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UK coronavirus live: Raab says any change to lockdown will be modest and incremental; death toll reaches 30,615
UK coronavirus live: Britain comes together to clap for carers on Covid frontline
(about 1 hour later)
Government misses 100k testing target for fifth day in a row; PM urges ‘maximum caution’ on lockdown easing; Welsh schools will not reopen on 1 June
Government misses 100k testing target for fifth day in a row as death toll reaches 30,615
Police forces across the country have paid tribute to NHS and key workers.
Staff and commuters at Euston station in London stop in their tracks to take part in the applause.
Birmingham Children’s Hospital with a shout out to those who participated in the nationwide applause.
The National Trust tweets a floral tribute.
A tweet from Pentonville Prison in north London.
The Premier League says thank you to NHS workers, social care workers and health workers across the world.
The ritual applause, banging of kitchen utensils and the occasional firework is now in its seventh week as part of the Clap for Carers initiative.
Thousands of people across the UK are preparing to unite again at 8pm to applaud NHS and key workers in the fight against coronavirus.
Downing Street said the prime minister emphasised his commitment to collaborative working with the devolved governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Stormont and also insisted he had no intention of risking a fresh upsurge in Covid-19 infections by relaxing the lockdown too far or too soon.
Downing Street said the prime minister emphasised his commitment to collaborative working with the devolved governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Stormont and also insisted he had no intention of risking a fresh upsurge in Covid-19 infections by relaxing the lockdown too far or too soon.
However, No 10 confirmed Boris Johnson was happy for the lockdown to be relaxed at different paces in different parts of the UK, after Nicola Sturgeon and the Welsh government said separately they would ease the lockdown at the best pace for their nations. A spokeswoman said:
However, No 10 confirmed Boris Johnson was happy for the lockdown to be relaxed at different paces in different parts of the UK, after Nicola Sturgeon and the Welsh government said separately they would ease the lockdown at the best pace for their nations. A spokeswoman said:
Boris Johnson will announce “modest, small, incremental and very carefully monitored” changes to the lockdown at 7pm on Sunday, Dominic Raab said. The government moved to manage expectations about how far restrictions will be loosened next week, stressing it will exercise “maximum caution” with easing any measures. The announcement came amid rising tensions between the UK and devolved governments, with the prime minister yet to share details of his lockdown plan with the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, prompting devolved leaders to make pre-emptive announcements of their own (more below). The government also, unusually, did not formally extend the lockdown as required by law today.
Boris Johnson will announce “modest, small, incremental and very carefully monitored” changes to the lockdown at 7pm on Sunday, Dominic Raab said. The government moved to manage expectations about how far restrictions would be loosened next week, stressing it would exercise “maximum caution” with easing any measures. There is rising tension between the UK and devolved governments, with the prime minister yet to share details of his lockdown plan with the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, prompting devolved leaders to make pre-emptive announcements of their own (more below). The government also, unusually, did not formally extend the lockdown as required by law today.
Black men and women are four times more likely to die after contracting Covid-19 than white people, new research from the ONS revealed. When allowance is made for this, black people are still 1.9 times more likely to die with coronavirus than their white counterparts. People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani, Indian, and mixed ethnicities are also significantly more likely to die from coronavirus than their white counterparts. Social factors including living in overcrowded, multifamily or intergenerational households, relative deprivation, and working in public-facing occupations help explain why this is the case for BAME people, there is much to still be explained, the ONS report said.
Black men and women are four times more likely to die after contracting Covid-19 than white people, research from the ONS revealed. After taking into account age, measures of self-reported health and disability and other socio-demographic characteristics, black people were still 1.9 times more likely to die with coronavirus than their white counterparts. People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani, Indian, and mixed ethnicities are also significantly more likely to die. Social factors including living in overcrowded, multifamily or intergenerational households, relative deprivation, and working in public-facing occupations may help explain why this is the case for BAME people, but there is much to still be explained, the ONS report said.
Unemployment could double and the economy could shrink by 14% as the coronavirus causes the deepest recession in modern history, the Bank of England forecast. In a warning over the mounting damage to the economy since the onset of the pandemic and the lockdown measures to contain it, the Bank said GDP could plunge by 25% in the second quarter. It could take a year for the economy to return to normal and there were risks of long-term damage, it added.
Unemployment could double and the economy could shrink by 14% as the coronavirus causes the deepest recession in modern history, the Bank of England forecast. In a warning over the mounting damage to the economy since the onset of the pandemic and the lockdown measures to contain it, the Bank said GDP could plunge by 25% in the second quarter. It could take a year for the economy to return to normal and there were risks of long-term damage, it added.
Scotland’s strict lockdown regulations “must be extended” but Nicola Sturgeon will consider allowing outdoor exercise more than once a day, the Scottish government said, if the scientific evidence permits. The first minister said she saw no case for relaxing the lockdown because the transmission rate was still too high.
Scotland’s strict lockdown regulations “must be extended” but Nicola Sturgeon will consider allowing outdoor exercise more than once a day if the scientific evidence permits, the Scottish government said. The first minister said she saw no case for relaxing the lockdown because the transmission rate was still too high.
The Welsh government said schools in Wales will not reopen on 1 June, regardless of what happens in England.
The Welsh government said schools in Wales would not reopen on 1 June, regardless of what happens in England.
Airports owned by MAG are to require passengers to cover faces and wear gloves and temperature screening trials are to begin in the coming weeks. The firm, which owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports, said people needed to be able to travel safely when the time is right. It followed a similar announcement from Heathrow yesterday.
Airports owned by MAG are to require passengers to cover faces and wear gloves and temperature screening trials are to begin in the coming weeks. The firm, which owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports, said people needed to be able to travel safely when the time is right. It followed a similar announcement from Heathrow yesterday.
That’s it from us on the UK side. If you would like to continue following the Guardian’s coronavirus coverage, head over to the global live blog for the worldwide picture.
That’s it from us on the UK side. If you would like to continue following the Guardian’s coronavirus coverage, head over to the global live blog for the worldwide picture.
Here are the main points from Dominic Raab’s press conference:
Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, said that any changes to the lockdown regime announced next week would be “modest, small, incremental and very carefully monitored”. Speaking on the day when the government is legally obliged to review the lockdown (because it is three weeks since it was last extended), he said there was no change today in the rules. But he said Boris Johnson would set out a “roadmap” for the way forward on Sunday, containing “appropriate measures to be taken at appropriate milestones, subject to very clear conditions”. He went on:
Raab downplayed suggestions any early changes would be far-reaching. He said:
Raab conceded that Scotland and Wales might not proceed at exactly the same pace as England. He said the four nations of the UK were cooperating closely. But he went on:
He said that 30,615 people in the UK have now died from coronavirus, up 539 from yesterday’s figure. This is the number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus and died. There will be thousands more who will have died from coronavirus without testing positive.
He said the reproduction number, R, was now between 0.5 and 0.9.
He said Public Health England was looking at what interventions could “sensibly be made” to protect frontline workers from BAME backgrounds.
He sidestepped a question about whether people told to quarantine because they have been notified by the government’s contract-tracing app that they have been in contract with an infected person would be eligible for sick pay or other compensation. In response to the question, he said:
He played down the prospects of passengers arriving in the UK being subject to temperature tests. “The evidence so far has always been that temperature tests are not a particularly effective way of proceeding,” he said.
Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said up to a third of people with coronavirus do not have a temperature when the illness first hits. She said:
Q: Are you considering testing relatives who want to visit someone in a care home?
Raab says there is no silver bullet here.
The government is confident it now has enough information, he says.
And that’s it. The press conference is over, more quickly than usual.
Diamond says all the data he has seen shows the importance of social distancing. He says he thinks it will be essential to maintain that in coming weeks.
Q: What is the latest thinking on the impact of summer weather on coronavirus?
Harries says we are seeing epidemics in warm and cold climates. So there probably is not much effect, she says.
Q: People who download the contract-tracing app could be told they have to go into quarantine over and over again. Will they get sick pay?
(ITV’s Robert Peston wrote about this in a blog here.)
Raab says the app should be liberating for people.
Raab says the biggest challenge with care homes is the ebb and flow of people out of them. But at least that is something that can be controlled, he says.
Q: Are you going to introduce temperature testing?
Harries says temperature testing in places like a restaurant may serve a reassurance value. But she says if the incubation period could be up to 14 days, and if the thermometer is not reliable, this may be of limited value.
She says about a third of people with coronavirus do not have a temperature when the illness first takes effect.
Q: Prof Edmunds told the science committee earlier there could be 20,000 new cases a day. What is your estimate?
Diamond says the UK has some very good experts like Edmunds. He says better data is going to become available. But he says he is “very happy” with the numbers given by Edmunds.
Q: Are you worried about R going up? (See 3.15pm.)
Diamond says Edmunds was probably right to say R has gone up. That is because of the epidemic in care homes.
But R is only relevant if you consider prevalence too.
He repeats the point he made to the science committee earlier. (See 3.23pm.)
Q: Yesterday the PM indicated that the rules would change on Monday. But you are saying there has been no change. So can people sunbathe on Monday, but not on Sunday?
Raab says any changes will be based on what the evidence says. He says any changes will be “modest, small, incremental and very carefully monitored”.
And the government must have the option of reversing any changes if necessary, he says.
Q: Will you take steps to protect BAME workers in frontline jobs?
Raab says the government is looking very carefully at why BAME people are more at risk. When it gets those findings, it will consider what action to take.
The government dashboard with the daily death figures has now just been updated with today’s figures.
