Transcripts For BBCNEWS Coronavirus 20200413

0n the lockdown, scotlands first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said while there are optimistic signs its working, until theres solid evidence, its unlikely that restrictions will be lifted. It comes as one of the European Countries worst hit by the pandemic, spain, relaxes some of the restrictions it announced last month, allowing manufacturing and construction workers to return. And an nhs boss has warned the number of protective gowns available to front line nhs staff in parts of the uk has become critically low in recent days. 0ur Health Correspondent katharine da costa is with me. Another very miserable number again today, the number of people who have died of coronavirus in the last 2a hours, 717. But we look every day and every week at the trends in terms of the number of deaths and cases so terms of the number of deaths and cases so how do you read this . Thats right, often you see a delay in reporting deaths over at weekends as we saw last weekend and with this being the ankle of a four day weekend, that could be the case. Bank holiday weekend. We had seen numbers doubling every three and a half days up to last weekend and we could have seen as many as 3000 deaths to date which obviously did not happen. We have had an increase of 717. It is important not to read too much into daily figures, you have to look at the trends. Figures have to look at the trends. Figures have started to stabilise. There have started to stabilise. There have been falls in wales, scotland, northern ireland, just a small increase in england. That could be done to weekend reporting delays. We will have to see how the week progresses. But what is interesting is that this week could be crucial because we are starting to see new cases stabilise and hospital admissions, and the hope is that will feed into a fall in the number of deaths. The hope is that we are approaching the peak. Expert are still warning that this is very much a marathon and not a sprint. We should bear in mind that these figures are hospital deaths and we get weekly figures that include those that happen in the community and care homes and in the last few minutes we have heard some very sad news of the number of deaths occurring in a care home. Thats right, we have heard that 13 residents have died at a care home in the durham, at stanley park care home, and the regional director of ca re home, and the regional director of care uk said they were deeply saddened by what had happened and they were trying to reassure relatives they were doing everything they can to keep residents safe. The first case had been reported in march when a resident died in hospital. The residents have been living at the care home, they had symptoms which indicate covid 19 because this individual had not actually been tested but it brings the total to 13. And we know that the total to 13. And we know that the government is keeping the lockdown under review and we are expecting something later in the week about where we stand in terms of the lockdown and any potential easing of restrictions but most people dont think there will be much change . Yes, today marks three weeks of the lockdown, going into the fourth week. There will be a meeting of says, the Scientific Advisory group for emergencies, which will happen tomorrow and the government has until thursday to review restrictions but the welsh and scottish governments have already said they are likely to extend the restrictions for several more weeks and the uk governments together have said they will stick together have said they will stick together on this. We are not expecting that the restrictions will be eased any time soon. Many thanks, catherine. In europe, spain and italy are taking the first tentative steps towards easing restrictions but the Italian Government has told the bbc some businesses will not be allowed to fully reopen until a vaccine is found. Restaurants and bars face the most uncertainty, and many have already gone out of business since the lockdown began five weeks ago. Jean mackenzie reports from rome. The tables still set for meals that were never served. Chiara built this place for the people of rome to meet, eat, and play music. Crowd sings. But its been five weeks since every restaurant in italy was shut down and, as the lockdown drags on, she is preparing to close for good. And this is the reality. When shops and businesses are reopened it will be gradual and the places where you cant keep your distance will be last. We cant have a concert, we cant have a cinema. What about bars and restaurants . Now it is impossible to imagine that the restaurants can reopen. Until the discovery of a vaccine, its impossible to imagine that you can return to a normal life. In the meantime, the government is offering loans to keep them going. But these businesses are struggling to see their place in a socially distant future and fear that by the time theyre allowed to reopen, the damage done will be so great it will be irreversible. This barge bar now resembles a ghost ship. Another business on the edge. How busy does it get . Its good, the last year. Now nothing. And while this country waits to be reopened, its streets are silently being redrawn. The places which give it so much of its soul most at risk. Jean mackenzie, bbc news. With me now to talk about the global ramifications of the virus is masood ahmed who is the president of the center for global development, and former director of the International Monetary funds middle east and central asia department. Thank you forjoining us, i wonder if we could talk about the different sort of economies and societies that are having to fight against the coronavirus and perhaps the difference between the west and developing world . |j difference between the west and developing world . I think the first thing to remember is that so far the epidemic has been concentrated mainly in europe, china, the us. Most developing countries have not yet seen the same kinds of intensity but it is only a question of time and we need to prepare for that. And when you think about how they can prepare, they are going to have a much more difficult time. Why . Partly because if you imagine their societies, you have families of ten 01 societies, you have families of ten or 12 People Living in two rooms, the concept of social distancing becomes much harder when you are sharing facilities with many other families outside. You have people doing three orfourjobs families outside. You have people doing three or fourjobs a day and if they dont go out and get work for the day, they dont have food to eat. The same thing in hospitals. We have a country like malawi, 70 Million People and less than 30 icu beds. They are starting from a much wea ker beds. They are starting from a much weaker place to put it the second big difference they will face is their government are much poorer. Their ability to respond and help is going to be very constrained and thatis going to be very constrained and that is where we, the rest of the world, can come in and help put it we cannot change the nature of society, cannot fix Health Systems overnight but we can at least make sure that shortage of funding at a time when we all have to pitch in doesnt hold back the kind of response that is needed. Very interesting that you talk about how a lockdown is not possible in certain other societies. We saw that imposed in india and the chaos that ensued. Yes, and you think about what happened in india, they imposed a lockdown, everybody got on trains to go to their villages, or they congregated and after a while they realised this really wasnt feasible. Soap many countries today are struggling with trying to find the right balance between stopping the right balance between stopping the virus from spreading through social contact and at the same time recognising the limits to doing that. That is why i think we have to be prepared for it being a much harder and longer duration problem that the world will have to fix. And we all have to fix it because until it is fixed in those countries, we cannot be sure that it will not come back and re infect people in europe and the us. That of course is the problem, we are focused on our own countries and situations. I suppose some people will feel that countries will face a pressure to spend all their money at home because the problem at home is acute. It is, and we have to recognise, what it is that we need to spend on these countries . People are trying to come up countries . People are trying to come up with estimates still and right now the best is they probably need help running in the several hundreds of billions of dollars may be two, fourfor of billions of dollars may be two, four for the poorest countries. Of billions of dollars may be two, fourfor the poorest countries. And thatis fourfor the poorest countries. And that is over the next two years or so. It sounds like a lot of money but it is less than 10 of what the 620, the but it is less than 10 of what the g20, the biggest and largest economies of the world, are spending on the World Economy right now. And we do have instruments to be able to do that. We have these International Institutions like the world bank, other regional div element banks, the International Monetary fund, and they need to write now be stretching their Balance Sheets Regional Development banks put that they need to ta ke Development Banks put that they need to take the risk to help the countries. We can help directly by forgiving and putting at least a freeze on the debt repayments from the poorest countries that are owed to the rich countries themselves. That would provide some relief in the near term. I think there are ways in which we can do it. We need to spend what it takes, we need to do it quickly, because speed is of the essence. If we spend 1 now, we will save ourselves a 5 of spending down the road. We need to keep it simple. This is not the moment to try and tie up all our support in complicated ways in terms of trying to fix the economy is. Right now we need to focus on the problem at hand and finally, i think we also have to recognise that we cannot do it alone. We have to do it in a joined up alone. We have to do it in a joined up way point that we cant have every country rushing out and come up every country rushing out and come up with its own programme of helping the poor countries because we will just tripped over each other and get in each others way. This is the moment to have coordinated Global Response point that we have the World Health Organization, other international organisations. Lets work with them and find a way to at least contain this virus and then, until the vaccine comes along, hopefully find a way to defeat it. And do you detect any political will amongst the governments of the richer nations to do this . amongst the governments of the richer nations to do this . I do. The imf and world bank have two meetings a yearand imf and world bank have two meetings a year and the next is at the end of next week. This is going to be a Virtual Meeting obviously. In preparation, the group over 20 countries which are the largest economies allowing for about 80 of the World Economy, the richest countries part of that, they are coming together, i believe, to at least start the process. I think what will be important is that, as you said in the previous section, this is a marathon and not a sprint. Its not a question of agreeing something next week, it is a question of following through and a question of following through and a question of following through and a question of being willing to break some of the orthodoxy we have taken for granted for so many years. What were doing in europe, in the uk, in the us today would have been considered impossible six months ago and we have to have the same mindset when we try to solve the problems of the poorest countries. We cannot simply accept that the rules by which we manage the economies of the world have to stay completely intact. Very good to talk to you, thank you so much, masood ahmed is the president for the centre of global development. Last month, ministers announced support packages worth tens of billions of pounds to try to ease the economic damage of the pandemic in the uk. The treasury says those who dont qualify will be able to access a range of other measures but many businesses and workers whove lost their jobs say theyve not received enough support. Katy austin has been speaking to some of them. Asking for help to ride out the pandemic. The governments Emergency Support schemes include enabling millions of employees to be furloughed kept on while the state pays a proportion of wages grants for some businesses in england, loans and financing schemes for small and large companies, grants for millions of self employed people, and a range of other measures. But many firms and workers tell us they fall through the cracks. Including junior. Previously self employed, he started a newjob in mid march but has since been made redundant. He started too late to be furloughed. Weve been trying to make phone calls, to universal credit. My wife is still on statutory maternity leave. I now have no salary, and obviously, this isnt the best time to actually be looking for a job right now. Chimney sweep jonathan is sole director of his own limited company. Not eligible for the self employed package, he hoped the local Authority Grant scheme would apply. It doesnt because i dont have premises. The payroll scheme applies but in an incredibly limited way. I might be able to limp on for a little bit, or, if i dont take it, if i dont furlough myself, the business will, you know, is still likely to fail. This tiny bristol event caterer is in the same position. I do face the reality that i may not be able to keep my business going. I would like to see the net being widened by local authorities, to include businesses that are based in mixed use buildings. The Business Interruption loan scheme has been revamped following criticism. But womens tech company elvie, hit by supply issues in asia and now low sales, says three banks have turned it down because its not yet profitable. At the moment, were all facing a significant liquidity crisis. Entrepreneurs cannot innovate their way out of this alone. We need support from the government. Otherwise we need to be looking at really changing all our plans and making significant cuts. Make no mistake, the support packages from the government are huge, unprecedented and complex. An attempt to help as many firms as possible survive and protect millions of peoples incomes. But the list of those who say they still cannot access any or enough support is much longer than we have been able to mention here. And those who can say the crucial thing now is that money gets to them quickly enough. The crisis will inevitably damage businesses and livelihoods. One of the many unknowns is how much of that can be prevented. Katy austin, bbc news. A group of mps have said that a new nhs app for Contact Tracing in a bid to slow the Coronavirus Spread must be open to proper scrutiny over its use of data. The Health Secretary matt hancock said the app will alert other users if they have been in significant contact with someone recently who now has covid 19 symptoms. Lets speak to our Technology Correspondent rory cellan jones. How is this going to work and what are the problems . Nhs x, the National Health Services Digital division, has been working on this for several weeks, experts trying to find the best system. They have been working on an app that you download and it works with your phones bluetooth. It tracks every time you have been in reasonably close contact who has the app. There bluetooth talks to yours. If you are in the supermarket and it spots you have been talking to x for a certain amount of time. If you later alert the app that you show symptoms of the app that you show symptoms of the condition, it then sends a message to all those people you have beenin message to all those people you have been in contact with in previous days saying, you might have been in contact with someone with the virus so maybe you should self isolate. What are the reservations about the app . People are worried about privacy. It has been promoted as having been very privacy conscious because the data lives on the app, it is not stored centrally. There is no tracking of your actual location, it is just no tracking of your actual location, it isjust a no tracking of your actual location, it is just a phone no tracking of your actual location, it isjust a phone is no tracking of your actual location, it is just a phone is talking to each other. There are questions over whether people might be tempted to muck around with it. Kids might install it and claim they were showing symptoms of the virus and it would alert all their friends who would alert all their friends who would be told to stay at home. It will be very important when the app does come out that it gets widespread acceptance. They need more than half the population they reckoned to have it, so they will have to think carefully about the incentives around it to download it. There is even some talk of it being tied to loosening restrictions. Maybe we will wait until a certain number of people have downloaded the app and then we can trace the virus more carefully before we loosen restrictions. And to be clear, the app is up and ready to go . Hmm. It has certainly been. It is going into testing right now. Very small scale tests will happen somewhere in the north of england, in a limited community. I wouldnt exaggerate how quickly it will come through that because there are all sorts of practical considerations as to how accurate it can be and how many false positives it might record and how good the bluetooth is at telling how good the bluetooth is at telling how close you have been to someone. There are steps to go through, but there is a lot of pressure from mps and privacy experts for the government to be open about how exactly it will work. Many thanks, Technology Correspondent rory cellan jones. Doctors are having to make difficult decisions about whether to continue Cancer Treatment for some patients due to the coronavirus pandemic. Chemotherapy weakens the immune system potentially putting some people more at risk of covid 19. The clinical lead for cancer care in england admits there is a huge pressure on resources but says the nhs is finding new ways of delivering care. It comes as new cancer hubs involving public and private hospitals have been launched to carry out urgent surgery. 0ur Health Correspondent lauren moss reports. Battling coronavirus is the biggest challenge the Health Service has ever faced. And while cases of covid 19 climb, routine care for many Cancer Patients has been affected. Roisin has incurable breast cancer. But her chemotherapy has now been suspended for three months because it puts her more at risk from the virus. Its terrifying, and then the fact that theyve stopped the treatment that i know is whats keeping me alive, theres no doubt about that. To have that taken away from you is just, its unbearable. How do we know its only going to be 12 weeks . But for dan, treatment is continuing in an unusual way. He has a tumour in his stomach and his chemo pills are being sent through the post. You have one in the morning, one at night, very simple. So i dont have to brave it in the outside world. Balancing the risk of continuing treatment or delaying it is a tough choice facing oncologists. I think it is difficult for the patients. Especially those patients who have been well on treatment up to now. Nobody knows how. Whether we can continue to deliver treatments over this week, next week. The advice from nhs england is that essential treatment should continue, whenever possible. A cancer hub involving public and private hospitals has been set up in london, matching patients with surgeons to carry out urgent procedures away from those with covid 19. That is our set goal, is to continue to offer urgent cancer surgery throughout this pandemic. And if we continue to operate in this way, keeping the hospital as a priority for cancer, then we should be able to achieve that. Louise is one of the first to be operated on. She was having chemotherapy for breast cancer, but because of the coronavirus, doctors decided that in her case, surgery was safer. Oh, i was relieved. Because we were literallyjust waiting by the phone every day, hoping that someone would call to say that they could fit me in anywhere. Just having something moving forward was. Was important to me. For louise, dan and roisin, life is now on hold. They are among the most vulnerable and will spend months shielding at home to protect themselves. And while the nhs find new ways of working to deliver care, there is concern that others who may need support arent seeking it. Obviously, the coronavirus epidemic is putting huge pressure on nhs resources. Weve certainly seen the numbers of referrals for suspected cancer for investigation go down quite sharply in the last few weeks. So if people are worried about themselves, they should still come forward. As the coronavirus pandemic tightens its grip on the uk, difficult decisions will continue to be made by doctors trying to make sure that no one slips through the cracks. Lauren moss, bbc news. Millions of people are continuing to work in essential services during the lockdown to make sure the country keeps running. 0ur chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt, has been to Sizewell B Nuclear power station in suffolk, to see how britains Electricity Companies are keeping the lights on. The routine checks chemist rochelle grimmer is making help ensure Sizewell B Nuclear power station continues to run smoothly. It provides electricity to more than two million british homes. Day to day tasks are a bit more laborious, says rochelle. So, obviously, washing hands multiple times a day is a big one. We work a lot with gloves, um, in our chemistry section, so changing those frequently. And, obviously, complying with our social distancing, at all times. Here on the suffolk coast, sizewell says it started putting in place its pandemic plan over two months ago, before the first coronavirus cases were even reported in the uk. We have effectively got half of the normal staff complement here at the moment. We have split them into two teams. One is sat operating the power plant, today, as we are here today, the other is at home, safe and isolated. And in the eventuality we did see some sickness on site, the other team would be ready to come in and maintain operation. The Nuclear Reactor is below this dome. The overriding priority is to make sure nothing goes wrong in there. So what happens, just if, theres an issue with International Shipping and the power station cant get supplies . The early stages of our plan, which we enacted two months ago, is to build up our commodities and spare stock levels. So we are ready for this. We dont need to refuel this power station until 2021. So dont worry, your electricity dependent lockdown lifestyle isnt at threat any time soon. Justin rowlatt, bbc news, suffolk. Now on bbc news, its time for your questions answered. Joining me now is dr chris smith, virologist at Cambridge University and presenter of the naked scientists radio show. Thanks so much forjoining us. Pleasure. Lots of questions, some really interesting ones. We will start with something written by steve, who asks, why are we not seeing figures of those recovered from covid 19 in the uk . All other countries are publishing this data. I dont know, is the straightforward answer, steve. Im sorry. The bottom line is we know what the mortality rate is, so therefore one can presume if you are not dead you are alive and you will be recovering. People recover at different rates, though so i suspect the data will trickle out when we have handle on how to collect it, but at the moment i dont know who is logging that data so i cant give you a greater stay on that, but we know the mortality rate at the moment is about 1 . So therefore 99 of people are getting better. A second question from mr bradbury, who is in cheshire. He asks a very current question. Someone should ask ministers why everyone in the uk isnt getting a face mask to wear outside. Anything that helps stop the spread of this dreadful disease would help. Where do you stand . The current guidance from the World Health Organization is that actually face masks are not advised. The who does not make the case for why they should be given out. Thats not to say they are not very valuable in hospital. We have heard a lot in the news about the pe in the last few weeks, that personal protective equipment, and the types used in hospital are very valuable, effective and protecting health care workers. But if you are out and about in public, if you observe the normal guidance for social distancing and how to keep your hands clean and avoid other people who are the only source of the virus for you, then actually a facemasks doesnt buy you much extra protection. We know 80 of transmissions are occurring in the family unitand transmissions are occurring in the family unit and in the domestic setting so most people are not Wearing Masks in the house. Therefore we are without evidence to suggest they should be adopted on the wider scale and its probably an expense most people can ill afford. Is that in fact a case against wearing face max outside because they give you a false sense of security . People have suggested that, and they have also suggested if you touch a surface and have the virus on yourfingers if you touch a surface and have the virus on your fingers and then you touch the face mask then you can tra nsfer touch the face mask then you can transfer the virus to the surface of the face mask and because people spent quite a bit of time touching a mask when they wear them, because they are uncomfortable and because you wear them for a long period of time and they do get itchy and people are them. You also have to ta ke people are them. You also have to take them on and off to eat and drink anyway. Every time you touch the surface and deposit the virus there, there is the chance the virus will go through the facemasks, or when you take it off you spray virus back up into the air and can then breathe it in. Thats one reason why they are notjust breathe it in. Thats one reason why they are not just to breathe it in. Thats one reason why they are notjust to be that helpful. And also the kinds of masks we see people wearing in public are just surgicalfacemasks we see people wearing in public are just surgical facemasks or even masks made from cheap materials. If you hold them up to the light you can almost see daylight through them. The material they are made from is not very good at filtering out small particles and the viruses we are dealing with are tiny, about one 10,000th of a millimetre across. For them, slipping through a facemasks, especially one made damp through prolonged use because your breath has water in it, doesnt help very much, which is why it doesnt really buy you much additional benefit. 0n the basis of the evidence we have we are not advising you go down that road. Thats very clear. A question from someone who doesnt give their name, but do we know how many people have actually died from orbit because of covid 19 rather than the number of people who have died with it . They give the example of eddie large, who sadly died recently. He was admitted to hospital with chronic Heart Failure but was this actually because of the virus . This is a really important question because we know that people are dying of this, people who would otherwise not be expected to doubt this year. Our Prime Minister has tha nkfully this year. Our Prime Minister has thankfully recovered but somebody of his age with his prior medical history, as far as we know, it would not be expected to die at his age and for him to be in intensive care and for him to be in intensive care and as ill as he was argued that we are dealing with something which is are dealing with something which is a very Serious Health threat. That said, there will be people in the equation who captured this and they will succumb to it and equally, if they had caught the flu, they could have succumbed to that as well. It is not as clear as saying a death because of coronavirus is exclusively that. It may be that these are deaths, it sounds bad to say it but some people have said, is it bringing forward the inevitable in some cases . The answer is yes because you have people already in poor health and it is a straw that is perhaps breaking the camels back. Its not as simple as take a death from coronavirus is a death from coronavirus regardless of what else is going on. There will be a range of Health Situations where some people it will be the primary source of death, cause of death, in others it will be a contributory cause. At the next question is linked to that and something we have been debating in our household. How did that total number of deaths in the uk during the pandemic compare with the average numbers for the same period over the last five yea rs . Same period over the last five years . There is a phenomenon called the excess mortality which is computed every year, statisticians on the basis of how many people are born and how many people die in our country each year, we know those numbers well because they are documented, so we know roughly how many people we would expect to be dying at any moment in time. When we see a number that is bigger or smaller than that, we know something has changed the death rate. In wintertime, we seek what is called an wintertime, we seek what is called a n excess wintertime, we seek what is called an excess mortality, more deaths than you would see on the basis of chance alone and what we are seeing at the moment is an excess mortality over and above what you would expect its time of year and those deaths are attributed built to this coronavirus in part at least but the flu also does this. The flu claims up flu also does this. The flu claims up to 10,000 lives in an average winter put it this virus is only just about matching what we achieve with that in the average year at the moment. 0ne with that in the average year at the moment. One has to keep a sense of proportion. 0k, very useful, thank you. A question, no name given. 0ur son is in south africa and he says there is a lot of speculation that countries with a bcg vaccination programme, against tuberculosis, at the lower death rate from coronavirus punter at present, south africa are claiming they have had 25 deaths but is there any truth in this and should be be getting bcg vaccination is questioning i am 77 and did not have this as a child. This is a paper that came out from thejohn hopkins this is a paper that came out from the John Hopkins University this is a paper that came out from theJohn Hopkins University in the states. It was about a week or so ago. They showed that there is a really interesting correlation between countries that do use or have a history of having used bcg which is a vaccine used to prevent widespread tuberculosis or disseminated tuberculosis infection in the body and having a lower risk ofa in the body and having a lower risk of a severe outcome or infection demonstrated with this coronavirus. They have followed this up with a bit more data showing there are indeed a severe manifestations with coronavirus in people who have been vaccinated. The benefit is not a small. At the suggestion is that people might be sixfold more likely to have a severe infection with a coronavirus if they have not had the bcg. At the moment, they dont know why this is happening and the paper that was published with this in has not been peer reviewed, assessed or appraised by a bursitis in the field. But the effect is sufficiently large and does appear to stand up to scrutiny from a range of different angles that it has provoked a number of other scientists to start small trials to see if they can see a similar relationship in other groups of individuals or even giving the bcg to people and seeing if it makes a difference. 0ne to people and seeing if it makes a difference. One theory is that it might be provoking a broad response of your immune system which gives you additional protection should you encounter this new pathogen. At the intriguing thing is that the bcg is a bacterial challenge vaccine which uses a weakened form of a bacterium similarto uses a weakened form of a bacterium similar to tuberculosis and of course the coronavirus is a virus, a com pletely course the coronavirus is a virus, a completely different entity but it goes to show the immune system is a complicated thing. Although we might not know exactly how it is working, if it seems to be beneficial, it might bea if it seems to be beneficial, it might be a useful and easy route to go down to give people additional benefit. In terms of the number of cases in south africa, one must be very cautious about how you interpret data and testing and cases from other countries because the way they are testing cases and reporting data is not the same as our country orany data is not the same as our country or any other. I spoke to a friend who is leading the response in nigeria to the coronavirus outbreak that and he said they have declared almost no cases, a few hundred in the country and he said he does not believe it because they have not been testing anybody put it is more down to hammy tests you do so because it how you compare numbers. How many test. Because it how you compare numbers. How many test. This is from johnny who says that he is part of an elderly couple, 67 and 75 years old, both with chronic underlying illnesses so they are self isolating for 12 weeks but his question is, what comes next . If there is not a vaccine and no cure, 12 weeks will turn into 12 months or more but that we are lucky we have a garden, many dont have access to outside outside space and all he can see is indefinite confinement. Hello, johnny, and i really do appreciate and sympathise with your predicament and sympathise with your predicament and the enormous number of people in exactly the same position. The a nswer exactly the same position. The answer is that there is no simple a nswer answer is that there is no simple answer at the moment. Scientists are coming up with various ideas and theories and partitions are considering them. 0bviously everyone is stating enormous amounts on a vaccine but we are being told by vaccine but we are being told by vaccine researchers and experts in this field that this is not a short term fix. It will be at least a year, more realistically a year and that it is with a fair wind and no problems before we have any kind of vaccine. 0bviously no problems before we have any kind of vaccine. Obviously it is a huge ask for people to stay shielded at home for that length of time. People are investing in looking at various drugs and other things that might help to mitigate against infection and that is a fertile avenue of research. They are considering other ways to perhaps achieve a degree of herd immunity in various countries whereby we have a staged unlock down, people are slowly allowed to return to work in different geographies and different demographics can you send younger people back to school, for example, younger persons back into the workplace and the idea is that you achieve a degree of spread or transmission of the infection but at a level that can be sustained and controlled and supported by the nhs. There was not that same profound overwhelming response that the nhs would have to meet. It does not still solve the problem for those people stuck at home being shielded at the moment and there is no easy fix. I really am very sorry. Yes. Rahul asks, in comparison to germany, we have a lower infection rate yet more mortality. Why . What are the germans doing that we are failing to do our horribly . People are asking this question and looking at this very hard. 0bviously again one has to be very cautious about how you compare statistics. What we dont know in each case is whether the statistics are being gathered in the statistics are being gathered in the same way, whether at the numbers reported include all the cases, include community cases, include all the tests done, who has been tested, the tests done, who has been tested, the same profile is tested. Then you have to remember that Different Countries have different demography is, different numbers of older people. But it has the second highest population in europe soa second highest population in europe so a lot of people packed into a small area. It might well be that the dynamics of our outbreak, how fast it is unfolding, is a bit different to other countries and therefore we will all catch up in therefore we will all catch up in the long run. At the moment wejust dont know. People are looking at countries like germany to take their lead for guidance as to perhaps how we should manage the next phase in reversing the lockdown. A question from stephen and a good question. What constitutes mild symptoms . Of course it is the more serious cases we tend to hear about but what are mild symptoms . The mildest symptom would be no symptoms at all. We think that a significant proportion, as we learn more about the virus, a people who catch it, fit into that category. It might be as many as one in three people who catch it and can demonstrate that their body is growing that i was, you can swab them and detect the virus but it is not producing any symptoms, or at least a ny not producing any symptoms, or at least any appreciable symptoms put it mild symptoms might be that you might not even have a fever, may be a slightly runny nose or sore throat or mild cough, you might not even have those. 0r or mild cough, you might not even have those. Or the more full blown symptoms that people are describing with the relentless fever, persistent cough and may be having to go to hospital. We will have to leave it there. Thank you so much for those very informative answers. Doctor chris smith, a virologist at Cambridge University. You are watching the bbc news. Major charities are calling for the government to publish a comprehensive plan to support social care through the coronavirus pandemic. The alzheimers society, marie curie, age uk, care england and independent age, have written to the Health Secretary, asking him to agree a comprehensive care package for the most vulnerable in society, and the people who care for them. The Charities Say they are urgently calling for more personal protective equipment for their carers. We can speak now to anita peet, managing director of wren hall nursing home which is a specialist Dementia Care nursing home in selston near nottingham. Thank you so much forjoining us. Tell us about the situation in your ca re tell us about the situation in your care home because i know you have lost people to coronavirus. Good evening, yes, we have unfortunately. We have lost nine family members, thatis we have lost nine family members, that is what we call our residents, because they are part of our family and we have lost them to the coronavirus. I am and we have lost them to the coronavirus. | am so and we have lost them to the coronavirus. I am so sorry to hear that. It must be such a difficult time for you all. Can i ask about the conditions in the care home . Do ca re rs the conditions in the care home . Do carers have protective equipment . Yes, they have protective equipment. They have masks, gloves, aprons. But it has not been without its challenges. I have spent hours trying to source the appropriate ppe. Getting masks has been horrendous. First i ordered 3150 masks and that cost £8,860. Those masks and that cost £8,860. Those masks only lasted ten days. Ten days, for £8,000 . Yes. And when they ran out you had to spend the same ain . Ran out you had to spend the same again . Fortunately, we have been able to find more reasonably priced equipment, but this is not about the cost of the equipment. It is about its availability. This is about keeping people safe. We have staff that have families, that are leaving theirfamilies that have families, that are leaving their families and coming that have families, that are leaving theirfamilies and coming to that have families, that are leaving their families and coming to work and caring for people who have a virus that is spreading very rapidly and we need to keep those staff safe. Absolutely. The people that you had to succumb to coronavirus, was there any talk about transferring them to hospital . There was one gentleman that we had to tra nsfer to was one gentleman that we had to transfer to hospital because he had a tracheotomy tube and we did not have the appropriate masks to be able to care for him safely. We got berated by 111 because they said the management of the home should be providing the appropriate ppe. I tried for 2h hours trying to get the ppe. Not even our local hospital or gp could get us the ppe we needed. And in terms of the patients themselves, only one of the nine was transferred to hospital . Only one. Well, we actually have 16 people in the home that are symptomatic, only one person has been transferred to hospital. Goodness. How do you feel about this situation . It is soul destroying. Staff are heartbroken. It is awful to watch people deteriorate, and they are deteriorating very rapidly. We are finding that people pick up around day four, five, six, and then they eight, nine, ten, they deteriorate rapidly. Day eight. It isjust traumatic, it is devastating. It is a battle and staff are doing their best. Im sure they are. Do you feel that you have been left much to a certain extent, to just cope that you have been left much to a certain extent, tojust cope in these extremely difficult circumstances . Yes, it very much feels like that. Despite raising the problem and raising the fact that we are in desperate need of ppe, particularly masks, not so much aprons and gloves. Despite raising that, we are having huge problems sourcing it. There is a National Disruption service that we can contact, but when we contact them it takes them four or five days. They send us 160 masks when we use 312 every day. Its just unbelievable, the situation we are going through. Its just unbelievable, the situation we are going throughm terms of the families of those who have contracted the virus, are they able to come to say goodbye to loved ones . Are they able to have any direct contact . They are coming in. Some families are coming in, but some of them are really frail themselves and elderly. They are frightened. They are being told they shouldnt be coming in. And so its really quite. Itsjust shouldnt be coming in. And so its really quite. Its just absolutely awful to be in this situation. We do have people that are. We are used to delivering end of life care, and we do that really well, but that is to support people to have a good death with their family around them, with their loved ones around them, and that just isnt with their loved ones around them, and thatjust isnt happening at the moment. Itsjust horrendous. Ok, we will leave it there. Thank you so much for speaking to us on bbc news. We wish you all the best. Thank you very much. Thank you. With signs in some countries that the coronavirus pandemic may have reached a plateau, governments are looking at how to lift lockdown restrictions. In the past hour, the World Health Organisation issued this warning on lifting lockdown measures too early. We know that covid 19 spreads fast and we know that it is deadly. Ten times deadlier than the 2009 flu pandemic. We know that the virus can spread more easily in crowded environments, like nursing homes. We know that early case finding, testing, isolating, caring for every case and tracing every contact is essential for stopping the transmission. We know that, in some countries, cases are doubling every three to four days. However, while covid 19 accelerates very fast, it decelerates much more slowly. In other words, the way down is much slower than the way up. That it means control measures must be lifted slowly and with control. As we head towards that Daily Press Conference from downing street, joining me now is our Political Correspondent jonathan blake. Lots to talk about, but first lets look at the figures today, the death toll and number of cases. Something in the region of 700 or so new deaths reported in the last 2a hours. I guess we have become to an extent desensitised to these high numbers of figures being reported every day. The government will be watching those closely and we will get further details on the latest figures into dailys News Conference. Its a key number, along with new cases detected, that government ministers and scientists will be looking at in order to make that all importa nt will be looking at in order to make that all important decision of when and how to ease or lift the measures that have been put in place to restrict peoples movements with the aim of slowing the spread of coronavirus, which is what so many people are keen to know, when that may happen. All the indications are, even though there is a review which the governors has to carry out legally by this thursday into these measures, there is very little if any expectation of them being eased or lifted at all. You only have to look at what first minister of scotla nd look at what first minister of scotland Nicola Sturgeon said at her news co nfe re nce scotland Nicola Sturgeon said at her News Conference today. She said, i wa nt to News Conference today. She said, i want to be very clear, no one is under any illusion, that review, the one this week, is not likely to result in restrictions being lifted in the near future. Result in restrictions being lifted in the nearfuture. The result in restrictions being lifted in the near future. The welsh result in restrictions being lifted in the nearfuture. The welsh first minister said something similar last week before the bank holiday and dominic raab, first secretary of state, said himself on thursday that it was too early to talk about lifting restrictions, so i dont think it will come this week. But the decision will have to be made at some point in the future as to how you manage the uks way out of the current state it is in. There has been some confusion, because today we have done three weeks of lockdown in the uk, and yet the review will not happen until thursday. When the restrictions were initially brought m, restrictions were initially brought in, the. Three weeks ago today, it was said we would look at them again in three weeks and decide if they we re in three weeks and decide if they were still necessary. That was the initial time frame set and when legislation went through parliament in order to enable these restrictions to be enforced and implemented, after the pressure from labour and others, the government agreed to have a three week time limit on them being reviewed. Thats the reason for this thursdays legal deadline for that review to take place, but all the indications are from government and the devolved governments across the uk, who have separate powers to manage the restrictions themselves, all indications are at the moment is that we will live with them for some while yet. Another issue that has bedevilled the government is the lack of personal protective equipment for Health Workers. Today we hear there is a particular issue with gowns. Yes, protective gowns seem to be one item that Health Care Professionals on the front line in hospitals and elsewhere are reporting low stocks of. The nhs providers and Royal College of nursing as well have been putting pressure on the government here to make sure there are enough supplies. Today downing street again said figures in the millions of gowns, masks, visors and otherforms figures in the millions of gowns, masks, visors and other forms of protective equipment are being moved to and delivered to hospitals and other Health Care Settings where they are needed. It doesnt seem that hospitals are actually running out, but there is concern supplies are running very low, too low. Downing street was asked today about the Royal College of nursing advising their members, the Nursing Union advising their members that if they dont find they have adequate supplies of ppe at work they should be able to turn round and refused to do theirjobs. It obviously puts them ina do theirjobs. It obviously puts them in a very difficult position. The government not restating that line but saying they are working with the Royal College of nursing and the priority is to get ppe to the front line as quickly as possible. Its a huge logistical challenge but it doesnt seem one the government is quite on top of yet. All these weeks into the crisis. With those reports of shortages at the front line still. You were talking earlier about almost no possibility of the lockdown being lifted right now, but we are now starting to report other countries who are a little further ahead in the pandemic, like italy and spain, thinking of trying to slowly in certain ways lift restrictions and the government in the uk will look to see what they do. They will be watching closely. Lets remember the uk was days and in some cases weeks behind other European Countries in putting in place restrictive measures. Because of the countries around europe are looking at easing knows, we are perhaps a little way behind in terms of the timeline of cases and when the peak of cases will be seen in the peak of cases will be seen in the uk. But, yes, whether its sector by sector, or a more age based approach to easing the restrictions gradually, the government will be looking at what is being employed elsewhere and what is working elsewhere. I think thats fair to say is a live debate and discussion being had in government at the moment because the medical evidence, the statistics will be presented and interpreted in various different ways, but at the end of the day its a political decision the government will have to make in terms of weighing up the impact the restrictive measures are having on the economy and the Living Standards of people across the uk against the aim as well of managing the number of new cases of coronavirus and trying to ensure as few people die from it as possible. That of course isa from it as possible. That of course is a very delicate balance and one which people have different viewpoints of. We have seen reports emerge of disagreements in government already on that. I dont think its a decision for this week but further down the line there may well be different. We will stop you there because the press briefing is about to start. Good afternoon and welcome to todays downing street press conference. Im pleased to bejoined by professor chris whitty, the chief medical officer and sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser. 0n vallance, the chief scientific adviser. On saturday i spoke to the Prime Minister and updated him on coronavirus and the progress we are making and the plans for the next few weeks. The government is united in ourfocus, determination few weeks. The government is united in our focus, determination and few weeks. The government is united in ourfocus, determination and our National Mission to defeat the coronavirus and defeat it we will. I wa nt to coronavirus and defeat it we will. I want tojoin coronavirus and defeat it we will. I want to join the Prime Minister coronavirus and defeat it we will. I want tojoin the Prime Minister in expressing our heartfelt thanks to the Brilliant Team at St Thomas Hospital and as the Easter Bank Holiday weekend draws to a close, i also need to thank all the nhs staff, all the other front line staff, all the other front line staff, who have been working so hard over the long weekend to care for those suffering from coronavirus. We thank you, we pay tribute to you, and we are immensely proud of all you are doing. Can i also take the opportunity to thank everyone who followed the advice to stay at home despite the wonderful weather and despite the wonderful weather and despite the wonderful weather and despite the challenges and sacrifices that sticking to the advice presents to many families. I have to say that at the end of last week we were concerned people might start ignoring the advice or cutting corners, given the temptation to go out into the sunshine. In fact, the overwhelming majority of people stayed at home and understood the importance of doing so. You stop to the advice, you have denied the coronavirus the social contact it needs to spread and people should be no doubt that by staying at home this weekend you have saved lives and also help protect our precious nhs at this critical moment the crisis. Nhs at this critical moment the crisis. You stuck to the advice. Thank you, your efforts are making all the difference and please keep them up. We have come too far and lost too many loved ones and sacrificed too much to ease up now. Ican sacrificed too much to ease up now. I can tell you now that on the latest data that 290,720 people have been tested for coronavirus. 88,621 have now tested positive. And i am very sorry to say that 11,329 people have now died from coronavirus. Everyone of them is a tragedy and our hearts go out to all those loved ones who are grieving their loss at such a difficult time. Its this sobering death toll there are also some positive signs from the data that we are starting to win this struggle. But weve still got a long way to go and as those grisly figures i have just way to go and as those grisly figures i havejust read out show way to go and as those grisly figures i have just read out show we are still not passed the peak of the virus. So, please, continue to follow the advice now more than ever, to stay at home, save lives and protect the nhs. This week sage will review the evidence of the effectiveness of social distancing measures we have taken and we will consider their assessment based on the evidence at that point. I should say we dont expect to make any changes to the measures currently in place at that point and we wont until we are confident, as confident as we realistically can be, that any such changes can be safely made. In the meantime, the government will continue to redouble all our efforts to buy and deliver ventilators so we can treat the most vulnerable in our hospitals, to deliver masks, gowns and other protective equipment to protect those on the front line in the nhs and also in care homes and to ramp up testing so the nhs staff and other key staff can return to the front line as soon as possible. The chancellor and business secretary are working round the clock to mitigate the damage this crisis has undoubtedly done to our economy, getting support to businesses, workers and the most vulnerable in society. So please keep following the guidance to stay at home, save lives and protect the nhs. If we let up now, the virus will only take full advantage, it will only take full advantage, it will spread faster and kill more people. If we refuse to give into it, if we keep up this incredible tea m it, if we keep up this Incredible Team effort, we will beat this virus and we will come through this national test. 0ur and we will come through this national test. Our plan is working, please stick with it and we will get through this crisis together. I will hand over to Patrick Vallance to talk us through the data today. Thank you, first slide, please. As the first secretary has said, a reminder that the aim is to keep numbers below nhs capacity and in doing so we save lives. The mobility change on this slide shows what we have all done, we have stayed at home more, reduced activity in terms of retail, recreation, transport and in the workplace, with more home working and reduced presence in parks. That is having an effect in terms of reducing transmission in the community. This slide shows the number of new cases but this is important, of course it is not all cases put it is the cases that have been tested and there are many more that have not been tested. The blue bars show the number of cases that have been tested for medical need. You can see that even allowing for some vagaries of the number of tests done, that is at least flattening off and we would expect it to decrease conduct the orange bar is the number of people who have tested positive who are Critical Care workers including those in the nhs and im pleased to say there is more testing going on and that is an important part of what is happening to detect more cases and be able to tell people who are negative. Next slide, please. This is in some ways harder data, which measures things that relate directly to the infection and that is the number of people in hospital beds with covid and here you can see, as discussed before, it is beginning to flatten off. You can see it beginning to flatten off in many parts of the country, not absolutely everywhere but you would expect this to continue to decrease, flatten and then start to decrease as the effects of the social distancing we have in place really feed through into the illness we are seeing in hospital. And finally, if i can have the last slide, please . This is the slide of deaths and again, it does not carry all deaths. It looks at the deaths in hospital and the reason it does that is because that is the International Standard which eve ryo ne is the International Standard which everyone else is doing in terms of putting deaths. Unfortunately there are of course many that occur outside hospital. Reporting deaths. We are tracking behind italy, following the same path and what to expect to see happen in question i think this week is difficult and we will see a further increase and thereafter we should see a plateau as the effects of the social distancing come through. That might last for some time and then begin to decrease, that is what we expect to see in this very u nfortu nate expect to see in this very unfortunate death curve. Thank you very much. Thank you, patrick. David shukman from the bbc. Thank you, two question if i may, want to sir Patrick Vallance put this morning the World Health Organization special envoy described the wearing of masks is becoming a social norm and in america come the centre for Disease Control recommended the American Public wear them as a measure against people who are infected but dont show symptoms passing on the virus. Is it possible that you would change your advice to the British Public about Wearing Masks when they are outdoors . But first, if i might ask a question to the first secretary. Understanding that it the first secretary. Understanding thatitis the first secretary. Understanding that it is too early to consider relaxing any of the measures, could you share with us any of the specific ideas you are considering within government for how those measures might be relaxed when that time comes . I think it is far too early to talk about that. As certain sir patrick has explained, we are going through the peak and were doing all the work in government to assess the evidence and we will be guided by the science and medical advice we get and i think until you have got that evidence, we would be getting ahead of ourselves. The focus right now, particularly after the relative success i think of encouraging people to stay at home during the Bank Holiday Weekend, is to keep up the national effort, keep the social distancing measures in place and there will come a time in the future where we can talk about relaxation but we are not there now. In answer to the question about masks, i will answer the question about if we sought new evidence we would change our months, their a nswer would change our months, their answer is yes and we would give new advice if we have new evidence predict the who have stayed with their recommendation around masks. We look at this and update our view from time to time and we are looking at it again now. The evidence on masks is much more persuasive for masks is much more persuasive for masks stopping you giving it to somebody than it is for preventing you from catching it. We are continuing to look at new evidence as it emerges and if there is evidence that looks like we should change our advice, we would do so. Would you like to come back with a supplementary . If i may, would you like to come back with a supplementary . Ifi may, on the question of masks, lily the growing Scientific Evidence about asymptomatic transmission, people having the virus without realising and passing it on, has convinced the americans if they need to change policy. Might that happen here . Americans if they need to change policy. Might that happen here7fi might do because we are looking at evidence all the time and of course it is complicated because there do seem to be asymptomatic or pre symptomatically people but they are also not coughing and doing things that can spread it but we are looking at all the data and we have a review ongoing at the moment of the evidence around masks. If that review concludes that the position it should change, we will of course make that recommendation and if it stays the same, we will make that clear as well. Mark mcmillan from itv. Thank you, you mentioned the lockdown measures that are set to be extended, as you indicated. Why is there no clear plan as yet as to how we get back to normal once the lockdown is over . Also, why is there still no daily death toll for the numberof still no daily death toll for the number of people who are dying outside of hospital . number of people who are dying outside of hospital . I will let chris talk about how we are measuring the death toll and the different figures. We are working assiduously to make sure we are ready when the right time comes but at the moment, the evidence suggests we are still going through the peak of this crisis, whether that is measured on their death count, the death toll, or some of the other measures that sir patrick talked us through. It is crucially important we do not take our eye off the ball or the publics focus on the thing that has been a success so far in relative terms which is our ability, through widespread support for our social distancing measures, to deprive this virus of the means to spread product is critically important, and i think a lot of people listening at home would understand that, that as we are going through the peak of the crisis, with the death toll at the level it is an increasing, but absolutely keen to make sure and determined to keep our eye on the ball and our focus on what will save lives which is people staying at home and protecting the nhs in that way. I dont know if you want to say anything further on the point about social care homes at nhs deaths . M terms of. The question was why we dont measure death toll outside hospital and the answer is that we are. There are two separate bits of information that come out but they come out at different times. The first, which is what we show here and can update on a daily basis is deaths in hospital and we are able to get those data are relatively fa st to get those data are relatively fast and they are proven cases, we know that they actually have covid 19 from testing. Then the second area of data, which is usually delayed by some days, trying to shorten that period, is the ons data and that covers all the people who have covid as a diagnosis on their death certificate, irrespective of where they have actually sadly died. Those data do include deaths at home, at care homes, in other areas, include deaths at home, at care homes, in otherareas, where include deaths at home, at care homes, in other areas, where the doctor who has seen them thinks that covid is or is likely to be the cause of death or an important contributor to the cause of death. Those are the two main ways we are measuring at the moment put would you like to come back on any of that . I was going to mention on the deaths outside hospitals, you mentioned the ways they are being calculated. Will that information be part of the figures that are released to the public . Is there any plan to release that information . The ons data is completely open to the public and always will be under i think the other thing which is important, in every situation we look at, is not just the covid direct deaths but the all cause mortality because of some of the way that covid will be causing death sadly is busily direct from the virus and some of it is direct from the post and some include things like people not being able to get into hospital, which at the moment the hospitals are operating very effectively, below that ceiling in terms of emergency ca re that ceiling in terms of Emergency Care but also things that might be postponed. Also, the long term effects of the economic and other effects of the economic and other effects on people is a long term health. Victoria mcdonald from channel 4. Being properly recorded that we may actually never know the true extent or we might have people putting pneumonia it is covid 19. How can we putting pneumonia it is covid 19. How can we overcome putting pneumonia it is covid 19. How can we overcome that . How will we ever see that the true figure . We didnt catch the first part of it but i think it was how we can reliably track the sources of deaths from covid 19, critically outside the nhs. More specifically, it was about the true numbers of deaths. Im afraid you cut out on us but i think we have got the question. think we have got the question. think that the most important number in my view over the epidemic as a whole is going to be all cause mortality put it that is deaths from any sort. And obviously of that, some will have been diagnosed by their doctor as having covid 19. Of their doctor as having covid 19. Of the ones that are diagnosed as such, in hospital now and increasingly it will be true in other settings, that will be true in other settings, that will be true in other settings, that will be based on testing. Over time, the accuracy of that will increase. Our view is that at this point in time, most people who have the syndrome that looks like covid probably do have covid as a syndrome but honestly that would not be so true if we were talking about the period when the flu season happens late in the year. For interpreting these data becomes more difficult but ramping up of testing, which is happening, will allow us to get greater accuracy on this overtime. You want to come back in, not sure we have a signal with you. you want to come back in, not sure we have a signal with you. I hope you can hear me. I was very specifically talking about deaths in ca re specifically talking about deaths in care homes because there is some concern, especially if a doctor cannot get into that care home, that they are not being recorded properly. I think this is one for chris, actually. Obviously everybody who sadly dies, the doctor will make an assessment based on her or his view about what the cause of death is, that is what the death certificate said in all cases and doctors take it very seriously and try to make sure they get as much information to give accurate data. One of the things we want to do is to extend the amount of testing of people in care homes is the ability to test ramps up over the next few weeks. Because clearly, care homes are one of the areas where there are large numbers of Vulnerable People and that is an area of risk and therefore we very much would like to have much more extensive testing in that assenting which will help with this. Andy sparrow from the guardian. Hello, a question for sir patrick and a question for the first secretary please. Sir patrick, you sit in your Opening Statement that when the death toll peaks there will bea when the death toll peaks there will be a plateau and that will carry on you said for some time. Can you explain a bit more about what you mean by some time. Are you talking days, weeks . Could that plateau at la st days, weeks . Could that plateau at last for over a month . And first secretary, on the issue of ppe, when the home secretary was asked about bits at the weekend, a lot of people we re bits at the weekend, a lot of people were not very happy when she was asked to apologise for failings with ppe and she said she apologised if people felt there had been failings. Isnt it clear that there has been a problem notjust isnt it clear that there has been a problem not just with distribution but supply . And why cant ministers just say, just apologise for that . We understand the importance of getting the ppe to the front line, whether in care homes or the nhs. We are trying to give notjust the stop on the front line the equipment but the reassurance they need. I think the reassurance they need. I think the strongest reassurance, practical reassurance that they would want and we can give them is that over the Bank Holiday Weekend, over 16 million ppe items were delivered and we are straining every sinew to roll them out even further and faster. Patrick . If you look at the effect ona number of patrick . If you look at the effect on a number of cases in the community, you would expect the measures put in place to cause quite a sharp decrease. Unfortunately, with the deaths, there is not only a delay but we would expect there to bea delay but we would expect there to be a much more gradual decrease from the peak time and expect there to be a bit ofa the peak time and expect there to be a bit of a plateau, if you look at other countries that is what they have seen and what we would expect a point that you expect that to go on for two or three weeks. But i cannot be absolutely sure on the time of that. Would like follow up . Inaudible we cant hear you. Im afraid we will. We will have to move on, martin brown from the daily express. Foreign secretary, i want to take you back to your opening remarks when you said our plan is working. But we have seen so far that testing has been slow and the government is to frantically trying to get ventilators, front line nhs staff are still struggling to get hold of ppe, and some experts are predicting britain will have the worst death rate from coronavirus in europe. Was this all part of the plan . And to sir patrick and professor chris whitty, what specific evidence are you looking for, the Scientific Evidence you are looking for to reopen schools, and do you think it will be wise that the uk follows the european example and opens schools so soon after the supposed peak . The two crucial things that we have a lwa ys two crucial things that we have always argued, flattening the peak and making sure the nhs can cope, is on the one hand getting people to follow guidelines on social distancing. They have shown the forbearance and sacrifice that has allowed us to deliver on that. It has been a national effort. A lot of people, when you think of the warm weather and people with young families, that has been a success in terms of delivering on that side of things will stop it has helped limit the spread. I know it is difficult when you look at the death toll and those figures, but we are seeing signs, tentative signs, of a flattening out, and that was the original plan. The second thing was to make sure the nhs has capacity, andindeed to make sure the nhs has capacity, and indeed some headroom, whether it is Critical Care beds or ventilators that can support those who need it. On those two key aspects, and im not saying there havent been challenges right across the range of Different Things we have to achieve, but on those two critical aspects, actually we have got ourselves into actually we have got ourselves into a good place and the key thing is to keep delivering on that. In terms of the timescale, we will look to see when the peak is and when we are firmly on the sun other side and see numbers coming down. Only at that stage we will see what numbers we can release. It would be a complete waste of what everyone has had to do up waste of what everyone has had to do up to now. I can absolutely understand the difficulty some of the decisions made but it would be a waste to rapidly reverse that and lead to a re emergence of this. The key is to keep the r value below one and see it come down. When it gets above one you see the exponential growth again which we cant afford to have, nobody can. Therefore the timing of the decisions around things like schools will have to be taken in light of the evidence as it emerges. If we took our foot off the pedal to early and eased up too early, we risk that second wave, and that would be particularly damaging andi that would be particularly damaging and i think even for businesses, some of whom are particularly concerned and have been asking for more clarity, i think it would be particularly damaging for them so we wa nt to ta ke particularly damaging for them so we want to take the right decisions at the right time. Is there anything you would like to come back on . On that r value, sir patrick, how close are we to getting towards that . Are we closer to one than two for example . We closer to one than two for example . As i have said recently, i think in the community you would expect the r now to be below one in general. We will review that again this week but thats what we expect in the community. That doesnt mean overall it is below one because there are cases in care homes and hospitals where there is still infection being picked up, but in the community, with distancing in place, the r is expected to be below one. Patrick mcguire from the new statesman. Good evening. Professor chris whitty, you said one in ten ca re chris whitty, you said one in ten care homes were affected last week. Have you any advance on that figure, is it going up or down and how can you accurately model the spread given testing is so haphazard. And first secretary, what economic modelling have you done on the various lockdown exit scenarios . On ca re care homes, at the moment the total number cumulatively across the whole country is around 13. 5 overall. In the last 24 hours there have been 92 ca re the last 24 hours there have been 92 care homes where an outbreak has been detected. In terms of testing, when an outbreak is suspected Public Health authorities will go in and do testing to assess whether an outbreak has occurred. That is going on all the time and has gone on through this. That allows the care home staff, who are absolutely fantastic, and are doing a very difficultjob for the fantastic, and are doing a very difficult job for the benefit of the people who live with them, they can then isolate people who are symptomatic and try and make sure this doesnt spread within a care home. Patrick, on your other question, we are looking at all the data, economic, the health and social outcomes, according to all the measures we have got in place and when the time is right we will look at them in terms of any changes we have made but we are not there yet and we want to keep the focus on maintaining social distancing measures for all the reasons that have been backed up by sir patrick and chris today. Would you like to come back on any of that . On the question of ppe in care homes, there have been complaints about cost from ca re have been complaints about cost from care homes. How are you ensuring costis care homes. How are you ensuring cost is no barrier for care homes in terms of getting adequate ppe, especially with the demands on hospitals, so how are you prioritising what goes where and at what cost . Cost has not been a major challenge for us. It is supply because its a very competitive market out there because there is so much demand for it. And also particularly with care homes, some local distribution. Last week we had one drop of bulk ppe to local resilience forums and we have another this week. To be clear on the what that means, it is a book drop toa the what that means, it is a book drop to a group or body that can make sure they get to the individual local authorities and local care homes that really need them. We have set upa homes that really need them. We have set up a hotline so when there are distribution challenges, and we recognise there have been some, they can be unblocked as quickly as possible. So we are doing everything we can. I chaired a meeting on it this morning and its something we look at on a daily basis, doing everything we can to try to get ppe where it is most needed. Adam from business insider. A question to all of you, more than 11,000 people have died now in uk hospitals after contracting coronavirus. Sir Jeremy Farrar said yesterday the uk is on course to be one of the worst if not the worst affected country in europe. Does the government now acce pt europe. Does the government now accept it should have acted sooner in locking down the country and in hindsight do the scientific and medical advisers believe they should have pushed harder to make the government make that decision earlier, and could lives have been saved that have been lost . earlier, and could lives have been saved that have been lost . I will defer to the experts, but im not sure thats comparing like with like on the data we have or the underlying data that we have been looking at. Patrick, would you like to address that further . The aim all along, and clearly sirJeremy Farrar has been part of the group, has been to get the numbers down and make sure we keep numbers below nhs capacity and therefore ensure the nhs can function. That has been the absolute aim in this and so far that is exactly where we are in terms of keeping this under control with heroic efforts from the nhs in terms of increase capacity and superhuman effo rts of increase capacity and superhuman efforts of doctors, nurses and all those who look after patients. The direct comparison around things, i think we need to wait and see how things evolve. There is a in this disease. It is still a new disease, it still has not spread everywhere across the world. There is a long way to go with this disease. I think there is a lot still to see in terms of where this ends up. Clearly it will be very important to concentrate on vaccine and therapeutics to get there. The measures we have in place i think are holding it in the right position in terms of keeping numbers down for nhs capacity at the moment. Adam, would you like to come back on anything . You cant always make direct comparisons between countries, but looking at some of the countries that acted much sooner than the uk, south korea in particular, only had a fraction of the deaths we have seen in the uk, isnt it clear that if we had acted sooner, days or weeks earlier than we did, it would have made a difference in terms of lives lost. dont think it is clear and i dont think comparisons are like for like because of where we are on the curve, as sir patrick mentioned, but also the individual circumstances of those countries. But we will continue to monitor what is going on in other countries and make sure we feed that into what we are doing here. Patrick, anything else to add . No, ithink here. Patrick, anything else to add . No, i think it is very difficult to make those comparisons and we will be able to look and see this in due course. I think there is a lot to learn from other countries in terms of what we need to do and we are definitely looking closely at other countries in terms of how they think about release of lockdown measures. Thank you adam, and thank you all very much. Studio that brings to an end todays downing street briefing, taken by first secretary dominic raab, and he wasjoined by the government chief scientific adviser sir Patrick Vallance and also by chief medical officer chris whitty. Some of the territory they covered, dominic raab paid tribute to Health Workers and also to members of the public saying that at the end of last week ministers had been concerned that the fine weather might mean people wanted to flout social distancing rules, but in fact the overwhelming numbers have stuck to the government advice. They also spoke of tentative signs of a flattening out of numbers of new uk cases and people in hospital beds. But they also spoke of an increase in the spread of coronavirus care homes. We will bring in our Political Correspondentjonathan blake ina Political Correspondentjonathan blake in a second. But first, the latest figures in the uk. Another 717 people have died of the virus, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 11,329. And there are now nearly 90,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Joining me now is our Political Correspondent jonathan blake. We have got used to these slides being shown during the brief rings. What sort of information will we given . The first thing to say is that the headline from the News Conference is dominic raab confirming what we were all expecting, and that was to say that even though the government will review the restrictive measures put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus this week, as they legally have to do so, they are not anticipating any change. He said we dont expect to make any changes to the measures already put in place, although the government will review and look at the scientific and medical data that was presented to them by the Scientific Advisory group for emergencies and others. Thats a confirmation of what we are expecting, after first minister of scotla nd expecting, after first minister of scotland Nicola Sturgeon said earlier today she didnt anticipate any change, and welsh minister mark dra keford any change, and welsh minister Mark Drakeford said a similar thing last week, the welsh first minister. That ta kes week, the welsh first minister. That takes the heat out of review the government will do this week with all the indication and confirmation from dominic raab, deputising for the Prime Minister at the moment, that we will be living with these lockdown restrictions for a little longer, perhaps much longer. We will have to see. You mentioned the slides we were shown, but one we havent seen is the mobility change, which shows us the changes in peoples activities since the measures were put in place, as of aprilfive this slide measures were put in place, as of april five this slide is showing, nothing particularly surprising, we are spending more time at home and less time in parks, pharmacies, grocery stores, workplaces in transport stations and in retail and recreation activities are down 85 to the right of that slide. Quite a striking example and visualisation of the impact of the lockdown measures we have all become familiar with. Just to pick out the other slide which compares deaths in the uk with other countries around the world, on that slide you can see around halfway up the bright blue line is the uk, following the grey line is the uk, following the grey line behind it, which is the trajectory of italy, which of course attracted attention with a high number of deaths rising at quite a rapid rate early on in the spread of coronavirus. It was interesting to hear the chief medical officer talk about this slide saying that there we re about this slide saying that there were signs that it was starting to plateau, at least that was the expectation, he said, there should bea expectation, he said, there should be a plateau that lasts for some time and then begin to decrease. So even though we are seeing very high numbers of deaths reported daily, and again today, another 717 in the last 24 hours, the hope and indeed the expectation is among those advising the government and ministers, is that number should before too long hopefully plateau and then decrease. You mentioned the uk is following the trajectory of italy but there were questions put to the three men there about why the uk was so out of line with germany and south korea, to take two examples. Those two countries have taken different approaches, testing far more widely and isolating and tracing those who have come into contact with others known to have the virus, in a much more targeted manner. So i imagine that will be the overwhelming reason for those two countries are showing a much different trajectory, but we have heard from government ministers when they have been asked about that, and Health Secretary matt hancock was quite candid about it last week when he said the uk simply doesnt have the infrastructure and industry in terms of the pharmaceutical diagnostic industry, to be able to test on the scale germany has and process that in time. Thats not to say the government doesnt have ambitious plans for the number of tests it hopes to carry out, 100,000 per day by the end of this month is still the target, although figures show we are still some way off that. The line of trajectory of deaths here in the uk does look very different, perhaps partly as a result of that. And one more thing we heard repeatedly about care homes feeling they have been left to fend for themselves with carers not having enough ppe, about whether patients can be taken to hospital or not and we had some figures about the spread of the infection in care homes. Yes, the deaths reported in care homes as a result of coronavirus, whether thatis a result of coronavirus, whether that is a contributory factor to somebodys death, they are not covered by those figures showing deaths in hospitals but we heard from the briefing that at the moment, or as of now, 13. 5 of care homes have reported cases of coronavirus. That translates to 92, the number of care homes where an outbreak has been detected and that is an increase on last week when we we re is an increase on last week when we were told it was one in ten so it gives you an idea of the number of cases reported in the number of care homes affected. But there has been concern about staff working in that environment receiving the right amount of protective equipment they need to carry out their work. And concerns and continued questions for the government about whether that supply is there in the numbers needed. K, jonathan, many thanks. Jonathan blake, our Political Correspondent. The lockdown has meant a respite from air and noise pollution. Though we are stuck inside, its still possible to watch and hear the Natural World through technology, as well as your window. John maguire has been talking to naturalists who are making the most of the lockdown. Birdsong. On a normal day, naturalist ed drewett would never dream of trying to record birdsong in his front garden, next to a busy road in the forest of dean. But these arent ordinary days. As the noise we make declines, the volume of the Natural World seems to have reached 11. I think compared to three weeks ago, now, because weve got quieter roads, we have quieter neighbourhoods, one thing that we are doing now is perhaps noticing much more about whats going on around us with nature. So, at the moment, normally, here, there would be lots of lorries going past, cars going past. And yet, instead, all i can hear are blackbirds and robins singing. Whether youre in the middle of an urban area or in the countryside, there is still plenty to see and hear. The dawn chorus, at the moment, is around 5 45 6 in the morning. So its the perfect time to be listening for all the birds singing at the same time. Yes, this is a really exciting time of the year. This is a busy time of year for Mark Glanville as he prepares for the return of swifts to the uk at the end of this month. Tucked under the eaves of his house in bristol, marks home made swift boxes are rigged with tiny cameras, so that he can watch and share online images of them nesting. So anybody out there who is stuck in because of this lockdown, here is an ideal opportunity to do Something Like this and get close up to nature in their very own house. The internet is full of such nest cams. A big brotherfor birders and, also, a way for people who are isolating or locked down to connect with nature. If you are going out on your daily exercise, set yourself a challenge. There is lots of birdsong on the internet. Try to listen to one and try to identify it and set yourself a goal each day to identify a new bird call every day. Im doing that. Every morning, when we go out for a walk, he says, whats that bird . And i get it wrong quite often. But im trying. Im getting there gradually. Less traffic and more time on our hands means the chance to look around like never before, no matter where you are. So, if youve got time and you can look out the window, when swifts come back, try and find out where theyre nesting. Look underneath roof tiles, even in flats. There are little nooks and crannies that swifts are in. And its lovely watching them go back to their nest. Few of us will look back on this time with any fondness. But there are some opportunities to learn, to discover, and to make new friends. John maguire, bbc news, bristol. Youre watching a bbc news special coming off the back of the downing street press briefing. Our Health Correspondent katharine da costa is with me. What struck you during the briefing this afternoon . Dominic raab obviously started by saying that the majority of people had followed the guidelines by staying at home over the Bank Holiday Weekend and he thanked nhs staff who had been working over the holiday period. He said that although this has been a sobering death toll, there were early signs that things were starting to improve but we are not passed the peak yet. He talked about the lockdown and said that sage would be meeting, the Scientific Advisory group for emergencies, meeting tomorrow to consider reviewing and looking at the advice but dominic raab said they do not expect to be making any changes and would not make any until the evidence showed it was safe to do so. I think what they have been reiterating over a number of days now is that there are objectives of slowing the spread, getting people to stay at home, social distancing, is starting to work and the other objective that has been crucial is protecting the nhs, that means protecting the nhs, that means protecting capacity by making it sure it has the Critical Care beds, ventilators and staff. To that extent, the experts and dominic raab both said they were meeting those objectives and managing to do that. In particular, i think we can look ata graph, in particular, i think we can look at a graph, they looked at hospital beds. They are saying that we are bringing to see the flattening of the curve, not everywhere, that there were some instances where there were some instances where there has been a slight increase, but in the majority of the country we are starting to see figures are starting to stabilise. They expect social distancing to help that drop further. It is beginning to feed in. The figures we have seen today, more than 88,000 people have tested positive for covid and the death toll has surpassed 11,000. This is in hospitals, recorded deaths. That was an increase of 717. What we have seen again at weekends is there is a delay in reporting and obviously come with the Bank Holiday Weekend of four days, we could see that as the week progresses, we might see an increase in the numbers so we are not out of the woods yet. They are saying that after three weeks of lockdown we should start to see the fall in the number of deaths to follow up. There is some good news to ta ke follow up. There is some good news to take away from that. Katharine, many thanks. Bikers from bodmin in cornwall have banded together to help Vulnerable People by delivering essential shopping and medication to those who cant make it to the shops. The idea started with just one man and his motorbike, but as demand grew, so did the number of willing volunteers. Patrick clahane has more. Travelling on cornwalls now empty roads, these bikers are on a mission. Engine revs loudly. Im guy, i work in the Emergency Services and iformed bodmin bikers. Bodmin bikers is a Delivery Team for medication from doctors surgeries to pharmacies. Were also a food delivery, so if you need your essentials, bread, milk. Do you know what . We havent actually had any pasty deliveries yet. The group dont charge for delivery and were set up to help Vulnerable People stuck at home, unable to get essentials. Weve been trying to self isolate as much as possible and go out as little as possible, and sarah, my partner, she suffers quite badly with asthma, as well. So, as a family, we havejust, yes, tried to keep ourselves to ourselves as much as possible and these gentlemen make it so much easier. Just goes to show that in this community and, well, in cornwall in general, people do help each other as much as they can and do what they can for one another. Since starting just a couple of weeks ago, 18 people have now volunteered, including a chef, plumber, and supermarket worker. Im brandon, aka spider man, part of bodmin bikers. People see us riding around, they wave at us and it was really nice to go out, make people happy, make them laugh and ijust thought, you know, give people a bit of happiness while we are in this pandemic at the moment. The gang are a mix of ages, including one who has onlyjust got his bike licence. Im dan, im 16, and im from the bodmin bikers. I think at this point ive probably done everything medication, food, essentials. Even though they didnt know each other until recently, it seems theyll be riding together long after the lockdown. After this is all over, i think we are going to go out on a ride out. I think we are one big family and we will stick together, definitely. Patrick clahane, bbc news, bodmin. Judging when and how to lift restrictions is fraught with danger. Countries in asia where covid 19 first spread more than three months ago have taken different approaches to controlling the pandemic. Lets hear from our correspondents in four locations in the region first to Stephen Mcdonnell in china, the country where the virus originated. Chinas most Strict Lockdown has been in hubei province. However, in most of the country, staying indoors has simply been a suggestion, which people have followed. Now its a cautious road to normality. You need to pass green phone app Health Clearance to buy train tickets. Neighbourhoods, apartment blocks, are still only admitting residents. Restaurants are capping diner numbers, you cant sit too close to others. China is returning to work, while guarding against a new wave of infections from citizens returning from overseas. Here in south korea, there has been no lockdown, no mandatory restrictions, despite over 10,000 people becoming infected. Instead, the government urged common sense. Stay apart where possible, work from home, and avoid mass gatherings. And instead of controlling the movement of the population, it has aggressively traced and tested for the virus. Silent streets and empty offices. Here in singapore, a partial lockdown has kicked in over the last few days, because of a second wave of infections. We are not meant to leave our homes any more unless its for one of 12 government mandated reasons. Break those rules, and you face fines, orworse, prison time. These measures are in place until the end of the month, but they could be extended if the virus isnt contained. Here injapan, most of us, at least in the biggest cities, are now living under a state of emergency. So what does that mean . It means the government is asking people to stay at home at the weekends and in the evenings. And as you can see, most people are now complying with that. But this is not a lockdown. Offices remain open, so do pubs and restaurants until 8pm in the evening. You can even go and get a haircut if you want to. The japanese government appears determined to keep the economy going, come what may. And japan is also not carrying out widespread testing. Instead, the government is hoping the limited measures will start to bend the curve of the epidemic downwards in the next two weeks or so. Will it work . We are going to have to wait and see. As you have seen from my colleagues around the region, governments here in asia are using very different strategies to combat the covid 19 pandemic. But one thing is very striking. Compared to america and europe, the number of people dying in asia from the coronavirus appears to be much, much lower. Theres lots of speculation as to why that might be. Is it because people in asia wear face masks much more . The truth is, right now, we simply dont know. Rupert Wingfield Hayes in tokyo ending that round up from asia. One of the worlds best known opera singers, the italian tenor, andrea bocelli, has performed a live concert alone in the famous duomo cathedral in milan the centre of the Italian Region thats been worst hit by the pandemic. His music for hope concert was streamed live worldwide and featured four hymns. Reged ahmad reports. Ave maria. Andrea bocelli, one of the worlds most famous and enduring tenors. He sang alone in this iconic milan cathedral, save for an organist. Bocellis voice filling the cavernous, empty space. The tenor was invited to sing by the mayor of milan and the body that looks after the cathedral, streaming his performance live online for free on easter sunday. Translation first of all, i would like to specify that it is not a concert, but a prayer. That is what it is. And that is what it is meant to be. Bocelli is one of a long line of musicians performing on social media during the coronavirus lockdown. Many other artists have been singing and playing from their homes at a time when they cant hold concerts in person, posting their performances on social media as a way of reaching their fans. Andrea bocellis concert was aimed at uniting people during a time of social distancing. But it had a special meaning, too. Milan cathedral is in the northern lombardy region, one of the hardest hit in italy. As the tenor sang, pictures of the area on lockdown were shown on the screen. Italian officials do say they hope theyre over the peak of covid 19 cases. Amazing grace how sweet the sound. The tenor ended his concert outside the cathedral, singing Amazing Grace to an eerily empty piazza. As many in italy no doubt wait for the day it can again be filled with the sound of people. Reged ahmad, bbc news. But now im found. Before we go, lets just bring you these pictures from bangkok. Newborn babies are being given face shields in an effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus at a hospital in the city. The tiny face guards have been designed by the hospital for use when the baby makes its firstjourney home. Its time for a look at the weather with thomas. A real chill in the air out there and some of us are stuck underneath the grey sky with a bit of light drinking and drizzle. Easter monday will be the coldest day of the week. Light rain and drizzle. This is what happened when a cold front sleeps across the uk and infact a cold front sleeps across the uk and in fact the northerly winds have brought cold air all the way from the subarctic regions. You can see shrouding in northern and eastern scotland, counties east in the pennines and onto the southeast. Many western and southwestern areas enjoy plenty of sunshine here. This is where we will the highest temperatures. 13 or 14 in cardiff. Tonight, its going to be cold. A widespread airfrost tonight, its going to be cold. A widespread air frost develops. Thats where theyre at the blue colours are. These are temperatures in city centres, so in rural spots it will be 2 3d lower so a widespread frost on the way. I mentioned that tuesday will feel a little less cold and the reason for thatis little less cold and the reason for that is because we will be in the middle of the High Pressure. When youre in the middle of the High Pressure, the winds tend to be strong. They are usually strong around the High Pressure, so inside it, its going to be sunny, windless in places and it wont feel too bad at all. And liverpool with sunshine and 13 degrees, it will feel quite pleasa nt and 13 degrees, it will feel quite pleasant if you go for your daily walk. Wednesday, still in the middle of High Pressure so that means the winds will be like. It will be sunny across months of the uk but a pleasa nt across months of the uk but a pleasant day. Temperatures could pick up to around 18 degrees across pa rt pick up to around 18 degrees across part of the midlands, but still nippy across western scotland. Towards the end of the week, we will see some changes developing towards the southwest of the uk. We see clouds gather over here. These weather fronts are expected to bring some rainfall as we head into friday and the weekend. But i think before that on thursday, quite a warm day and southerly winds. Temperatures could get up to 21 degrees in london, but this is the outlook for the week ahead. You can see by the time to get a friday, increasing amounts of cloud and friday, saturday, and sunday, a chance of a few spots of rain. Goodbye. The government says were not yet past the peak of the coronavirus emergency. The lockdown has held over the Easter Bank Holiday, but deaths are expected to rise still further this week. This week, were going to see a further increase. Thereafter, we should see a plateau, as the effects of the social distancing come through. That plateau may last for some time and then begin to decrease. The death toll reported today stands at 717 that doesnt include deaths in care homes or the community. One of the worst hit countries in europe so far, spain, begins to gradually lift restrictions. How the lockdown here is hitting poorer communities the hardest. And how the current restrictions are proving good news