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| UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson remains in hospital 'for observation' after 'comfortable night' | UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson remains in hospital 'for observation' after 'comfortable night' |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Downing Street does not deny prime minister received oxygen treatment as cabinet meeting on Tuesday postponed | Downing Street does not deny prime minister received oxygen treatment as cabinet meeting on Tuesday postponed |
| Chief Supt Paul Griffiths, President of the Police Superintendents’ Association, told MPs there is currently an absentee rate across the police estate of 13%. | |
| The total workforce as at September last year, which was the most recently available official statistics, was 205,000, 13% would equal around 26,650. | |
| Answering questions from the MP Tim Loughton on the home affairs select committee, Griffiths said no forces were highlighting risk at this stage in terms of service provision. Griffiths said: “The absent rate is approximately 13% across the whole national establishment, covering police and staff. Some are sick, some self isolating, some with caring responsibilities.” | |
| He added: “Even with that capacity issue, none of the police forces are flagging up anything they can’t cope with at this stage.” | |
| More from our home affairs correspondent Jamie Grierson on this afternoon’s remote session of the Home Affairs Select Committee. | |
| Sgt Simon Kempton, the operational lead for Covid-19 at the Police Federation of England and Wales, has told MPs that there are early indications of an increase in suicide attempts and suicides during the lockdown. | |
| Answering questions from Stephen Doughty MP during the session, Kempton said: “At the moment, we are coping but we’re starting to see in some areas, particularly specialist areas, that the burden is starting to rise as we lose staff.” | |
| “It’s going to be vital that we keep an eye on that. There are very early indications of an increase in suicide attempts and suicides - it’s far too early to say if that’s a real trend, but there are early indications of that. Quite often the police are the agency who are trying to deal with that situation.” | |
| Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag stage show, which spawned two television series and helped catapult her to international stardom, is to be streamed to raise money for coronavirus charities. | |
| The west end run of Fleabag was one of the hottest theatre tickets of 2019. In September it was broadcast live to cinema audiences through National Theatre Live. | |
| From Monday afternoon viewers in the UK and Ireland will be able to stream a recording of the show via the Soho Theatre’s on demand site. It will cost £4 with the money going to charities. | |
| The show, first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013, will also be available on Amazon Prime for a fortnight from 10 April. | |
| Proceeds will go to charities which include the National Emergencies Trust (NET), NHS Charities Together and Acting For Others, as well as a newly launched Fleabag Support Fund which will distribute grants of £2500 to freelancers working in the UK theatre industry affected by the crisis. | |
| Waller-Bridge said: “I hope this filmed performance of Fleabag can help raise money while providing a little theatrical entertainment in these isolated times. Thank you to all our partners and to the creative team who have waived their royalties from this production to raise money for such vital causes in this unbelievably challenging situation. | |
| “All money raised will support the people throughout our society who are fighting for us on the front lines and those financially devastated by the crisis, including those in the theatre community. Thank you in advance to those who donate. Now go get into bed with Fleabag! It’s for charity! Px” | |
| JK Rowling has said she has “fully recovered” after experiencing “all symptoms” in line with Covid-19. | |
| The Harry Potter author said she had been ill for two weeks although she has not been tested for the virus. | |
| Back in the remote sessions of the home affairs select committee, police leaders have called for more “emotional engagement” with the public to convince them to adhere to the lockdown restrictions. | |
| Sergeant Simon Kempton, operational lead for Covid-19 response at the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents tens of thousands of rank and file officers, said the messaging is focused on enforcement, rather than on an emotional level, which could address the minority of the public who do not want to comply with the restrictions. | |
| Kempton said: | |
| Kempton added that the “vast majority” of the public were complying and understood why the restrictions were being applied. | |
| “There are still a minority of members of the public who simply do not wish to comply with the restrictions,” Kempton said. | |
| “We saw over the weekend with the nice weather, some of my colleagues, having a monumental task, one or two officers having to empty a park with hundreds of people in it. Most of those individuals wanted to argue their case as to why they were doing something within the guidelines. | |
| “What would help perhaps is engaging the public on an emotional level, so more of them wanting to comply, not just that they felt they had to comply, but they wanted to comply. | |
| “And that would relieve some of the burden on my colleagues and we’d have to deal with fewer people. | |
| “If we get that emotional engagement with the public so they want to help the collective effort we’ll have to go to enforcement on far fewer occasions.” | |
| British tourists stranded in Nepal say they have had to turn to the embassies of other European countries for help, after the British government failed to rescue them. | British tourists stranded in Nepal say they have had to turn to the embassies of other European countries for help, after the British government failed to rescue them. |
| Maria Terziska, who arrived back in the UK yesterday on a French rescue flight, said, “I have never felt so helpless in my life… It was a really scary situation and it felt like the British embassy did not care about anyone or anything.” | Maria Terziska, who arrived back in the UK yesterday on a French rescue flight, said, “I have never felt so helpless in my life… It was a really scary situation and it felt like the British embassy did not care about anyone or anything.” |
| Terziska said she was trekking in the Everest region when she heard that the Foreign Office was advising British nationals to return home. | Terziska said she was trekking in the Everest region when she heard that the Foreign Office was advising British nationals to return home. |
| “The British embassy did nothing to get us back to Kathmandu, it was the Nepali tourism authorities and our tour guide who got us back,” she said. | “The British embassy did nothing to get us back to Kathmandu, it was the Nepali tourism authorities and our tour guide who got us back,” she said. |
| In Kathmandu, Terziska said she was unable to get any information about flights from the embassy, so she turned to the French for help. | In Kathmandu, Terziska said she was unable to get any information about flights from the embassy, so she turned to the French for help. |
| Another British trekker, Scott Hopkinson, managed to return to the UK on a German rescue flight. “I felt so stressed. There was no clarity from the British embassy. It was giving out conflicting information,” said Hopkinson. | Another British trekker, Scott Hopkinson, managed to return to the UK on a German rescue flight. “I felt so stressed. There was no clarity from the British embassy. It was giving out conflicting information,” said Hopkinson. |
| The British embassy in Kathmandu announced today that rescue flights for British nationals would be leaving on Wednesday and Friday, almost two weeks after German and French tourists began to be evacuated. | The British embassy in Kathmandu announced today that rescue flights for British nationals would be leaving on Wednesday and Friday, almost two weeks after German and French tourists began to be evacuated. |
| A seat on the flights arranged by the British embassy costs £800, twice the cost of the French rescue flight. | A seat on the flights arranged by the British embassy costs £800, twice the cost of the French rescue flight. |
| Foreign secretary Dominic Raab announced last week that the government had allocated £75million for rescue flights to repatriate British citizens stranded abroad by the coronavirus. | Foreign secretary Dominic Raab announced last week that the government had allocated £75million for rescue flights to repatriate British citizens stranded abroad by the coronavirus. |
| On March 22, the Nepal government banned all international flights. The announcement came at the height of the tourist season when tens of thousands of visitors arrive to trek and climb in the Himalayas. | On March 22, the Nepal government banned all international flights. The announcement came at the height of the tourist season when tens of thousands of visitors arrive to trek and climb in the Himalayas. |
| Two days later the government announced a lockdown, leaving many trekkers trapped in remote regions, struggling to return the capital Kathmandu, which has the country’s only international airport. | Two days later the government announced a lockdown, leaving many trekkers trapped in remote regions, struggling to return the capital Kathmandu, which has the country’s only international airport. |
| The Foreign Office has been approached for comment. | The Foreign Office has been approached for comment. |
| Detectives will work with body recovery teams to check if there are any suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths of suspected coronavirus victims in the community. | |
| Small police units are undergoing training alongside fire brigade and NHS staff to collect the dead across London and ease pressure on hospitals and the London ambulance service. | |
| The teams, who have been given personal protective equipment (PPE), will attend houses, care homes and hospices to confirm the death and identity of the deceased. | |
| Pandemic Multi-Agency Response Teams began working in the capital last Tuesday amid projections that about a third of suspected Covid-19 deaths could happen outside hospitals. | |
| Team members are understood to have volunteered to take on the role, with Scotland Yard’s Supt Wayne Matthews telling them they should not “underestimate how unpleasant this task is going to be”. | |
| “What we are asking the officers to do is essentially deal with one fatality, then another and then another,” he told PA Media. | |
| “So obviously the mental robustness and physical aptitude to be able to do this is why we asked for volunteers, people who felt they were able to do this.” | “So obviously the mental robustness and physical aptitude to be able to do this is why we asked for volunteers, people who felt they were able to do this.” |
| After dealing with a case, the teams have the option of a “decompression period” to help them deal with the mental toll. | After dealing with a case, the teams have the option of a “decompression period” to help them deal with the mental toll. |
| In lighter news, a dalek has been spotted patrolling the streets of Robin Hood’s Bay, in North Yorkshire, ordering residents to “stay indoors”. | In lighter news, a dalek has been spotted patrolling the streets of Robin Hood’s Bay, in North Yorkshire, ordering residents to “stay indoors”. |
| In a video shared on social media, the Doctor Who villain demanded: “All humans must stay indoors. All humans will self-isolate. By order of the Daleks.” | In a video shared on social media, the Doctor Who villain demanded: “All humans must stay indoors. All humans will self-isolate. By order of the Daleks.” |
| It follows other, er, inventive responses to encourage Britons to follow lockdown guidance. Earlier we reported that a Derbyshire police officer had taken to rapping through a megaphone while patrolling the streets. | It follows other, er, inventive responses to encourage Britons to follow lockdown guidance. Earlier we reported that a Derbyshire police officer had taken to rapping through a megaphone while patrolling the streets. |
| She urged people to: “Take our advice and you may not get sick. Stay at home whenever you can. Don’t go out on the streets with your fam.” | She urged people to: “Take our advice and you may not get sick. Stay at home whenever you can. Don’t go out on the streets with your fam.” |
| The Open 2020 has been cancelled in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the first time since the second world war that the major has not been played. | The Open 2020 has been cancelled in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the first time since the second world war that the major has not been played. |
| The Open was due to be played at Royal St George’s in Kent from 12-19 July but the course will instead host the championship a year later in 2021. | The Open was due to be played at Royal St George’s in Kent from 12-19 July but the course will instead host the championship a year later in 2021. |
| St Andrews, which had been due to host the championship in 2021, will now play host to the 150th Open in 2022.Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A, said: “We care deeply about this historic championship and have made this decision with a heavy heart. We appreciate that this will be disappointing for a great many people around the world but we have to act responsibly during this pandemic and it is the right thing to do.” | St Andrews, which had been due to host the championship in 2021, will now play host to the 150th Open in 2022.Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A, said: “We care deeply about this historic championship and have made this decision with a heavy heart. We appreciate that this will be disappointing for a great many people around the world but we have to act responsibly during this pandemic and it is the right thing to do.” |