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UK coronavirus live: PM urges caution on lockdown easing; Welsh schools won't reopen on 1 June UK coronavirus live: Dominic Raab to lead daily briefing after PM urges caution on lockdown easing
(31 minutes later)
ONS says black people at higher risk of dying from Covid-19; Sturgeon will consider allowing more outdoor exercise; PM to make lockdown statement at 7pm on SundayONS says black people at higher risk of dying from Covid-19; Sturgeon will consider allowing more outdoor exercise; PM to make lockdown statement at 7pm on Sunday
It sounds as if opposition party leaders at Westminter got exactly the same line from the PM as the cabinet (see 1.36pm) when he spoke to them at lunchtime. Commenting on the talks, a No 10 spokesman said:
Boris Johnson has posted this on Twitter. It’s a direct quote from the speech he gave outside No 10 on Monday last week (the El Alamein one).
It will be seen as yet more evidence that Downing Street is trying to contain expectations for next week. (See 1.36pm.)
Peter MacMahon from ITV Border thinks the PM may also be seeking to reduce tensions with the Scottish government.
The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in jails in England and Wales continues to rise slowly, the latest update from the Ministry of Justice shows, as the first official report into post-lockdown prison life was published.
As of 5pm on Wednesday, there were 390 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in prisoners across 74 prisons, a 1% rise in 24 hours, while the number of infected prison staff rose 3% to 447 workers in the same period.
At least 19 prisoners and six prison staff have contracted Covid-19 and died. There are 80,800 prisoners in England and Wales across 117 prisons, and around 33,000 prison staff in public-sector prisons.
Prisons are currently operating on a restricted regime. HM Inspectorate of Prisons published its first scrutiny report on Thursday on the function of prisons during the crisis, looking at three young offender institutions (YOI).
The report was broadly positive but found inconsistencies in the restrictive regime across the jails with one of the YOIs - Cookham Wood, in Kent - only releasing teenage inmates from cells for 40 minutes a day.
A charity for people with learning disabilities such as autism has released a “statement of rights” for people to show police on their mobile phones if they are questioned for potentially breaching the lockdown.
Enable Scotland said the statement, which has been designed in consultation with Police Scotland to be downloaded onto mobiles, followed complaints that many people with autism and other learning disabilities found the rules very stressful.
Guidance in Scotland states people should only leave home for exercise, once a day and for an hour, and to stay close to home. For some people those restrictions have caused distress and ill-health, Enable Scotland said, because leaving home several times a day is part of their normal routines and coping strategies.
They feared being stopped and challenged by the police. The latest Police Scotland data showed that by 24 April, the force had stopped nearly 8,000 for breaching the lockdown.
Nicole Forsyth, Enable Scotland’s delivery manager, said:
EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan has claimed the British team negotiating with Brussels on the future trade and security relationship plans to blame the economic costs of a no-deal result at the end of the year on the coronavirus pandemic.EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan has claimed the British team negotiating with Brussels on the future trade and security relationship plans to blame the economic costs of a no-deal result at the end of the year on the coronavirus pandemic.
Hogan, a former Irish minister, told the Irish national broadcaster RTE:Hogan, a former Irish minister, told the Irish national broadcaster RTE:
He also claimed the British government did not want the talks to succeed. He said:He also claimed the British government did not want the talks to succeed. He said:
As reported earlier, Downing Street rejected this claim. (See 2.02pm.)As reported earlier, Downing Street rejected this claim. (See 2.02pm.)
Hogan’s analysis is quite similar to Rafael Behr’s in his Guardian column today.Hogan’s analysis is quite similar to Rafael Behr’s in his Guardian column today.
Essential personal protective equipment worth £166,000 has been stolen from a warehouse in Greater Manchester, police have said.Essential personal protective equipment worth £166,000 has been stolen from a warehouse in Greater Manchester, police have said.
Officers were called to the Trafalgar Business Park in Salford following reports that a large amount of PPE had been taken.Officers were called to the Trafalgar Business Park in Salford following reports that a large amount of PPE had been taken.
Last month, Greater Manchester police launched an investigation after a masked thief ransacked an NHS office and stole PPE as well as number of laptops and a quantity of petty cash.Last month, Greater Manchester police launched an investigation after a masked thief ransacked an NHS office and stole PPE as well as number of laptops and a quantity of petty cash.
The raid took place at the offices of the Care Homes Medical Practice in Windsor Street, Salford, which cares for patients living in nursing and residential homes.The raid took place at the offices of the Care Homes Medical Practice in Windsor Street, Salford, which cares for patients living in nursing and residential homes.
The British public has already started to venture out and about more, despite lockdown measures not yet being relaxed, researchers have found.The British public has already started to venture out and about more, despite lockdown measures not yet being relaxed, researchers have found.
The analysis, by researchers at University College London, is based on data from the company Huq Industries that collected anonymised data, via an app, on where people are using their mobile phones, giving a sense of how many people are passing through an area across a given hour. This was then summed together to gauge activity levels across a day and then a week.The analysis, by researchers at University College London, is based on data from the company Huq Industries that collected anonymised data, via an app, on where people are using their mobile phones, giving a sense of how many people are passing through an area across a given hour. This was then summed together to gauge activity levels across a day and then a week.
Overall, looking across Greater London, Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Greater Glasgow, South Hampshire and the West Midlands, the team found such activity levels were 50% lower on average between 13-19 April compared with levels during 9-15 March, shortly before strong social distancing began. However, by early May levels had risen, and are now back at 60% of the level before 16 March.Overall, looking across Greater London, Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Greater Glasgow, South Hampshire and the West Midlands, the team found such activity levels were 50% lower on average between 13-19 April compared with levels during 9-15 March, shortly before strong social distancing began. However, by early May levels had risen, and are now back at 60% of the level before 16 March.
When the team looked at areas with different characteristics, for example zones known to be financial hubs or shopping areas, they further found that activity levels are higher in areas linked to jobs such as construction and domestic work than those associated with activities including tourism or finance. That, the team adds, could shed light on which jobs can be done from home – and which cannot.When the team looked at areas with different characteristics, for example zones known to be financial hubs or shopping areas, they further found that activity levels are higher in areas linked to jobs such as construction and domestic work than those associated with activities including tourism or finance. That, the team adds, could shed light on which jobs can be done from home – and which cannot.
Prof James Cheshire, a co-author of the study and deputy director of the ESRC Consumer Data Research Centre, told the Guardian: Prof James Cheshire, a co-author of the study and deputy director of the ESRC Consumer Data Research Centre, said:
Schools in Wales will not reopen on 1 June, regardless of decisions in England, the Welsh government announced this afternoon.Schools in Wales will not reopen on 1 June, regardless of decisions in England, the Welsh government announced this afternoon.
Kirtsy Williams, the Welsh education minister, said that “the situation in Wales will not change” on 1 June, in a statement designed to curtail speculation ahead of Boris Johnson’s speech on Sunday on when schools in England will be ending their lockdown.Kirtsy Williams, the Welsh education minister, said that “the situation in Wales will not change” on 1 June, in a statement designed to curtail speculation ahead of Boris Johnson’s speech on Sunday on when schools in England will be ending their lockdown.
The Welsh decision follows Nicola Sturgeon’s comment earlier this week that schools in Scotland may not return until the end of summer.The Welsh decision follows Nicola Sturgeon’s comment earlier this week that schools in Scotland may not return until the end of summer.
The health department in Northern Ireland has released its latest coronavirus death figures. There have been four new coronavirus deaths, taking the total to 422.The health department in Northern Ireland has released its latest coronavirus death figures. There have been four new coronavirus deaths, taking the total to 422.
The full details are here.The full details are here.
Labour has called on Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary and other ministers to explain “what they knew and why they didn’t fix the problems that were so clearly identified” in a secret government report from 2017 warned about problems with the UK’s flu pandemic preparedness. Liz Kendall, the shadow care minister, highlighted the warning in the Exercise Cygnus report, revealed today by the Guardian, about care homes’ lack of readiness to accept large numbers of patients discharged from hospital. She said the plan to protect the NHS relied on removing thousands of people from hospitals into care homes and without mandatory testing, and “care homes have struggled to cope mainly because they can’t effectively isolate them”.Kendall said:Labour has called on Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary and other ministers to explain “what they knew and why they didn’t fix the problems that were so clearly identified” in a secret government report from 2017 warned about problems with the UK’s flu pandemic preparedness. Liz Kendall, the shadow care minister, highlighted the warning in the Exercise Cygnus report, revealed today by the Guardian, about care homes’ lack of readiness to accept large numbers of patients discharged from hospital. She said the plan to protect the NHS relied on removing thousands of people from hospitals into care homes and without mandatory testing, and “care homes have struggled to cope mainly because they can’t effectively isolate them”.Kendall said:
Covid-19 has spread rapidly in care homes, killing 6,686 people up to 1 May in England and Wales, and deaths in care homes now account for a third of all virus fatalities.Covid-19 has spread rapidly in care homes, killing 6,686 people up to 1 May in England and Wales, and deaths in care homes now account for a third of all virus fatalities.
Newsnight’s James Clayton has a useful Twitter thread on why the government is finding it so hard to meet the daily testing figure it managed at the end of last week. It starts here.
At the start of the science committee hearing Sir Ian Diamond, the UK’s national statistician, announced that the ONS would start publishing data next week showing what the incidence of coronavirus is in the population.
Current coronavirus figures are based on the number of people who test positive. The ONS is trying to get a more representative figure, based on sampling (a bit like an opinion poll).
He also said that the indirect health impacts of the crisis could persist for a very long time.
And he said the epidemic in care homes would not go away soon.
Sir Ian Diamond, the UK’s national statistician, is also giving evidence to the Commons science committee. Referring to what Prof John Edmunds said about the R number (see 3.15pm), he said that it was important to understand that the R number on its own was not all that matters. Prevalence mattered too, he said. He explained:
Prof John Edmunds, who is head of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has just started giving evidence to the Commons science committee. He is a member of Sage, the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, and his team has provided some of the modelling considered by Sage as it advises the government.
Asked for his current estimate of R, the reproduction number (the rate at which people are getting infected), he told the committee he thought it was between 0.75 and 1. He said two weeks ago he would have given a different figure, between 0.6 and 0.8.
But he said that this was because the nature of the spread had changed. He said that there was much less community transmission now. Coronavirus was not spreading widely in the community now, he said. But he said that it was still spreading in closed settings like hospitals, which explained why the latest number was higher.
UPDATE: See 3.23pm for some helpful context to this.
The Foreign Office has announced five more rescue flights for British nationals still stranded in India, seven weeks after lockdown.
Dominic Raab was heavily criticised for not laying on the flights earlier. The charter planes from Amritsar and Ahmedabad next week bring the total flights from the country to 64, transporting 16,500 people home, said the minister for south Asia, Tariq Ahmad.
The government has pushed to delay the legal challenge to its lockdown legislation by a millionaire businessman, asking for an extension to the deadline for a response.
It wrote to the Jota Aviation owner Simon Dolan to ask for another week to respond to the “letter before legal action”, but his lawyer has given the government until Tuesday on the grounds of the urgent public interest.
Dolan’s lawyers have argued the lockdown was imposed ultra vires - outside the legal authority - because it implemented regulations under the Public Health Act 1984 instead of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 or the emergency Coronavirus Act 2020.
They have also argued that the legal test that must be passed at every stage of lockdown review is faulty because it is based on one set of metrics, Covid-19 data, and not wider health outcomes from cancelled cancer and other life-saving treatments or economic data.
His lawyers say they have hired the human rights lawyer Philip Havers QC, a barrister and deputy high court judge, to press the case.
NHS England has announced another 383 deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 22,432. The full details are here (pdf).
Of the 383 new deaths announced today, 58 occurred on 6 May, 120 occurred on 5 May and 29 occurred on 4 May.
The figures also show 29 of the new deaths took place on 1-3 May, 131 took place in April, and the remaining 16 deaths occurred in March, with the earliest new death taking place on 19 March.
NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago.
This is because of the time it takes for patients to be confirmed as having tested positive for Covid-19, for postmortem examinations to be processed and for data to be validated.
Britain’s medicines regulator has issued a warning about medicines and other products being sold online that are claimed to treat or prevent Covid-19, saying they may pose a threat to life.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said it had been receiving reports of “miracle cures”, “antiviral misting sprays” and antiviral medicines being sold through websites by British users of Facebook and Amazon as a treatment for the virus.
Colloidal silver, which can lead to skin turning a light bluish-grey and has been touted in the past by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Debbie McGee, has been the target of action by the US authorities. However, it continues to be sold below the radar in the UK on Amazon and Facebook Marketplace.
One Facebook seller in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, claimed the “Crystal Silver” being sold would act against flu and coronavirus.
Lynda Scammell, a senior enforcement advisor at the MHRA, said:
The UK sales of colloidal silver were flagged up by a new grouping, Youth Against Misinformation, which is supported by youth organisation Restless Development and the anti-hate organisation Center for Countering Digital Hate. One of the members of the new group, Sara, said: