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Scores of patients may have received false positive Covid-19 results because of a fault in a testing machine at a hospital in Somerset.
Musgrove Park hospital in Taunton is contacting 147 patients who tested positive over almost a month from the start of May.
The hospital said the alarm was raised by a laboratory manager after he noticed a spike in the number of positive tests recorded by a fast-track machine.
It has apologised to all the people involved and said that patients who test positive are cared for in single rooms or intensive care, where the chances of them catching coronavirus if they did not have it was minimised.
Dr Daniel Meron, the chief medical officer for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said in-patients were routinely tested for Covid-19 when they are admitted to hospital.
From around 27 May we began to see an increase in the number of inpatients at Musgrove Park Hospital who were testing positive for Covid-19 and we were working with public health colleagues to understand the cause of this.
On Thursday 4 June, one of our vigilant laboratory managers noticed an unusual increase in the number of positive test results recorded by the laboratory’s fast track machine. The laboratory moved quickly to retest on a second machine the swabs that it still held that had tested positive on the fast track analyser. This showed that it had reported some false positive results.
The hospital is conducting a full investigation to understand what caused the problem. Early indications are that it was potentially caused by a change in the kind of swabs that were in use from 27 May.
We have contacted the 78 patients who tested positive for Covid-19 after their swabs were analysed on the fast track machine between 27 May and 4 June to explain to them what has happened and that it is possible that they may have been incorrectly diagnosed, to understand the impact this may have had on them, to offer them subsequent testing and to say how sorry we are.
We have also forensically checked to see if those particular swabs were used before 27 May and we have found that a small number may have been. Therefore, as a precaution, we are in the process of contacting the 69 patients who were diagnosed with Covid-19 having tested positive on the fast track machine from 7 May when the machine came into use and the 27 May.
We understand that this issue may concern patients and families. We can reassure them, and members of the public, that patients who test positive for Covid-19 are cared for in single rooms or in intensive care to the highest infection control standards, that we have notified the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the incident.
The chief inspector of schools Amanda Spielman has expressed her disappointment at the government’s U-turn on primary schools reopening, and has said people may be more frightened than they need to be.
Giving evidence to the Lords public services committee, the head of Ofsted called on local areas to step up to get as much on the road as possible ahead of the summer holidays which start next next month.
It’s really saddened me that so many people have become perhaps more frightened than they actually need to be and that so many people perhaps have been looking at this from the point of view of what they can’t do, rather than what they can.
I would love to see more people in local areas really stepping up and saying – I could make this happen – and getting as much on the road as possible this side of the summer and real ambition for what happens in the autumn.
Spielman said the scale of the medical and care home crisis meant the focus had been on adults and mostly older adults during the pandemic, and children’s interests had been deferred.
And yet there’s a really, really big and serious issue here that I would very much like people to be bringing to the forefront of their minds because children’s lives have been disrupted a lot for a long time already.
Evening summary
Here is a summary of the highlights of the day, focusing on what was said at this evening’s Number 10 press conferences, but with some of the day’s other main coronavirus stories included too.
- Boris Johnson has dismissed an expert claim that he could have halved the coronavirus death toll by introducing the lockdown a week earlier as “premature”. The claim was made by Prof Neil Ferguson of Imperial College in evidence to the Commons science committee. (See 4.23pm.) Ferguson used to be a member of Sage and his epidemiological modelling has been highly influential with government. Asked about his claim at the the press conference, Johnson said:
Of course we are going to have to look back on all of this and learn lessons that we can. But, frankly, I think a lot of these questions are still premature. There are lots of things, lots of data, things that we still don’t know.
Sir Patrick Vallance, the goverment’s chief scientific adviser, and Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, also argued that now was not the time to make that assessment. But none of the three men said anything to suggest that the Ferguson assessment might be wrong. On Sunday, when another epidemiologist, Prof John Edmunds, made a very similar claim on the Andrew Marr show, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, was asked out right if he agreed and he said no. Johnson may have decided that the claim is too plausible to dismiss outright. Whitty stressed that, at the time when decisions about the lockdown were being taken, they had “very limited information about this virus”.
- Johnson said the coronavirus pandemic had “a long way to go”. He said:
There are lots of things, lots of data, things that we still don’t know, and this epidemic has a long way to go, alas. Not just in this country, but around the world.
Whitty made a similar point. He said:
To be very clear, we are not at the end of this epidemic, not be a long shot.
This is an awkward admission for the PM because tomorrow marks 12 weeks from the day when he said the UK could turn the tide in the fight against coronavirus in 12 weeks. He said:
I think, looking at it all, that we can turn the tide within the next 12 weeks and I’m absolutely confident that we can send coronavirus packing in this country.
- Vallance said it was wrong to see the instruction to remain two metres away from people as a firm scientific rule. He explained:
It is not a rule, it is not a scientific rule - it is a risk-based assessment on when risk reduces. And the risks are associated with distance - so the risk falls after two metres - time, what mitigating factors you can put in place, which can include whether you are sitting side-by-side, back-to-back or face-to-face, whether you’ve got face covering, whether there is ventilation and other measures ...
It is wrong to portray this as a scientific rule that says it is two metres or nothing - that is not what the advice has been and it is not what the advice is now.
Coming from Vallance, this sounded like the clearest indication that, in England at least, the two-metre rule will go.
- Whitty said there was “a reasonable chance” of a second spike of infections happening in the winter. He said:
We all think there is a reasonable chance that in the winter this virus will have some advantages it doesn’t have at the rest of the year. It is something that transmits more easily indoors, for example, and therefore things that are working well in summer and autumn may cease to be working as well in winter.
- Whitty said he would have liked the government to have been able to do more testing early on. Asked to name his biggest regret, he said:
I think there is a long list, actually, of things that we need to look at very seriously.
If I was to choose one, it would probably be looking at how we could ... speed up testing very early on in the epidemic. Many of the problems that we have had came because we were unable to actually work out exactly where we were.
- Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson have clashed at prime minister’s questions over the delay to the full reopening of schools, with the Labour leader saying Johnson should take “responsibility for his own failures” on the issue.
The coronavirus coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
Updated
Labour says ministers must accept they made mistakes
This is from Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, on the claim from Prof Neil Ferguson. (See 4.23pm.)
The tragic reality is Boris Johnson was too slow to take us into lockdown, too slow on PPE for health and care staff, too slow on testing and now too slow on putting in place a functional test and trace regimes.
Ministers must accept they made mistakes and reassure they have learnt lessons so we can save as many lives as possible and minimise harm from this horrific deadly virus.
Updated
The press conference is now over.
I will post a summary shortly.
Johnson says he is confident that the cruise industry can return in a Covid secure way.
Whitty says there are no comfortable options. He says the scientists support the plan announced by the prime minister. But it is not a “risk free” option, he says.
And Vallance says easing the lockdown is conditional on test and trace working.
Johnson refers again to the BBC article about what other European countries are doing with schools. He may be referring to this one.
Vallance says two metres not a fixed scientific rule
Johnson says he wants to get all schools back in September, after a summer of catch-up. And it won’t just be a summer of catch-up. Pupils will get help for months and months to come.
Q: Is relaxing the two-metre rule a political decision? And are you willing to ignore your scientific advisers?
Johnson says there is a balance of risk to be struck. It is important to get the rate down. Only one in 1,000 has it. But it is not down yet as far as he would like, he says.
Vallance says two metres is not a rule. It is a scientific assessment of risk. Other factors are relevant, such as time and mitigating factors in place. All those need to be taken into account. It is wrong to portray that as a scientific rule, two metre or nothing. That is not what the advice is now.
Johnson claims it is 'premature' to decide now if lockdown introduced too late
Q: [From Sky’s Beth Rigby] What is your biggest regret?
Johnson says there will be a time to look back. But these questions are “premature”.
This epidemic has “a long way to go”, especially around the world, he says.
Vallance says we need to have the information to be able to make that judgment.
Whitty says there is a long list. If he were to choose one, he would go for testing very early on in the epidemic.
Many of the problems were caused by that. They were trying to see things through a “fog”, he says. But he accepts there were reasons for this.
Q: Do you not regret going into lockdown earlier?
Johnson refers to what Whitty and Vallance said earlier. He says they made the decisions based on advice from Sage, including Prof Ferguson.
Of course that moment will come. But at this stage it is “premature”.
Whitty says he is not denying at all the need for an assessment of what went wrong later.
But we are still in the middle of the crisis, he says. We are not through it “by a long shot”.
Johnson does not challenge claim delaying lockdown doubled death toll - but says it's judgment for later
Q: [To the PM] What do you say about Ferguson’s claim?
Johnson says all these judgements will have to be examined in the fullness of time.
- Johnson does not challenge the claim that delaying lockdown by a week doubled the death toll - but says it’s a judgment for later.
Q: [From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg] How come children can go to the zoo, but not to school? How have you allowed this?
Johnson says he would have like to have got to the position where primary pupils could go back to school. But the disease is “not right down far enough” to allow schools to go back.
A “huge amount” of catch up will be organised for schools. Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, will announce more next week.
He says the BBC has produced a guide showing that many other European countries are not allowing schools back. The UK is in line with other countries, he says.
Q: Neil Ferguson said the death toll would be reduced by a half if lockdown had come a week earlier. Was he right?
Vallance says Ferguson also told the committee this afternoon that now was not the time to second guess. There will be a time to look back, and do that analysis. It is very important to address that.
Whitty agrees with Vallance. He says it is routine for medics to look back at what happened and consider what could have been done better.
Whitty says at the time they had limited information about the virus.
What counts is what measures have the most impact on the virus, but the least impact on society. That is a “very complicated balancing act”, he says.
He says there are three scenarios.
It could take off again soon.
Second, there is a reasonable chance it could come back in the autumn or winter.
And, third, there is a risk of a second wave after the virus has been around the world.
Whitty says bubbles benefit households with a single adult.
He says it is only by breaking the links between households that we can continue to bring the R now. That is why this bubbling plan is relatively specific.
Other people will have to continue to meet outside.
Johnson is now taking questions.
Ruth from Bournemouth asks if people serving food to the public should be wearing masks or gloves.
Johnson says guidelines will be introduced as to how shops should open up in a Covid secure way.
Vallance says the Sage advice is clear. Face coverings have benefits in closed environments.
He says touching and surface contact is a major way of spreading the disease.
Individual workplaces must decide what is appropriate.
Johnson says the Covid secure guidelines are on the website.
Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, says if someone keeps wearing the same pair of gloves, that can be less useful than washing hands.
At the press conference Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, is now going through more slides.
He says the coronavirus numbers are low, “but not yet very low”.
Here are some figures showing how many people have had it.
Here is my colleague Rowena Mason’s story on the “support bubble” plan.
Johnson says the rate of infection is not low enough to allow all primary pupils to go back to school.
He says he does fully intend to bring all pupils back to school in September, provided progress continues.
Johnson confirms that zoos will be allowed to open from Monday.
And he says places of worship will be allowed to open for prayer from this weekend.
Step three, the next phase of easing lockdown, will not begin before 4 July, he says.
He says these changes are incremental. He understands why it is frustrating for people, he says.
But he says he will continue to remain cautious.
Johnson announces 'support bubble' plan for single adult households in England
Turning to social contact, Johnson says he relaxed rules last Monday, so that groups of up to six could meet outdoors.
But too many people are lonely.
From this weekend, single adult households will be allowed to form a support bubble with one other household. That means they can act as if they are one household. They can visit each other’s homes, and don’t need to stay two metres apart.
But they can only form a support bubble with one household.
And if someone in the bubble falls ill, all must self-isolate.
He says this does not mean anyone can meet in anyone else’s home.
And shielding people are not included, he says.
Updated
Johnson turns to the new measures.
The devolved administrations can move at the right pace for them. He says these measures he is announcing apply to England only.
Shops have been closed for 82 days, he says.
He says all shops can reopen from Monday.
They will have to meet Covid secure guidelines.
And the fifth test is about being confident measures would not risk a second peak that would overwhelm the NHS.
Johnson says this is being, and the government can proceed with further measures.
The fourth test relates to operational capacity.
The third test relates to infection levels.
Here is progress on test two. Johnson says they must be confident they have moved beyond the peak.
Johnson starts by saying he is going to explain progress made against the five tests.
Here is progress on test one.
Boris Johnson's press conference
Boris Johnson is taking this afternoon’s daily press conference. It is about to start.
Here is more from what Prof Neil Ferguson told the Commons science committee. Asked what went wrong, he said:
I think two things - one is a paper actually out in Nature, which highlights that around about that time, just before lockdown happened, the first two weeks of March, we probably had 1,500 to 2,000 infections imported from Italy and Spain, which we just hadn’t seen in the surveillance data, until that point.
So there is much heavier seeding than we’d expected ...
The key things to determine number of deaths is at what point in your local epidemic you trigger interventions - how far in are you when you shut down transmission.
And we frankly had underestimated how far into the epidemic this country was, that’s half the reason.
The second part, which I think would have been more avoidable, is about half of those deaths occurred in care homes ...
And we did all this working under the assumption which was government policy at the time that care homes would be shielded from infection.
On care homes, Ferguson said the government failed to enact the policies it had to protect residents. See 4.38pm.
And this is from Lawrence Freedman, the historian who was a member of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, on what Prof Neil Ferguson said earlier. (See 4.23pm.)
Also worth noting that these minutes assumed doubling 5-6 days. It was assessed at 3-4 days only on 20 March (which is the number used by Ferguson in today's evidence).
— Lawrence Freedman (@LawDavF) June 10, 2020
Freedman published a long and judicious account of decision making in the early days of the crisis last month. One of his arguments was that the politicians delayed moving to lockdown measures because the scientists assumed that the epidemic would take longer to spread than in fact it did.
UK records a further 245 coronavirus deaths, taking total to 41,128
The Department of Health and Social Care says another 245 coronavirus deaths have been recorded in the UK, taking the total to 41,128.
The full data is here.
As of 9am 10 June, there have been 6,042,622 tests, with 170,379 tests on 9 June.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) June 10, 2020
290,143 people have tested positive.
As of 5pm on 9 June, of those tested positive for coronavirus, across all settings, 41,128 have sadly died.
More info:
▶️ https://t.co/xXnL3FU15k pic.twitter.com/EvblnHtcEl
Here is Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Spectator (a job that Boris Johnson himself once held) on Prof Neil Ferguson’s comment about the timing of the lockdown. (See 4.23pm.)
Neil Ferguson's claim that the virus was doubling every three to four days is hard to reconcile with studies drawn from actual data suggesting infection falling **before** lockdown was introduced. Here is one Bristol Uni study: https://t.co/ZNF9zPR2dk
— Fraser Nelson (@FraserNelson) June 10, 2020
UPDATE: The doctor Rachel Clarke says Nelson is wrong.
You're omitting to mention the fact that on 12 March a decision was made to cease testing symptomatic patients in community settings, thus reducing the numbers of cases (& hence fatal cases) recorded.
— Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) June 10, 2020
Updated
Historic breaches of planning and building control regulations took place at the County Durham property where Dominic Cummings took his family for a controversial lockdown stay, planning inspectors have said, but time limits mean that no action is to be taken.
Council enforcement officials had been investigating the planning history of the property at the farm where the parents of the prime minister’s chief adviser live after receiving queries about its planning and council tax status.
Complaints relating to payment of council tax have also been looked into by officials, who will be passing their findings on to the Valuation Office for its consideration and review.
The development raised potentially awkward new questions for Cummings about whether his visit in April to what he described as an “isolated cottage” on his father’s farm was a breach of lockdown rules banning stays at second homes.
But Stuart Timmiss, head of development and housing at Durham County Council, said in a statement issued today:
We have now investigated the complaints regarding planning permission. While there have been historic breaches of planning and building control regulations, current legislation places a time limit on any enforcement measures and as a result no further action will be taken.
The investigation concluded that the main house has not been subdivided and that the residential use of an outbuilding for family accommodation does not require planning permission. However, advice has been provided in relation to building control.
Liz Brown, a Liberal Democrat councillor and a member of the planning committee, had told the Guardian that she had referred a number of queries from members of the public to planning enforcement officials and had been told that an appointment had been made to look around the property.
In a lengthy defence of his actions last month in the Rose Garden of Downing Street, Cummings referred to the County Durham farm, North Lodge, where he said that his parents live in one house. His sister and her two children lives in another house, he added, and there was a separate cottage roughly 50 metres away from either of them.
However, Cummings made no mention of the fact, according to land registry documents, that he is the joint owner of the land at North Lodge. The others are listed as his father and mother and his sister
Updated
And this is what Prof Neil Ferguson said about the government failing to enact the policies that would have protected people in care homes. (See 3.37pm.) He said:
The policy has always been to protect care homes and to protect the elderly. The policy has been clear in that sense. This is not unique to this country. The policy has simply failed to be enacted until very recently, and there are multiple causes for that.
This echoes what he told a Lords committee last week when he said that he was “shocked” by how badly people in care homes had been protected all over the world.
The latest Guardian Politics Weekly podcast is out. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Heather Stewart about the latest in Westminster. Haroon Siddique and Joseph Harker outline what the British government should be doing to address racism in the UK. And Patrick Wintour reports on the government’s response to the latest in Hong Kong.
Covid death toll would have been halved if lockdown introduced week earlier, says Neil Ferguson
Here is the key point from Prof Neil Ferguson’s evidence to the Commons science committee’s hearing.
- Ferguson, the Imperial College academic whose research prompted Boris Johnson to introduce the lockdown, said that the death toll could have been halved it it had been introduced a week earlier. In response to a question about whether the right decisions were taken at the right time, he said the right decisions were taken. But he went on:
The epidemic was doubling every three to four days before lockdown interventions were introduced. So had we introduced lockdown measures a week earlier, we would have reduced the final death toll by at least a half.
Whilst I think the measures, given what we knew about this virus then, in terms of its transmission and its lethality, were warranted, I’m second guessing at this point, certainly had we introduced them earlier we would have seen many fewer deaths.
Ferguson said he also agreed with Prof John Edmunds, another epidemic modelling specialist, based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropic Medicine. Edmunds sits on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (as Ferguson did, until he had to resign in May), and on Sunday Ferguson told the Marr Show:
We should have gone into lockdown earlier. I think it would have been hard to do it, and I think the data that we were dealing with in the early part of March, and our current situational awareness was really quite poor. And so I think it would have been very hard to pull the trigger at that point, but I wish we had. I wish we had gone into lockdown earlier. I think that has cost a lot of lives unfortunately.
After Edmunds made this claim on Sunday ministers hit back hard, and it is not hard to see why. The UK government introduced a full lockdown after most other European countries (see the chart below, from this paper) and it has been claimed that this was, at least in part, because Johnson had a strong, libertarian aversion to measures of this kind. (He used to joke that his hero was the mayor in the film Jaws who kept the beach open even though swimmers were being attacked.) Johnson announced the full lockdown on 23 March. That was a week after Sage agreed at a meeting that “there is clear evidence to support additional social distancing measures be introduced as soon as possible”.
Updated
The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 among prisons in England and Wales continues to rise, a Ministry of Justice figures shows.
As at 5pm on Tuesday, 490 prisoners had tested positive for the coronavirus across 80 prisons, a rise of less than 1% in 24 hours, while there were 956 infected staff across 105 prisons, a rise of 0.5% in the same period.
There are around 79,800 prisoners across 117 prisons in England and Wales, and around 33,000 staff working in public sector prisons.
At least 23 prisoners and nine staff are known to have died, as well as one prison escort driver and one NHS trust employee working in a secure training centre.
Scotland's tourism sector told to prepare for reopening on 15 July
Scotland’s tourism sector could open from 15 July, for a truncated summer season, Holyrood’s tourism secretary, Fergus Ewing, has announced as he acknowledged that businesses have been “devastated” by lockdown measures.
Ewing confirmed the Scottish government hopes to give the green light to reopening the sector at the 9 July review, and that businesses should prepare to reopen from 15 July, which will allow them to cash in on the anticipated rise in staycations across the UK this summer.
The Scottish Tourism Alliance welcomed the clarity but said it remained hopeful that an earlier date for reopening would be given for certain sectors which are more easily placed to do so safely by their nature, for example self-catering, caravan and camping parks.
The STA added that urgent solutions or alternative measures must be found for the current 2-metre distancing restrictions, which it argues threaten the economic viability of many businesses. Scottish ferries – which transport tens of thousands of visitors to Scotland’s islands during the summer months – have warned that they may only be able to return to under 20% capacity.
Updated
Q: Do you think the government has been too reliant on epidemiological models?
Ferguson says he is a modeller. That is like asking a turkey to vote for Christmas.
He says he thinks models are valuable because they “codify assumptions and knowledge”.
But they should not be taken as “literal truth”, he says. He says they are reliant on the information and assumptions that go into them.
Back at the Commons science committee Labour’s Graham Stringer is now asking questions.
Q: Do you know yet if the summer weather has an impact on transmission?
Ferguson says he has seen some research saying transmission might be 20% lower in the summer than in winter. But it is just a small effect, he says.
Q: Was there not concern within Sage that sending people back into care homes from hospital might intensify the epidemic.
Ferguson says he only became aware of this policy later.
Contrary to warnings by academics at Cambridge University that Covid infections might be on the increase in the north-west, there are promising signs in Greater Manchester that the virus is on the retreat.
At his weekly press conference, the region’s mayor, Andy Burnham, said there were just 168 new cases in Greater Manchester last week; 66 people are currently in ICU (the figure was 67 last week); 468 people are in hospital with Covid (down from 523 last week) and there have been just 11 hospital admissions, down from 29 last week. Currently 20% of care homes in GM have at least one infected resident, down from 24% last week.
But Burnham said he was still in the dark about where local infection hotspots were as he and the 10 local authorities still had no “pillar 2” testing data from drive-through centres or postal tests.
Burnham also said it was “worth looking into” the idea of giving shielding people a dedicated hour to go out and exercise safely, after Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft earlier asked the prime minister to support a ‘safe-hour walk’ for shielded people.
As the lockdown is eased, Burnham also announced a £21.5m bid for temporary measures for walking and cycling, including 200km of pop-up bike lanes — 94km of which is on “strategic” routes. A row has been brewing in the region over the past week after it emerged Manchester city council (MCC) had refused to build any pop-up cycle lanes to help commuters from the surrounding nine districts get into the city by bike and was instead concentrating on pedestrianising parts of the centre.
The Guardian understands that the nine boroughs all want to install segregated bike lanes on key routes into Manchester, but that MCC’s refusal to cooperate means they all stop abruptly at the Manchester border. More than 200,000 people who normally commute under three miles to Manchester city centre will not be able to use public transport if social distancing is observed on buses, trains and trams, with 45% of Mancunian households having no car.
Updated
Q: What other lessons are there?
Ferguson says a focus on where infections are happening is crucial.
Updated
Q: Do you think the right decisions were taken at the right time?
Ferguson says the right decisions were taken.
He says the epidemic was doubling every three to four days before the lockdown was introduced.
So if the lockdown had been introduced earlier, the death toll could have been halved, he says.
Updated
Q: What is your current estimate for the likely overall death rate?
Ferguson says the challenge now is to decide what the impact of the lockdown will be, and whether there will be a second wave.
He says he expects the total from the first wave to be around 50,000.
Updated
Ferguson says policies to protect residents in care homes not fully implemented
Q: When did Sage become aware of the problems in care homes?
Ferguson says Sage anticipated problems in care homes in February and early March.
But you can only protect care homes with extensive testing, he says.
Q: On 25 March you said deaths were unlikely to exceed 20,000. At the stage the lockdown policy was known. And you knew what the policy was for care homes.
Ferguson says the policy, protecting care homes and the elderly, was obvious. But it “failed to be enacted”.
He says it is common for care home staff to work in more than one place. That contributed to the spread, he says.
He says at that point, in March, they had not realised how serious the problem would be in care homes.
Updated
Ferguson says Spain and Italy had large epidemics before they fully realised.
They led to the virus spreading into the UK, he says.
If the UK had had the testing capacity, and if it had tested people coming into the country, the government could have had a much better assessment of the spread of the disease.
Ferguson tells the committee that he is still providing advice to government through his Imperial College team.
Greg Clark, the committee chair, asks why the death toll is higher than Ferguson originally expected. (At one point in early April Ferguson said it could end up at around 20,000.)
Ferguson says it is clear now that the infection had by then spread more widely than people realised at the time.
Imperial College's Neil Ferguson questioned by MPs
Prof Neil Ferguson, the Imperial College academic whose team wrote the paper that led to the government announcing the lockdown is giving evidence to the Commons science committee now. He is appearing with two other academics who have produced pandemic modelling considered by the government, Prof Matt Keeling from Warwick University and Dr Nicholas Davis from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
This is not Ferguson’s first appearance in public since he had to resign as a member of Sage after his lover visited him at home in breach of lockdown guidance. Ferguson gave evidence to a Lords committee recently. But the Lords committee asked him nothing about the circumstances of his resignation.
Two-metre rule could be relaxed in England before rest of UK, No 10 says
The Downing Street lobby briefing is over. Here are the main points.
- No 10 confirmed that the two-metre rule could be reduced in England but not other parts of the UK. At PMQs Boris Johnson said it was being kept under review. He is under strong pressure to replace it with a one-metre or 1.5-metre rule, which would make it much easier for schools and commercial premises, especially pubs and restaurants, to open in a Covid-secure way. “Matters of public health are devolved, so it is a theoretical possibility that the position could be different in different parts of the UK,” the prime minister’s spokesman said.
- Downing Street would not rule out the possibility of retired teachers being called back to the profession to help schools cope with the coronavirus crisis. The spokesman said:
The education secretary has said that we will do whatever we can to make sure that no child falls behind as a result of coronavirus.
We have already committed over £100m to support children to learn at home and pupil premium funding continues to be paid at the highest-ever rate to help schools to support disadvantaged pupils.
We are working to bring all children back in September and are considering what more is needed to support pupils.
We have also said that we are looking at what further support we can provide over the summer.
- Private hospitals are being used to help clear the backlog of NHS cases built up during the coronavirus outbreak, Downing Street said. The spokesman said:
We reached agreements with private hospitals at the beginning of the outbreak to ensure that we had the potential for surge capacity for coronavirus patients. With the number of cases falling, these private hospitals are now helping to bring back wider NHS services.
Updated
Drakeford says opening up Wales for tourism has to be done with community consent
Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, has said it may be possible to further lift some of the lockdown restrictions in Wales, if the number of new cases continues to fall.
He told a meeting of the Welsh parliament that a key indicator of whether the restrictions could be eased would be the reproduction level, or R number, and how the virus was circulating in Wales. He said:
I share that hope that people in Wales have that we will be in a position at the end of next week to further lift some of the restrictions we’ve all had to abide by over what is now nearly three months.
As we go into this week, the figure is around 50 new confirmed cases every day, and that number continues to fall.
So, your chances of meeting somebody, as you leave your own home, who is suffering from coronavirus, is about an eighth of what it was when we went into lockdown.
We will continue to have to emphasise to people, that as they exercise those freedoms, they have to exercise them really carefully.
Because even if there are only 50 new confirmed cases a day, you have no way of knowing, as you leave your home, whether you are going to be in contact with one of those 50 people.
Drakeford told Senedd members the Welsh government was hoping to be able to resume parts of the tourism industry before this year’s season ended, but that it had to be done with “community consent”.
If it is possible, then beginning with self-contained accommodation, where people are not sharing kitchens and toilets and showers and so on, seems to be a sensible and safe way of thinking about how we can resume activity in the tourism industry.
So, as we move, if we are able to, to allow tourism to resume in Wales, people who travel to those communities can be sure that they would be welcome, and that the industry will once again be demonstrating to people everything that Wales has to offer.
Updated
England records 88 more coronavirus hospital deaths
NHS England has recorded a further 88 coronavirus hospital deaths in England, taking the total to 27,707. The full details are here.
For the record, here are the equivalent figures for the last two weeks.
Wednesday 27 May - 183
Thursday 28 May - 185
Friday 29 May - 149
Saturday 30 May - 146
Sunday 31 May - 85
Monday 1 June - 108
Tuesday 2 June - 143
Wednesday 3 June - 179
Thursday 4 June - 115
Friday 5 June - 123
Saturday 6 June - 75
Sunday 7 June - 72
Monday 8 June - 59
Tuesday 9 June - 129
No new Covid-19 deaths recorded in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland’s Department of Health has reported no further deaths of people with coronavirus for a fourth day in a row. There were 13 new confirmed cases of the virus, bringing the total since the outbreak began to 4,818.
Updated
Nine people die with coronavirus in Wales
Public Health Wales said a further nine people had died after testing positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of deaths in Wales to 1,419, while the total cases increased by 38 to 14,518.
Updated
Hello all. I am helping on the Guardian’s live feed while Andrew takes a break. Please do get in touch with any news tips, insights or story ideas.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
The Health Service Journal is reporting that the government’s Nightingale hospitals, created to ease pressure on the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic, have cost £200m.
It comes after the London Nightingale was wound down after a lack of patients.
Revealed: Government spent more than £200m on Nightingale hospitals https://t.co/xUDUYCXL1R
— HealthServiceJournal (@HSJnews) June 10, 2020
Updated
Johnson claims UK coronavirus response 'astonishing' despite Starmer saying death rate among highest in world
Here are the quotes form the exchange at PMQs between Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer on the coronavirus death numbers.
Starmer said:
Since last prime minister’s questions, the government’s daily total figure for those that have died from coronavirus has gone past 40,000. The ONS figure, which records cases where coronavirus is on the death certificate stands at just over 50,000 and the number of excess deaths, which is an awful phrase, stands at over 63,000.
These are amongst the highest numbers anywhere in the world. Last week, the prime minister said he was proud of the government’s record, but there’s no pride in those figures is there?
And Johnson replied:
On the death figures for this country, we mourn every one and we grieve for them and for their relatives and their friends. But I must also tell them he’s raised this point repeatedly across the dispatch box, the best scientific evidence and advice is that we must wait until the epidemic has been through its whole cycle in order to draw the relevant international conclusions.
As for what this country did to fight the epidemic, I must say I strongly disagree with the way he characterises it. I think it was an astonishing achievement by the NHS to build the Nightingale hospitals, I think it was an astonishing thing this country came together to drive down, to follow the social distancing rules in spite of all the doubt that was cast on the advice.
Updated
Scotland has recorded the sixth weekly reduction in a row of deaths where Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate, taking to total deaths as of 7 June to 4,000, with 89 deaths in the past week from June 1 to 7. This is the lowest number of Covid deaths in a single week since late March.
At first minister’s questions Nicola Sturgeon also announced 12 more daily deaths, taking that total to 2,434.
The weekly data from National Records of Scotland also showed that deaths in care homes have fallen back to 47% of all Covid-19 deaths in week 23, June 1 to 7, when the number of deaths in that setting fell for a sixth week, by 27 to 42.
Three-quarters, or 76%, of all coronavirus deaths to date involved people aged 75 or over.
Sturgeon also announced the first data from Scotland’s new test and trace system from Health Protection Scotland: there have been 681 cases where the individual tested positive, contact tracing has been completed in 481 cases and 741 contacts have been traced.
Updated
According to Joe Murphy at the Evening Standard, Boris Johnson had another announcement at PMQs - although it was not obvious at the time.
In one of his responses to Sir Keir Starmer, Johnson said the government would ensure that “high-contact professions get expanded and targeted testing now”.
In his story Murphy says this was a reference to taxi and bus drivers being offered covonavirus tests, even if they don’t have symptoms.
Updated
PMQs - Snap verdict
For all its multiple faults, there are days when PMQs does provide a forum where the most intense political issues are illuminated. And then there are other days when it struggles hard to get much beyond the ‘so what’ territory. Today was closer to the latter category. Despite all talk of unease on the Tory benches (see 10.17am), not a peep emerged. The Black Lives Matters protests did come up, but only in a relatively perfunctory manner. And the Boris Johnson/Keir Starmer exchanges - normally the highlight - were inconclusive. Neither was particularly good.
Starmer seems to view PMQs as a war of attrition; he shows no interest in flash, ‘knockout blow’ moments, preferring a steady stream that portray the opposition as measured and sensible, and Johnson as negligent. Mostly this has worked well, but it did not particularly today. He devoted his first two questions to asking why measures in reports weren’t being implemented. But they are, claimed Johnson. This may be wishful thinking, but it was not contested by Starmer, and a viewer without prior knowledge may have been left wondering if Johnson had a point.
Starmer’s best question was his third, about the death numbers. He was calm and factual, and his question - “there’s no pride in these numbers, is there?” - was unanswerable. Johnson’s response was particularly poor. If No 10 really thinks it will be able to hold off addressing this issue for the rest of the year just by claiming it’s too early to make international comparisons, it is likely to be disappointed.
Johnson’s best moments came when Starmer asked about schools, and Johnson was able to accuse Labour of inconsistency - arguing for continued closures earlier, complaining about continued closures now. This is not wholly fair - Labour’s argument is that a more consensual approach was needed to facilitate school opening - but defending a nuanced position is never straightforward, and by the standards of political sloganising rather than high-grade logic, Johnson’s charge was true enough to stick. It was also interesting to see him use Starmer’s profession against him. Generally commentators have taken the view the Starmer’s lawyerly precision (we are not allowed call him “forensic” any more, the cliché police have ruled) is a bonus, but Johnson now seems to running the line that, because Starmer is a barrister, he will just say whatever is convenient to his case.
Johnson actually had an announcement to make: a £63m welfare programme for schools. But the way he raised it, it was hard to tell whether or not this was anything new. If this was supposed to give him good ammunition to use against Starmer, it did not work out.
The best question of the day was probably Kirsty Blackman’s. (See 12.28pm.) But even that did not generate a memorable answer. It was that sort of PMQs.
Updated
Labour’s Olivia Blake asks if the PM will agree to a funding boost for local welfare systems.
Johnson says many families are facing great hardship. And he repeats what he said earlier about the extra £63m going to councils that he said could help them provide meals for poor pupils during the school holidays.
And that’s it. PMQs is over.
Stuart Anderson, a Conservative, asks Johnson to commit to measures to help Wolverhampton.
Johnson says he will. He rattles off some investment figures for Wolverhampton.
Labour’s Rachel Hopkins says her constituents are confused by the government’s coronavirus policy.
Johnson says the public, with their overwhelming common sense, have ignored the “negativity and the attempts to confuse” from Labour.
Updated
Johnson says the government will raise animal welfare standards outside the EU, not lower them.
The Tory, Mark Logan, asks if the PM agrees that the publication of local R number data might help to give people confidence to go back to work.
Johnson broadly agrees, although he does not make a commitment on R number data. He says test and trace should give people confidence.
The SNP’s Stuart Malcolm McDonald says the UK has one of the worst statutory sick pay systems in the world. Will the PM create a system fit for people’s needs?
Johnson says people receive additional funds on top of statutory sick pay.
He claims the UK has done more than almost any other country on Earth to support people affected by the coronavirus crisis.
Updated
Johnson says he remains committed to using infrastructure projects to unite and level up in the country.
Sir Ed Davey, the acting Lib Dem leader, says black people are 47 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.
Johnson says these powers are important for fighting violent crime. Knife crime is a problem. He says stop and search is not the whole answer, but it is part of the mix.
Sir Peter Bottomley, the Conservative MP and father of the house, asks the PM to pay tribute to the retiring archbishop of York, John Sentamu.
Johnson says he and Sentamu correspond frequently.
The SNP’s Kirsty Blackman criticises President Trump’s response to the death of George Floyd. Does the PM still think Trump has many, many good qualities. If so, what are they?
Johnson says, amongst other things, Trump is president of the US, which is the UK’s most important ally and which has been a bastion of peace throughout his lifetime.
Updated
Maria Miller, a Conservative, says there have been many peaceful protests against racism. She commends the PM for recognising the significance of them. Will he look again at systemic racism in government?
Johnson says all political leaders should promote these issues. He is proud of what he did as mayor on BAME issues, he says.
Johnson says it is still the plan to allow outdoor hospitality to open up from July.
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says Johnson told the liaison committee he did not read the scientific papers. He says it is no wonder it took the UK so long to introduce quarantine. We should not ignore the experts again. What papers has he read about the 2-metre rule?
Johnson says he has read many papers about this disease, including on the 2-metre rule. He wants to keep it under review, he says.
Blackford says the cabinet has discussed reducing the 2-metre rule. But the scientists are not advising it should be relaxed. The risk at one metre is much higher, he says. And he says Prof Chris Whitty said the two-metre rule should stay. He says the government is trying to reduce it too soon.
Johnson says people are following the advice. Tomorrow the government will announce more on test and trace. He says people will be surprised by the extent to which people are complying.
- Johnson hints data about the success of the test and trace system may be announced tomorrow.
Updated
Starmer says he has been consistently been saying that children should be back when it is safe.
He says in Wales the Labour government will continue to fund school meal vouchers during the summer holiday. The government in England won’t. Will Johnson reconsider?
Johnson says the government does not normally do this. But it has announced £63m of welfare assistance for councils to allow them to help people. It has put its arms around people. It is not helped by the “tergiversations” of Labour. He says he will be announcing more measures to open up Britain later. The government will stick it its plan, with or without the assistance of the opposition.
Starmer says, contrary to what Johnson claimed, they have not discussed the proposal in the Starmer letter.
He says Johnson is flailing around. He says Johnson is responsible for this mess. He quotes the children’s commissioner, who says she is not confident there is a plan. The government knew space was a problem. The government built the Nightingale hospitals. So why are they only addressing schools now.
Johnson says Labour supports one thing one week, one thing another. He says he knows this is how lawyers work. He says it is safe for children to go back. Will Starmer say that?
Updated
Keir Starmer challenges Boris Johnson over school reopening plans
Starmer says Johnson’s argument “just does not wash”. It is not too early to learn from what happened elsewhere, he says.
Turning to schools, he says there has been no consensus. Pupils are missing six months’ school. He says he suggested a national taskforce. Will the PM agree?
Johnson says last week Labour did not want pupils back. Now it does. He says some other schools have sent no pupils back. The government has a plan, he says. He claims 97% of schools submitted data are seeing pupils coming back. He blamed Labour’s leftwing union “friends”.
Updated
Starmer says action is needed now. He says the PM should indicate when this will happen.
Turning to the overall death numbers, he says these figures “haunt us”. The government’s daily figure is over 40,000, the ONS figure is over 50,000 and the number of excess deaths is 63,000. These are around the highest numbers in the world. The PM said he was proud of his record. But there is no pride in these numbers, is there?
Johnson says they mourn every death. But he says the best advice is that we must wait until the end of the pandemic to make international comparisons.
He disagrees with Starmer. Building the Nightingale hospitals, and having the country follow the social distancing advice, was remarkable, he says.
Updated
Starmer says Labour will hold the government to that.
He turns to the PHE report on Covid and disparities. He says it said it was already clear policy should be changed to mitigate the risk. Why is that not happening?
Johnson says the government is acting. It is looking at the exposure of BAME groups to coronavirus. He says high-contact professions are getting expanded and targeted testing. That is the first and most practical step that can be taken, he says.
Updated
Sir Keir Starmer welcomes what Johnson said about newly-shielding people being covered by the furlough scheme.
Turning to Black Lives Matters, he says the recommendations from the Lammy report on the way BAME treated are treated by the criminal justice are yet to be implemented. And the Windrush report recommendations have not been implemented either. When will that happen?
Johnson says the government is implementing these. He says the number of BAME people in the prison service is being increased. Cameras are being rolled out for police officers.
But it is vital that we keep our streets safe, he says, and that we back the police.
Asked about China, Johnson says he is a Sinophile. We must work with this great power, he says. But where there are concerns, over infrastracture or Hong Kong or Covid, we must raise our concerns “loud and clear”, he says.
Labour’s Vicky Foxcroft, who is speaking via Zoom because she is shielding, asks if the PM agrees that time should be set aside for shielded people to be able to go for walks.
Johnson says new guidance will be issued to people who are shielding. And the government will be taking steps to ensure that people recently told to shield can benefit from the furlough scheme, he says.
Boris Johnson starts by saying Sunday is the third anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire. He offers his condolences to the families of the 72 people who died.
And he expresses birthday wishes to the Duke of Edinburgh and to the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
Social Mobility Commission says most of its proposals wholly or partially ignored by government
The Social Mobility Commission has published a report (pdf) this morning that examines how many of its 52 recommendations over the last seven years have been implemented by government. It says that “strong progress” has only been made in relation to about a quarter of them. In relation to the others, there has either been no or very little action (31%) or insufficient progress (46%).
Dame Martina Miliburn, the outgoing commission chair, said that one problem was that there was no department championing social mobility in government. She said:
Social mobility has never been more important. It is the poor and the young who will suffer most from the economic downturn.
To succeed, action will need to be driven from the heart of government. At present there is no meaningful coordination between departments on the social mobility agenda, and no single force championing social mobility across the government.
This is embarrassing for Boris Johnson because at the general election he said levelling up Britain (a form of social mobility, although Johnson seemed more interested in regional inequalities than class inequalities) would be the main goal of his government. If anyone is supposed to be championing social mobility in government, you might have expected it to be him.
The commission, which was set up by in its current form by David Cameron’s government, is used to be ignored by Whitehall. The previous chair, the former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn (no relation to Martina Milburn) resigned in 2017 complaining that his proposals were being ignored by No 10.
Fair Vote UK, which campaigns for transparency and fair elections, has published a report (pdf) with recommendations to support democracy in the era of coronavirus. Its director, Kyle Taylor, said the recommendations could be summarised very simply: “High-tech parliament, low-tech elections.”
He explained:
The digitisation of parliamentary work - derailed in recent weeks - should continue and deepen. Parliament should also implement a codified crisis-response protocol that allows scrutinising work to continue unabated in times of disruption.
Conversely, for reasons of security, accessibility and confidence, digitisation should not be pursued for elections. South Korea has shown that - with extensive innovation, rigorous planning/investment and clear communication - it is possible to hold a “normal” election in these challenging circumstances.
Updated
Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters
Speaking at the CogX technology conference this morning, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, questioned the claim from the NHS Confederation that waiting lists for hospital treatment in England are likely to reach 10m by the end of the year. But he accepted that waiting lists would be a “very serious problem”. Asked about the 10m figure, he replied:
That isn’t the figure that we have got, but there definitely is an increase. Absolutely.
Hancock said it was also important for patients to come forward for treatment. He said:
Our biggest problem is people not coming forward. We all know that, especially with cancer and other areas like stroke and heart disease, early diagnosis is so important in improving the survival rates
We have got to make sure that people come do forward for these treatments that are available again because we have restarted the NHS.
Rishi Sunak says pupils not returning to school 'a tragedy'
In an interview with Sky News Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has said that it is a tragedy that so many children will not be back in school until the autumn. Judging by the write-up from Sky’s Ed Conway (I have not seen the full interview yet), he was making a general point and not directly criticising his cabinet colleague Gavin Williamson, the education secretary for England, who is being blamed by some - at least in part - for the fact that schools have not found a safe way of opening. But he is using the same phrase as the former Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw, who said the Department for Education had made a mess of things when he described pupils missing school this morning as an “absolute tragedy”. (See 9.12am.)
Sunak told Sky News:
I personally think every day our children are not at school is a tragedy.
In this comment Sunak is not diverting from the government line in terms of policy (even though he know that he has been one of those ministers most keen on reopening the economy, which can only fully happen when pupils return to class, making it easier for their parents to work). But in terms of tone, Sunak is differentiating himself from Williamson; he is conveying empathy, just as he did with the statement he issued about the Black Lives Matters protests on Monday.
This article, by our colleague Sally Weale, explains in detail the situation for pupils returning to school in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Updated
The BBC’s Andrew Neil thinks Boris Johnson is facing trouble with his own MPs.
Tho it’s unlikely to manifest itself at PMQs today, there is mounting unease, even anger, among Tory backbenchers and grassroots at what they perceive as indecisive, even incompetent leadership from Boris Johnson at this stage in the Covid crisis.
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) June 10, 2020
Neil thinks the Tory discontent might not manifest itself at PMQs today, but who can be sure? As usual, Jack Blanchard has a good scene-setter in his London Playbook briefing for Politico Europe. He writes:
The prime minister faces Keir Starmer for PMQs at noon amid mounting concern on his own back benches about the government’s faltering approach to unlocking the UK economy. Tory MPs are angry about the failure to reopen English schools; dismayed by the adherence to 2-meter social distancing; fuming about airport quarantine rules; and concerned the “world-beating” test and trace system is anything but. The discontent is growing, and it will be fascinating to see how much spills over today ....
Newsnight’s Nick Watt is hearing the very same grumbles from Tory MPs. “I am picking up real unease from Conservative MPs about Boris Johnson’s handling of this phase of the pandemic,” Watt reported last night. “Grave disappointment on that announcement on schools, lots of Tory MPs blaming that on the failure to overrule scientists on the 2-metre rule. Tory MPs believe cutting the 2-metre rule down to 1 meter is absolutely at the heart of the wider opening of the economy … One very senior Tory MP said to me: ‘Our leadership is pitiful. Boris Johnson needs to be honest. Opening up the economy brings risks. If we don’t do this we are heading for economic catastrophe.’”
Here is the Newsnight clip.
Political editor @nicholaswatt reports he is picking up “real unease” from Tory MPs regarding the PM’s handling of this phase of the pandemic and “grave disappointment” regarding the announcement on schools today #Newsnight pic.twitter.com/TAjzb0QjYC
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) June 9, 2020
Updated
The grounding of air travel during the coronavirus pandemic could prompt a jobs crisis in British aviation on the scale of the coal mining industry’s collapse during the 1980s, a report has warned.
Putting ministers on notice for a surge in redundancies as airlines confront a future with fewer journeys made by plane even after the outbreak recedes, the New Economics Foundation (NEF) said at least 70,000 jobs in the wider aviation industry – including engineering, catering and duty free shopping – were at risk before the end of summer. Thousands of workers in the industry will have to retrain in other areas of the economy, it said.
Read the full story here:
Agenda for the day
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, joining the blog for the day.
Here is the agenda showing what’s coming up.
9.30am: Health academics give evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about the quarantine policy.
9.30am: The National Education Union and Ofqual give evidence to the Commons education committee about the impact of coronavirus on education.
10am: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, speaks at the CogX summit. Other speakers include Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, at 2pm and Prof Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at University of Oxford, at 3pm.
12pm: Boris Johnson faces Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs.
12.30pm: The Scottish and Welsh governments are due to hold their daily press briefings.
1.30pm: Downing Street lobby briefing.
3pm: NHS Providers, the CQC, Ofsted and the children’s commissioner Anne Longfield give evidence to the Lords public services committee about coronavirus.
3.30pm: Prof Neil Ferguson, professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London and lead author of the paper that led to the government announcing the lockdown, gives evidence to the Commons science committee. He will be appearing with two other academics who have produced pandemic modelling considered by the government, Prof Matt Keeling from Warwick University and Dr Nicholas Davis from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
4pm: The Northern Ireland executive is due to hold a coronavirus briefing.
5pm: Johnson takes the UK government’s daily press conference.
Updated
UK economy set to be hardest hit in OECD
The UK economy is set to be the hardest hit by coronavirus among the world’s developed countries, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In its latest global economic outlook, the OECD predicted Britain’s economy was likely to slump by 11.5% in 2020.
But it warned that if there was a second peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK economy could contract by 14% this year.
Read the full story here:
More criticism of the government’s education policy this morning, as former education secretary Justine Greening says its policies will make the inequality gap wider.
Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning, she said:
I think many people will be very surprised that there isn’t yet a government plan in place to help our schools get back open and there’s also not a government plan in place to help children that have been most affected by the schools shutdown to be able to catch up.
And the big risk for Boris Johnson’s government now is that unless they bring forward a proper joined-up strategy, then it won’t be a government that delivers levelling up in Britain, it will end up being a government that levels down and nobody wants to see that.
It will open up opportunity gaps that were already there before and make them even wider.
Updated
Former chief inspector of schools: government approach 'absolute tragedy'
Former chief inspector of schools in England Sir Michael Wilshaw has said the government’s approach to education has been an “absolute tragedy”.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
What’s happened over the last few weeks and months has been an absolute tragedy.
And it’s been a tragedy for those youngsters who need school, need the structure of school, need the routine of school, need teachers who will be working with them, to support them when they get very little support at home.
He added:
I just don’t know how we’ve made such a mess of it, because headteachers, and I know lots of headteachers, will have been saying to the Department for Education, you’ve got this wrong.
If you’re going to insist on social distancing and a maximum of 15 in a class we will need double the amount of space, we will need double the amount of teachers and we’ve got to make sure we have that.
Updated
Reacting to news this morning that NHS hospital waiting lists could hit 10m in England this year, the NHS Confederation chief executive Niall Dickson has said the entire health service is under “huge pressure”.
Projections by the NHS Confederation show that the combined effects of keeping up social distancing, the backlog of treatments and challenges around staffing mean the list is expected to rise from around 4.2m currently to around 10m by Christmas.
Dickson told BBC Radio 4’s Today:
There is going to be huge pressure to get waiting lists down.
There’s also going to be huge pressure in other parts of the service - we shouldn’t just concentrate on waiting lists or hospitals but also look at what’s happening in community services and primary care.
Because in all those areas the ability of the service to meet demand, and growing demand, over this period will be severely constrained by the fact that Covid is still around - so we are still treating Covid patients and recovering Covid patients.
But we are also dealing with this un-met demand which has built up over this period as well as inheriting what happened before Covid, which was already a service under great strain.
Updated
The quarantine row rumbles on.
Conservative MP Caroline Nokes has been on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, saying that the government’s quarantine measures have come “at the wrong time”, although she doeds acknowledge that hindsight is a wonderful thing.
The former immigration minister said:
I think there have been challenges and 2020 hindsight is always a marvellous thing but its crucially important that we learn the lessons, that we act as quickly as we can in those areas where we haven’t done well.
Too many people have died, too many people have been infected and I have said from the outset I think we were slow into lockdown.
Quarantine is coming at the wrong time and had we quarantined sooner, perhaps followed the models of countries like Australia and New Zealand who closed borders, we would have seen fewer infections.
Asked about the dramatic removal of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, she said it was “terribly symbolic”, but disagreed with the way it was done.
Nokes, who is the chairwoman of the women and equalities committee, said:
If we’re going to remove these historic artefacts then we should do it carefully.
We should have a discussion about what happens to them next, how can we continue to learn from that history and please can we do it appropriately, not drag down monuments and throw them into the harbour, because actually that causes all sorts of damage and issues.
That was terribly symbolic and right that it should have happened but can we have a proper debate and do this in a right and thoughtful way?
Updated
Spread of coronavirus 'highly correlated' with air travel
The spread of coronavirus cases is “highly correlated” with the extent of air travel, according to a report.
A study by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) named the UK as an example of where a large number of domestic and international flights “facilitated contagion”, PAMedia reports.
The report said “the flow of air passengers across and within country borders has been a major contributor to the spread of the virus”. Serge Stroobants, an IEP director, told the news agency:
The countries most impacted are countries that are really participating in global trade in the globalised world and the interconnected world.
These are countries in which you will find a large airport hub, giving the potential to people to travel from one country to the other.
That’s why, for example, the region of Milan in Italy, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, London and New York, those big international hubs created more exchanges and more potential for the virus to grow.
The UK government’s policies on air travel during the pandemic have been controversial.
Flights have been unrestricted and international arrivals have only been required to enter a 14-day quarantine since Monday.
When there was still a small number of coronavirus cases in the UK, there were calls for restrictions on flights from destinations deemed at high risk of the virus.
The government insisted at the time there was no evidence that closing borders would be an effective measure.
Updated
Parents who return to work after cut off will receive furlough
Parents who return to work following extended leave after the June cut-off date for furlough payments will still be eligible for them, the Treasury has said.
Those on statutory maternity and paternity leave who return to work in the next few months will be eligible for the furlough scheme after 10 June, the government said.
PA Media reports that the coronavirus job retention scheme set to close to new entrants at the end of June, people on paternity and maternity leave who return to work will remain eligible for the furlough scheme.
It has been extended until October with extra contributions from employers being introduced.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:
When I announced these changes to the furlough scheme last month, I was clear that we wanted to do this in a fair way, that supports people back to work as the country begins to reopen following coronavirus.
But for parents returning from leave, their circumstances has meant that they are still in need of support, and I’m pleased that they will be able to receive the financial assistance they and their family will need.
Further details of the change will be published on 12 June, the Treasury said. The Treasury said:
To enable the introduction of part-time furloughing, and support those already furloughed back to work, claims from July onwards will be restricted to employers currently using the scheme and previously furloughed employees. This means people must be on the furlough scheme by 10 June.
However, the government today confirmed that parents on statutory maternity and paternity leave who return to work in the coming months after a long period of absence will be permitted to be furloughed.
This will only apply where they work for an employer who has previously furloughed employees.
Updated
Morning summary
- Boris Johnson needs an urgent national plan to get all pupils back to school in England from September, with an army of support staff, the requisitioning of public buildings and extra help for disadvantaged students, unions and cross-party MPs have said.
- The waiting list for hospital treatment could soar to almost 10 million people by Christmas amid a huge backlog caused by coronavirus disrupting services, NHS leaders are warning.
- The business secretary, Alok Sharma, has confirmed that non-essential shops in England can open from Monday, saying the move will “allow high streets up and down the country to spring back to life”.
- One in 10 UK charities are facing bankruptcy by the end of the year as they struggle to cope with a £10bn shortfall caused by soaring demand for their services and lost fundraising income due to the coronavirus pandemic, a study shows.
- The business secretary, Alok Sharma, has said the 2 metre distancing rule remains under review in England, despite the prime minister’s hope that his scientific advisers would give the green light to relax it imminently.
