Evening summary
- As Downing St confirmed at lunchtime that only 2,000 people out of 500,000 frontline NHS England workers had been tested for coronavirus, the government lifted its 15% cap on NHS staff testing. Effective today, chief executives of trusts have been instructed to make sure full capacity is used every day. At the daily news conference, Public Health England’s Prof Yvonne Doyle also appeared to confirm that the UK’s strategy will be to increase testing for the virus in the general population.
- It would be completely unacceptable if any banks were unfairly refusing funds to good businesses in financial difficulty, the business secretary, Alok Sharma, said. He said the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will be saying more on helping businesses access the support they need in the coming days.
- Almost one million small firms could collapse within the next month (that is a fifth of small UK businesses) as they struggle to secure emergency cash meant to support them through the coronavirus lockdown, a report suggests.
- There were more cultural and sporting casualties of the pandemic as Edinburgh Festivals – including the fringe – and the Wimbledon tennis championships were all cancelled over public health concerns. For the latter, it is the first time it has been cancelled since WW2.
- The number of UK deaths in hospitals rose to 2,352 – an increase of 563 (31%), by far the highest day-on-day rise so far.
- Police were told to use “judgement and common sense” in swiftly updated guidance, following reports of heavy handedness including the use of checkpoints and drones to enforce physical distancing.
- The lockdown could be driving down the number of people one person who has coronavirus infects, a study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine suggests. Prof John Edmunds, who led the research, said this should provide motivation to continue following government instructions on physical distancing: “We must not take our foot off the pedal”.
- Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, became the fourth cabinet member to announce he had been self-isolating after developing coronavirus symptoms.
That’s all from us here on the UK side. If you would like to continue to follow the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic, head over to the global live blog here.
Updated
NHS staff are making improvised masks out of snorkels, buying kit from hardware stores and using school science goggles to protect themselves in anticipation of a rise in coronavirus cases, it has emerged.
A consultant anaesthetist working in south-east England reported buying 60 snorkels to adapt into respirator masks. “Various other places are doing the same,” the doctor told the Guardian. “One trust has ordered 500 and teamed up with companies who are (3D) printing the adapters.”
“The snorkel masks have been adapted for use as non-invasive ventilators by Italian anaesthetists. They published their design including 3D-printed adapters to connect oxygen tubing to the snorkel breathing tube,” he said.
“This adapted connection can alternatively be used to attach a heat moisture exchanging (HME) filter used worldwide to protect tubing and ventilators from patients’ exhaled gases. These HMEs are in plentiful supply. You now have PPE combining a full-face visor with filtered air, cleanable, reusable and resource-efficient.”
Read the full article here.
Updated
The Big Issue is to go on sale in supermarkets for the first time in an effort to make money for vendors left without income during the coronavirus outbreak.
The magazine, normally sold on the street by homeless people, is to be sold in selected Sainsbury’s and McColl’s stores after sales were paused on 22 March to protect the health of its vendors.
Renters groups have called on the government to suspend rents for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, as payments for many became due this week and polling suggests that millions may have already fallen into arrears.
The government has agreed to ban evictions for the duration of the crisis, and increased the housing element of Universal Credit to cover the cheapest 30% of rents in a particular area, but advocates for renters say that is not enough.
While renters are still required to pay their rents, homeowners - including landlords - can have a three-month mortgage holiday. Despite government guidance calling on landlords to “show compassion” for their tenants, campaigners say the current policy is likely to lead to a major eviction and rent arrears crisis once the lockdown ends.
In a letter to the department for communities, homes and local government, the London Renters Union, which represents thousands of renters in London, said:
Urging landlords to ‘show compassion’ does nothing in reality to protect renters. The government has left renters to fend for themselves. As the government’s recent guidance clearly states, tenants are still legally obliged to pay rent and landlords are still able to issue eviction notices to renters who enter into rent debt. The eviction process will begin as soon as the temporary ban on evictions is lifted.
Renters should be freed from having to make any rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic and should be protected from having to pay back massive arrears once social distancing measures are reversed.
The call was echoed by Acorn, a community-based union that organises among renters in 15 other cities. Kat Wright, Acorn’s national organiser, said:
Despite the spin, the government is not protecting renters. When tenants are enduring much reduced incomes and are struggling to pay for basic necessities, it’s unacceptable that landlords have their businesses protected at our expense.
Acorn is calling for a rent waiver for the duration of the crisis. In the midst of the worst public health emergency in living memory, a safe, secure home is not just an individual right but a public health necessity. We believe that housing is healthcare.
Research carried out late last month by Opinium, on behalf of the campaign group Compassion in Politics, found more than a third of workers said they had taken a financial hit due to emergency measures.
Of those, 14% said they had missed rent or bill payments.
BuzzFeed’s Emily Ashton asked about the “crisis within a crisis” of the lack of PPE for frontline staff.
Sharma said over 390m PPE products had been delivered over the last two weeks and a 24-hour NHS hotline that staff could call to request PPE if needed.
Doyle added the intention was to ensure deliveries rapidly reached where they were needed most.
'Testing intended to be increased for general population' – Doyle
The FT’s Laura Hughes asked about the government’s exit strategy for getting us out of the lockdown and the role testing will play in that.
Sharma said the restrictions were for an initial three-week period then would be reviewed, but we could not allow efforts to be wasted and head to a dangerous second peak.
Doyle added that the prime minister would review the situation after Easter, based on scientific information and clinical evidence as to how the epidemic is progressing.
We want to make the right call at the right time on this.
Doyle appeared to confirm that the UK’s strategy will be to increase testing for the virus in the general population, after days of calls from public health experts and the Tory former health secretary Jeremy Hunt to expand it out from hospital patients and the NHS.
This appears to contradict the approach outlined on Tuesday by Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer, who said the future antibody testing to determine immunity was the key.
Updated
The Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy asked whether people were getting complacent about the measures in place and why Germany’s capacity to test was so much higher than the UK’s.
Doyle said staff in contact with the sickest patients would be tested first.
She added that the reagents that worked best were those that worked best with the machines they were intended for. As the head of the industry has said, there is a global market for this.
Sharma said the UK was looking to create lab-based testing which was the medical equivalent of building a car factory – on a huge scale, but progress was being made.
Updated
ITV’s Robert Peston asked about delays in approving antibody tests arriving from China.
Doyle said it was important that the test was valid. These were being tested at the moment. In the meantime, a separate strand was being tested in UK labs using blood samples from people who have had the disease to determine whether those tests were valid.
Updated
'Intention is to get from thousands to hundreds of thousands of tests in coming weeks' – Doyle
Sky’s Beth Rigby asked about the number and proportion of NHS staff who had been tested and how this would be scaled up, and why it had taken so long.
Doyle said there was capacity for almost 3,000 tests and that would increase. In the second strand there would be five centres where people could drive through and get tested. The intention was to get from thousands to hundreds of thousands within the coming weeks.
Sharma added the accuracy of the test was incredibly important, so it was crucial to get that right before launching the test itself.
Updated
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg asked about testing targets, lack of PPE and whether the government’s response had been too slow.
On testing targets, Sharma said increasing testing capacity was the government’s top priority. We’re now at 10,000 tests a day and 390m products have now been distributed by PHE.
Doyle added capacity had increased and the commitment was to go to 25,000 tests per day. There was a second front opening to test healthcare workers in order of priority.
Updated
'Rise in car travel very concerning, people must stay at home' – Doyle
Prof Yvonne Doyle is speaking now to provide an update on the national picture and the health system.
There has been an uptick in motor vehicle traffic, despite the rapid decline in public transport use. She says this is very concerning and urges people to stay at home.
The numbers of UK cases is concerning, with three days of increases in a row. She repeats that the best way to protect the NHS is to stay at home to avoid catching the disease yourself and avoid giving it to anyone else.
The number of English hospital admissions is most advanced in London, but the threat is everywhere, with the Midlands a concern now as well.
In the context of the global death comparison, the situation in the UK is less severe than in France, Spain and Italy, but this is no reason to be complacent.
Updated
Sharma said the chancellor will be saying more on helping businesses access the support they need in the coming days.
'Completely unacceptable if banks unfairly refusing funds to businesses' – Sharma
Sharma said:
From today, businesses will start benefiting from £22bn in the form of business rates relief and grants of up to £25,000.
As of today, local authorities have received more than £12bn. This afternoon, I instructed them that this money must reach businesses as quickly as possible.
High street banks are working very hard to help through this period, including through mortgage holidays and increased credit facilities.
Loans for businesses are also being issued through the Covid business disruption loan scheme. The chancellor, together with the Bank of England and the FCA, wrote to the chief executives of UK banks to urge them to make sure the benefits of the loan scheme are passed through to businesses and consumers.
It would be completely unacceptable if any banks were unfairly refusing funds to good businesses in financial difficulty.
Just as the taxpayer stepped in to help the banks in 2008, we will do everything we can to help the banks repay that favour and support the businesses and people of the UK in their time of need.
Updated
Business secretary Alok Sharma holds daily UK briefing
Alok Sharma, the business secretary, is speaking now.
152,979 people in the UK have now been tested. Of those 29,474 have tested positive.
The number admitted to hospital in England with symptoms 10,767, whilst 3,915 of those are in London and 1,918 in the Midlands.
Of those hospitalised in the UK, 2,352 have died. The youngest was just 13 years old.
This is more tragic evidence that this virus does not discriminate. This pandemic is the biggest threat this country has faced in decades.
Updated
Some people are not reporting that they have Covid-19 symptoms when calling 999 or 111 for help because they fear help might not be sent, the Welsh ambulance service has said.
It said this meant that crews have been attending some incidents without protective equipment, exposing them to potential harm.
In a video message to the public, Lee Brooks, the director of operations, said:
Our teams are reporting that they arrive at the scene of an incident, possibly at your home, to discover that callers have withheld information about their symptoms.
Some of you have told us that you were concerned that, had you been honest, an ambulance would not have been sent.
We understand your concerns but I want to make a couple of things clear. Firstly, we will always send an ambulance where it is warranted, but this means relying on what our call handlers are told at the point that you call us.
If you don’t give us accurate information, you risk the welfare of the people whose job it is to care for us all. This is incredibly unfair on our staff.
Our Director of Operations @_LeeBrooks has issued a plea to the public for honesty during the Covid-19 outbreak 👇
— Welsh Ambulance #StayHomeSaveLives (@WelshAmbulance) April 1, 2020
Some members of the public have been withholding info about their illness when calling 111 or 999.
This is putting our crews at risk.
👉 https://t.co/BMke5uGniA pic.twitter.com/UiQBJn84FQ
Updated
A third prisoner has been included in the coronavirus death figures, the Ministry of Justice has said. He tested positive for the disease after he died
The 77-year-old sex offender, who was serving a sentence at Littlehey prison in Cambridgeshire, died in hospital on 27 March, the MoJ said.
It is understood he was taken to hospital in relation to a number of serious underlying health conditions and tested positive for Covid-19 after his death.
As a result, he has been included in the official Department of Health figures on coronavirus deaths.
He is the second prisoner serving a sentence at Littlehey, a category C prison in Cambridgeshire that only holds male sex offenders, to have contracted Covid-19 and died. An 84-year-old child sex offender died in hospital on 22 March.
The prison can hold around 1,200 prisoners. In July last year, inspectors found 12% of the population, or 145 people, were aged 70 or over.
A Prison Service spokesperson said:
A 77-year-old HMP Littlehey prisoner died in hospital on March 27. Our condolences are with his family at this time.
As with all deaths in custody, there will be an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.
A total of three prisoners have contracted the virus and died. There are around 83,000 prisoners in England and Wales.
Updated
Daily press conference
The business secretary, Alok Sharma, will front this afternoon’s daily news conference, which is due to begin shortly.
He will be joined by Public Health England’s director for health protection and medical director, Prof Yvonne Doyle.
Updated
Hundreds of students at Imperial College London have opposed plans that would force many international students to take their summer exams at night.
A poll of 1,747 students at the science-focused university, found that just over 97% are against its plans for timed online assessments.
The college notified students last week that “being in a different time zone cannot be used as a mitigating circumstance” in the online exams and they must be “available at the correct UK time, wherever they are”.
More than a third (38%) of the students who responded to the survey want next term’s exams cancelled entirely. A third-year physics student, who carried out the poll, said:
There is a clear majority consensus on this topic, which the college do not seem to be acknowledging despite other top universities having implemented more lenient measures.
Oxford University announced on Wednesday that most final-year students will sit open-book exams online this summer. It said the exams “will be taken within a 24-hour window to account [for students] in different time zones”. Finalists can also choose to return to sit written exams at the university next summer, or to graduate this year with an unclassified degree, which indicates their previous level of attainment.
Oxford has also cancelled most first-year exams and postponed most second-year exams until the next academic year. All students sitting exams this summer will be covered by a “safety net” policy under which their previous academic performance will be considered by the examiners.
Students who signed an open letter calling on the university to cancel or postpone exams have cautiously welcomed the plans. Politics, Philosophy and Economics student Luci Dennewill, co-author of the letter, said she was relieved that there would be a safety net policy, although she remains concerned about how the university will address individual students’ problems, such as ”difficult home environments and lacking resources”.
But some Cambridge students remain unhappy with its plans for online assessments, announced on Tuesday. Although the university will operate a similar safety net to Oxford, this will not cover students who did not receive a grade for last year‘s exams.
One student affected, whose father died of cancer during last summer’s exams, said:
This policy just feels grossly unfair. My time at Cambridge has already been very challenging, and now they are disadvantaging me based on two things that were completely out of my control - a lost parent and the outbreak of [coronavirus]. It feels like a punch in the stomach.
Updated
Further 486 hospital deaths in England bringing total to 2,137
In England, another 486 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 2,137, NHS England said.
A statement said patients were aged between 13 and 99 years old, and 20 of the 486 patients (aged between 13 and 93 years old) had no known underlying health condition.
Earlier today, the Department for Health and Social Care released the latest overall UK death figures. As of 5pm on 31 March, of those treated in hospital in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 2,352 had died.
This is an increase of 563 – or 31% – from the 1,789 deaths reported the day before.
Updated
The number of critical care beds in Wales has been doubled to 313, the Welsh health minister has said.
As of Tuesday, occupancy of critical care units was about 40% and 69% of those people occupying beds either have suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Vaughan Gething told the Welsh assembly:
We will continue with the rapid expansion of critical care bed numbers, which will be supported by the purchase of over 965 additional ventilators, with further options to purchase or manufacture ventilators being urgently explored.
He said 5m pieces of personal protective equipment had been deployed from the government’s pandemic stocks to be used in the health and social care system.
A community council in Perth has come up with an innovative way of getting food and essentials to people in need while maintaining social distancing guidance.
North Inch and Muirton community council, in collaboration with Zero Waste Perth, have built a dozen wooden Give and Take boxes which are being erected locally, and allow shoppers to leave tins and dried goods which can then be picked up safely by at-risk residents.
And there’s more! 6 ‘Give and Take’ boxes - 3 on Dunkeld Rd, 1 Balhousie St & 2 on Gowan’s Terr. The +ve response has been fantastic. These are yours - please share what’s in them with those self-isolating. #CompassionateCommunity #Lockdown #Share #LookAfterYourBoxes #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/XbEOvg0wzV
— North Inch Muirton Community Council (@InchNorth) March 30, 2020
Updated
Wimbledon 2020 cancelled
This summer’s Wimbledon has been cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis, the All England Lawn Tennis Club has confirmed.
It is the first time the tournament has been cancelled since the Second World War. It had been due to take place from 28 June to 11 July.
The moved felt inevitable, following the recent cancellation of the vast majority of major sporting events including the Tokyo Olympics and Euro 2020.
It is with great regret that the AELTC has today decided that The Championships 2020 will be cancelled due to public health concerns linked to the coronavirus epidemic.
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) April 1, 2020
The 134th Championships will instead be staged from 28 June to 11 July 2021.https://t.co/c0QV2ymGAt
Guardian sport has the full story here.
Updated
As many as one in five of Greater Manchester’s frontline police officers and health and social care staff are currently off work because they are self-isolating, it has emerged.
Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, said England’s third largest police force was under “real pressure” due to coronavirus and that it was having an effect on its ability “to investigate all levels of crime”.
Burnham described the lack of coronavirus tests as a “major concern” and a “bigger and less resolved issue” than the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS staff as it meant that key workers were having to self-isolate when they could instead be back at work.
The mayor said Greater Manchester was mobilising its universities, academics and laboratory and “stands ready to help” the government to increase the number of tests which he said was urgently needed.
On PPE, Burnham said Manchester received three to four days worth of kit from the national stockpile on Saturday - but only after what he described as “difficult” negotiations with the government. The military will deliver a further batch of supplies to the region on Monday.
After days of pressure, the Welsh first minister has named the private company that his government claims pulled out of a deal to provide it with 5,000 Covid-19 tests a day.
Mark Drakeford told the Welsh assembly that it had a deal with the healthcare giant Roche. The company yesterday denied it had a contract or agreement with the Welsh government. He said:
We did have a deal; it was a deal that we had with Roche. We believe that it was a deal that ought to have been honoured. We now have access to a supply of tests from a consortium of suppliers that will give us a considerable uplift in testing here in Wales.
The Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price, pressed Drakeford on a suggestion that the deal may have fallen through because the company had made a deal with Public Health England. Price asked:
Can you address this suggestion that I’ve heard from several sources inside Wales, several sources outside of Wales, that one of the reasons that the deal with the Welsh government collapsed was because of a parallel deal with Public Health England?
Now, either that is true, or it isn’t true, and it’s causing a lot of anxiety and some anger in some places. If it isn’t true, dispel that now by saying so, or at least tell us what you know as to why this deal collapsed?
Drakeford replied:
Truthfully, what I believe patients are interested in is that testing will be available; that staff can be tested and go back to work; and some of the detail of how that came about, is not, I think, uppermost in the minds of people who need that testing.
Yesterday a spokesperson for Roche Diagnostics said:
Roche does not have, and has never had, a contract or agreement directly with Wales to supply testing for Covid-19. Roche has an agreement only with the UK government to increase testing capacity across the whole of the UK. The UK-wide rollout is being coordinated centrally by Public Health England, including Wales.
Public Health England has strongly dismissed the suggestion that it had interfered with any contract involving the Welsh government.
Updated
The US president, Donald Trump, has said the UK’s early approach to tackling the coronavirus outbreak would have been “very catastrophic” if Boris Johnson had not decided to change tack.
Trump suggested the prime minister had looked to “ride out” the virus in an approach that would have caused “a lot of death”.
The criticism appeared to be a reference to the UK government initially following a plan for so-called “herd immunity”.
Back on 13 March, Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, told the BBC the “aim” was to “not suppress (coronavirus) completely... to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease”, while still reducing the peak number of infections to protect the NHS.
The concept would have resulted in the elderly and vulnerable being sheltered from Covid-19 but those deemed fit would have been permitted to contract the illness in a bid to build up nationwide immunity from the killer bug.
However, merely a week after the position was declared, Johnson, who last week tested positive for coronavirus, opted to put the UK on lockdown after seeing expert modelling predicting Britain was on course to lose 250,000 people during the pandemic unless stringent measures were taken.
Updated
Fourth cabinet member self-isolated after having Covid symptoms
The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has been self-isolating after feeling the symptoms of the coronavirus, it has been disclosed.
Wallace said he was now recovered after spending a week in his flat. He told Sky News political editor Beth Rigby:
I felt symptoms last Tuesday and followed NHS guidelines by self-isolating in my flat. I continued to work throughout the week and am recovered now.
He is the fourth member of the cabinet to have gone into self-isolation and his disclosure will heighten concerns that ministers had not been following their own rules on physical distancing.
Boris Johnson and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, have both tested positive for the virus while the Scottish secretary, Alister Jack, also went into self-isolation after suffering from a cough and fever.
In addition the chief medical officer for England, Prof Chris Whitty, and Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s senior adviser, have both been self-isolating after displaying symptoms.
Updated
An intensive care consultant in a Welsh Covid-19 hotspot has said her unit at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport is full of people aged between 20 and 40.
Dr Ami Jones told ITV News:
We have already surged beyond our standard capacity. It’s not just the vulnerable and elderly that are getting poorly - my unit is full of 20-, 30- and 40-year-olds.
Jones works for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, which has the highest number of confirmed cases in Wales: 681.
She said the hospital was “very prepared” and had “surge plans” in place to cope with an influx of sick patients.
We are looking to exceed six times our normal critical care capacity, but it’s not just a case of giving us ventilators – we need more staff and we need other equipment.
Jones urged the public to stay at home and only leave for essential journeys.
We are prepared to surge if we need to but we hope we don’t. We hope lockdown and social distancing will flatten the curve, but people do need to lock down.
Popping to the shops for a paper is not essential – everybody is at risk.
I’ve got ITU patients on my ward who were previously fit and well, so if you think it’s not going to affect you and you can just go out and do what you want then you are wrong. You will end up in ITU if you are not careful.
Updated
The increase in confirmed cases of coronavirus among prisoners in England and Wales slowed on Tuesday, according to the latest update from the Ministry of Justice.
The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 among prisoners increased 6% in 24 hours to 69 cases across 25 prisons as at 5pm on Tuesday. There are around 83,000 prisoners in England and Wales across 117 prisons.
The number of prison staff who have tested positive remained at 14 in the same period, while the number of infected prisoner escort and custody services (Pecs) staff remained at four.
On Tuesday, the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, confirmed most pregnant women and inmates held in mother and baby units would be temporarily released.
Updated
Government lifts 15% cap on NHS staff testing
NHS England has sent a letter to all trusts saying the government has now lifted the 15% cap on staff testing, Sky News’ Beth Rigby reports.
The letter states:
Effective today we are asking chief executives of trusts that host an NHS lab doing Covid-19 testing personally to ensure that your lab’s capacity is fully used each and every day.
This can be achieved by using all spare testing for staff/index testing, either from within your own organisation or those of neighbouring acute and ambulance trusts. As soon as this has been implemented, and as extra lab volumes become available, the approach can over the coming days be extended to community, mental health and primary care services, along with social care.
NEW: NHS England has sent a letter to all trusts saying govt has now lifted 15% cap on staff testing.
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) April 1, 2020
Asks CEOs to make sure full capacity used everyday (this follows lag between capacity of tests and actual tests carried out) pic.twitter.com/LXsVgx13CN
Medics threaten to limit services due to PPE shortage
Medics at a hospital have warned they may need to limit services to a “bare minimum” amid concerns over fears for their own safety.
Staff at Southend Hospital in Essex claim to be “petrified” about the rationing of personal protective equipment (PPE).
In a letter sent to management, staff warned if the standard and availability of PPE is not improved by close of play on Wednesday, they will introduce “restricted services” in high-risk areas of the hospital.
The BBC has the story.
It comes as some leading trade unions warned the lack of PPE is a “crisis within a crisis”.
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has invited the leaders of the two main opposition parties in Wales, the Tories and Plaid Cymru, to join its cabinet Covid group, which has been set up to tackle the crisis. Paul Davies and Adam Price have accepted the invitation.
Drakeford said:
The spread of coronavirus in Wales continues to accelerate. The last week has seen a significant increase in the number of people requiring hospital treatment and a further increase in the number of deaths associated with the disease.
Yet it is an inescapable fact that we still stand at the foothills of the mountain which faces us. The measures put in place over the past two weeks will slow the pace of the virus, but that effect will not be felt immediately. The number of people who will be affected, and the number of deaths will grow further.
The key thing remains that everything we do together to slow down, and then reverse that trend will save lives.
Price said Plaid Cymru would always seek to work “co-operatively and constructively with others” – particularly in a time of “unprecedented crisis”.
He said his membership of the group would be an “invaluable forum” for his party to raise “valid questions and real concerns” with the Welsh government and would be offering “practical ideas and solutions” as well. The Plaid leader said this would not “hinder nor hamper” his or his party’s ability to scrutinise.
Updated
A small independent festival in North Berwick, which times its events to coincide with the major festivals in nearby Edinburgh, is pressing on with its August programme despite the closure of all five Edinburgh events that month.
Jackie Shuttleworth, the general manager of Fringe by the Sea, said it would abide by government rulings on social distancing and lockdowns in force for August but claimed it was small and nimble enough to adapt nearer the time.
This year’s event, which runs over 10 days from 7 to 16 August, is due to feature a DJ set with Basement Jaxx, sets by the folk singer KT Tunstall, the comedian Janey Godley and the US singer-songwriter Candi Staton.
Fringe by the Sea sends its condolences to our festival neighbours in Edinburgh and fully agrees with their rationale that the health and safety of participants and audiences are paramount.
While we overlap in timings, Fringe by the Sea operated independently from the Edinburgh programmes. At our heart, we are a community festival serving East Lothian and are doing as much as we can to provide some much-needed joy to the people of our region come August.
Fringe by the Sea seems an outlier. Before Wednesday’s closure statement from Edinburgh festivals, a host of festivals this summer had already announced cancellations, including Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary edition.
Updated
A Scottish sheep farmer has pleaded with the public to follow the government’s guidance to stay indoors to prevent putting farmers, who are “trying to provide for the nation”, at risk of coronavirus.
Speaking in a video posted on Facebook, Emma Murdoch from New Galloway said:
Every gate you touch, every stile you touch, if you have the virus you are giving it to a farmer. If we are ill, how do we look after our livestock? How do we produce for the nation?
Updated
Nearly 1m small businesses could go bust within next four weeks
Almost a fifth of UK small businesses are at risk of collapsing within the next month as they struggle to secure emergency cash meant to support them through the coronavirus lockdown, according to research by an accountancy network.
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has pledged unprecedented aid to companies to try to cushion the blow from much of the economy shutting down but businesses and politicians have raised concerns that there are gaps in the schemes.
Some 18% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) either probably or definitely will not be able to obtain additional cash from the government to survive for a four-week period, according to the Corporate Finance Network.
Its accountancy firm members estimated that almost a third of their 13,000 small-company clients from around the UK would be unable to acquire the cash needed to ride out an extended, three-month lockdown.
Rachel Reeves, the Labour MP who heads the business select committee, wrote to the chancellor on Tuesday outlining concerns with the schemes to support companies.
Banks were kept afloat by government and taxpayers during the financial crisis. They should play their part in helping small and medium sized businesses through the coronavirus crisis. My letter to the Chancellor:https://t.co/JIMPxA3tCc pic.twitter.com/DCeqsyPDvD
— Rachel Reeves (@RachelReevesMP) March 31, 2020
You can read the full story here.
Updated
The new NHS field hospital in Manchester is due to open at the end of next week - on 12 April - and will have capacity for 500 beds, the city’s council leader has said.
The facility at Manchester Central convention centre will be a “step-down” hospital, meaning it will not treat intensive care cases, and is expected to be called Nightingale North.
Sir Richard Leese told a press conference on Wednesday that the new hospital would serve the entire north-west and that the government was not believed to be looking for additional sites in the region.
About a third of all hospital beds in Greater Manchester were currently occupied by 475 coronavirus patients, Leese said. The number of cases in the region has tripled in the past seven days, to 901 cases and the daily increase has been getting steeper.
Updated
In the latest episode of the Politics Weekly podcast, the Guardian’s deputy political editor, Rowena Mason, is joined by Kate Proctor to talk about how the prime minister’s replacements are doing in his absence as he self-isolates in a flat above No 11 Downing Street.
Then, the former executive director of policy for the Labour party, Andrew Fisher, talks about the end of the Labour leadership campaign and where his party goes from here, once a new team takes the helm.
Plus, the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent, Jennifer Rankin, talks about how the EU and the UK are navigating their first post-Brexit crisis.
You can listen to the episode here.
More than 40 museums and galleries across the UK have donated personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS and ambulance services in response to the Covid-19 crisis, the Guardian has learned.
The institutions, including the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Archives at Kew and Scotland’s national museums and galleries, have given large quantities of masks, gloves, plastic aprons and hats to help ease shortages faced by frontline health workers.
PPE that is normally used by museum conservators when handling delicate items in their collections is often identical to that used by doctors and nurses.
A spokeswoman for the British Museum, which donated masks and gloves to the London ambulance service, said the donation had arisen from “a very human sense of wanting to do something to help in these unusual times, however small it may be in the grand scheme of things”.
Small acts of kindness can make a big difference.
— nikkielvin (@nikkielvin) March 27, 2020
Thank you to @britishmuseum #science #conservation #collectioncare teams for collecting up spare #PPE last week. These gloves and masks are now with @Ldn_Ambulance #London #NHSHeroes #covid19 pic.twitter.com/3bK1llSBGm
A van-load of equipment from Blythe House, the shared storage facility for the British Museum, V&A and Science Museum, was donated to the London ambulance service, it tweeted on Wednesday.
Gloves and masks from @V_and_A @sciencemuseum and @britishmuseum collected from #BlytheHouse to send to the London Ambulance Service @NHSuk @NHSEnglandLDN ! This is in addition to material sourced from V&A South Kensington. Yay! pic.twitter.com/0GbTMcirS7
— Ricarda Beatrix 瑞琦 (@RicardaBeatrix) April 1, 2020
Andy Bodle, director of operations at human resources at Royal Museums Greenwich, told the Guardian that teams from the museum had collected stocks of medical grade face masks and nitrile gloves from their conservation centre “as well as from various stores and emergency caches around our other sites”, and given them to Queen Elizabeth hospital in Greenwich, along with a letter of support from museum staff.
Updated
In her statement to the Scottish parliament this lunchtime, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said that more extensive testing could be part of a strategy to take the country out of lockdown.
By the end of April, at current NHS lab capacity, the Scottish government is planning to do 3,500 tests per day - there are currently 1,900 done a day. These tests are to treat those with serious illness, to test key workers (prioritising those most essential to rotas) and also as part of a “robust system of surveillance”.
She said her government was looking at “how we use more extensive testing as part of a strategy to take the county out of lockdown, to go back – I’m using shorthand here – to a contain strategy”.
Updated
UK hospital death toll rises by 563 to 2,352
The DHSC said that as of 9am on 1 April, a total of 152,979 people had been tested of whom 29,474 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 31 March, of those treated in hospital in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 2,352 had died.
This is an increase of 563 – or 31% – from the 1,789 deaths reported the day before.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) testing in the UK:
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 1, 2020
As of 9am 1 April, a total of 152,979 people have been tested of which 29,474 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 31 March, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 2,352 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/IUqkO6W3Dx
Updated
In a bleak time for the aviation industry, with airports and airlines appealing for state aid to stay in business, one UK airport says it is having a - relatively – good crisis.
East Midlands airport, which flies fewer than 5 million passengers a year on budget short-haul flights, but handles more air freight than any UK hub bar Heathrow, has had an increase in cargo flights of around 10%.
Although overall flight numbers are down 40%, that reduction is less than any other airport in Europe over the past week, according to Eurocontrol data. The additional cargo comes partly from handling flights from airports who have curtailed their operating hours; but East Midlands is also taking delivery of more supplies such as urgent medical and PPE equipment - as well as increased online shopping during the lockdown.
The airport, which is located alongside major logistics businesses at the heart of the UK distribution network, is now handling over 1,000 tonnes of freight of day.
Updated
Wales deaths rise by 29 to 98
The number of people who have died in Wales after contracting coronavirus is 98, a rise of 29, health officials said.
Public Health Wales said there were 274 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, taking the total to 1,837, though it said the true number was likely to be higher.
Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the Covid-19 outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said:
Twenty-nine further deaths have been reported to us of people who had tested positive for novel coronavirus, taking the number of deaths in Wales to 98.
Today’s increase reflects a combination of a true increase in numbers, along with additional cases reported from the previous reporting period.
Updated
Discount supermarket Aldi is donating almost half a million surplus Easter eggs to charities and food banks across the UK.
From Thursday, Aldi will provide up to 50 Easter eggs per store each day to local charities and food banks which support vulnerable families and children.
The donations form part of Aldi’s ongoing partnership with community engagement platform, Neighbourly, through which all 877 Aldi stores in the UK are donating food to local charities and community groups at the end of each day.
Updated
The British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgeons is warning the public to take care when carrying out household tasks, after finding a spike in injuries relating to activities ranging from DIY to gardening.
Alastair Brown, a plastic surgeon at Ulster hospital in Belfast, noted that injuries relating to power tools, lawnmowers and even bicycle maintenance were among those being dealt with, adding that treating individuals for such injuries – which has included amputations – is putting pressure on the healthcare service. He said:
Repair and reconstruction can consume many hours of precious theatre time. We are unfortunately becoming more and more stretched with our resources as they are diverted to the very sick patients most in need. Very difficult decisions about priority and treatment we can provide are having to be made.
The association is asking the public to take care by avoiding any unnecessary DIY and gardening, particularly involving saws or other power tools, checking smoke alarms, keeping hot drinks away from children, and keeping fingers clear when chopping food – including when tackling avocados.
“Please do all that you can to help,” added Brown.
Only engage in risky activities if absolutely essential and when you are familiar with the equipment you are using. Keep your hands away from moving parts and blades at all times. Be mindful of other areas of potential injury around the home or garden, including burns or scalds.
Updated
British American Tobacco (BAT), the maker of brands including Lucky Strike, Dunhill, Rothmans and Benson & Hedges, has said it has a potential coronavirus vaccine in development using tobacco plants.
The irony is not lost on the Guardian’s Mark Sweney, who reports that BAT has turned the vast resources usually focused on creating products that pose health risks to millions of smokers worldwide to battling the global pandemic. The company said:
Tobacco plants offer the potential for faster and safer vaccine development compared with conventional methods.
If testing goes well, BAT is hopeful that, with the right partners and support from government agencies, between 1m and 3m doses of the vaccine could be manufactured per week, beginning in June.
The full story is here.
Updated
North Wales police have asked animal lovers to resist the temptation to travel to Llandudno to see the goats that are roaming the streets of the seaside town.
The force tweeted:
It’s great to see the media reaction to the #GreatOrmeGoats that we are all very fond of, however, please do NOT travel to #Llandudno to see them. This is not essential travel and is putting unnecessary demand on all public services.
It's great to see the media reaction to the #GreatOrmeGoats that we are all very fond of, however, please do NOT travel to #Llandudno to see them. This is not essential travel and is putting unnecessary demand on all public services. #StayHomeSaveLives #COVID19 #ProtectOurNHS pic.twitter.com/SOj8rjdtfp
— North Wales Police #StayHomeSaveLives (@NWPolice) April 1, 2020
Updated
Family of 19-year-old coronavirus victim say he was told not to worry
A 19-year-old chef who died after being infected with coronavirus was told that he “didn’t have to worry about that bad flu”, according to his family.
PAMedia reports:
Luca Di Nicola, who died in London’s North Middlesex hospital on March 24, was described by his family as “very healthy” with no previous health conditions.
Di Nicola, who was originally from Nereto, in Abruzzo, in Italy, was working at a restaurant in Enfield, north London.
NHS England have confirmed the death of a 19-year-old who tested positive for Covid-19 and had no existing medical issues.
Luca’s aunt Giada, from Nereto, told the Italian news website La Repubblica: “For a week before his death Luca had a fever and a cough and my sister-in-law Clarissa and her partner Vincenzo who lived in the same house also had it.
“The local GP gave my nephew some paracetamol. But Luca got worse on March 23.
“The doctor visited him at home and told him that he was young, strong and that he didn’t have to worry about that bad flu.”
She said his condition got worse the next day as he suffered chest pains. His lips turned purple and he collapsed.
He died shortly after being taken to hospital.
A North Middlesex University hospital NHS trust spokesman said: “Very sadly, we can confirm a 19-year-old man died soon after arriving at A&E. He tested positive for Covid-19 after his death.
“Our thoughts and condolences remain with the patients’ families and loved ones at this difficult time.”
Updated
- There is a global shortage of the specialist chemicals for testing, contrary to claims by the British Chemicals Association.
- He insisted that care homes were getting lots of face masks but said a new ordering hotline had been set up to get them more equipment.
- He could not say whether it was normal practice for NHS staff to prevent parents from staying with children who are sick with coronavirus after a 13-year-old boy died in hospital alone.
- He refused to say whether mobile phone companies were handing over tracking data to the government, which is allowed in emergencies
More detail on this as we get it.
Updated
Downing Street: 2,000 of 500,000 frontline NHS England staff have been tested for coronavirus
At the daily No 10 briefing of lobby journalists, Downing Street said just 2,000 people out of 500,000 frontline NHS England staff have been tested for coronavirus.
Around 1.2 million people work for NHS England in total. One in four frontline staff are estimated to be isolating.
Updated
The coronavirus pandemic could result in delays to bone marrow transplants and radiotherapy treatments, the latest guidelines suggest.
PA Media reports:
Most non-urgent cases of allogeneic transplants, which use stem cells from a donor, should be deferred until the risks associated with the outbreak have passed, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said.
The so-called “rapid guidelines”, which have been put together in an urgent attempt to advise clinicians how best to modify care to reduce patients’ exposure to Covid-19, advise all but exceptional cases of autologous transplants (using a patient’s own cells) should be deferred.
The latest two sets - on radiotherapy and bone marrow transplants - follow three published last month on critical care, kidney dialysis and delivery of systemic anti-cancer treatments.
The most recent guidelines, set out in anticipation of a surge in hospital admissions due to Covid-19, state that medics will need to weigh up any interruption to treatment or delays to transplants with the risks of the patient contracting the virus.
The radiotherapy guidelines advise clinicians to take into account “balancing the risk of cancer not being treated optimally with the risk of the patient becoming seriously ill from Covid-19”.
They also advise medics to “discuss the risks and benefits of changing treatment schedules or interrupting treatment with patients, their families and carers”.
Updated
The nation’s PE teacher Joe Wicks has revealed that his daily YouTube lessons have already raised £80,000 for the NHS.
If you missed the announcement today, I shared an update on how much money we've raised so far from advertising on YouTube 😀
— The Body Coach (@thebodycoach) April 1, 2020
Thanks to you and everyone that has taken part and watched the #PEWithJoe workouts... we've together raised just over £80,000 for the NHS 🙏🏻
Due to the coronavirus lockdown, Joe – known to his fans as The Body Coach – has been hosting daily work-out videos on his YouTube channel, which aim to keep children - and their hard-pressed parents - active during the school closures.
On Wednesday, he revealed via video-link on Good Morning Britain that he had currently raised £80,000.
He said: “In the past week alone on the past seven videos, the AdSense is at $100,000 [just over £80,000].
“Every penny from the workout that we do from this school stuff for now until forever… all of that money is going to the NHS. We are raising money through these workouts.”
“The more we do it the more we raise. It’s amazing, I’m so proud of that,” he added.
Work is under way to provide an extra 500 patient beds at leisure centres throughout Cumbria, PA Media reports:
Equipment will be installed this week at Whitehaven Sports Centre, the Sands Centre in Carlisle, Penrith Leisure Centre and Kendal Leisure Centre, as well as Furness Academy in Barrow.
Andrew Slattery, assistant chief constable of Cumbria police, said: “The additional beds will be available if our hospitals reach full capacity and beds will be allocated by our NHS colleagues as required. They will not be for general access by the public.
These facilities have been arranged locally in anticipation of the likely demand on NHS bed space. The full operational model of how the new facilities would work is still being developed. But work now will ensure that the basic physical infrastructure is in place should it be needed. This is a prudent and sensible approach given how this pandemic has developed in other countries.
Updated
The Prince of Wales speaks after recovery from coronavirus
The Prince of Wales has made his first appearance since coming out of self-isolation, following his coronavirus diagnosis, to record a video message in support of Age UK in response to the health crisis.
As Patron of @age_uk, The Prince of Wales shares a message on the Coronavirus pandemic and its effect on the older members of the community. pic.twitter.com/a6NEFPOtvQ
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) April 1, 2020
Charles, who is patron of Age UK, said in the footage posted on royal social media accounts: “Having recently gone through the process of contracting this coronavirus - luckily with relatively mild symptoms - I now find myself on the other side of the illness, but still in no less a state of social distance and general isolation.”
In the message, recorded on Tuesday morning by staff at Birkhall, the prince’s home in Scotland, Charles added: “As we are all learning, this is a strange, frustrating and often distressing experience when the presence of family and friends is no longer possible and the normal structures of life are suddenly removed.
“At such an unprecedented and anxious time in all our lives, my wife and I are thinking particularly of all those who have lost their loved ones in such very difficult and abnormal circumstances, and of those having to endure sickness, isolation and loneliness.”
Updated
Following the cancellation of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, its director, Nick Barley, has said said the decision to cancel the event in August had not been “taken lightly”, writes my colleague Luke Harding.
The safety of our authors, audiences, supporters, staff and suppliers, and also that of the people who live and work in our wonderful city, is of paramount importance,” Barley said, adding: “It probably doesn’t come as too much of a surprise given the extraordinary challenges we are all facing and will likely face for some time to come.”
Barley said the festival planned to hold a series of online events this summer instead. It was currently unclear what “form it might take”. The hope was to offer “a place where writers can share their stories, perspectives and ideas with others is what we do”, Barley said, adding: “We will be exploring the options available to us to help writers continue to connect with readers.”
Updated
A man who has a 3D printing hobby has been inundated with requests from care homes and his local hospital after he starting producing protective masks for frontline workers, PA Media reports:
Sid Lovatt said he was at home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, after he was furloughed from his job in the retail sector when he became aware that 3D printing enthusiasts in other countries were producing the much-needed pieces of kit.
Since he started producing the visors last week, he has had requests from care homes, GP surgeries and even his local hospital ward.
Lovatt said he has had vulnerable community nurses ring him to say they are treating ill patients with only paper masks, disposable aprons and gloves, but no visors.
He said the “simple but genius” Swedish design covers the whole face and uses A4 ring binder covers which fit on to the 3D printed band, using the punched holes.
“I just thought I would put my hobby to some use and it’s blown up,” Lovatt said.
“It’s absolutely mental. My phone hasn’t stopped.”
Lovatt said he has already produced 90 of the masks, which take 38 minutes to print.
He says he can currently print 20 a day and is buying more machines. He he has been inundated with offers of help, including from companies who can supply materials as well as other 3D printing enthusiasts around the country.
Lovatt said he has received £800 in donations - enough to manufacture thousands of masks.
He said a community had developed on Facebook to coordinate the donation of much-needed equipment to healthcare workers which will reduce the number of people visiting vulnerable sites, including the hospital.
Updated
The luxury hotel Claridge’s is transforming itself into a five-star refuge for dozens of London NHS workers who cannot live at home during the crisis, the Evening Standard reports:
Up to 40 doctors, nurses and other key staff will move into the 208-year-old hotel in Mayfair from Friday.
They will be given free accommodation in bedrooms that usually start from around £650 a night, as well as breakfast and dinner.
The Brook Street institution, sometimes known as “the annex to Buckingham Palace” because of its regal connections, closed last week for the first time in its history as part of the national lockdown.
[...]Paddy McKillen, co-owner of the Maybourne Group, which runs Claridge’s, said: “Just as it has in the past world wars, Claridge’s has a duty to step up and support the people of London. Teams from all our hotels have volunteered to help and support the dedicated NHS workers at this critical time. We are forever in their debt.”
Kitchen staff from the group’s other hotels, the Connaught and the Berkeley, are making meals for NHS staff, delivered by the Helpforce charity.
Updated
Deaths in Scotland rise by 16 to 76
Nicola Sturgeon has disclosed another 16 people have died in Scotland from Covid-19, taking the total number of fatalities up to 76, with more than 1,500 people in hospital with virus symptoms or confirmed infections.
In her daily virus update, the first minister said there had now been 2,310 positive cases detected, up by 317 in the last 24 hours, but Scotland’s hospitals had dramatically expanded capacity to cope with the pandemic.
She said the number of intensive care beds had now doubled, with 360 ICU beds in total and 250 available specifically for Covid-19 patients. Last night, 147 people with the virus were in intensive care. Hospitals were now working to quadruple intensive care capacity.
She told MSPs they were confident the NHS could cope with an expected peak in cases, as long as people continued to observe the very strict lockdown and social distancing rules now in place.
Updated
Edinburgh festivals cancelled
Following suit with other major cultural events around the country, Edinburgh Festivals has cancelled this year’s festivals, which include the Edinburgh fringe festival and the international book festival.
Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said:
It’s heart-breaking that the fringe and our sister August festivals will not take place as planned this summer. However, having taken advice and considered all the options, we collectively believe this is the only appropriate response.
We are deeply saddened to announce that this year's August Festivals, @EdArtFest @edfringe @edbookfest @edintfest & @EdinburghTattoo are not happening as planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.https://t.co/UKQiUizt2Z
— Edinburgh Festivals (@edfests) April 1, 2020
The five August festivals were due to welcome audiences of more than 4.4 million people and 250,000 artists.
Read the full story from Mark Brown here:
Updated
Lockdown could be driving Covid-19 reproduction number below one, study suggests
The UK lockdown could be driving down the number of people one person who has coronavirus infects, preliminary estimates by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine suggest.
It estimates that before the lockdown one positive person would infect 2.6 other people, but says measures introduced by the government mean that number could now be just 0.62.
A study by the school describes this number as the reproduction number – the average number of people who will catch a disease from a single infected person. Experts say that maintaining this figure below one means the epidemic will decline.
More information on the research here.
Estimates from @cmmid_lshtm suggest #UKlockdown could be driving #COVID19 reproduction number below one.
— London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (@LSHTM) April 1, 2020
But John Edmunds says they're not to be read as ‘job done’. "They should be used as motivation to keep following UK government instructions."
More 👉 https://t.co/ntBNhte1ZS pic.twitter.com/QAETWzt0pg
Echoing the language of the medical director for NHS England, Stephen Powis, at the government’s daily news conference yesterday, Prof John Edmunds, who led the research, said:
If we see similar changes across the UK population, we would expect to see the epidemic to start to decline.
However, our estimates are not to be read as ‘job done’. Rather, they should be used as motivation for us all to keep following UK government instructions. It’s imperative we don’t take our foot off the pedal.
We must continue to stop transmission of the virus to reduce the burden on the NHS now and over the coming months.
Updated
Children going hungry continues to be a major concern for many in the education sector with schools closed during the Covid-19 crisis.
The government has launched a national supermarket voucher scheme for pupils eligible for free school meals, which has been widely welcomed. Labour’s shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, has however accused ministers of effectively scrapping universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) by the back door.
The UIFSM policy provides free school meals to all pupils aged five to seven who are in reception and years one and two. It was introduced by the coalition government in 2014 and has long divided opinion, with rumours earlier this year that it would be scrapped in the budget.
Now, under new government guidance issued following the schools lockdown, schools have been told to concentrate on providing food for children eligible for free school meals (FSM) who are most in need, and that they are not required to provide UIFSM.
Rayner has written to the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, saying many disadvantaged children who are not registered for FSM will go hungry. She said:
I believe there is a strong case to maintain universal provision at infant level, at least through providing vouchers. But if there is a need to target, it cannot be right that so many families suffering in-work poverty are excluded.
I've written to the Education Secretary again today following the DfE guidance on free school meals. I'm pleased the Dept has brought in a national scheme much faster than originally planned, as we urged. But I have serious concerns that I hope are urgently answered by Govt. pic.twitter.com/VHgNAS5JZd
— Angela Rayner 🌈 (@AngelaRayner) March 31, 2020
Updated
As Holyrood debates Scotland’s emergency powers bill, the Howard League Scotland is raising some concerns about proposals for prisoner release.
The Scottish government has said it plans to release those who are towards the very end of their sentences and pose no risk to the public, but have not responded to requests for estimates of the numbers likely to be involved, or a target or cap on numbers.
The Howard League Scotland notes that released prisoners will still need support in the community, putting additional pressure on local authorities and the third sector and requiring careful coordination and additional funding.
They are also calling for the release of the 14% of people currently in prison are on remand – and with jury trials currently suspended and a growing backlog of cases, releasing those who do not pose a risk to public safety and who have not been accused of serious violent or sexual offences clearly makes sense. This is especially applies to women, where only around 30% of those held on remand go on to be convicted of any offence.
A local authority in Northern Ireland has dug dozens of graves in anticipation of a surge in deaths and staff shortages because of coronavirus.
Antrim and Newtownabbey borough council deployed diggers to prepare the plots in Sixmile cemetery, 18 miles north of Belfast. Drone footage shows at least 40 freshly dug graves.
A council spokesman confirmed to the Guardian on Wednesday the work was in anticipation of possible deaths and staff shortages.
As a council we have to fulfil our statutory duties, one of which is the provision of burials. We have undertaken a programme of preparatory works at our new Sixmile cemetery in Antrim to ensure we can meet this requirement, particularly in the context where we might experience any reduction in cemeteries staff due to illness.
The spokesman declined to specify the number of graves nor when work began.
Northern Ireland has recorded 586 cases of Covid-19 infection and 28 deaths. Officials expect the pandemic to peak between 6 and 20 April. The region’s health minister, Robin Swann, said current modelling suggested a “reasonable worst case” scenario of 3,000 deaths.
Updated
Britons spent £160m more on alcoholic drinks from supermarkets and off-licences in the first three weeks of March in a coronavirus panic booze buying frenzy, according to data released on Wednesday.
In total, shoppers stripped £840.5m worth of beer, wines and spirits from the shelves from the beginning of the month to 21 March compared with £676.2m in the same period last year, the Grocer reported. £365.5m was spent in the week to 21 March alone.
By comparison, last Easter people in the UK spent £320m on alcoholic drinks, while in the week of last Christmas drinks cabinets were stocked up to the tune of £531m.
The huge spend on booze comes amid what seems to be mixed policy messaging from the government in relation to alcohol, said Ian Hamilton, senior lecturer in addiction and mental health at the University of York.
He points out that on the one hand off-licences have been deemed “essential retailers” but the World Health Organization has stated that alcohol shouldn’t be used as a coping mechanism. Hamilton told the Guardian:
New sales data suggests we are consuming more alcohol during this crisis, with sales surging by over 50% - this at a time when our immunity needs to be at its peak isn’t helped by using a drug that lowers immunity.
None of this is helped by the government designating off licences as ‘essential retailers’ when the World Health Organization has warned that alcohol should not be used as a coping mechanism during the covid-19 pandemic.
The government’s stance on alcohol is unsurprising as they continue to be susceptible to industry lobbying ensuring that the population consumes unhealthy quantities of alcohol.
Time for a ‘Dry-covid’?
Updated
Scottish trade unions have claimed that “major inconsistencies” in the ways local councils are tackling the coronavirus crisis are putting workers and public health at risk.
The three public sector unions, Unite, GMB and Unison, have written jointly to Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, warning that some councils are forcing staff to take the same vehicles on jobs – breaching social distancing rules, with a widespread lack of protective equipment and inconsistencies on who is seen as a key worker.
The unions, which represent more than 120,000 council employees, also called for widespread testing of frontline workers for the virus and a “one nation” strategy on waste collection and recycling. Some councils had closed recycling centres while others were maintaining full services.
They said they had tried to raise this with the convention of Scottish local authorities (Cosla), which represents most of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, but now believed Sturgeon had to intervene. Their joint statement said:
We believe that local government workers, and those in the third and private sectors, delivering services must be protected in terms of their health both physical and mental. To date this is not being done anywhere near effectively enough.
We are on the brink of the peak of the pandemic and still there exist major concerns over social distancing, personal protective equipment, the definition of who is a key worker and the availability of testing for those workers in local authorities and those providing services on behalf of them, particularly in the home care sector.
The trade unions appreciate that this is an unprecedented time but the flimsy and inconsistent guidance that is currently being issued by local authorities is putting lives at risk. We need a national response and this must come from the first minister’s lead to ensure that the advice is clear, consistent and comprehensive.
Updated
Police told to use 'judgment and common sense' when enforcing lockdown
Updated guidance has been hurriedly issued to police forces urging officers to employ “judgment and common sense” in a bid to quell a row about heavy-handed enforcement during the coronavirus lockdown, our police and crime correspondent, Vikram Dodd, reports.
Amid anger at some forces setting up checkpoints and using drones to target people visiting rural beauty spots, the guidance reissued and updated late on Tuesday aims to forge more consistency across 44 forces in England and Wales.
It urges police to stick to the letter of the law, and not to statements made by Boris Johnson and other ministers about what they believe constitutes acceptable behaviour.
The guidance from the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council states:
Use your judgment and common sense. For example, people will want to exercise locally and may need to travel to do so. We don’t want the public sanctioned for traveling a reasonable distance to exercise. Road checks on every vehicle is equally disproportionate.
Read the full story here.
Updated
The construction of the 4,000-bed Nightingale hospital at London’s ExCel centre in a matter of days could result in the first patients being treated there by the end of the week.
The Guardian’s chief sports writer, Barney Ronay, went down to the dockside to take a look. He writes:
For now, the building formerly known as London ExCel stands as something startling, 10 days in the making, and an example of pure, streamlined human will in action.
Read the full piece here.
Updated
More than a third of English councils have suspended collections of garden waste as they struggle to pick up rubbish amid staff shortages, analysis by the PA Media news agency has found.
At least 125 local authorities have temporarily halted the service in the face of the coronavirus pandemic or delayed its reintroduction for the summer months.
Garden waste collections have been suspended or are not restarting as planned in cities such as Leeds, Bristol and Plymouth, across counties including Dorset, and in seven London boroughs.
Householders are being urged to try and limit the waste they generate from extra gardening, DIY or spring cleaning clearouts as councils deal with increased levels of domestic rubbish from families locked down at home.
David Renard, environment spokesman for the Local Government Association, told PA Media:
As coronavirus impacts on the safety of their workforce handling waste, some councils have had to temporarily suspend or reduce the frequency of some kerbside collections.
This is helping to free up staff to keep other vital waste services running.
Councils are seeing an increase in household waste, which may be due to people spending more time gardening and mowing their lawn as they follow the guidance to stay at home.
He said residents could help by reducing waste, checking for updates from their council and following government guidelines on disposing of waste if they are self-isolating. He added that fly-tipping was “never acceptable”.
Updated
Coronavirus pandemic an 'unprecedented risk' for domestic abuse victims, says report
The coronavirus pandemic is an “unprecedented risk” for victims of domestic abuse who are compelled to stay at home with abusive family members, an official report has warned.
The study published by Dame Vera Baird QC, the victims’ commissioner, highlights the dangers for children caught up in damaging relationships and suggests that any short-term problems could have long term and “far-reaching” consequences.
The 96-page report, entitled: Sowing the Seeds: Children’s Experience of Domestic Abuse and Criminality, notes that as many as one in five children in the UK witness or are exposed to domestic abuse during childhood. According to the most recent ONS estimates, 2.4 million adults aged 16-59 experienced domestic abuse in England and Wales in the year ending March 2019.
Launching the study, Baird said:
The spread of the virus presents an unprecedented risk for victims of domestic abuse, who are compelled to stay within their home with abusive partner or family member. Together with those responsible for delivering domestic abuse support services, I am concerned levels of abuse will grow sharply…
Children who are exposed to domestic abuse are not casual bystanders. The impacts on children of living in a household with domestic abuse are huge and far-reaching.
Data from the Department for Education shows a quarter of children who were identified as having socially unacceptable behaviour also have identified concerns about domestic abuse of a parent or carer, the report notes. Those helping children involved in gang related activity “tell us the children and young people they work with commonly come from backgrounds of domestic abuse”.
Baird added:
The current criminal justice response to criminal exploitation is inconsistent, with different police forces take different approaches when assessing the vulnerability of children and young people.
We found evidence victims of criminal exploitation are not offered pathways of support. Children who are victims of criminal exploitation through county lines drug dealing may be seen as offenders rather than victims, depending on which police officer or police force they encounter.
This is why I am calling for children who experience domestic abuse to be recognised in statute as victims of crime. [There should be] targeted interventions and support to help these children and young people recover from domestic abuse.
Updated
In case you missed it... here is everything you needed to know about the herd of goats taking advantage of the empty streets of the Welsh town of Llandudno during the coronavirus lockdown.
An NHS health board has apologised after a GP surgery in Wales recommended patients with serious illnesses complete “do not resuscitate” forms in case their health deteriorated after contracting coronavirus.
Llynfi surgery, in Maesteg near Port Talbot, wrote to a “small number” of patients on Friday to ask them to complete a “DNACPR” – do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation – form to ensure emergency services would not be called if they contracted Covid-19 and their health deteriorated.
Full story here.
Controversial plans to suspend trial by jury dropped by Scottish government
The Scottish government has dropped plans to suspend jury trials for up to 18 months during the coronavirus lockdown after an outcry from lawyers, Scottish National party MPs and UK cabinet ministers.
Mike Russell, the Scottish constitutional affairs secretary, told MSPs the proposals had been withdrawn because of complaints and would start urgent talks with other parties, victims’ organisations and the legal profession on alternative options.
At the start of a debate on emergency legislation to help public services cope with the coronavirus crisis, Russell said new measures would be tabled at Holyrood’s next sitting on 21 April after “intensive and wide-ranging discussions on alternatives”.
Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, confirmed on Tuesday her government wanted to suspend jury trials to make sure the courts were able to hold trials in the most serious cases during the coronavirus lockdown.
The proposals were backed by Lord Carloway, the lord justice general, Scotland’s most senior judge, who said the judicial system would be overwhelmed unless the courts were allowed to carry on with significant cases.
However, the proposals were condemned from across the legal profession and faced significant opposition from other parties at Holyrood, which threatened to break the political consensus on responding to the pandemic.
Updated
Christian Concern is threatening to launch a legal challenge of what it says is “the biggest change to abortion law since the 1967 Abortion Act”, which has been introduced under coronavirus emergency legislation.
The anti-abortion organisation says it will judicially review the government’s decision to allow doctors to prescribe drugs by phone or over video-links that will enable patients to carry out home abortions.
The aim of the change was prevent women having to visit doctors’ surgeries or hospitals during the pandemic crisis. Christian Concern describes it as creating “DIY abortions” and points out that the government position shifted several time during the debates over emergency legislation.
The new rules permit doctors to prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol remotely.
The chief executive of Christian Concern, Andrea Williams, said:
The government has acted unlawfully in changing the law on abortion without due process.
Parliament was explicitly told by the government that it had no plans to change the rules on abortion in response to Covid-19. Only a week later the government fundamentally changed the rules with no consultation or scrutiny.
We are launching a judicial review of the decision to change the law on abortion after being told by parliament that the rules would not be changed. We believe this decision was unlawful.
Updated
The high street chemist giant Boots and community initiative The Hygiene Bank have teamed up to help support the NHS staff working in hospitals across the UK by donating over 200,000 toiletries for their personal use.
Thousands of essential items – including hand cream, toothpaste and shower gel – will to help frontline workers have access to hygiene essentials for use at wash stations between busy shifts.
Using the distribution network of the food redistribution charity FareShare, toiletries will also be sent directly to local charities to be used where they are needed in the community and to the vulnerable including the homeless and rough sleepers.
Seb James, managing director of Boots UK, said:
Boots has always been a critical partner to the NHS and on behalf of our amazing teams, we wanted to show our appreciation for the world-class care the men and women on the frontline of the NHS provide every single day.
My 93-year-old mum is in a care home, but my dad relies on care workers and a home help visiting him three times a day. So far, my parents have been getting excellent support. But what happens if their care staff get sick?
You can read the full story here.
Updated
In the latest Science Weekly podcast, the Guardian’s science correspondent, Hannah Devlin, speaks to Prof David Smith about the various ways in which clinicians can test whether or not someone is infected with Sars-CoV-2. And, following the recent announcement that the UK government has bought millions of antibody tests, they explore what these might be able to tell us.
You can listen to the episode here.
Scotland’s most senior law officer has made a personal statement reassuring victims of domestic abuse that their welfare remains a priority for law enforcement during the coronavirus outbreak.
The lord advocate, James Wolffe QC, said:
With the public following government advice to stay at home in order to restrict the spread of coronavirus, we know that those experiencing domestic abuse may be more at risk. I want to reassure victims that public safety remains the priority for law enforcement during this period.
Speaking on the first anniversary of the introduction of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, which has been described as an international gold standard for criminalising coercive and controlling behaviour, Wolffe added:
Prosecutors will continue to use all the tools at their disposal to prosecute domestic abuse, including the ground-breaking legislation which was introduced last year. I would strongly encourage anyone who has been a victim of such offending to report this to the police and to seek support.
Yesterday, Scottish Women’s Aid welcomed a £1.35m funding boost from the Scottish government. The goup’s chief executive, Marsha Scott, said:
Unfortunately, it is our job to point out that domestic abuse is not taking a break for this virus and that robust implementation of the new law is now more urgent and important than ever. In fact, all indications from other countries and other epidemics is that children and women will need more protection and faster responses than ever.
Scott added that, while the new legislation had been embraced at a national level, locally implementation remained patchy.
Police Scotland has said that while it was too early to assess the impact of coronavirus on incidents of domestic abuse, officers were identifying people who may be at risk, working closely with third sector organisations and looking at options including providing alarms to those most at risk.
Updated
Good morning. The government is under rising pressure to rapidly increase testing for frontline staff who could return to work if found clear of coronavirus, after early results indicated only a fraction of NHS workers in self-isolation tested positive for Covid-19.
Last night on Newsnight, Chris Hopson, CEO of NHS Providers, confirmed the first tests on health workers in self-isolation over the weekend found a small proportion actually had Covid-19. This suggests thousands of NHS workers could be staying at home unnecessarily – resulting in some of the highest staff absences in the NHS’s history – just as we head toward the peak of the crisis. Hopson said:
We did start testing staff over the weekend, and a very intriguing piece of data emerged from those early tests.
It’s a very very small sample size, but what was interesting was that of the members of staff who are self-isolating for 14 days because they had a family member who potentially had coronavirus symptoms, only 15 percent of them tested positive.
If that is replicated, that means 85 percent of the staff who are currently self-isolating can get back to work.
“We are short of chemical reagents, and secondly we’re also short of swabs.”
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) March 31, 2020
Chris Hopson, Chief Executive of @NHSProviders says “that means there is limited capacity” for coronavirus testing#Newsnight | @ChrisCEOHopson pic.twitter.com/KYLNUt2Kl2
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has instructed hospitals to use any spare lab space to test self-isolating NHS staff in England for Covid. To that end, he has removed the cap on NHS staff only being allowed access to 15% of testing capacity while 85% were reserved for patients.
More on that story here.
And this morning, the communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, told the Today programme that 900 NHS staff were tested over the weekend. Acknowledging it is a low number, he added:
We now have capacity today to be testing 12,750 people and we expect that within a couple of days to be 15,000. So we should now have the growing capacity to test NHS staff in addition to the patients in critical care.
We have asked the NHS, Professor Stephen Powis has written to all NHS trusts asking them to think about how they would prioritise staff as to where there are particular shortages or where staff are in the most vulnerable positions.
Jenrick said he expects 25,000 tests a day by the “middle of April”.
We will be covering all UK coronavirus developments throughout the day. You can read all the latest Guardian coronavirus articles here, you can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here and here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @lucy_campbell_.
Updated
