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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow and Lucy Campbell

UK coronavirus: tests prioritised for NHS workers, 'not available on the internet next week' – as it happened

Evening summary

  • Mass home testing is to be made available ‘within days’, Public Health England has claimed. The test, which involves pricking the finger to produce a drop of blood, which is then analysed by the device, will first be validated in Oxford to ensure it works as well as scientists hope. That will happen this week and it should then be available to test healthcare workers and also the general public. But at the PM’s press conference this afternoon Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, played down the idea that millions of the tests would be available on the internet next week. (See 6.18pm.)
  • Prince Charles tested positive for coronavirus, displaying mild symptoms “but otherwise remains in good health”. He and the Duchess of Cornwall, who tested negative, are self-isolating on the Balmoral Estate.
  • The government is considering introducing wartime-style legislation to outlaw coronavirus profiteering. The competition watchdog has already set up a taskforce to investigate coronavirus profiteering. Anyone with concerns about a business engaged in profiteering or harmful pricing practices should report it to the CMA.
  • Some 405,000 people have signed up to volunteer for the NHS to help tackle the coronavirus. This includes more than 170,000 who signed up overnight, less than 15 hours after the health secretary, Matt Hancock, called for a quarter of a million volunteers to support the NHS fightback.
  • The coronavirus strain on the NHS is likely to peak in three weeks’ time, the Commons science committee heard. Prof Neil Ferguson said he was confident the NHS would be able to cope with the epidemic.
  • The Sports Direct owner, Mike Ashley, and JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin have been asked to explain to MPs by the end of this week what they are doing to protect their staff. Both firms have faced criticism this week for their response to the lockdown. Sports Direct angered staff by telling them they would have to turn up to work even though its stores were closed, and Martin upset some of his workers by telling them they should consider getting a job with a supermarket instead.
  • Almost half a million people applied for universal credit in the last nine days, the Commons work and pensions committee heard. The work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, told the committee that extra money had been directed to an online verification programme, while staff would also be making outbound calls to verify people’s claims.
  • The coronavirus bill, which gives the government a series of extensive emergency powers it may need to deal with the coronavirus epidemic, was granted royal assent, after it was passed with cross-party support.
  • Parliament will close early for Easter recess, one week earlier than expected, and recess could be extended.

For more coronavirus updates, do read our global coronavirus live blog.

Updated

Boris Johnson's press conference - Summary

Here are the main points from Boris Johnson’s press conference. His headline announcement related to the NHS “volunteer army”, but what was equally interesting was the defensiveness that seems to be creeping in to his public statements about coronavirus. He did not have a proper answer at all to Gary Gibbon’s questions about why coronavirus testing in the UK was not as thorough as in some other countries, and he opened his statement with the words “from the very beginning of this crisis I have followed the advice of our world-leading scientists” - which did sound a little like someone starting to make excuses.

Here are the main points.

When we launched the appeal last night we hoped to get 250,000 over a few days.

But I can tell you that in just 24 hours 405,000 people have responded to the call.

They will be driving medicines from pharmacies to patients.

They will be bringing patients home from hospital.

Very importantly they’ll be making regular phone calls to check on and support people who are staying on their own at home.

And they will be absolutely crucial in the fight against this virus.

That is already – in one day – as many volunteers as the population of Coventry.

  • Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, blamed global shortages for the fact that they government was not carrying out more coronavirus tests. He was responding to a question from Channel 4 News Gary Gibbon, who asked why the UK was “so woefully behind other countries” when it came to testing. In response, Johnson did not provide an explanation, but insisted that the UK was ahead of some other EU countries and that testing was being ramped up. He said:

We are going up from 5,000 to 10,000 tests per day, to 25,000, hopefully very soon up to 250,000 per day.

Whitty addressed the question more directly. He said global shortages explained why there were not enough test kits. At the moment it was not possible to test NHS staff and others who were self-isolating, he said. He went on:

This is a global problem. Basically, every country is wanting this new test for a disease that wasn’t actually being tested for anywhere three months ago. So everybody wants, so there is a global shortage, and that’s a bottleneck for us ...

There are multiple components in these tests, including the chemicals that make them up, the swabs that you use, and there are shortages along many of these supply chains, essentially because every county in the world is simultaneously wanting this new thing. Some components of this are old, but the scale of this is something which has obviously occurred at an extraordinary speed. And that’s just a practical reality. Anyone who understands how supply chains work, and the huge demand for this globally, would understand that.

  • Johnson confirmed that the government might introduce wartime-style legislation to outlaw profiteering during the coronavirus crisis. Asked about the problem, he said:

I dislike it very much and I do not want to see people profiteering, exploiting people’s need at a critical time, in a national emergency.

We are indeed looking very carefully at what is going on.

The Competition and Markets Authority already has various powers that it may use but are looking at the legislative framework to see what it may be necessary to do to prevent profiteering just as happened in war time many years ago.

  • Whitty said the coronavirus peak would be “probably manageable” for the NHS if people kept to the lockdown rules. (See 5.31pm.)

I do not think, and I want to be clear, that this is something that we’ll suddenly be ordering on the internet next week. We need to go through the evaluation, then the first critical uses, then spread it out from that point of view. We need to do that in a systematic way.

  • Whitty said that some of the social distancing measures introduced by the government might be in place for “a reasonably long period of time”. He said:

We have to remember that many of the things we have to do are going to have to be sustained for a reasonably long period of time.

Updated

Both the Welsh first minister and the health minister have said they do not believe there is a particular reason why there have been so many cases in the area covered by the Aneurin Bevan University health board.

On Wednesday the health minister, Vaughan Gething, acknowledged there was a “particular cluster” there but said he did not think it would be an “outlier” as the outbreak continued.

The first minister, Mark Drakeford, said on Tuesday there seemed to be no reason why there had been a cluster of cases in the area. “It’s one of those random things,” he said.

There have been 309 cases in board’s area compared with 628 for the whole of Wales. The board covers areas of south-east Wales including the city of Newport and Monmouthshire.

Updated

The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 among inmates at prisons in England and Wales continues to rise.

As of 1pm on Wednesday, there were 19 prisoners who had tested positive for Covid-19 across 10 prisons, compared with 13 confirmed cases on Tuesday, while four prison staff have tested positive across four prisons.

In addition, three prisoner escort and custody services (Pecs) staff have tested positive.

The Ministry of Justice on Tuesday paused the usual regime in prisons and moved to an “exceptional delivery model”, which includes no visits to any jails in England and Wales.

The justice secretary, Robert Buckland, told MPs on Tuesday he was considering the early release of some prisoners as a potential option to alleviate the impact of the crisis in the prisons.

Updated

The director of public health at the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in south Wales has warned the area is seeing “the same pattern as was seen in Italy”. Dr Sarah Aitken said:

In Gwent, we are seeing a rapidly rising increase in the number of cases of coronavirus in all our communities and a daily increase in the number of people being admitted to hospital and the number of people dying from the virus.

The pattern we are seeing in Gwent is the same pattern as was seen in Italy, where their healthcare system is now overwhelmed.

Without a huge effort by all of us, we are heading for the moment in Gwent where our NHS will be overwhelmed too.

We won’t have enough hospital beds for everyone who needs life-saving ventilators and intensive care.

She urged people to stay at home to give the health board “essential time” to bring more doctors and nurses into the workforce, as well as extra ventilators and additional intensive care beds.

Britain’s deputy ambassador to Hungary, Steven Dick, has died after contracting coronavirus.

Steven, 37, died in hospital in Budapest on Tuesday. He had been with the Foreign Office since 2008 and had previously served in Kabul and Riyadh.

In a statement put out by the FCO this afternoon announcing his passing, Steven’s parents, Steven and Carol Dick said:

Steven was a much-loved son, grandson and nephew. He was kind, funny and generous. It was always his dream to work for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and he was very happy representing our country overseas.

I got to know Steven a bit in the short time since he was posted to Hungary last October. He was a jovial, intellectually curious and extremely helpful person. He spoke fluent Hungarian, having undergone a year’s training before taking up his position last autumn.

Early last week, when I was on my way back to Budapest from abroad, he helped coordinate arrangements for me to get back into the country, and mentioned that he had tested positive for coronavirus, but at that time said he was feeling fine.

The foreign secretary Dominic Raab said:

I am desperately saddened by the news of Steven’s death and my heart goes out to his parents Steven and Carol. Steven was a dedicated diplomat and represented his country with great skill and passion. He will be missed by all those who knew him and worked with him.

Whitty says the coronavirus peak will be 'probably manageable' for NHS if people stick to rules

Whitty says there is not enormous pressure on critical beds at the moment. It is what you might expect for a normal winter day.

But he says the pressure is going to intensify in the coming weeks.

He says if everybody sticks to the social distancing rules the situation will be “probably manageable”.

Johnson says he does not think there has been a time in the country’s history where a government has put its arm around workers in the way this one has.

Q: Do you regret not bringing in the lockdown restrictions earlier?

Johnson says he said all along he would do the right measures at the right time, not in response to political pressure.

He says the UK has the best scientific advice in the world.

Vallance says the government did the most important things first: advice on hand washing, and isolating people with symptoms.

Q: Will you legislate to ban profiteering?

Johnson says he dislikes profiteering very much. The Competition and Market Authority is already looking at this. But the government is looking at legislation too, of the kind introduced in wartime.

Updated

Q: If the antibody tests do work, how will you decide who gets them? How will you verify them? And how will you use the information?

Whitty says, once the government is confident they work, it will try to work out first how many people are gettting coronavirus with no symptoms. Because that has big implications.

Then it will use it for NHS staff.

But this is not something “that we will suddenly be ordering on the internet next week”, he says.

Updated

Q: How did the UK come to be so woefully behind other countries in deploying tests?

Johnson says the government wants to roll out more tests as soon as possible. It is going up from 5,000 tests a day to 10,000 tests a day and then to 25,000 tests a day, and then hopefully 250,000 tests.

Whitty says there are multiple components of these tests, and there are shortages in the global supply chain.

He says different countries have different testing strategies. He says the UK should look at other countries that are doing more, and seeing how.

He says 97,000 tests have been carried out. But it needs to be scaled up.

Johnson says the UK has done more than most other European countries.

Whitty says some social distancing restrictions could last 'for reasonably long period of time'

Q: Would you not save more lives if you kept everyone at home?

Johnson says, if people can stay at home, they are being asked to stay at home.

Whitty says every country models the spread of the epidemic differently.

The modelling here was based on the assumption that quite a lot of people would got to work. But the government wants to avoid making these decisions discretionary.

He says many of these things are going to have to be sustained “for a reasonably long period of time”.

Q: How valuable could these 3.5m tests be? And who will get them? (See 2.35pm.)

Whitty says these tests need to be evaluated. Whether they get rolled out will depend on that, he says.

Vallance says these tests could help stop the transmission of the virus.

Whitty says in the long run the antibody test will be very important. But in the short term the antigen test is more important, he says.

Updated

Johnson asks Vallance to comment on the Oxford University study publicised today saying up to half the population may have had coronavirus.

Vallace says it is too early to evaluate it.

Whitty says the one thing that is worse than no test is a bad test.

Vallance agrees. He says that it why it is important to wait to make sure the antibody test is right.

Whitty is now giving details of testing.

He says there is antigen testing - to see if people have the disease.

At one point the government was testing people who arrived in the UK who might have it. But as the disease spread, that became impossible.

He says there is a shortage of testing equipment. As more tests become available, the government wants to be able to test NHS staff and people with mild symptoms.

The bottleneck is largely caused by global factors, he says.

He says the second test is the antibody test - to see if people have had coronavirus. That is not ready yet, but it is not far off, he says.

Johnson says he is confident that the government is coping, under the most challenging circumstances.

But to get through this, we need to follow the instructions - stay at home.

Johnson says 405,000 people have offered to join new NHS volunteering effort

Johnson starts by saying that, from the start, he has followed the advice of his scientific experts.

He says yesterday the government launched an appeal for NHS volunteers.

He says the government hoped to recruit 250,000 volunters.

But 405,000 people have volunteered, he says.

  • Johnson says 405,000 people have offered to join the new NHS volunteering effort.

(Paul Goodman at ConservativeHome has a useful analysis of the volunteering scheme here.)

Boris Johnson's press conference

Boris Johnson is starting his press conference now. He is with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser.

An empty underground station in Glasgow today.
An empty underground station in Glasgow today. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Chris Hopson, head of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, has posted a long and detailed thread on Twitter about how ready London hospitals are for coronavirus. It starts here.

And here are two of his conclusions.

Coronavirus bill completes its passage through parliament

The coronavirus bill, which gives the government a series of extensive emergency powers it may need to deal with the coronavirus epidemic, has now completed its passage through the House of Lords. It was passed with cross-party support, and now it just needs to receive royal assent before becoming law.

Deansgate in central Manchester today.
Deansgate in central Manchester today. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images

In a briefing, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the public spending thinktank, says the coronavirus crisis has strengthened the case for the Scottish and Welsh governments and the Northern Ireland executive to be given greater borrowing powers. Here’s an extract.

Perhaps of more immediate concern is that, as it stands, the funding arrangements for the devolved governments may not be appropriate for the task at hand. This is because they have limited reserves, constrained borrowing powers, and the funding flowing to them as a result of the Barnett formula may not reflect the challenges that they face. As a result, their ability to respond effectively may be delayed or compromised, and vital funding misallocated across the UK. There is a case to give them access to greater borrowing powers and to consider bypassing the Barnett formula – at least for now.

Updated

NCP has just announced that it is extending its free car parking offer at city centre parks to all “key workers”, according to the government’s definition.

NCP’s chief executive officer, Jonathan Scott, said:

We’re open where we can for all who need parking at this vital time. Please park with us at no charge. We hope this goes some way to helping all those who are still needing to work and care for people.

We urge you to check on our website to make sure the car park you normally visit is still open as although most of our sites are, we are still having to close some down where landlords request that we do. We hope you all stay safe and well.

Updated

Plane arrives in Peru to rescue stranded Britons

The first rescue plane has arrived in Peru as part of the Foreign Office’s mission to repatriate more than 600 British stranded there after the country closed its borders due to coronavirus.

It is one of several expected over the coming days, with vulnerable passengers prioritised. People are paying £250 for the flight home.

The Foreign Office and Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, have come under heavy fire for not doing more to rescue up to 1m Britons stranded because of the cancellation of flights or closed borders.

In an email to those not selected for the first flight out, the Foreign Office said it recognised that people would be “feeling frustrated and worried about the situation you’re in” and said it wanted “to assure” British nationals it was doing all it could to return those that wanted to leave Peru.

The Foreign Office said:

We continue to work around the clock with the Peruvian authorities, diplomatic missions and airlines to arrange further flights to the UK. As soon as we have further information we will be in contact with you again.

British citizens present their documents today before being bussed to the airport for a flight home in Lima, Peru.
British citizens present their documents today before being bussed to the airport for a flight home in Lima, Peru. Photograph: Martín Mejía/AP

Updated

School in Scotland uses 3D printer to start making coronavirus visors for hospital staff

Scottish hospitals have asked the public and schools to help make homemade safety visors, after medical unions said that widespread shortages of protective equipment was hampering doctors’ efforts to treat patients.

A schoolteacher at Lochaber high school in Fort William, Stephen Stewart, started making transparent screens for visors on his school’s 3D printer after doctors at Belford hospital appealed for extra supplies.

Technicians at the Royal Children’s hospital in Glasgow issued a public appeal for donations of acetate so they could make visors in-house. Radio Clyde, the local radio station, said the acetate could be used across Scotland.

The British Medical Association and Royal College of Nurses said their members around Scotland experienced significant shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), particularly face masks, visors and aprons, as well as hand sanitiser, despite assurances enough equipment would be available.

The BMA Scotland said its doctors routinely had to chase supplies with line managers, which cut the time they had for treating patients, or were having to stop treating patients because they did not have the right PPE equipment.

Jeane Freeman, the Scottish health secretary, acknowledged there were problems with supplies in some areas, but there were new plans being implemented to streamline and expand supplies.

She said during the Scottish government’s daily coronavirus briefing it was equally important to make sure the right supplies were sent to the right places, to avoid unnecessary stocks building up where they were not needed. She said:

We’ve always said that there are distribution issues in some parts of the country, so that’s not news, but we’re working consistently to try and identify exactly what the difficulties are and then overcome those.

Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, said:

This is an issue to which we attach the highest priority: protecting frontline health workers. There are few issues more important to us than this. There are challenges here, challenges of supply, distribution and will be a continuous challenge.

Updated

Nearly 400,000 people have so far signed a petition urging the government to scrap car parking charges and fines for NHS employees using hospital staff car parks in England while working on the frontline to help tackle coronavirus.

The petition, launched just three days ago and addressed to the prime minister, Boris Johnson, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak – calls on the government to act during “our nation’s hour of need”.

Organiser Anthony Gallagher, himself a worker in the NHS, said:

Now, as with generations before ours, a small minority of our population finds itself with both the skill and the bravery to step up in out nation’s hour of need.

There have been some truly astonishing fines levied at NHS staff for parking at work in the lead-up to the current staffing crisis. The ‘principles in NHS car park charging’ that this government introduced in 2014 states that ‘car park charges must be reasonable’.

At the weekend, the car park operator NCP said it was making free car parking available to NHS staff at 150 locations across the UK, available to book any time up to an hour before arrival.

A spokesperson for the private parking company ParkingEye, which manages the parking for many hospitals run by NHS trusts, said:

We are doing all we can to support our clients within the NHS sector at this difficult time and to ensure staff are not penalised for carrying out their duties. Staff parking tariffs are set by the NHS trusts themselves, but we are responding positively to every request from the trusts including – where a trust feels it is appropriate – a full switch-off of the parking management system.

Among the trusts to have so far waived charges are the North West Anglia NHS foundation trust, which has suspended them until July for all staff, patients and visitors.

Updated

The BBC has confirmed that it is suspending 450 job cuts in its news division because of the demands created by the coronavirus crisis.

Updated

An empty boat pontoon in Cardiff Bay today.
An empty boat pontoon in Cardiff Bay today. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Rough sleepers in Manchester and Liverpool are set to be provided with accommodation during the coronavirus outbreak, the Press Association reports. Leaders in both cities announced plans on Wednesday to provide rooms for homeless people. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said:

A package has been released today of £5m that will pay for 1,000 rooms across Greater Manchester accommodating people who are in need of support. We currently have 625 rooms allocated and we have 375 that will be procured in the next 48 hours.

He said 180 rough sleepers and 720 people in shared accommodation had been identified and they would also be provided with welfare packages of food and hygiene products.

Updated

The Sports Direct owner, Mike Ashley, and JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin have been asked to explain to MPs by the end of this week what they are doing to protect their staff.

Both firms have faced criticism this week for their response to the lockdown. Sports Direct angered staff by telling them they would have to turn up to work even though its stores were closed, and Martin upset some of his workers by telling them they should consider getting a job with a supermarket instead.

Rachel Reeves, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons business committee, has written to Ashley and Martin with a series of questions about their strategy. She said:

Sports Direct and JD Wetherspoons are big names on our high streets, relying on the dedication and hard work of their staff and the trust of customers for their success. At times of national crisis, it’s vital that businesses step up, do the right thing and stand by their workers and their customers. When many businesses are undertaking great work to support the national effort, it’s crucial that companies such as JD Wetherspoons and Sports Direct do all they can ensure their workers are properly protected and get the pay to which they are entitled.

Her letter to Ashley is here (pdf) and her letter to Martin is here (pdf).

Updated

An empty London Bridge this morning.
An empty London Bridge this morning. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

London City airport to close until at least end of April

London City airport will temporarily suspend all commercial and private flights from this evening at least until the end of April, it has announced.

Updated

Deaths in Northern Ireland rise to seven

The number of deaths of patients who tested positive for coronavirus in Northern Ireland has risen to seven, according to the Public Health Agency.

In Wednesday’s daily update, the PHA said there were 37 confirmed new cases of Covid-19 in the region following 383 tests.

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) is to cancel its flagship event and the UK’s biggest annual beer festival due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Great British Beer Festival – due to take place from 4 to 8 August at Olympia in London – won’t go ahead, following the prime minister’s decision to restrict all movement outside the home to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

The festival, which features over a thousand different beers and regularly attracts nearly 40,000 visitors, has been running for over 40 years. Managed by volunteers, it is the largest beer festival across the UK and a fixture in many beer fans’ diaries.

Camra announced last week that it would be cancelling events and beer festivals until the end of June, including its members’ weekend, AGM & conference in York (3-5 April) and the inaugural Great Welsh Beer Festival (23-25 April).

Catherine Tonry, Great British Beer Festival organiser, said:

While we hope that restrictions on movement will ease up by August, it is clear we will not have the resources available to organise an event this size during the current crisis.

The decision to cancel has not been taken lightly. We were hoping to wait until closer to the time to avoid disappointing our volunteers and the public, however we can no longer delay.

Camra said it would provide a full refund for anyone who had bought an advanced ticket this year, within five to 10 working days. This would happen automatically with no action required.

Updated

Vets are giving ventilators usually used on animals to the NHS to help with equipment shortages.
The director of clinical research and excellence in practice at VetPartners Limited, Dr Rachel Dean, explained that some ventilators used on animals are the same as those used on humans and they are being deployed to hospitals. She said:

We are providing ventilators but also monitoring and general anaesthetic equipment. Some of the equipment we have is specifically made for animals. But some of the kit we use was originally manufactured for humans so it is appropriate to use in human healthcare setting.

She added that she believes some ventilators have already been moved to hospitals and they are compiling a list of what they have.

If we are using a human ventilator it is usually one used on paediatrics as our patients are smaller. They will be most useful in children patients.

She added that vets are only offering emergency care at the moment which means they have less routine procedures and a lesser need for devices at the moment.

Our job as veterinary professionals is to safeguard animal welfare and we are doing all we can in this climate to achieve that.

It is a challenging time and are ways of ventilating animals that don’t involve that machine. That would be one team member inflating an animal’s lungs and might be people having to do that but if we can give the NHS a machine to make them less heavy and we have to do more work for our patients then that is what we have to do.

Updated

Scottish government to set up its own coronavirus advisory group

The Scottish government is setting up its own expert group to advise ministers on coronavirus strategies in case Scotland pursues different policies to the rest of the UK, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The first minister said the new Covid-19 advisory group, which will be chaired by Prof Andrew Morris, director of health research UK and a data expert at Edinburgh university, would supplement advice to Scottish ministers from the UK scientific advisory group on emergencies. At her daily briefing she said:

As the number of cases increase it’s very more important we have the fullest possible understanding of actually how the virus is spreading in Scotland.

We need to be certain the decisions we’re taking are the most effective possible and we need to know if there are more steps required to be taken.

Catherine Calderwood, Scotland’s chief medical officer, said they felt it was very important to have bespoke advice for Scotland. There were already regionally different impacts across the UK: the virus was far more widespread in London, for instance.

That could lead to different strategies and containment policies coming into force in different parts of Scotland, once data on the outbreak was better understood. “In time we will want to apply our own Scottish data,” she said.

Nicola Sturgeon holding her daily coronavirus briefing.
Nicola Sturgeon holding her daily coronavirus briefing. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Updated

Corbyn says coronavirus crisis has highlighted 'how deeply we depend on each other'

It was Jeremy Corbyn’s last PMQs as Labour leader today and he spoke movingly and with dignity, speaking up for those workers whose contribution is often undervalued. In his first question he paid tribute to public sector workers, and praised one group in particular - cleaners. He returned to this theme in his final question to Boris Johnson, when he said:

This crisis shows us how deeply we depend on each other. We’ll only come through this as as society through a huge collective effort. At a time of crisis, no one is an island, no one is self-made. The wellbeing of the wealthiest corporate chief executive officer depends on the outsourced worker cleaning their office. At times like this we have to to recognise the value of each other and the strength of a society that cares for each other and cares for all.

There is video of the question here.

Subsequently Corbyn expanded on this theme when he opened an opposition day debate on the topic of social cohesion and community. In his speech he said:

We can all now see that jobs that are never celebrated are absolutely essential to keep our society going. Think of the refuse workers, the supermarket shelf stackers, the delivery drivers, the cleaners, those grades of work are often dismissed as low skilled.

But I ask them this question, who are we least able to do without in a crisis? The refuse collector or the billionaire hedge fund manager? Who is actually doing more for our society at this very moment?

Let’s value people for the contribution they make, respect the skill of the cleaner, the refuse worker, the postal delivery worker, all of those. Let’s have respect for those that actually are part of the glue of our society.

Right now they need our help and if we look beyond this crisis, I hope they will continue to get our respect because people we respect should not be treated the way they have been treated through the last decade of austerity.

Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.
Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs. Photograph: PRU/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

Anywhere but Westminster is back to document the coronavirus outbreak in Britain.

In the first episode, with headlines dominated by panic-buying in lockdown-defying Britain and the effects of Covid-19 deepening, videos sent in by viewers and their own neighbourhoods John Harris and John Domokos find distancing and isolation giving rise to amazing community spirit.

Next week they are going to be talking about the gig economy. If you have a story to share please email them at anywhere.but.westminster@theguardian.com

You can watch the first episode here.

Updated

Still confused about what you can and cannot do during the lockdown? Here is a Guardian video explainer.

Mass home testing to be made available 'within days'

Thousands of 15-minute home tests for coronavirus will be delivered by Amazon to people self-isolating with symptoms or will go on sale on high streets within days, according to Public Health England (PHE), in a move that could restore many people’s lives to a semblance of pre-lockdown normality.

Prof Sharon Peacock, the director of the national infection service at PHE, told MPs on the science and technology committee that mass testing in the UK would be possible by next week.

The UK government has bought 3.5m of the tests, which the health secretary, Matt Hancock, mentioned on Tuesday with no suggestion they would be available to the public so quickly, and is ordering millions more.

The test, which looks like a pregnancy test and involves pricking the finger to produce a drop of blood, which is then analysed by the device, will first be validated in Oxford to ensure it works as well as scientists hope. That will happen this week, Peacock said, and it will then be available to test healthcare workers and also the general public.

Get the full story here.

Updated

While pupils taking GCSEs and A-levels have some idea how and when their qualifications will be awarded, those taking technical and vocational qualifications in schools and colleges are still in the dark.

Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, has issued a statement that it is “urgently” working to solve the problem with the providers of vocational qualifications, a mammoth task given the variety on offer. Ofqual said:

We recognise learners on vocational and technical courses urgently need reassurance about how their qualifications will be assessed and awarded in the coming weeks and months. We are working as quickly as possible to develop an approach which enables learners to get the qualifications they deserve and that they need to progress.

For the wide range of vocational and technical qualifications, used for progression and taken in schools, colleges and training providers, we are considering how similar arrangements to those set out for GCSEs, AS and A-levels could be applied. Some form of teacher-calculated grade, or other form of estimation based on assessment that has already taken place, will be possible in many cases.

For other qualifications, it might be more appropriate to adapt the assessment or delivery arrangements so that everyone can have confidence in the outcome. And for some qualifications that signify occupational competence or award a licence to practise in safety-critical industries, assessment might need to be delayed in order to ensure public safety and meet the needs of employers.

Updated

In Glasgow, the largest asylum dispersal area in the UK, a coalition of charities wrote to the Home Office on Wednesday morning, demanding urgent assurances that no one in asylum accommodation will be subject to evictions or immigration enforcement raids for the duration of the public health crisis.

Calling on the Home Office, as well as private housing providers Mears and Serco, to act “responsibly and in the public interest”, the Scottish Refugee Council, Shelter Scotland, and the Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers write that there is “a pressing need to mitigate the associated risks to public health that would arise from evictions during this period”.

In particular, the letter focuses on several hundred refused asylum seekers who have been living in limbo in Glasgow through several years of ongoing court action, after the private housing provider Serco threatening to evict them en mass by changing their locks, which was condemned at the time as “inhumane”.

Graham O’Neill of the Scottish Refugee Council said: “This group now have rights because of coronavirus. There are practical barriers to them returning to their countries of origin or continuing with claims, so they should be entitled to full section 4 support, including accommodation and financial support. They had been going to food banks but that is not an option now.”

O’Neill also expressed concern that the Home Office was “behind the curve” on simplifying immigration rules during the crisis. For example, when a man from Sierra Leone presented at the Scottish Refugee Council offices in Glasgow on Monday, he was told that he was still expected to travel to Croydon to begin the asylum application process.

Updated

A nursing student from Birmingham City University has set up a 1,000-strong volunteering group to help vulnerable members of her south Birmingham community during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Katie Dixon, who is studying adult nursing at Birmingham City University, created the group to help in the Kings Heath community, with another 250 kind-hearted residents awaiting approval to join the ranks.

This comes as the government calls for 250,000 volunteers to support people who have been asked to shield themselves from the virus by staying at home for 12 weeks.

Dixon said:

It’s been a whirlwind, but we are making a difference and that’s what it’s all about.

We’re still being inundated with offers of help and now the elderly and vulnerable in our local area are getting in touch for support. It’s been hard work, but to know we are making a difference, even if only at a local postcode level, is everything.

Everyone has pulled together to make this a remarkable safe network and I know over the coming weeks and months we will continue to do everything we can to support those in need during the uncertain times ahead.

Updated

Competition watchdog sets up taskforce to investigate coronavirus profiteering

The Downing Street lobby briefing has just concluded. Here are the main points.

  • The prime minister’s spokesman said the Competition and Markets Authority has set up a taskforce to investigate profiteering during the coronavirus crisis. Anyone with concerns about a business engaged in profiteering or harmful pricing practices should report it to the CMA, he said. He said the CMA had a range of powers to tackle this, including the ability to impose significant fines. Echoing what Boris Johnson said at PMQs (see 12.28pm), the spokesman also said the government could legislate to outlaw profiteering during the coronavirus crisis. But he suggested this was an option, not a firm commitment.
  • The spokesman said that 6,491 coronavirus tests were carried out yesterday, up from 5,605 the day before.
  • The spokesman said the government had been speaking to the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association about how cab drivers could support the nation’s fight against coronavirus.
  • The spokesman said the government could legislate to outlaw profiteering during the coronavirus crisis. But he suggested this was an option, not a firm commitment.
  • The spokesman confirmed that the government would announce its package of measures to support the self-employed tomorrow. But he sidestepped questions about whether the PM’s reference to the self-employed having parity with the employed at PMQs (see 12.20pm) meant that the self-employed would be guaranteed payments worth up to £2,500 a month (the amount on offer to employees).
  • The spokesman said the government’s social distancing rules would not prevent people donating blood.
  • The spokesman said the PM wished Prince Charles well. He declined to answer other questions about the prince.
  • The spokesman said that, when the PM conducted his weekly audience with the Queen, he would be doing it via an audio link, not in person, as he did last week.
10 Downing Street.
10 Downing Street. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Updated

Bristol University has warned students remaining in the city they could be fined £800 and receive other penalties if they flout the government’s social distancing policies, after reports of “antisocial behaviour”.

The university said it wanted to send a message that “this kind of behaviour is not acceptable”. Sarah Purdy, Bristol’s pro-vice-chancellor for student experience, said:

We have very regrettably received a small number of reports of antisocial behaviour by students in both residences and in the local community, including disregarding the advice around social distancing and isolation. This behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by the university.

We expect students to comply with the government guidance - to not do so is risking the health and safety of the community around you, including fellow students, and staff who are working hard and at their own risk to support you.

Disregarding the guidance may lead to the university taking disciplinary action. Penalties for this include fines of up to £800 and a recording of the misconduct and penalty on your central university record, which may be referred to in references.

Students need to be aware that we will pursue such misconduct to the full extent possible given the gravity of the current threat to our university community and wider society.

Updated

Scotland's chief medical officer says 'clinical reasons' justified Prince Charles getting coronavirus test

Scotland’s chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, has said she is satisfied that Prince Charles was tested for the coronavirus for “clinical reasons”, after questions were raised on social media whether he had jumped the queue.

It emerged on Wednesday that Charles, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, was in self-isolation with his wife, Camilla, at their Scottish home, Birkhall, on the Balmoral estate in Deeside with mild coronavirus symptoms.

He was tested by NHS Grampian staff, and Calderwood said she had contacted the team involved. “From the information I have been given it was clear he was tested for clinical reasons,” she said.

Calderwood added that they were pleased he was doing well and, like most who contracted the virus, had had mild symptoms.

Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, was asked whether Charles and Camilla had ignored her plea over the weekend for second home owners and caravan owners not to travel to Scotland in the hope they could “outrun the virus”.

She repeated her plea for people to resist the urge to flee to the Highlands to avoid putting NHS services under greater pressure, but added: “Obviously, there are people who have homes in Scotland and people will choose to go to their homes.”

Sturgeon also disclosed that another six people had died from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours in Scotland, taking the overall death toll to 22. She said 51 people with the virus or its symptoms were in intensive care; community transmission was now widespread, she added.

Scotland’s chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood.
Scotland’s chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

Updated

At a time when many local newspapers are hit by reductions in advertising and concerns about home deliveries, the Courier in Dundee is working hard to buck the trend.

Today it is harnessing the collective cartoon might of the DC Thomson group, of which the Courier is a part, to publish a pull-out of puzzles and games for kids, which readers can access free online.

In what is believed to be the first daily corona-kids supplement in the country, you’ll find repurposed content from the Beano, Unicorn Universe, Sweet Princess Magic and Games magazine.

The paper, which serves the Tayside and Fife area, is now being produced almost entirely from home, and also offering readers full access to its e-paper and website for three months.

Rees-Mogg suggests Easter recess might have to be extended because of coronavirus

In a statement to MPs, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has just confirmed that the Easter recess will start from tonight, following the passing of the coronavirus bill by the Lords which is due to happen this afternoon.

He said it was important for parliament to be able to sit after the recess. (MPs are due to return on Tuesday 21 April.) He said talks would continue about how parliament could continue to operate safely. But he also hinted that the coronavirus crisis could lead to the recess being made even longer. He told MPs:

The legislature must be able to continue its vital democratic functions of conducting scrutiny, authorising spending and making laws, including the finance bill. Whilst my business statement is made with the aim of bringing the house back, as normal, on 21 April, we will continue to keep the situation under review in line with medical advice and I will make further announcements about the plans for business when we return as necessary.

Updated

Almost 500,000 people have applied for universal credit in last nine days, MPs told

Almost half a million people have applied for universal credit in the last nine days, the Commons work and pensions committee has heard.

The influx prompted online queues and a huge backlog as tens of thousands of people tried to verify their identity, and led to people reporting being unable to get through on the phone and struggling to reach advisers.

The work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, told the committee that extra money had been directed to an online verification programme, while staff would also be making outbound calls to verify people’s claims.

She did not say how many of the 477,000 who applied last week had made it through the verification stage.

More on this story here.

Updated

A 21-year-old woman with no diagnosed underlying health conditions has died after contracting Covid-19, Sky News is reporting.

More on this developing story here.

Updated

Steve Brine, a Conservative, asks what the PM can do to help people who cannot get a slot for an online grocery delivery.

Johnson says the government has already relaxed the rules about delivery hours.

And that’s it. PMQs is over.

Updated

Labour’s Kerry McCarthy asks about replacements for free school meals.

Johnson says schools and teachers are dealing with an incredibly difficult situation. He says the government is working on a voucher scheme for this.

Updated

Tom Hunt, a Conservative, asks the PM whether the government will come down “like a ton of bricks” on any criminals trying to take advantage of police shortages.

Johnson says the current indications are that crime is down at the moment, but he agrees with Hunt.

Updated

Summary

The SNP’s Stuart McDonald asks the PM to encourage the Home Office to change its asylum rules, so that everyone can get the support they need.

Johnson says the country will look after everyone in need, as it always does.

At PMQs Labour’s John Spellar says many planes are sitting idle. The MoD has great expertise in organising airlifts. Will the PM order them to start an airlift so that they can bring Britons home?

Johnson says planes are being chartered. There is a massive effort to bring people home, he says.

Updated

Death toll in Scotland rises by six to 22

A total of 22 people in Scotland who were suffering from coronavirus have died, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, confirmed.

She announced the rise – up by six from Tuesday – at a daily briefing at the Scottish government’s headquarters in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, there are 51 people currently being treated in intensive care who have Covid-19 or who are showing symptoms of the virus.

Updated

From the Times’ Steven Swinford

Johnson says government has considered using black cabs to get NHS staff to work safely in London

Sir Charles Walker, a Conservative, says black-cab drivers in London are itching to get involved in fighting coronavirus. Could they be used to take NHS staff to work safely, on a contractual basis?

Johnson says this idea has already been considered. He says black-cab drivers are a great public resource.

Updated

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says when this crisis is over, some way will need to be found to honour the NHS heroes. In the meantime, people should support the NHS by staying at home.

Johnson agrees, and praises the way Blackford made his point.

Blackford asks whether Johnson agrees that no one should be facing eviction at this point.

Johnson agrees. He says the coronavirus bill should halt evictions for three months, but that will be kept under review.

Updated

Corbyn says Johnson seems to be indicating that the DWP will take no more staff.

He says it will be some time before the Commons meets again. How will the PM submit himself to scrutiny during the recess?

Johnson says he has tried to be as open and transparent as possible. He says he will liaise with the Speaker about ensuring that MPs are kept informed during the recess.

Corbyn says this is vital. MPs represent people who are very worried. Anyone in a flat with a large number of children told to self-isolate will be under huge stress. He says at a time of crisis no one is an island. Even the wealthiest depend on their cleaners. We should live in a society that cares for others and cares for all.

Johnson says he agrees with Corbyn’s final point. People are having to make a sacrifice. But they are doing so gladly. That sacrifice is necessary. He says the more people follow the advice, the quicker the UK will recover.

Updated

Corbyn says the self-employed are in a very difficult situation. The loss of a few days’ pay can be catastrophic. He says last night more than 110,000 people were queueing to get access to the DWP to claim for universal credit. (You need to call the DWP, and when you ring it tells you where you are in the queue.)

Johnson says he does not want the entire UK economy to be closed down.

Corbyn says the PM did not answer the question. He says the DWP needs more staff. He says the value of statutory sick pay must be increased, and benefits must be made more generous.

Johnson says this is a time for a serious response from the government. That is what we have seen, he says. He says the value of universal credit has been increased by £1,000.

Updated

Sir Lindsay Hoyle announces we are now in the second half of PMQs. He calls Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn says that Boris Johnson should have made his announcement on Monday to MPs.

He quotes a construction worker who said he had to go to work even though he had coronavirus symptoms. He had to do that because he was self-employed and had no other income. Will the government halt work on construction sites now?

Johnson says if construction work carries on, that should be carried out within the Public Heath England guidance.

Corbyn says that if they have no other source of income, people do not have that option.

He says sick pay is worth just £94 a week. Why has it taken the PM so long to guarantee income for self-employed workers?

Johnson says people should stay at home if they can. On the self-employed, he says a package will be ready “shortly”.

Updated

Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary and Boris Johnson’s main rival for the Tory leadership, says he wants to “salute the tone” of Johnson’s announcement on Monday. He asks when routine testing for NHS staff will start.

As soon as it can, Johnson says.

Updated

Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem, says people working in tourism in his Orkney and Shetland constituency are overwhelmingly self-employed. Can the PM assure them that they will not be worse off when the packaged to help the self-employed is announced.

Johnson says he understands the point, but that he cannot promise that no one will be worse off than now because of the crisis.

Johnson suggests government could legislate to ban profiteering during coronavirus crisis

Asked about profiteering during PMQs, Boris Johnson says that is something that parliament should consider legislating against. He says there have been laws against profiteering on the statute book before.

(That is a point Jacob Rees-Mogg made when asked about this in the Commons two days ago.)

Updated

At PMQs Labour’s Peter Kyle asks about a care home that had to wait 10 days for the results of a test. When will same-day results be available, and when will care home staff get personal protection equipment (PPE)?

On testing, Johnson says as soon as possible. And on PPE, he says by the end of this week.

Updated

At PMQs, asked whether he will lift the coronavirus restrictions at the earliest opportunity, Boris Johnson says “of course”. He says the sooner the UK gets on top of this, the sooner it can start getting back to normal.

Updated

London defence solicitors have warned the Metropolitan Police they may no longer be able to represent suspects at interview in police stations if sanitary measures and safety precautions are not adopted urgently.

In an open letter sent on behalf of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, its president, Kerry Hudson, has told Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, that if there are no improvements “we will have no choice but to advise our members not to attend police stations to represent defendants”.

The letter says that solicitors who turn up at all times of day or night to support suspects who have been arrested are having to deal with “unsanitary conditions”, inadequate risk assessments and “a failure to prioritise urgent cases”.

In one case last night in an east London police station, Hudson told the Guardian, a suspect showed signs of the Covid-19 infection, police officers would not bring him to the phone and the solicitor was asked to take instructions through the narrow “wicket” gate in the front of the cell. The suspect was later released under investigation.

Arrests should be used in only “essential cases”, she said, with increased use of street bail. “Regular deep cleans of all facilities [should be carried out] and hand sanitiser made widely available.”

Hudson added:

We are getting to the point where we will soon be advising our members not to go to police stations … The police are still remanding people and taking them to court knowing they have symptoms. Some officers are telling us to bring our own protective gear. It’s a massive health crisis.

Updated

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, asks about help for the self-employed. Promises that help is coming have been made for weeks. Why was help for the self-employed not put in place before the lockdown was announced?

Johnson say the government has introduced a job protection scheme unlike anything done before. It has also taken other measures that may help the self-employed. But there are “particular problems” with constructing a package for the self-employed. The government is working on this urgently.

Blackford says people are losing incomes now. In Norway and Denmark there are already schemes for the self-employed. Germany and Ireland have schemes too, he says. Can the PM confirm that the self-employed will get “parity” with what is on offer to the employed?

Johnson says he does want parity. A package is being brought forward, he says. But the better we tackle the epidemic now, the faster we will come through this.

Johnson says Corbyn right to say UK can emerge from coronavirus crisis changed for better

Corbyn says Johnson said at PMQs last week he would protect private renters from eviction. But some people are getting eviction notices. Will the PM ban evictions for six months?

Johnson says the government has gone further. The local housing allowance (which determines the value of housing benefit) has been increased. And the bill will stop evictions, he says.

Corbyn says that is not the reality on the ground. Will he legislate to ensure no one can be evicted during this period?

He says many British people abroad feel abandoned by the government. They have a right to government help. Hour-long delays on calls are not appropriate. What is the PM doing to bring people home and cover the cost of their emergency medical needs?

Johnson says a huge operation is going on to repatriate people. He says renters are being protected. As a society and a country, we are putting our arms as a country around every single worker and every single employee. It is quite unprecedented. He says we will hear more in the next couple of days on this from the chancellor.

He says Corbyn said recently this country would come through this changed, and changed for the better. Johnson says he agrees with Corbyn on this.

He says the news that Corbyn is not retiring from politics will be “warmly welcomed by his successor”.

Updated

Corbyn asks how the PM will ensure care workers can get the supplies they need.

Johnson says the government has been in touch with all the supermarket chains. He says they are determined to ensure key workers get time in supermarkets.

Corbyn says key workers must include care workers.

The Healthcare Supply Association has been forced to use Twitter to ask DIY shops to supply protective equipment to NHS staff. When will they get what they need?

Johnson says this is a proper matter to raise. But he says he has been assured that the NHS is getting the equipment it needs.

Corbyn thanks Johnson for his comments. But it sounded like an obituary, he says. He says he is not going away. His voice won’t be silenced.

I will be around, I will be arguing, I will be campaigning, and I will be demanding justice, for the people of this country and the rest of the world.

When will social care staff get tested?

Johnson says “as fast as possible”.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn says many people will be mourning the loss of loved ones. NHS staff are working day and night to keep us safe. They and other public sector workers show the value of public service. He says he wants to pay tribute to one particular group: cleaners. They work to keep us safe, he says.

He says a leaked email showed that only this weekend the PM was writing to research institutes asking for help with coronavirus testing. Why was this not done earlier?

Boris Johnson starts by paying tribute to what Corbyn has done “in a very difficult job”. He says Corbyn has served his party and his country. They might not agree about everything, but no one can doubt Corbyn’s sincerity.

Johnson says testing is vital. He says the government is massively increasing its effort, going up to 25,000 tests a day.

Updated

Five more deaths in Wales bringing total to 22

The deaths of five more people who tested positive for coronavirus in Wales have been reported, taking the total to 22, Public Health Wales said.

Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the novel coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said:

150 new cases have tested positive for Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 628, although the true number of cases is likely to be higher.

Five further deaths have been reported to us of people who had tested positive, taking the number of deaths in Wales to 22.

We offer our condolences to the family and friends affected, and we ask those reporting on the situation to respect patient confidentiality.

Updated

Hoyle says PMQs will run for an hour

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, says he will allow this session of PMQs to run for an hour. That reflects that parliament will not be sitting next week.

Hoyle says this will compensate for the absence of coronavirus statements.

He says he will allow Jeremy Corbyn two sets of six questions.

Effectively it’s a double-edition PMQs.

PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

It is Jeremy Corbyn’s final PMQs.

Migrants whose visas expire during the present coronavirus pandemic will not face removal, the government has said in an updated immigration advice notice.

Foreign nationals whose leave to remain in the country expires between 24 January and 31 May who cannot leave the country because of travel restrictions or self-isolation in relation to Covid-19 can get a visa extension until 31 May.

They need to contact the Coronavirus Immigration Help Centre.

The Home Office is also altering the rules on applications for long-term visas. It is temporarily allowing migrants apply for long-term UK visas from within the country instead of requiring applicants to leave and apply from their home country, it said in an updated immigration advice note.

Updated

Coronavirus strain on NHS likely to peak in three weeks' time, MPs told

Here are the main points from Prof Neil Ferguson’s evidence to the Commons science committee earlier. Ferguson’s views are important because he was the lead author on the Imperial College paper that persuaded the government to drastically escalate its social distancing strategy.

  • Ferguson said that he and his colleagues were now “reasonably confident” that the NHS would be able to cope with the coronavirus epidemic. That was partly because the NHS had surged its capacity, and partly because of the suppression measures taken by the government, he said.

There will be some areas that are extremely stressed but we are reasonably confident - which is all we can be at the current time - that at the national level we will be within capacity ...

If the current measures work as we would expect them then we will see intensive care demand peak in approximately two to three weeks and then decline thereafter.

  • He said he would expect the strain on the NHS to peak in about three weeks’ time. He said:

If the current measures work as we would expect them to, then we will see intensive care unit demand peak in approximately two and a half to three weeks’ time, and then decline thereafter.

The reason for that lag is because it takes people something like two to three weeks from being infected to being in an intensive care unit. So the measures put in place last week, intensified this week, we think will have had a significant effect on transmission. But it takes that time for it to propagate through to healthcare demand.

  • He said he expected up to 10% of the population in London to get coronavirus.
  • He said that, as countries around the world relaxed the suppression measures they would impose, they would have to rely on other strategies such as testing and contact tracing. He said:

We clearly cannot lock down the country for a year.

The challenge that many countries in the world are dealing with is how we move from an initial intensive lockdown ... to something that will have societal effects but will allow the economy to restart.

That is likely to rely on very large-scale testing and contact tracing. It should be stated that the entire world is in the very early stage of developing such strategies.

Eventually the world might have to rely on a vaccine, he said:

The long-term exit from this is clearly the hopes around a vaccine.

  • He said it was “plausible” that Covid-19 could behave like other coronaviruses and transmission could be somewhat reduced in the summer months but perhaps not by more than 10% to 20%.
  • He said the coronavirus reproduction number (the number of people one person with the virus infects on average) had been revised upwards.
  • He said that many of those likely to die from coronavirus would be people already near the end of their lives.

Updated

Stricter lockdown measures have caused “panic and confusion” among parents with a custody arrangement in place, or a co-parenting plan, a law firm has said.

Cara Nuttall, partner and children law specialist at JMW Solicitors, has called on the government to issue clearer guidelines confirming that children can continue to move between households following the prime minister’s address on Monday. The firm is said to have been inundated with calls from worried parents. Nuttall said:

Parents must work together in the best interests of children and remember that, when the dust does settle, judges will be looking keenly into the manner in which parents conducted themselves – and indirect contact – during this time. Whatever families decide, child focus and recognition of relationship must remain the priority.

There is no merit – tactically or practically – in insisting on adherence to routine if it places anyone at risk. The court will not enforce adherence to an order over safety and wellbeing and will not endorse any parent doing so.

You need to look carefully at the risks to the child, and the key family members on both sides, and ensure that they are minimised.

A “high number” of shared custody parents have voiced concern their ex-partner could take advantage of lockdown rules and withhold access to their children, Lorraine Harvey, at Slater and Gordon, told PA Media.

Harvey said client calls had increased by about a third since Boris Johnson’s broadcast. She said:

Since self-isolation measures came into force, we have already seen a high number of calls from concerned clients who feel their ex-partner is using this as an excuse to withhold contact with children.

This may be born out of anxiety given the current crisis and the desire to keep their loved ones safe and protected.

However, it is also undoubtedly becoming a feature in families where the relationship between parents is already fragile or acrimonious and I’m sure will continue to be so.

Current government guidance states that children under 18 can be moved between parents’ homes – if it is safe to do so.

Updated

Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, has this morning announced a package of new measures to help shoppers and staff adhere to physical distancing rules, which include creating separate entrances and exits to stores where practical.

The UK’s supermarkets have been racing to install measures to keep shoppers and staff safe – and at least two metres apart – after the government on Monday called for an urgent increase in safety efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Tesco also confirmed that it was now limiting the number of shoppers in stores at any one time – a restriction also in place at Sainsbury’s, Asda, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose.

Hand sanitisers were being placed around its stores for customers and colleagues to use, Tesco said, along with extra cleaning products to wipe down trolleys and baskets. In some stores, it will introduce “directional” or one-way floor markings and new signage, to create a safe flow around stores.

Waitrose entrances are being staffed by marshals, while M&S is using greeters, and Asda has more staff at its shop doors to “greet” customers. Most retailers said they would have marked areas outside each store where customers would be instructed to queue two metres apart.

A Tesco spokesperson said:

We are introducing additional measures to protect our customers and colleagues, and ensure that everyone in our stores maintains a safe distance. We’re asking customers to help by following some simple requests when they shop with us.

Updated

Today’s edition of our Today in Focus podcast focuses on the avalanche of false news, misinformation and hoaxes that have accompanied the coronavirus crisis since its outbreak.

The Guardian’s media editor, Jim Waterson, examines where the falsehoods are coming from and what can be done about it.

You can listen to the episode here.

Updated

The Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford has just launched the first-ever Covid-19 government response tracker.

The tool records and compares governmental policies in response to the coronavirus outbreak around the world, counting data from 73 countries so far, including the UK, China, South Korea, Italy and the USA.

More information here.

On Twitter some commentators are not happy about the perception that Prince Charles may be getting special treatment not available to other people with coronavirus symptoms.

From the BBC’s James Cook

From the SNP MSP Joan McAlpine

Some of those most indignant are commentators seen as rightwingers. Here are some examples.

From the Telegraph’s Allison Pearson

From LBC’s Julia Hartley-Brewer

From Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan

And this is from Open Democracy’s Adam Ramsay (who is definitely not a rightwinger).

Updated

Asked in the science committee hearing if he expected coronavirus to return in the winter, Prof Neil Ferguson said that the measures now in place should lead to the epidemic starting to decline instead of growing.

But he said he thought the current social isolation measures were not sustainable for the rest of the year. As they were relaxed, there would be some resurgence, he said.

There was a mistake in the original headline at 10.38am, where what should have been a “now” turned into a “not”. Sorry. It’s been fixed. Prof Neil Ferguson is saying he thinks the NHS will now be able to cope with coronavirus.

In the science committee Prof Neil Ferguson says he thinks the peak strain on hospitals will come in the next two and a half to three weeks.

Coronavirus expert tells MPs that NHS should now be able to cope with coronavirus numbers

In the science committee Greg Clark asks Prof Neil Ferguson why the Imperial College paper advised a change of approach.

Ferguson says two factors were important. He says the findings from Italy suggested that more coronavirus patients were needing mechanical ventilation than had previously been expected. And he said that NHS England had its own assessment of how much ventilation capacity there was.

On that basis, the paper concluded that, without a change of approach, the NHS would not be able to cope. It would have eight times more patients needing critical care beds than were available.

Ferguson says that NHS England has surged its capacity, giving it more than double the number of critical beds it had.

Q: In the light of the new measures announced this week, will the NHS be able to cope?

Ferguson says that, under the policies that were in force earlier, the NHS would still have been overwhelmed - even with the extra critical beds available.

Now, in the light of the new measures, he says he thinks in some areas intensive care units will get very close to capacity.

But over, across the nation as a whole, he says he is reasonably confident that the NHS will have the resources to cope.

Clark says people will find that “tremendously reassuring”

Updated

Prince Charles tests positive for coronavirus

The Prince of Wales, 71, has tested positive for coronavirus and is displaying mild symptoms “but otherwise remains in good health”, Clarence House has said.

A Clarence House spokesman said the Duchess of Cornwall, 72, had also been tested but did not have the virus.

In accordance with government and medical advice, the Prince and the Duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland.

The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire where they met the criteria required for testing.

It is not possible to ascertain from whom the Prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks.

Charles’s last public engagement was on 12 March, but he did have a number of private meetings with Highgrove and duchy individuals, all of whom have been made aware.

A small number of people living and working at Birkhall are remaining at the residence and self-isolating.

A source told PA that Charles had not seen the Queen since the morning of 12 March. Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen remains in good health.”

Updated

Much jubilation among the boozy portion of the population today after the government updated its list of premises which are allowed to stay open during the lockdown. Alongside supermarkets and pharmacies they have added “off-licences and licensed shops selling alcohol, including those within breweries”.

Many breweries have found themselves busier than ever as the nation’s drinkers stocked up on beer to get them through the lockdown.

In Manchester, Cloudwater brewery is offering 25% off all online orders made by NHS staff and has set up a token system where the rest of us can buy healthworkers free beer: purchase a £1 token on their online shop, and for every 50 tokens they accrue, they will ship an NHS worker a mixed 12-pack of beer.

Updated

A nurse has criticised the government’s preparations for the pandemic after revealing she was asked to share protective masks and filters with colleagues because her hospital did not have enough equipment.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Lorraine warned that the NHS was heading into a “war zone” as the “tsunami” of the pandemic hits.

Her comments come after the chair of the Doctors’ Association UK told the Guardian that doctors would be forced to leave the profession during the coronavirus pandemic due to the lack of protective equipment.

Updated

Commons science committee questions coronavirus experts

The Commons science committee is now taking evidence from a series of coronavirus experts. See 8.57am for the full cast list.

The first witness is Prof Neil Ferguson, director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College.

Ferguson was the lead author on the Imperial College paper that modelled the impact of various social distancing measures and advised that, if the government did not adopt a more forceful “suppression” strategy, around 250,000 people would die. It was this paper that led to Boris Johnson drastically escalating his strategy on Monday last week, when he told people to work from home were possible.

The Conservative MP Greg Clark, who chairs the committee, is asking the first questions.

Q: Does the government always follow the advice of SAGE (the scientific advisory group on emergencies)?

Ferguson says SAGE does not recommend policy. It makes judgments about science, he says.

Updated

Pope Francis will lead a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at 12 noon Rome time (11am GMT) in response to the coronavirus crisis, and has invited other church leaders to join him.

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the global Anglican communion, will be joining the prayer and has urged Christians to take part.

Welby said: “I will be joining with Pope Francis and with Christians all round the world to pray the Lord’s Prayer at 1100 London time (1200 Rome), commending the world into God’s merciful care at this difficult time.”

On Sunday, Pope Francis called for all Christians to respond to the coronavirus pandemic “with the universality of prayer, of compassion, of tenderness”.
He added: “Let us remain united. Let us make our closeness felt toward those persons who are the most lonely and tried.”

A head teacher in Bristol has tweeted a depressing photo of the week’s worth of food being given to pupils on free school meals. The food packs are from Chartwells, a catering supplier to schools and universities that is part of Compass Group, a FTSE100 company.

The caption reads:

If you are a child on Free School Meals in Bristol this is what you get for the week. The school pays the contractor £11 for this. Check out the butter. We have 185 of these to distribute. Shameful!

Following the government’s announcement that the ExCel Centre in London is to be converted into an emergency hospital, large conference halls in other UK cities are also on standby to follow suit.

In Birmingham, the NEC — which hosted the dog show, Crufts, earlier this month — said it “stands ready” and is “well equipped” should the centre be considered as a suitable location for a temporary hospital.

In a statement, a spokeswoman said:

As a cornerstone of the local community, we are committed to playing our part in ensuring the health and well-being of everyone in our area. As such, we stand ready and willing to help our emergency services - especially at a time like this.

The NEC is well equipped to be used as a support base if such need arises so please be assured, that if we are requested to do so, we can action this with immediate effect.

We are and have been in constant communication with the local NHS trust, police and fire service, and the services are fully aware of the capabilities of the venue. We will do our utmost to support the effort in combating the virus.

The Manchester Evening News reports that Manchester Central — which hosted the Conservative party conference last year and is known locally by its old name, the GMEX — could be repurposed into a hospital too.

Advice saying 'all non-essential premises must now close' removed from government guidance

There was considerable confusion yesterday about what the government’s “lockdown” rules actually meant. Part of the reason for the muddle was explained by the fact that the government itself has been saying quite different things.

After Boris Johnson’s announcement on Monday night, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government issued a six-page document (pdf) giving details of what shops had to close. The version of the document on the website yesterday morning included these lines:

All non-essential premises must now close ...

Non-essential businesses and premises must now shut.

But now both those sentences have been removed from the version of the document currently on the MHCLG website. The second sentence has gone completely, and the first has been replaced with the words: “All businesses and premises outlined in the table below must now close.”

I’ve asked MHCLG for a comment, and I will post their response when I get it.

The Labour MP Jess Phillips is one of more than 170,000 people who signed up overnight to volunteer for the NHS to help fight the coronavirus outbreak. She tweeted:

I’ve signed up to help. We all should try and do our bit.

The health secretary Matt Hancock announced the launch of NHS Volunteers only 15 hours ago, calling for a quarter of a million volunteers to support the health service in tackling the pandemic.

Further details on how you can sign up to become an NHS Volunteer Responder here.

Updated

Care staff who are told to self-isolate at their place of work if they test positive for coronavirus need help with the huge childcare and financial problems they face, the GMB said.

The union also claimed many care workers were not being given proper personal protection equipment (PPE), leaving them vulnerable to becoming ill.

Because of the unsociable hours carers work, many are left without any childcare outside school hours, said the union, which is calling for full pay for all social care workers in self-isolation and for the government to underwrite any employers who cannot afford it.

Carers should also be given paid time off to look after their children when there is no other option available, and be supplied with gloves, masks, and sanitiser, the union said.

GMB official Kelly Andrews told PA:

Our care system is in danger of total collapse during the coronavirus crisis.

Our carers are distraught that they have to work with little or no PPE and, horrifyingly, are being told that if a resident tests positive then they cannot return home.

Despite being on the frontline, and utterly vital to stop our society from crumbling, they are on minimum wage, with unpaid breaks and are unable to rely on schools for childcare.

To rub salt in the wound, if they become ill they either have to try and support their families on poverty sick pay, or turn up to work ill, which could be a death sentence for residents.

Updated

Funerals, cremations and burials should be limited to immediate family, a group representing the sector has said in new guidance.

It identifies immediate family as spouses or partners, parents or carers, siblings and children. Grandchildren may be included in the case of the funeral of a grandparent, and a close friend in the case where the deceased has no or few relatives. Those in high risk categories or self-isolating must be excluded.

The Deceased Management Advisory Group is regularly liaising with government on the sector’s response to Covid-19.

Updated

Last month the government decided to close its borders to “low-skilled” workers such as delivery drivers. Now they are deemed key workers, essential in the fight to control the coronavirus outbreak.

Sirin Kale has spoken to the supermarket delivery drivers putting their own health on the line to keep the nation indoors and fed, for Guardian G2.

You can read the full piece here.

Updated

Drivers in the UK will be permitted to drive without renewing their MOT for a period of up to six months during the coronavirus special measures.

Cars, motorcycles and vans will be given the temporary leeway from 30 March to allow people to travel to work when essential or to shop for necessities, even if their MOT – an annual test to certify a vehicle is roadworthy – is not up to date.

Vehicles must still be kept in a roadworthy condition and drivers can still be prosecuted for driving an unsafe vehicle. Garages will remain open for repairs.

However, the move will allay fears that the virus could be passed on during routine tests, and that it would force people out for another non-essential journey to keep their car paperwork up to date.

Updated

A British man is reportedly among nine people who have died from Covid-19 in Hungary, which so far has confirmed 226 coronavirus infections.

Hungarian authorities say the pandemic has now reached its second stage in the central European country, with infections spreading in the community, About Hungary reports.

Announcing the increase in risk, the chief medical officer, Cecília Müller, said:

The virus can be anywhere and anybody can become infected.

On Tuesday a plane landed in Hungary with almost 70 tons of medical equipment aboard, including more than 3m face masks and 86 ventilators, officials said.

Updated

Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, has just started giving evidence to the Commons work and pensions committee.

Stephen Timms, the committee chair, starts by asking about the eligibility that non-Britons have for benefits. There have been concerns that, if they cannot get help, they will not follow government advice to stay away from work.

Coffey says that the Home Office is in the lead on rules relating to migrants. She says there have been no changes. But she says people in hardship would benefit from the £500m hardship fund issued to councils.

Timms says government guidance issued yesterday implied that fund was mainly to help people pay council tax.

Updated

More than 170,000 people have already signed up overnight to volunteer for the NHS to help tackle the coronavirus, according to the national medical director of NHS England, Stephen Powis, Simon Murphy reports.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, yesterday called for a quarter of a million volunteers to come forward to help support the NHS fightback against the coronavirus pandemic.

As the coronavirus death toll rose to 422 on Tuesday, the government urged fit and healthy adults to volunteer to ensure vulnerable people have vital supplies such as food and medicines, to drive them to appointments or make regular phone calls to those in isolation.

A matrix road sign on the A367 into Bath advises motorists to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.
A matrix road sign on the A367 into Bath advises motorists to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Announcing that more than 170,000 had signed up within hours of Hancock’s call, Powis told BBC Breakfast that in the 15 hours since the scheme had launched, this meant the equivalent of just over three people have signed up every second:

Yesterday we sent out a call to arms for an army of NHS volunteers, looking for a quarter of a million volunteers, and I can say that overnight we’ve already had 170,000 people sign up – so that’s three a second signing up to help the NHS. It’s an absolutely astonishing response.

Asked whether he expected such a response, he replied:

I think at times of crisis, people come together. And the vast majority of people in this country are doing what the government has asked us all to do. But it’s important that everyone does that as that will save lives.

I know there’s vast numbers of people looking to help neighbours, vulnerable people who live close by, so no it doesn’t surprise me at all. In times like this, as the chief medical officer has already said, we see outbreaks of altruism, people wanting to help, so it’s a wonderful response in the same way that all those doctors coming back, nurses coming back, I’m bowled over by it.

Updated

Data from Transport for London suggests Londoners are heeding ever more urgent appeals to stay at home.

Tube travel early on Wednesday morning was down another third from yesterday and bus travel down by a further 20%. Passenger numbers on the tube are now at less than 10% of normal levels, compared with this time a year ago. Those on buses are at around 20% of normal levels.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, repeated calls for the government to bring a halt to non-essential construction work as London did yesterday with works including Crossrail.

An empty platform at rush hour at Bond Street station.
An empty platform at rush hour at Bond Street station. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Updated

Minister claims it is 'sensible' for some builders to carry on working at construction sites

Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, was doing the morning interview round today on behalf of the government. Here are the main points from his various interviews.

  • Jenrick claimed it was “sensible” for some construction workers to carry on working. Asked about the controversy about this, he said:

If you can work from home you must do so. If you can’t work from home then you can go into work but you and your employer should follow Public Health England’s guidance on social distancing and safety precautions.

In the construction industry in particular a number of employers have concluded that they can’t follow the Public Health England guidance and are choosing to close down their sites - in some cases they are doing so over a short period of time so those sites remain safe and that’s the right thing to do.

But if you or your employer believes you can continue to operate safely within those guidelines then it’s sensible for you to do so.

  • He accepted that it was not acceptable for some NHS workers to have to be making their own personal protective equipment (PPE). Asked if the situation was good enough, he replied:

No, it isn’t. People who are working in the NHS and social care at the moment are absolute heroes who are working round the clock to support us as a country.

We, in turn, are also now embarked on a military-sized operation to get PPE to the front line, 7.5m items have been delivered to the front line in recent days.

  • He urged Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, and Transport for London, to run more tube services. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, also made the same argument yesterday, in response to complaints that commuters are being crammed into carriages. Jenrick said:

Clearly they [Khan and Transport for London] have their own challenges because members of their staff are unwell or are self-isolating following the correct guidelines.

So I don’t think this is an easy question to answer but I think there are ways they could be laying on more trains because nobody should be going to work, particularly those frontline workers such as in the NHS and social care, and having to travel cheek by jowl with other people on the Underground.

We think that can be resolved by laying on more trains and we are urging the Mayor of London to do so.

Khan has said that TfL cannot run more services because too many staff are off work.

  • Jenrick said he did not know when Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, would announced the package of measures promised to help the self-employed. Asked about this, Jenrick said:

I’ve a great deal of sympathy, as does the chancellor, with the self-employed and we appreciate that the current situation is far from perfect.

The chancellor has been clear that he is giving this further thought and will be coming back shortly. I can’t pre-empt when he’s going to make his statement.

We have been very clear that nobody should be evicted from their home as a result of coronavirus. We’re doing that in a number of different ways. Firstly, we are brining about a moratorium on evictions for at least the next three months, so no court proceedings will occur which would lead to somebody leading their home in the next three months. And we have the option, in the powers we are taking in the bill, to extend that from three months to six months if we need to. We will have to review the situation as we approach the three-month deadline and see where we are with the coronavirus crisis.

Let me be clear, nobody should be worried about losing their homes as a result of coronavirus. And the steps we’ve taken will make sure that will not happen.

Robert Jenrick on Good Morning Britain this morning.
Robert Jenrick on Good Morning Britain this morning. Photograph: ITV/REX/Shutterstock

Parliament to close early for Easter recess

Good morning. This week the government said that businesses involved in non-essential work should close and tonight parliament itself is due to shut down, with MPs starting the Easter recess one week earlier than expected. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has tabled a motion on today’s order paper to that effect. The recess won’t start until the coronavirus bill has been passed, but it is due to clear its final stages in the Lords later this afternoon. The decision to adjourn early comes as no great surprise, but it is yet one more sign of the way the coronavirus outbreak has upended all aspects of normal life.

This move means that today will be Jeremy Corbyn’s last PMQs as Labour leader. In other circumstances this would have been a big moment, but today attention will be elsewhere.

The early adjournment obviously is not intended as a comment on parliament’s usefulness, and today we should see some good examples of how MPs perform a vital scrutiny function. PMQs will mark the first time Boris Johnson has taken questions from anyone since he delivered his unprecedented lockdown directive on Monday night. And this morning there are two potentially important committee hearings, the highlight of which will be Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, being questioned by the science committee. Some have claimed that the experts are really running the country at the moment and, appropriately enough, Vallance is up at 12pm - the same time as PMQs.

Adjournment motion
Adjournment motion Photograph: House of Commons

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, gives evidence to the Commons work and pensions committee about coronavirus.

10.15am: Prof Neil Ferguson, director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College gives evidence to the Commons science committee about coronavirus. He is followed by Dr Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, at 10.55am; by Dr Melanie Saville, director of vaccine research and development for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and by Prof Andrew Pollard, professor of paediatric infection and immunity at the University of Oxford, at 11.15am; by Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser at 12pm; and by Prof Sharon Peacock, director of the national infection service at Public Health England at 12.45pm.

12pm: Boris Johnson faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

1.30pm: Downing Street lobby briefing.

3.30pm: Peers resume their debate on the coronavirus bill. It is due to clear the Lords before the end of the day.

Afternoon: The government is due to hold its daily coronavirus press conference.

Evening: The Commons is due to rise early for the Easter recess after the coronavirus bill passes its remaining stages in the House

We will be covering all UK coronavirus developments throughout the day. You can read all the latest Guardian coronavirus articles here, you can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here and here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow Lucy is on @lucy_campbell_.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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