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UK coronavirus live: Raab gives daily Downing Street briefing as death toll rises by 759 UK coronavirus live: Raab gives daily Downing Street briefing as death toll rises by 759
(32 minutes later)
Today’s rise takes UK hospital death toll to 18,100, as health secretary says 15 social care staff are among those to die with Covid-19Today’s rise takes UK hospital death toll to 18,100, as health secretary says 15 social care staff are among those to die with Covid-19
Whitty says the government does not yet have an antibody test that is as good as they want. This is critical. He is hoping they will soon have a test that wil give them a “ranging shot” as to what proportion of people, of different ages and in different parts of the country, have had the virus.
Q: Are you underusing the MoD?
Raab says the government is always considering what more can be done.
It has to deploy resources where they are most useful.
Carter says the MoD has deployed all the personnel it needs to deploy.
Q: Will the armed forces be more involved in drive-through centres?
Carter says the armed forces are trying to design the right sort of testing model. That is why they have tried mobile “pop-ups”. Some really good people are working on this.
Q: When will PPE shortages be resolved. A day? A week? Or can’t you say?
Whitty says he is not an international procurement expert. So he is saying what he is told, he says. He says the NHS has been “tight” for different items at different times.
But there may be “local issues”, he says.
To promise that in two or three days this would all be sorted would be a mistake, he says. He says the government is trying to manage this as best it can.
Q: Matt Hancock said we have reached the peak. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Will some measures be eased on 7 May?
Raab says there is light at the end of the tunnel. But we are not there yet. We are at the peak, he says.
Q: The Irish PM has said he will give the Irish people at least a roadmap for exiting the lockdown. Can’t you at least give people some idea of what is planned?
Raab says he has set out the five tests for easing the lockdown. The government needs more data, he says.
Q: The TSSA transport union has been told to prepare for more people using the rail service between 11 and 18 May. Is that when the lockdown might be eased?
Raab says he does not recognise those figures. He says it would be a mistake to take the eye of the ball at this point.
That is not a government timetable, he says. He says he does not know where the union got those dates.
Q: Why should foreign workers have to pay a surcharge for NHS use?
Raab says the home secretary has already outlined measures to ensure that foreign workers have their interests protected.
Q: There are figures suggesting a doubling of care home deaths. (See 1.19pm) Is that inevitable?
Raab says he does not see anything as inevitable.
Whitty says the CQC figures have not been published yet.
But he says he expects to see a high mortality rate for care homes. The people in care homes are a very vulnerable group, he says.
Whitty is now presenting the daily slides.
First, the transport one. Whitty say this is a proxy for compliance with the lockdown.
Here are the hospital figures numbers. Whitty says they are either stable or improving (in London).
Carter is speaking now. He says he has been asked to give an update on what the armed forces are doing.
They have concentrated on supporting the “heroic” frontline NHS staff, operating with “humility”, he says.
He says there is an established system for using the military to provide help to the civilian authorities. He says decision-making is decentralised. That has proved “extraordinarily successful”, he says.
He says this has been the single biggest logistical challenge the MoD has faced in his 40 years of service. He quotes figures highlighting what has been involved.
The armed forces are also in involved in testing, both in designing the tests, manning the test centres and providing innovative initiatives, like mobile testing.
The armed forces have helped with repatriation. And its 77 Brigade (its cyber warfare component) has been involved in tackling disinformation, he says.
As an example, he cites a reservist, a major who works for Google’s supply network in his day job. He has been involved in designing the coronavirus distribution effort.
Carter says the armed forces are still defending the UK, and are still involved in operations abroad.
He says 99-year-old Capt Tom Moore illustrates the sense of service everyone in the armed forces shares.
Raab says there have been problems.
But he says he has been on the phone every day pursuing PPE deliveries from abroad.
As the government works with partners to get PPE, it is also working with other countries to bring home stranded Britons. Over 13,000 people have been brought home on charter flights, he says.
Raab pays tribute to the work of the armed forces.
He says people used to joke in this country that the UK could never build a hospital as quickly as the Chinese built theirs.
But, with the help of the military, the UK built not just one, but seven, he says.
Raab summarises the government’s strategy.Raab summarises the government’s strategy.
It has been tough going, he says, for businesses, for families and for vulnerable people.It has been tough going, he says, for businesses, for families and for vulnerable people.
It has been a mental strain on people too, he says.It has been a mental strain on people too, he says.
We are making progress through the peak of this virus, he says. But we are not out of the woods yet.We are making progress through the peak of this virus, he says. But we are not out of the woods yet.
He says the biggest risk is a second spike.He says the biggest risk is a second spike.
He says the government has set out the five conditions that must apply before the government moves to the next phase.He says the government has set out the five conditions that must apply before the government moves to the next phase.
Raab starts by reading out the latest testing and mortality figures.Raab starts by reading out the latest testing and mortality figures.
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, is holding the daily government press conference. He is appearing with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and General Sir Nick Carter, the chief of the defence staff (ie, the head of the armed forces). Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, is holding the daily government press conference. He is appearing with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Gen Sir Nick Carter, the chief of the defence staff (ie, the head of the armed forces).
It is the first time Carter has appeared at one of these press conferences.It is the first time Carter has appeared at one of these press conferences.
An increasing number of Premier League clubs are actively discussing the possibility of bringing the season to an early end, with concerns growing over the feasibility of a return even behind closed doors.
The league is suspended indefinitely and, last week, a meeting of the 20 clubs reaffirmed the intention to complete the season when it is “safe and appropriate”.
However, the Guardian has spoken to clubs who have raised a range of concerns, the most immediate of which is a fear over the medical safety of playing a full contact sport while there is the risk of contracting Covid-19.
The full story is here.
During PMQs (see 12.30pm) the Labour MP Barry Gardiner (who briefly considered standing for the leadership) said the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) recommended an urgent lockdown to save lives on 26 February. But the government did not implement that for another three and a half weeks, he said. He said that showed the government was not following scientific advice - a claim Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state rejected.
Gardiner was referring to this paper (pdf), one of several Sage papers published in a batch when the government was under pressure to reveal the scientific advice it was getting.
The document does indeed show that the government has failed to follow the scientific advice (or at least the advice set out by Sage in that 26 February). However, it shows the scientists arguing against the hard lockdown measures subsequently announced by Boris Johnson on 23 March.
Here is the key extract. (I’ve added the bold type, to highlight the key passage.)
The four interventions were, in order: school closures; home isolation for people with symptoms; voluntary household quarantine when someone in a family has symptoms, and “social distancing” (described as people reducing contacts outside the home and workplace by 75%).
The document does not call for any of these measures to be introduced immediately. And it stresses that ultimately what should happen is a “political decision”, although the paragraph quoted above clearly implies that at that point the Sage scientists favoured measures 1 to 3, but not 4 (social distancing).
In the same document they argue that there might be advantages to allowing “the majority of the population ... [to] develop immunity, hopefully preventing any second wave, while reducing pressure on the NHS”.
Johnson did reject this proposal. He abandoned “herd immunity” (the concept endorsed here) and opted for a hard lockdown that went much further than the “social distancing” plan outlined in this document.
Buckingham Palace has announced the postponement of investitures due to be held in June and that the annual Garter Day service at Windsor Castle has been cancelled.
In a statement, the palace said this was “for practical reasons in the current circumstances”. It added:
Garter Day involves a grand procession of garter knights in ceremonial dress walking through Windsor Castle grounds to the service, accompanied by a marching band, and is a colourful highlight of the royal year.
It takes place the day before Royal Ascot. Ascot Racecourse has already announced the “difficult but unavoidable” decision not to hold Royal Ascot (16-20 June) as an event open to the public.
The race meeting is one of the highlights of the Queen’s calendar. Organisers are examining if there is a way to run the Royal Ascot races behind closed doors.
There have been a further eight deaths of patients in Northern Ireland who tested positive for Covid-19, the Public Health Agency has said.
The eight, along with a number of other deaths in previous days that have now been added to the official record, brings the total who have died with coronavirus in the region to 250, the agency added.
Labour says it has been approached by 36 British companies who say they have offered to help the government with the supply of PPE (personal protective equipment) and who say they have not had a reply. According to Labour, the 36 include:
In an open letter to Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, his Labour shadow, Rachel Reeves, has given details of all 36 companies (some of whom have asked not to be named). She told Gove:
Prince Charles has urged the world to reshape and reset towards a “green recovery” and more sustainable future once the coronavirus crisis has passed.
In a message to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, he said the slowdown of human and industrial activity during the pandemic showed how quickly the Earth could heal itself, highlighting improved air quality in some of the world’s major cities and the return of wildlife to communities and waterways.
He added:
Hundreds of people have become homeless during the coronavirus lockdown, the mayor of Greater Manchester has said.
Speaking at a weekly briefing on the region’s response to the pandemic on Wednesday, Andy Burnham said 344 people had been recorded as newly homeless and requiring accommodation since the strict restrictions were implemented.
He added that the Greater Manchester combined authority had helped 1,140 homeless people to be housed safely during the crisis but 115 people were still sleeping rough in the region. He said:
Burnham said government funding was only available to provide support for pre-identified homeless people during the pandemic, but those who were newly homeless did not qualify. He added:
In the latest episode of our Science Weekly podcast, the Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, speaks to Dr Dipesh Patel about the effects of Covid-19 on people with diabetes, including the role that glucose levels and a high BMI might play. Have a listen here.