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UK coronavirus live: Dominic Raab gives briefing as official death toll rises to 29,427 UK coronavirus live: Raab says it would not be safe to reopen all schools; official death toll rises to 29,427
(32 minutes later)
Testing falls below 100,000-a-day target for third day in a row as UK deaths rise by 693 and trial begins for new contact-tracing appTesting falls below 100,000-a-day target for third day in a row as UK deaths rise by 693 and trial begins for new contact-tracing app
Michael Gove has hinted that the UK would be prepared to abandon its goal of getting a zero-tariff, zero-quotas trade deal with the EU if it did not relent on its demand for a level playing field.
Speaking to the House of Lords EU committee, the Cabinet Office minister said it might be a way of showing the EU how serious the UK was. He explained:
The EU wants the UK to commit to a level playing field in workers’ rights, environmental protections and state aid so that it doesn’t have a “Singapore-type” competitor on its door step.
Gove floated the idea of the UK accepting the case for a trade deal involving some tariffs as a solution. He said:
Here is a clip of the moment Matt Hancock, the health secretary, criticised the ‘tone’ of Labour shadow minister and A&E doctor Rosena Allin-Khan after she said the government’s lack of testing had cost lives. She also said the figures were being manipulated to achieve a goal of 100,000 tests a day.
Dr Allin-Khan later tweeted:
The press conference is now over.
Q: [From the Western Mail in Wales] These press conferences can be confusing for people in Wales, because some measures are UK-wide and some are England-only. Will you be clearer about this?
Raab says the advice has been “remarkably consistent” across all four UK nations.
Raab says it would be good to get sports events happening again. But this can only happen when the medical and scientific advice says it can be done safely.
Q: If sports are behind closed doors, will that apply until a vaccine is found?
Raab says he cannot look too far into the future because a vaccine is just one way of controlling the disease. Therapeutics (medicines) are another. Test, track and trace might be an answer too, he says.
Q: What are the prospects of schools opening in England?
Raab says he feels for parents dealing with home schooling, and for teachers.
He says the five tests are crucial. The government wants to avoid a second spike.
He says Sage is looking at different options. But they could not open all schools without a real risk of R going above 1, he says.
Raab says it would not be safe to reopen all schools.
Q: What do we know about obesity as a risk factor? Should people diet?
McLean says obesity does seem to make you more at risk.
It is best not to be obese, she says. But she says that there are better ways to control your weight than dieting.
Q: The Scottish government said today if schools went back in Scotland, hospitals could become overwhelmed, by as much as seven times. Does that apply to England?
McLean says it is hard to monitor children, because they tend to have very mild symptoms if they get it.
Q: Is it the right time to do Brexit talks? Or are there benefits from doing it now?
Raab says both sides will want to avoid uncertainty.
We are making good progress, he says. Or progress, he says, correcting himself.
But he says it is important to avoid future uncertainty. To do that, the UK and the EU should strike a trade deal. Both sides could then bounce back. Prolonging the uncertainty would make things worse, he says.
Q: Why is the end-of-year deadline so important?
The country wants certainty, Raab says.
Q: When the test, track and trace system is in place, do you think the death rate will come closer to the European average?Q: When the test, track and trace system is in place, do you think the death rate will come closer to the European average?
Raab says the UK has been able to flatten the peak because of public cooperation with the lockdown.Raab says the UK has been able to flatten the peak because of public cooperation with the lockdown.
He says test, track and trace should give the government the ability to move to the second phase.He says test, track and trace should give the government the ability to move to the second phase.
McLean says the global death comparison chart shows cumulative deaths. So the numbers won’t go down. They can only go flat.McLean says the global death comparison chart shows cumulative deaths. So the numbers won’t go down. They can only go flat.
And the UK will only match other countries if they catch up, McLean says. But she says she would not wish that on anyone.And the UK will only match other countries if they catch up, McLean says. But she says she would not wish that on anyone.
Q: It is looking as if the UK now has the highest death toll in Europe.Q: It is looking as if the UK now has the highest death toll in Europe.
Raab says his heart goes out to the families of all those who have died.Raab says his heart goes out to the families of all those who have died.
But he says he does not think we will get a real verdict until this is all over. All-cause excess mortality is what counts.But he says he does not think we will get a real verdict until this is all over. All-cause excess mortality is what counts.
He says countries count in different ways. And some are better at counting than others.He says countries count in different ways. And some are better at counting than others.
He says the ONS is one of the best organisations of its kind in the world. And he says the government wants the most accurate figures, because that shapes policy.He says the ONS is one of the best organisations of its kind in the world. And he says the government wants the most accurate figures, because that shapes policy.
The government dashboard with the latest death figures has now been updated. It shows that an extra 693 UK deaths have been reported.
Prof Dame Angela McLean, the deputy chief scientific adviser, is now presenting the daily slides.
Here are the transport figures. “It does trouble me,” she says, that transport use is creeping up.
Here are the latest testing figures.
(In this chart 100,000 a day is starting to look more like a peak than a new norm.)
Here is the chart with the recorded death figures.
This chart shows deaths by where they have occurred.
McLean says it shows how deaths in care homes are an increasing concern.
And here is the final slide, the global death comparison.
McLean says the UK figure is higher than they would wish.
Raab says the next stage won’t be easy.
While most people have rallied behind the fight against coronavirus, he says, some people are taking advantage. He says the government has evidence that sophisticated hackers, known as advanced persistent threat groups, are trying to take advantage of the crisis.
Cyber-experts in the UK and the US have, he says, published a joint statement today warning of the threat. There are various motives for these threats, from fraud to espionage. But they tend to be interested in stealing data, often working with other actors.
He says hostile states may be involved.
Raab warns that cybercriminals, aided by hostile states, are seeking to exploit coronavirus crisis.
Raab says that 84,803 coronavirus tests were carried out yesterday.
(That means the for the third day in a row testing has fallen below the 100,000 target set for the end of April.)
He says there have been 29,427 UK coronavirus deaths.
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, has just arrived for today’s government press conference.
Some horse races should be started without stalls as a means of reducing risk when the sport returns to action, two stalls handlers have told the Guardian. Our colleague Chris Cook has the story here.
Public trust in the work of scientists and health experts has grown during the coronavirus pandemic, amid a surge in misinformation about the virus, a poll has found.
The opinion poll by the Open Knowledge Foundation, an open data campaign group, found 64% of voters were now more likely to listen to expert advice from scientists and researchers, with only 5% saying they were less likely to do so.
The Survation poll also found 51% of the population had seen fake news about the coronavirus, including discredited claims that Covid-19 was linked to 5G mobile phone masts, on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
The English game is braced for losses of up to £380m if no matches are played this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Tom Harrison, CEO of the England and Wales Cricket Board.
The cricket season was due to begin on 2 April, but no matches will be played now until the start of July at the earliest. “We anticipate the cost of no cricket this year could be as bad as £380m. That is the worst-case scenario for us,” Harrison told the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee about the impact of coronavirus.
The full story is here.
The Scottish government’s latest document on its approach to easing the lockdown may have one of the dreariest titles ever – Covid-19: Framework for Decision Making, Further Information (pdf) – but it does provide solid and interesting insights into what the next few months might look like. It applies to Scotland, but the issues facing the rest of the UK are broadly the same, and it is likely that when Downing Street does get round to publishing its version, there will be many similarities.
As is often the case with official documents, the graphics are as illuminating as the text, and two in particular stand out.
This one, in annex B, sums up the Scottish government’s approach. It shows two things in particular,
First, it suggests that the Scottish government anticipates a possible second peak, albeit a much smaller one, at the end of the year. (Sir Patrick Vallance said earlier that the biggest risk of a second peak would come in the winter – see 11.37am.)
And, second, it implies that the current restrictions may not be fully lifted until the middle of next year.
And this one illustrates the relationship between case numbers (the number of infectious people, on the vertical axis), the reproduction number (R, on the horizontal axis), and the time it would take for coronavirus cases to overwhelm Scotland’s intensive care bed capacity (between one month and never, denoted by the different colour blocks).
The saltire on the chart represents roughly where Scotland is now. According to the report, the number of infectious people is estimated to be 26,000, and R is likely to be between 0.7 and 1.