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No 10 says '8m hospitalised' is planning assumption, not what government expects - UK politics live Boris Johnson warns UK population to avoid non-essential contact with others as coronavirus cases rise – politics live
(about 1 hour later)
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen PM tells Britons to avoid pubs, restaurants and non-essential travel but school stay open for now as chief medical officer says ‘next few months are going to be extraordinarily difficult for NHS’
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has dismissed as “entirely fictional” newspaper reports, like this one, claiming there are plans for the army to be called in to guard supermarket in the event of coronavirus leading to social breakdown. Speaking during defence questions in the Commons earlier, Wallace said: Q: The Irish government has introduced more aggressive measures, but Northern Ireland is following UK rules. Are you confident the people of Northern Ireland are being protected.
David Blunkett, the 72-year-old former Labour home secretary who sits in the House of Lords, told Emma Barnett on Radio 5 Live earlier that if the government said he had to stay mostly at home because over-70s were particularly at risk of coronavirus, he would quickly deteriorate. He explained: Johnson says he is confident about that.
The government’s finance bill - and potentially next week’s emergency legislation - appear likely to speed through the House of Commons without being pressed to a vote, after Labour took the decision to allow them to pass “on the nod”. Whitty repeats the point about how this virus seems to spare children.
Labour sources confirmed that while the party will table an amendment to tomorrow’s ways and means resolution, calling for more action to help the low-paid weather the crisis, they will not press it to a vote. And they will take the same approach to their opposition day on Wednesday. Q: Will you take more action to help low-income households. Statutory sick pay is less than £100 a week?
Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg insisted last Thursday there was no additional risk from MPs crowding into division lobbies, though he did say an expert from Public Health England had advised him to open the windows. Johnson claims he is doing a lot already. The living wage is being lifted by a huge amount.
However Labour have decided not to exacerbate the anxiety of MPs concerned about the risks of contracting or passing on the virus by calling for votes. “The Labour party thinks this is a time for grown-up politics,” the source said. He says no one should be penalised for doing the right thing.
These are from Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary. Vallance says this is a brand new disease. The experts need to learn as they are going along.
Jenrick may find there are different definitions of “the support they need” ... He says the seven-day advice stays. If someone lives alone and gets a fever or a persistent cough, they should stay at home for seven days.
Labour is urging the government to introduce a ban on evictions for tenants whose income is hit by the coronavirus, as it presses for more action to help the lowest-paid weather the outbreak, my colleague Heather Stewart reports. But if they live with other people, the government is now advising the whole household to isolate for seven days.
The ban on travel to the EU announced by the European commission this afternoon will not cover the UK, Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, has just confirmed. That is because during the Brexit transition Britain still counts as an EU member. Q: How long might this go on?
The Green party is calling for the government to extend the Brexit transition, which is due to end on 31 December 2020, because of coronavirus. In a statement the Green deputy leader Amelia Womack said: Whitty says sustainability is critical. He goes on:
Womack says the transition period should be extended for a year. This is allowed under the withdrawal agreement, provided a decision is taken before July. Q: Do you accept the economy won’t grow by 1.1% this year, as the chancellor said in the budget last week?
It seems inevitable that the transition will have to be extended, although ministers are not saying that at this point. Only last Thursday Michael Gove was telling MPs that an extension was being ruled out. (See 11.22am.) Johnson says it is “perfectly obvious” that this is going to be a “severe blow” to the economy.
According to Sky’s Sam Coates, the government is considering implementing a scheme being tried in Ireland that would involve flat-rate payments to workers whose employers can no longer carry on paying them because the economy has ground to a halt. But if we get it right, we can ensure it is a short-term problem, he claims.
Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, a thinktank focusing on low pay issues, thinks the Irish scheme has merits. He says if the peak can be flattened, then there is “no reason why economies worldwide should not come roaring back”.
Northern Ireland has recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 since Sunday, Stormont health minister Robin Swann has said. It is different from 2008, he claims.
If the over-70s are told to mainly stay at home in future, there are 24 MPs who will be covered by the advice, according to the Election Maps UK Twitter feed. Q: There has been a case today from Japan of someone getting coronavirus twice. Does that mean herd immunity is no longer achievable?
Boris Johnson will be under pressure to clarify what the government’s advice for the over-70s will be in the weeks and months ahead when he holds his press conference later. It has not been very clear over the last 48 hours or so. (See 9.56am.) Simon Hewett-Avison, director of services at the Independent Age charity told the Press Association that this was causing confusion for the elderly. He said: Vallance says the objective is to flatten the curve.
The government’s attempt to get manufacturers to switch their production lines so that they can start making ventilators for the NHS has a touch of desperation about it. Here is Matt Hancock, the health secretary, putting an appeal on Twitter. In any infectious disease, there are cases of people catching it again. But that is rare.
Campaigners from Pause the System have staged a protest outside No 10. They want a more proactive response to coronavirus, including the closure of all schools and non-essential businesses and the introduction of a universal basic income. He says there is nothing to suggest that it would be common in this case.
From the BBC’s Mark Easton In normal diseases, the body generates immunising antibodies, he says.
Whitty says in diseases, even if there is no long-term immunity, there is normally some short-term immunity.
Johnson says the government’s overriding objective has been to safe lives.
Vallance says research is very important. And the UK is outstanding at the biological science behind this, he says.
Q: Is there case for a global fiscal stimulus?
Johnson says there is widespread agreement in the G7 that people need access to liquidity. He says they should act jointly. There is a lot of work going on.
Q: Do you think you should have started work on getting more ventilators more quickly?
Johnson says “huge strides are being made right now’ in delivering on this.
Q: What are you going to do to support businesses that will collapse when these measures are introduced?
Johnson says this will be a very considerable challenge for businesses big and small.
He says the government will give them liquidity, so they have time to pay. He wants to give them the space to come back from this.
Q: Are we still four weeks behind Italy?
Vallance says at the early stage the numbers are small, and so it is hard to say where you are with precision. Now he says he thinks we are three weeks behind Italy.
Q: Will you introduce criminal sanctions?
Johnson says the government has huge powers. Under 1980s legislation a secretary of state can ban hand shaking, he claims.
He says he thinks the public understand the need for these measures.
Q: Will you allow health service workers to be tested so they can return to work early if they do not have coronavirus?
Whitty says the next stage will involve testing health workers. If it turns out they do not have coronavirus, they will be able to go back to work earlier. This will be rolled out as quickly as possible.
Q: What do you say to people who say you should be taking even more drastic measures, as other countries are doing?
Johnson says other countries are “further up the curve”. He says the government only wants to introduce measures at the right time.
He says at the moment he thinks it is best to keep schools open. But that is being kept under review, he says.
Q: How many people do you think have coronavirus now?
Vallance says the numbers can double over five days. So you can work it out from last week, he says. (Last week he said there could be 5-10,000 cases in the UK.)
He says what would make a huge change would be being able to tell if people had had coronavirus without being aware of it.
Q: Are you forcing people not to go to theatres etc?
Johnson says the government is giving “very strong advice” that places like theatres should close. The government has the power to force closures, he says. But he says he does not think it will be necessary to use those powers.
Q: What are you going to do about care homes?
Johnson says he does not want to see people unnecessarily visiting care homes.
Q: Why are you not testing more, as the WHO recommends? (See 4.51pm.)
Whitty says the government agrees with the WHO on the basis of testing. He says the government is giving up testing based on geography. But it will be scaling up testing, he says.
He says what would be transformational would be the ability to test to see if people have had the disease. At the moment the test only identifies if they currently have it. But that may change, he says.
Whitty the social distancing measures announced today will protect the NHS.
He says people who are over 70 or who have a significant health condition are being asked to take even greater care. That is to reduce the risk of their having to go to hospital and to protect their health. He says these are people over 70 and people who would normally be asked to have flu injections.
Women who are pregnant are also being included, he says. He says that is because the government wants to minimise risk and does not know much at this stage about the impact of coronavirus on pregnant women.
(Previously the government has played down the prospect of pregnant women facing increased risk.)
Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, is speaking now.
He says older people are more likely to die.
But older people will not necessarily get it worse. He says Nadine Dorries, the health minister, wrote an article at the weekend saying her coronavirus was worse than her mother’s.
He says there are three groups of deaths and health impacts to be considered.
First, those who die directly.
Second, and this is important, he says, there are other deaths that could occur through the NHS being overwhelmed.
And the third factor relates to negative health consequences of the decisions taken by the government.
Vallance says the measures outlined already should have a big effect on reducing the peak and reducing the death rate.
But they will not be easy, he says.
He says in future other measures may be necessary, like school closures. But they would need to be introduced at the right time.
School closures have not been ruled out, Vallance says.
(I have corrected the previous post because it said Whitty was speaking, not Vallance.)
Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, is speaking now.
He says the government is implementing measures it expected to implement. It is implementing them earlier, relative to the spread of the disease, than in some other countries, he says.
He says there are two reasons for these measures: to protect people, and to reduce the spread of the illness.
He says the government is recommending “whole household isolation”. This should last for 14 days. That is before individual isolation should last for seven days, and another seven days is added to allow for other people being affected.
Johnson is still giving advice.
Johnson says people over 70 are being asked to avoid unnecessary social contact with other people.
He says the situation is particularly serious in London, which is several weeks ahead of the rest of the country in terms of the spread of coronavirus.
He says the government will no longer support mass gatherings.
Boris Johnson is speaking now.
He says we need to go further.
Johnson says it looks as though we are approaching the “fast growth” phase of the curve. That means cases are expected to double every five days.
Families are being urged to stay at home for 14 days if any member of the household is ill, Johnson says.
He says it is time for everyone to stop non-essential contact with others. That means people should work from home where possible and avoid pubs, clubs and theatres.
Johnson says the advice on people avoiding non-essential contact is particularly important for people who are over-70, for people who are pregnant and for people with underlying health conditiions.
Boris Johnson is likely to be asked about what the head of the World Health Organizaion, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a press conference a few minutes ago. He urged governments to test more suspected cases, warning that they cannot fight the pandemic blindfolded.
There are more details on our coronavirus live blog.