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/uk-news/live/2020/jun/12/uk-coronavirus-live-economy-slumps-as-boris-johnson-faces-calls-for-inquiry-into-health-crisis

The article has changed 21 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 16 Version 17
UK coronavirus live: R value for all regions close to 1; Grant Shapps leads daily briefing UK coronavirus live: Grant Shapps denies chief nurse dropped from No 10 briefing ‘after refusing to back Dominic Cummings’
(32 minutes later)
R value suggests epidemic declining slowly; death toll rises by 202 to 41,481; PM tells protesters ‘the only responsible course of action is to stay away’ Minister says says he doesn’t think this is true Ruth May was dropped over Cummings; R value for all regions close to 1; death toll rises by 202 to 41,481
Q. What would be the best replacement for quarantine system if the review concludes a different approach needs to be taken?
Shapps says air bridges / travel corridors with countries with lower infection are a potential way forward, along with testing at ports and airports.
Q. Is the government in talks with countries regarding air bridges, how are the talks going and have any countries declined to work with the UK so far?
Shapps says they don’t want to reimport the virus from abroad, hence an initial blanket quarantine.
They are actively working on travel corridors, he says. The first review of quarantine will take place on 29 June, he adds.
They will only open up air bridges when it’s safe to do so, he says.
Q. What extra arrangements are the NHS putting in place to prepare for a potential second wave this winter and the effects of a second lockdown?
Powis says staff working flexibly, the Nightingale hospitals are there in case we need them, and different ways of working such as remote consultation will all ensure there is capacity to deal with a second wave.
Q. What do you say to businesses in the south-west who are actually quite worried about it [the R value]?
Shapps says stay alert and stay at home as much as possible.
Q. The R rate may have risen above 1 in the south-west [between 0.9 and 1.1]. Are we moving now towards the possibility of regional lockdown?
Shapps says a large number of tests are being produced, which gives more data about where issues could bubble up in future.
Powis says Sage takes data from numerous academic groups who do modelling around the R number to produce a consensus.
There is a range, as a result, he says.
The most important thing is that in all regions, the central projection is below 1, he adds.
Q. Why has there been an increased in outbreaks in hospitals in the last week?
Powis says we are moving from community incidence, to over time there more local, discrete, individual outbreaks, including in hospitals and other settings.
Q. Given the dismal economic figures today, wouldn’t it be sensible to mandate wearing masks everywhere, not just on public transport, to get the economy back on its feet and stop further spread of the virus?
Shapps says face coverings on public transport not face masks.
Social distancing is still the most important thing to do along with washing your hands and not touching your face, he says.
Public transport is an enclosed space, but that’s not the case out on the streets, he adds.
Hendy says that as the economy ramps up, it seems logical to mandate face coverings now on public transport.
Powis adds the evidence is weak but there is some evidence, so it’s better for enclosed spaces.
Q. The R number is still near to 1, largely to the amount of coronavirus in hospitals and care homes. Does that show we’re not preventing the spread there?
Powis says minimising the risk of infection in hospitals is an area that is being focused on, e.g. increased testing for staff and patients.
Q. Is it true, and do you think it’s right, that the chief nursing officer Ruth May is either unwilling or unable to attend these press conferences any more because she won’t defend Dominic Cummings?
Shapps says he doesn’t think this is true as she has attended many times and he’s noticed one of her tweets is pinned on the No 10 Twitter feed.
Powis says he doesn’t know but he’s been here many times saying exactly what he thinks.
Q. How can it be that where you live can double your chances of dying from Covid-19, doesn’t this show more needs to be done to deal with health inequalities?
Shapps says he agrees more needs to be done to level up health inequalities and linked issues such as access to opportunities.
Powis says the NHS is focusing on this more in its long-term plan.
Many of the risk factors e.g. diabetes, obesity, are seen more frequently in deprived areas of the country, he says.
Tackling those issues fundamentally in a targeted approach will mean people are less likely for infections such as Covid-19, he adds.
Simon from Dorset asks what work is being done to establish if antibodies mean less risk of infection or possible immunity.Simon from Dorset asks what work is being done to establish if antibodies mean less risk of infection or possible immunity.
Powis says after any infection the body will generate antibodies to control the infection and ensure the virus doesn’t take hold in future infection.Powis says after any infection the body will generate antibodies to control the infection and ensure the virus doesn’t take hold in future infection.
They are now measuring antibodies and getting a sense of how many people have developed antibodies to the virus, he says.They are now measuring antibodies and getting a sense of how many people have developed antibodies to the virus, he says.
It will only be studies over time that answer the question, but they’re underway in the UK and internationally, he says.It will only be studies over time that answer the question, but they’re underway in the UK and internationally, he says.
Siren is recruiting healthcare staff who might have been exposed into a study to observe if they are infected again and how that corresponds with antibody levels, he says.Siren is recruiting healthcare staff who might have been exposed into a study to observe if they are infected again and how that corresponds with antibody levels, he says.
David from Sunderland asks what specific plans the government has to create jobs.David from Sunderland asks what specific plans the government has to create jobs.
Shapps says the government has an enormous battle on its hands in recovering from the pandemic.Shapps says the government has an enormous battle on its hands in recovering from the pandemic.
They’ve tried to put their arms around the British people to protect jobs from a temporary but severe jolt to the economy, he adds.They’ve tried to put their arms around the British people to protect jobs from a temporary but severe jolt to the economy, he adds.
They want to be proactive in getting the economy going again in a safe way, he says.They want to be proactive in getting the economy going again in a safe way, he says.
People should avoid large gatherings, including to protest, Shapps says.People should avoid large gatherings, including to protest, Shapps says.
For the sake of your health and that of friends and families, don’t attempt mass gatherings, he says.For the sake of your health and that of friends and families, don’t attempt mass gatherings, he says.
Jet Zero Council will be charged with making net zero emissions possible for future flights, Shapps says.
If you can work from home you should continue to do so, Shapps says.
If you can’t, you should try to avoid public transport, he says.
If you must, you should try to do so at quieter times, he adds.
From Monday, you must wear face coverings on public transport, he says, in a bid to prevent those who show no symptoms from infecting others.
Transport operators will be able to refuse permission to travel where someone isn’t wearing a face covering, he says, and fines can be issued for refusal to comply.
Journey makers will also be deployed in the coming weeks to remind commuters to wear face coverings, he adds.
The transport secretary is speaking now.
The R rate remains unchanged from last week at between 0.7 and 0.9, he says, which is stable. They want to keep the R below 1.
As of 12 June, a further 1,541 cases were confirmed positive. The number of people testing positive is falling, he says.
The number of patients in hospital with coronavirus is broadly continuing to fall across the regions and four nations, he says.
The 7-day rolling average of deaths continues to fall, he adds.
Shapps is joined by Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, and the chair of Network Rail, Peter Hendy.
As the government admits the R number may have risen above 1 in some parts of England (see 2.50pm.), the transport secretary will lead this afternoon’s press conference, which is due to begin shortly.
The Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said that a drop of 20.4% in GDP in April was unsurprising and generally in line with what the Bank had expected.
Speaking to Sky News, he said:
The Department of Health, in a breakdown of testing statistics on its website, said in the 24 hours up to 9am on Friday 59,973 tests were sent out for delivery and 42,406 were processed in person under pillar two of the testing regime, which includes swab testing of the wider population.
Some 40,058 tests were carried out on 23,703 people under pillar one - swab tests in NHS hospitals and Public Health England labs for people with clinical needs and health and care workers. This was the only pillar for which the number of people tested was given.
Another 46,491 tests were antibody tests, under pillar three, and 4,325 antibody and swab tests were carried out under pillar four as part of a national surveillance programme studying the prevalence of the virus.
Fewer than one in six adults in England “strongly support” the easing of stay at home measures across the country, a survey suggests.
Only 15.6% of almost 2,000 adults surveyed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said they strongly backed the easing of the lockdown, which started on 10 May in England.
A third said they “tend to support” the easing, while a similar proportion (34%) said they tend to or strongly oppose the move.
This compares with 37% of adults in Wales and 44% in Scotland who said they strongly support relaxing the measures, which happened separately in the two countries.
The ONS analysed responses from 1,914 adults in Great Britain aged 16 and over between 4 and 7 June.
It also found that more than a fifth of 130 adults who have returned to the workplace, where they have direct physical contact with others, said they have not worn protective gear in the last week.
Over a third of employed adults said they had travelled to and from work in the past seven days.
Of these, 46% said their work requires direct physical contact with other people, 22% of whom said they had never worn PPE during the past seven days.
Almost two-thirds (63%) said they often or always wore PPE.
Among those who have returned to their offices or workplaces where they do not need to be in physical contact with others, under half said they had always kept two metres apart.
More than a third (36%) said they had managed to do this often.
Four in 10 said they had often or always worn PPE during the last seven days at work.
ONS spokesman Hugh Stickland said:
The R-values for all regions of the country are hovering close to the critical threshold of 1, according to government estimates published today, suggesting the epidemic is continuing to decline slowly.
The average R value for the UK, as a whole, remains at 0.7-0.9, with values ranging from 0.7-0.9 in the east of England to 0.8-1 in London, the Midlands and north-west England, with the highest value seen in south-west England at 0.8-1.1.
The south-west currently has very low rates of infection, meaning that higher R value there is not necessarily a cause for concern.
Prof Matt Keeling, of the University of Warwick, said the values were all closer to 1 “than we would ideally like to see”. “This also means we haven’t got much wiggle room for additional relaxation of social distancing measures,” he said.
The Turner-prize winning sculptor, Anish Kapoor, described the prime minister’s opinion on statues as “bullshit”, adding:
Boris Johnson had said that removing statues, including of imperialist figures, was to “lie about our history”. He tweeted: