That’s it from us here on the UK side. Head over to our global live blog for all the latest worldwide coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Evening summary
- Normal life will not resume for at least six months, according to the chief deputy medical officer (see 4.51pm) as she warned the coronavirus death toll was expected to increase “for the next week or two”.
- Dr Jenny Harries described the first confirmed death of a frontline NHS worker with coronavirus as “worrying”, as Amged El-Hawrani’s family paid tribute to the “much-loved husband, son, father, brother, and friend” (see 4.07pm).
- The UK death toll from coronavirus increased by 209 people in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 1,228 so far (see 2.05pm). The figure was lower than Saturday’s record rise of 260, which may bring some hope that the rise in deaths could stabilise soon.
- NHS workers should not be asked to work without protective equipment, said the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick. Directly appealing to frontline workers, he said the government “will not stop” until healthcare staff are provided with the equipment they need as he outlined the vast amounts of stocks which are in the process of being received around the country (see 4.19pm).
- A 108-year-old woman and survivor of the 1918 Spanish flu is thought to have become the oldest victim of coronavirus in the UK. Hilda Churchill died in a Salford care home on Saturday, hours after testing positive for Covid-19 and just eight days before her 109th birthday.
- 19,522 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK, after 127,737 tests, the Department of Health confirmed; while 95 people in Scotland are in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, with the figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland unknown.
- The UK’s biological security strategy, published in 2018 to address the threat of pandemics, was not properly implemented and a lack of resources was to blame, according to Prof Ian Boyd, a former government chief scientific adviser.
- Government does not rule out mass repatriation flights, with Britons stranded around the world struggling to return from places where a lockdown has been imposed (see 5.07pm).
- Labour deputy leadership candidate Richard Burgon said criticism of China’s response to the coronavirus outbreak by ministers represented a “Trump-style” ploy to distract from government failures (see 3.31pm).
- Evictions from private rented accommodation and social homes are to be banned in Scotland during the coronavirus outbreak under emergency legislation (see 3.22pm). It comes after the UK government was accused of breaking a promise to renters when proposed laws only extended the notice period that landlords must give tenants before they can evict them from two months to three.
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The nationwide lockdown is allowing animals to roam paths which they usually shy away from. “We have annual visitor numbers in excess of 1 million and suddenly, in the peak of breeding season, they are not going to be here,” said the conservation manager of the largest national nature reserve in England. “Nature is just going: ‘Ahhh, it’s all to ourselves now.’”
Updated
Harries said she expected the coronavirus death toll to increase “for the next week or two”.
But then we anticipate that if we keep doing what we’re doing … we do anticipate that those numbers will start to drop.
Asked about death figures she said it “lags behind our impressions on the rate of increase of infections”.
So, we just need to watch it carefully, hold tight for a week or two, keep doing what we’re doing and then come back and ask me the question again and I think hopefully we will be on the way down a little bit.
Updated
Jenrick said that the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, had been working “extremely hard” with British missions worldwide to bring those stranded abroad back to the UK.
He has spent this weekend speaking with his counterparts in a range of countries, where there are citizens who we want to get back safely to the UK as soon as possible.
On arranging further rescue flights for those still abroad, Jenrick said:
We haven’t ruled out repatriation flights and we are doing those in some cases. There is a flight ongoing at the moment, for example to Peru, to bring back a group of British citizens who have been in a difficult situation there.
If we need to do more steps of that kind in the days ahead, then we will of course do so. We want to get those British citizens back safely to the UK.
Updated
Robert Jenrick said that he had heard the news shortly before the briefing that Dr Amged El-Hawrani had “very sadly passed away”.
The deaths we are reporting daily at these press conferences are very sobering. Every death is a tragedy. We don’t want to see any unnecessary death.
Dr Jenny Harries said as a medical professional she usually would not comment on an individual case but added she was “very saddened” that a professional colleague had passed away.
It clearly is a worrying event, it is worrying for the nation because it is another death in our statistics, it is another loss to a family. And it will be a loss to an NHS family as well.
It is in no-one’s interests that we lose our colleagues.
Updated
The Muslim Council of Britain has highlighted that Amged El-Hawrani is the third doctor of the Islamic faith to have died from confirmed or suspected coronavirus.
Today sees the 3rd British Muslim doctor who has died due to coronavirus
— Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) March 29, 2020
His name is Amged El-Hawrani: an ENT consultant in the Midlands
إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
Indeed we belong to Allah & to Him we will (all) return (Qur'an 2:156)https://t.co/OtkA3DDQ4Y
Dr Adil El Tayar, 63 years old, was an organ transplant consultant and became the first working NHS surgeon to die in the UK from coronavirus.
— Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) March 29, 2020
He was also the cousin of BBC journalist @TheZeinabBadawihttps://t.co/sDQmYIGuD6
NHS workers should not be asked to work without protective equipment, says Jenrick
Directly appealing to frontline workers, Jenrick said the government “will not stop” until healthcare staff are provided with the equipment they need.
We simply cannot and should not ask people to be on the frontline without the right protective equipment. To NHS and social care workers, all those who rely on this equipment, and to their families and loved ones watching this afternoon. We understand and we will not stop until we have got you the equipment you need.
I’ll continue to post the full quotes from the presser as we get them.
Updated
Up to six months to see if measures have ‘squashed’ virus, says deputy chief medical officer
When asked whether the country would be on lockdown for the next six months, Harries said:
We actually anticipate our numbers will get worse over the next week, possibly two, and then we are looking to see whether we have managed to push that curve down and we start to see a decline.
This is not to say we would be in complete lockdown for six months, but as a nation we have to be really, really responsible and keep doing what we’re all doing until we’re sure we can gradually start lifting various interventions which are likely to be spaced – based on the science and our data – until we gradually come back to a normal way of living.
She said the government would review lockdown measures in three weeks’ time.
The issue of the three weeks is for us to review where we are and see if we’ve had an impact jointly on the slope of that curve. But I think to make it clear to the public if we are successful we will have squashed the top of that curve, which is brilliant, but we must not then suddenly revert to our normal way of living that would be quite dangerous.
If we stop then all of our efforts will be wasted and we could potentially see a second peak. So over time, probably over the next six months, we will have a three-week review.
Updated
The press conference has now concluded.
The Guardian’s Kate Proctor asks whether the scale of the repatriation package for Britons stranded abroad will equal that of Germany’s €50m (£45m) package. Jenrick says the foreign secretary has been working “extremely hard” with British embassies around the world.
He adds that Britons have been advised to return on commercial flights where available and that repatriation flights – such as those under way from Peru – would come if necessary.
We are the world’s leading country in supporting vaccine research, Jenrick adds.
He recognises there will be lessons to be learned, in the UK and elsewhere, but that the current focus is on saving lives.
Updated
Harries confirms that the large rises of deaths in recent days have been expected and reiterates deaths are expected to continue to rise.
On whether further social distancing measures have been modelled, Jenrick says he hopes the current policies will be sufficient.
Updated
The restrictive measures the UK has imposed have been largely respected, Jenrick says, after people met en masse in parks last weekend before the new orders were made.
There is a moral obligation upon everyone, including young people who think they are invincible, to protect others, the minister adds.
This is a moving target, Harries clarifies, saying there is a time lag between reporting of people becoming symptomatic and deteriorating.
We actually anticipate our numbers will get worse over the next week, possibly two, she adds, then we will see if we have managed to push the curve down.
There may be a few months on the way, she says.
Updated
Jenrick extends his sympathies to the family of Amged El-Hawrani.
He says Boris Johnson will write to the British people this week saying that we all have the power to influence the course of events.
“If we want to protect people’s lives … then we need to take heed of the medical advice,” he repeats.
Harries says she would not usually comment on individual cases but his death is worrying and extends her condolences to his family.
“It is in no one’s interest that we lose our colleagues on the frontline and we really want to support them,” she says. “In a disease like this, we need to remember it’s not just the NHS or a family … This will affect all of us. We should not take this as a signal to the NHS.”
She adds that new guidance will be issued shortly for people working in essential services.
Updated
Harries confirms the government will review the lockdown measures in three weeks, but says it will take three to six months to see if the policies have “squashed” the virus.
“As a population we have evidence we are getting better at [social distancing],” she adds. “We need another couple of weeks to see that through.”
She says that there will be further uncertainty and does not confirm when the lockdown will end.
Updated
Asked what the current forecast for the pandemic is, after Boris Johnson said the UK would turn the tide within 12 weeks a fortnight ago, Jenrick says:
Nobody is pretending that this will be over in a few weeks ... But if we all play our part and follow the medical advice we can turn the tide of this virus.
Harries adds that this is a “moving feast” and that Johnson had noted the modelling at the time. She said she hopes the UK will indeed have turned the tide by the date he cited.
Please call your elderly neighbours before you go shopping to help them get their groceries, he adds before taking questions from journalists remotely.
Updated
Care packages sent out already included tea, biscuits and tinned goods, and thousands more will be delivered to those who cannot get their groceries, Jenrick says.
A new phone number will be on a letter that vulnerable people will soon receive to help support them, he says, imploring the millions of most vulnerable to remain home for 12 weeks.
We will not stop until we have got you the equipment you need, Jenrick proclaims.
We’ve established the national supply distribution response team, he says, supported by the armed forces, to work around the clock to deliver the equipment to those who need it most.
This includes:
- 170m masks
- 42.8m gloves
- 13.7m aprons
- 182,000 gowns
- Almost 10m items of cleaning equipment
- 2.3m eye protectors
These are being delivered to GP surgeries, dentists, pharmacies, community providers, along with hospitals and care homes.
One issue, he says, is the provision of PPE.
“We simply cannot and should not ask people to be on the frontline without the right protective equipment,” he concedes.
Strategic coordination centres will be set up across the country led by gold commanders from the emergency services to lead communities through the challenging period - from Cornwall to Cumbria – with members of the armed forces embedded within these teams to plan local response to the virus.
He announces he has put in place across the country measures to put the country on emergency footing, an unprecedented step in peacetime, he says.
Updated
Jenrick confirms there have been 127,737 tests, with 108,215 testing negative and 19,522 testing positive.
Of those who have contracted the virus, 1,228 have died, he said.
The virus is indiscriminate, Jenrick added, calling for people to stay home.
Updated
The press conference has now begun.
Last night 63-year-old Adil El Tayar, an organ transplant specialist, became the first working NHS surgeon to die from coronavirus.
He died on Wednesday at West Middlesex university hospital in London, his family said.
The doctor, who had worked around the world, spent his final days volunteering on the frontlines against the outbreak in an A&E department in the Midlands.
NHS England appear to have sought to draw a distinction between El Tayar, who was not a frontline healthcare worker, and El-Hawrani, in their announcement that the latter was the first frontline hospital worker to die from coronavirus.
Updated
The government’s daily press conference is due to begin shortly, convened by the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, alongside Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer for England.
Updated
El-Hawrani: first confirmed frontline hospital worker to die after Covid-19 positive test, says NHS
NHS England have said El-Hawrani is the first confirmed hospital frontline worker to die after testing positive for coronavirus.
Prof Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said:
My deepest condolences are with Amged’s family at this extremely sad time. The NHS is a family and we all feel deeply the loss of any of our colleagues, as we all continue to unite and work together to tackle the spread of coronavirus, I know that the whole of the NHS and the public we serve will want to extend our sympathies to the El-Hawrani family.
Nobody can be in any doubt about the scale of the challenge we face with this virus, and Amged’s death is not just an individual human tragedy but a stark reminder to the whole country that we all must take this crisis seriously, which means everyone abiding by the government’s clear instructions to stay indoors, self-isolate, keep strictly to social distancing advice and practise good hygiene, which means washing hands more often and for longer.
The advice issued by government and the health service can be the difference between life and death, so this is everybody’s chance to be a lifesaver.
A spokesman for El-Hawrani’s paid tribute to him:
Amged was a loving and much-loved husband, son, father, brother, and friend. His greatest passions were his family and his profession, and he dedicated his life to both. He was the rock of our family, incredibly strong, compassionate, caring and giving. He always put everyone else before himself. We all turned to him when we needed support and he was always there for us. He had so many responsibilities and yet he never complained.
Amged reached the very top of his profession and we know he made a difference to thousands of lives during his career. He viewed his role as a doctor as one of life’s most noble pursuits. He was also a leader, who educated many doctors who have subsequently become ENT consultants. We are incredibly proud of the legacy he has left behind and all that he has achieved.
We would like to thank all those involved in his care for their kindness and compassion during his illness. They worked tirelessly for their patient, as he would have done for his own. Losing Amged is devastating for our family. Life without him is impossible to imagine but together, we will do all we can to honour his memory and live how he would have wanted us to.
El-Hawrani’s son Ashraf said:
Most of my dad’s time was dedicated towards his family, and the rest of that time was dedicated towards his profession. He taught me the significance of respect and equality. He also stressed the importance of not worrying about the things I cannot control, which he displayed to me right up until the end of his life.
He did not seek the praise and approval of others, he was satisfied by viewing the positive effects of his actions and the wellbeing of his family. I am incredibly proud to say that for 18 years of my life, Amged El-Hawrani was my father.
Updated
Amged El-Hawrani’s colleagues have paid tribute to the ENT consultant who died at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Saturday evening after testing positive for Covid-19.
Gavin Boyle, chief executive at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB), said:
Mr El-Hawrani, known to his colleagues as Amged, was an extremely hard working consultant and Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) trainer who was well liked at the Trust and particularly at Queen’s Hospital Burton where he worked.
Amged played a leading role in the merger between the hospitals in Burton and Derby and helped bring the two clinical teams together. He was keen to support colleagues outside of ENT and was well known across a wide number of departments.
He was known for his dedication and commitment to his patients. He had also raised funds for the hospitals, including climbing in the Himalayas with a group of friends some years ago. The whole UHDB family are desperately saddened at losing Amged who was such a valued and much loved colleague.
On behalf of everyone here at UHDB, including our patients and the communities we serve, I would like to offer our sincere condolences to his family. We would also like to thank our colleagues at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust for their professionalism and the compassionate care they have shown for Amged and his family.
Interesting graph published earlier by the FT showing that the growth rate in new cases is beginning to slow.
#COVID19 Hopeful chart of the day
— Andy Biotech (@AndyBiotech) March 29, 2020
Growth rate in daily new cases in most of the hardest-hit countries is starting to slow. via @FT
Note: The trajectory for U.S. is harder to interpret due to the #coronavirus testing backlog. pic.twitter.com/SCNbGvm1eD
Consultant Amged El-Hawrani, 55, who had tested positive for coronavirus, has died at Leicester Royal Infirmary, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton has said.
Updated
Low-paid women are at high risk of exposure to coronavirus as they are more likely to be in jobs such as social care, nursing and pharmacy, a study has found.
Out of 3.2 million workers employed in the highest-risk roles, about 2.5 million are women, according to Autonomy, an economics thinktank.
As many as a million of those workers – who are considered to be at highest risk because they normally work closely with the public and people with diseases and infections – are also among the lowest paid, according to the study.
108-year-old Spanish flu survivor dies from Covid-19
A 108-year-old woman and survivor of the 1918 Spanish flu is thought to have become the oldest victim of coronavirus in the UK.
Hilda Churchill died in a Salford care home on Saturday, hours after testing positive for Covid-19 and just eight days before her 109th birthday.
She is the oldest victim of the virus to be named in the UK. She was born in 1911, the year before the Titanic sank and three years before the start of the first world war. It was also seven years before the Spanish flu pandemic, which infected 500 million worldwide and killed her sister.
The coronavirus pandemic had prompted Churchill to reminisce about the Spanish flu, according to her grandson, Anthony Churchill. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, he said:
As I was telling her about this coronavirus she started talking about the Spanish flu and she remembered how bad that was.
Updated
Moles are daring to clamber above ground to hunt for worms, oystercatchers are nesting on deserted beaches, and overlooked plants such as ivy-leaved toadflax are gaining new friends.
The shutdown of modern life as we know it is liberating British wildlife to enjoy newly depopulated landscapes. But conservationists say the impact is not all positive, with wildlife crimes going unreported and vital work including monitoring unable to be carried out.
Jake Fiennes, the conservation manager of the 9,600-acre Holkham national nature reserve, the biggest in England, said:
We have annual visitor numbers in excess of one million and suddenly, in the peak of breeding season, they are not going to be here. Nature is just going ‘ahhh, it’s all to ourselves now.
The Labour deputy leadership candidate Richard Burgon has claimed criticism of China’s response to the coronavirus outbreak by minister’s represents a “Trump-style” ploy to distract from government failures.
Questioned about the limited extent of testing in the UK earlier, the Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said some of the signals coming out of China were not clear about “the scale, the nature, the infectiousness”.
The former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith meanwhile highlighted a delay to China’s coronavirus reporting and accused states of “kow-towing” to China to secure trade deals, while the Mail on Sunday quoted a senior government source saying a “reckoning” would follow the crisis.
The paper also quoted an anonymous cabinet minister as saying: “We can’t stand by and allow the Chinese state’s desire for secrecy to ruin the world’s economy and then come back like nothing has happened.”
Tweeting overnight as the Mail on Sunday published its front page, Burgon said:
This is a Trump-style attempt to divert blame from the UK government's failures.
— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) March 28, 2020
A World Health Organization report says China "rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile & aggressive disease containment effort in history"
We haven't even sorted out enough tests for NHS staff pic.twitter.com/r2QYQzp144
Yes China suppressed news and stats, yes they're using aid as geopolitics ... but this Mail splash is a straight propaganda offensive to deflect from Johnson's incompetence, for which 000s will pay with their lives 1/... pic.twitter.com/0QVMkHwoBB
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) March 29, 2020
Updated
Evictions set for ban in Scotland
Sturgeon also said the Scottish parliament would meet for one day this week to consider and, she hopes, pass emergency legislation specifically for Scotland.
This would include legislation to ensure no one can be evicted during the coronavirus crisis.
Amongst a number of other things that legislation will ensure that no one can be evicted from their home during this crisis.
It will increase to six months in most cases the minimum period of notice a landlord must give to a tenant before eviction. The legislation will apply to tenants in both the private sector and the social housing sector and will provide all tenants with additional security at what is an immensely difficult time.
We expect to publish the emergency legislation and introduce it to parliament on Tuesday and parliament will then have the opportunity to consider it on Wednesday.
The announcement comes after Labour and renters’ campaign groups accused the UK government of breaking its promise to protect people from evictions during the coronavirus epidemic after emergency legislation tabled on Monday evening only extended the notice period that landlords must give tenants before they can evict them from two months to three.
Updated
Bit of a row ensuing on Twitter between the health minister Nadine Dorries – who has been isolating due to being infected with Covid – and Sky News correspondents.
TLDR: Dorries objected to Beth Rigby’s suggestion that the contraction of coronavirus by Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock showed that the UK’s approach to the pandemic was flawed.
Really Beth? You think they should both have been in isolation weeks ago, because apart from wearing PPE, that is the only way to deliver what you suggest should have happened.
— Nadine Dorries 🇬🇧 (@NadineDorries) March 27, 2020
This tweet is below you. Try sending them your best wishes for a full recovery instead. https://t.co/QzaZch2rUy
.@BethRigby is a truly lovely person, one of the first to privately contact me. I don’t orchestrate anything. MPs are political we take the flack for it daily. Journalists who choose to be political step into the ring. Beth is a grown up, she knows that, too. It’s politics. https://t.co/FOUhPaukJq
— Nadine Dorries 🇬🇧 (@NadineDorries) March 29, 2020
Updated
95 people in Scotland in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid-19
Sturgeon also revealed that 95 people were in intensive care on Saturday night with either confirmed or suspected Covid-19.
Meanwhile, she announced that a new volunteer campaign named Scotland Cares will launch tomorrow to allow people to register to volunteer during the pandemic, following the establishment of similar NHS initiative by the UK government.
Updated
Hull Trains is to temporarily suspend all its services from Monday as a result of “unprecedented circumstances” to safeguard the future of the business, the company has announced.
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon has thanked people for staying home despite the occasional sunshine as she noted the rapid growth in the number of cases in Scotland.
The first minister acknowledged that the rise in confirmed cases was putting pressure on NHS and care services.
An area of concern which I know has been expressed in recent days is around the provision of personal protective equipment for those on the frontline.
I can confirm today some new steps to improve even further the supply of PPE ... Over the past four to six weeks, around 34m items of PPE have been delivered to hospitals across Scotland.
All health boards now have a single point of contact to manage PPE supply and distribution.
This should help ensure the right people receive the correct equipment, she added.
Eight weeks of PPE will be delivered to GP surgeries from tomorrow and should arrive by the end of the week, while additional staff are being employed to help deliver PPE to the care sector.
However, Sturgeon did not elaborate on the amount of equipment care homes should expect to receive.
Updated
Derbyshire police said they broke up a “massive party” on Saturday night involving 25 adults and children.
Group 1 Officers have just attended an address in absolute shock to find 25 adults and children having a massive party with speakers and karaoke. Everyone dispersed and hosts dealt with.
— Derby West Response (@DerWestResponse) March 29, 2020
It is clear people are still having complete disregard for the Government advice and rules. pic.twitter.com/g3GFGhFN6e
Meanwhile, police in Northern Ireland are to target tourist sites and visitor locations to ensure compliance with social-distancing rules, the chief constable has said.
People who repeatedly fail to comply with officer requests to disperse could face fines up to £960 under new emergency regulations agreed by the Stormont Executive.
The measures, which came into force at 11pm on Saturday, also provide for fines up to £5,000 for businesses not adhering to the new rules around closures and implementation of social-distancing practices.
Updated
For readers noticing the slight discrepancy between the UK death toll figures and those announced by the constituent nations’ health authorities, we are looking into it and will keep you posted.
On a day where the government has sought to make clear the importance of testing, Sky News’ Joe Pike makes an important point.
NEW: UK's latest daily #COVID19 testing figure is 6,961, far short of the 10,000 a day the government were aiming for by today.
— Joe Pike (@joepike) March 29, 2020
(Although we will only get today's figures tomorrow at 2pm).#Coronavirus
Updated
One more death in Scotland
One more person has died after testing positive for coronavirus in Scotland, taking the total there to 41, the Scottish government has announced.
190 deaths in England
The UK’s total includes 190 deaths in England, NHS England said in a statement.
The patients were aged between 39 and 105. All but for of them had underlying health problems. The four that did not have heath problems were aged between 57 and 87.
The NHS figures also reveal that London hospital continue to be the worst hit. Of the 190 deaths in England, 15 were at Barts Health trust, five each were at Chelsea and Westminster and Imperial College, six were at King’s College, seven at Lewisham and Greenwich, and 10 at the Royal Free.
The worst hit hospitals outside London were: Portsmouth, University Hospitals Birmingham, and Mid Essex all with seven deaths; Worcestershire Acute Hosptials with six; and Epsom and St Helier with five.
Six more die in Northern Ireland
The UK’s latest death toll includes six more fatalities in Northern Ireland, bringing its total to 21 deaths.
Northern Ireland’s department for health, also announced that a further 86 patients have tested positive out of a total of 742.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) in NI.
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) March 29, 2020
The Public Health Agency has published latest Surveillance Report: https://t.co/DxDiQNH6fk pic.twitter.com/EoIlB3Qodi
Updated
209 more die in the UK
The UK death toll from coronavirus has increased by 209 people in the last 24 hours bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 1,228 so far.
The figure was fewer than Saturday’s record rise of 260, which may bring some hope that the rise in deaths could stabilise soon.
The Department of Health and Social Care also said 19,522 have now tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) testing in the UK:
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) March 29, 2020
As of 9am 29 March, a total of 127,737 have been tested:
108,215 negative.
19,522 positive.
As of 5pm on 28 March, of those hospitalised in the UK, 1,228 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/Yjy0zQdF8u
10 more die in Wales
Ten more people have died from coronavirus in Wales, taking the country’s total to 48.
Dr Giri Shankar, the incident director for the coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said:
148 new cases have tested positive for novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1241, although the true number of cases is likely to be higher.
10 further deaths have been reported to us of people who had tested positive for novel coronavirus (Covid-19), taking the number of deaths in Wales to 48.
We offer our condolences to families and friends affected, and we ask those reporting on the situation to respect patient confidentiality.
UPDATED STATEMENT
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) March 29, 2020
148 new cases have tested positive for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1241, although the true number of cases is likely to be higher.
Read more here: https://t.co/Z1N6KvyokQ pic.twitter.com/C6blx6MDfX
Updated
Pandemic strategy ‘not properly implemented’
The UK’s biological security strategy, published in 2018 to address the threat of pandemics, was not properly implemented, according to a former government chief scientific adviser.
Prof Sir Ian Boyd, who advised the environment department for seven years until last August and was involved in writing the strategy, told the Guardian that a lack of resources was to blame. Other experts said there was a gap between pandemic planning and action, and that the strategy had stalled.
The UK has been rated as one of the most prepared nations in the world, and some experts have said the coronavirus outbreak would have overwhelmed any government. However, a 2019 parliamentary inquiry into biological security was postponed and then cancelled because MPs were focused on Brexit and then the December general election.
Photograph: Henk Meijer/Alamy Stock Photo
Police in Northern Ireland are to target tourist sites and visitor locations to ensure compliance with physical distancing rules, the chief constable has said, PA reports.
People who repeatedly fail to comply with officer requests to disperse could face fines up to £960 under new emergency regulations agreed by the Stormont Executive.
The measures, which came into force at 11pm on Saturday, also provide for fines up to 5,000 for businesses not adhering to the new rules around closures and implementation of social-distancing practices.
Northern Ireland was the last part of the UK to develop regulations flowing from new powers secured through legislation passed at Westminster earlier in the week.
Fifteen people with Covid-19 have died in Northern Ireland.
The new regulations include a list of which type of business premises should close during the current clampdown on public life, and which can continue operating as an essential service.
Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Simon Byrne set out the police’s approach to using the new enforcement powers on coronavirus restrictions.
He said: “Officers will apply their discretion and will ask questions to establish individual circumstances. We will instruct people to return home if they do not have a reasonable excuse to be out of their house.”
Byrne said officers would be targeting popular tourism locations and visitor spots to ensure people were not gathering.
(This is Matthew Weaver standing in for Mattha Busby while he takes a break).
North Somerset council is making an “urgent plea” for protective equipment as care workers across the area are forced to work without it due to supplies “drying up”.
The council has appealed to local schools, colleges and businesses with such items to help “bridge the gap” until new stocks reach the south west, expected to be on 6 April.
Mike Bell, the council’s deputy leader and executive member for adult social care, said:
Our care homes and community care workers are desperate. We need basic items such as masks, disposable gloves, aprons and hand sanitiser. Please, if you have them stored away, and don’t have an immediate care-related need, get in touch. You will help save lives.
Updated
Lunchtime summary
- The peak of the coronavirus is dependent on people’s actions and the lockdown will remain in place for a “significant period”, Michael Gove said (see 10.01am).
I can’t make an accurate prediction, but everyone does have to prepare for a significant period when these measures are still in place.
- On his broadcast round, Gove appeared to lay the blame for the UK’s lack of mass testing on China, raising the prospect of increased diplomatic tension between the two countries. Asked why Britain did not have sufficient testing, despite the first case in China being known about in December, Gove said some of reporting from China was not clear about the scale of the disease. The move appears to be part of a concerted attempt from No 10 to shift responsibility for the pandemic, and the UK’s apparent inability to adequately respond, eastwards (see 11.16am).
- The Cabinet Office minister did not provide any assurance as to when all health and social care staff – who number well over a million – would be tested. He simply told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I hope that we will be able to test as many frontline workers at the earliest possible stage.”
- The former health secretary Jeremy Hunt called for mass testing to end the coronavirus lockdown as quickly as possible. The success that countries such as South Korea and Germany have had in using mass testing to curb the spread of the virus should serve as an example, he said (see 9.10am).
- Rebecca Long-Bailey said it was unacceptable for self-employed workers to have to wait until June to be paid through the government’s support scheme and she suggested the health of many others who are continuing to go to work was unnecessarily being put at risk. (see 9.44am)
-
Labour MP and doctor Rosena Allin-Khan said she was “deeply concerned” that the UK’s coronavirus advice was not in keeping with WHO guidance and she urged Boris Johnson to self-isolate for 14 days rather than seven (see 9.21am).
- Care home managers are refusing to accept elderly people discharged from NHS hospitals owing to coronavirus fears, and one has said government-issued protective equipment for residents and staff is “completely useless”.
- A shortage of midwives on NHS maternity units has doubled since the start of the outbreak, with one in five midwifery posts now unfilled, raising concerns about the safety of pregnant women, new mothers and newborn babies.
-
A London doctor said that there will be no new staff for the Nightingale hospital and NHS staff will be asked to spread even further, describing the situation as “robbing Peter to pay Paul” (see 11.02am), as the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said there was a “continual stream’ of Covid patients entering London hospitals (see 9.58am).
- The actor James McAvoy donated £275,000 to a crowdfunding campaign set up to by a group of doctors to raise money to buy vital protective equipment for NHS staff treating coronavirus.
- A man was arrested after deliberately coughing in the face of a paramedic, police have said. There have been a spate of similar incidents since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.
- Two-thirds of people in the UK want the government to request an extension to the Brexit transition period in order to focus on the coronavirus outbreak, polling commissioned by the cross-party campaign group Best for Britain and anti-racism group Hope Not Hate has suggested (see 11.43am).
- The number of people who have volunteered to help the NHS combat Covid-19 has reached 750,000, two days after the target was increased after hitting the initial 250,000 goal within less than 24 hours, the Royal Voluntary Service has announced.
Updated
This is today’s most upvoted comment, from a reader named JohnTest who certainly does not mince his words.
Hate to point out the obvious, but UK has not embarked on the testing campaign because it would rapidly become apparent that we do not have the capacity. That would then lead to awkward questions about the wisdom of running down a country’s health service.
Far better to divert with Dunkirk, mass volunteer campaigns and hand clapping nonsense. Meanwhile our loved ones that work in the NHS are being sent like lambs to the slaughter without protective gear.
Those who have liberty but are isolating, meanwhile, are being instructed by people who are still working to cherish the moments they have with their family at this unprecedented time.
In the past week four people in one wing alone at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre near Heathrow airport have been quarantined and there have been unconfirmed reports of one detainee there testing positive for Covid-19 and being released, according to the campaigning group Bail for Immigration Detainees.
Updated
An online medical fetish store made news yesterday after it announced it had donated its entire stock of disposable scrubs to an NHS hospital.
Later, the company said the real heroes were NHS staff and dismissed claims they had not gifted the uniforms to the health service.
A few have suggested this might be 'fake news'. It's not. The scrubs went to a hospital in southern England. We won't say where exactly because the last thing they need right now is to be drawn into this. Honestly, we wish it wasn't true, but it is.
— MedFetUK (@MedFet_UK) March 28, 2020
Updated
We may be isolating and avoiding non-essential travel and contact, but the coronavirus lockdown presents a unique opportunity to attract wildlife to your doorstep. Here’s how:
During the fine weather of the past week or so, my garden has been alive with the sounds of spring. From my office window I can hear the metallic wheezing of a greenfinch, the metronomic sound of a chiffchaff calling out its name, trilling wrens, repetitive song thrushes, tuneful robins, and just now, a quartet of ravens high in the sky overhead, uttering their deep, croaking call. And this is not just at dawn and dusk – the traditional peak times for birdsong – but all day long.
If you have never tried to attract birds to your garden, it’s easier than you think. Just as we humans need food, drink and accommodation, so do they. So your mission – should you choose to accept it – is to create the avian equivalent of a five-star hotel and restaurant.
Updated
Earlier, Michael Gove said there would be an opportunity to learn the lessons from the government’s widely criticised approach to the coronavirus pandemic once it is over (see 10.17am).
But an inquiry already appears to be under way within the medical community.
Donna Kinnair, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said coronavirus testing for NHS “should have happened sooner” after healthcare workers began to be tested en masse this weekend.
She told Sky’s Sophy Ridge:
Well, I believe it should have happened sooner but we are where we are and we need it now so nurses are, everyday they are carrying out services to patients, they are giving treatment to patients and they will be last than one metre away so they particularly need to know whether the person they are dealing with, whether they themselves, test positive for coronavirus so that they can take time, the appropriate time off but also protect themselves and their families.
Updated
Care home managers are refusing to accept elderly people discharged from NHS hospitals owing to coronavirus fears, and one has said government-issued protective equipment for residents and staff is “completely useless”.
David Steedman, the manager of Arlington House care home in Sussex, said he had five empty rooms but he was not taking in people discharged from hospital as it would be “madness” to expose residents and staff to the risk of infection.
Senior local government figures last night urged the health secretary, Matt Hancock, to “move faster” and provide protective equipment for all social care workers to ensure their safety.
Currently, available stocks are in some cases unfit for purpose, the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services said.
We have been sent pictures of PPE that is used, dirty and damaged. This cannot and will not be used.
Updated
Earlier, the shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said it was unacceptable for self-employed workers to have to wait until June to be paid through the government’s support scheme (see 9.44am). And she suggested the health of many others who are continuing to go to work was unnecessarily being put at risk.
Now, there are workers right across the country this week who have been going to construction sites, warehouses, call centres, where their health is being put at significant risk and the government now needs to be very clear about what non-essential and essential work is and to make sure those workers are at home if they are not providing an essential function and that they are financially protected.
Certainly where we see the pictures that we’ve seen this week in warehouses and building sites, where workers are on top of each other and we hear reports, every single MP across the country will have had reports about workers who are frightened because they know that their colleagues have gone home sick with suspected coronavirus.
She added that an announcement on the outcome of the Labour leadership contest, in which she is a contender, would be made remotely.
I think we’re trying to deal with these strange times and have an announcement on the leadership contest that our members and the public can view from their homes really.
It is logistically quite challenging and we’ve all been asked to do this victory speech so that it can be sent out over the airways as quickly as possible after we win. I haven’t done mine yet by the way! It is going to be a bit bizarre, yes.
Updated
The actor James McAvoy has donated £275,000 to a crowdfunding campaign set up to by a group of doctors to raise money to buy vital protective equipment for NHS staff treating coronavirus.
One of the medics behind the project, Dr Salaj Masand, said:
We are overwhelmed and speechless at the trust and faith people have put into us to deliver this. The number of very generous donations from everyone doubled our target within three days.
Updated
Loss of taste and smell is being added to the list symptoms for coronavirus, according to ITV’s Paul Brand.
NEW: Have learned that some hospitals are now adding loss of taste and smell to the list of symptoms for coronavirus, as they triage patients. Some concern among doctors that these particular symptoms have been underplayed in all the messaging so far.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) March 29, 2020
Only by implementing carefully controlled programmes that use two very different Covid-19 test kits will it be possible to predict how the disease will affect the country, researchers have said.
To locate those in the first category – the newly infected – medical staff need to use a polymerase chain reaction test, which can find viral particles on a person. The test locates a particular coronavirus gene sequence and creates multiple copies that can then be easily detected.
Andrew Preston, of Bath University, said that the PCR test was in itself very effective for detecting the virus but that that efficacy was dependent on how well healthcare workers took samples from patients, from the nose and the back of the throat.
If a virus is not picked up on the swab, the result will be negative. Thus, how effectively the swab is taken, and the amount of virus present at the sampling sites, will determine whether the virus is detected from an infected person.
Prof Adam Finn, of Bristol University, said:
Testing people across the country to find if they have been infected by Covid-19 will tell us precisely how the disease is behaving.
This will create certainty about where we stand and about the measures we need to take to limit the spread of the virus. At present we are in the dark. That should stop once we get the antibody test up and running.
A man has been arrested after deliberately coughing in the face of a paramedic, police have said.
The ambulance service was called just before 11pm on Saturday to a man in Stroud, Gloucestershire, who was feeling unwell.
A spokeswoman for Gloucestershire police said:
They attended an address where another man who was self-isolating allegedly deliberately coughed in the face of one of the paramedics.
The man, a 43-year-old, was arrested, charged and remanded for assaulting an emergency worker by way of coughing and threatening GBH by infecting with Covid-19.
His arrest follows a spate of similar incidents since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.
Updated
Earlier this morning the fitness instructor Joe Wicks was on the BBC discussing his online physical education sessions.
Joe Wicks on the Andrew Marr show. When universes collide. 🌍🌎 pic.twitter.com/sry7xdG6K3
— Kate Proctor (@Kate_M_Proctor) March 29, 2020
Here is his 10-minute home workout for seniors:
10 Minute Home Workout For Seniors | The Body Coach TV https://t.co/p7pU7ibo9w via @YouTube
— The Body Coach (@thebodycoach) March 29, 2020
Updated
LBC’s political editor, Theo Usherwood, who has now recovered from coronavirus, has paid tribute to NHS staff for saving his life.
Standing in my kitchen tonight, having done bath time and now cooking dinner with my wife, I’ve nothing but gratitude to the wonderful NHS team who saved my life.
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) March 28, 2020
Tonight, members of that same team will be working a 12 hour shift to rescue the hopes and dreams of others. https://t.co/YIGgdGYBxb
Updated
The acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, has responded to Michael Gove’s suggestion earlier that “some of the reporting from China was not clear about the nature, the scale, the infectiousness” of coronavirus.
He said:
The evidence this was a serious virus was well documented through January into February. We need to understand precisely how ministers were responding, rather than feeble excuses that they didn’t know.
Going forward, every effort must be made, nationally and internationally, to ensure that we are in the best possible position to provide medical care as the number of cases grows.
Updated
Two-thirds of people in UK want Brexit transition extension - poll
Polling commissioned by the cross-party campaign group Best for Britain and anti-racism group Hope Not Hate has suggested that almost two-thirds of people in the UK want the government to request an extension to the Brexit transition period in order to focus on the coronavirus outbreak.
The Focaldata poll of 2,022 people showed 64% of people agreed with the statement “The government should request an extension to the transition period in order to focus properly on the coronavirus’, while 36% agreed with the statement “The Brexit transition period must end on 31 December whether a deal has been fixed or not”.
Best for Britain’s call for an extension to the transition period has been echoed by numerous bodies and pressure groups, including the Scottish and Welsh governments.
The same poll also found that 65% of people wished the government to seek membership of the EU early warning and response system for medical emergencies, amid reported reluctance within No 10 to remain a member.
Best for Britain’s CEO, Naomi Smith, said:
It’s simply not reasonable to expect we will have tied up negotiations with the EU by the end of the year while dealing with a warlike emergency. Nor is it desirable.
Most people just want the government to get on with the job at hand so that lives can be saved and normality restored as quickly as possible. The country is simply not in a place to weather two storms at the moment.
Hope Not Hate’s CEO, Nick Lowles, said:
EU schemes like the early warning and response system and the ventilator procurement programme are critical tools for responding to this urgent public health crisis.
The government must put politics aside and urgently seek participation in these schemes. It would be foolhardy for ideology to get in the way of practical measures to keep people safe.
Updated
Ramping up testing should be a national priority, the Labour MP David Lammy has said.
Germany is testing 500,000 people per week for #Covid_19.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) March 29, 2020
The UK has only just reached 10,000 tests per day.
Ramping up testing must be our national priority. We can only beat this disease if we know who has it and who does not.
Meanwhile, this Sunday Telegraph report of a pandemic trial run in 2017 that was not followed up with extra funding is continuing to do the rounds on Twitter.
The Sunday Telegraph reports there was a pandemic trial run, it was found the NHS would be overwhelmed, no extra funding was forthcoming to put this right and it was hushed up. The NHS didn’t fail the test: those in government did. pic.twitter.com/wrKB9kBWtD
— Tim Walker (@ThatTimWalker) March 28, 2020
Updated
A woman in hospital with suspected Covid-19 has said she has been moved to a ward with vulnerable patients.
Delia Colwill, from Berkshire, was taken into hospital on Tuesday, six days after she first began showing symptoms of the coronavirus. The 47-year-old suffers from a spinal cord injury that affects her nervous system and has chronic pain.
She said the virus had “absolutely knocked me sideways” and she had been tested for coronavirus, receiving mixed results with one positive and one negative.
She told the PA news agency:
I’m not sure what to believe. I’ve suddenly been moved to a general ward with very vulnerable patients and I have no mask, nothing and I still have a virus. I’m not sure what to make of the testing and the situation honestly because I’ve had five doctors say it’s Covid-19, one confirmed test positive and now a negative.
Her symptoms have varied from “horrific head pain and sinus pain that feels like my brain is exploding out of my skull” to blackout headaches and intense sweats, while she has also suffered from a loss of appetite and sense of taste.
She has now been in the hospital for five days and said staff looking after her were exhausted by the influx of new patients.
Updated
The Mail on Sunday today reported that No 10 is furious over China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and its initial underreporting of the crisis, but as my colleague Peter Walker notes, it is worth highlighting how the government is seeking to shift blame before the pandemic peaks.
As ever, I’m grimly amused at the idea that China’s actions over Covid-19 merit a “rethink” on UK relations with Beijing, whereas putting a million Muslim citizens into religious re-education camps in Xinjiang, plus all the other repression, cover-ups etc, did not. pic.twitter.com/U7PMAcHCvG
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) March 29, 2020
But it is nonetheless politically interesting to see that even before the epidemic has peaked, the collective scrabbling to shift blame has begun (that’s not to say UK govt will necessarily face lots of blame - it’s far too early to gauge all of that).
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) March 29, 2020
A London doctor has said that there will be no new staff for the Nightingale hospital and NHS staff will be asked to spread even further, describing the situation as “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
Speaking to the Guardian they gave an account of what the medics are saying about the new hospital space in the Excel centre.
It was all framed as if there would be a cavalry coming of newly up-skilled doctors, doctors from other regions, those out of retirement to staff it. But it is becoming more clear there is not a cavalry but just more space for us to spread into, but with the same number of staff.”
The more I see official policies and documents for it I know every single name on a document or email ... We have a world leading network of critical care in London and it is the same names and faces who, in addition to running their own hospitals at surge capacity, are also expecting to provide cover equipment and staff to Excel.
We need to be clear that this is not something that is coming to save London hospitals. This is a sign we will have to surge past any surge done so far.
The doctor said that they were trying to make more space and there was likely to be a criteria for those treated at the Nightingale.
One of the issues is medical wards are now all full of covid patients who don’t need intensive care so we cannot step down patients to medical wards as they are near surge capacity too.
At what level do you want surge capacity for extra beds - do you want them to be intubated intensive care beds? Or people who are on a tiny bit of oxygen? Do you want it to be for patients who have appendicitis who happen to get sick during all of this?
There will be criteria for getting into the Nightingale but think it will be more about whether you are safe to be at a facility that does not have the depth of specialty backup.
At first the Nightingale felt like a great idea as though a bunch of people would come to run it but now we have realised it is robbing Peter to pay Paul and it felt more like a publicity stunt. As they have been filling in the Nightingale and more concrete plans are coming out ... we are seeing leadership consultants we really admire moving over there and everyone is starting to realise there is not a cavalry we are the same team and stretch to cover this but maybe that is good and mean safer care across London.
Updated
Government fails to set date to test all NHS staff for Covid-19
Following his round of broadcast interviews, it is now clear that Michael Gove did not provide any assurance as to when all health and social care staff – who number well over a million – would be tested.
If 25,000 are tested a day – which is the government’s intention after it succeeded in testing 10,000 per day during a trial over the weekend – then that would take 40 days for the first million workers.
The Cabinet Office minister simply told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I hope that we will be able to test as many frontline workers at the earliest possible stage.”
Updated
Some hospitals are “bending the rules” over the provision of protective gear for healthcare workers treating coronavirus patients, the Royal College of Nursing chair has said.
RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, Donna Kinnair, tells @Channel4News that urgent action is needed to get the correct PPE to all health and social care staff.#COVID19 #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/ay9ZkrG9et
— The RCN (@theRCN) March 28, 2020
Updated
Many smaller producers and retailers will struggle during the lockdown, but the challenge is especially acute for those on Scotland’s islands, where ferry travel is now limited to essential trips only.
The new website isle20.com aims to bring customers to smaller island companies, offering everything from hampers of Scottish tablet made on Skye, Orkney rum and seaweed-based cosmetics from Colonsay.
Isle 20 was set up by Rhoda Meek, who runs the Tiree Tea company. She said:
Lots of wee makers rely completely on tourism. Most local post offices are running their own safety measures. We’re conscious of not overloading the local post service, so we’re trying to be mindful of that but we’re not Amazon warehouse ... if we get one order a day we’re delighted.
Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides, has a few suspected cases and the community has been practising physical distancing:
On the one hand, we’re used to being quite isolated, and we’re very used to looking out for each other, making sure people get to the shops and so on. But what is absolutely counter to the Hebridean way is not going into people’s homes, or stopping for a chat.
Updated
Number of NHS volunteers hits 750,000
The number of people who have volunteered to help the NHS combat Covid-19 has reached 750,000, two days after the target was increased after hitting the initial 250,000 goal within less than 24 hours, the Royal Voluntary Service has announced.
The drive will now be temporarily paused to enable the RVS to process the applications and work together with the NHS to get the volunteers up and running.
The RVS chief executive, Catherine Johnstone, said:
We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the response and cannot thank the public enough. As history shows, it is often in times of crisis that we pull together and become our best selves.
The chief nursing officer for England, Ruth May, said:
I want to thank each and every one of the 750,000 people who have committed their precious time to help some of the most vulnerable people stay home and save lives. Coronavirus is an unprecedented global health emergency and your generosity and goodwill offers every one of us some light at the end of the tunnel.
Updated
The former prime minister Tony Blair has said a point will need to be reached where a ‘very large’ proportion of the population is tested for coronavirus. He echoed the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt in calling for mass testing:
Updated
The Labour former health secretary Andy Burnham has said the government is getting “most things right” but has called for the lockdown to be extended.
Speaking to BBC Politics England, he said:
There are some places open that really shouldn’t be. Because workers in those places can’t observe the two metre distancing.
The environment doesn’t help, the handrails, the door handles, the surface tops. There are some workplaces, I think, that are still contributing to the spread of the virus and I’d like to see a clearer ruling on that.
I’ve received 300 complaints from 150 businesses from people saying that they can’t safely distance. And that is giving them a lot of concern because they are going home after working to their families.
Updated
Gove has apologised to a company that said it did not receive a reply from the government after offering to procure ventilators for the NHS.
An NHS supplier in Nantwich said that in the international market it had found 25,000 ventilators that it could have procured for the government.
However, the supplier said that having asked the government if it wanted the ventilators, it did not get a reply.
Gove told Marr:
I’m very sorry if that company says that it didn’t get a reply, I’ll investigate as soon as I’ve stopped talking to you [Andrew Marr].
It is the case that for companies that have got in touch with the government those offers of help have been forwarded to the relevant people in the NHS and in other aspects of government in order to make sure we secure those supplies.
If that company wants to get in touch directly with me, we’ll investigate, because there have been some cases where people had hoped they might be able to help, but in fact the material that they produce has not met the NHS specifications, it’s not what’s required in order to save lives, but we have been following up every single lead presented to us.
Updated
Gove said there was “communication confusion” after the government missed the deadline to join an EU scheme to get extra ventilators.
Downing Street said this week that the UK had decided to pursue its own scheme rather than joining the EU’s procurement scheme. However, a No 10 spokesman said that officials did not get emails inviting the UK to join and that it could join future schemes.
Gove told Marr:
There was some confusion over our involvement in that scheme, but I’ve talked to senior figures in the NHS and they’ve reassured me that there is nothing that we can’t do as an independent nation that being part of that scheme would have allowed us to do.”
Asked whether an email was received by the government, he said:
There was some communication confusion, I don’t know all the details of that, but I do know having talked to senior figures in the NHS that there’s nothing that participating in that scheme would have allowed us to do that we have not been able to do ourselves.
Updated
On Sky, Gove said there was an “increased level of infection” and an “increased level of mortality” to come for the UK
The models are projections and of course we adjust our action on the basis of behaviour, on the basis of data, on the basis of facts, on the basis of science but people should, as the prime minister’s letter today absolutely underlines and recognises, that the situation will get worse before it gets better and that is why it is so important that all of us play our part.
It is also why it is so inspiring that those leading the NHS have been able to increase capacity, increase the number of beds available and ensure that we can be in the best position to deal with the increased level of infection and, indeed, the increased level of mortality that is coming.
He said the NHS now had just over 8,000 ventilators, with another 8000 to come including from abroad, and potentially 10,000 more from a deal with Dyson
Well, we have available to the NHS now just over 8000 ventilators. That’s because we’ve repurposed some of the intensive care capacity that we have in the NHS, it’s also the case that Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the NHS, has done a deal with the private sector in order to increase ventilator capacity available to the NHS, and we are going to get another 8000 or so ventilators, including some of which have been sourced from abroad, which have come in here from other countries, and of course we are increasing our capacity to manufacture ventilators in the UK.
As you’ll be aware, we have done a deal with Dyson, which means provided all the appropriate tests are passed, we can have an additional 10,000 ventilators from that source and there are other companies, from Maclaren to Rolls Royce and others, who are changing the way in which they manufacture, in order to join in the national effort to increase the ventilator capacity available.
Updated
Gove said the UK had been ordering coronavirus tests for the last month and suggested criticism of the government’s approach should be made once the coronavirus pandemic was over.
Asked why the UK had not mass-tested like Germany and was not “hunting” down Covid-19 patients like the World Health Organization has urged, he said:
Its certainly the case the Germans have had success in testing. There are other countries that are also ramping up testing.
But the acceleration here in the UK is significant. If one looks at a league table ... then the UK is rising up that.
But frankly, the most important thing is not to look backwards but forwards and do everything to increase the number of tests.
Once this epidemic is over there will be an opportunity to look back and learn the lessons.
Updated
Some more lines from Gove’s interview, in which he said that a “walk of up to an hour” would be appropriate for most people as their daily exercise during the lockdown, depending on their level of fitness.
10,000 tests done yesterday, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove tells #Marr
— Chris Mason (@ChrisMasonBBC) March 29, 2020
Massively weak answer from Gove on the ventilator companies that contacted government and heard nothing back (supply subsequently went elsewhere) on #Marr
— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) March 29, 2020
Gove says people should exercise using their “common sense”:
— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) March 29, 2020
“For most people, a walk of up to an hour, a run of 30 mins or a cycle ride between that depending on their level of witness is appropriate.”
He went for a 25 min run yesterday #marr
Updated
Lockdown will be in place for 'significant period' says Gove
Michael Gove has said the peak of the coronavirus is dependent on people’s actions and that the lockdown will remain in place for a significant period.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme, the Cabinet Office minister said:
It’s difficult to know precisely [when the UK hit the peak of the coronavirus outbreak]. It depends on the action all of us take. if we practice the social distancing measures. If we follow the rules the government has outlined, if we follow that good scientific advice, then we can delay the infection rate and that gives our NHS the chance to become more resilient.
So, the date of the peak depends on all of our behaviour. It’s not a fixed point, a date in the calendar like Easter, it is something that all of us can affect by our actions.
He added that the public must prepare for a “significant period” of lockdown.
Everyone is making a sacrifice and I appreciate the scale of that sacrifice. But the reason all of us are making these sacrifices is because all of us will have people whom we love who are at risk from this virus.
I can’t make an accurate prediction, but everyone does have to prepare for a significant period when these measures are still in place.
Updated
'Continual stream' of Covid patients entering London hospitals, says doctor
Dr Katherine Henderson, a consultant at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals and president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, has blamed supply chain issues for the lack of PPE and said none of her staff had yet been tested for coronavirus.
We are seeing a continual stream of patients into London hospital who have got coronavirus. London is very busy, its got a lot of critical care capacity ... but obviously some places see a surge and we have to make arrangements.
Asked if testing was starting to happen, she said six members staff who were off sick with symptoms and that 10 had been self-isolating.
There’s no question we are really keen to get staff testing up and running so that we can get these very key people back to work. We haven’t started testing staff particularly but we are confident there will be a roll-out of that but the sooner that happens the better from our point of view.
We have staff who are staying in local hotels who have identified that somebody is beginning to feel unwell at home and then they move out really rapidly. That’s been helpful and that has worked but to get people tested to ensure that the index case is negative would be incredibly helpful.
She added that hospitals were adapting their rotas to cope with high numbers of staff being off sick.
People are talking about 20% and all of us have been doing staff plans working on the basis that 10%, 20%, 30% of staff could be off at any one time, and adapting rotas to make it possible to staff units.”
On the availability of personal protective equipment in hospitals, Henderson pointed to issues within the supply chain:
The best thing that is going to happen is there’s going to be some new guidance coming out in the next couple of days, which I think will relieve a lot of people’s anxieties.
We need to make sure frontline healthcare workers, social care, GPs, all have the appropriate kit they need to see patients.
Updated
The Labour leadership contender Rebecca Long-Bailey has said the government must be “very clear” about what is classed as essential work.
There are workers right across the country this week who have been going to construction sites, warehouses, call-centres, where their health is being put at significant risk.
The government needs to now be very clear about what non-essential and essential work is, and make sure those workers are at home if they’re not providing an essential function and are financially protected.
The Labour MP told Sky News that every politician across the country will have had reports about workers who are concerned that their fellow employees have suspected Covid-19 – from construction sites to call centres – and she called for non-essential workers to be furloughed.
We know that people’s lives are being put at significant risk and that places further pressure on the NHS further down the line.
There’s no excuse for those employers not to furlough those staff because the government scheme is being made available to provide 80% of their wages.
She added that self-employed workers having to wait until June to be paid was not acceptable.
Many self-employed people have to wait until June to receive a payout from this. That is not acceptable, when we see other countries, such as New Zealand, who will have similar schemes far quicker.
We need the government to really, really make sure that resources are deployed into HMRC, so that those self-employed people who are eligible can access that cash as quickly as possible and aren’t forced to go to work.
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A shortage of midwives on NHS maternity units has doubled since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, with one in five midwifery posts now unfilled, raising concerns about the safety of pregnant women, new mothers and newborn babies.
The Royal College of Midwives is urging NHS leaders to ringfence maternity services as midwives are redeployed to care for people with Covid-19, fall sick themselves or are forced to self-isolate because of illness within their household.
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The former prime minister Tony Blair has echoed Jeremy Hunt in calling for mass testing, saying that a point will need to be reached where a “very large” proportion of the entire population is tested for coronavirus.
Your risk, obviously, is as you start to ease the lockdown, how do you then deal with any resurgence of the disease? This, of course, is what they’re now dealing with in China and South Korea, and elsewhere.
Unless you have that testing capability that you can apply at scale, and by the way when I say mass testing I mean I actually think you will need to get to the point where you’ve got the capability, and I assume we’re preparing for this now, of testing literally a very large proportion of the entire population.
You may have to do those tests two or three different times because you need all the time to be able to track what’s happening with the disease, to learn where, for example, there may be a surge or a hotspot of it, and take immediate action.
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Boris Johnson should isolate for a fortnight, says Labour MP
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour MP, has called for NHS staff and social care workers to be given immediate access to testing. She told Sky News:
These are the people who are at the front line, these are people who need to know whether or not they have the virus or not. So, if they feel better, if they’re feeling poorly, they can return to work and keep working.
I’m not sure it’s entirely fair that senior politicians are having access to testing when frontline NHS staff, who are going in to work night shifts, day shifts, double shifts at the moment, can’t get the tests that they need.
And she warned that no single group of people are immune from coronavirus.
We were hearing so often that it only really affects people over 70, it only really affects people that have underlying health conditions, and that’s why I asked the prime minister in [PMQs] - why are the social distancing measures merely just suggestions?
Because what we were seeing echoed on the NHS frontline was the fact that people were coming in who were young, fit and healthy. Of course, the majority of the patients will be older, those that actually require ventilation, but no single group of people are immune.
On the UK’s response to the coronavirus outbreak – described by some observers as idiosyncratic – Allin-Khan said she was “deeply concerned” that the country’s coronavirus advice was not in keeping with that of the WHO.
They are saying that you can still be able to spread the virus long after your symptoms have resolved and they are actually saying that it is recommended that you stay self-isolated for 14 days.
So, for senior politicians such as the prime minister and the health secretary to suggest that they will return to work after seven days is a real worry for people working in the health sector like myself, because we need to save lives and we need people to properly observe self-isolation processes.
I would like Boris Johnson, the prime minister, to self-isolate for 14 days.
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Hunt calls for UK to follow Germany and South Korea mass testing example
Good morning,
Welcome to our UK-focused coronavirus news live blog. We’ll bring you developments as they happen after the UK recorded the highest single-day increase in deaths yesterday since the Covid outbreak began.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has called for mass testing to end the coronavirus lockdown as quickly as possible.
The success that countries such as South Korea and Germany have had in using mass testing to curb the spread of the virus should serve as an example, he said.
Just weeks after it was the second hardest-hit country in Asia, South Korea has dramatically slowed its infection rate, recording 105 new cases on Sunday. Meanwhile, Germany has carried out four times as many tests as the UK and recorded 342 deaths.
Hunt said mass testing gave authorities greater clarity in identifying and containing potential outbreaks.
Where you find it, you can isolate and contain it. And where you don’t, vital services continue to function.
With mass testing, accompanied by rigorous tracing of every person a Covid-19 patient has been in touch with, you can break the chain of transmission.
So far, only those who fit a rigid criteria can be tested for coronavirus, besides the most unwell patients. Testing for NHS and social care workers is now being rolled out after widespread criticism that healthcare workers were being forced to self-isolate at home due to mild symptoms such as a cough in case they have the virus.
Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, told Sky News this morning that 10,000 healthcare workers were now being tested each day.
We’re going to move to get that up to 25,000 a day and we’re doing all that we can to increase and to accelerate that, and I hope that we will be able to test as many frontline workers at the earliest possible stage.
We’ve been working, as I say, with scientists, with the big players in providing medical supplies and drugs, like Boots, and others, in order to increase the number of tests that we have.
If you would like to get in touch, please message me on Twitter or email me at mattha.busby.freelance@theguardian.com
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