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| Boris Johnson warns UK population to avoid non-essential contact as UK coronavirus death toll rises to 55 – politics live | Boris Johnson warns UK population to avoid non-essential contact as UK coronavirus death toll rises to 55 – politics live |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| 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’ | 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’ |
| Boris Johnson has unveiled a series of hugely stringent new restrictions to slow what he said was the now-rapid spread of coronavirus in the UK, including a 14-day isolation for all households with symptoms, a warning against “non-essential” contact, including trips to pubs and clubs, and an end to all mass gatherings. See 6.15pm for a summary of Johnson’s unprecedented announcement. | |
| The UK government has promised to ramp up testing of suspected coronavirus cases, although the measures still fall significantly short of the levels called for by the World Health Organization (WHO). | |
| Major British manufacturers have been sent blueprints showing them how to make up to 20,000 ventilators to treat coronavirus patients in the event of an surge in cases. | |
| The Old Vic, The Institute of Contemporary Arts and the National Gallery are the latest British cultural institutions to close or postpone shows as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK’s arts and culture sector spreads. | |
| World leaders at a G7 video summit told Donald Trump that medical firms must share and coordinate research on coronavirus vaccines rather than provide products exclusively to one country. | |
| That’s all from me for today. | |
| But for further coverage, do read our coronavirus outbreak live blog, which will be running all evening. It’s here. | |
| The Creative Industries Federation has described today’s announcement as “a crippling blow to the UK’s creative industries”, my colleague Mark Sweney reports. | |
| In his response to Matt Hancock, Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said the government should come up with a package of measures to protect workers and businesses that would lose out from these measures. He said: | |
| And Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, asked Hancock “to match unprecedented public health measures he has announced today with unprecedented economic measures to support all the businesses large and small, their workers, the self-employed who will be affected”. Miliband went on: | |
| Hancock replied: | |
| He also said that the government has their “eyes wide open” to the economic consequences of coronavirus. | |
| Here are two new points from Matt Hancock’s opening statement to MPs. | Here are two new points from Matt Hancock’s opening statement to MPs. |
| He said the government would soon be contacting people with significant health conditions who should be “largely shielded from social contact” for three months under the PM’s plan. (See 6.15pm.) He said: | He said the government would soon be contacting people with significant health conditions who should be “largely shielded from social contact” for three months under the PM’s plan. (See 6.15pm.) He said: |
| He said non-urgent operations were being cancelled. He said: | He said non-urgent operations were being cancelled. He said: |
| In the Commons Theresa May, the former prime minister, and Jeremy Hunt, the former foreign secretary and Boris Johnson’s main rival for the Tory leadership, both challenged Matt Hancock over the government’s coronavirus testing policy. | In the Commons Theresa May, the former prime minister, and Jeremy Hunt, the former foreign secretary and Boris Johnson’s main rival for the Tory leadership, both challenged Matt Hancock over the government’s coronavirus testing policy. |
| May said the WHO advice was very clear that their guidance was “test, test, test” for coronavirus. She asked why the government changed its testing requirements recently so people with mild symptoms self isolate. She said surely the testing has to be very significantly increased and know exactly who is going to be tested. | May said the WHO advice was very clear that their guidance was “test, test, test” for coronavirus. She asked why the government changed its testing requirements recently so people with mild symptoms self isolate. She said surely the testing has to be very significantly increased and know exactly who is going to be tested. |
| And Hunt asked why the government was not testing for coronavirus and isolate every single case of the virus, as per World Health Organisation advice. | And Hunt asked why the government was not testing for coronavirus and isolate every single case of the virus, as per World Health Organisation advice. |
| Hancock replied: | Hancock replied: |
| From ITV’s Paul Brand | From ITV’s Paul Brand |
| In the Commons, where Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has been making a statement about the PM’s announcement, Labour’s Ian Murray has just asked the point made by the landlord who called the Guardian (see 6.22pm): Murray asked the government to order pubs to close, so that they would be able to claim on their insurance. | In the Commons, where Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has been making a statement about the PM’s announcement, Labour’s Ian Murray has just asked the point made by the landlord who called the Guardian (see 6.22pm): Murray asked the government to order pubs to close, so that they would be able to claim on their insurance. |
| Hancock said he would consider this point. | Hancock said he would consider this point. |
| I will post more highlights from the session shortly. | I will post more highlights from the session shortly. |
| Boris Johnson, whose political outlook was summed up by one of his biographers as Merrie England Conservatism, will have never imagined that he would end up being the prime minister who should shut down much of Britain by telling people to stay at home and avoid the pub for the foreseeable future. In his closing comments he said that no PM has every delivered such a statement in peacetime, and he is surely right. People are inclined to support their leaders at times of crisis and, given that the news has been dominated in recent days by reports of countries around the world going into effective lock-down, Johnson was addressing an audience who may at least have guessed that something like this was coming. | Boris Johnson, whose political outlook was summed up by one of his biographers as Merrie England Conservatism, will have never imagined that he would end up being the prime minister who should shut down much of Britain by telling people to stay at home and avoid the pub for the foreseeable future. In his closing comments he said that no PM has every delivered such a statement in peacetime, and he is surely right. People are inclined to support their leaders at times of crisis and, given that the news has been dominated in recent days by reports of countries around the world going into effective lock-down, Johnson was addressing an audience who may at least have guessed that something like this was coming. |
| But no one can really know how long consent for these measures will last. What people may feel tonight may have changed in a week’s time, and in a month’s time. Johnson made a reasonably good fist of explaining what his proposals were, and why he thought they were necessary, but there was an enormous gap in the statement that a more experienced or strategic prime minister would have addressed. Johnson announced measures that could close down parts of the economy, particularly in the hospitality sector, and pitch hundreds of thousands of people into worklessness, but he had almost nothing to say about what the government might to to help. The fact he seemed to think the national living wage might make a difference (see 5.36pm) was indicative of how little thought he had given to this, and his prediction about the economy “roaring back” (see 5.33pm) came over as naive utopianism. Some sort of correction seems likely, probably quite soon. | But no one can really know how long consent for these measures will last. What people may feel tonight may have changed in a week’s time, and in a month’s time. Johnson made a reasonably good fist of explaining what his proposals were, and why he thought they were necessary, but there was an enormous gap in the statement that a more experienced or strategic prime minister would have addressed. Johnson announced measures that could close down parts of the economy, particularly in the hospitality sector, and pitch hundreds of thousands of people into worklessness, but he had almost nothing to say about what the government might to to help. The fact he seemed to think the national living wage might make a difference (see 5.36pm) was indicative of how little thought he had given to this, and his prediction about the economy “roaring back” (see 5.33pm) came over as naive utopianism. Some sort of correction seems likely, probably quite soon. |
| Gareth Bentham, a joint pub landlord in Altrincham, said Boris Johnson’s decision to urge people to avoid pubs means he and thousands of other landlords won’t be able to claim for the coronavirus outbreak on business interruption insurance. Speaking from the Old Roebuck pub, he told the Guardian: | Gareth Bentham, a joint pub landlord in Altrincham, said Boris Johnson’s decision to urge people to avoid pubs means he and thousands of other landlords won’t be able to claim for the coronavirus outbreak on business interruption insurance. Speaking from the Old Roebuck pub, he told the Guardian: |
| A further 19 people have died after testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths in England to 53, NHS England said. There has also been one death in Wales and one in Scotland bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 55. | A further 19 people have died after testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths in England to 53, NHS England said. There has also been one death in Wales and one in Scotland bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 55. |
| Here are the main points from Boris Johnson’s opening statement. | Here are the main points from Boris Johnson’s opening statement. |
| Johnson said everyone in the UK was now being asked to avoid all “non-essential contact” with other people. That meant they should be working from home if possible and avoiding pubs, clubs and theatres etc. He said: | Johnson said everyone in the UK was now being asked to avoid all “non-essential contact” with other people. That meant they should be working from home if possible and avoiding pubs, clubs and theatres etc. He said: |
| He said the advice to avoid unnecessary social contact was particularly important for the over-70s, people with underlying health conditions and pregnant women. He said: | He said the advice to avoid unnecessary social contact was particularly important for the over-70s, people with underlying health conditions and pregnant women. He said: |
| He said the government was now advising entire households to self-isolate for 14 days if someone developed a fever or a persistent cough. On Thursday last week the advice was just that the person with the illness should stay at home for seven days. He said: | He said the government was now advising entire households to self-isolate for 14 days if someone developed a fever or a persistent cough. On Thursday last week the advice was just that the person with the illness should stay at home for seven days. He said: |
| He said there would be specific advice soon for people with the most serious health conditions. He said: | He said there would be specific advice soon for people with the most serious health conditions. He said: |
| He said the measures were particularly important for Londoners. | He said the measures were particularly important for Londoners. |
| He said from tomorrow the UK government would not support mass gatherings. He said: | |
| He said the UK was now approaching “the fast growth part of the upward curve” for coronavirus. | He said the UK was now approaching “the fast growth part of the upward curve” for coronavirus. |