This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/may/04/uk-coronavirus-live-draft-rules-on-post-lockdown-workplaces-leaked

The article has changed 23 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 14 Version 15
UK coronavirus live: Nightingale hospital in London put 'on standby' after running out of patients, No 10 says UK coronavirus live: Nightingale hospital in London put 'on standby' after running out of patients, No 10 says
(32 minutes later)
No 10 says it was not a mistake to open Nightingale hospitals despite them being largely unused; England reports 204 new deaths, Northern Ireland six more, Wales 14 more and Scotland five moreNo 10 says it was not a mistake to open Nightingale hospitals despite them being largely unused; England reports 204 new deaths, Northern Ireland six more, Wales 14 more and Scotland five more
Robert Jenrick said the government will ensure councils are “fully compensated” for the Covid-19 tasks they are asked to undertake. Thanks to everyone who has been emailing over news tips to me. Please do continue to share your thoughts and insights.
He told the Housing and Local Government Committee: “Of course some councils are doing things over and above what we’ve asked and that’s absolutely their right to do so, and I respect them making those decisions and those are matters for councils, but where we’ve asked councils to do things, we are going to ensure they are fully compensated.” Twitter: @sloumarshInstagram: sarah_marsh_journalistEmail: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Chairman Clive Betts said multiple councils are saying they have committed to spend, or have already spent, more money than the Government has given them. Even if only 20% of the population downloads the tracing-contact app it will start generating useful health information, the head of the NHS’s digital arm has told MPs and peers.
Giving evidence to parliament’s joint committee on human rights, Matthew Gould, chief executive of NHSX said children as young as 16 – and possibly younger - could be recruited to the pilot project being launched on the Isle of Wight.
“If we are going to gain the level of engagement from the public we need to win their trust,” he told committee members. The app will not know the identity of those who join it but they will be asked to register the first half of their post code “so that we can tell where hotspots [of infection] are building up”.
“We have put privacy right at the heart of the app and the way it works,” Gould added. “You don’t have to give your personal details. You can always choose to delete it. The app by itself is not a silver bullet. It’s part of a wider strategy.
“Even if the take-up rate is 20% that gives us important insights into how the virus is spreading. At 40 or 50% it will make a big difference. We have tried to have an approach of transparency …. but there will be unexpected consequences. Data is deleted in a 28-day cycle from the phone.”
Last week MPs on the Commons culture committee had a frustrating time at a hearing when they tried to get answers from representatives of Facebook, Google and Twitter about what they were doing to halt the spread of disinformation about coronavirus. Now Julian Knight, the committee chair, has written to the three companies with a series of follow-up questions. In a statement he accused them of being “deeply unhelpful”. He said:
An elderly resident has died at the care home on Skye where nearly all the residents and half the staff have contracted Covid-19. The BBC has reported the owners of the Home Farm home in Portree confirming one of its residents had died, after it emerged 29 of its 34 residents, and half its 52 staff had tested positive for the virus.
“Our thoughts and sympathies are with the family who has lost a loved one,” a spokesman said.
The army has set up a mobile testing centre on Skye after local NHS managers ordered an urgent test and trace programme, to track the virus within the wider community. All the affected staff have been ordered home to self-isolate for seven days, while their immediate families have been asked to isolate for 14 days.
Scottish government data shows more than half of Scotland’s care homes have had at least one Covid-19 case since the start of the pandemic, with some reporting multiple fatalities. There have been 3,500 confirmed or suspected cases in care homes and as of last Sunday, 40% of care homes had at least one live case.
Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, said the government would ensure councils were “fully compensated” for the Covid-19 tasks they were asked to undertake. He told the housing and local government committee:
The committee chairman, Clive Betts, said multiple councils were saying they had committed to spend, or had already spent, more money than the government had given them.
Jenrick replied: “From the returns that we have received so far, covering the first two months of the response, March and April, it’s clear that the funding we have provided is more than enough in total for the response that is being done brilliantly on the ground by local councils.”Jenrick replied: “From the returns that we have received so far, covering the first two months of the response, March and April, it’s clear that the funding we have provided is more than enough in total for the response that is being done brilliantly on the ground by local councils.”
Some additional funding has also been directed to lower tier authorities which have suffered “irrecoverable losses” due to fees lost from car parks and leisure centres. Some additional funding has also been directed to lower-tier authorities which have suffered “irrecoverable losses” due to fees lost from car parks and leisure centres.
The Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke, fears fans will not be returning to football stadiums “any time soon”, PA Media reports. “The reality is that we just don’t know how things are going to pan out,” Clarke said in a letter to the FA Council sent on Friday. “But with social distancing in place for some time to come, we do face substantial changes to the whole football ecosystem.”The Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke, fears fans will not be returning to football stadiums “any time soon”, PA Media reports. “The reality is that we just don’t know how things are going to pan out,” Clarke said in a letter to the FA Council sent on Friday. “But with social distancing in place for some time to come, we do face substantial changes to the whole football ecosystem.”
The full story is here.The full story is here.
Britain and Ireland should make more use of their island status in tackling the Covid-19 outbreak, a public health expert has said.Britain and Ireland should make more use of their island status in tackling the Covid-19 outbreak, a public health expert has said.
Speaking at the “independent Sage” (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] meeting (see 9.29am) chaired by Sir David King, Prof Gabriel Scally, visiting professor of public health at the University of Bristol, pointed to the approach of countries like New Zealand. He said: Speaking at the “independent Sage” meeting (see 9.29am) chaired by Sir David King, Prof Gabriel Scally, visiting professor of public health at the University of Bristol, pointed to the approach of countries such as New Zealand. He said:
Scally noted that unlike many countries, Britain and Ireland have maintained open borders in the face of Covid-19. Scally noted that unlike many countries, Britain and Ireland had maintained open borders in the face of Covid-19.
“That seems to me, as we go into a situation where we are thinking of lifting restrictions, places us in sudden jeopardy,” he said, adding that a key issue in countries including China at present is cases of coronavirus imported into the country, including from citizens who have returned from travelling abroad. Scally went on: “That seems to me, as we go into a situation where we are thinking of lifting restrictions, places us in sudden jeopardy,” he said, adding that a key issue in countries including China at present was cases of coronavirus imported into the country, including from citizens who had returned from travelling abroad. Scally went on:
The TUC has warned the government’s draft guidelines for getting employees back to work (see 2.50pm) during the coronavirus crisis will put people’s health at risk and cannot be supported in their current form, our colleague Rowena Mason reports. The TUC has warned that the government’s draft guidelines for getting employees back to work (see 2.50pm) during the coronavirus crisis will put people’s health at risk and cannot be supported in their current form, our colleague Rowena Mason reports.
BuzzFeed has published details of the seven draft guidance documents drawn up by the government intended to show what firms in seven different sorts of work settings will need to do to protect staff when the lockdown gets lifted.BuzzFeed has published details of the seven draft guidance documents drawn up by the government intended to show what firms in seven different sorts of work settings will need to do to protect staff when the lockdown gets lifted.
And these are from Alex Wickham, who published the story.And these are from Alex Wickham, who published the story.
Boris Johnson is now contributing, via a pre-recorded video speech, to the coronavirus global response international pledging conference. He said finding a vaccine was “the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes”.Boris Johnson is now contributing, via a pre-recorded video speech, to the coronavirus global response international pledging conference. He said finding a vaccine was “the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes”.
And in Northern Ireland a further six coronavirus deaths have been announced, taking the total to 387.
The dashboard with the full details is here.
Public Health Wales has reported 14 new coronavirus deaths in Wales, taking the total to 997.
A total of 1,576 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by five from 1,571 on Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, said earlier.
She said that there are 99 people in intensive care with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms in Scotland, no change from yesterday. And she said there are 1,720 people in hospital in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, an increase of 54.
The full figures are here.
NHS England has announced 204 new deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 21,384. The full details are here (pdf).
Of the 204 new deaths announced today, 54 occurred on 3 May, 108 occurred on 2 May and 24 occurred on 1 May.
The government has announced a £14m fund to help zoos and aquariums look after their animals in the face of pandemic closures.
Zoos and aquariums have lost visitor income having been forced to shut due in the lockdown, but still face the costs of looking after the animals in their care.
The government said the funding would help zoos cover costs relating to keeping the animals and ensuring welfare standards are upheld – helping pay for things such as feed, heating and security.
The environment department (Defra) also said it would continue to work with some of the largest zoos to discuss additional concerns about funding in the longer term.
The chief medical officer for Wales, Frank Atherton, is going to “formalise his advice” to the Welsh government on whether people should wear non-clinical face coverings, the first minister, Mark Drakeford, said. Drakeford explained:
Thanks to those following the Guardian’s live feed. Please do get in touch to share your comments and news tips with us. They are always really useful.
Twitter: @sloumarshInstagram: sarah_marsh_journalistEmail: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Easing the lockdown has the potential to divide communities that have come together during the the coronavirus outbreak if changes to the rules are perceived to be unfair, a senior scientist has warned.
Prof Susan Michie, a behavioural psychologist at UCL, said that while the lockdown had led to a collective spirit in communities, the uneven lifting of lockdown measures risked harming the solidarity that will be needed in the longer term. Speaking at the “independent Sage” (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] meeting (see 9.29am) chaired by Sir David King, Michie said:
She added that if changes to the rules were seen as unjust and unfair, they could “lead to resentment and anger and people being alienated from the collective and what’s being asked of them.”
Michie, who is also a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza group on behaviour, which feeds into the official government Sage, added that lockdown has already hit the disadvantaged hardest and that the way it was lifted risked driving inequality further.
She told the meeting that it was crucial people from across society had financial security, that messaging was specific to different groups of society, and that more effort should be put into bottom-up community-level approaches to emerging from the lockdown.
“Communities have been very impressive in how they’ve come together and this needs to be kept going,” she said. “Communities need to be mobilised for the longer term.”
The government has now published a list of the experts who have participated in meetings of Sage, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, as well as other expert groups that have been giving advice to the government on coronavirus. The details are here.
Sage does not have a fixed membership. Different experts are invited to attend depending on what topic is being discussed. The government has named 50 members, who it says “have provided input as experts at one or more meetings”. It says two other participants asked not to be named.
But the list does not include the names of non-expert government officials who have also attended. Downing Street was furious when the Guardian reported recently that Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, has attended and participated in meetings. Cummings is a history graduate, not a scientist, and although some Sage members did not object to his participation, others claimed it was not appropriate.
The daily Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished. Here are the key points.
The prime minister’s spokesman said that the NHS Nightingale hospital in London - the 4,000-bed emergency hospital set up within days in the ExCel centre, would be put “on standby”. He said that it was not expected to admit any new patients in the coming days, and he said as a result it would be put on standby, ready to receive patients if needed. He said there were five Nightingale hospitals open in total in England, and another two being prepared. The spokesman would not confirm that the ones outside London would also be put on hold too. But he said that the fact that the Nightingale hospitals were largely not be used did not mean that opening them was a mistake. He said:
Asked if they had been a waste of money, he said: “Absolutely not.”
The spokesman did not contest reports saying that Boris Johnson is planning to unveil details of his plan to start relaxing the lockdown in a speech on Sunday. The spokesman said the government has to review by current lockdown measures by Thursday. But there was no fixed date for an update to be given to the public, he said. He would not confirm the reports that Johnson is planning a speech for Sunday. But he went on:
The spokesman did not challenge a comment from Nicola Sturgeon saying the lockdown will continue beyond Thursday. Asked about Sturgeon’s comment, the spokesman said:
The spokesman said that lifting the lockdown too soon would be “the worst thing” that could be done. He said:
The spokesman played down suggestions that the government would relax its two-metre rule. Asked about Ben Wallace’s comment to this effect this morning (see 8.49am), he said:
The spokesman said that Wallace had been “reflecting the existing advice, which says that people should remain two metres apart wherever possible”.
The spokesman said that a list of members of Sage, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, would be published today. And this week the government will publish more of the Sage advice to government on coronavirus.