces).

It is the first time Carter has appeared at one of these press conferences.

Updated

A heart-shaped sculpture for the NHS has appeared on the roundabout at Sonning Eye, Oxfordshire.
A heart-shaped sculpture for the NHS has appeared on the roundabout at Sonning Eye, Oxfordshire. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/REX/Shutterstock

An increasing number of Premier League clubs are actively discussing the possibility of bringing the season to an early end, with concerns growing over the feasibility of a return even behind closed doors.

The league is suspended indefinitely and, last week, a meeting of the 20 clubs reaffirmed the intention to complete the season when it is “safe and appropriate”.

However, the Guardian has spoken to clubs who have raised a range of concerns, the most immediate of which is a fear over the medical safety of playing a full contact sport while there is the risk of contracting Covid-19.

The full story is here.

Was Barry Gardiner right to say PM ignored scientific advice from 26 February?

During PMQs (see 12.30pm) the Labour MP Barry Gardiner (who briefly considered standing for the leadership) said the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) recommended an urgent lockdown to save lives on 26 February. But the government did not implement that for another three and a half weeks, he said. He said that showed the government was not following scientific advice - a claim Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state rejected.

Gardiner was referring to this paper (pdf), one of several Sage papers published in a batch when the government was under pressure to reveal the scientific advice it was getting.

The document does indeed show that the government has failed to follow the scientific advice (or at least the advice set out by Sage in that 26 February). However, it shows the scientists arguing against the hard lockdown measures subsequently announced by Boris Johnson on 23 March.

Here is the key extract. (I’ve added the bold type, to highlight the key passage.)

In the event of a pandemic, without action, the NHS will be unable to meet all demands placed on it. Demand on beds is likely to overtake supply well before the peak is reached. Any interventions that could delay the peak, and/or reduce the size of the peak, whilst increasing the duration of the pandemic, are likely to be helpful, provided the pandemic is not extended into the late autumn/winter.

Any of the measures listed below could potentially flatten the peak of the epidemic and extend it to some extent. A combination of measures would be expected to have a greater impact, but the impacts are not strictly additive. SPI-M-O [the scientific pandemic influenza group on modelling] believes that combining all four measures, as a long-term policy, might have a similar impact to that seen in Hong Kong or mainland China - reducing the reproduction number to around 1. However, this would result in a large second epidemic once measures were lifted. Implementing a subset of measures (eg, the first three) would be expected to have a more moderate impact - still substantially reducing peak incidence, while making a second wave of infection in autumn less likely. This might be the preferred outcome for the NHS.

The four interventions were, in order: school closures; home isolation for people with symptoms; voluntary household quarantine when someone in a family has symptoms, and “social distancing” (described as people reducing contacts outside the home and workplace by 75%).

The document does not call for any of these measures to be introduced immediately. And it stresses that ultimately what should happen is a “political decision”, although the paragraph quoted above clearly implies that at that point the Sage scientists favoured measures 1 to 3, but not 4 (social distancing).

In the same document they argue that there might be advantages to allowing “the majority of the population ... [to] develop immunity, hopefully preventing any second wave, while reducing pressure on the NHS”.

Johnson did reject this proposal. He abandoned “herd immunity” (the concept endorsed here) and opted for a hard lockdown that went much further than the “social distancing” plan outlined in this document.

Buckingham Palace has announced the postponement of investitures due to be held in June and that the annual Garter Day service at Windsor Castle has been cancelled.

In a statement, the palace said this was “for practical reasons in the current circumstances”. It added:

Events of this nature often involve considerable planning for attendees. Mindful of current government advice, we have taken this decision to eliminate any uncertainty for guests due to attend.

Garter Day involves a grand procession of garter knights in ceremonial dress walking through Windsor Castle grounds to the service, accompanied by a marching band, and is a colourful highlight of the royal year.

It takes place the day before Royal Ascot. Ascot Racecourse has already announced the “difficult but unavoidable” decision not to hold Royal Ascot (16-20 June) as an event open to the public.

The race meeting is one of the highlights of the Queen’s calendar. Organisers are examining if there is a way to run the Royal Ascot races behind closed doors.

Updated

Further eight deaths in Northern Ireland taking total to 250

There have been a further eight deaths of patients in Northern Ireland who tested positive for Covid-19, the Public Health Agency has said.

The eight, along with a number of other deaths in previous days that have now been added to the official record, brings the total who have died with coronavirus in the region to 250, the agency added.

Updated

Labour says it has been approached by 36 British companies who say they have offered to help the government with the supply of PPE (personal protective equipment) and who say they have not had a reply. According to Labour, the 36 include:

Issa Exchange Ltd in Birmingham that told Labour it offered a quarter of a million aprons and masks.

Network Medical Products in Ripon, which says it can provide 100,000 face visors per week.

CQM Learning, which says it can provide 8,000 face shields per day.

In an open letter to Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, his Labour shadow, Rachel Reeves, has given details of all 36 companies (some of whom have asked not to be named). She told Gove:

You and your officials and those at the Department for Health and Social Care will be best placed to validate what capability and capacity these firms have, but as they have not received a reply after contacting the government, I wanted to ensure that the Cabinet Office was aware of them.

Of these firms, if just one, five or 10 were able to contribute to the national effort of ensuring that our NHS and care workers – and indeed anybody who needs to use some form of personal protective equipment and clothing – could be better protected, or just one hospital or care home were able to access adequate supplies of the PPE they need, I know you will agree that that would go a long way and make a big difference.

Rachel Reeves.
Rachel Reeves. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

A herd of fallow deer graze on the lawns in front of a housing estate in Harold Hill in east London as nature takes advantage of life in Britain during the lockdown.
A herd of fallow deer graze on the lawns in front of a housing estate in Harold Hill in east London as nature takes advantage of life in Britain during the lockdown. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

Prince Charles has urged the world to reshape and reset towards a “green recovery” and more sustainable future once the coronavirus crisis has passed.

In a message to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, he said the slowdown of human and industrial activity during the pandemic showed how quickly the Earth could heal itself, highlighting improved air quality in some of the world’s major cities and the return of wildlife to communities and waterways.

He added:

I can only hope that as this current crisis passes we are able to reflect on, and shape, the type of world we want for ourselves and for future generations.

Together, I am confident that we can use this crisis to reset our course by putting people and planet first.

Updated

Hundreds of people have become homeless during the coronavirus lockdown, the mayor of Greater Manchester has said.

Speaking at a weekly briefing on the region’s response to the pandemic on Wednesday, Andy Burnham said 344 people had been recorded as newly homeless and requiring accommodation since the strict restrictions were implemented.

He added that the Greater Manchester combined authority had helped 1,140 homeless people to be housed safely during the crisis but 115 people were still sleeping rough in the region. He said:

There are people coming on to the streets through this who perhaps are finding their arrangements, possibly a sofa-surfing arrangement, has broken down.

But also, frustratingly for us, on the latest figures we are still seeing people released from prison to no fixed address and that is adding to the problem.

Evictions, in some cases, haven’t stopped completely, so we are seeing people coming on to the street as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

Burnham said government funding was only available to provide support for pre-identified homeless people during the pandemic, but those who were newly homeless did not qualify. He added:

There should be a positive legacy for homelessness coming out of this but if the government sticks to the position that it’s in, that will become more and more difficult to achieve.

Updated

In the latest episode of our Science Weekly podcast, the Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, speaks to Dr Dipesh Patel about the effects of Covid-19 on people with diabetes, including the role that glucose levels and a high BMI might play. Have a listen here.

Updated

Rainbow drawings in the Duke of Connaught pub window thanking the NHS for all their hard work in Windsor.
Rainbow drawings in the Duke of Connaught pub window thanking the NHS for all their hard work in Windsor. Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

No 10 denies putting pressure on FCO chief to change his story over EU procurement scheme

Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Sir Simon McDonald, the head of the Foreign Office, was pressurised into withdrawing his statement to a select committee yesterday saying the government took a political decision not to participate in the EU’s ventilator procurement scheme. Asked who put pressure on McDonald, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “Nobody.”

Asked to explain McDonald’s surprise decision to issue a statement saying that his original evidence had been based on a “misunderstanding” (see 9.37am), the spokesman said:

There was obviously quite a lot of pickup of what he had said by the time he had left that committee [hearing] and it’s important that select committees are given accurate information and that’s why he corrected what he said.

The government’s current position is that it failed to take part in the EU procurement scheme because of a communications error, which meant ministers were not aware of the opportunity available.

As my colleague Daniel Boffey reports, the European commission has challenged this account, saying the UK was well aware of what was on offer.

But, as the Guardian reported last month, before the government started arguing that the UK did not participate in the scheme because of a communications problem (one source claimed the problem was to do with emails being missed), Downing Street said it was not taking part in the scheme because the UK was “no longer a member [of the EU]” and was “making our own efforts”.

Updated

The health of construction workers is being “threatened by watered-down advice” on physical distancing on building sites, Unite has said.

The union said the latest guidance being given to building workers – issued to coincide with a return to work at a large number of sites this week, particularly in the London area – was unsafe and placed them at unnecessary risk.

The guidance now states that where workers are required to work within two metres of each other, they should “work side by side, or facing away from each other, rather than face to face”, the union said.

When this is not possible and workers have to work “face to face” within two metres of each other, workers should “keep this to 15 minutes or less where possible”.

Unite has written to the business secretary, Alok Sharma, warning that workers’ lives are being endangered and asking that the “defective procedures” be withdrawn immediately.

The union has also launched a hotline so that workers can report concerns and provide evidence of unsafe working practices.

Unite national officer Jerry Swain said:

We sincerely hope that this is not a case of the economy being put before the health of construction workers and their families.

Unite’s position remains unchanged: no site should be working unless it can do so safely and that means two-metre social distancing must be maintained at all times.

Contractors and clients also have a moral duty of care for workers from when they leave their home to when they return.

Construction workers should not be forced to use overcrowded public transport, potentially endangering their health and that of our key workers.

If our members believe their health is being directly compromised, they should stop work and seek the assistance of Unite.

Updated

Children of key workers attending the Dedworth Green First in Windsor have painted a large Stay Safe, Stay Home rainbow and displayed it outside the school together with a message thanking all key workers.
Children of key workers attending the Dedworth Green First in Windsor have painted a large Stay Safe, Stay Home rainbow and displayed it outside the school together with a message thanking all key workers. Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

Liz Truss, the women and equalities minister (and international trade secretary), has dismissed concerns over the number of female ministers leading the daily Downing Street coronavirus press conference as “tokenism”. At a committee hearing this morning, Truss said “excessive focus” on the gender of the politician leading the televised briefing “does a disservice to women”. Our colleague Frances Perraudin has the full story.

Updated

There have now been 309,000 applications for the government to pay the wages of furloughed staff through its coronavirus job retention scheme, Downing Street has said. That means 2.2m workers could benefit, it says. The scheme opened on Monday.

The acting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey taking part in PMQs earlier.
The acting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey taking part in PMQs earlier. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Hundreds of asylum seekers in Glasgow have been given less than an hour’s notice to pack up their flats before being moved into city centre hotels, where they claim social distancing is “impossible”, our colleague Libby Brooks reports.

The day after announcing limited prisoner release to ease pressure in Scotland’s jails, the justice secretary, Humza Yousaf, has been challenged on emergency amendments that extend 24-hour-a-day detention and lift requirements for clean clothes.

The head of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, Judith Robertson, and the Scottish prisons inspector, Wendy Sinclair, met Yousaf earlier today to raise significant human rights concerns about the amendments to prison rules.

Robertson told the Guardian:

According to the new rules, prisoners who are self-isolating in their cells are there 24 hours a day, for up to 14 days, potentially more if they are sharing a cell with someone who becomes symptomatic. That 24-hours-a-day detention excludes exercise or use of telephone or shower. The amendments also lift the requirement to provide nutritious food and drink to meet religious needs or to provide clean socks and underwear daily and clean clothes as often as is necessary.

We are particularly concerned that the guidance to governors does not include the statement that these changes should only be applied in extreme circumstances.

The pair also raised issues around oversight and scrutiny, as well as inconsistent practice around different prisons.

There are already serious concerns about prisoners’ wellbeing after family visits were suspended and exercise and other activities severely restricted because of social distancing. The Scottish government announced plans to provide phones in cells last week, with some necessary security restrictions.

Updated

UK coronavirus hospital death toll rises by 759 to 18,100

The Department for Health and Social Care has just published the latest daily UK coronavirus hospital death figures. There have been 759 new deaths, taking the total to 18,100.

The full details are here.

Yesterday the daily rise was 823.

The Guardian’s latest Politics Weekly podcast is out. Jonathan Freedland and guests discuss a historic week in parliament, as prime minister’s questions goes “virtual”, and Larry Elliott speaks to the Enlightened Economist, Diane Coyle, about the potential for economic reform post-pandemic.

Updated

665 more hospital deaths in England bringing total to 16,272

NHS England has announced 665 further deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 16,272. The full figures are here (pdf).

Of the 665 new deaths announced today:
- 119 occurred on 21 April
- 254 occurred on 20 April
- 108 occurred on 19 April

The figures also show 175 of the new deaths recorded took place between 1-18 April, and the remaining nine deaths occurred in March, with the earliest new recorded death taking place on 22 March.

NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago. This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as having tested positive for Covid-19, for post-mortem examinations to be processed, and for data from the tests to be validated.

The figures published today by NHS England show 8 April currently has the highest total for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day: 828.

Updated

Wales records further 15 deaths bringing total to 624

Public Health Wales has announced another 15 people have died in Wales after testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total there to 624.

A further 274 cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 8,124. A total of 28,088 tests have now been carried out.

Further information here.

A commuter rides the tube in London.
A commuter rides the tube in London. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Thank you so much to everybody who has been in touch so far today with tips and suggestions for the live blog. If you have any ideas or stories, do feel free to message me via the usual channels (below) and apologies if I cannot reply to you all individually.

Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_

During PMQs Sir Ed Davey, the acting Lib Dem leader, called for a judge-led inquiry into the government’s handling of coronavirus. Dominic Raab said he did not agree, saying people would expect the government to be focusing now on handling the crisis. Raab told MPs:

I have to say I won’t take up his offer of committing to a public inquiry.

I think that there are definitely lessons to be learned and when we get through this crisis it will be important that we take stock and we come together to understand with an unprecedented challenge on an international scale what can be done to avoid it happening again.

But I think right now, from our key NHS frontline workers to the members of the public, they would rightly expect our full focus to be, as we come through the peak of this virus, to make sure that we save lives, protect the NHS and steer the whole country through this crisis rather than engaging in that process or that set of deliberations right now.

In a post-PMQs briefing, Keir Starmer’s spokesman also said the time was not right for an inquiry. The spokesman said:

Keir has said that he believes serious mistakes have been made in the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and ministers do need to be held accountable for those mistakes. The priority now has got to be on how the government fixes the current mistakes it is making.

Updated

Ken Clarke, the former Tory chancellor, said he expects it will take several years for the UK economy to recover from the pandemic – and even then it won’t “bounce back” to where it was. He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One today:

I think we are going to find it a huge blow to the GDP during the crisis and we won’t just bounce back. Of course there will be a recovery, but I fear it won’t bounce back to where we were.

My own expectation is once we come out of lockdown, probably for the next two to three years, we will be struggling constantly with the effort to get economies back to something like the healthy state we would have liked to have seen them in before we started.

Demand will be suppressed by the considerable number of unemployed we will have, the considerable number of businesses that will be seriously damaged and the whole economy will be held back by the as yet unknown colossal burden of debt.

Updated

Labour’s Maria Eagle asks if there is a link between Liverpool having a higher than average incidence of coronavirus and the government’s decision to allow the Liverpool v Atlético Madrid match to go ahead on 11 March. The government’s deputy chief scientific adviser has said there might be a link. Does the government think there is a connection?

Hancock says that is a question for the scientists.

And that’s the end of the Hancock statement.

Updated

The UK has signed an agreement with Greece to clamp down on migrant crossings in the east Mediterranean, the Home Office has announced.

A significant proportion of undocumented migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa who seek to reach the UK first pass through Greece on their journey across Europe.

The Home Office said the joint action plan, signed by the UK and Greek governments, is designed to tighten asylum and returns processes, enhance work to dismantle migrant smuggling networks and renews the deployment of a Border Force cutter, a patrol vessel that picks up migrants in the Mediterranean.

Chris Philp, the minister for immigration compliance, said:

Illegal migration is facilitated by dangerous, malicious, criminals, taking advantage of the desperate situations that many people find themselves in. They do not care about the safety of the people involved.

The joint action plan will deliver on our commitment to keep our borders secure and will discourage those considering making the dangerous and illegal journey into Greece, through Europe, and in many cases to the UK.

Updated

This is from the Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan

She has repeatedly urged the UK government to bring its advice in line with that of the World Health Organization, which recommends self-isolation for 14 days as you can still spread the virus after the symptoms have resolved.

Updated

Labour’s Barry Sheerman, appearing via Zoom, tells Hancock that the “management and leadership of this present crisis has been shambolic”. He says the UK has lagged behind Germany and that a death toll of around 800 people (the daily figure at certain points) is equivalent to two jumbo jets crashing.

I believe it is a shambles of leadership and management. I believe we are letting down NHS staff, and they have been let down.

He also claims that NHS whistleblowers have been leant on not to tell the truth about conditions in the NHS. He goes on:

Many of us do not believe [Hancock] is telling the truth to the people of this country.

Hancock says Sheerman had misjudged his tone, and missed what the government was doing. The prime goals were to flatten the curve, and to ensure the NHS was not overwhelmed. Both of those challenges had so far been met, he says.

And he says Sheerman is wrong to say whistleblowers have been silenced.

Updated

'We are at the peak,' Hancock tells MPs

This is what Matt Hancock said in his opening statement about the UK being at the peak of the pandemic. He said:

We are at the peak. But before we relax any social distancing rules or make changes to them we have set out the five tests that have to be met.

Matt Hancock in the House of Commons this afternoon.
Matt Hancock in the House of Commons this afternoon. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images

Labour’s Hilary Benn asks if the government will provide free masks to people if it advises that they should be worn.

Hancock says the government will follow the expert advice. He says giving out free masks would be extraordinary. He says the government does not want to do anything that could lead to the NHS missing out.

Hancock says home testing through the post will become available. He says this will be particularly useful for people living in rural areas.

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, says the director general of the World Health Organization said “test, test, test” was the way to address this problem. But that did not happen. Will it happen now?

Hancock says testing has been developed “at pace”. The UK was one of the first countries in the world to develop a test, he says. He says the government has had “its foot on the gas” the whole time.

Updated

Care home deaths could be double the number already reported, says government

Coronavirus-related deaths in care homes could be double the number already reported, the government has said.

The Department of Health and Social Care also feared a “significant rise” in deaths not involving Covid-19 among residents, it said on Wednesday.

There were 1,043 coronavirus deaths in care homes in England and Wales by April 10, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In a statement with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the government said:

It is anticipated that the number of deaths in care homes relating to Covid-19 reported by providers between April 11 and April 15 could be double the number of care home deaths reported yesterday.

In common with the ONS, CQC’s preliminary analysis also indicates there may be a significant rise in non-Covid-19 deaths.

One scientist believes care home deaths as a proportion of the national total may keep increasing, even as the NHS sees a decline. Prof Carl Heneghan, the director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford previously said:

The proportion of deaths might drop in hospitals but the proportion of deaths may go up overall in nursing homes.

Particularly in the frail and the vulnerable and the elderly, this will be a debilitating disease.

Updated

Greg Clark, the Conservative former business secretary who now chairs the Commons science committee, asks if Sage, the scientific advisory group for emergencies, backed the target of having 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month.

Hancock says there was scientific input into that decision, although he says he cannot remember whether it directly came from Sage.

Hancock says contact tracing system to be in place 'in matter of weeks'

Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative former health secretary, says that to ease the lockdown, the government has to be able to track and trace every new case. Will this be in place in two weeks, he asks. And will the government appoint a “big hitter” to take charge of this?

Hancock says the government is ramping up its capacity for contact tracing “in a matter of weeks”.

We are ramping up our testing capacity and our capacity for contact-tracing in a matter of weeks, and we’ll have it ready to make sure that we can use that as and when the incidence of transmission comes down.

It isn’t as tied to the specific decision that we’re required by law to take in just over two weeks time [the review of the lockdown].

The effectiveness of test, track and trace to keep the reproductive rate of this virus down is determined by the incidence in the community and our goal is to get to a point where we can test, track and trace everybody who needs it.

Updated

Hancock is now responding to some questions from Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary. Hancock is in the chamber, but Ashworth asked his questions by Zoom.

Hancock says 15 social care staff have died from coronavirus.

(Dominic Raab could not answer this question earlier. See 12.13pm.)

As for why the death rate in Germany is lower, Hancock says one factor is the category of people affected in the early stages of the outbreak in Germany. (He does not explain what this means.)

Hancock says the government is investigating why a disproportionate number of BAME people have died from coronavirus.

He says the government’s contact tracing app is at the beta stage and in trials.

UPDATE: These are from ITV’s Robert Peston and the New Statesman’s Jeremy Cliffe.

Updated

Matt Hancock's Commons statement on coronavirus

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is now making a Commons statement on coronavirus.

Here are some lines from his opening statement.

PMQs - Snap verdict

That was Sir Keir Starmer’s first outing as Labour leader at PMQs, but just as importantly this marked the debut for a whole new way of running this question session: a “hybrid” system, with most MPs participating by Zoom. Both probably amount to a distinct improvement on what came before.

First, the process. On a technical level it mostly worked well. One MP did not manage to dial in in time, and another got cut off early. But overall it went smoothly.

More importantly, PMQs without 400-odd MPs in the chamber makes everything quieter, calmer, more intelligible and more grown-up. For once the proceedings sounded like the question time sessions that take place in the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly. Without the jeering and the aggro, it lacked gladiatorial edge, and frankly it was probably a bit more boring than the old PMQs. But boring is a much underrated virtue in governance. It will be be very interesting to see whether the Commons ever reverts to how it operated before when (or more probably if) this is all over.

In the old PMQs, MPs worked on the assumption that there was always a “winner”. (Journalists like me wrote it up in those terms too, because that was how the participants viewed the proceedings.) Under Zoom PMQs it is much harder to imagine anyone “winning” old-style, but if Labour had to choose someone well-suited to parliament in serious/boring mode, it is hard to imagine anyone better than Starmer, and he will chalk today’s outing up, not as a triumph, but certainly as a success. His questions were clear, forensic and focused, he avoided bland or trite sloganising and he adopted a measured tone consistent with responsible, constructive opposition. Quite what the public will make of this when the alternative is Boris Johnson remains to be seen, but high-grade seriousness is what Starmer offered in the Labour leadership contest and it is what he delivered today.

Updated

Deaths in Scotland rise by 77 to 1,062

A total of 1,062 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for Covid-19, up by 77 from 985 on Tuesday, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said.

The figures are lower than the 1,616 deaths given earlier by the National Records of Scotland (see 12.22pm) as they do not include suspected and probable coronavirus infections.

Sturgeon said 9,038 people had now tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 366 from 8,672 the day before.

There were 155 people in intensive care with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms, a decrease of 11 from Tuesday, she added.

There were 1,776 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, down from 1,866 yesterday.

And since 5 March, 1,813 patients who tested positive have been discharged from hospital.

Updated

James Sunderland, a Conservative, asks Raab what are the ingredients that will take the country through this.

Raab says the critical ingredient is for the country to come together. He says people understand how important key workers are. We can and will rise to the challenge as one United Kingdom, he says.

Labour’s Stephen Kinnock asks about Port Talbot steel works. He says the government help to Tata steel is only one-tenth of what it needs.

Raab says he understands the point Kinnock makes. The chancellor is looking carefully at the needs of the steel sector, he says.

Updated

Matt Vickers, a Conservative, asks if the government will consider the case for putting more money into the NHS.

Raab says the government is already putting record sums into the NHS.

Labour’s Naz Shah, who is in the chamber, asks if the government will compensate councils for the costs they are incurring as a result of coronavirus.

Raab pays tribute to councils. An extra £1.6bn has already been announced, he says.

Updated

The Conservative MP Nick Fletcher asks what is being done to ensure NHS staff get enough PPE.

Raab says 1bn items have been delivered already. The government will ramp up its capacity to deliver it, he says.

Updated

Labour’s Barry Gardiner says Sage, the scientific advisory group on emergencies, recommended a lockdown at the end of February. The government claims it has followed scientific advice. But it hasn’t, has it?

Raab says the government has followed scientific advice at all times. It will continue to do that, he says.

The Conservative MP Sally-Ann Hart asks what can be done to help tourism.

Raab says the government knows tourism is being affected. Unprecedented support for businesses and workers is on offer, he says.

Labour’s Lucy Powell asks what the government will do to help the hospitality sector.

Raab says a whole range of measures have been introduced. He offers to look at what more can be done to help particular businesses.

The Tory MP Peter Bone says the banks are offering savers a pathetic interest rate. When will they act in the national interest?

Bone gets disconnected before he can finish.

Like most of the MPs down to ask a question for the rest of the session, Bone is asking his question by Zoom.

Raab says the government expects banks to do their bit.

Updated

The Speaker says David Mundell was “unable to connect” and so he goes to the next person on the list, Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, who is asking a question remotely. He says many workers are getting no support. The SNP is leading a call for a universal basic income. Can Raab say whether or not he supports this proposal?

Raab says he does not agree with a universal basic income. The government has announced a range of measures to support workers, unrivalled in the world. He says a universal income would not be targeted.

Blackford says many people are being left behind. A universal basic income is an idea whose time has come. He says 84% of the public support this idea. It will leave no one behind. It deserves more than the answer Raab gave. We should not be left in a situation where the self-employed and others do not get the help they need.

Raab says the government wants to provide support to those who need it most. The government’s plan is one of the most extensive in the world.

Updated

Scotland records 1,616 deaths with confirmed or suspected Covid-19

Almost 80% more deaths were recorded in Scotland in the week to 19 April than the average, according to new figures published by National Records of Scotland this morning.

The total number of deaths registered in Scotland between 13 and to 19 April stood at 1,911 which is 79% higher than the average number of deaths registered in the same week over the last five years.

Of the 844 excess fatalities, three quarters recorded Covid-19 as the underlying cause of death.

Today’s figures show that there were 600 more deaths involving coronavirus in Scotland than were previously known, 64% higher than the numbers reported to date. Weekly death registrations show there were a total of 1,616 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned in the death certificate up to 19 April.

As of yesterday the Scottish government had reported 985 people as having died after contracting coronavirus.

Although more than half (56%) of the registered deaths occurred in hospitals, a third were in care homes, up from a quarter last week, bringing Scottish figures closer to the experience in other parts of Europe, where around half of deaths are in care homes. One-in-10 deaths occurred at home or non-institutional settings.

Almost three quarters of all registered deaths were among those aged 75 and over while 55% of the registered deaths were among men.

Pete Whitehouse, director of Statistical Services, “every death from this virus is a tragedy”.

Our aim is to ensure that our statistical publication provides information that is as useful as possible and adds value to the understanding of how the virus is spreading throughout the country. We will continue to review and develop these statistics.

This is from our Scotland editor, Severin Carrell:

Updated

Starmer pays his own tribute to frontline workers. And he says it has been “incredible” to see how the capacity of the NHS has been ramped up.

He says he accepts that this is not easy.

But he says there have been reports of firms offering PPE, but not having their offers taken up. He understands the need for due diligence. But some of these firms are sending PPE abroad.

There has been a pattern here, he says. The UK has been slow on the lockdown, slow on testing, slow on PPE and slow on taking up procurement offers.

Raab says the government has always followed scientific advice. If Starmer thinks he knows better than them, he should say so. He says in other countries PPE has had to be recalled because it was faulty. He hopes Starmer accepts the need to scrutinise PPE properly.

Updated

Starmer says he is disappointed there is no answer for care workers. He says he will ask the same question again next week. He expects an answer then.

Turning to PPE, he quotes a worker saying she is “scared”. Half of nursing staff feel under pressure, he says. This has been a stress test of our resilience. When will frontline workers finally get the equipment they need?

Raab says our hearts go out to the families of frontline workers who have died. He absolutely agrees on the need to protect them.

Getting PPE to where it needs to be is a global challenge, he says.

He says the government has delivered 1bn items of PPE.

But it has to strive “even harder” in this incredibly competitive international environment, he says.

Updated

Starmer asks about an A&E consultant who died on Monday. He was the first Sikh consultant, but one of many NHS workers to have died. How many NHS workers have died and how many social care workers?

Raab says he entirely agrees with the broader point Starmer is making about the need to support NHS staff. He says he thinks 69 people have died in the NHS. He says he does not have a figure for care workers, because that is harder to obtain.

Starmer says the demand for testing is there. If a care worker has symptoms, they have to self-isolate. To get a test, they have to travel to a test centre, miles away. For example, people in Leicester are being told to go to one on the edge of Nottingham. But some care workers don’t have a car. And they cannot use public transport. So this is not a good plan.

What reassurance can Raab give to care workers that things will improve for them, and fast?

Raab says he has addressed the capacity point. He accepts that they need to make it easier for people to get to test centres. Mobile labs are being used. He says it is important to have a target. And he says Starmer should get the Welsh Labour government, which has abandoned its testing target, to reinstate it.

Updated

Starmer says he did not need correcting. He talked about tests, not capacity. He says Raab’s comment about capacity highlights the gap between tests carried out and the number that could be carried out.

Why isn’t the government using all the tests available every day?

Raab says there are two issues: capacity and testing. Capacity is expanding. On testing, the focus is on NHS workers. He says that is right. And he says the government will expand from there.

We will deliver. And those tests will be crucial, not just in controlling the virus, but in moving to the next stage.

Sir Keir Starmer starts by thanking the Speaker and the Commons staff for allowing the Commons to meet like this. He sends his best wishes to the PM for a full recovery. And he expresses his condolences to those who have lost loved ones, and his thanks to NHS staff.

Starmer says he promised constructive opposition. He will support the government when it is right. But he will challenge it when it is wrong.

On testing, he says yesterday the figure for tests carried out was 18,000, down from 19,000 the day before. This is well below the 100,000 target for the end of the month. What will happen in the next eight days to hit this target?

Raab says this is a crucial issue. He says it will be an important part of transitioning out of lockdown. But the capacity for testing is 40,000 a day, he says.

He says there will have to be an exponential increase. The government is working with its targets to hit this.

Updated

Dominic Raab says the PM is making a good recovery, and is in good spirits.

The government continues to take the right steps at the right time, guided by the experts, he says.

He thanks the Speaker for helping to ensure the Commons can meet.

Updated

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, says he will run these exchanges for 45 minutes.

PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, is standing in for Boris Johnson, who is still recovering from his illness.

Sir Keir Starmer is appearing for his first time as Labour leader.

Here is what Commons officials are calling the “call list” - the list of MPs down to ask a question (most of whom are dialling in on Zoom).

Updated

This is from the Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, who has been getting ready to ask a question at PMQs from home.

In the Commons, Simon Hart, the Welsh secretary, is taking questions – via video conferencing. There are a few MPs in the chamber, but Hart is responding by Zoom.

It seems to be working OK.

At 12pm we’ll see the system at work for PMQs, although for those exchanges Dominic Raab and Sir Keir Starmer are both planning to be in the chamber.

Updated

This is beautiful. From Sky’s Kay Burley.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Updated

Nando’s has reopened the kitchens in some of its restaurants to help feed NHS workers.

The chain said seven of its city centre restaurants reopened their kitchens on Monday, after closing all its sites in the face of the pandemic on 23 March.

Four restaurants in London, two in Manchester and one in Dublin are firing up their grills again to make meals for NHS workers and local charities. The business said it will provide up to 1,700 free meals each day for NHS staff, key workers at local hospitals and charities.

It said the restaurants will operate behind closed doors, with meals dropped off at hospitals every evening between 6pm and 9pm. Each restaurant will work under strict health and safety measures while maintaining social distancing, the chain said.

The restaurants will each look to cook up to 250 meals a shift before delivering them.

It will be the first time Nando’s has reopened kitchens since the government-mandated shutdown of restaurants, pubs and venues on 23 March.
It will be the first time Nando’s has reopened kitchens since the government-mandated shutdown of restaurants, pubs and venues on 23 March. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

EU denies UK claim that mix-up was to blame for its non-involvement in procurement scheme

The European commission has said the UK was well aware of its coronavirus procurement initiative when it decided not to participate. Its account contradicts the UK government claim that a “misunderstanding” was to blame for the UK not getting involved. (See 9.37am.) These are from the Sun’s Brussels correspondent Nick Gutteridge.

Updated

Almost 300 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in Northern Ireland’s nursing and residential homes, the Public Health Agency (PHA) said.

Due to understaffing, NHS workers have been drafted in to bolster numbers and the tally of cases is expected to grow, other Stormont health officials added.

The plight of residents and workers at under-staffed care homes which initially struggled to secure adequate supplies of protective equipment has been a major issue during the pandemic.

A nursing homes representative has warned a systematic procedure needs to be put in place. Pauline Shepherd, chief executive of the Independent Health and Care Providers organisation, told the BBC’s Nolan Show, there needed to be co-ordination and planning in terms of putting nurses in to manage Covid within care homes.

The whole care home sector has nurse shortages but they have been relying on agency staff, Shepherd added. Some agency workers are refusing to enter homes where coronavirus is present, and other staff are off work and self-isolating due to the infection, she said.

A health department spokesman confirmed NHS-employed or bank staff have been working on the rotas in care homes for the last two to three weeks.

Prof Hugo van Woerden, the director of public health at the PHA, said:

When the PHA receives a notification of an issue of acute respiratory infection in a care home, the agency’s health protection team investigates and supports the provider in managing the outbreak.

A comprehensive risk assessment is completed of the incident, which includes an assessment of each individual resident and the environment, and an ongoing assessment of the severity, spread and context of the incident.

He said advice specific to Covid-19 is given regarding isolation, containment and infection prevention and control practice, including cleaning, testing information, how to manage symptoms, when to request additional medical advice, and PPE.

Sir Keir Starmer leaving home this morning ahead of his first PMQs as Labour leader.
Sir Keir Starmer leaving home this morning ahead of his first PMQs as Labour leader. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/AFP via Getty Images

Welsh government to fund free 'school meals' for poorer children during summer holidays

The Welsh government has announced that disadvantaged children will receive free “school meals” throughout the summer holidays, the first UK country to do so.

Kirsty Williams, the education minister for Wales, said the government in Cardiff was extending funding for local authorities to provide free school meals for eligible pupils until the start of the next school year in September. Williams said:

We will continue to support local authorities, both financially and through revised guidance, to deliver local solutions while schools remain closed.

I can confirm we will provide £33m to enable local authorities to continue free school meal provision until schools re-open or up to the end of August.

While England’s use of a national voucher scheme contracted to a French company has been plagued by delays, Welsh councils and schools can choose to transfer money directly to parents’ bank accounts, or use vouchers or offer food directly.

“After examining whether a national voucher scheme would work for Wales, we have decided not to proceed with that approach,” Williams noted.

Complaints about the slow delivery of food vouchers in England have lessened. Headteachers say they are now receiving the £15 weekly supermarket vouchers applied for up to two weeks ago.

Kirsty Williams.
Kirsty Williams. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

Updated

Four men have been given fines totalling £240 after travelling 25 miles to get a takeaway.

Derbyshire police said the friends, who do not live together, were approached in a parked car in Normanton, Derby, on Monday evening. They had made a round trip to Burton-upon-Trent to pick up burgers, chips and soft drinks, and were parked up eating the meal, the force added.

Derby West response team said: “This burger has cost them £240 in fines for ignoring government guidelines.”

Earlier in April Derbyshire police and crime commissioner, Hardyal Dhindsa, warned that the coronavirus lockdown could begin to crumble if “isolation fatigue” began to set in among the public.

An NHS support banner at a construction site in London this morning.
An NHS support banner at a construction site in London this morning. Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters

A senior West Midlands police officer who contracted coronavirus has left hospital after spending 13 days on a ventilator.

Ch Supt Phil Dolby fell ill in late March and was later taken to hospital in an ambulance after experiencing symptoms including “breathlessness and dizziness”.

He was discharged from intensive care on Tuesday after spending a total of 26 days in hospital.

After being taken off a ventilator on 11 April, Dolby had posted regular updates of his recovery to Twitter.

On Monday he posted that he had been taken outside for an assisted walk in the hospital’s grounds. “The air in my lungs was like a special gift I can’t describe,” said Dolby. “Recovering now like I have had a heavy gym session not a 2 min walk!”

The BBC’s Jessica Parker has more on the row about the UK’s non-involvement in the EU’s coronavirus procurement schemes.

Scottish stars including Annie Lennox, Irvine Welsh, Janey Godley, Judy Murray, James McAvoy and Lorne Balfe are taking part in a livestream fundraiser, For the Love of Scotland, organised by broadcaster Edith Bowman.

The event, which will include music, literature, poetry and chats, aims to raise urgent funds for Masks for Scotland, a crowdfunding initiative set up by Prof Jill Belch of the University of Dundee, in response to the desperate need for PPE for community frontline medical teams across the country.

Bowman will host the charity livestream from 6pm to 9pm on Wednesday evening, and viewers can tune into the stream on the Gigs in Scotland Facebook or YouTube.

Updated

According to the BBC’s Norman Smith, a survey by the National Care Forum, which represents care homes, has found that 75% of care home staff who want a coronavirus test have not been able to get one. The survey found that one problem was that people who do get offered a test have to make a round-trip of 62 miles on average to get to the nearest drive-through centre where the testing takes place.

In his Good Morning Britain interview Tony Blair also said it was important not to have “a void of decision-making” in government. While Boris Johnson continued to recover from his own coronavirus infection, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state who is deputising for him, should have the authority to take decisions, Blair said.

I think in a situation where every day matters and where every day decisions have to be taken, I think the person who is the acting prime minister along with what is essentially the war cabinet - the top four ministers that are meeting together - that person has got to be taking those decisions. You can’t have a void of decision-making.

Updated

The former Labour prime minister Tony Blair has restated his call for the government to change the way it operates as it addresses the coronavirus crisis. He believes the government needs to bring in outsiders with the right expertise and experience to take charge of the various specific challenges ahead. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Blair said this is one of the lessons he learnt from handling the foot-and-mouth crisis. He explained:

To be frank about it, for the first few weeks we were behind the curve, but what I learnt is that you just have to set aside all the normal rules and bureaucracy and just reposition the government differently ...

All of us know people who are serious people with capabilities to offer who have been trying to fight their way into the system to offer them - and that is what makes me think we are not yet organised in the right way for the scale of this thing so that every possible avenue is being explored.

Updated

London mayor urges government to ban evictions over coronavirus rent arrears

The mayor of London has called on the UK government to ban evictions over arrears built up by renters as a result of the coronavirus emergency, with millions facing falling into debt with their landlords because of lost work and high rents.

In an announcement today, Sadiq Khan also called for an increase to housing benefits, and an undertaking that the government would cover, for the duration of the crisis, any shortfall in payments by private renters, including those with no recourse to public funds. Demanding a “triple lock” protection for renters, Khan said:

With millions of low-paid renters in London now facing increased financial uncertainty we face a ticking time bomb of debt, arrears and widespread evictions once the suspension in court proceedings is lifted.

Failing to bring in more support for renters will not only result in widespread financial hardship, but risks increasing the public health crisis, as renters may feel forced to return to work too soon, with increasing debt and arrears hanging over their heads.

Three million people in London rented privately, more than the number who owned a home with a mortgage in the city, Khan’s office said. Last week the Guardian reported on research suggesting millions of UK renters may already be having to choose between paying rent and buying food and other essentials. The polling by Opinium found six in 10 renters had already taken a financial hit as a result of the crisis.

Amina Gichinga from the London Renters Union said landlords were still threatening evictions, despite their halt for the duration of the crisis and official guidance urging them to “show compassion” to tenants. She said:

Lots of people feel they have no choice but to break social distancing guidelines and go out to work, in many cases becoming seriously ill. People must be able to prioritise their safety, health and paying for food and other essentials over rent.

We’re glad to see that Sadiq is listening to what we and other organisations in the renters movement are saying and joining us in calling for protections for renters who get in to rent debt during the coronavirus pandemic. The government must immediately suspend all rent payments and introduce measures that waive rent debt.

Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Updated

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, arriving at No 10 this morning for the C-19 morning meeting, which he chairs while Boris Johnson continues to recuperate from his illness.
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, arriving at No 10 this morning for the C-19 morning meeting, which he chairs while Boris Johnson continues to recuperate from his illness. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Commons foreign affairs committee urged to hold inquiry into UK's non-involvement in EU procurement scheme

Chris Bryant, the Labour MP whose question about the EU’s ventilator procurement scheme led to Sir Simon McDonald, the head of the Foreign Office, telling the foreign affairs committee that the UK’s decision not to get involved was a “political decision”, is now saying the committee should investigate exactly what happened. As reported earlier (see 8.31am), Bryant has already said that he does not find the retraction issued by McDonald a few hours after the hearing at all credible.

Here is the key passage in McDonald’s retraction letter.

Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, I inadvertently and wrongly told the committee that ministers were briefed by UKMIS [the UK mission in Brussels] on the EU’s joint procurement agreement scheme and took a political decision not to participate in it. This is incorrect. Ministers were not briefed by our mission in Brussels about the scheme and a political decision was not taken on whether or not to participate.

The facts of the situation are as previously set out. Owing to an initial communication problem, the UK did not receive an invitation in time to join in four joint Covid EU procurement schemes. As those four initial schemes had already gone out to tender we were unable to take part.

Earlier Helen Whately, the care minister, said that the confirmed number of NHS staff who have died from coronavirus was 61. (See 8.22am.)

According to the Nursing Notes website, which is compiling an online memorial, 111 health and social care workers have died from coronavirus.

Updated

Agenda for the day

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Matthew Weaver.

Here is a timetable for the main events coming up today.

9.30am: Liz Truss, the international trade secretary and minister for women and equalities, gives evidence to the Commons women and equalities committee on the impact of coronavirus on women and minorities.

12pm: Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, faces Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs. This is not just Starmer’s first PMQs as Labour leader, but the first PMQs taking place under the “hybrid” procedural arrangements that will see most MPs submitting their questions via video conference. The order paper, which says whether a question from an MP will be “virtual” or “physical”, is here (pdf).

After 12.45pm: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, makes a Commons statement about coronavirus. He will also take questions mostly from MPs via Zoom.

After 1.30pm: MPs debate various procedural motions, including one that would allow a move towards electronic voting in the Commons.

Afternoon: The daily UK coronavirus hospital death figures are published.

2.30pm: Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, gives evidence to the defence committee.

2.30pm: Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, gives evidence to the Commons culture committee.

5pm: The government is expected to hold its daily press conference.

Labour MP says retraction issued by FCO chief last night over EU scheme not credible

Labour’s Chris Bryant was one of the MPs who quizzed Sir Simon McDonald on why the UK opted out of the EU’s procurement scheme. Bryant says he does not believe McDonald’s retraction of his claim that the decision was political.

Updated

Whately told BBC Breakfast that 61 NHS staff were known to have died after becoming infected with the coronavirus.

She said:

We know that 61 NHS workers have died and for care workers I have a figure of 15, but we are working to get more comprehensive data on that because it is important for us to know the number of people in health and care who are dying of this.

Earlier she told Sky that she was working to provide more up to date data on deaths in care homes by next week.

The latest back dated figures from the ONS showed that Covid-19 fatalities in care homes in England and Wales have more than quadrupled in a week, rising to 1,043.

The Guardian’s Brussels correspondent, Jennifer Rankin, points out that EU officials have not confirmed Matt Hancock’s claim that the UK has joined the latest EU medical equipment procurement round.

Updated

UK coronavirus death toll could be as high as 41,000, says FT analysis

The FT estimates that the true number of those who have died from coronavirus in the UK is 41,000 - more than double the current official total.

Chris Giles, the FT’s economics editor, has explained the calculation.

Updated

The care minister, Helen Whately, has confirmed that some PPE supplies from Turkey have arrived at RAF Brize Norton. She also insisted the initial decision to opt out of an EU procurement scheme was not political.

Speaking to Sky News she said:

The plane has now arrived bringing really vital PPE with it. The consignment is being checked. What we know with these deliveries is that they do not always have exactly what you expect.

On the EU scheme she said

There do seem some misunderstandings about the EU scheme. I am assured there was no political decision about the involvement in it

The reason we weren’t involved in the initial scheme was to do with a communications error. We are now participating in one EU scheme and ready to participate in future schemes.

The important thing is making sure that we are getting the PPE that we need.

Updated

Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

Stephen Hawking’s ventilator has been donated to the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge to help treat patients with coronavirus.

The physicist, who had motor neurone disease, died in 2018, aged 76.

His daughter, Lucy Hawking, said:

Our father received brilliant, dedicated and compassionate medical care from both Royal Papworth and Addenbrooke’s Hospitals in Cambridge.

As a ventilated patient, Royal Papworth was incredibly important to my father and helped him through some very difficult times.

We realised that it would be at the forefront of the Covid-19 epidemic and got in touch with some of our old friends there to ask if we could help.

Welcome to our UK coronavirus live blog.

Ministers’ claims about efforts to procure vital medical equipment appear to be unravelling amid fresh evidence of failures to secure supplies.

The government missed opportunities to secure at least 16m face masks for NHS staff in the past four weeks, the Guardian has revealed.

And Brussels sources have told the BBC that the UK was given ample opportunity to part in an EU scheme to source medical equipment.

Sir Simon McDonald, the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, told MPs that the decision to opt out was political. But he was then forced to retract the claim within hours after he was contradicted by the health secretary, Matt Hancock.

But commentators have picked over the strange wording of McDonald’s retraction.

Meanwhile, an RAF plane, believed to be carrying a delayed consignment of personal protective equipment for NHS staff, has landed in the UK.

The plane had been dispatched from the Oxfordshire base, where two other planes are on stand-by to pick up further kit from Turkey. It is not known if the consignment, which was ordered on Thursday and originally due to arrive on Sunday, includes 400,000 badly-needed surgical gowns.

Later on Wednesday, Labour’s new leader, Keir Starmer will quiz the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, over the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis during the first virtual Prime Minister’s Questions.

Starmer is expected to spend his first PMQs as Labour leader questioning Boris Johnson’s stand-in over testing, safety equipment for frontline workers and an exit strategy from the lockdown.

Updated

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