Scale of yemens corona Virus Outbreak which one aid agency describes as an unfolding catastrophe. The u. K. Prime ministers top adviser prepares to speak out after boss johnson defied intense pressure to fire him for breaking quarantine. Im joining us rosco with sports including worrying times for slats enable him a bit she suffered in the killings injury in training with ac milan which could rule him out of the season and potentially end his career. India has resumed domestic flights with the government eager to get asias 3rd largest economy moving again on the same day that it would announce its biggest jump yes a new corona virus infections almost 7000 are india correspondent Elizabeth Brandon reports from new delhi. It is the new normal that indian airports start sanitize passengers bags before they enter the turn. The disinfectants praised just one of a number of new measures as domestic flights resumed passengers temperatures a checked before and after flying masks a compulsory throughout the journey and some were taking extra precautions. And all. The. Passengers with symptoms will be tested or quarantined upon arrival but many states have set their own rules the Civil Aviation minister tweeted india and saw in the skies again but not everything went to plan 82 flights in and out of delhi were canceled with little notice leaving passengers frustrated according to airport officials thats because several states said they wouldnt be able to accept flights earlier agreed to. What the number of coronavirus cases rising the worst hit states of try and have agreed to only allow 25 arrivals a day after initially refusing to accept flights. The state of west bengals had flights cant land for another 3 days as it deals with the aftermath of cycling on plan we just heard that my friend has cancer i didnt get any notification i didnt get an email so i just heard it in airports so im joined. On having her back home. Airlines are planning to resume about a 3rd of their domestic flights as the government tries to restart the worlds 5th largest economy but the industry faces challenges the Supreme Court has ordered social distancing must be observed in airports and on flights forcing airlines to keep middle seats vacant and it said the government should be more worried about the health of citizens rather than the health of airlines elizabeth pradhan aljazeera you daddy. Spain is hoping to revive its battered Tourism Industry by lifting its 2 week quarantine for Foreign Tourists from july 1st just in time for the summer holidays. The decision follows the reopening of restaurants and cafes on monday people can also go to hotels and museums in barcelona as part of the governments phased approach to easing virus restrictions spain has been hard hit by the pen demick recording nearly 29000 deaths lets speak now to aviation analyst alex materialists who joins us on skype from here in doha thank you for your time as always alex aside from gloves and masks what can airlines do and what should they be doing to prevent the spread of coronavirus on planes which obviously very confined spaces. Well i think what passengers will begin to notice as we kind of return to the skies in a very slow and gradual measured manner is there will be a whole bunch of inconsistency and that is because countries have taken it upon themselves and also airlines have taken it upon themselves to implement these new measures as they try to restore travel confidence and get you the passenger back into the skies and that means travel is likely to be a very different experience depending on where youre traveling to for example which airline you are traveling with where that airline belongs to give you a few examples for example of your flying here in the middle east from doha on a middle eastern carrier youd expect to see the cabin crew in full p. P. Probably p. P. That some countries hospitals could only dream of in terms of the level of standard and the amount that they are wearing and yet if we shift across to europe there are still some airlines with no mask policy in place and that crew is still operating 12 hour flights with no p. P. Even if they have it there simply choosing not to meet the lack of any clear universal rules either for that country or for the globe so inconsistency is going to be the key and for passengers thats a lot of uncertainty because they will not know what to expect as we try to slowly start to return to the skies as and lockdowns begin to ease what if any of these changes do you think will be permanent are there any parts of air travel which are likely to be changing for good. Definitely i mean that 19 is the largest crisis in the history of flight itself and as a result just like how we were very quickly able to adapt to the security measures that came into place after 911 to the enhanced security measures that came into place into the United Kingdom for example of the 77 bombings well actually because covert crisis has been so global we will see this renewed focus on health and hygiene and to be specific its things like temperature thermal screening having a temperature taken even either by just walking through as exact you and they can do it remotely or physically in terms of per person per passenger as airlines try to work out ok how can we avoid having people that are potentially sick in the confines of an aircraft cabin and the whole industry is now scratching their heads over this and some are leading the way and you probably wont be surprised to know that it is those carriers in asia that are doing this the best because they do have more experience with this if you were to fly into china in a non pandemic world most likely youd have your temperature taken in europe quite slow and in the United States its almost nonexistent and so it is a global effort but theres a lack of harmonize ation i want to be clear and because of that lack of harmonization this is going to be a very inconsistent return to the skies for all of us as we have been reporting spain is ending its 2 week quarantine on arrival policy do you think that will become the norm around the world to try to get people traveling again. Yes i think ultimately this quarantine policy is something that many countries will try to ditch but its worth pointing out that the majority of countries implemented the core team as part of the contain phase so when they were working out how they can stop the virus from coming into the country and of course air travel has been a big carrier of it were very globalized world its very normal to fly very affordable and naturally this is been able to move around in a very fast pace quarantine was that measure that most countries adopted but then if we look over for example to the u. K. They will be adopting that 1st ever quarantine for passengers arriving by air in june thats almost half a year into a Global Health emergency and they were unlike the rest of the world in not taking these measures so again it is in consistency and but with some countries really want to tap into that Summer Season an attractive airlines to come back they can only do so if they say ok you will not be required to stay put on the ground in one place for 14 days but they know that they are taking a risk and airlines know this because passengers are still not booking anywhere near like they used to there is still a lot i mean this will be a very nervous return sky lets be clear absolutely thank you for your insights as always savior in analysts there Alex Smith Charis thank you theres been more departures of russian mercenaries from the front lines of the battlefield in the libyan capital tripoli thats according to the un backed government the russians have been fighting on behalf of warlord holy for half are against forces who backed the government with support from turkey after has been trying to capture the capital for 13 months now the marrow of bani walid to confirm to the russians flew the 1st group out from an airbase in the town on sunday 7 planes were sent to retrieve them. Or the other one head is in tripoli and says details are still sketchy about exactly where the mercenaries are going. Benny would lead the city there was a city of the horn or the made of bin he would lead told that civil flights have been landing in airport to carry the russian mercenaries that is no clear information on where that believing in libya or out of libya but what we know for certain is that some of the russian most reason that the left front lies have been carried by land transportation from benny will lead all sort to a job for a military. In central libya in all cases the russian mercenaries in beni will lead now will come the maids told her that the Elderly Council in binny will lead is protesting the presence of the russian mercenaries in ben you will lead because as they say they have taken part in attacking libyan cities and also attacking and killing and one innocent civilians there they say that the concern. That some of the russian mercenaries might stay longer in beni will lead. British Prime Minister bass johnson is facing criticism from the public the opposition and even from within his own party for defending his top advisor theres been growing calls for Dominick Cummings to quit or be sacked thats after it emerged he drove 400 kilometers to his parents house when britain was under a Strict Lockdown and while he was showing symptoms of covert 19 cummings is expected to speak publicly about the political storm shortly and we will carry that events live right here on aljazeera. The coming scandal is just the latest slip up for the u. K. Government Prime Minister Abbas Johnson has come under particular scrutiny initially his team had implied the u. K. Would adopt a strategy of herd immunity thats letting the virus run its course to build up resistance within the community. The plan was quickly abandoned lock down restrictions were still rolled out weeks after medical experts advise them to do so this led to critics blaming johnson for the number of deaths in the u. K. At the height of the pandemic more than a 1000 people were dying every day in april overall nearly 37000 lives have been lost and the publics frustrations have only been made worse by what many of seen as johnsons unclear and sometimes conflicting advice heres a look at Prime Minister johnsons veriest mixed messages since the pandemic began. Shaking hands can decide that i was at a hospital the other night where i think there are a few there are actually if you create a virus a patient and i shook hands with everybody this is normal the time simply did in the last done this week you must stay at home things like clues in school and stopping big gatherings dont work as well perhaps as those people think you should not be meeting friends if your friends ask you to meet you should say no people of the can make up their own minds matt has said that people must make up their own minds but i think the Scientific Evidence is head over to the experts but it was hard times our judgement is warsh work from home if you can but you should go to work if you cant you should avoid public transport that doesnt mean public transport cant operate we want to have well be running more more capacity more tubes more trains if we possibly can while Alastair Campbell was former british Prime Minister tony blairs director of communications he says on top of his other errors in judgment or stance and has set a dangerous precedent by supporting his embattled advisor. You have the other day when this story 1st appeared about cummings and what he did or didnt mirror in the guardian broke the story within hours you had johnson city in number 10 at a time of National Crisis and what was you doing all day funny or begging cabinet ministers to put out tweets and the like a bunch of nodding dogs they did they cut them cut and paste the tweets and it went out and said oh this is a father actually in the interest of his son and thats in part i think what is fueling this raging anger and you know the only reason i think what this lockdown might still home i think its pretty close to cracking the reason it might still hold is because actually the public us theyre way more decent than these people so theyre going to stand there is actually a risk of going out and doing things that we maybe we want want to do you know us were still stating here today were going to once a day to exercise people are still following the rules but when for example they try to open schools then you know parents are entitled yesterday Boris Johnson who introduced a new in a new defense breaking rules and thats your parental instinct is instinct as a parent was that he should go to durham but what if your instinct as a parent to the you know i wont go to work elsewhere im with the kids my instinct as a parent you know the teachers i wont go to teach other kids or stay home look after my oh and what happens when you establish that theres one rule for the government and another rule for those who are governing you have a breakdown of society. Head to head on the news our crops burn of an election seawater brought by cycling devastates thousands of farms and one of the Worlds Largest bank growth forests. The man handpicked by brandis long time president to replace him is to trade the winner of the president ial election. And in sports golf and n. F. L. Joined forces to raise more than 20000000. 00 for coronavirus pretty. Afghanistan has begun freeing taliban prisoners a mock president a shotgun he calls a goodwill gesture these are images of the 1st 100. 00 men to be released from bagram prison on monday president danny chose to free around 2000 prisoners in response to the talibans offer of a 3 day truce over the eat holiday that is due to end midnight on tuesday the Indian Government has deployed soldiers to help with rescue and relief efforts after a powerful storm hit last week cycle an open destroyed homes uprooted trees and flooded hundreds of villages in west bengal and states more than 20 rivers have breached their banks and sea water is seeping into farmlands in the sunderbans mangroves region a unesco World Heritage site Praeger Gupta reports. The last green fields a west bengal halftone a gentle wasteland 5 days off to stockholm on farm made landfall in the eastern state of india the scale of destruction it had left in its path its now becoming more clear. This towards community of charcoal and in the sun their guns man groove region was caught in the eye of the storm a. 60 year old on how old are lost all his harvest. Salty water from the building gold seen nearby has so much to do with spotty on potato fields the soil is now so contaminated that he says it will take years of monsoon grain to wash away the sold. Until then starvation looms over his family are full yet come are going to get im 60 years old what can i do now i have nothing left i have no option but to die. Baba should do more and do a scraping for pieces that you can still salvage from this destroyed home the grains that took a monster harvest are all gone the fish in this pond died. Overnight this fall when fisherman has lost all his income and im going to i was taking refuge with my family in a shelter after returning i see that everythings gone i really hope the government can help us tide over the crisis. This in the region is a cost of more than 100 islands and one of the Worlds Largest mongo forest stretching across west bank gold and bonaduce its home to the endangered koori big old tiger and is the medical World Heritage site. More than 40 percent of people in this part of india live in poverty. The surge of the sea water in the etymologically sensitive region could be devastating for its poor farming and fishing communities across hundreds of villages. Have been blocked i want to get to the actual. There are no battles left in the trees and plants have all died because of the salt water the way the fish are dying it will be really difficult macam least here to put food on the table the coronavirus has already had an impact on their incomes we need to start Government Point to scam so you know. The corner virus pandemic on lockdown are also making it harder for families from diesel engines to go to cities for work. People like anyhow and are the future remains uncertain unless help arrives soon priyanka could go to see of. A sudden rise in the number of burials in yemen suggest the spread of corona virus is much greater than authorities are reporting the medical Charity Doctors without borders says it shows a wider catastrophe is unfolding there with a Health System that effectively collapsed shelob else reports. These freshly dug grave sin to the scale of the corona Virus Outbreak in humans largest Southern City of aden Humans Health Ministry Says the disease has killed 39 people here the number of graves suggests that number is much higher than. If strange this has never happened before the symmetry in all the past to have these numbers of the dead. Humans Health Minister announced the 1st virus death on april 29th 2 weeks later that grew to soutane but charity save the children disputed the death toll they recorded nearly 400 patients who died of corona virus like symptoms in just a week nobody knows the true numbers because human is only testing 31 people per 1000000 but shes very very arranges we have. A right. Data and sewards a market. Very very high. The u. N. Announced last week that humans Health System had effectively collapsed it was already on life support after 5 years of civil war and calls to stop fighting amid depend dimmick were ignored the residents in the south of yemen all over the country honestly have been following the coverage 90 a crisis emerging all over the world and rightly concerned because agencies the Government Agencies have really not done much to protect the. Doctors without borders runs the only did occasional cover 1000 seem to in southern yemen but even it is turning away the sick they dont have enough oxygen or personal protective equipment it suspects foresee that starforce also infected but theres no tests to check her or her red and we were obliged to reach was because we didnt. Stop. So its very hard the organization believes didnt adan about 70 people are dying of coronavirus in their homes every day when a lot of people have brought their dead to us from the pandemic the rains in a disease from the schedule that has come to us we dont even know what it is in a why is killed so many these men try to pray in peace. Its impossible with the symmetry sorry busy day digging 5 times as many graves is normal even children help the humans government has not reported the true scale of coronavirus its obvious for those on the ground charlotte dallas aljazeera. An analyst to try and start from london to talk about this but more thankfully time so the u. N. Says that yemens Health System has basically collapsed now with cover 19 patients and Everything Else thats going on is that what youre hearing on the ground as well. I mean the unfortunate situation on the ground is that. There is an increase of number of patients but there is if you compare it to the number of figures coming out of the. Health sector and the Health Officials it doesnt mary been averse people who are being or being that you can only assume that this is directly related to the d spread of the the the coronavirus at the beginning before that and actually the clear idea of what is the exact number because the number being reported by the officials d is much lower than what people with missing but when some of the local Civil Societies started to go to the separate history they started to notice a number of 30 i think its been issued that permits for the people to bury their relatives the number is much higher than what is being you know what is being what is being reported. And i think because of this such a. You know a new phenomenon in the the Health Sector is just not equipped to do you know its a properly handle the handle issues yemen is of course at war and we have areas controlled by opposing sides what impact is that having on the countrys ability to fight the pandemic. Well i think the Current Situation is that you have 3 authorities 3 defacto authorities you have the season santa who are so far actually denying that there is actually a spread of coronavirus there d so far at mit that there are only 4 cases that the that people the the public are seeing the number of graves are much more than what they arent you have an authority under the socalled Southern Transitional council in in in aden there is actually no response from them to to to the to the spread of the pandemic and you have areas on the government control d so far no official is coming out publicly to address people on whats happening and if i compare the situation of what was happening in other places around the world. In the u. K. Even people didnt start to take it seriously only when they started to see that. They didnt really think telling them this is serious these are the number d these are the facts and facts and figures so people actually know that it is there but they actually are not dealing with it seriously because you lack this Central Authority that is rethink updating the public on a daily basis and i think this amount of cooperation happening between those 3 already is on the on the ground is unfortunately just going to make the situation much worse ok given all of that given the country is at war it was already described as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world before covered 19 while flow on effects is the crowd a virus 6 having on Food Supply Chains and the ability to access a medical care phenomenon khurana issues. Well if if i compare the situation just right before even right before the conflict you have 50502600 ventilators and i got this figure from the Health Officials in the country you have maximum 600 serving a population of 3xw3xw people and what we know about this virus is that there is and thats what leads a ventilator to the desperate need to cope with 19 solution tests and this is not actually whats whats whats available the w. H. O. Is providing some distance to. The source but so far even the hospitals are complaining that its you know that its simply not not enough and if we say lets see what the United Nations can maybe come in and fill that vacuum just last week the United Nations are now announce that theyre reducing their stuff by help because of the spread of the spread of the virus and i think this is quite a problem because no one is no authority is taking this d seriously because of that the people are not aware of what they are supposed to do even the people who think that this is serious because of there is lack of that word yes they just dont think that the. Virus has actually you know spread to. An alarming level thank you so much for your time mary yemen analyst live from london iraqs government has imposed a lockdown for the duration of the ied holidays but not everyone is abiding by the votes some mosques are allowing in small numbers of what is it most muslims that ingo of centuries old for the just rituals to help protect their communities from the virus smaller faulty reports from baghdad. The call for each prayers rings out from the minarets of martha boone but thats most important sunni mosque normally hundreds would attend the morning prayer which marks the end of the fasting month of ramadan but only a few dozen people flock to its gates to observe what is one of the most sacred rituals of. Harms because. I decided to come and play observing the safety precautions. In the law and people in the mosque is ignoring government orders to remain shot to prevent the spread of coronavirus the government has imposed a poll a lockdown over to eat holidays but some mosques are nevertheless letting in a limited number of worshippers for the most part however people will be spending their holidays at home. For hasan like many other shia iraqis a trip to the shrine city of najaf in iraqs south is a must on the 1st day of ied there he would normally pay his respects at his fathers grave and pray at the muzzle of a relative and successor of prophet mohammed this year hasan has gone online to fulfill his religious duties the shrine has made available an application that allows pilgrims to visit virtually. For me its the 1st time the experience is very nice of course its not like actually being there but it has brought some relief from you can use to visit were able to visit from afar but in the presence will be through our intention. Other religious establishments are using the internet to reach their congregations. Throughout Ramadan Jamila Harry has live streamed his sermons on facebook with only a small number of people attending in person. On the 1st day of eat jamila would usually host friends and relatives at his grandfathers house in baghdads cavaney a district the building passed down for 3 generations is a popular venue for prayers and religious studies. Of course the door is open we will not turn anyone away but this time people will not come in large numbers only very few will come and you can count them on one hand its not like in the past we were afraid for them to get the disease. But fear of the coronavirus is not enough to keep the most devout away authorities have set up roadblocks throughout the capital to prevent people entering graveyards and shrines even during the citys most violent years but the streets have never been this empty on the morning of eat Simona Fulton Al Jazeera but that. So i had all knowledge is there find out why a german court has ordered comic a volkswagen to pay some damages to come on its. Staying at home and feeling ignored disabled People Struggle behind closed doors. And in sports a socially distanced standoff spains oldest goal scored goals time on his career in madrid. And there after a couple of cool today show us across northern sections of the middle east the heat really is back in place clay skies and also as he watches across into areas that clearing fairly rapidly although theres another system working its way in from the west on tuesday but at least as much as 29 in jerusalem the same in damascus and the hot and baghdad on shoes of the high the a 40 degrees celsius and then those temperatures set to rise as we head through wednesday up to 35 in damascus 44 in baghdad some pretty brisk winds coming from the interior so the hot dry winds coming down towards areas accounts also 36. 00 in doha 40 celsius in riyadh and always the chance of those showers yet again into will southern and Western Areas of yemen and then down into Southern Africa now theres been a fairly vigorous storm system working its way through will southern areas of south africa that will continue to do so as we go through tuesday some pretty strong winds along these coastal areas some rough waves as well and some keep in the temperatures though quite a bit of cloud as you can see just some 14 celsius in Port Elizabeth those winds extending up the east coast as well not about to cross into madagascar the usual across sections of Central Africa out towards that gavel a similar story a wednesday but to begin its care up in the fall south of the hive 18 in cape town. Health crisis may. No longer recession proof for the health. Of the u. S. But angle of the 500000000000 plan the european your. Cost. I care about. The world were willing to take. On where the Prime Ministers top aide adviser Dominic Cummings who is under fire for breaching coronavirus lockdown restrictions is speaking before we go to the tribalist of my actions between the 27th of march on the 14th of a for what i thought and did these are speech repeat that account directly to you i know that millions of people in this country been suffering thousands have died many are about what there is to the media about my actions i want to clear up the confusions and misunderstandings and i can in retrospect i should have made the statement earlier. Its many years who said anything about television but ill do my best to answer questions after i explained what happened. I also should clarify that im not here to speak on behalf of the government Prime Minister im explaining my own actions and my own thinking the Prime Minister is giving a press conference later and he will answer questions concerning government policy. Around midnight thursday the 26th of march i spoke to the Prime Minister he told me that he tested positive for covert. We discussed the National Emergency arrangements for number 10 given his isolation and what i would do in number 10 the next day. The next morning i went to work as usual i was in a succession of meetings about this emergency i suddenly got a call from my wife who is at home the king after a 4 year old child she told me she suddenly felt badly ill she vomited felt like she might pass out and they were going over to look after a child none of our usual or child care options were available there alone in the house after very briefly tell you some officials in on the turn what had happened i immediately left the building ran to a car and drove her. This was reported by the media at the time who saw me run out of number 10. After a couple of hours my wife felt a bit better than many critical things at work and she asked me to return an afternoon and i did that after that evening i returned her and discussed the situation with my wife she was a she might have coverts that she does not have a cough or think that at this point most of those who i work with most closely including the Prime Minister himself and others who sit within 15 feet of me every day by the heart had symptoms and had returned to work or absent with symptoms i thought there was a distinct possibility that i had already caught the disease i had a few conflicting thoughts in my mind 1st i was worried that if my wife and i were both seriously ill possibly hospitalized there was nobody in london that we could reach to be asked to look after our child to expose themselves to cope that my wife had felt on the edge of not being able to look after him safely a few hours earlier i was thinking what if the same or worse happens to me theres nobody here that i can reach to be asked to help. Regulations make clear i believe that risks to the health of a small child are exceptional situation and i had a way of dealing with this that minimized risk to others. Second i thought that if i did not develop symptoms i might be able to return to work to help deal with the crisis the ongoing discussions about testing government stuff in order to keep people like me working was an isolated at this point on the friday advisers such as myself and not being included in the list of who the flu were tested. But it was possible that this might change the following week. Therefore i thought the doctor tested negative i could continue working in fact this did not change the special advisers were not tested and ive never been tested 33rd been useful stories in the media but my actions and statements regarding covert in particular those stories suggested that i had opposed and even though i did not care about many deaths for years i have warned of the dangers of pandemics last year i wrote about the possible threat of close viruses and the urgent need for planning. The truth is that i had argued for law i did not oppose it but these stories are created a very fired up this fear around like her i was subject to threats of violence people came to my house shouting threats of posts and social media encouraging attacks there were many media reports on t. V. Showed pictures of my house i was also worried that given the severity of this emergency this situation would get worse and i was worried about the possibility of leaving my wife and child at home all day and often into the night while i worked in number 10. I thought the best thing to do with all the circumstances was to drive to an isolated cottage on my fathers farm at this farm my parents live in one house my sister and her 2 children live in another house and there is a separate portage roughly 50 meters away from the from my tentative conclusion the fight evening was this. If we are both unable to cough drop it to my sister or nieces can look after him my niece is 17. 20 theyre old enough to look after him but also young enough to be in the safest category and had extremely kindly volunteered to do so if needed. But i thought if i do not develop symptoms under the testing regime in place of work i could return to work if i tested negative not situation i could leave my wife and child behind in a safe place safe in the form of support from family for shopping emergencies safe in the sense of being away from home should become a target and also safer for everybody else because they are completely isolated on a farm could not in fact anybody country to some media reports there are no neighbors in the normal sense of the word the nearest of the homes are roughly half a mile away so in this scenario i thought they could stay there for a few weeks i could go back to work help colleagues and everybody clued in the general public would be safe. I did not ask the Prime Minister about this decision he was ill himself and he had huge problems to deal with every day i have to exercise my judgment about things like this and decide what to discuss with him i thought that i would speak to him when the situation clarified of the coming days including whether i had symptoms and whether there were tests available arguably this was a mistake and i understand that some will say that i should have spoken to the Prime Minister before deciding what to do so i drove the 3 of us up to our not nights arriving roughly at midnight i did not stop on the way when i woke the next morning sunday the 28th of march i was in pain he clearly had covert symptoms including a bad headache and a serious fever clearly i could not return to work any time soon for a day or 2 we were both ill i was impaired my wife was ill but not enough that she needed emergency help i got worse she got better. During the night if theres a 2nd of april my child woke up he threw up and had a bad fever he was very distressed we took medical advice which to call my my 9 and ambulance was sent they said my child said he must go to hospital i could barely stand up my wife went with him in the ambulance i stayed at home he stayed the night in the hospital in the morning my wife called to say that he had recovered it seemed back to normal doctors who tested him for covert and said that they should return home there were no taxis. There were no taxis i drove to the hospital picked him up then returned her i did not need the car or had any contact with anybody at any point on the short trip the hospitals i dont know what roughly 5 miles or something way 2 miles 3 miles form or Something Like that a few days later the hospital said that he tested negative after a starts to recover one day in the 2nd week i tried to walk outside the house at one point the 3 of us walked into woods owned by my father next the quarters that i was staying in some people source in these woods from a distance but we had no interaction with them we had not left the property we were on private land by saturday the 11th of april i was still feeling we can exhausted but other than that i had no covert symptoms i thought i would be able to return to work the following week possibly part time it was obvious the situation was extremely serious the Prime Minister had been gravely ill police were dealing with huge problems and many will isolate c. I felt like oh to turn to work if possible given i was now recovering in order to relieve the intense strain and number tat. On the saturday i sought that saturday i saw expert medical advice explained our family symptoms and all the timings and i asked if it was safe to return to work on monday tuesday sick child care and so on i was told that it was safe and i could return to work and see child care. On sunday the 12th of april 15th days after had 1st after her 1st displayed symptoms i decided to return to work my wife was very worried particularly given my eyesight it seemed to seem to be infected by the disease she dont want to risk a nearly 300 mile drive with our child given how ill i had been we agreed that we should go for a short drive to see if i could drive safely we drove for roughly half an hour and ended up on the outskirts of bond castletown we did not visit the castle we did not walk around the town we parked by a river my wife and i discussed the situation we agreed that i could drive safely we should turn around i felt a bit sick we walked about 10 to 15 meters from the car to the to the riverbank nearby we sat there for about 15 minutes we had no interactions with anybody i felt better we returned to the car an elderly gentleman walking nearby appeared to recognize me my wife wished him happy used to from a distance but we had no other interaction. We had her on the way home our child needed the toilet he was in the back seat of the car he pulled over to the side of the road my wife and child jumped out into the woods by the side of the road they were briefly outside i briefly joined them they played for a little bit and then and then i got out the car. Went outside we were briefly in the woods we saw some people in the distance but at no point to be break any social distancing means we then go back in the car and went home. We agreed that if i continue to improve the next day we should return to london alive and i would go back to work we returned to london on the evening of monday the 13th of april Easter Monday i went back to work in number 10 the next morning. At no point between arriving in leaving joran did any of the 3 of us and to my parents house all my sisters house our only exchanges we show to conversations at a distance my sister shopped for us and left everything outside. In the last few days there have been many major reports that i return to town after the 13th of april all the stories are false there is a particular report that i returned there on the 19th of april photos on dates or on my phone prove this to be false and local c. C. T. V. If it exists would also proof a long time the truth that i was in london on that day i was not in during. During this 3 week period my brothers my mothers brother died with cove it there are major reports of this and some influence on my behavior these reports faults this private matter did not affect one movements none of us saw him none of us attended his funeral in this very complex situation i try to exercise my judgement the best i could i believe that all circumstances i behave reasonably legally balancing the safety of my family and the extreme situation in number 10 and the Public Interest in effective government to which i could contribute i was involved in decisions affecting millions of people and i thought i should try to help as much as i could to. I can understand that some people will argue that i should have stayed at my home in london throughout i understand these views i know the intense hardship and sacrifice the entire countries had to go through however i respectfully disagree the legal rules inevitably do not cover all circumstances including those that i find myself in my thoughts and i think today that the rules including those regarding small children extreme circumstances allowed me to exercise my judgment about the situation i found myself in including the way that my london home become a target and all the complexity of the situation except of course there is room for me some disagreement about this. I can also understand some people think i should not have driven that all anywhere but i take in medic expert medical advice because 15 days after symptoms i had been told that i could return to work under ploy child care i think was reasonable and sensible to make a short journey before embarking on a 5 hour drive to see whether i was in a fit state to do this the alternative was to stay in durham rather than going back to work you contributing to the governments efforts i believe i made the right judgment so i can understand that others may disagree with that ive explained all of the above to the Prime Minister at some point during the 1st week when we were both sick and in bad i mentioned to him what i had done and surprisingly given the condition we re in neither of us remember the conversation in any detail i didnt i did not make it my movements public at the time because my london home was already a target i did not believe that i was obliged to make my parents my sisters home the target for harassment as well i understand that means if people see Media Coverage of this issue i know that millions of injured awful hardship including personal tragedies over the past few months and people are suffering every day and i know the british people hate the idea of unfairness i want to explain what i thought what i did and why over this period because i think the people like me hope to make the rules should be accountable for their actions im happy to answer questions from the media who hear. Sorry ive got a ive got a list. And. I was told to ask the people in this order laura and thanks so much mr cummings do you regret what you did because many people in this country have made heartbreaking sacrifices in the last couple of months in order to stick to the rules that you were part of putting together and many people may have listened to you and think you made your own interpretation and you understand for some people it seems as if there was one version of the news for you and one version of the rules for everyone else. Thank you laura no. No i dont i dont regrets what i did as i said i think reasonable people may well disagree about how i thought about what to do in the in the in the in the circumstances but i think that i think what i did was actually reasonable in these. In these circumstances. It was of the rule i think that the i think the rules make clear that if youre dealing with small children theyre not could be that can be exceptional circumstances and i think the situation that i was in was exceptional circumstances and i think the way that i dealt with it. Was the least risk to everybody concerned if my wife and i had both been unable to it after our 4 year old. They sang to many people this afternoon though that year in using a loophole that was in complete contrast to the message people had day after day from number 10 of stay at home stay at home stay at home you understand why some people are really angry about this not just respectfully disagree that theyre furious if i certainly do i mean. You have seen some of the major obviously over the last couple of days and im not surprised that a lot of people very angry and lots of people i know if if you if youre someone sitting at home watching all of the major over the last. 3 days. I think lots of people would be very angry and i completely understand that but i think i hope and think that today when i watched he explained all the circumstances about it i think people realize this is a very complicated tricky situation i was trying to weigh up a lot of different things. Some people might have behaved differently in some ways as i said you know arguably it was a mistake that i didnt call the Prime Minister on the friday night and i just did what i thought was the right thing to do but after make decisions like that every day and. Yes i understand the people watching me. Could be very upset about whats happened but i think ive explained why or for any regret any apology to people who didnt have the ability to make the decisions that you did you didnt have the resources to do what you did. As i said i think you know ive always the i thought a lot about why do you do that over this period what things i could have done better with this one things i couldve done better in general with the hole in dealing with the whole crisis. Theres definitely a lot of things that i could have done better of the last few months but i think what i did to go in these 14 days i think that i paid reasonably sort of the us i tossed. It. Say just be absolutely clear in this 14 day period and subsequent play apart from one visit to darren and back and a trip to Barnard Castle neither you or mary have been anywhere else but all or saying millions of people havent seen their parents for months now can you just tell us a bit more about the nature of your contact with your parents and and then finally. Your own scientists are worried they said this last night look by introducing an element of personal discretion into the interpretation of the rules you are putting lives at risk what would you say to them and what would you say to us to reassure us. Thanks robert so the thing is we even asked for the true is true that there were over this 14 day period. That i didnt go we didnt go anywhere else pov and apart from off in the car on day 15 thats the no thats not correct i went yes exactly and went there was the trip to hospital and then there was the dr on day 15. Its a bit but apart from that neither of us left. The present in terms of just trips to break the rules as it were no i mean i left i think im not exactly sure sure where the boundaries of london are but as far as im aware the only time that i left london since. Choose day the 14th was to go to checkers for meetings with the Prime Minister and various well i mean as your household. Yes im in marys bit marian ive been together since read since his return and then on this issue of contact with your parents if you can of that so we all obviously so. Mother mary you know ive been tested so neither of us could be definitively sure about why situation was mary b. D. L. In the recovered but she had another cough the fever. I pretty clearly seem to have written to the medical experts they thought i was untested but will we see our default mode was soon that all 3 of us have got it so i was a recorded 50 meters or so away from everybody else now obviously recaps a very very far away from them there are various reports that ive sort of thought i visited the most staying with them thats all completely untrue my parents are in their seventys obviously i did not want to give them. This this disease and so we stayed we stayed very far away we did have some conversations but they were nowhere on the farm and they were shots of conversations at a distance they were. There were some things that been reported. Introducing a quick question of discretion i dont so im not seeking to introduce anything anything at all an element of discretion to me the rules of their they talk about what to do with they talk about exceptional circumstances and small children. I was trying to weigh up on that for now friday nights conflicting things between what happens if we both know whos going to look after here was the safest way of doing not notifying is there a way which i might be able to go back to work the following week if the whole testing system changes which was being discussed but did not in fact happen i was trying to weigh all of those things up given that i think that the i dont believe the that i broke the rules i think that breaking the rules its the yes b r i p. And s. P. And members last night and way think you introduced the idea that if your personal circumstances allow you can do Something Different from what the simple rules say and they are very worried that will make it much. Harder to contain the spread of the disease well i think i think that think that the right to be worried that. The coverage of the last couple of days could go as people to behave in. Certain ways but with Great Respect to them they made those comments without knowing what would actually happened thats one of the reasons why i think now. It would have been better to have made the statement earlier but as it were as it was. I didnt and it would be better to have done it here for sure and that would have also i think. Stopped some of those guys being themselves confused by what they read both. His comments thousands of people watching this all too many families have put up with all kinds of restrictions and hardships regardless of their medical or family requirements people not going to funerals people not even going to hospital when their kids have been having Cancer Treatment why are you so different what they see people i think see here is that theres one rule for you one of the most powerful people in this country and theres another row for them dont you think you are at the very least i know them an apology. I dont think im so i dont think im so different and i dont think this will move from the and will move for other people. As i said i think that its a look at the. New what the guidance was. It talks about exceptional circumstances with. Small children and i think that in all circumstances i behave reasonably illegally as i as i said. The people who will be listening to this for days government ministers its obfuscated about whether you went founded casso no information put out this is meant to be the peoples government isnt it but you have to leave misjudged public mood on this this isnt damage the Prime Minister it has undermined your policy and its undermined Public Confidence in the government it could even now threaten Public Health if people decide that the rules dont matter how can you even countenance at the moment staying on and not resigning. Well. As i said i think i think there is understandable anger but a lot of that anger is based on reports in the media to have not been true and. Its extremely regrettable but. The good the media that were reporting some of these things that were wrong were told that they were wrong that they reported the many white and that has caused a lot that has caused a lot of anger i know a lot of people shouted at me in the street why did you go back why did you go back to see your parents because you wanted to but i did not do that. Ask you one more thing you went 260 miles you didnt stop but you didnt think that you ought to check with the Prime Minister knowing how that might lurk when we were at the height of lockdown and we were all being told not to go anywhere and to stay at home and to suffer as life we had that i know you have 2nd thoughts about how could you not even chat with your boss. Was a said i think you know. Thats a very reasonable question and and and i think a lot of people would say that i did that i ought to have called the Prime Minister about it but. And it was like you say all i can say is what is is is was said earlier on about what my about what my state one was at the time he he himself or just tested positive i was he was ill he was upstairs in number 10 in bad he had a 1000000 things on his plate we all had a 1000000 things on our plates we were trying to do lots of things. One of the one of the things i have to decide every day is what to pull the Prime Minister with what multiple the Prime Minister with and no to the honest truth about my job is that there are endless problems all day long and i cant go to him all day asking him what you think about this what you think about the other was whats the point of having people like me around i have to get on with things i have to make make decisions and sometimes i make jesus i think its innocent and make mistakes. I should stop now but in retrospect you wish to chat with him fast i dont know is there is there is it is the honest truth about that particular thing maybe i should have done but you know i have to protect his time there are lots of really big issues that its that no you know the Prime Ministers time is just about the most valuable commodity that exists in governments you have to be very careful about what you go to him with and what you dont go in with and i have to make that judgment literally dozens of times a day. And i made that judgment in a very short period time in very extreme circumstances and as i said ive been i thought the time was the right thing to do but i also completely understand that people think it was a mistake and that in fact i should have spoken to him about it. And as i said i did actually speech about it a few days later neither of us can beat me you remember exactly why i even said because we were both in pretty bad shape thanks very much gary gibbon. Is going to speak clear about that yesterday you had a face to face conversation the Prime Minister about all the circumstances around this trip and one of those key to also weeks apple is we seem to have lost the line