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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Kevin Rawlinson, Jessica Murray and Sarah Marsh

PM says 'people should make up own minds' on Dominic Cummings – as it happened

That’s it from me. For further coverage of the pandemic, head over to our global liveblog:

Closing summary

We’re going to close down this live blog now. Thanks for reading and commenting. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:

If you’d like to read yet more, my colleague Rowena Mason has the full story:

Updated

Here’s a roundup of some of Tuesday’s front pages:

Updated

Some of the Church of England’s most senior bishops have reported receiving hate mail and death threats after speaking out on Cummings’ lockdown breach.

The Bishop of Worcester John Inge tweeted:

Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Ripon, said:

She had earlier written about missing her father’s birthday during the lockdown as he recovered from radiotherapy.

Responding to Inge’s tweet, the bishop of Newcastle Christine Hardman wrote:

The previous night she had posted that she was “deeply troubled” by the prime minister’s defence of his adviser.

Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, was another to receive abuse.

Opposition leaders are to meet on Tuesday morning to discuss public health messaging amid the political row over Cummings’ lockdown breach, the Press Association reports.

Prof Jackie Cassell, the deputy dean of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, has dismissed Cummings’ reasoning:

London has lots of ITU (intensive treatment unit) and hospital beds as a major population centre. Its residents should not be decamping to places where they might need – and in this case did need – to use another region’s hospitals and health care facilities.

This is an important reason why Cummings should have stayed put. And he, like all senior government advisers, will have been well aware of this.

We will need to protect the NHS for a long time. I would not be surprised to see targeted travel restrictions within the UK over the summer to protect NHS facilities outside the major cities.

Cummings has claimed his 60-mile roundtrip to Barnard Castle was necessary because he needed to test his eyesight before driving home to London.

Asked why alternative transport arrangements, such as a government car or Cummings’ wife taking on the driving duties, could not be arranged, Johnson said:

To the best of my knowledge, Mr Cummings has just subjected himself to your interrogation for quite a long time now about these very detailed matters and has produced quite a substantial chunk of autobiography about what happened in the period from 27 March to 14 April.

I really feel that it would be wrong of me to try to comment further. I think people will have to make their minds up. I think he spoke at great length. To me, he came across as somebody who cared very much about his family and who was doing the best for his family.

I think, as he said himself, reasonable people may disagree about some of the decisions that he took, but I don’t think reasonable people can disagree about what was going through his head at the time and the motivations for those decisions.

Updated

One quote from the prime minister’s briefing that bears relaying in full. Responding to questions about when he learned of Cummings’ lockdown breach, he said:

I didn’t know about any of the arrangements in advance ... What I think did happen was while I was ill and about to get a lot sicker we had a brief conversation in which I think Dominic Cummings mentioned where he was.

But I have to tell you, at that particular stage I had a lot on my plate and really didn’t focus on the matter until these stories started to emerge in the last few days.

After Matt Hancock backed Cummings’ explanation of his lockdown breach, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth responded:

Cummings has received the backing of Sir Robbie Gibb, who was Theresa May’s director of communications in Downing Street.

Cummings’ statement this afternoon did little or nothing to address the issues facing the government, according to Dr Michael Head, a global health expert at the University of Southampton:

The statement from Cummings really only reinforced his clear disregard for public health guidance, with regards these movement of hundreds of miles by Covid-infected individuals. It seems curious that apparently no one offered to help Cummings and his family during their time of illness in London, bearing in mind he is close to many of the most powerful and wealthy politicians in the country, including the prime minister.

There are also issues of taking up emergency healthcare resource in an area of the country where you are not resident – this makes a mockery of healthcare planning where ideal number of intensive care beds are based on population numbers in the local area. It is also very poor public health practice to put your family in a car and go for a 60-mile drive in order to test your eyesight.

There are still Covid-19 deaths in care homes and hospitals. The pandemic can only finish if there is strong leadership from the government and compliance from the general public. Going forward, we have real potential issues around trust in the government from the general public. However, it is of huge importance important that the public do try and stay on board with the expert-led advice, to support themselves, their families and the general population.

The acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, called for Cummings to be fired after the No 10 adviser’s press conference this afternoon.

Following the later briefing by Boris Johnson, in which he again backed Cummings, Davey has said questions are now to be asked of the prime minister himself.

The prime minister’s own judgement is now in question. If he was really convinced by Dominic Cummings’ story, he is in a small minority and the public’s confidence in Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus crisis will only fall further.

The prime minister ought to understand that the public want to see strong and clear leadership during this health crisis, but the Cummings scandal has heaped yet more confusion on the government’s public health messaging.

As if to distract our attention, the prime minister has attempted to outline key steps beyond lockdown. Yet this requires a comprehensive test, trace and isolate strategy to be in place. That is the only way to keep people safe.

To get us through this crisis, and start to rebuild public trust, the prime minister must show leadership, terminate Cummings’ contract, and commit to an independent inquiry into the government’s handling of this crisis.

Addressing the plan to reopen some retail outlets and not others, the government has added:

Hairdressers, nail bars and beauty salons, and the hospitality sector, remain closed because the risk of transmission in these environments is higher where long periods of person to person contact is required.

Updated

Referring to plans to allow some retail outlets to reopen, the business secretary Alok Sharma has said:

The high street sits at the heart of every community in the country. Enabling these businesses to open will be a critical step on the road to rebuilding our economy and will support millions of jobs across the UK.

The guidance we have set out today provides a vital framework to get shops open in a way that is safe for everyone. It explains how retail workers who are not currently working can go back to work as safely as possible and feel confident in their workplace. And it reassures customers that shops are properly assessing the risks and putting in place measures to protect them.

Here are the slides presented at today’s briefing:

Data on deaths presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing
Data on deaths presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing Photograph: UK government
Data on testing presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing
Data on testing presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing Photograph: UK government
Data on the virus’ spread presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing
Data on the virus’ spread presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing Photograph: UK government
Data from hospitals presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing
Data from hospitals presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing Photograph: UK government
Data on people in hospital presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing
Data on people in hospital presented at the UK’s government’s coronavirus press briefing Photograph: UK government

As the government seeks to assuage the anger many have expressed over Cummings’ lockdown breach, it is perhaps interesting that the prime minister referred more than once to the sacrifices the country has made to try to stop the spread of the virus. Here’s what he said in his opening remarks:

These are careful but deliberate steps on the road to rebuilding our country. And we can only take these steps thanks to what we have so far achieved together. We will only be successful if we all remember the basics – so wash your hands, keep social distance, and isolate if you have symptoms – and get a test.

He returned to the theme of sacrifice later and, as experts stress the damage the Cummings affair is doing to the government’s messaging at a time of crisis, he repeated the guidance at various points during the briefing.

Here, in more detail, is what Johnson had to say about the reopening of the retail industry:

Today, I want to give the retail sector notice of our intentions to reopen shops, so they too can get ready. So I can announce that it is our intention to allow outdoor markets to reopen from 1 June, subject to all premises being made Covid-secure, as well as car showrooms, which often have significant outdoor space and where it is generally easier to apply social distancing.

We know that the transmission of the virus is lower outdoors and that it is easier to follow Covid-secure guidelines in open spaces. That means we can also allow outdoor markets to reopen in a safe way that does not risk causing a second wave of the virus.

Then, from 15 June, we intend to allow all other non-essential retail, ranging from department stores to small, independent shops, to reopen. Again, this change will be contingent upon progress against the five tests and will only be permitted for those retail premises which are Covid-secure.

And a little more from lobby journalists:

Here’s a little reaction from MPs to the afternoon’s press conferences:

The prime minister repeated the mantra during those exchanges that people will have to make up their own minds about what Cummings did.

He acknowledged his patience was not unlimited, though he showed no signs of shifting from his view that he should stand by his aide, despite Cummings’ admission today – after weeks of dodging the question – that he drove himself and his family, at least one member of which he believed to be infected, hundreds of miles from his main home during the lockdown.

Johnson is asked whether he expects people to believe that Cummings needed to undertake a 60-mile roundtrip to test his eyesight. He says he believes eyesight is affected by Covid-19 and adds that people will make up their own minds.

He then refers to this article in the Guardian in which it was accurately reported that Durham police had said their officers spoke to the family about the isolation guidelines.

The force has since revised its statement to say it had only given security advice to Cummings’ father.

Johnson, whose government repeatedly refused to explain Cummings’ movements during the lockdown, says people must “stick to the facts”.

That ends the day’s briefing.

Updated

Johnson refuses to offer Cummings 'unconditional backing'

Asked if he can offer his “unconditional backing” to Dominic Cummings, Johnson says no, but he claims he does not believe anyone within Downing Street has done anything to detract from official messaging.

Updated

The prime minister is asked if he is standing by Cummings because he cannot deal with the pressures of his office without him. He’s also asked whether or not the whole affair is detracting from the vital official messaging.

Johnson again says he will not add anything to Cummings’ earlier statement and agrees that official messaging is all-important.

Updated

Johnson is asked about Cummings’ claimed reasoning for travelling to County Durham and then for driving from home to Barnard Castle while there.

He is asked why, if Cummings was unsure whether or not he was fit to subsequently drive back to London, his wife did not take the wheel instead.

Johnson says they are good questions but claims that, because Cummings has answered a lot of questions already, he will not add anything substantial. Johnson says:

People will have to make their minds up.

Moving on to questions from the media, Johnson is asked about Cummings’ refusal to express regret. He is also asked about his own comments yesterday now it is known Cummings breached the lockdown.

Johnson says he regrets the “confusion, the anger and the pain people feel”, citing the suffering people have gone through. He says he tried yesterday to explain “my version of what I’d heard from Dominic Cummings” but that he was not himself capable of giving such a comprehensive account as Cummings was himself earlier this afternoon.

Updated

Claire from Harpenden asks about people not following physical distancing guidelines in parks.

Johnson says it is vital to observe the rules on social distancing. The only reason the country has been able to make progress, he says, is because this country has observed physical distancing rules. He advises Claire to speak to people herself if she has concerns but that, ultimately, it would be for the police to enforce the law.

Prof Doyle says this is not a return to normal, adding that “this is the way we will be living for some time”.

I will post today’s slides shortly, as well as a more comprehensive summary of the prime minister’s opening remarks and some more details of the plans to reopen the retail industry in the coming weeks.

They are moving on to questions from the public. Stuart from Selby asks about people being told to self-isolate after arriving in the UK. What spot checks can be done and will they be able to get food?

Johnson says the idea is to prevent reinfection and he hopes people will understand why that’s necessary. He says he cannot say what provision has been made but possibly we could assume people will arrange things themselves.

Prof Doyle says daily hospital admissions are down considerably, as is the number of people on ventilators in ICUs.

Prof Yvonne Doyle of Public Health England is going through the day’s slides. She is discussing the importance of keeping the R number below 1. She says it is around 0.7.

A further wave of reopening can start on 15 June, Johnson says, adding that indoor shops, such as department stores, will be allowed to open for business from that date as long as proper measures are put in place.

Updated

Some shops to reopen from 1 June

Johnson says he is giving people notice of the changes he plans to make as we move into the next phase of lifting the lockdown. He summarises those announced yesterday for the reopening of schools.

Today, he is saying outdoor markets and car showrooms can reopen from 1 June as long as proper measures are put in place at those places. He says the open nature of such places means they represent a lower risk than indoor places.

Boris Johnson's daily briefing

The prime minister Boris Johnson is starting the daily briefing. He says 3,532,634 people have been tested, including 73,726* who were tested yesterday. Of those, 261,184 have tested positive – that is 1,625 new cases – while 8,834 are in hospital; down 12% from the 10,092 who were in hospital last week.

Johnson says 36,914 people have died in all settings, including 121 more deaths announced today.

*We originally reported this figure as 73,627. This was incorrect and it has been amended.

Updated

Boris Johnson is due to lead the government’s daily press briefing at 7pm.

He’ll likely be responding to questions about Dominic Cummings’ statement earlier today about breaking lockdown rules to travel with his wife and son to Durham.

I’m handing over to my colleague Kevin Rawlinson for that, thanks for all your messages today and as always for following along with our coverage.

Unions and business groups have backed the government’s plan to bail out strategically important companies whose failure would “disproportionately harm the economy”.

Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is exploring plans for the taxpayer to step in and rescue struggling companies to prevent a wave of job losses in sectors that have been hardest hit during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.

The plan, named Project Birch, would see the government support companies on a last resort basis.

Unite, the UK’s largest union, said it was very welcome news that “a rescue plan for UK plc is finally taking shape. There is no more time to lose if we are to prevent a tsunami of job losses from sweeping through communities this summer.”

The government is already in talks with multiple companies over possible state aid, with airlines and their aerospace suppliers under particular pressure after lockdown effectively closed the skies.

Updated

A beach on the south coast has been “as busy as Notting Hill carnival” over the bank holiday weekend, with local residents saying a “rave” took place on Sunday night, as tourist hotspots across the UK reported a rise in visitors.

Residents of Botany Bay in Kent complain that their cove – popular for its rock pools, spectacular chalk stacks and clean swimming water – has been overrun by large groups of people ignoring social distancing and drinking, partying and defecating on the beach, with some camping overnight.

Across England, some tourism hotspots struggled to cope with demand from visitors as temperatures reached 26C in parts of the country on bank holiday Monday.

In the Peak District, park authorities said most car parks were full by late morning, with residents of Edale worrying that emergency vehicles would be unable to pass car-filled lines.

The Peak District mountain rescue organisation said its teams had been busy. “During the lockdown we have been averaging between four or five callouts per week. However, in the last week we have been contacted for assistance on 13 occasions. These have included rescues of walkers, climbers and bikers as well as searches for vulnerable persons and lost hillwalkers,” the organisation said on Facebook.

In Wales – where lockdown rules are tighter than in England and sunbathing and picnicking in public remain banned – police set up roadblocks to turn away day-trippers from across the border. “We must reemphasise the message of the Welsh government and the first minister of Wales: please visit Wales later. Now is not the time,” said a spokesperson for Gwent police.

It started with a routine admission from another hospital on Friday 3 April. An elderly patient came on to ward 15 of the Western General in Edinburgh with a mild cough, but not the kind of cough to worry the medical staff in charge.

Two days later the woman’s cough became more severe and a fever set in. The staff decided to test her for Covid-19, and a day later the result came back: positive.

The nurses who had treated the patient without any face protection for two days were ordered to wear full PPE when they entered her single room, but it seems the virus had already spread widely among medics and support staff. Within a week it had affected the entire ward.

By Tuesday 14 April, sources say, more than 24 members of medical staff who worked on ward 15 were off work with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, and more than 20 patients were also affected, either testing positive for the virus or showing worrying symptoms.

All of the ward’s nurses, four doctors, and physiotherapists and support staff were affected. “Over the following nine days, patients and staff dropped like flies as Covid-19 swept the ward,” said one source. “Masks were finally approved for constant use on Thursday 9 April, but it was too late.”

Public loss of trust in government advice after Dominic Cummings’s decision to travel to Durham during the lockdown could severely damage the test-and-trace strategy that is vital to managing the coronavirus epidemic and may lead to a new spike in infections, say experts.

Scientists say people told to self-isolate for 14 days because they have been in contact with somebody with symptoms will be less willing to comply.

The former chief scientific adviser Sir David King, who formed the independent Sage group of scientists, said there was now “a crisis of confidence”, which would affect compliance with policies to keep infections down.

King said:

Any opening up from lockdown requires having the test, trace and isolate policy fully in place.

Anyone who is showing symptoms should be tested and if they test positive for the virus they are put immediately into isolation. Then they [contact tracers] trace all of the contacts that person has made over the previous 14 days and all of those contacts too are placed into isolation.

Updated

Helen Goodman, the Labour MP for Bishop Auckland from 2005 to 2019, writes that her father, who was 93, lived in a care home in Barnard Castle for a few months.

“On 23 March, without forewarning, a lockdown was imposed – visits from friends, family, the parish priest and even local GPs stopped. My dad found this disorientating and distressing. As he put it to one of the carers: ‘I don’t understand why Helen can’t come and see me: she only lives 200 yards away.’

“So to learn that Dominic Cummings was in Barnard Castle, 260 miles from his home in London, at a time when the government was discouraging tourism, is sickening.

“My dad wasn’t tested for coronavirus and I’m sure loneliness and isolation contributed to his death on 24 April. We tried Zoom calls, but he couldn’t hear properly and the picture on a mobile phone was too small for him to recognise the other person. This was really hard for all of us but most of all, of course, for him. He hated loneliness and he was alone when he died five weeks after our last visit. Nothing can ever change that reality.

“The prime minister’s defence of Cummings adds insult to injury for the relatives of those who have died from Covid-19 and other causes during lockdown, who are unable to grieve for their relatives properly as funeral attendances are restricted.”

Updated

Lots of questions being sent in about Cummings’ decision to drive 30 minutes to Barnard Castle to check his eyesight and a few humorous takes on Twitter.

Updated

A further 121 people have died in the UK after contracting Covid-19.

The Department of Health and Social Care said 36,914 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus as of 5pm on Sunday, up by 121 from 36,793 the day before.

In the 24-hour period up to 9am on Monday, 73,726 tests were carried out or dispatched, with 1,625 positive results.

Overall a total of 3,532,634 tests have been carried out and 261,184 cases have been confirmed positive.

Updated

“You can’t do anything but exercise judgment,” said Cummings as he wrapped up the press conference.

In the circumstances, with a small child, it doesn’t go into lots of different circumstance and say what to do. There is no regulation covering the situation I found myself in.

Updated

Some reaction to Dominic Cummings’ statement from politicians.

The acting Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, tweeted: “Cummings’ statement confirms he broke the guidelines. When millions kept to those rules.

“The PM must now terminate his contract – if he wants to regain any credibility in leading the country on dealing with the coronavirus crisis.”

Former No 10 communications chief Craig Oliver tweeted: “It’s clear from Jason Groves’ questions the DailyMailUK is going to keep going for Dominic Cummings.”

Conservative MP Ben Bradley tweeted: “I think Dom Cummings acted reasonably. He’s read out the bit of the advice that he felt he was following to look after his child, with the additional pressure of his home being a target for abuse and attack.

“I wish this statement had come on Friday, but we should now move on!”

Updated

Answering questions can lead to more confusion, Cummings said, when challenged on why he hadn’t laid out his actions to the public earlier.

The truth is that answering a lot of these things does not necessarily clear up confusion, it frequently leads to more confusion.

Cummings and his wife did not try to seek help with childcare in London before driving to Durham, he said.

I don’t think it would be reasonable to ask some friend to come and expose themselves to a deadly disease when a 17-year-old niece has offered to do it for me.

Cummings said he made the 246-mile journey to Durham without stopping to get petrol, but thinks he did stop to fill up on the way back.

“I’m 95% sure I stopped on the way back down to fill up with petrol, but I can’t be sure,” he said.

Updated

Cummings says he has not offered to resign, and has not considered it

Cummings clarifies that he has not offered to resign over his actions.

“I have not offered to resign,” he said. “I have not
considered it.”

Updated

Cummings is still insisting he has not broken the letter or spirit of the rules, and said his wife was not exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms when they left London, although she was ill.

When we left my wife did not have a cough or a fever. She was ill, she had thrown up, but we didn’t know whether she had Covid or not.

Updated

The lockdown rules have always allowed exceptions in certain circumstances, Cummings insists, and his situation allowed for him to make the journey.

It says that in some circumstances you won’t be able to follow the rules and it seems to me that I was in such an exceptional circumstance and I was trying to balance all these very complicated things.

Cummings goes on to say that public anger over his actions has been caused by media reports that aren’t true.

There is understandably anger, but a lot of that anger is based on reports in the media that have not been true.

People have shouted at me in the street, “Why did you go back to your parents?” but I didn’t do that.

When challenged over his decision not to speak to the prime minister before driving to Durham, he said he wanted to protect Boris Johnson’s time.

Cummings seems to be firmly placing blame at the door of the media over this – when asked about suggestions from scientists that his actions could introduce an element of personal discretion into the rules, he said:

I think they’re right to be worried that the coverage over the past couple of days could encourage people to behave in a certain way, but with great respect to them [the scientists], they made those comments without knowing what actually happened.

Updated

Cummings says he can understand why people are angry over his actions if they have been following the media coverage of the story.

I’ve seen some of the media over the last couple of days, and I’m not surprised that a lot of people are very angry.

I hope and think that today, when I’ve actually explained all the circumstances about it, I think people realise this is a very complicated, tricky situation.

Cummings says he does not regret his actions

Cummings says he does not regret was he did, and the way he dealt with the situation in a way that created the least risk to the people concerned.

I don’t regret what I did and as I said, I think reasonable people may well disagree about how I thought about what to do in those circumstances but I think what I did was actually reasonable.

Updated

Cummings defends his decision by saying:

I can understand that some people will argue I should have stayed at home in London. I understand these views, I understand the intense hardship and sacrifice the entire country has gone through. However, I respectfully disagree.

The legal rules inevitably do not cover all circumstances, including those that I found myself in.

Cummings says he drove to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight

He said he decided to return to work on 12 April, 15 days after developing symptoms.

However, his eyesight had been affected by his illness and so he went for a short drive to see if he could drive safely – to the town, Barnard Castle.

He said they sat by the riverbank for 15 minutes, and they wished a passerby “happy easter” while returning to the car.

They spent some time in the woods on the way home as his child needed the toilet – he said they saw some people at the distance, but did not break any social distancing rules.

Updated

Cummings says walk in woods was on father's estate

Cummings said his family went for a walk in some woods on his father’s estate, where they were seen by members of the public, but had no interaction with them.

“We had not left the property, we were on private land,” he said.

Updated

He clarifies that he did not consult the prime minister on this decision, as he was ill himself and “I thought I would speak to him when the situation clarified over the coming days”.

Arguably this was a mistake, and I understand that some will say I should have spoken to the prime minister before deciding what to do.

Cummings said he worried about the safety of his wife and child at home in London, after he was subject to threats of violence and posts on social media encouraging attacks, following reports that he had opposed the lockdown.

He decided that going to the secluded cottage on his family’s estate was the safest option, and he decided to take his family there before returning to London to work.

Updated

Cummings said none of his usual childcare options were available, and his wife became suddenly ill - she vomited and felt like she might pass out.

Cummings ran home to be with her – he said she might have had Covid, but did not have a fever or cough.

He also felt that it was highly likely he had contracted the disease having been in close contact with the prime minister and others who developed symptoms.

Updated

I should have made this statement earlier, Cummings says

“Sorry I’m late,” Dominic Cummings begins.

He said he gave a full account of his actions to the prime minister yesterday, who has asked him to repeat it in full today.

“In retrospect, I should have made this statement earlier,” he adds.

Updated

Over 30 minutes late, Dominic Cummings is now speaking live from the Downing Street rose garden - follow along as he responds to accusations he broke lockdown rules by driving 264 miles to Durham while his wife was suffering from coronavirus symptoms.

Since the story broke, there have been mounting calls for Cummings to resign, although in yesterday’s daily briefing prime minister Boris Johnson stood by his chief aide.

Boris Johnson should sack Dominic Cummings over his 264-mile lockdown Durham trip, according to the chair of a leading doctors’ association who has highlighted that medics are seething at the actions of the prime minister’s top aide.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, the chair of the Doctors’ Association UK – a non-profit campaigning group that represents frontline NHS doctors – said either Cummings should resign or Johnson should show him the door.

Parmar, who said doctors were outraged over Cummings’s actions, said Johnson’s defence of his adviser risked undermining public trust and prompting people to use it as an excuse to break the rules themselves.

One NHS doctor who works in a Covid-19 ward has pledged to resign by the end of the week if Cummings does not – warning that others may follow suit.

The briefing is over 25 minutes late now, and people are getting increasingly frustrated about being kept waiting on a sunny Bank Holiday.

Updated

Cummings’s public statement now running 15 minutes late - not clear what the hold-up is, but there’s probably a lot of people waiting in suspense across the country right now.

BBC reporting three more minutes until it kicks off.

Updated

An updated statement from Durham police on their contact with Dominic Cummings’s father:

Following significant public interest over the last few days, Durham Constabulary wish to add the following to our statement of Saturday, May 23rd.

We can confirm that on April 1, an officer from Durham Constabulary spoke to the father of Dominic Cummings. Mr Cummings confirmed that his son, his son’s wife and child were present at the property. He told the officer that his son and son’s wife were displaying symptoms of coronavirus and were self-isolating in part of the property.

We can further confirm that our officer gave no specific advice on coronavirus to any members of the family and that Durham Constabulary deemed that no further action was required in that regard.

Our officer did, however, provide the family with advice on security issues.

Updated

It wasn’t me, but I can probably speak for most of the 400,000-odd civil servants when I say I wish it had been, writes an anonymous civil servant.

“The (presumed) rogue official whose hastily deleted tweet on the government’s official civil service account certainly lit up the WhatsApp groups around Whitehall on Sunday evening. In an age of increasing command-and-control comms, this brave heretic has already become something of a civil service legend. Very well played.

“Consider. “Arrogant and defensive. Can you imagine working with these truth twisters?” wasn’t a leaked document, a shocking secret or a devastating meme. It was a simple, excoriating judgment of the prime minister’s incoherent defence of Dominic Cummings that not even Larry the Downing Street cat would disagree with.

“This was speaking truth to power. This was a shot across the bow. This was a tiny flare sent up from the government trenches, in solidarity with anyone who has ever felt like they’ve been “sent over the top by an implacable ruling class for whom the rules themselves are increasingly a disposable commodity”.

Updated

The Faculty of Public Health, the UK’s professional membership body for public health, has said the government’s response to the Dominic Cummings saga has “undermined essential public health messaging”.

It added that it supported “at the very least an inquiry into the matter”.

Alastair Campbell, former spin doctor to Tony Blair, has expressed concern that Dominic Cummings’s press conference is taking place in the Downing Street rose garden this afternoon. He tweeted:

Cummings speaking in the Rose Garden is like Monica Lewinsky giving her side of the story from the Oval Office.

Heaven knows how the cabinet secretary has allowed this. But hey – in Trump Britain all norms rules and standards are collapsing.

Campbell said he had written to UK cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Mark Sedwill to ask: “1. Why is it being held there? 2. Assurance no civil servants involved in support of the event. 3. Any staging and other costs not borne by taxpayer. 4. Investigation of clear breach of special adviser rules on political controversy.”

Updated

Dominic Cummings is to give a statement about accusations he broke the lockdown, as at least 20 Conservative MPs urged Boris Johnson to make him quit or apologise.

In an unprecedented move for a senior political adviser, Cummings is to address criticism of his actions and take questions on Monday afternoon, following an outpouring of anger among the public, MPs, bishops, police, scientists and medics.

The prime minister backed his senior aide at a defiant press conference on Sunday, saying it had been within the rules for Cummings to drive his family 264 miles to his parents’ estate in Durham while his wife was suffering from coronavirus symptoms.

Anger among Conservative MPs is boiling over, however, and members of the public have been sending furious emails pointing out the sacrifices they have made during the lockdown.

Downing Street is still to answer questions, including whether Cummings stopped at any service stations en route to Durham, potentially infecting other travellers when the whole family should have been in isolation, and whether he later made a 30-mile day trip from Durham to Barnard Castle with his family at a time when non-essential journeys were banned.

When the Guardian/Observer and Mirror published fresh claims on Saturday night about Dominic Cummings potentially breaching lockdown rules, Downing Street refused to respond in detail and instead dismissed the outlets as politically motivated “campaigning newspapers”.

It is less clear whether No 10 holds the same dismissive view about the Conservative-supporting Daily Mail, which on Monday used a front-page editorial to demand Cummings is sacked and ran the story across 10 pages of furious coverage.

Under the headline “What planet are they on?”, the newspaper’s editorial said Cummings “violated the spirit and letter of the lockdown … giving every selfish person a licence to play fast and loose with public health”.

Just months after enthusiastically cheering Boris Johnson to victory in the general election, the Mail directly attacked the prime minister for sticking by his chief aide: “Neither man has displayed a scintilla of contrition for this breach of trust. Do they think we are fools? For the good of the government and the nation, Mr Cummings must resign. Or the prime minister must sack him. No ifs, no buts.”

In the process, the newspaper set up a test of its power in the face of a government that has repeatedly made clear its disdain for traditional media outlets. It also serves as a check on whether print newspaper front pages still hold sway in an era of declining circulations and whether the Mail has broken the old newspaper editor’s mantra that you should never launch a campaign that you are likely to lose.

Updated

The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has said people might be “surprised” by what Cummings has to say in his “unprecedented” public statement this afternoon.

Many have judged Dominic Cummings without hearing his side of the story. That will change this afternoon and will be unprecedented.

It’s possible that people will be surprised.

As reviews for Barnard Castle go, “I drove 260 miles, broke a pandemic-enforced nationwide lockdown that I personally helped introduce, risked the health of my extended family, rocked the stability of my own career, and torpedoed the reputation of both myself and the actual prime minister of the United Kingdom just to go there and see the Silver Swan automaton” takes some beating.

I have never wanted to see a small Teesdale market town so much in my squalid little life. I cannot imagine the precious selection of keychains the gift shops there must have. I would risk it all for Barnard Castle.

If you’ve somehow missed all this (imagine I am gesturing weakly at Dominic Cummings’s house, where a crowd of agitated neighbours, un-socially distanced TV journalists and – obviously, always – some sort of Led By Donkeys stunt van, are all assembled in waiting), then the headline news right now is: a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Daily Mirror found that Dominic Cummings, that Gollum-but-if-he-dressed-from-the-assorted-bags-in-the-backroom-of-a-charity-shop one from the government, broke lockdown in the hardest way possible by driving from London to Durham when his wife had coronavirus.

Then – after a perfunctory WhatsApp-coordinated round of Tory ministers tweeting their “it wasn’t that bad, really” defences of the senior adviser – a further claim: once in Durham, as coronavirus infections crested nationwide, Cummings zigged out on a nice little day trip to the Castle, then back to London, then allegedly back again to Durham, where an eyewitness says they saw him among some woodlands calling the bluebells there “lovely”. Ladies and gentlemen, we got him?

Updated

This is Jessica Murray, I’m back on the blog for the rest of the day and will be covering Dominic Cummings’ press conference at 4pm.

Thanks to everyone who has been sending in messages with your comments and thoughts, I’m doing my best to work through them all and get back to as many people as I can.

Boris Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings will make a public statement following calls for him to be sacked over allegations he breached coronavirus lockdown restrictions at 4pm.

Updated

Durham police confirm more complaints about Cummings

A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: “We can confirm that, over the last few days, Durham Constabulary has received further information and complaints from members of the public and we are reviewing and examining that information.”

Updated

NHS England has announced 59 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 25,750.

Of the 59 new deaths announced on Sunday:
- 19 occurred on 24 May
- 28 occurred on 23 May
- five occurred on 22 May

The remaining seven new deaths took place between 16-21 May. 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 ago. This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for post mortem examinations to be processed and for data from the tests to be validated.

The figures published today by NHS England show 8 April continues to have the highest number for the most hospital deaths on a single day, with a current total of 891.

Updated

Robert Largan, Conservative MP for High Peak, has called for Dominic Cummings to provide answers.

In a Facebook post, he said:

We can’t have a position where it is one rule for the public and another for politicians. If all the reports about Dominic Cummings are true, then I believe his position is untenable and he should resign. I don’t have all the facts and I don’t want to rush to judgement based on incomplete information, especially when many allegations are being disputed. But we need proper answers and we need them quickly. In the meantime, I have made the government aware of the strength of feeling of local people.


John Stevenson, the MP for Carlisle, said:

Updated

Poundland has said a further 26 of its stores, which have been closed throughout the coronavirus outbreak, are throwing open their doors again.

The discount retailer said trade will resume in the stores again this week after 51 shops reopened last week.

Poundland said that while it had kept most of its stores open for essential shopping, about 100 were temporarily shut in March. The closed shops were largely where there was another Poundland nearby or where shopping centres found it difficult to remain open, it added.

Updated

Hello everyone. I am back on the Guardian’s live feed and covering while Jessica Murray takes a lunch break. Please get in touch to share your news tips and any other information.

A lot of you have sent stories of how you have been surviving lockdown and following the rules amid difficult situations. I have had so many emails for this, and appreciate all the readers who got in touch. Unfortunately, I am afraid I cannot reply to you all but we’ve now written this story up. Thanks for all the contributions.


Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

Boris Johnson has seriously blown it, writes Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins.

Usually he contrives himself to be his own worst enemy – now it seems to be Dominic Cummings, his chief adviser. In the affair of the Durham runner, a wise political strategist would have given simple advice. Prime Minister, just say sorry.

Updated

Ahead of Dominic Cummings’s public statement this afternoon, a number of people on Twitter are flagging the government’s code of conduct for special advisers which states they must not take “public part in political controversy”.

Point 14 states:

Special advisers must not take public part in political controversy, through any form of statement whether in speeches or letters to the press, or in books, social media, articles or leaflets.

They must observe discretion and express comment with moderation, avoiding personal attacks, and would not normally speak in public for their minister or the department.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon said many people would have been left “angry and frustrated by stories you have heard”, after Dominic Cummings, the PM’s senior aide, travelled across the country during the lockdown.

While she conceded people may be wondering “why bother” to follow the rules, the first minister told Scots:

As far as I am concerned the restrictions and rules we put in place really matter.

It is vital that all of us stick to the rules, and not just because people like me tell you to or ask you to. The reason we ask you to stick to these rules is because they help to protect you and your loved ones, they help us protect our National Health Service and they do help us to save lives.

She said the public had “overwhelmingly done the right thing” in lockdown, with restrictions put in place more than two months ago now.

Sturgeon said: “I know many people, parents perhaps in particular, will have made very difficult decisions.

“Grandparents will not have seen new grandchildren, parents will have struggled with childcare, and no access to friends and family to support them, and many people have been denied the opportunity to say a final farewell to loved ones.”

But Sturgeon said after Thursday the advice would still be for people to “stay at home as much as possible”.

And she said while people would be allowed to meet others outside, they should “think carefully, very carefully” about the number of people they come into contact with.

“Many of the current lockdown rules will still be in place, and it will vital everybody sticks to those,” the first minister said.

Updated

Boris Johnson is facing a revolt from scores of his own backbenchers as they line up to condemn the prime minister and his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings.

At least 15 Conservative backbenchers have called for Cummings to go, while several others have spoken out against his actions.

A number of MPs, including the newly elected Elliot Colburn, Paul Holmes and Jonathan Gullis, have used the used the same wording in their responses, saying they have “conveyed the strength of local feeling to relevant colleagues” after being contacted by constituents.

Conservative former minister Paul Maynard said he shared people’s “dismay” at the PM’s response, and was one of many MPs who insisted Cummings should quit or be sacked.

It is a classic case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ - and it is not as if he was unfamiliar with guidance he himself helped draw up. It seems to me to be utterly indefensible and his position wholly untenable.

Veteran Conservative Sir Roger Gale told PA Media: “I’m very disappointed, I think it was an opportunity to put this to bed and I fear that now the story is simply going to run and run.”

The Somerton and Frome MP, David Warburton, said Cummings was “damaging the government and the country that he’s supposed to be serving”.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Monday morning, he said his own father had died alone as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.

People have made sacrifices, this is a difficult time, this is a time of national crisis.

In those sacrifices there really hasn’t been the choice to use instinct. Instinct hasn’t really been part of it. We’ve been tasked with following regulations laid down by the government.

Tory grandee Lord Heseltine said it was “very difficult to believe there isn’t a substance” in the allegations about Cummings’ movements.

“I think these unanswered questions are now on the agenda,” he told the BBC, “and I don’t think that this anxiety about the government’s position will end until we know the whole story.”

Former minister Steve Baker said if Cummings does not resign “we’ll just keep burning through Boris’s political capital at a rate we can ill afford in the midst of this crisis”.

Other critics include Peter Aldous, Peter Bone, Damian Collins, Caroline Nokes, Julian Sturdy, Robert Syms, Craig Whittaker, James Gray and Martin Vickers.

Updated

Dominic Cummings to give public statement later today

Dominic Cummings will give a public statement this afternoon after allegations he breached coronavirus lockdown restrictions, Downing Street has confirmed.

The BBC’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, reported that Boris Johnson’s chief adviser will make a statement and take questions himself.

The move comes as calls for Cummings to resign and explain his actions mount, following revelations he travelled 264 miles to his parents’ estate in Durham while his wife was suffering coronavirus symptoms.

Updated

Today’s coronavirus figures from Scotland:

A total of 2,273 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by three from 2,270 on Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon said.

The first minister said 15,156 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 55 from 15,101 the day before.

There are 1,269 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of 60. Of these, 40 were in intensive care, a fall of four.

Updated

The shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, has shared a letter he has sent to Priti Patel, asking a series of questions including whether guidance on travel restrictions had been updated for parents with coronavirus symptoms.

He asked:

If people are travelling in a car in the expectation that they may require childcare at some point, can you confirm that police will not be empowered to issue Fixed Penalty Notices to them?

Can you make public details of any communications between the Durham Constabulary and government officials and/or ministers since Thursday 21 May?

As you know, police officers have put themselves at extraordinary risk to keep people safe during this crisis, whilst also working with great skill to interpret and explain public health legislation.

The confusion and misinformation caused by the government’s response to these revelations appears to make this work even more difficult.

Updated

Conservative MP Lee Anderson said if Dominic Cummings failed to self-isolate properly in Durham then “he should go” but said he would not accept a “trial by the media”.

In a post on his Facebook page, the MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire wrote:

I have received messages and emails about Dominic Cummings. I have lots of questions to be answered before I pass judgement or comment.

I will not accept trial by media when a person’s whole future is at stake. The reaction of the press outside his home and some online comments have quite frankly disgusted me. I have been on the receiving end from the media in the past and it has an awful impact on members of your family.

I suspect there will be a few more twists to this story over the next few days and I reserve judgement until I have all the facts.

We cannot have one rule for one and another rule for the rest of us. Cummings should have a chance to come back on this as it is clear that he travelled to another house to live with his family but it is not clear if he came into contact with other members of his family or been out and about as suggested.

If its the latter then he should go.

Updated

The shadow health secretary and Labour MP for Leicester South, Jonathan Ashworth, has described some of the emails he has received from constituents in response to the Dominic Cummings saga.

In a series of tweets, he said:

This isn’t an orchestrated email lobbying exercise, these are not cut and paste messages from a campaign’s website.

Each email written with raw emotion – grandparents who haven’t seen children, sons and daughter worried about elderly mums and dads.

An ICU doctor writes ‘the support of Dominic Cummings and his breaches of the Covid 19 advice sends a clear message to the public. Either that he is above the rest of us or that these guidelines are a waste of time. It also undermines all those members of the public that have adhered to the guidelines and not been allowed to see births or even say goodbye to a dying relative.’

Ashworth goes on to say: “For test, trace and isolate to work and easing of lockdown to be safe we will have to isolate for 14 days if requested by a tracer. Does Boris Johnson expect that to happen while Cummings’s behaviour is endorsed?”

He concludes by saying: “Boris Johnson said in his letter he mailed to everyone paid for by taxpayer we must all stay at home. It really is one rule for him and his elite friends and another for rest of us.”

Updated

Bangladesh clothing manufacturers are threatening to halt production and deliveries to billionaire Philip Day’s Edinburgh Woollen Mill group in a battle over alleged £27m in unpaid bills.

About 30 suppliers to Day’s empire, which includes more than 1,000 outlets including Peacocks, Austin Reed and Jaeger, arranged a letter from the Bangladesh Garments and Manufacturing Association trade body which accuses Edinburgh Woollen Mill and its agents of taking “undue advantage of the Covid-19 situation”.

They say Day’s retail group and its agents demanded hefty discounts, cancelled orders or withheld payment for goods already shipped or manufactured for the company.

The letter demands payment for goods already handed over to Edinburgh Woollen Mill’s shipping agents by 29 May and payment by 5 June for orders that are already in production. It says any discount requested by the retailer “beyond permissible limits” could lead to legal action.

The letter seen by the Guardian says:

The demand for the discounts will not only be financially catastrophic, but will also expose our members to various claims and liabilities from regulations, banks and other third parties, which will eventually legally implicate the buyers themselves.

We will have no option but take the decision to place an embargo and blacklist the buyers and their agents who do not comply with our instructions, which will prevent them from conducting business with our members in the future either directly or indirectly.

London’s Southbank Centre is at risk of closing until at least April 2021 because of the financial pressure it faces as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

The UK’s largest arts and culture organisation has said it is facing a best-case scenario of a £5.1m deficit for the 2020-21 financial year, despite furloughing the majority of its staff, and will need to make some employees redundant.

The centre called for further government support, saying the forecast includes using up all its reserves, taking £4m from the government’s furlough scheme, and spending its £19.2m annual grant from Arts Council England (ACE) “to effectively mothball the buildings”.

The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery and offers more than 3,500 events a year.

It is also home to the National Poetry Library, the Arts Council Collection and eight orchestras including the London Philharmonic and the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Barriers and tape seal off the pavement outside the Southbank Centre in London.
Barriers and tape seal off the pavement outside the Southbank Centre in London. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images

Its annual ACE grant represents 37% of its income and it has replaced declining public funding with income from ticket sales, bars, restaurants and other commercial activity, but the mandatory closure of the venues, bars and restaurants has led to the immediate loss of 60% of its income.

It is calling on the government to extend the furlough scheme beyond October for the cultural sector, develop a “large-scale intervention” to support the arts sector as it navigates the crisis, and support self-employed artists and musicians who do not qualify for current financial support schemes.

The venue is already planning to cancel events from September to November and considering the option of broadcasting concerts from behind closed doors through autumn and next spring.

Elaine Bedell, the chief executive of the Southbank Centre, said:

It is with an incredibly heavy heart that we today share further details about the future of the Southbank Centre.

We know we are not alone in this and stand with our friends, partners and colleagues – both here in the UK and abroad – during this time of unprecedented challenge […]

However, this crisis has hit hard, and we join a number of other organisations and venues in sounding the alarm about the long-term health of UK arts and culture.

The Southbank Centre’s own history is traced directly to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Here, the post-war government recognised how vital arts and culture were to the health and well-being of a traumatised nation.

Just as the South Bank was a focal point of social and economic recovery then, we hope that we’ll emerge from this crisis to an even brighter future, throwing our doors wide open once more.

Updated

Somerset hospital stops accepting new patients due to high number with Covid-19

A general hospital in Somerset has temporarily stopped accepting new patients in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid-19 on site.

Weston General Hospital in Weston-super-Mare stopped taking new admissions, including into its A&E department, from 8am on Monday “to maintain patient and staff safety”.

The decision was a “clinically led” one that had been taken at a time when the hospital had a high number of patients with coronavirus, according to a statement.

The hospital provides a range of clinical services to residents of the North Somerset area – a population of around 212,000 people.

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust said the measure is “precautionary” and the situation will be kept under review.

The trust said there are arrangements in place for new patients to access treatment and care “in other appropriate healthcare settings in the area should they need it”.

Dr William Oldfield, medical director at the trust, said:

As with any hospital, the number of patients with Covid-19 will frequently change as people are admitted and discharged.

We currently have a high number of patients with Covid-19 in Weston General Hospital.

Whilst the vast majority will have come into the hospital with Covid-19, as an extra precaution we have taken the proactive step to temporarily stop accepting new patients to maintain patient and staff safety.

This is a clinically led decision and we are being supported by our system partners to ensure that new patients receive the care and treatment they need in the appropriate setting, and we are continuing to provide high-quality care to existing patients who are being treated in the hospital.

We have a robust coronavirus testing programme in place for patients and staff to identify cases quickly, with appropriate measures taken by clinical teams as required.

We will keep the situation under constant review.

Durham police chief calls for investigation into Dominic Cummings

The police and crime commissioner for Durham is to formally write to the chief constable of the force he oversees asking for an investigation into Dominic Cummings, the Guardian has learned.

Steve White, the acting police, crime and victims’ commissioner for Durham, will on Monday ask the force to investigate all the claims about the prime minister’s principal adviser’s time in the Durham area during the coronavirus lockdown and establish the facts.

Cummings, along with his wife and young child, travelled 260 miles from his London home to his parents’ farm in Durham in late March. They say they feared they may be incapacitated by coronavirus and thus struggle to look after their young child. Many view that as a breach of the lockdown rules to stay home and have called for Cummings to resign or be sacked as chief aide to Boris Johnson.

The letter to Durham’s chief constable, Jo Farrell, will ask her to look at all the claims about Cummings’s time in Durham. That includes an alleged sighting of him in Barnard Castle, some distance away from his parents’ home.

The letter will say an inquiry is necessary to maintain public confidence in the force.

White, in a statement on Saturday, backed the force’s handling of the matter so far.

A mother and son have arrived outside Dominic Cummings’s house carrying a sign that reads: “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others,” a quote from George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The pair, who gave their names as Michelle and Milo, live near to the prime minister’s adviser.

Michelle told reporters:

Our street looked after each other, he’s not above anybody. I think it’s sad that none of his neighbours could possibly come and help him. We’re all in this together.

I think he has to go, and this is our way, on a bank holiday Monday of saying we’re not happy.

We weren’t happy with Boris yesterday.

Demonstrators display a sign featuring a line from the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, outside the home of Dominic Cummings in London.
Demonstrators display a sign featuring a line from the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, outside the home of Dominic Cummings in London. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Another Conservative MP has joined the calls for Dominic Cummings to resign, this time Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney in Suffolk.

He said he was initially sympathetic towards Cummings’s desire to protect his son, but having received many emails from constituents highlighting the sacrifices they have made, “the government should recognise what families have gone through and what people are thinking and saying. It is thus important that Dominic Cummings should now stand down.”

“Moreover, questions remain unanswered as to whether Mr Cummings completely self-isolated whilst he was in County Durham,” he added.

Updated

Hello everyone, this is Jessica Murray taking over the blog for the rest of what is set to be another tumultuous day in UK politics, with Boris Johnson facing further criticism for defending Dominic Cummings, who himself is facing a possible police investigation over his alleged trip to Barnard Castle.

Please do send over your thoughts, suggestions and story tips:

Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_

Hello everyone. I will be passing the live feed to my colleague Jessica Murray who will be bringing you the latest information on coronavirus. Please do continue to share any news tips or information with me today as I continue my reporting shift.

Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

Between 5% and 6% of Britain’s population had been infected with Covid-19 by the last third of April, according to a study from the University of St Andrews.

The number is far lower than the 25% predicted by researchers from the University of Manchester who used local authority data to to calculate the R-value – the number of people infected by one person with Covid-19 – within each local authority area.

The latest study found England had higher infection rates than Scotland and Wales and that in London more than 10% of the population may have been infected. Overall, infection rates were highest in urban regions and lowest in small towns and rural areas.

Their estimates of the cumulative infection rate are based on the Covid-19 deaths reported by ONS and NRS by the first third of May.

Further statistical analysis showed that the virus infection rates were higher in areas with high population density and levels of deprivation.

Prof Kulu said: “Our analysis shows that the cumulative infection rate may have been slightly smaller or larger, but very unlikely less than 3% or more than 12% unless our current knowledge on death rates from Covid-19 are serious biased.

“Clearly, we are far from achieving the ‘herd immunity’ rapidly as some have hoped. The good news is that because the coronavirus is not widely spread, and the number of active cases has declined during the lockdown, its suppression and control is possible with various public health measures before the cure and vaccine become available.”

Updated

As Dominic Cummings has been criticised for flouting the lockdown rules, we want to hear from families who have been sticking by them during difficult times. Perhaps you haven’t been able to see a sick loved one? Or say goodbye to someone close to you? Please share your stories with me: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

Johnson to chair cabinet meeting on easing lockdown measures

Boris Johnson is facing sustained pressure to sack his key aide Dominic Cummings following allegations he breached coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

The prime minister will discuss the easing of measures at a cabinet meeting on Monday, but the political storm over his chief adviser’s trip looks set to overshadow any announcements.

Cummings travelled to County Durham in March to self-isolate with his family – apparently because he feared that he and his wife would be left unable to care for their son – while official guidelines warned against long-distance journeys.

Further reports also suggested he took a second trip to north-east England in April, having already returned to London following his recovery from Covid-19 – a disease that has led to the deaths of more than 45,000 people in the UK.

Several Conservative backbenchers have joined calls from opposition parties for Cummings to quit or be sacked, amid warnings that his actions have “undermined” efforts to fight coronavirus.

Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of the government’s advisory group on behavioural science, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “If you look at the research it shows the reason why people observed lockdown was not for themselves, it wasn’t because they were personally at risk, they did it for the community, they did it because of a sense of ‘we’re all in this together’.”

Full story here:

Updated

Dozens of French-speaking Eurostar employees are supporting language students while being furloughed due to the collapse in demand for international travel.

Workers normally carrying out roles as train drivers or in customer service, marketing, operations and finance are among those hosting online sessions for pupils during school closures.

The scheme is aimed at improving students’ confidence in French conversation and maintaining their skills while they study at home.
The participants are from three schools close to Eurostar’s north-east London depot and its London station, St Pancras International.

David Dogue, a French teacher at Sir George Monoux College, Walthamstow, said: “This project with Eurostar has enabled my A-level students to develop their language skills in a rewarding way by joining conversations with native French speakers.

“The opportunity to speak with someone from outside the school helps boost their confidence whilst they are dealing with the challenges of having to study from home.”

Updated

A petition has been launched calling for Dominic Cumings to reisgn. It went up yesterday evening and now has more than 200,000 signatures.

Dr William Oldfield, medical director at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS foundation trust, said: “As with any hospital, the number of patients with Covid-19 will frequently change as people are admitted and discharged.

“We currently have a high number of patients with Covid-19 in Weston General hospital. Whilst the vast majority will have come into the hospital with Covid-19, as an extra precaution we have taken the proactive step to temporarily stop accepting new patients to maintain patient and staff safety.

“This is a clinically led decision and we are being supported by our system partners to ensure that new patients receive the care and treatment they need in the appropriate setting, and we are continuing to provide high-quality care to existing patients who are being treated in the hospital.

“We have a robust coronavirus testing programme in place for patients and staff to identify cases quickly, with appropriate measures taken by clinical teams as required.

“We will keep the situation under constant review.”

Updated

A hospital in Somerset has temporarily stopped accepting new patients due to a “high number of patients with coronavirus in the hospital”.

Weston General hospital, in Weston-super-Mare, stopped accepting new admissions, including into its A&E department, from 8am on Monday.

The move is said to be a “precautionary measure”.

Updated

Church of England bishops have expressed unusually strong criticism of Boris Johnson over his defence of actions taken by his chief aide, Dominic Cummings.

More than a dozen bishops questioned the integrity of the prime minister following his press conference on Sunday, in which he refused to acknowledge Cummings had breached lockdown rules when he travelled with his infected wife and their child to Durham, north-east England.

Updated

Durham’s former chief constable Mike Barton said Boris Johnson throwing his support behind Dominic Cummings had made enforcing the lockdown much harder.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Barton said:

Policing the lockdown has probably been one of the toughest assignments ever given to the British police and they have risen to the challenge.

But what the prime minister did yesterday has now made it exponentially tougher for all those people on the front line, those PCSOs [police community support officers] and cops on the front line, enforcing the lockdown.

We are in the middle of a national emergency and people who make the rules cannot break the rules, otherwise we are going to have chaos.

Updated

Sturgeon said that as lockdown measures begin to be eased, trust in public health advice was vital.

She added: “The consequences are potentially so serious.

“As we go into the next phases of dealing with this crisis, as we start to lift lockdown restrictions and rely less on the letter of the law and more on guidance and appeal to people’s good judgment, then trust in the advice we are giving and the reasons why we are giving that advice is really important.

“If they [the public] get any sense that it is one rule for them and another for people in positions of authority then that will become very difficult.”

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said that prime minister Boris Johnson was putting his political interests ahead of the public interest by supporting Dominic Cummings.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Sturgeon said:

I fear, and I say this with a heavy heart, Boris Johnson is putting his political interest ahead of the public interest.

And when trust in a public health message and public health advice is as important as it is right now the consequences of that could be serious.

I hope that the prime minister will reflect further today and perhaps come to a different conclusion than the one he made yesterday.

Updated

Anger grows among Tory MPs

Anger continues to build among the Tory rank and file, particularly those in the newly won seats in the north of England and Midlands.

One MP in a “Red Wall” seat contacted the Guardian’s northern editor, Helen Pidd, to say: “I think [Dominic Cummings] should go. It’s cut through. Massively. He’s a liability.”

The MP said they had received more than 100 angry emails about Cummings, with the “non-lefties” expressing the same sentiment as Monday’s Daily Mail front page: “What planet are they on?”

They said the Tory WhatsApp group, normally a hive of gossip, was almost entirely devoid of support for Johnson’s defence of Cummings.

Updated

Morning everyone. Thanks for following the Guardian’s live feed today. Please do get in touch with me if you want to share any news tips or information. Look forward to reading your messages.

Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

Reader Chris Garside from London shared his own experience of lockdown and how the news about Dominic Cummings has felt for grieving families who followed the rules.

My Mum passed away a few weeks ago after an incredibly brave last stand against brain cancer. She was and always will be an inspiration to us all for the way she faced death head on, with humour and tonnes and tonnes of love.

When the lockdown started we knew we would not be able to see Mum unless she was in her final hours. We knew we would lose most of those precious last days. Incredibly painful as that was my family would never put the hospice staff or patients at unnecessary risk. We all spent many hours feeling so sad and desperate about that but we took it on the chin. So did many of my friends, parents who had Covid-19 but continued not only looking after their children but in many cases working as well.

To hear the drivel coming out of the cabinet and No 10 is embarrassing. Our family is grieving after having to say goodbye in the most unsatisfactory of circumstances. It is beyond an insult to families like mine that supposedly serious politicians should seek to justify this for even a second. It is incredibly obvious what Cummings should be doing if he has an ounce of decency.

Updated

Conservative MP David Warburton said his own father died alone as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, and that the Dominic Cummings story gives an impression of “double standards”.

He told BBC Breakfast:

People have made sacrifices, this is a difficult time, this is a time of national crisis. In those sacrifices there really hasn’t been the choice to use instinct.

Instinct hasn’t really been part of it. We’ve been tasked with following regulations laid down by the government.

Updated

Gloucestershire’s independent police and crime commissioner, Martin Surl, said Dominic Cummings’s actions make a “mockery” of police enforcement earlier in the lockdown.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

I think it makes it much harder for the police going forward – this will be quoted back at them time and time again when they try to enforce the new rules.

But I think more importantly it makes something of a mockery of the police action going back when the message was very, very clear: stay at home.

The police had to deliver a very harsh, very difficult message and now it appears people could act differently, so I think it does undermine the policing going back and their confidence and going forward it will be more difficult but they will cope, they always do.

Updated

Cummings should not resign as he has broken no rules, education secretary says

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said Dominic Cummings should not resign “because he has made it clear that he’s broken no rules and he’s broken no laws”.

The Cabinet minister sidestepped a question on whether Mr Cummings would have done the wrong thing if he had been a member of the public. He said:

I don’t have the details of all the various dates but the two dates that I do know very clearly is the June 1 when primary schools will start opening their schools and welcoming in pupils for the first time in over two months, and June 15 when secondary schools can start opening their doors and welcoming in years 10 and 12.

Criticism has rained down on Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings from the nation’s papers, some of it from unlikely quarters.

While attacks from the Daily Mirror and the Guardian were to be expected, even the right-leaning Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph were among the critics, the Mail launching a withering assault on Cummings for flouting lockdown guidelines and on Johnson for his defence of his chief adviser.

“What planet are they on?” the Mail screams on its front page, saying that is the question the nation is asking about the “No 10 svengali who flouted the PM’s own strict lockdown rules”, and about Mr Johnson “brazenly” supporting him.

Updated

Scientist says 'debacle' over Cummings has 'fatally undermined' efforts to fight coronavirus.

A member of the government’s advisory group on behavioural science has said the “debacle” over Dominic Cummings has “fatally undermined” efforts to fight coronavirus.

Prof Stephen Reicher told Good Morning Britain:

If you look at the research it shows the reason why people observed lockdown was not for themselves, it wasn’t because they were personally at risk, they did it for the community, they did it because of a sense of ‘we’re all in this together’.

If you give the impression there’s one rule for them and one rule for us you fatally undermine that sense of ‘we’re all in this together’ and you undermine adherence to the forms of behaviour which have got us through this crisis.

Updated

Morning all and welcome to the Guardian’s live feed, bringing you the latest about coronavirus. If you want to get in touch while I work to share any news tips or information with me then please do.

Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

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