Evening summary
- The government said it passed its 100,000 tests per day target, amid claims the tally has been artificially boosted. At the daily press briefing Matt Hancock said as of 9am today there were 122,347 tests in the UK, a significant rise on Thursday’s figure of 81,611. However, the HSJ reported that the government was including home-testing kits sent out by post in the tally of tests to reach the target, even if the recipient has not yet provided and returned their sample. It was claimed that, until recently, tests were only recorded in the daily count once they had been sent to a laboratory for analysis. The government, however, denied there had been a change.
- Deprived areas have double the death rate of affluent ones, new figures from the ONS revealed. The most deprived areas registered 55.1 coronavirus-related deaths per 100,000 people, 118% times that in the least deprived areas where the rate was 25.3 per 100,000. London had the highest mortality rate, with the highest age-standardised mortality rates in the borough of Newham (144.3 deaths per 100,000), followed by Brent (141.5) and Hackney (127.4).
-
Nicola Sturgeon adopted a cautious tone warning that it was “not safe” to lift lockdown restrictions for some time yet. This was in striking contrast with Boris Johnson’s optimistic tone yesterday that the UK is “past the peak”. The first minister of Scotland appeared concerned at the suggestion that the worst is over, later saying, “Progress is fragile and if we ease up it will be reversed. So we need to encourage maximum compliance with current restrictions”.
- Face coverings have a “weak but positive effect” in slowing the spread of the virus, the PM’s spokesman told the lobby briefing. Ministers have not yet made a final decision on whether the public will be advised to wear face coverings or not, but the advice suggests they have a weak but also positive effect in reducing transmission from asymptomatic people where physical distancing isn’t possible. The housing secretary Robert Jenrick also said this morning wearing one was a “personal choice”.
- Ryanair announced plans for 3,000 job cuts as a direct result of the pandemic. The airline said it expects to operate under 1% of its schedule between April and June, and expects the recovery of passenger demand and pricing to 2019 levels to take at least two years.
That’s it from us on the UK side. Thanks to everybody who got in touch throughout the day with tips and suggestions, and to all of you for reading along.
If you would like to continue following the Guardian’s coronavirus coverage, head over to our global live blog for the worldwide picture.
The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said the government has gone well past its goal of 100,000 tests a day to combat coronavirus, but faced claims that the number had been artificially inflated.
In his press briefing on Friday at 5pm, Hancock said in the 24 hours up to 9am on Friday there were 122,347 tests in the UK, a significant rise on Thursday’s figure of 81,611.
“I knew that it was an audacious goal but we needed an audacious goal,” he said. “I can announce that we have met our goal.”
Hancock immediately hailed the outcome as an “incredible achievement” and vindication for his strategy of focusing on a goal that had seemed well out of the government’s reach as recently as last week.
But earlier on Friday, the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported that the government was including home-testing kits sent out by post in the tally of tests, even if the recipient has not yet provided and returned their sample.
It was claimed that, until recently, tests were only recorded in the daily count once they had been sent to a laboratory for analysis. The government, however, denied there had been a change.
This is from the shadow health secretary
We’ve wanted to see more testing. But a big figure is not a strategy. We need fundamentals of infectious disease control in place - finding cases, contact tracing and isolation.
— Jonathan Ashworth (@JonAshworth) May 1, 2020
And ministers should have been honest. Promise was UK would *carry out* tests not just post them out. https://t.co/SHsjZ3c5KU
The number of confirmed cases among prisons in England and Wales continues to rise, a daily update from the Ministry of Justice shows.
As of 5pm on Thursday, there were 345 prisoners who had tested positive for Covid-19 across 73 prisons, a rise of 1% in 24 hours, while the number of infected prison staff rose 2% in the same period to 371 in 64 prisons.
A Public Health England paper published earlier this week said there was cause for “cautious optimism” across the prison estate as deaths and cases were lower than expected.
But the same paper warned that some of the measures currently in place would have to continue until April next year.
Q. A Nursing Times survey indicates nurses are feeling more anxious at work and their mental health is suffering, what will be done about this in the long-term to retain nurses?
Hancock says nurses have shown great bravery during the pandemic.
He says increasing the number of nurses is an important part of the plan.
Q. Have BAME nursing staff been put at greater risk?
Powis says they recognise the disproportionate effect the virus is having on BAME staff.
Work is being done to understand why this is, he says.
Newton says the virus is present in different ways in different parts of the country, which are comprised of people from different backgrounds.
The underlying risks need to be identified and understood, he says.
Some ethnic groups have different risks of underlying conditions, he adds.
PHE and universities are looking at this, and feeding back to NHS England, he says.
Powis adds this data isn’t needed to provide support and specialist assistance is being offered. Local healthcare leaders are being told to do what’s necessary to protect BME workers.
And that’s it, the press conference has ended.
Updated
Q. The impact in Northern Ireland has been lower than in the rest of the UK. Is there any merit in eventually easing restrictions here at a different pace?
Hancock says the virus has affected different regions differently but the fall has been basically the same throughout the country.
Moving together was the right approach, he says.
He says he sees the case that could be made for lifting restrictions at a different pace.
Q. Would it be better for Stormont to work on an all-Ireland basis to fight the pandemic rather than following the UK lead?
Hancock says the relationship with the Republic of Ireland is important but the relationship is intensive within the UK.
Q. Can you reassure over-70s they will treated the same as the rest of the population when lockdown is over?
Hancock says it was clear from the start that specific groups need to shield.
Powis adds that the over-70s can be fit and healthy, not everybody at that age has a chronic health condition or underlying disease.
A group of individuals, some of whom are in that age bracket, needed to shield because underlying conditions put them more at risk, he says.
Everybody is being asked to stay at home so we’re all in the same boat in that sense, he adds.
As the infection rate comes under control going forward, this will be under consideration.
Q. Is late summer a realistic timescale for people to be able to make plans to meet up with friends and family or go on holiday?
Hancock says it’s tempting to speculate on this but it’s still too early to say, we just don’t know, he says.
The five tests are there partly to give people a sense of when we can make those next decisions, he says.
We’ll only lift lockdown measures when it’s safe to do so, he says. As of today, it’s too soon to say.
No change to how tests are counted, says Prof Newton
Q. A report in the HSJ says tests are now being counted once posted out rather than once the sample has been processed, is that true?
Newton says there has been no change to the way tests are counted.
With new ways of delivering tests, officials have given advice on how they should be counted, he says.
The majority are counted in labs, but for any test which takes place outside the programme they’re counted when they leave the programme, he says. So tests that are mailed out or go out by satellite, have always been counted that way.
That’s the way they are counted, have always been counted and were advised to count them by officials.
Q. What’s your reaction to the report that you’re twice as likely to die from Covid-19 if you live in a deprived part of the country, what policy implications does that have?
Hancock says this is something we’re worried about and looking at.
It has a bigger impact on older people, men, people from BME backgrounds, people who are obese, and new evidence from the ONS suggests there is a correlation with deprivation – these are all being looked at, he says.
Updated
Q. The daily testing figure is a massive increase in a short period of time. How many of those are home testing kits that were mailed out yesterday but haven’t actually been yet returned and analysed by labs?
Newton says the NHS and PHE labs across the four nations have done 39,753 tests between them. A partnership with Roche undertook 13,723 tests.
The tests undertaken by the new Lighthouse labs total 79,522, he says. These include drive-through, mobile units and research nurses for the ONS.
There were 27,497 home kits delivered, and 12,782 delivered through the satellite process. Under the surveillance tests (antibody testing) there were 3,072 undertaken.
That makes up the breakdown of today’s testing figure, he says.
Q. How much weight do you put on a South Korean study that suggests you cannot get the virus a second time?
Newton says the science on immunity is still emerging and not precise.
You would never make a decision based on a single study, he says. These results would need to be replicated elsewhere, but it is surely promising and encouraging, he adds.
Q. Was a Public Health England official wrong to suggest that children don’t seem able to transmit the disease?
Powis says if a child is symptomatic, there’s no reason to think they won’t transmit like anyone else.
The question is for children who don’t have any symptoms who get the virus, he says.
How transmissible the virus is in these cases is a key question we’re still learning about, the evidence is still emerging, he says.
Newton says this is his understanding also.
Q. Can you ensure that health and care workers get priority so they can get tested?
Hancock says yes, either through the NHS itself or through the employer route which will give them priority for getting a drive-through slot.
Once we have contact tracing in place on a large-scale, we need to test them as soon as possible so they can isolate and not pass on the disease, he adds.
This is a new priority for testing, once it’s up and running by the middle of the month, he says.
They are taking questions from the media now.
Q. How do you intend to further develop and extend the testing network?
Hancock says very soon we should get the results of surveys to show how many people have the disease across the country.
A new lab is coming on stream next week in Cambridge, he says.
Capacity needs to focus on care homes to tackle the epidemic there, he says.
Newton says the work of the new labs must integrate with the existing structures to help use the new capacity to maximum benefit, e.g. getting results back to GPs, he says.
The rollout of home testing will be useful for contact tracing and rapid, he adds.
Stuart from Redditch asks if the Nightingale hospitals will be used going forward to help reduce NHS waiting lists as we come through the pandemic?
Hancock says the Nightingales were designed specifically for patients with Covid-19.
Powis adds they were created to provide extra capacity for ventilated patients. They are designed in a particular way for a particular purpose, so they wouldn’t necessarily be appropriate for other uses, he says.
They are also there as an insurance policy, he says.
They are taking questions from members of the public now.
Andrew from Leeds asks if there will be fines if people choose to keep their children off school once the lockdown is lifted and schools have reopened. How will the government make sure the public is confident it’s safe?
Hancock says when it is safe to do so, the government will make recommendations on this. We’re not going to reopen schools if it isn’t safe, he says.
This disease doesn’t appear to give children symptoms nearly as bad as adults, he says.
Powis says the virus affects children much less than adults and the elderly. There have been rare reports about complications in children, which are being looked at, he says.
The science is still evolving about transmission in children, but the key thing is the disease is not serious for the vast majority of younger people, he says.
Hancock says the decision to close schools was down to the impact of schools on transmission, not on the safety of children, he says.
Powis says most people are avoiding contact with vulnerable people, including 84% of adults have only left their for permitted reasons or not left their home.
More people (45%) are working from home since the measures were introduced, he says.
The number of tests have increased “dramatically” in the last few days, he says.
The number of new cases as determined by positive tests have increased in recent days. This should be seen in the context of more testing, he says.
Overall, the number is relatively stable, he says, which reflects the number of infections is falling.
Hospital admissions have been falling, particularly in London. It’s moving down in other regions too more slowly, but overall the trend is downwards.
The number of people in critical care is falling in the four nations, he says.
Deaths in all settings is overall showing a downward trend.
Prof Powis is going through the slides now.
The transmission rate, the reproduction rate, the number of new infections is falling, keeping pressure off the NHS, he says.
The five tests for adjusting the lockdown are:
- the NHS continues to have sufficient capacity
- sustained and consistent fall in daily deaths
- reliable data to show rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels across the board
- PPE and other factors including testing must be in hand with supply to meet future demand
- a second peak must be avoided as it runs a risk of overwhelming the NHS
Prof Newton is speaking now.
The decision to enter lockdown was not linked to the lack of tests, he says. Access to limitless testing, even if we had had it, would not have made a difference, he says.
The decision to enter lockdown would have been the same, and at the same time, he says.
We can relax social distancing only when the five tests are met, he says. That means getting the infection rate right down.
We now have a flexible and substantial testing capability in the UK, he says, to tell us how the virus is spreading across the country.
The new NHS app is “making rapid progress”. He encourages people to sign up.
Government says it has passed its 100,000 tests per day target
Hancock says he knew the goal of 100,000 tests by the end of the month was “audacious”.
He says the government has met its goal.
The number of tests yesterday was 122,347, he says.
UK death toll rises to 27,510, an increase of 739
The health secretary is speaking now.
Hancock says he will talk about testing, after the daily statistics.
Now that we’re past the peak, the restoration of NHS fertility services can begin, he says.
177,454 people have tested positive, an increase of 6,201 since yesterday.
15,111 people are currently in hospital, and 27,510 people have now died across all settings, an increase of 739.
Updated
In a race to meet the government’s target of 100,000 coronavirus tests per day by this evening’s deadline, hospitals appear to have ramped up testing.
A reader has been in touch to report a sudden surge in the number of samples arriving for analysis at the laboratory for Great Ormond Street children’s hospital.
Demand for tests had been surprisingly low until this week, and staffing was more than halved as a consequence. On Sunday 18 April, the lab apparently received no samples at all.
However, since Wednesday the situation has reversed, with technicians now processing as many as 600 samples a day.
The Guardian understands that all patients and staff, whether they have Covid-19 symptoms or not, have been encouraged to take the test, along with the families and carers of patients. This follows guidance from NHS England asking hospitals to expand testing to all non-elective (serious and emergency) patients from Monday this week.
Testing has apparently included children being shielded from infection on isolation wards. The procedure involves inserting a q-tip shaped swab into the nose, and another into the throat - an uncomfortable experience even for adults.
A spokesperson for the hospital said:
In line with national guidance we are testing all non-elective in-patients for Covid-19. Where possible we are taking the additional step of testing the parents and carers who accompany them.
Updated
Matt Hancock's press conference
The health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, will front this afternoon’s daily government news briefing, which is due to begin shortly.
He will be joined by Prof John Newton, co-ordinator of the UK coronavirus testing programme, and Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England.
Updated
The Premier League’s 20 clubs outlined at a meeting on Friday their determination to complete the season amid the pandemic.
Although no decisions were taken on the next steps, the participants are understood to have been pleased with the progress made.
A lengthy meeting included plenty of discussion about logistics, including how to lock down grounds and create safe environments, the possibility of playing matches at neutral venues, and protocols around testing, including the regularity with which those should be done.
In a statement the league said:
The clubs reconfirmed their commitment to finishing the 2019-20 season, maintaining integrity of the competition and welcomed the government’s support. The league and clubs are considering the first tentative moves forward and will only return to training and playing with government guidance, under expert medical advice and after consultation with players and managers.
NHS staff from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds may be given roles away from the frontline under plans to reduce their disproportionately high death rate from Covid-19.
The Guardian revealed last week that minority groups were over-represented by as much as 27% in the overall Covid-19 death toll. Additionally, 63% of the first 106 health and social care staff known to have died from the virus were black or Asian, according to the Health Service Journal.
In this explainer, my colleague Haroon Siddique looks at the figures and explains why BAME people may be more at risk.
Care workers in Wales will each receive a £500 bonus to reflect their “value” during the pandemic, the first minister has announced.
Mark Drakeford said the payments would be made to around 64,000 care home workers and domiciliary care workers who provide the “scaffolding” of services across the country.
He told the Welsh government’s daily Covid-19 briefing on Friday:
This payment is designed to provide some further recognition of the value we attach to everything they are doing.
This group of people, usually women, often not well paid, are providing the invisible scaffolding of services which support both our NHS and our wider society.
Without this small army of people, large numbers of others would not be able to continue to live independently at home, or receive everyday support with basic needs by living in a residential care home.
Drakeford noted some of the social care workforce were among the lowest paid in Wales, and that the picture contrasted with the Welsh NHS where there are pay bands, and salaries meet or exceed the living wage.
He also called on the UK government to waive tax and national insurance deductions from the one-off payment, on the basis the country was experiencing “exceptional circumstances”.
Local authorities are expected to administer the payments but no date was given as to when they will be made.
Updated
Some mid-afternoon joy. This is from Palmerston, the Foreign Office mouser
I can’t clap so here’s my way of saying:
— Palmerston (@DiploMog) May 1, 2020
THANK YOU KEY WORKERS
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 🐾 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/HJV7QmnxOj
More than two-thirds of London’s pavements are not wide enough to allow people to follow physical distancing advice to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission, according to new research.
Only 36% of pavements in Greater London are at least 3 metres wide, allowing pedestrians to meet the government’s advice for people to stay at least 2 metres apart when outdoors, found researchers from University College London.
According to new analysis from @bartlettSDAC and @CASAUCL, in collaboration with @tranquilcityapp and @LE_Saunders, two thirds of pavements in London are not wide enough for government recommended #socialdistancinghttps://t.co/WsrGwlH73G@AshleyDhanani @npalomin pic.twitter.com/zBhm1YzedX
— The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL (@BartlettArchUCL) May 1, 2020
There are also broad variations of the proportion of pavements wide enough to allow physical distancing in different London boroughs, according to the Streets research group, which includes academics from UCL’s Bartlett school of architecture.
The City of London has the highest percentage (51%) of streets that meet the minimum requirement, while Hammersmith and Fulham, Wandsworth, Richmond upon Thames and Newham and Haringey all have the lowest (between 26-28%), according to their analysis.
Dr Ashley Dhanani, a member of the project team and a research associate at the Bartlett’s Space Syntax Laboratory, said:
While some may opt to walk in the road, this is not possible for people with pushchairs or with mobility impairments. Our research shows that there is an urgent need to reallocate street space in London so everyone can use streets safely.
You can download a map of London that shows all the streets where there are at least six metres of non-road space here. These are the streets that have enough space on either side for pedestrians to stay 2 metres apart.
Updated
Another 352 deaths in England, bringing total to 20,483
NHS England has announced 352 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 20,483.
The 352 patients were aged between 30 and 103 years old, and 18 of them (aged between 43 and 98 years old) had no known underlying health condition.
Of the 352 new hospital deaths announced today by NHS England:
- 70 occurred on 30 April
- 148 occurred on 29 April
- 39 occurred on 28 April
The figures also show 70 of the new deaths took place between 1-27 April, while the remaining 25 deaths occurred in March, with the earliest new death taking place on 16 March.
NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks earlier. This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for postmortem examinations to be processed and for data from the tests to be validated.
Today’s figures published by NHS England show 8 April continues to have the highest number for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day, with a current total of 863.
Updated
Magdalen College, Oxford did their traditional May morning celebrations virtually this year.
Researchers are to launch a new trial of a Japanese-manufactured drug they believe could be a “promising” treatment for Covid-19.
A total of 450 hospital inpatients with mild to moderate symptoms of the disease will be recruited to take part in the study in the UK.
The randomised control trial will see some receive favipiravir, an anti-viral drug produced by Fujifilm Toyama Chemicals in Japan.
Other patients will received a combination treatment of hydroxychloroquine, zinc and azithromycin, while a third group will be given existing standard care for Covid-19.
Chelsea and Westminster hospital and West Middlesex university hospital in London are participating in the trial, which also involves Imperial College and the Royal Brompton hospital.
University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium aims to start a trial on up to 200 patients at a later date.
Pallav Shah, a professor in respiratory medicine at Chelsea and Westminster hospital and the study’s chief investigator, said the study will target early cases of Covid-19 in the hope of finding a treatment which prevents patients progressing into intensive care, reduces the length of their hospital stay and limits their infectiousness.
Patients with symptoms such as breathlessness and a fever will be approached to take part in the study before swab results even come back to ensure treatment can be given early.
Updated
Deaths in Northern Ireland reach 365
There have been 18 further deaths in Northern Ireland of patients who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total deaths in the region recorded so far by the Department of Health to 365.
Updated
The award-winning Scottish orchestra Nevis Ensemble launched the Living Room Ensemble with the aim of putting together a series of performances by musicians and music lovers from across the country, performing at home and shown online.
They asked people to submit videos of themselves playing instruments, banging pots and pans, singing along or dancing to the same piece of music.
The finished product is now on YouTube, featuring 160 musicians and singers from 15 countries performing I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers.
Updated
Good afternoon, I’m Gregory Robinson, If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter to share insight or send tips, I’m @Gregoryjourno or send me an email at gregory.robinson@theguardian.com.
Updated
McDonald’s is to reopen a number of UK restaurants for delivery from 13 May after closing all of its sites due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The locations of the 15 restaurants will be announced next week.
The fast food chain has spent this week testing its operations behind closed doors in preparation to reopen sites, PA reports.
Paul Pomroy, the chain’s boss for the UK and Ireland, said the tests were successful, after the company said it had incorporated feedback from staff after the tests and worked closely with the government and trade bodies regarding its reopening plans.
All restaurants will be deep cleaned prior to reopening, with new safety measures such as perspex screens, floor markings and smaller teams. The chain will also serve a limited menu and will not be serving breakfast.
Staff will also receive protective equipment, such as non-medical-grade face masks, and have their temperatures taken with “contactless thermometers” before shifts. Social distancing measures will be introduced for all delivery and service partners including Uber Eats and Just Eat.
Pomroy added:
Slowly, but safely, we will return to towns and cities across the UK and Ireland and thank you for your continued support as we work through this crisis.”
Updated
The general public should turn to reusable face masks, not single-use surgical masks, if face coverings become part of the UK’s exit strategy for the Covid-19 pandemic, experts have said in a new report, revealing the move would save 128,000 tonnes of un-recyclable plastic waste.
At a press conference yesterday, Boris Johnson said face masks could be useful as part of the UK’s exit strategy, suggesting they may help people have confidence in returning to work.
However expert advice on the use of face masks among the general public has been mixed. It is understood the UK’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has advised the government there is weak evidence face masks can reduce the spread of infection – a stance similar to that of the World Health Organization and others who say there is little evidence they reduce the risk of a wearer becoming infected. Concerns have also been raised that any recommendation for the public to use face masks could lead to shortages of surgical masks among health and social care workers.
But some scientists have said the public should wear masks as a part of the “precautionary principle”, adding these can be homemade since cloth masks are better than no covering in reducing the amount of droplets sprayed from people’s mouths.
Now the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub at University College London has issued a report revealing that cloth masks would save vast quantities of plastic, and that washing them means they can be re-used.
“If every person in the UK used one disposable surgical mask each day for a year, this would create over 128,000 tonnes of un-recyclable plastic waste (66,000 tonnes of contaminated waste and 57,000 tonnes of plastic packaging),” the report notes, adding that while contaminated waste from medical settings is collected and incinerated, no such facilities operate for the public which could result in public health problems.
The report also reveals how the team carried out a careful analysis to explore the scenario with the lowest environmental impact, noting machine washing masks, used in rotation, is preferable to hand-washing, which is an inefficient way to clean them.
“We’d recommend that people have four and that they use one a day, [then] they put that one straight in the washing basket and they wash it with their other [laundry],” said materials scientist Prof Mark Miodownik who led the work, adding that he welcomed the local manufacture of such cloth masks.
In addition, the report contains advice on how a public campaign could be rolled out, noting it is important the public know how to put on and take off such masks, and that the use of masks doesn’t lead people to becoming complacent.
“Single-use PPE undoubtedly has its place, particularly as an immediate measure to protect those at the greatest risk of infection,” the authors add. “However, any wide-scale public policies that are implemented during this crisis will have serious long-term ramifications, not only for public health but the health of the natural environment.”
Updated
Government changes how it counts test to hit 100,000 target, report says
The government has changed the way it is counting the number of Covid-19 tests carried out, in a bid to hit its self-imposed 100,000 tests per day target, the Health Service Journal reports.
Previously, a test would be counted once the sample had been processed in a lab, but this definition has been changed in the last few days, a senior source has told the HSJ.
According to the source, the Department of Health and Social Care is now including tests that have been posted or delivered to people’s homes in its figures – which means tests that are sent to people are counted before the recipient has done their test and returned their sample to the lab.
The HSJ understands that up to 50,000 of the tests that will be reported as having taken place on 30 April will actually represent the mailing of, or the agreeing to the mailing of, a home testing kit.
You can read the full Health Service Journal story here.
Updated
Summary
British Airways’ parent company has signed agreements for €1bn (£900m) of loans backed by the Spanish government, but the money cannot be used to help its UK airline, which is cutting up to 12,000 jobs, PA reports.
IAG said the money could be used to help its Spanish carriers Iberia and Vueling mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic. There are “restrictions on the upstream of cash to the rest of the IAG companies”, the firm added.
IAG has not requested a loan from the UK government. It announced this week that up to 12,000 jobs would be lost at BA, representing more than a quarter of its workforce.
On Thursday it emerged that the airline may not resume operations at Gatwick, the UK’s second busiest airport.
In a letter to staff, the BA chief executive, Alex Cruz, wrote:
There is no government bailout standing by for BA.
Pilots’ union Balpa has vowed it will fight to “save every pilot job at BA”.
Updated
This is from the first minister of Scotland
There is progress, and light at end of tunnel. My concern about ‘past the peak’ is that it could imply we’re past the point of danger. We’re not - progress is fragile and if we ease up it will be reversed. So we need to encourage maximum compliance with current restrictions. https://t.co/PXhzZg3Hli
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) May 1, 2020
Updated
Speaking to the health and social care select committee on Friday, Claire Murdoch, national mental health director for NHS England, confirmed the NHS is planning for PTSD referrals for frontline staff. She said:
We know it’s been a high stress environment. We’re planning mental health support right now.
She said ensuring hospital teams offered support through good supervision, debriefs after shifts and making sure shift patterns allowed staff to recuperate would be crucial. “The military are very good at this,” she said.
Murdoch added that trusts were investing more in occupational and mental health support for staff and that national helplines with third sector organisations, such as Samaritans, had been set up to support staff.
Responding to MPs’ questions, Murdoch also said that there appeared to have been an overall drop of around 30-40% in referrals of members of the public to mental health services. But she added that there was no evidence currently for a spike in suicides or self-harm:
We absolutely have not seen that. We’re pretty certain that levels of anxiety and distress will have increased for young people. Everyone’s more worried. Lots of people are sleeping less.
The committee heard further evidence that cancer services were being disrupted, with urgent two-week referrals dropping by 63% last week, which Dame Cally Palmer, the national cancer director for NHS England, said was a concern:
Early detection is vital for survival.
She added that it was crucial that screening programmes, many of which have been paused, be restarted.
There have been no national instructions on screening. It’s important to make sure that rescheduled screening take place, especially bowel cancer. Cancers are slow growing so 4-6 weeks should not affect survival but we need to get that turned back on.
Lifetime Isas are effectively being unlocked temporarily for savers whose incomes have been hit by coronavirus. The rule changes will mean people can access their funds early without facing the usual hefty withdrawal penalty.
The Treasury will legislate for a temporary reduction in the Lisa withdrawal charge to 20% between 6 March 2020 and 5 April 2021.
This will generally mean account holders will only have to pay back any government bonus they have received, and they will not have to pay the additional withdrawal charge of 5%.
Updated
Another 17 deaths in Wales, taking total to 925
A further 17 people have died after testing positive for Covid-19 in Wales, taking the total there to 925, Public Health Wales said.
Another 160 cases were reported, bringing that total to 9,972.
The latest number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Wales have been updated.
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) May 1, 2020
Data dashboard:
💻https://t.co/RwgHDufHE7
📱https://t.co/P6UF1MTOwc
Find out how we are responding to the spread of the virus in our daily statement here: https://t.co/1Lza9meaTL pic.twitter.com/54EZqkmF6B
It is easy to see why it could be thrilling fiction for our times: it has a mysterious and fatal virus, an epidemiologist hero, a desperate search for a vaccine and murky political skulduggery. It also features a green monkey.
But whether it is the moment for Stanley Johnson, the father of Boris Johnson, to be pushing his 40-year-old novel for a new release is another question.
Nonetheless, British publishers have been invited to consider reissuing Johnson Sr’s 1982 thriller The Marburg Virus, the Guardian has learned. His agent is so convinced of his ability to effectively publicise a reissue that his pitch describes him as “a tireless self-promoter”.
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The Rugby Football League has been handed a £16m emergency loan from the government to help “protect the entire sport” throughout the pandemic.
Many clubs within the professional game had expressed fears that without external financial support the sport faced a bleak future.
The RFL chief executive, Ralph Rimmer, has warned clubs not to see the money as a “gravy train” and has made it clear the cash needs to last as long as possible to ensure clubs survive. He said:
It’s not about dropping a lump sum in a club’s bank account and telling them to carry on as normal; we have to be far more meticulous.
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Needleworkers at Exeter Cathedral, the Company of Tapisers, have been making scrubs for the NHS and have completed 10 sets, with another 14 in progress, since beginning production two weeks ago.
The group said the biggest challenge had been finding suitable fabric for volunteers to work on, with materials from as far away as Bradford being requested to meet specifications.
The Company of Tapisers has been making vestments, kneelers, banners, cushions, and even rugs and ropes at the cathedral since 1933.
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At her daily briefing, Nicola Sturgeon was probed about overnight briefings suggesting that Boris Johnson’s optimistic tone yesterday was putting at risk her own message that progress remains very fragile and could easily be reversed if people relax their adherence to lockdown guidelines.
The first minister said she was “not convinced there is a huge substantive difference” between what she and the prime minister were saying, adding that she was “choosing to use my own words”.
Insisting that she did not want to diminish positive messages from the downward trend in hospital and intensive care admissions, she reiterated “it is too early to say that the light is not going to be extinguished”.
She also warned: “If we are premature in these decisions and the virus runs away from us ... it will do even more damage to the economy.”
Announcing the increase in testing capacity and eligibility, Sturgeon also underlined this “should not be an exercise in driving up the numbers”.
Sturgeon warned the tests can be unpleasant and invasive, especially for frail older people, adding: “Yes, volumes are important ... but these must be clinically-driven decisions.” She said the focus on capacity and objectives of testing was more important than the numbers.
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McDonald’s has revealed it will reopen its first UK restaurants for delivery on 13 May after shutting sites due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The fast-food giant said it would reopen 15 restaurants for delivery only, with the locations of these restaurants being announced next week, after it spent this week testing its operations behind closed doors in preparation to reopen sites.
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Two-thirds of Britons would feel uncomfortable attending large public gatherings, such as sports events or concerts, a new poll suggests, amid warnings the government’s “stay home” advice might have been “slightly too successful”.
A recent survey for Ipsos Mori suggested that more than 60% of Britons would feel uncomfortable carrying out their usual activities – such as going to bars or restaurants, or using public transport – if the lockdown was eased.
It suggests the public is nervous about a quick return to normality, with 61% saying they would feel uncomfortable using public transport or going to bars and restaurants.
Young people are most at ease with going to bars and restaurants. Thirty-six per cent of 18-34-year olds would feel comfortable doing so, compared with only 22% of 55-75s.
New poll: High levels of concern about returning to bars, restaurants, concerts & stadiums post lockdown https://t.co/CotgNrS8cu pic.twitter.com/ee3mkYZw3h
— Ipsos MORI (@IpsosMORI) May 1, 2020
The polling comes as Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, of Cambridge University, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
It’s much harder to frighten to people to stay at home than it is to reassure them they can go out again. Maybe our whole campaign has been, if anything, slightly too successful.
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At this afternoon’s lobby briefing, Downing Street declined to contradict Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory.
The PM’s spokesman said:
There are clearly questions that need to be answered about the origin and spread of the virus, not least so we can ensure that we’re best prepared for a future global pandemic, this work will need to be done with our international partners.
Budget airline Wizz Air will resume some flights from Luton airport on Friday with passengers and crew required to wear face masks.
The Hungarian carrier will introduce the new hygiene measures when it reopens its base at the airport, including the wearing of face masks, physical distancing between passengers during boarding and an enhanced cleaning regime.
Flights are due to operate to Budapest, Lisbon and Sofia on Friday. Other routes, such as Tenerife and Tel Aviv, will resume in the coming weeks, pending travel restrictions.
UK lockdown restrictions prevent Britons from being allowed to travel to airports for a holiday. But people are able to fly for other reasons, such as to return home after being stranded overseas or if they are travelling for work.
Customers are also being urged to use online services for checking in and making purchases such as additional bags to “reduce non-essential interaction at the airport”, and to use contactless payment methods if they buy anything while on flights.
'Face coverings have 'weak but positive effect' in slowing spread - lobby briefing key points
Here are the main takeaways from this afternoon’s Downing Street briefing:
Ministers have not yet made a final decision on whether the public will be advised to use face coverings, the prime minister’s spokesman has insisted at the daily lobby briefing. Boris Johnson told yesterday’s press conference:
I do think face masks will be useful, both for epidemiological reasons, and to give people the confidence that it is safe to go back to work.
But his spokesman said no final decision had yet been taken:
Ministers are still considering how we move forward with face coverings, in terms of the precise advice.
The advice we have received, based on the science, shows a weak but also positive effect in reducing transmission from ... asymptomatic members of the public, where social distancing is not possible.
And he suggested the prime minister was not referring to medical masks.
We’re talking about face covering. We’re certainly not thinking about anything that might take PPE supplies away from the NHS, or care workers, or others.
With the health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, expected to host this evening’s daily press conference, the PM’s spokesman did not reveal whether the 100,000-a-day testing target had been met. But he said:
The health secretary’s target has been very effective in driving up capacity in the system. Capacity is what’s really important.”
He confirmed that 81,611 tests had taken place in the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday.
The spokesman also didn’t rule out government support for ailing airlines:
We’ve been clear we’re prepared to enter discussions with individual companies seeking bespoke support as a last resort.
Although, he also pointed out the firms are eligible for many of the government’s other business support measures.
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A brand new edition of the popular Top Trumps card game, honouring Covid-19 key and essential workers, hits the shops on Monday.
It hails key and essential workers working on the frontline during the pandemic, from doctors and nurses to less high profile sectors such as pest controllers, midwives and sea merchants. Politicians and journalists are also included.
One of the four scoring sections in the new game is “unsung heroes”, where the partners of key workers come out top with a maximum 10 out of 10.
To celebrate the UK’s key workers & Hospitals we have launched 2 brand new #TopTrumps with all profits donated to the #NHS Retweet - More packs sold = more money raised for the NHS.
— Top Trumps (@toptrumps) May 1, 2020
To all our fantastic #keyworkers and NHS staff, thank you!
Order here: https://t.co/UniVZgyQiM pic.twitter.com/onqZfFEMxQ
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Further 40 deaths in Scotland, taking total to 1,515
Nicola Sturgeon has started her daily briefing by confirming 11,654 positive cases of coronavirus in Scotland, an increase of 301 from the day before.
There are now 1,809 patients in hospital with suspected or confirmed Covid-19, an increase of 61 from the previous day; of these patients, 110 are in intensive care.
The first minister also said that 2,659 patients who had the virus had left hospital since 5 March.
In the last 24 hours there were a further 40 deaths registered of patients who had a positive test for the virus, taking that daily total to 1,515.
Sturgeon also set out a chunk of detail on testing, as promised. Active lab capacity in NHS Scotland is now at 4,350 tests a week, and added to the UK’s Lighthouse lab in Glasgow this means that the country now has the capacity for 8,350 tests a day.
In terms of actual tests carried out, a total of 4,661 were carried out yesterday, a combination of 2,537 NHS tests and 2,124 from the UK government’s regional drive-through centres.
She also announced a significant expansion in eligibility for testing – all residents and staff in care homes with cases will now be tested. There will also be sample testing in other care homes, access to drive-through centres for the over-65s and those few workers who have to leave home for work but aren’t already eligible.
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Yesterday we reported that the Children’s Commissioner Scotland and a coalition of charities had written to supermarket chief executives urging them to stop the barring and abuse of single parents shopping for essentials with their children.
As of this morning, three have replied to the letter.
Marks and Spencer was first off the mark, saying they had given “clear guidance...that it may be necessary for parents to bring their children shopping with them and under no circumstances should a family be turned away”. Co-op acknowledged the points made and gave assurances for the future, while ScotMid insisted that children would not be restricted in stores.
NHS procurement official privately selling PPE amid pandemic
A head of procurement for the NHS has set up a business to profit from the private sale of huge quantities of personal protective equipment in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, an undercover investigation by the Guardian can reveal.
David Singleton, 42, a senior NHS official in London who has been working at the capital’s Covid-19 Nightingale hospital, launched the business two weeks ago to trade in visors, masks and gowns.
Several readers have been in touch about what the R number, or effective reproduction number, of coronavirus means. This piece from our science correspondent Hannah Devlin provides a very handy explanation. In a nutshell, it’s the average number of people on to whom one infected person will pass the virus.
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Heathrow airport has warned that it may soon follow British Airways in announcing mass redundancies unless the government restores confidence by planning for how flying could restart.
The chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, said physical distancing measures could not work in airports, and common international standards for health controls were needed, such as temperature screening at the entrances to airports and the wearing of face masks throughout the process to ensure a low risk of transmission.
Passenger numbers at the UK’s largest airport fell by 97% in April, and Holland-Kaye urged the government to take a lead in developing a global agreement for new measures.
He said while forward bookings implied there was still “massive demand for travel”, it was vital to plan ahead.
Full story here:
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Care home boss blasts Johnson's claim that pandemic is on downward slope
One of the UK’s largest providers of care homes, which has lost more than 300 residents to Covid-19, has responded angrily to Boris Johnson’s claim the pandemic is on a downward slope, saying this is not true in care homes and lambasting the newly announced testing regime as “completely shambolic”.
MHA, which has 222 facilities, said the prime minister was being “at best disingenuous” when he told the Downing Street press briefing the UK had come through the peak and there was sunlight ahead.
Sam Monaghan, the chief executive of the network, said:
We are now 43 days in from lockdown, yet still our residents and staff have not received the enhanced level of protection that they need. The government will be held to account for this.
Confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths in care homes have been running at around 2,400 a week, according to official figures published on Tuesday.
Monaghan said that despite nursing dementia homes being by far the worst hit by the virus “no consideration has been given to prioritising tests for those settings, nor the suitability of administering tests to our residents”.
This cannot surely be beyond the ability of our policymakers, scientists and government. We said weeks ago that we were being treated as the poor relations to the NHS and the situation, despite our protestations, has not improved.
On Tuesday, the health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, announced the rollout of testing of all residents and staff in care homes in England, regardless of whether they are showing symptoms, insisting “the spread of the virus though care homes is absolutely a top priority”.
But Monaghan said that while the long-called-for policy was laudable, “in practice it remains completely shambolic, with many staff and residents unable to secure tests, inconsistencies between the nations, leaving homes unable to effectively control the virus”.
We cannot and will not accept assumptions that higher rates of death in care homes is somehow inevitable. With the right support, it isn’t.
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Lords to form Covid-19 committee to scrutinise government's response to pandemic
Peers have announced plans to form a Covid-19 committee to scrutinise the government’s response to the pandemic.
A report by the Lords liaison committee recommended the new Covid-19 committee should undertake “cross-cutting” scrutiny of the government’s response, developing understanding of the lessons learned and how they can be applied in the future.
The recommendation to establish the new committee will be put to a motion for agreement in the House of Lords. Members will then be appointed to the committee in the coming weeks.
Lord McFall of Alcluith, the senior deputy speaker of the House of Lords, said:
This is the first time either house has sought to establish a new committee dedicated to the Covid-19 emergency and the government’s response to it.
Two key strengths of Lords committees are their cross-cutting nature, they are thematic in approach rather than set up to shadow government departments, and the real world experience our members can bring to them.
These strengths will be much in evidence in the new Covid-19 committee which will be made up of experts across a whole range of relevant professional backgrounds and be free to consider all the aspects and impact of the current crisis, including on the economy, education and the social bonds between generations.
I firmly believe the new committee will have a key role to play in ensuring we learn the right lessons from the crisis and understand to the fullest extent its effects upon our society, economy and way of life.
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Downing Street said the prime minister Boris Johnson chaired the daily Covid-19 meeting on Friday.
Number 10 said the the government would announce that the Rugby Football League will receive a £16m cash injection “to safeguard the immediate future of clubs in England”. A spokesman said:
The emergency loan will help the sport deal with the extreme financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak while the season remains suspended, due to social distancing measures.
High-risk pregnancies may be missed during the coronavirus pandemic because expectant mothers are too scared to pick up the phone to their midwife, according to Gill Walton, the chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM).
Anxiety in the pregnant population is becoming more pronounced during the Covid-19 outbreak, a committee was told, with an increase in referrals to perinatal mental health services.
Walton told MPs she was concerned this may be a factor which could lead to a potential rise in stillbirths and neonatal deaths.
She told the Commons health and social care committee messaging is key in ensuring women come forward if they need help:
Some of that is related to the fear of the pregnant population and presenting to maternity services during the pandemic, and that fear then prevents them even sometimes just picking up the phone to say they may be concerned.
I believe that maternity services have tried their very best to try and keep providing as much of a normal service as possible.
I do think it’s really important to be getting that message out that maternity services are still open and that women should come forward so that we can keep them and their babies as well as possible.
RCM members have reported many patients becoming more anxious during the pandemic, she added, emphasising the importance of directing pregnant women to call their midwives with mental health concerns in the first instance.
Walton also said she was concerned about the apparent disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on BAME staff and pregnant women.
She said expectant mothers from BAME backgrounds should be treated “as more vulnerable than the general population and midwives are aware of that”.
Home births have faced the biggest impact from the pandemic, she said, with services disrupted due to reasons including staffing issues and paramedic ambulance capacity.
She said returning to home births would require risk assessments, the return of staffing and testing of women in the community who want to have a baby at home.
Olivia Strong, founder of the Run for Heroes 5km Challenge, which has raised £5m for NHS charities, has received the prime minister’s daily Point of Light award.
In a personal letter to Olivia, Boris Johnson wrote:
As we persevere with the restrictions to stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives, I have been inspired by the ingenuity of your Run for Heroes 5km Challenge.
Using your daily lockdown exercise to run 5K, donate 5 and nominate 5 people, you have raised more than 5 million to support the extraordinary work of our true heroes - the men and women of our unique NHS. With over a million participants from more than 20 countries, you have roused a global movement that has collectively run the entire distance to the moon and back!
Thank you for your brilliant initiative and for all that you have done to support our wonderful NHS.
Strong said:
It’s an absolute pleasure and delight to accept this award on behalf of the whole Run For Heroes community.
Not only the amazing people who have helped with the campaign (India, Alice and my family), but everyone who has continued to run, donate and nominate! It’s been so wonderful to see people coming together for such a worthwhile cause!
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Good morning! I’m Lucy Campbell, here to take you through all the latest UK coronavirus developments for the rest of the day. Please feel free to get in touch with me to share any tips and suggestions you might have for the blog:
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
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I am handing the blog over to my colleague Lucy Campbell now. Please do share any news tips with me as I will be reporting for the rest of the day.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Public health campaigners are calling on the Scottish government to keep focus on managing Scotland’s problematic relationship with alcohol, on the second anniversary of the introduction of minimum unit pricing.
Minimum unit pricing (MUP) came into force in Scotland on 1 May 2018, in an attempt to cut the country’s higher-than average alcohol consumption and high death rates from alcohol-related diseases, and bars retailers from selling alcoholic drinks, including beers, wines, spirits and ciders, at less than 50p per unit of alcohol.
Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said, “The initial results from the evaluation of minimum unit pricing are hugely encouraging as studies have found a significant decrease in consumption in the first year compared to England and Wales. However, the recent reports of growing alcohol sales and our own research showing that one million of us in Scotland are drinking more under lockdown, highlight the ongoing issue we still have with alcohol in this country. It remains to be seen what impact social distancing will have and what new challenges it will throw up. But it is unlikely that Scotland’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol will be changed for the better.”
Discussions are currently taking place in the Scottish government about a possible relaxation of alcohol licensing restrictions during the lockdown, as elderly shoppers and others take advantage of early supermarket opening.
The number of mortgages being approved to home buyers nosedived to a seven-year low in March.
The sharp deterioration happened amid signs that households are running a “tight ship” by making large repayments on other types of borrowing such as credit cards.
Figures from the Bank of England show that 56,161 mortgages were approved for house purchase in March.
This was a drop-off of nearly a quarter (24%) compared with the previous month, and the lowest monthly total since 54,341 approvals were recorded in March 2013.
The pause button has been pushed on the housing market as people and businesses adhere to lockdown measures imposed on March 23 to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Dame Cally Palmer, national cancer director for NHS England, said chemotherapy treatments were running at 70% of normal levels but two-week referrals were down by 62%.
She told MPs at the health and social care committee: “Broadly, chemotherapy appointments are running at about 70% of normal levels and the reason for that, and we think we can set them back very quickly because, of course, is they use different facilities and workforce broadly from surgery and the other resources required to respond to Covid-19.”
She added: “We had just under 15,000 people booked for an appointment but that is a 62% reduction and clearly it’s very important we address that because early detection is vital for increased survival.”
When asked if that meant up to two-thirds of cancers were being missed, Dame Cally replied: “I don’t think that’s the case because the service has roughly an 8% conversion rate for urgent referrals.
“It’s really important to state that urgent referrals and urgent cancer treatments are continuing – obviously we need to tailor that to patients’ individual risk but I think it would be wrong to make a mathematical calculation on that basis.
“It’s very important that we get people coming forward but I think to translate that into missed diagnosis and poor survival would not be a responsible position at this point.”
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Flights between Britain and Northern Ireland will continue to operate through £5.7m of taxpayer funding, the transport secretary Grant Shapps has announced.
The package is being funded by the UK government and the Northern Ireland executive to ensure airports and airlines do not axe “lifeline services” because of the collapse in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Aer Lingus and Loganair will be subsidised to maintain London flights to and from Belfast City airport and City of Derry airport respectively.
The Northern Irish airports involved will also be given funding to provide ground services for the flights.
The Belfast-London route “would be at risk without financial assistance given low passenger numbers”, the Department for Transport stated.
Shapps said: “Maintaining air links between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is vital.
“We must ensure that critical workers can continue to fly over the Irish Sea and today’s investment in these lifeline services guarantees that.”
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When asked about the provision of mental health care for pregnant women, Walton said members of the Royal College of Midwives had reported many patients had become more anxious during the pandemic.
She said: “A lot of women get anxious during pregnancy anyway and I think the pathways for advice and referrals have got better over recent years.
“During the pandemic, women have become even more anxious because pregnant women are a vulnerable group, so there has been an increase in referrals to perinatal mental health services, we know that.
“What we are trying to do is bring some of that support and care back to the midwife.
“Every woman has a midwife, midwives have training in supporting women who have anxiety and apprehension, and the ability to refer onwards if they believe a wider mental health team would be of assistance.”
Walton emphasised the importance of directing pregnant women to call their midwives with mental health concerns in the first instance.
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The chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives has told MPs she is concerned high-risk pregnancies may be missed due to the pandemic, leading to a potential rise in stillbirths and neonatal deaths.
Addressing the health and social care committee, Gill Walton said: “Some of that is related to the fear of the pregnant population and presenting to maternity services during the pandemic, and that fear then prevents them even sometimes just picking up the phone to say they may be concerned.
“I believe that maternity services have tried their very best to try and keep providing as much of a normal service as possible.
“I do think it’s really important to be getting that message out that maternity services are still open and that women should come forward so that we can keep them and their babies as well as possible.”
Walton said that follow-ups on women who miss scans and appointments has been enhanced.
She added: “One of the positives from the pandemic is the use of technology, so there has been more virtual contact and follow-up with women through midwives and maternity services than before.”
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Deprived areas have double death rates of affluent
Residents in deprived areas have experienced double the death rates of those in affluent areas, new figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal.
Of the 20,283 Covid-19 registered deaths in England and Wales to 17 April an overwhelming proportion of fatalities were of people from the poorest areas. The most deprived area had 55.1 deaths per 100,000 people, more than double (118%) that in the least deprived areas, where the rate was 25.3 deaths.
London had the highest mortality rate, with 85.7 deaths per 100,000 people. The highest age-standardised mortality rate was in the London borough of Newham, with 144.3 deaths per 100,000 population, followed by Brent, with 141.5 deaths per 100,000 population, and Hackney, 127.4 deaths per 100,000 population.
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Manufacturing in the UK collapsed in April, hitting levels lower than during the height of the 2008 financial crisis, according to the latest IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index.
The index recorded a score of 32.6 for February – anything above 50 is seen as growth – hitting the lowest level since the survey began 28 years ago, in the first significant sign of the impact of Covid-19 on the economy.
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Hello everyone, please do get in touch this morning to share your thoughts, comments and news tips with me while I run the live blog. Thanks.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
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An online festival is being organised by the UK’s specialist cheese community to urge the public to support small cheesemakers during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The event will take place on the early May bank holiday and is being organised by the Specialist Cheesemakers Association (SCA), the Academy of Cheese, the Guild of Fine Food and cheese writer Patrick McGuigan.
It invites cheese lovers to stock up on artisan cheese in the lead-up to the festival to raise awareness of the crisis that threatens to wipe out the previously thriving speciality cheese industry. The festival will be free and educational, organisers said.
Tracey Colley, director of the Academy of Cheese, commented: “We are absolutely thrilled to see how many experts from across our industry have wanted to take part in the British Cheese Weekender. From cheesemakers to cheese distributors we now have a multitude of virtual cheese events for everyone to join in with. The Academy of Cheese community of over 2,000 members are busy planning where to buy cheese for the weekend and with so many fantastic artisan cheeses now available for direct delivery they are very excited”.
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David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on Covid-19, said it would be “perfectly reasonable” for the UK to start easing the lockdown before a full contact tracing system was up and running.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “Every government is having to make a choice and I understand that the contact tracing process is now well advanced and so that’s a reasonable time to be thinking through how lockdown can be eased, and it won’t be eased all at once, it will be eased bit by bit.”
He added: “You don’t need to have 100% contact tracing in order to get the R number down. The contact tracing is an absolutely essential part of reducing transmission, and getting that capacity as widely spread as possible is key to getting the transmission as low as you can.
“But you certainly can release the lockdown while you’re building up the case-finding and contact-tracing capacity - that’s what most other countries are doing.”
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Leaders of the UK town predicted to suffer the biggest economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic have issued an urgent plea for help from the government.
More than 50% of jobs in Crawley are at risk of being lost or furloughed, according to a recent report.
There are fears that the West Sussex town, located close to Gatwick airport, could experience an “employment catastrophe” as the economy “most affected” by the Covid-19 lockdown.
The leader of the borough council and the town’s MP have called on the government to take rapid action and “ensure that Crawley’s amazing economic success, built up over many decades, is not lost in a matter of weeks”.
The letter states: “It is quite clear that the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the national economy and indeed the world economy is unprecedented.
“However, due to the business sectors located within the town, and the proportion of local jobs and economic output from these sectors, Crawley is undeniably being hit far harder than any other part of the United Kingdom.”
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Heathrow’s chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, has described social distancing at airports as “impossible”.
He told the PA Media agency: “Social distancing does not work in any form of public transport, let alone aviation.
“The constraint is not about how many people you can fit on a plane, it will be how many people you can get through an airport safely.
“If you’ve ever been on holiday from Gatwick, you cannot imagine going through there and socially distancing in the summer.
“It’s just physically impossible to socially distance with any volume of passengers in an airport. The same applies with trains and tube stations.
“So we need a better solution, which means that in a few months’ time, when the disease is under control and with a low risk of infection, we can make it as low risk as possible for people to fly.”
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After the striking difference in tone yesterday between Boris Johnson’s “past the peak” optimism and Nicola Sturgeon’s far more cautious warnings that it is “not safe” to lift lockdown restrictions for some time yet, there are reports this morning of concerns within the Scottish government that Johnson risks jeopardising progress by suggesting that the worst is over.
Scottish government sources have likewise raised doubt about an apparent shift in UK strategy after the wording of one of the five tests was tweaked to remove references to a second peak. While the UK government has denied that this was a meaningful change, Sturgeon said at her press conference yesterday that she was still trying to ascertain whether it was a significant shift, and that it was not one she agreed with, stating that while not overwhelming the NHS was a critical and necessary objective, “I don’t think it is a sufficient objective”.
Expect more questions on this at the first minister’s briefing this lunchtime, when she has also promised to give a “substantial” update on testing in Scotland.
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Coronavirus has killed tens of thousands of people in the UK. Each death is a person who was loved by someone. Guardian reporter Aamna Mohdin is writing tributes for those who died during the pandemic. Please email her (aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com) if you want to share your memories of someone who has passed away.
'It's a personal choice whether to wear a face mask,' housing secretary says
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said:
It’s a personal choice, if you have a face mask it’s your choice whether you want to use them and if you walk around some of our towns and cities today you are seeing more people using them than ever before.
The advice today is that the difference made by a face covering is quite modest - it doesn’t make a huge difference but it does make some. So it’s your choice.
More than 13 million people have already been unable to pay, or expect to be unable to pay, at least one bill because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to research.
Of these, almost 11 million have missed or expect to miss a bill that would leave them vulnerable to severe consequences – including eviction, bailiff enforcement or disconnection – when Covid-19 financial protections end.
Some sectors, including energy, water and mortgages, have established frameworks for helping people out of debt in a sustainable way. Others, including the private rented sector and local authorities, do not.
According to its research, commissioned by Citizen’s Advice and conducted by Opinium among 2,016 nationally representative UK adults, those most at risk of severe consequences include 2.6 million private renters who have missed a rent payment already or expect to do so owing to coronavirus.
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Morning everyone and welcome to the Guardian’s UK live blog. As ever, please do get in touch while I work this morning. It’s always really useful to get any insight and news tips from readers.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Updated
A summary of the latest developments
- This morning the Commons Health Committee will hear evidence on core NHS and care services. There will later be a World Health Organisation briefing on Covid-19 and the usual 5pm (GMT) Downing Street press conference. Briefing in Wales and Scotland expected are expected at 12.30 pm (GMT).
- Britain has passed the peak of coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday. He said that the government will set out a “road map” for easing coronavirus lockdown restrictions next week.
- Coronavirus fatalities among black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups are disproportionately high – and some are also bearing the economic brunt of the lockdown, a study has found. Stark analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies found that deaths of people from a black Caribbean background were 1.7 times higher than for white Britons. NHS England figures published last week showed that hospital deaths per 100,000 among British people of a black Caribbean background were three times the equivalent number among the majority white British population. However, unlike previous analysis, the IFS research, published on Friday, strips out the role of age, gender and geography and shows that they do not explain the disparities.
- Victims of domestic abuse will be able to seek help in Boots pharmacies in a bid to make it easier for them to access support during the coronavirus lockdown.
- The coronavirus crisis has sparked a huge increase in people using food banks for essential supplies, according to charities. The Trussell Trust, the UK’s biggest food bank network, said it experienced its busiest ever period after lockdown was announced on 23 March, when it issued 50,000 food parcels in the space of a week, almost double its usual volume.
- Care homes will be the “epicentres of transmission” for coronavirus spreading back into society, according to a report quoting a senior NHS England director.
- Disabled people are struggling to get supermarket delivery slots and are being judged or challenged when they go out to buy food, according to a charity.
- The government is being urged to deliver pay rises and better conditions for the millions of people who are working through the Covid-19 crisis.
- Britain’s manufacturers have suffered a “collapse” in demand because of the impact of the global lockdown amid warnings that conditions are unlikely to return to anywhere near normal for some time, a new survey suggests.
- Ryanair has said it expects up to 3,000 jobs to be lost as part of a restructuring of the airline.
Jenrick later told BBC Breakfast that the number of tests carried out were “just a stepping stone” to more and that the foundations were in place for a strong national testing network.
“We’ve got labs across the country producing the equipment at pace and we’re beginning to test essential workers,” he said, adding that local government workers could now also apply for tests.
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Some insights from across the globe
• The total number of coronavirus deaths across the world has reached at least 232,817, according to Johns Hopkins University, which has tracked the spread of the virus during the pandemic. The US has the highest number of deaths with at least 63,763, followed by Italy with 27,967.
• Germany is to reopen museums, galleries, zoos and playgrounds, and allow religious services to resume, in measures agreed by the chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the leaders of 16 federal states. This will take place under strict conditions.
• Brazil reported a record 7,218 confirmed new cases of coronavirus, raising the total to 85,380. The death toll rose by 435 to 5,901, the health ministry said. There has been outrage in the country over the approach of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has previously attacked what he termed the “hysteria” over Covid-19.
• The Russian prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, has said he has been diagnosed with coronavirus and will self-isolate from the government, in the country’s highest-profile case of the disease yet.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said he thought government testing for coronavirus will have been a “success” even if the target of 100,000 tests is not met later today.
“I think we will either have met it or be very close, and in that sense the target will have succeeded because it will have galvanised people across government, in the private sector and across the country,” he told Sky News on Friday.
“This in itself is just a stepping stone, we need to go beyond 100,000, but we have seen now a very substantial increase in testing in quite a short period of time, so in that sense it’s been a success, but there’s more to be done.”
He said that the country now needed to “build some head room” between the rate of infection (R) and one before lockdown measures could be eased.
“The R [value] is still below one but we need to build some head room, there isn’t an exact figure as to where the R is - it’s somewhere, the chief medical officer tells us, between 0.6 and 0.9,” he said.
“We want to bring R down further than it is today and that matters so that the NHS has sufficient capacity, so that when we do start to ease the lockdown, there’s some space, some room, for manoeuvre.”
He added that the government approach was a “cautious easing over time” so that such headroom for the NHS could be maintained and protected.
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The statistician Sir David John Spiegelhalter warned against taking a “Eurovision approach” and making “naive comparisons” between the UK’s and other countries’ Covid-19 deaths.
Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, the Cambridge University professor said:
I think it’s too early to tell our exact place in the league table. My article was arguing against this almost Eurovision approach of trying to say who’s top, who’s second and so on. It’s just not appropriate to do at all.
There are so many variabilities about how people record Covid deaths - even what the correct metric is for measuring the impact of the epidemic - that to start saying we’re going to be worse or whatever is completely inappropriate.”
On the government’s advice, Spiegelhalter said: “It’s much harder to frighten to people to stay at home than it is to reassure them they can go out again.
Maybe our whole campaign has been, if anything, slightly too successful.
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Jeremy Hunt said that the coronavirus outbreak has showed the importance of the social care sector and the need for funding.
Speaking on the BBC Today programme and, the chair of the health and social care select committee said:
If there is one thing this terrible crisis has brought home to us it is importance of the social care sector … and the crucial work done by those who care for them. They put lives at risk as NHS workers do, and often for low pay. So I will be asking for proper settlement for the social care sector... and the government will want to do that.
He said that testing in the community, as has been done in South Korea, will be key. “That is what they did in South Korea so they could stop the virus in its track. It’s locking down the people who might have the virus but not locking down the whole economy.”
Hunt said that contract tracing would need to be done through a combined method of technology and also people going door to door. He added that there would be a time when the government would need to change its messaging from “stay at home” to encourage people back out, but to date their approach has worked.
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Ryanair plans 3,000 job cuts
Ryanair announced the planned job cuts as it revealed it expects to operate under 1% of its schedule between April and June.
It said in a statement:
As a direct result of the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis, the grounding of all flights from mid-March until at least July, and the distorted state aid landscape in Europe, Ryanair now expects the recovery of passenger demand and pricing (to 2019 levels) will take at least two years, until summer 2022 at the earliest.
The Ryanair Airlines will shortly notify their trade unions about its restructuring and job loss programme, which will commence from July 2020.
These plans will be subject to consultation but will affect all Ryanair Airlines and may result in the loss of up to 3,000 mainly pilot and cabin crew jobs, unpaid leave and pay cuts of up to 20%, and the closure of a number of aircraft bases across Europe until traffic recovers.
Job cuts and pay cuts will also be extended to head office and back office teams. Group CEO Michael O’Leary, whose pay was cut by 50% for April and May, has now agreed to extend this 50% pay cut for the remainder of the financial year to March 2021.
Morning everyone and welcome to the Guardian’s UK live feed, keeping you up to date on all the latest developments around the coronavirus outbreak. As ever, please do get in touch while I work this morning. It’s always really useful to get any insight and news tips from readers. I will try to respond to as many of you as I can.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
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Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
I’ll begin with a little brightness today, and share an image I was sent yesterday after my shift ended of a rainbow over London.
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Wales leader calls for four-nation approach to end lockdown
Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has said he does not think certain parts of the UK should come out of lockdown before others. Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Labour politician said:
I agree with the prime minister, I am in favour of a four-nation approach.
We went into lockdown together on the same terms, on the same day. I’d like to see us come out of lockdown on the same basis.
But we will use the powers we have to fine-tune the arrangements to make them right for Wales.”
He added:
As we move to open up things again, we will be careful and cautious, we will have to take people with us.
Our efforts over the last week have been directed at working with our trade unions, our local authorities and other stakeholders because you can open up anything you like, but if people don’t think it’s safe to take up what is now available to them, they won’t come.”
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