Hello this is bbc news. The headlines. New figures show that covid 19 related deaths in care homes in england have travelled in a space of three weeks while deaths in hospitals are continuing to fall. A minutes silence to remember key workers that have died from the gloucestershire Royal Hospital to the airambulance gloucestershire Royal Hospital to the air ambulance station in glasgow. From the streets of belfast. Two lab workers in milton keynes. From a supermarket in chorley to downing street. Those who have died are remembered. chorley to downing street. Those who have died are remembered. I think it is important for us to remember
people who are no longer with us because they are the innocent. They came to work to do theirjob, to care. Scotlands first minister recommends wearing Face Coverings, but only in certain circumstances. Hospitals in england are to begin restoring some services that have been put on hold because of the pandemic. Hello. This is a bbc news special. In around half an hours time, well be bringing you the governments daily news conference, which will be led by the Health Secretary, matt hancock. First, todays main developments a rising number of deaths linked to coronavirus in care homes across the uk has pushed the overall numbers dying with the virus to a record high, according to the latest figures. Nearly 25,000 deaths from all causes were recorded in the uk in week of the Easter Bank Holiday more than double the usual number at this time of year. Separate figures show a third of all virus deaths in england and wales are now occurring in care homes. A minutes silence was held around the uk at 11 oclock this morning to remember key workers who have died. Scotlands first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has advised the scottish public to wear Face Coverings in enclosed public spaces such as supermarkets. Our first report is from our Health Correspondent, richard galpin. Music plays 96 year old barbara wells had been fit and well, living here at the stanley park care home in county durham. Until she was hit by coronavirus. Her funeral is tomorrow. 1a other residents have died here. Across the country, there are around 20,000 care homes looking after more than half a million elderly and disabled people. And it seems they are now facing the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak here. The care home sector is clearly now the most hit area of society because these are small communities of the most Vulnerable People and that is a situation we have not got to the bottom of yet in terms of adequate testing or the consistency of the ppe that we need to make sure that we are providing the right levels of care and isolation that we need to. Todays figures from the office for National Statistics and the Care Quality Commission show how deaths in care homes in england and wales have shot up. By april the 10th, there were 1,043 deaths. By the following week it had almost tripled to more than 3,000. And by april the 24th, the number of deaths in england alone reached
approximately 5,500. The wren hall care home here in nottinghamshire has lost a quarter of its residents to the coronavirus. As a team, we are still mourning the people that we have lost. There is the sense of grieving for their families and also we are grieving for what life used to be like. There is anger at the government that it didnt prioritise the care home sector much earlier on to save lives. Even now, there is frustration that key steps, such as testing for the virus in care homes, has still not been implemented properly. Some care homes are getting some testing but we are not getting it in the volumes thats required, were still struggling, and although theyve set up the mobile testing unit, which is of course good news, we are hearing stories that on average people are having to travel 60 miles to get to one of those in some instances. So its just not out
there in the volume that is needed, care homes are just not able to get testing in the way that they need to. And while some care homes have now got supplies of protective equipment, or ppe, others say they are having to buy their own equipment because the government supply is not enough. The crisis in care homes is getting increasingly serious, with thousands of people now known to have died. The government says it is working night and day to give them the best possible support. Richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur head of statistics, robert cuffe, is here. Tell us more about what these latest figures on care homes tell us point to the true picture might be even worse than the one described by the numbers in that piece. If you look at all deaths that have happened in ca re at all deaths that have happened in care homes we have seen a real spike in the last few weeks and if you compare that to what you would normally expect to see on the basis
of the deaths we have seen in the first three months of the year, we see the increase has been very sharp rise. You can see it right here, in the last week the figure is almost 8000 when we would expect a little under 3000 put out the red blocks are the deaths registered as covid related on the death certificate that richard was talking about but they only account for part of the increase. A large chunk of the sudden spike is not attributed directly to covid. 0 and outside of ca re directly to covid. 0 and outside of care homes, what the latest figures tell us generally about the trends . The news is a bit better. If we look at the number of deaths we are seeing reported from hospitals, these are arranged by the date on which people died which is different to the figures we here in the briefings. This is a reanalysis and they peaked just before easter and have been coming down quite steadily ever since point at the last few
days will change but that picture is pretty clear and these are deaths for england but if we do this for wales we would see a similar figure and for scotland we will get more data tomorrow but it is starting to look like its going that way. What we are seeing from most of the deaths happen in hospitals or outside care homes, that figure is coming down since easter which is different to the story in care homes. Allot efforts of statistics which can be confusing but put it together, where are we with this . M you look at all deaths in the uk and see what is happening, the effect of the epidemic is pretty significant. We expect to see around 10,000 deaths per week in the uk at this time of the year that is shown by the great line across the middle which comes down, starting a bit high after christmas, comes down after the flu season ends. We have seen the effect of the covid deaths are pushing it up to almost 25,000 which is double what we expect. But
it is masking two different trends, flattening nationally, flattening in scotla nd flattening nationally, flattening in scotland and in Northern Ireland but still on the rise in england and wales. Particularly it looks like there are two different epidemics going on, one in care homes where the picture was one of a sharp increase, and one in hospitals and the rest of the community where we might be past the peak, that is a tough way to put it, because we have run up to the peak and it will be a long slog back down. Thank you very much indeed, robert. The uk fell silent this morning to remember key workers, including more than 100 health and care staff who have died with coronavirus. Duncan kennedy reports. It didnt need the rain to make this a sombre moment. This was a pause for reflection for absent colleagues, taken by the virus. This was a nation taking a minute to remember their lifetimes. At 11am, many stood in hospitals, supermarkets, testing labs and in downing street. This was the day a disease brought much of britain to a standstill. More than 100 nhs and care staff have now died with the coronavirus. Among the first was amged el hawrani. His family said he was a good man, a kind man. Is he a hero . Of course, just like every doctor, every nurse and every worker in the nhs. And ijust, my heart goes out to anyone who has also lost someone
because of this virus. Margaret tapley was 84, and thought to be one of the oldest nurses in britain. Her family have shared their pride in the comfort that margaret gave to her patients. Very caring woman, she loved herjob. Loved animals. Always had someone to talk to. I remember i used to live in london, and she would talk to everyone on the tube. A day of reflection, a day of memories for those who cared for us. I think for all of our Health Care Staff working today, whatever professional group they sit in, they just wanted an opportunity to pause, take time to reflect about these difficult times that we are working in and in particular, about colleagues that we know of in other organisations who are sadly no longer with us because unfortunately they have lost their lives while coming into work and delivering care. Political leaders in all four nationsjoined members of the public and others in todays act of remembrance. 0n thursdays, we clap for them. Today we fell silent. Noisy or still, these key workers and their singular response to this crisis, today nested in the nations thoughts. Duncan kennedy, bbc news. Out of the thousands who have died with coronavirus, more than 100 are nhs staff and other healthcare workers. The bbc has been tracking their deaths during the pandemic. Among them are a pregnant nurse who died before she could meet her daughter, and a grandmother whose colleagues say was one of the Unsung Heroes of the nhs. You can read about some of their stories on the bbc news website
go to bbc. Co. Uk news and click on the coronavirus tab. Scotlands first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has advised the scottish public to wear Face Coverings in enclosed public spaces such as supermarkets, or when using Public Transport. She said it would not be compulsory or enforced at this stage. The guidance also makes clear that the evidence on use of Face Coverings is still limited. However, it recognises that there may be some benefit in wearing a Face Covering, if you leave the house and enter an enclosed space, where you will come into contact with multiple people and safe social distancing is difficult. For example, on Public Transport, or in shops. Of course, just now most shops are closed, so right now this would apply in particular to food shops. To be clear, the benefit comes mainly in cases where someone might have the virus but isnt aware of that because they are not experiencing any symptoms
and therefore are not isolating completely, in line with the rules. So, wearing a Face Covering in these circumstances may reduce the chance of that person transmitting the virus on to others. The Scottish Government is now recommending the use of Face Coverings in these limited circumstances as a precautionary measure. Given that the evidence is relatively weak, we are not at this stage making this mandatory or suggesting that it will be enforced, though we will be keeping that under review as we go into future phases of managing and tackling the pandemic. That was Nicola Sturgeon. Lorna gordon is in glasgow. Interesting to see what Nicola Sturgeon was saying and if it puts pressure on downing street to come up pressure on downing street to come up with similar advice point of the Scottish Government going further now than other countries in the uk. Nicola sturgeon addressed some of what you just said, rejecting claims that she is trying to upstage westminster but also in that briefing earlier she said that all governments across the uk are considering this. She said it was not appropriate for her to speak for them but that there would be times when one country in the uk goes faster or slower than another, and that it was herjudgment that, in this instance, this guidance was appropriate for scotland. It is a nuanced guidance, recommendations, it is not mandate three, but it is saying that she thinks people should wear a Face Covering on occasions where social distancing is not possible such as supermarkets or Public Transport. She is very clear that she talks about coverings and not masks, so home made cloth masks or scarfs for instance, she does not wa nt or scarfs for instance, she does not want people wearing medical grade masks put its also not a straight forward in that she points out that
there are some categories are people who should not follow this advice, such as people with asthma or children under two. To further come look at it, there is also advice on how you handle the masks, wash your hand before you put them on or take them off, avoid touching yourface and after each wearing it, wash it at 60 degrees. That is perhaps a reason why it has taken so long to reach this decision, its not an easy piece of advice to get out. There are nuances to it. Not mandatory or enforced at this stage, she does not want people pointing fingers if people are not Wearing Masks and she says the police will not intervene. She is very clear, the first minister, in emphasising that it the first minister, in emphasising thatitis the first minister, in emphasising that it is no substitute for social distancing which should continue to be observed. And she said she accepted that the evidence on this was still quite limited. She mentioned that several times,
saying that the evidence is limited but that it was clear, according to that evidence, that there could be a benefit in reducing the transmission of the virus from people who are going out, who are not isolating at home because they are not showing symptoms but who may actually be carrying the virus when they are out and about doing their daily business, going for the shopping or travelling on Public Transport, but she was very clear that the advice in this instance is limited, but that in her bestjudgment, her consideration, hers and the Scottish Government because my view was that wearing some kind of Face Covering was a good idea in situations where social distancing isnt possible, like a supermarket or on Public Transport. Lorna, thank you very much. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in westminster. We will be hearing the downing
street press briefing shortly from matt hancock, the Health Secretary, and presumably he might well be asked about that issue of Face Coverings after what Nicola Sturgeon has said today. Yes, and its interesting listening to the scientists over the last few weeks, it does feel as if they are looking again at this issue. I think at the beginning they were saying there wasnt any evidence that this would help in any way. Theyve clearly looked again, and we know that the Scientific Advisory committee have looked at it and all they are saying from downing street is that that advice, that review, has been passed to ministers. They are considering what it says but they are not telling us what the outcome of that will be or indeed when they might share it with as along with any new advice, if there is any, but i think the point lorna was making is the clear one the social distancing message is the one they dont want to die loot do loot at this stage. I think that message will
stay in place. What else are we expecting from the briefing was my presumably questions again about Testing Capacity and that target matt hancock set of 100,000 tests a day. He said that hopefully that target will be met by the end of april. That will be on thursday. We have been told that actually the testing numbers for thursday wont be known until saturday, so there is a bit ofa be known until saturday, so there is a bit of a blurred line there over that. He still feels confident that he can reach that. As we have known, capacity has been expanding. There has been an issue, though, with the number of tests carried out, and there is still some way to go with this. There are likely to be questions today particularly about ca re questions today particularly about care homes, with more news about the numbers there. We know from what the Scientists Say that the virus is not transmitting in the community in the way it was, but there are still Big Questions over hospitals, and of course, ca re questions over hospitals, and of
course, care homes. There have been some logistical problems with getting testing for People Living in ca re getting testing for People Living in care homes as well as the staff there, and that has proved to be a huge problem, which is why you can see now that the number of deaths in ca re see now that the number of deaths in care homes see now that the number of deaths in ca re homes seems see now that the number of deaths in care homes seems to be rising. There is this long lag, so the graphs we see our about hospital deaths and then there is a retrospective number about what is going on in care homes, so hard to know what is going on at the moment in those areas, but clearly some of the most Vulnerable People who are living there. Thank you. Experts say the only way out of the Coronavirus Crisis is to have a vaccine, or highly effective treatments for the disease. We know a possible vaccine is under trial, but what about potential treatments . Joining me now is peter horby, professor of emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health at the university of oxford. He is leading the recovery trial, which is testing different drugs to treat coronavirus. Thanks for being with us. How are you getting on . Much better than we expected, to be honest. We started on the 19th of march, and as of today, weve nearly got 8000 patients randomised, which is way beyond our expectations, actually. Thats a fantastic rate of recruitment. We need to keep that numberup, though, so recruitment. We need to keep that number up, though, so that we can get some answers quickly. Just explain in simple terms, what is your overall aim . Its simple we are trying to find treatments for the coronavirus. The majority of people wont get very sick, but amongst those who do end up in hospital, there is unfortunately quite a lot of patients who end up in intensive care or die, so we want to reduce that. At the moment, we dont have any drugs we know are effective, so we need to test those in trials. And do it as quickly as we can, so that if we find anything then we can make it available as
quickly as possible. What sort of drugs are you looking at and what might they be able to do . There are basically two types of drugs. There are antiviral drugs, directly attacking the virus to stop it replicating and to stop the disease. The other class of drugs is anti inflammatory drugs, because we know that in the patients who get very sick, the virus is not under control, but also it is leading to a very intense inflammatory response, so the other class of drugs is trying to dampen down that response and reduce the damage happening to the lungs. So, youve got government funding for this. What is the sort of timescale . I know its incredibly difficult to say that, but what is your best guess . Its hard to say. What we want to do was to be very sure about the answer. We dont want to give a half answer run an uncertain one answer or an uncertain one. We just need to keep
enrolling patients, as many as we can, and we are open across the whole of the uk in most hospitals. If we continue at this rate, we may be able to have answers towards the end of next month. And you say you dont want to give half answers, but can you give us any preliminary idea of how you are getting on with what you are researching at the moment . Actually, the results are kept secret, even from us as the investigators, so that we are not biased by having a glimpse at an early signal, so at the moment, we really cant say anything about the drugs. Can People Volunteer for these trials . You said you need more people. If you or a relative are in hospital with coronavirus, then yes, you should be offered a chance to be ina you should be offered a chance to be in a trial, and if you are not, you should ask your Health Care Team if you can be in the trial. What numbers do you need to have an effect of trial . We estimate that, to be really sure, and we currently
have five drugs being tested so it is really five trials, we would probably need about 12,000 patients. If we can keep the numbers going, we should be well on track. Meanwhile, of course, the search for a vaccine goes on, and Oxford University is one of those places that also has government funding for that. Yes, thats right. They arejust government funding for that. Yes, thats right. They are just next door to us, the vaccines team. And how hopeful are you one day about finding something . We know its not going to be quick, even if it is discovered, how long it will take to produce millions of vaccines that are required, but how confident are your teams there . Well, they started the first human studies, giving it to Healthy Volunteers to see if it is safe, but also you start to see an immune response, so i think that in the next month or so we will start to see that data coming out
which will give us an indication of how promising the vaccine is. Everyone would love to see it work, but we just have to wait and see what the results are. Very good luck to you. Its hugely important work, so really good luck. The professor of emergency emerging Infectious Diseases. The french Prime Minister has set out how the country will start to lift lockdown restrictions from next month. Edouard phillipe said the moves had to be gradual and subject to constant checks. Shops, businesses and some schools will reopen on may 11th but with strict rules in place, including the wearing of masks and social distancing. The government has set a target of 700,000 tests a day. The plans will be reversed if the number of cases of covid 19 did not continue to decline as expected. Hospitals in england are to begin restoring some services which have been put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. In normal times, more than 700,000 people a month
have a planned procedure, and with the waiting list already standing at 4 million, there are fears about the backlog of cases. The Royal College of surgeons says it will take years for the Health Service to catch up. Our Health CorrespondentDominic Hughes reports. Michelle gray is living with constant pain. A slipped disc means she relies on powerful painkillers. A simple operation to correct it was cancelled because of the Coronavirus Crisis. Now this previously fit 73 year old is struggling. I cant go anywhere, i cant do anything. Ijust feel as if im losing muscle power and things like that. Things that you like to keep up, especially at my age. You dont have many opportunities, and. I just feel that one small operation would change all of that. Visits from her son alistair help. Ive got the shopping for you. But hes noticed a big difference in how his mum is coping. Thank you shes now got, like, more of a grey,
gaunt look about her. That the sparkle is not there. I think psychologically its kind of affected her. Also physically, the pain, its very difficult when youre in pain to be happy and smiling as you normally are. The cancellation of operations and procedures has affected thousands of people who might have been waiting for anything from a hip operation to cancer treatment, even heart surgery. Now, its not that they dont appreciate that the fight against covid 19 needs to be prioritised, but its still having a very real impact on their lives. I think that it will take us many years to get back to, as it were, a good position. We need staff to remain in the Health Service who have rejoined, we need more operating table facilities, we need more beds, weve got to keep the independent sector going. We may need to rely on keeping some of the nightingale hospitals open. Nhs bosses have insisted the Health Service remains open for those
who need urgent treatment, for example stroke or heart attacks. But over a three month period, in england alone, the nhs would normally carry out around two million planned operations and investigations. There were already four Million People on the waiting list, so how can the Health Service possibly catch up . I suspect well have to see a similar sort of exceptional effort on the elective and planned side of the nhs that weve seen on the emergency side over the last two or three months. One method of dealing with it is to create hospitals that just do investigations and surgery, which will be covid free, patients and staff will be tested there and no Covid Patients would go there. It would need some very careful management and it would need really rigorous testing and precautions to make sure that they didnt become contaminated. Michelle is one of tens of thousands who simply dont know when theyll get the help they need. As long as the nhs is battling coronavirus, they are unlikely to get an answer. Dominic hughes, bbc news. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young. Is in westminster. 0ne one of the things that came out today was a bit of detail on the fines handed out for people who have been breaching the social distancing guidelines and regulations. Thats right. Michael gove was giving a statement to the house of commons and was asked about this. We know that broadly british people have been responding incredibly well to all of this. These incredible restrictions. The Prime Minister was full of praise yesterday for making sure the social distancing was happening, that people were staying at home if they could, apart from essential travel, but of course, there have been some breaches, and today, michael gove revealed that 3203 fines had been issued by the
police between the 27th of march and the 5th of april. He said it was sure to have gone up, and that is people flouting those social distancing rules, and mainly, i think that was people gathering in larger numbers than they are supposed to. Youre not supposed to mix with people beyond your household, and weve seen over the last few weeks, with the good weather, people were going outside to exercise, as they are entitled to do, but there was some suspicion that people may have been going beyond that. So, news there that more than 3000 people have been fined for going against all of that. Generally, the opinion polls suggest that people are pretty cautious about all of this, a lot of people saying they will need to be persuaded it is safe to return to some aspects of normal life even when that moment comes. Of course, as we know, we are not there yet. The Prime Minister talking about in the coming days laying out a bit
more expect. Its likely to be much more about how they are going to judge whether they have reached the position where they can start to ease some of the measures. They have talked about modifying them. There wont be a moment where everything is lifted at the same time because they are very conscious and concerned about a second wave of infections, and of course leading potentially to another peak and more deaths, so they will be judging those tests, including whether the nhs is coping, and of course, crucially, whether the number of deaths is falling and falling everywhere, and i think that is sure to come up in this press conference, not just about hospital deaths to come up in this press conference, notjust about hospital deaths but what is happening in care homes, which has been much harder to find out about. There are these new numbers out today, but of course, they have this ten day delay, if you like, over the time of when those we re like, over the time of when those were happening, but there is still a lot of concern about what is going on care homes among staff and residents. I think we are just a few seconds away from that Daily Press Briefing with the Health Secretary,
but presumably other questions will include testing, personal protective equipment, the sort of questions that come up pretty much every day. They do and we getting closer to the deadline where matt hancock said he wa nted deadline where matt hancock said he wanted 100,000 tests per day carried out and that is on thursday although the actual number of tests carried out that day, we will not know that until saturday. He says he is still confident about that but that with him to date will be professorjohn newton who is in charge of testing. There are sure to be more questions about that and an update of how they are getting on with it in terms of the capacity which has been growing but there has been a problem about getting tests carried out. And getting tests carried out. And getting people to the sites where they can be tested and that has been a problem. Going back to care homes, because its so disparate, its not like the nhs which is much more centralised and in some ways easier to get those kinds of things sorted but not so much when you have thousands of separate care homes. A
lot of care home owners say they simply dont know where to go to ask for help, not just simply dont know where to go to ask for help, notjust with testing but with protective equipment as well. There has been a real issue with that but matt hancock said today he was confident that 100,000 target would be met. And they will be pleased if they get close to that. A lot of people feel testing is the way out of all of this, if you can test more people, that could be a way where you could start to ease restrictions but of course they dont know for sure what effect easing each restriction will have and that is why they are constantly waiting for more Scientific Data before making those decisions. I think they will also look at other countries, where hearing from places like germany and france, the plants they have and the effect that, for example, opening schools or some shops might be on the transmission of the illness because that is the all important thing. Of the illness because that is the allimportant thing. And when might. The Daily Briefing isjust
beginning. Welcome once again to downing street for the daily Coronavirus Briefing to. Im joined by professorjohn newton, our testing coordinator, and deputy chief scientific adviser Angela Mclean. This morning at 11 oclock, we paused to remember the 85 nhs colleagues and 19 colleagues from social care who have lost their lives with coronavirus. It was a solemn moment of reflection for so many of us. And of unbearable sadness for some. These are the nations Fallen Heroes and we will remember them. Every day we are working through our plan to protect life and to protect the nhs. Slowing the spread and building capacity so
that the nhs, at all times, can offer the very best care to everybody because we have the beds and the ventilators and the staff available. So far, thanks to the incredible work at nhs colleagues and the shared sacrifice of everyone who is at home, that plan is working. The latest figures show 3260 spare Critical Care beds across the nhs. 0n the most recent figures, there have been 763,387 tests for coronavirus so far in the uk including 43,453 yesterday. 161,145 people have tested positive, an increase of 3996. 15,796 people are
currently in hospital with coronavirus. 21,678 have now sadly died in hospital, an increase of 586 since yesterday. This morning, the 0ffice since yesterday. This morning, the office for National Statistics and the cqc published more information on the overall impact including that there have been 4343 notified deaths in care homes since easter. The proportion of coronavirus deaths in ca re proportion of coronavirus deaths in care homes is around one sixth of the total which is just below what we see at normal times. I want to make sure we bring as much transparency as possible to Important Information like this. So from tomorrow, we will be publishing not just the number of from tomorrow, we will be publishing notjust the number of deaths in hospital each day, but the number of deaths in care homes and in the community too. This is something
that was not previously possible. This will supplement the 0ns and cqc weekly publication and all add to our understanding of how this virus is spreading day by day, and it will help inform the judgments that we make as we work to keep people safe. Behind every single death is a familys heartbreak, and we must do everything humanly possible to save as many lives as we can. We will not be changing the social distancing rules until our five tests have been met. At the nhs protected, infections. Number of deaths falling substantially, the operational challenges around testing and ppe addressed, and no risk of a second spite. I want to update you on two other issues of major importance. First on testing. At the start of the month i set a
goal of 100,000 tests per day. Every day we are ramping up this Testing Capacity, on track to meet that goal. We are continuously opening a new drive through centres, there are now 41, with 48 going live this week. For people who cannot get to the tests, we are expanding home testing to bring the tests to them. We are increasing the dispatch of home test kits from 5000 per day last friday to 25,000 per day by the end of the week. At the weekend, 17 mobile testing units manned by the army were operational. By the end of the week we plan to have over 70 deployed with trained crews right across the country. All of this has led to an increase in daily Testing Capacity, which now stands at 73,400. And this has allowed us progressively to expand access to
testing. We started with hospital patients who have always had the access to tests right the way through. Ramping up to include symptomatic nhs and social care colleagues, and their households, and then to all essential workers. Today, because we have been able to expand capacity, i can expand access further. Building on success for pilots, we will be rolling out a testing of asymptomatic residents and staff in care homes in england and staff in care homes in england and to patients and staff in the nhs. This will mean that anyone who is working or living in a care home will be able to get access to a test, whether they have symptoms or not. I am determined to do everything i can to protect the most vulnerable. And we now have the capacity to go further still. From now, we are making Testing Available
to all 65s and their households with symptoms, and to all workers who would have to leave home in order to go to work, and members of the households, again, who have symptoms. From construction workers to emergency plumbers come from Research Scientists to those in minor factoring, Research Scientists to those in minorfactoring, the Research Scientists to those in minor factoring, the expansion Research Scientists to those in minorfactoring, the expansion of access to testing will protect the most vulnerable in manufacturing. And help keep people safe and it is possible because we have expanded capacity for testing thus far. Next i want to update you on our covid 19 therapeutics work which is research to understand whether existing drugs could be used to treat people more effectively when they have developed the disease. Currently, no drugs in the disease. Currently, no drugs in the world have been clinically proven to treat covid 19 but our Therapeutics Task force has
identified a number of promising candidates, currently six different treatments have been entered into a National Clinical trials and the first is ready to enter the next stage, a new early phase Clinical Trial platform that we are launching today. This is a National Effort made possible by government, academia and industry all working together. In addition, we have to make the best possible use of all the medicines that we have. We are updating the guidelines for the use of medicines in care homes, removing a barrier so that, for the period of the pandemic, where it is clinically appropriate, medicines that have been labelled for use by one patient can be used by another patient who needs them instead of being destroyed. Clinicians and colleagues in social care have called for this change and it is already standard procedure in hospitals. Right across government, we are working day and night to defeat this virus. Ramping up night to defeat this virus. Ramping up testing opacity, investigating
new drugs and treatments, bucking vaccine development, securing and distributing millions of items are ppe distributing millions of items are ppe backing development. Getting the nhs whatever resources it needs to make sure it is always there to treat everybody who needs it. The risk of a second peak is real but, asa risk of a second peak is real but, as a nation, we are holding it at bay. So please, stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. I will now turn to the deputy chief scientific adviser to take us through the daily charts. Thank you very much. If i could have the first slide please. Iwanted very much. If i could have the first slide please. I wanted to go into a bit more detail about the five tests for adjusting the lockdown. The first is that the nhs shall have sufficient capacity to provide Critical Care and specialist treatment right across the uk. The second is that we should have seen a sustained and consistent fall in
daily deaths from coronavirus. Number three says that we must have reliable data to show us that the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels right across the board. The fourth is that operational challenges including testing and ppe are in hand with supply able to meet future demand. And the fifth test is that we must be confident that any adjustments that we make to our current measures will not risk a second peak of infections that might overwhelm the nhs. If i could have the next slide, please. Here is a description of transport use and how it has changed across Great Britain for a number of different ways of travelling. It start on the 16th of march on the
left hand side, and runs to saturday the 26th of april. What you can see when you look at these data is how volumes of all kinds of traffic have falle n volumes of all kinds of traffic have fallen relative to how much travel there was in the first week of february. In particular, we remain pleased to see that the use of Public Transport is below 20 for buses, the tube, and national rail, and we very much hope that all those people in Motor Vehicles who are not below 20 are practising really excellent social distancing when they get to where theyre going. Next slide, please. We know that has beena next slide, please. We know that has been a lot of work for everybody. And this slide is a new cases in the uk between the 21st of march and the 28th of april. And what it shows is
that. This is a new positive tests in dark blue is a test that happen in hospitals and in orange is additional testing that has become available for key workers. What you see in that slight is how that numberof see in that slight is how that number of positive tests rose very quickly through the latter part of march, and has now stabilised and the blue line, the numbers in hospital a positive test, is starting to fall although because the numberof starting to fall although because the number of tests is still rising overall, we are still getting about the same numberof overall, we are still getting about the same number of positive tests across the uk. Next slide, please. This, instead of counting tests, counts people. This is people in hospital with covid 19, across the uk. What you see is that overall, that has fallen by 14 in the last,
i think that has fallen by 14 in the last, ithink in that has fallen by 14 in the last, i think in the last week. Yes, over the last week that has fallen by 14 , particularly dramatic falling in london where the number of people in hospital peaked early compared to the rest of the country. And several other reasons england now are clearly falling other regions. Although in a few regions of the numberof although in a few regions of the number of people in hospital is a stable. This is Critical Care beds, in which there is a patient with covid 19. There are two kind those in the high dependency ward and those in intensive care wards, and the four different lines are england, Northern Ireland, wales and scotland. And what you see is what percentage of those beds that can be
used for Critical Care are occupied bya used for Critical Care are occupied by a patient with covid 19. Again, what you see is, across our four nations, that has peaked and is beginning to fall as a percentage. Next slide, please. We have to turn to how many people have died from covid. Our first way of counting thatis covid. Our first way of counting that is daily covid 19 deaths in hospital. This is a slide that many of us will be familiar with. It is the way we have been counting for more than a month now. When you look at that slide, the first thing you see is, i guess, that the number of deaths in hospital has started to fall. It has been falling for the la st two fall. It has been falling for the last two weeks. You see that most easily by looking at the orange line. That is a seven day rolling average, and we use that because there are decent strong weekend in
effect in these data. You see that out of every seven days, there are always two days when it is really low, followed by a day when it is much higher. Because it is tuesday, it is higher today because we report results from a few days ago. I think the most important thing to see there is that the orange line is falling steadily. But this isjust one of the ways that we can count how many people have died with covid. Next slide, please. This is a different way of counting the same thing. So, this is all weekly and registered deaths from covid 19 across the uk compared with what i just showed you, the deaths in hospital. Lets look at the last bar, for the week leading up to the 17th of april. The dark blue bar is what we just looked at but is summed up what we just looked at but is summed p p what we just looked at but is summed up up to then, whereas the pale blue
bar is all weekly registered deaths, so that is everybody, not just the people who died of covid in hospital. If i could have the next slide, please. The next slide takes the pale blue line that we just had and breaks it out into a number of different locations. So, what you see is hospital is the right hand bar, ina see is hospital is the right hand bar, in a sort of smoky blue. Just to the left of that is people who died with covid in care homes. Just below that is people who died with covid in their own home, and then the smallest bar is other locations. So, what you can see here is that deaths from covid are dominated by those deaths in hospital, but that is not the only location in which such deaths are seen. Next slide, please. The last slide for today
compares uk deaths with those in other nations. So, these lines are lined up against the first day when there had been a total of 50 deaths accumulated in each of these nations, and we have two different lines on there describing what has happened in the uk. Towards the right hand side, you see a dark blue line labelled uk hospitals only, and thatis line labelled uk hospitals only, and that is the data we have been collecting and jabbing for a long time, so people who have died with covid in uk hospitals, whereas a grey line for the river to the left there is people who have died with covid in the uk in all settings. And not surprisingly, if you count all settings, that line is higher than people who died in uk hospitals. That is the end of the data for today, thank you very much. As with
yesterday, we will now take questions from the public before turning to journalists. And we will ta ke two turning to journalists. And we will take two questions today from the public. These are questions that, as with the questions from journalists, we dont see in advance. The first i will read out from the screen, and then the second is going to be relayed by video. So, the first question is from amanda, and she asks given that grandparents cannot be used as child what is the plan for easing the lockdown for full time working parents who have Young Children that may not be allowed to be in school on a full time basis . Amanda, this is a really good question, and the honest a nswer really good question, and the honest answer i can give you is that it is still too early to say when we are going to be able to get the schools to go back, because there are still too many deaths each day, and the
five tests that we set out havent been met. Now, i know, especially as a father of three Young Children, that there is a yearning from people to know when schools might go back, and of course, its something that we think about and talk about, and im sorry that i cant give you a more definitive answer, but i cant, because we dont yet have the number of deaths and the number of infections low enough for that to be safe to reopen the schools, and we dont yet know how fast the number of new cases will fall, so we havent been able to make that decision yet. Angela, i dont know if you want to add. Im not sure i do have anything to add on that. We are, of course, all of us, yearning for the number of deaths each day to fall. Thank you, amanda, for your
question. All i can say is that i hope we can be in a position to be able to give a definitive answer as soon as possible, and the best way to get there is for everybody watching to stay at home in order to protect the nhs, save lives and bring that curve down. Next question. Hi, my question is regarding my ten year old son who has this deletion Cystic Fibrosis and autism. Apart from shielding, is there any other option for him and others in the extremely vulnerable category to return to school and be pa rt of category to return to school and be part of society again without the vaccine available . Part of society again without the vaccine available . Thank you, sadie. The answer to this is yes. We have made sure, in the schools policy, that we are working very hard to ensure that those who have extra needs, for instance, people with
autism and Cystic Fibrosis, get that extra support. It is, of course, very ha rd extra support. It is, of course, very hard when that clashes with the medical needs, which have to come first, and for those who are in the shielded category, im afraid that the safest thing for them to do is to be shielded, which is notjust to stay at home but really be protected from all contact because of the consequences should they get the disease. Yes, i think i consequences should they get the disease. Yes, i thinki agree, thats right. Thank you very much, and thank you for your question. And of course, you mention a vaccine, and we are all working incredibly ha rd to and we are all working incredibly hard to get a vaccine as soon as possible, but again, the Science Behind that is uncertain, and so the timings are uncertain. Thank you very much for those two questions from the public. I think this is working well, having questions from members of the public. Im very grateful to all those who submitted, and it is something we will keep on
doing. So, thanks very much. Now, we will turn to hugh pym from the bbc. Thank you very much. I wanted to raise the subject of ppe. I know it has been discussed several times at this occasion before, but its still a talking point after panorama and also a survey of doctors suggesting some are concerned still. What assurances can you give front line staff that there will be adequate supplies of ppe in the days and weeks ahead . Thank you. The issue of ppe is incredibly important, and making sure that there are the supplies of ppe so that everybody on the front line has the ppe and the protective equipment that they need. As you know, weve been. Weve been moving heaven and earth to get the amount of ppe that we need to the amount of ppe that we need to the front line, both buying it from abroad and also then distributing it. That system is getting stronger all the time, but it is a mammoth
effort to do it. I saw two of the things you referred to. Im not sure that they were a fair and objective journalistic assessment of the situation, but what we do have is co nsta nt situation, but what we do have is constant focus on the realities of getting ppe to the front line, and we ta ke getting ppe to the front line, and we take full responsibility to getting it to every Single Person who needs it. Can i ask a follow up . Yes, of course. Can you assure staff that stocks are not running low at the moment . I can assure staff that the moment . I can assure staff that the ppe that we need, according to the ppe that we need, according to the agreed guidelines, that is available. We are constantly needing to buy more from abroad and to make more at home to make sure we co nsta ntly more at home to make sure we constantly replenish that. And that isa constantly replenish that. And that is a huge effort. Globally, there is a shortage of ppe because the demand
for it, understandably, in so many countries, has shot up. And therefore, we are out buying it around the rest of the world, and im really glad that a whole host of factories here in the uk are turning over their production towards ppe. Its incredibly important, its a huge amount of effort, and we are working on it as hard as we possibly can. Thanks. Paul brand from itv. Weve lost your audio, paul. Hopefully you can hear me now, Health Secretary. Yes. Given todays statistics, Health Secretary, do you recognise that while you have prevented the nhs from becoming overwhelmed, there is now a crisis in the care sector . And given that the numberof in the care sector . And given that the number of deaths continues to go up the number of deaths continues to go up in care homes each day, will it now be your main priority . Well, of
course, ca re homes now be your main priority . Well, of course, care homes have been a top priority right from the start. We put out our first guidance to care homes in february, and weve been working with them throughout. Now, by their nature, care homes look after and support some of the most Vulnerable People anyway, and they support some of the people who are most vulnerable to this disease as well because of the nature of the disease and how it impacts, especially on older people, much more than the rest of the population. So, it has been a focus from the start, and we have strengthened the rules around what happens in care homes, improved Infection Control. And also making Testing Available throughout the ca re Testing Available throughout the care sector, i think, is incredibly important as we have ramped up the availability of testing. We keep a close eye on it, and im very glad that we are now able to publish
these daily data which will keep the focus on what is happening in care homes. I asked for that to stop, and i think we talked about it a week or so ago, and now weve got those data being collected so that we can focus on it day in, day out. My principle in this is to be as transparent as possible, because then you find problems as quickly as possible and we can get in and address it. You say that youll keep an eye on it, but carers are frustrated, and i understand this is a complex sector with lots of private providers, not like the nhs, and that is a fair point you have often made. Given that the number of deaths in care homes continues to go up every day, surely this has to be your First Priority now. It looks as though this is where the virus continues to spread. The spread of the virus through care homes is absolutely a top priority, yes. And on the testing, i thinkjohn newton wanted
to answer. It is absolutely right that care homes are a focus, and in fa ct, that care homes are a focus, and in fact, we have done some intensive studies of infection in care homes, and that showed that presence of symptoms was not a very good marker in the care home setting, both amongst residents and staff for the presence of the virus. There were a significant number of residents who we re significant number of residents who were asymptomatic you have the virus. We have massively increased the amount of Testing Available. We have tested 25,000 residents in care homes, and we are rolling out testing to symptomatic and asymptomatic residence, as well as providing testing through the drive in the centres and through other means that the secretary of state has mentioned four staff. We think that will make a difference, combined with intensive Infection Control methods, informed by much more widely available testing. Thanks, john. Nick martin from sky. A very good afternoon. A question for all of you, but the Health Secretary first. I wanted to clarify
something you said in your introduction, secretary of state. You said the proportion of corona debts in care homes is around a sixth deaths is around six of the total. They were 23 of the covid debts. Are you saying the number of people who have died in care homes is in line with the number of deaths you would normally see in any other year . No, im absolutely not saying that latter point. What i was saying very clearly was that in the statistics that have been published so far, the number of deaths from coronavirus in care homes is around one sixth in total but of course the breakdown of the statistics, exactly as you say, shows that that proportion is changing. I was
putting it in the broad context, but also saying that it is an absolute focus of ours because it is an area which you have highlighted many times in the past, and an area where we have a huge amount of focus. Thank you. Can i have a followup, please . Of course. A lot of people have died in care homes, ive seen it with my own eyes. You and your department knew that this was a high risk area. You have issued guidance to care homes repeatedly over the la st to care homes repeatedly over the last few months and yet ppe was inadequate, tests, for the most part, were few and far between, but yet the deaths in care homes seem to ta ke yet the deaths in care homes seem to take you and your department by surprise. I wonder, take you and your department by surprise. Iwonder, and take you and your department by surprise. I wonder, and this is meant not to be a clever question to catch you out, but i wonder if you will take this opportunity to
apologise to those families of loved ones who died in care homes because the government did not properly protect them . The thing is, nick, i think that is unreasonable as a question, actually. And i know you ca re question, actually. And i know you care an awful lot about this, but from the start, we knew that there was a very significant challenge with care homes, not least because of the frailty of the residents. And the enormous work that has gone on within government, Public Health england, local authorities and the cqc to monitor this from the start, it has been more difficult to get data flowing and im very glad we are able to do that now on a daily basis instead of a weekly basis as before, and making sure that care homes have the support they need has been absolutely front of mind right from the start. In fact, i can
remember in one of the very discussions about coronavirus in january having a discussion, because one of the first things we knew about this virus was that it had a very strong age profile, that it was much more dangerous for older people, that that would immediately draw our attention to the fact there was a big challenge in care homes, especially because people are more frail and therefore more at risk. It is something that we focused on right from the start, and something that has been a huge challenge throughout and we are constantly learning from what happens and trying to improve the way we support people across the care sector. Ben candice from lbc. Why didnt you bring in tests earlier . It seems odd that it took a while for tess to come through . If you knew the risks as you clearly said, why did it take you so long to give the sector what
it was crying out for which was tests . We have been testing in care homes right from the start and throughout the crisis, and that is one of the things in your question i dispute. I know the passion you have for this subject but it is really important for us to explain what has been going on and we have been testing it right from the start. Its important to understand that from the word go, Public Health england has been investigating any outbreaks of coronavirus in care homes and the approach there would be to test a limited number, went test capacity was limited, were talking beginning of april, test capacity was limited and to test a number of index cases to clarify it was an outbreak of coronavirus and the whole care home would be treated as if the cinematic cases were all coronavirus and various measures we re coronavirus and various measures were put in place and no doubt many lives were saved symptomatic cases. Obviously we now have more testing and knowledge about the way the virus spreads in care homes and
we can adapt that and will be even more effective but it would be wrong to say testing was not available and not used and also wrong to say nothing was done about these outbreaks. A great deal was done but we are confident we can be more effective now than in the past put up effective now than in the past put up the issue of care homes is an international one, every country in europe has had a significant problem with a large proportion of the deaths from coronavirus occurring in the care home sector. We are no different in that respect and the ca re different in that respect and the care home sector is a highly distributed system, it is intrinsically difficult to deliver services to the sector but nevertheless, a huge effort has been made and collaboration with organisations like the cqc and local government. A lot has been done, we all want to do more and certainly with testing, we are going to be able to do a lot more with this additional capacity at the secretary of state has described. Ben kentish from lbc. Thank you and good afternoon. I know you have said you are following the science on this
but it has been almost a week since your scientific advisers made a new recommendation in relation to the use of face masks. Scotland today became the latest country to recommend they are used in public places. Are you able to tell us about the deliberations youre making on that, what the delay is and when we are likely to hear some sort of ruling or advice on that . And if i could ask quickly to professor Angela Mclean and practical question, expert in some countries have given clear advice about stopping the spread of the disease from surfaces but i know you have recommended washing hands but other countries have said for example that people should be disinfecting their washing, takeaway boxes, anything that was coming into their house. Are you recommending british people do those sorts of things as well . They are all questions to professor maclean but we are guided by the science and the government position has not changed. Professor mclean will explain the science but the uk government position had not changed, not least because the most important thing people can do is a social distancing. As opposed to the weak signs on facemasks, there is very clear science on social distancing and the importance of it so that is our absolute priority in terms of the message to the public. That social distancing and staying at home is the thing thats helping to save lives by flattening the curve, thats the number one thing. The recommendation from sage is completely clear, which is that there is weak evidence of a small effect in which a facemask can prevent a source of infection going from somebody who is infected to the people around them. Of course, under our current circumstances, anybody who has symptoms really must stay at home and that is the thing that people have done so brilliantly. But
we are also concerned that some people are infected who dont have symptoms, or maybe dont yet have symptoms, or maybe dont yet have symptoms, and that is the reason sage has put so much effort into looking at this question. But the answer is clear, that the evidence is weak and the effect is a small, and we had passed that on to our colleagues in government with which to make a decision. Turning to your question about hand washing and keeping surfaces clean, we have always absolutely majored on hand washing because that is the weight you keep the inside of your house and yourfamily you keep the inside of your house and your family safe when you come in from outdoors that is the way. We would always recommend keeping the surfaces in your house clean. That would seem like common sense to me. Thank you very much, ben. From the metro . Hello. You said that you
knew from the start it was a very significant challenge with care homes, so why were care homes are not told to ban visitors until march the 16th and white were figures on deaths outside hospitals are not published until march 31 . The collection of information from the ca re collection of information from the care home sector has been more difficult than from the nhs by the distributed nature of the care system. There is 15,000 care homes, and they are part of 10,000 different organisations and so im glad we have managed to get the data collection. 0n the point about visitors, that was based on clinical advice and i will explain the reason our clinical advisers gave us, which is that before there was a widespread incidence of coronavirus across the community as a whole, the
critical thing is that, in a care home, having visitors also has a positive impact both against the loneliness of the residents but also on their longevity and mental health. So these are difficult judgments and there are no easy recommendations to make. So absolutely, we follow and are guided by that clinical advice. And when it was necessary to make that change, which is quite a firm change, then we did so. Of course i understand the focus now on care homes and the questions from the media but it is something we have been working on incredibly hard right from the start. And really, one of the things that has happened in this crisis is
that has happened in this crisis is that social care, alongside the nhs, have both been seen as these two absolutely vital part of our society. And i think that is a good thing that we recognise and value them in that way. The daily star. Ijust wanted the daily star. I just wanted to the daily star. Ijust wanted to ask first of all, there is increasing frustration about what people see as mixed messaging from the government around social distancing measures, on the one hand we have seen long queues at diy stores whilst elites are moving people on for sitting outside in parks point as increasing numbers of people return to work and roads get busier, can you give way to clarity what you can and cant do outside a house . And if i get asked, that been reports of ventilator production being scaled back weeks after you called british industry to build a thousand for the nhs budget will be be in a situation where we have a huge supply of these machines that outstrips demand question i wonder what will happen with that supply and when will production be
scaled back or do you want more for the future . Thank you. On the clarity, i can absolutely give you that clarity, james, which is that people should follow the social distancing rules and stay at home if at all possible because that protects the nhs. So far, the protection of the nhs is working and this brings me to the second point. Which is that it is good news that there are spare ventilated beds available in the nhs. There has been no point when somebody has needed a ventilator and a ventilator has not been available, a ventilated bed. It is more than just the machine, been available, a ventilated bed. It is more thanjust the machine, you need the people as well to use them. That has been one of the things in this crisis that people said right at the start, that preventing the nhs from being overwhelmed would be extremely difficult. Some people told me to my face it would be impossible. But so far, that has worked and now, with the number of
people in the nhs in hospital with coronavirus falling, we can see that we have managed to keep the nhs able to treat everybody who needs it. That brings us to the question of ventilators and yes, we are Still Producing them. There are countries across the world who are now needing them because theyre curve is in a different position. So we are still working with those companies who i pay tribute to, who have absolutely pulled the stops out and made sure we had the Ventilator Capacity that we had the Ventilator Capacity that we needed when the number of people on ventilators was at its peak which i think was about three weeks ago, angela . About that. I pay tribute to the ventilator challenge and everybody who participated in it. They have done an amazing job and so far has been successful in ensuring we always have those ventilated
people need. Chris lloyd from the northern echo. What is the time lag of the pandemics progress . As the country went into lockdown at the same time, is it possible that the region is likely in the north east we re region is likely in the north east were locked down comparatively early and might not be hit as hard as once feared that maggot locked although i note there was a slight update in all regions outside of london as once feared. And will have any impact ona once feared. And will have any impact on a second wave in the region is questioning how will the time lag inform policy on lifting the lockdown question what do you imagine some errors might ease before others or will we all be in or out of lockdown together . Hopefully im not outstayed my welcome but looking further ahead, northern manufacturing towns bore the brunt of previous economic downturns so how will the government ensure its measures to help the country ensure its measures to help the cou nt ry re cover ensure its measures to help the country recover are regionally applicable in terms of manufacturing, infrastructure, even moving governmentjobs manufacturing, infrastructure, even moving government jobs of manufacturing, infrastructure, even moving governmentjobs of london . You are very welcome here at the press co nfe re nce. You are very welcome here at the press conference. Im going to ask angela to answer the substance of the first part of your question but the first part of your question but the first part of your question but the first thing i would say is that i want to pay tribute to the people of the north east for staying at home and helping to ensure that the number of cases in the north east has been relatively low. Knowing newcastle well, as i do, i know the people of the northeast are very gregarious and have done their duty by staying at home, which is what is neededin by staying at home, which is what is needed in these circumstances. 0n the economic question that you rightly raise, absolutely it is a top priority to make sure that we will level up this country, and that agenda will be, i think, even more important, once we are through coronavirus and recovering from it. North east councils have been allocated more than £600 million as pa rt allocated more than £600 million as part of the business support package, and weve identified more than 50,000 Business Properties which may be able to receive a grant in the north east, so we are putting the economic support in place during the economic support in place during the crisis, but im absolutely sure that after the crisis the top priority of the government will be to level up and make sure that all parts of this country can recover together, because that is going to bea together, because that is going to be a huge task. If i can ask professor maclea n be a huge task. If i can ask professor maclean to be a huge task. If i can ask professor maclea n to a nswer be a huge task. If i can ask professor maclean to answer on the shape of the curve. Your observation is absolutely right, that london was always high above the other regions of england and devolved administrations. And interestingly, there is a signal in there that
london turned over perhaps a little bit earlier than other regions, and various of our scientists around the country are combing through that data and other places where we might be able to see that signal to see if we can find anything to explain why that should be shown. That should be so. If there is an effect, it is small. It is not a huge difference between the regions. You are right that there is. Yesterdays numbers we re that there is. Yesterdays numbers were a little higher in the regions than the day before, but it is a tiny effect and well within the noise we see in these datasets. Whilst i would much rather they went down regularly, every day, an increase like that is not something that worries me. The question of whether or not we should have regional policies i think is an interesting one. Its the kind of thing you can imagine epidemiologists all over the world, notjust in this epidemiologists all over the world, not just in this country, epidemiologists all over the world, notjust in this country, are puzzling over. There is always a
trade off, isnt there, between making sure you do things that are incredibly beautifully tailored to each part of your population and on the other hand keeping things simple and actually also carrying on all being in this together. I dont have an answerfor being in this together. I dont have an answer for you on that at the moment, but i can reassure you that all the time one of the things we do as we look at the data altogether and disaggregate it and look at regions. Do you have a followup questions delete question . regions. Do you have a followup questions delete question . I asked about the time lag and whether different regions might be released from the lockdown at different times or will we all be at the same time . . There or will we all be at the same time . There was a feeling when we brought in the lockdown of the whole country moving together. We did think about moving together. We did think about moving with london in the midlands first because they were more
advanced in terms of the number of cases. But we decided that we really are in this together, and the shape of the curve, if not the height of the curve, has been very similar across the whole country. It went up more in london, but it has also come down more. But the broad shape has been similar, which is what you would expect, given that we have all been living through the same lockdown measures. The other thing to say is that it isntjust about the level, its also about the curve, and if the r goes above one anywhere, then that would eventually lead to an exponential rise, a second peak and an overwhelming of the nhs in that area unless it is addressed. So, although the level of the number of cases is different in different parts, the slope of the curve has been remarkably similar across the country, so that argues for doing things as a whole country
together. I hope that makes sense. Thanks very much for coming, chris. Appreciate it. Finally, adam vaughan from the new scientist. You said you are recruiting 18,000 contact tracers. I want asked, how many do you have today, what date will you hit 18,000, and how important are they as a strategy for controlling they as a strategy for controlling the virus after the lockdown . Secondly, we heard that the Contact Tracing app will be ready within three weeks. What is your goal for the numberof three weeks. What is your goal for the number of people you want to download it, and we will how will you incentivise download it, and we will how will you ince ntivise them download it, and we will how will you incentivise them to do it . |j knew we would get some tough questions from the new scientist. The answer to your questions are, as soon as possible and as many as possible. I know that is not a numerical answer. We are recruiting the contact tracers, and im sorry i dont have the information to hand as to how many we have recruited,
but it is under way. We hope to have the contact tracers who will help when we find a positive test to work out who they have been in contact with and make sure they do the appropriate thing, we hope to have the contact tracers in place before the contact tracers in place before the app goes live. 0n the app, we are expecting that to be ready by the middle of may, and both of these things together, because they want together, along with the testing, and they will help us to keep the level of. The level of new cases down once weve used social distancing measures to get those new cases down, and thats the best thing for health and the best thing for the economy. And that is a. It isa for the economy. And that is a. It is a work in progress, and i know i have said the middle of may but not numerical details. I dont have the data to hand but i will try to find
that for you. And on how many people, the more people who download the app and keep their bluetooth on, the app and keep their bluetooth on, the more effective the app is going to be, so there is no answer other than as many as possible. Because if everybody downloads it, it willjust be more effective at spotting who people have been in contact with through Contact Tracing and helping, alongside the human Contact Tracing, for people to be able to keep the r down by catching those who they may have transmitted the disease to. It is also, of course, tied with the rules around isolation, because if you. What really matters is if you have been in substantial contact with someone who has tested positive, making sure we get the right rules around what that person is then required and asked to do is also a critical part of this
infrastructure that we are building. Cani infrastructure that we are building. Can i ask a follow up question . From what you have just said, you said that the human contact tracers and the app will work in tandem. You are saying the app is coming in three weeks, does that mean that the target for the 18,000 is in three weeks . Before or at the same time as the app. Good stuff. Thank you very much indeed. Great to have the new scientist at the downing street briefing. I hope my answer was scientifically valid. Thank you very much forjoining us, and no doubt see you again soon. The Health Secretary, matt hancock, just wrapping up that latest downing street briefing. While he was talking, we heard from British Airways and their owner reporting a big loss in the first quarter, and warning that they may have to cut up to 12,000 jobs in
warning that they may have to cut up to 12,000jobs ina warning that they may have to cut up to 12,000 jobs in a sweeping restructuring package. And they will be talking to the unions about that restructuring and redundancy programme. So, 12,000 jobs restructuring and redundancy programme. So, 12,000jobs at British Airways at risk. That is roughly a quarter of the entire workforce. More on that later on, but in the meantime, lets talk to our chief political correspondent, vicki young, who was at westminster listening to that briefing. Always talk at these press conferences about the Testing Capacity in particular, and matt hancock did announce quite a big ramping up of that in different areas. Yeah, he did. Remember, the target he has set himself is to reach 100,000 tests carried out daily by the end of the month, which is on thursday. At the moment, we have been hearing a lot about increased capacity. He said todayit about increased capacity. He said today it has gone up to 73,400 tests a day, but the actual number of tests being carried out is still at
around 43,000, so some way to go. He already expanded the eligibility. Remember, in the beginning, it was just for those being admitted to hospital, and then hospital staff. That has been expanded to all key workers and their households. Today, he is going even further, saying that people who work or live in care homes can be tested, even if they are asymptomatic, so not showing any symptoms of covid 19. The over 65s, who do have symptoms can be tested, along with their households and workers who have to leave home to work. That is a huge expansion in eligibility as they try and find out also how many people have this virus without having symptoms, and of course, he is confident, he says they can reach this number of 100,000 tests a day. And also, he was under a lot of pressure over ca re was under a lot of pressure over care homes. I think that was the questioning there from a lot of the
journalists, about care homes. As you can see, the number of deaths in hospitals is coming down, but weve been getting these delayed figures, if you like, from other settings, and on that, he also said that from tomorrow they will publish the number of deaths in care homes and in the community, but i think he suggested there that actually there would still be a delay on all of that. We had the latest numbers from the ons that. We had the latest numbers from the 0ns today, and he said there has been a problem with all of this because there are so many care homes and they fall under so many different organisations. Thank you very much indeed. The six 0clock news coming up very shortly with fiona bruce. Now, the weather with darren. Before today, it was the sunniest april on record, with the sunniest parts of the country being through the midlands and across the north west of scotland. It has also been an extremely dry month and a very warm month up till today, but
this cloud has been bringing with it steady rain across england and wales. It has got about as far north as it is going to get. Temperatures only 8 or 9 degrees. As we head into the evening, the rain is beginning to ease off in wales and the south west, the main weight of it it has got about as far north as it is going to get, and underneath the cloud it has been very cold. Temperatures only 8 or 9 degrees. As we head into the evening, the rain is beginning to ease off in wales and the south west, the main weight of it heading eastwards over towards the dutch. We will stay cloudy and misty over the hills and there will be some drizzle but clearer skies over scotland and it will be cold in the north and east of scotland with maybe a touch of frost here and there. Very much milder elsewhere under the cloud. As we head into tomorrow, another area of rain, everything coming from the west or south west, these areas of low pressure pushing a band of rain up from the south west during tomorrow. Maybe some sunshine tomorrow across scotland, a few showers as well but elsewhere, a lot of cloud around and some drizzle to start with and then we will see this band of rain moving up from the south west. It could be quite heavy and persistent and then behind it, we get a slice of the few hours of sunshine across wales, the midlands, central and southern england in particular before more rain arrives in the south west later. Temperatures should be a little higher tomorrow by a few degrees, it wont feel quite as cold as it has done today. But we have a couple of weather fronts on the scene tomorrow evening and tomorrow night, all pushing rain northwards and eastwards. As we head into thursday, the weather is dominated by low pressure. We have one band of rain sitting in, quite slow moving, and another band across scotland but the main showers coming in across england and wales where they could be heavy and thundery with some stronger winds are likely to be blowing through the English Channel as well. Temperatures, 12 or 13 degrees typically which is a bit below average for this time of year. As we head towards the end of the week, that area of low
pressure starts to drift away but only very slowly and things start to ease down a little bit through the day. There is still some showers around and maybe some more persistent rain across the north of scotland but those showers develop through the day, pushing eastwards across the uk and again, some are heavy and thundery, turning a bit drier in wales and the south west. Temperatures back up to around 15 degrees, near average at this time of year. The fatal legacy of coronavirus becomes evident the number of people dying in the uk has doubled. And care homes are seeing a huge increase they now make up a third of coronavirus related deaths in england and wales. She wasnt eating or drinking and then itjust came that they said to come and see her. And i knew then that that was the end of her life. And the new figures today mean the uk could be on course to have the highest death toll in europe. Also tonight. Scotland moves ahead of the rest of the uk and recommends everyone wear Face Coverings