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UK coronavirus live: Rishi Sunak gives government briefing as hospital death toll rises by 449 to 16,509
UK coronavirus live: 140,000 firms apply for relief from government furlough scheme; hospital death toll rises to 16,509
(33 minutes later)
Chancellor says 140,000 gowns have arrived from Myanmar; No 10 says priority is avoiding second peak of infections when it considers easing lockdown
Rishi Sunak says 140,000 gowns have arrived from Myanmar; No 10 says priority is avoiding second peak of infections when it considers easing lockdown
Sunak says the government is not just protecting businesses now. It is sowing the seeds for recovery.
Sunak is now wrapping up. As is normal at these events, he ends by repeating the government’s stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives message. And, quoting what Dominic Raab said last week, he says:
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is speaking now at the government press conference. He is appearing with Prof Dame Angela McLean, the deputy chief scientific adviser, and Yvonne Doyle, the medical director for NHS England.
I’ll post a summary soon.
He says a month ago he promised to set up a scheme to protect jobs. Today the coronavirus job retention scheme has opened for business, and by 4pm more than 140,000 firms had applied.
Q: Is this new approach, where you are taking equity in start-ups, something that you will want to maintain long term?
Stormont health minister Robin Swann has announced another 13 deaths in Northern Ireland.
Sunak says this is an unprecedented approach. The UK is a European start-ups success story, he says. In the past the government has not needed to do something like this. He says they will keep this policy under review.
Forty people were in hospital intensive care units earlier today, while hospitals yesterday recorded 88 Covid-19 admissions.
Q: Do you have any modelling that suggests who people might behave when the lockdown measures are relaxed?
In its rebuttal of yesterday’s Sunday Times Insight article mentioned earlier (see 10.39am) the government quoted the Lancet editor Richard Horton in its defence.
That is a good question, says McLean.
Today Horton claims his views were quoted out of context. He has posted a Twitter thread on this starting here.
She says the behavioural scientists who advise the government are careful. If they were here, they would probably say it was difficult to predict.
As of 5pm on 19 April, 16,509 people in hospital who tested positive for coronavirus and died, up by 449 from the day before. The full figures are here.
For example, who much will people go back to work when allowed? That is very hard to predict, she says.
A total of 386,044 people have been tested, of whom 124,743 have tested positive.
Q: Was the government too slow to ban major sports events?
Downing Street won’t discuss what its plan for easing the lockdown might look like, but the former prime minister Tony Blair is keen to explore the mechanics of how this might be achieved and his thinktank has published a report (pdf) on this topic which is well worth reading if you are at all curious about what the future might look like.
Sunak says that at every stage the government has followed the scientific advice, and by the need to make the right decisions at the right time.
Blair does not have a “magic bullet” solution (until a vaccine arrives, no one does), but he has a useful summary of the options.
But it has been an unprecedented situation, he says.
Here are three charts that summarise his argument.
He says he believes that was the right guidance at the right time.
This shows how hard it would be to relax the various measures in place without R, the reproduction number (the rate at new people get infected by every person with coronavirus), rising above 1. It puts the current rate at 0.7 and, based on Imperial College calculations, it says that it would be impossible to lift the main measures currently in place (except school closures) with R rising above 1.
Q: On 11 March Liverpool hosted a match against Atletico Madrid. Subsequently mass gatherings were banned. The mayor of Madrid says now it was a mistake to allow that match to go ahead. Do you agree?
The report argues that what is needed is a twin strategy of containment and shielding.
McLean says this has to be considered in the context of what the situation was at the time. Normally a football match is not a big risk. But of course you would not all that now.
This chart uses a traffic-light analysis to assess the merits of eight policy options.
Q: Can you promise councils that they get a fair funding settlement?
And this chart suggests how the UK could move out of the hard lockdown, via a “soft lockdown” towards “soft open”, as and when various new cases/testing/tracing/shielding thresholds are hit.
Sunak says he used to be a local government minister. Of course he wants to support local government, he says.
In an interview on Sky this morning Blair said that an exit strategy was essential because the lockdown would do crippling damage to the economy, government revenues and people’s lives if it were allowed to continue for too long. He said:
Q: Some self-employed people are not getting help. Do you see why people back a universal income? And shouldn’t universal credit be more generous?
Only 17 out of a potential 70 inmates who are either pregnant or held in a mother and baby unit (MBU) have been released from prison since the government announced the emergency measure three weeks ago, MPs and peers have heard.
Sunak says the UK’s scheme to help the self-employed is more generous than comparable schemes in other countries.
The Ministry of Justice announced on 31 March it would temporarily release pregnant women in custody and women held in MBUs who do not pose a high risk of harm “within days” to protect them from coronavirus.
On universal credit, he says people can get advance payments from day one.
There were 35 pregnant women in prison and 34 MBU inmates as of 6pm on 30 March. The justice secretary, Robert Buckland, told the Joint Committee on Human Rights that only 17 had been released so far.
Q: Tony Blair says he is terrified about the long-term consequences of the lockdown. Do you share that feeling? And is it correct that the Treasury analysis of the impact of the lockdown says there could be long-term damage to the economy, unlike the OBR’s, which was more optimistic?
He said:
Sunak says any responsible chancellor would have plans in place for a range of scenarios.
A new emergency hospital in Glasgow may not be needed because the coronavirus outbreak in Scotland appears to be plateauing thanks to high levels of public adherence to the lockdown, the hospital’s chief executive has confirmed.
He says this will be a challenging period. He will not be able to save every job. But he wants to get back to normal as soon as possible.
The Louisa Jordan hospital opened at the Scottish Events Campus for its first patients on Monday, with a potential capacity of 1,036 beds. Jill Young, its chief executive, said it would open beds 40 at a time, basing its occupancy on normal hospital ward numbers.
Q: Would you support health staff refusing to work without the proper equipment?
They have 100 staff on standby for the first patients but Young said there was no call yet on its facilities, which are due initially to remain at the SEC for five months but will remain there for as long as needed.
Doyle says the guidance is very clear. People have to make a judgment about how to interpret it. But the guidance says what is safe and what is not.
The number of Covid-19 patients in Scottish hospitals and in intensive care beds has begun to fall. There were more than 200 people in ITU units in mid-April, but only 169 this morning.
Q: Some medical organisations are very worried about the new guidance for PPE issued last Friday. They think these new guidelines are based on equipment availability, not safety?
Young said:
Doyle says the advice is precautionary. She says it is based on guidance that already exists, and on what the WHO says should be done in exceptional circumstances.
Young added that much of the equipment and furniture installed there would be reused within the NHS if the hospital was not required. Its construction and installation costs totalled £43m, with local businesses donating around £1m in supplies, including free concrete and steel.
Q: Do you have an estimate of the cost and the take-up for the furlough scheme?
From emergency arrivals to critical care, the Guardian was given extraordinary access to UHCW hospital in Coventry to document the Covid-19 pandemic. This photo essay by Jonny Weeks captures the contributions of those who save our lives
Sunak says the Treasury has not produced its own estimate. The OBR published one last week, he said.
The justice secretary, Robert Buckland, has told MPs any tracing app designed to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 would be “functionally limited” to prevent a “mission creep” that would change the relationship between the individual and the state.
(The OBR said the scheme might cost £42bn.)
The NHSX – the health service’s digital transformation arm – is developing an app that alerts users when they have been in contact with someone with coronavirus.
Q: There are suggestions that your death figures understate coronavirus deaths by 40%. Is that accurate?
But experts have warned that digital contact tracing will fail unless governments build the technology in a way that respects user privacy.
Doyle says the hospital data does not tell the whole story.
Quizzed by the SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC on the risks to privacy, Buckland, the cabinet minister responsible for human rights, said so far he had seen a “proper prioritisation of privacy and indeed security”.
She says 90% of deaths occur in hospital.
Buckland told a remote session of the Joint Committee on Human Rights:
But the pattern is different in different parts of the country.
Buckland said consultation had taken place with the Information Commissioner, the National Data Guardians Panel, and the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.
Q: The governor of the Bank of England does seem to favour 100% loan guarantees. Why don’t you agree?
He said:
Sunak says the governor said he wanted money to get to firms quickly. He says the level of support he has introduced is higher than in almost any other country.
Buckland said the app would be compliant with the GDPR, the Human Rights Act, and the Equality Act. “This is not an app that’s being designed for enforcement. That’s a very important point when considering the potential ramifications of this.
Q: The PM seems to be making it clear that he won’t relax the lockdown any time soon. Is that right?
The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, told the Andrew Marr show on Sunday, that the app was in beta-testing phase.
Sunak says they have been clear that they will follow the scientific advice.
Ofcom has ruled that London Live broke broadcasting rules and posed “significant harm to viewers in London during the pandemic” by broadcasting an 80-minute interview with David Icke.
In response to a question about the business loan scheme, Sunak says he is not persuaded by arguments saying he should provide a 100% loan guarantee, instead of an 80% loan guarantee.
The media regulator imposed a sanction on ESTV, which owns London Live, following the interview in which Icke suggested the coronavirus pandemic was part of a plot by governments to destroy the economy and conduct mass surveillance.
Doyle says it is a “concern” that health workers feel they do not have the PPE they need.
“Our investigation found David Icke expressed views which had the potential to cause significant harm to viewers in London during the pandemic,” Ofcom said in a statement.
According to Sky News, three RAF aircraft which are due to fly to Turkey to collect consignments of PPE (personal protective equipment) that the NHS was expecting today have yet to take off because they have not received confirmation that the packages are ready.
The government has announced that mortuaries will be expanded by 30,000 spaces during the coronavirus pandemic.
The BBC reports that this is a precautionary measure rather than a prediction of how many people will die.
Local government minister Simon Clarke said: “We all hope these contingencies will not be needed ... that requires everyone to play their part in the national effort.”
He added: “We’re trying to strike an appropriate balance.”
NHS England has announced 429 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 14,829.
Of the 429 new deaths announced today: 85 occurred on 19 April, 210 occurred on 18 April, and 53 occurred on 17 April.
The figures also show 77 of the deaths happened between 1 April and 16 April, and the remaining four deaths occurred in March, with the earliest new death thappening on 21 March.
The full details of the figures are here (pdf).
Plaid Cymru has called the Welsh government’s dropping of coronavirus testing targets “a scandal”.
The party’s shadow health minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “Testing has to be a priority. The World Health Organization said testing is the backbone of the war on coronavirus. Except in Wales, it seems – or does Welsh government know something the WHO doesn’t?”
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has confirmed the Welsh government will not meet the target it has set of carrying out 9,000 tests a day by the end of the month, blaming in part deliveries of equipment and reagents from abroad. He said no new target would be set but the government would report on the number of tests it had carried out weekly.
