Calls increase in the us to take down confederate statues because of their connnections to slavery. Residents of poole vow to protect a statue of the scouts Founder Robert baden powell, whos accused of racism. Police fear it could be a target for demonstrators. Jk rowling reveals she has experienced Domestic Abuse and sexual assault, in an essay explaining her views about gender. And, one zooms the queen uses the Video Conferencing app to thank carers for their work during the coronavirus pandemic. Interesting listening to all your tales and stories, and im very impressed by what you have achieved already. Im very glad to have been able to join you today. Hello, good afternoon. In the next half hour, well bring you the daily downing street briefing, to be led today by the Health Secretary, matt hancock, who will give an update on the first weeks figures from the new nhs test and Trace Programme in england. The numbers show of the more than 8,000 people who tested positive for covid 19 between 28 may and 3june, two thirds were contacted and provided details of people with whom theyd been in close proximity. Nearly 32,000 contacts were indentified and, as a result, 84 were told to self isolate for m days. Also today, the dramatic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on cancer care has been revealed, with new figures showing a huge fall in the number of people in england being assessed by a specialist after being referred by their gp. Numbers fell by 60 in april compared with the same period last year, and the number of patients starting treatment fell by 20 in that period. Heres our Health Correspondent lauren moss. Yeah, this is the first time ive had chemotherapy. Pauline is 75 and has lung cancer. At first, she was apprehensive about having treatment during the pandemic. Ive got to take the chance, havent i . The hospital situation is far too crowded, as far as im. I mean, not in radiotherapy, its very clear there. Weve only got chemotherapy patients coming in and going out. Paulines on board the chemo bus at North Middlesex hospital. This is one of the ways the nhs is mobilising care after the initial surge of Covid Patients hit the hospital hard. It was like a tsunami. I dont think we ever thought it would hit us at the fast rate of knots that it actually did. We are definitely are at reduced capacity from what we were doing, sort of, pre covid, but weve had to do that in order to be able to treat as many people as possible. But figures released this morning have revealed for the first time just how severely Cancer Services have been affected in england. 79,500 urgent referrals were made by gps in april, 60 lower than the year before. Urgent Breast Cancer referrals had an even larger drop, down by 78 to 3700. And the number of people waiting no more than two months from gp referral to first Cancer Treatment was down to under 11,000, 20 lower. Well, i have a scan every three months, and. And it has notjust impacted new patients. 54 year old joanne addis from stockport has been taking medication for three years to stabilise her incurable cancer, but it was paused in april to minimise her risk of catching covid. Ive got a family, i got a new husband, and i didnt want to be in a situation where my life is shortened any more than it should be. I need to get on top of the pain that ive got, which i believe that if i go back on the treatment, that pain will diminish, and i willjust get my quality of life back. Remote chemo, a precise high dose form of radiotherapy, and surgical hubs are among the ways the nhs is restarting services. Consultations are done by telephone or video call. Patients have their blood taken in a separate building, and then receive chemotherapy in these mobile units here, everything taking place away from the main hospital. Coronavirus is going to be with us for months if not years to come, and so the nhs is going to need to retain the ability to surge capacity, to look after local flare ups, and throughout this staff have pulled out all the stops, but theyve also innovated in the way in which care is being provided. But theres a warning cancer must not become the forgotten c of the pandemic. I think to anybody watching this id say, if youve got any lumps or bumps, any pains that cant be explained and havent gone away, or anything at all thats worrying you, get in touch with your gp today. The rest of the uk will publish waiting times in the coming weeks. Its likely to be a long road to recovery for cancer care. Lauren moss, bbc news. 0ur Health Correspondent nick triggle is here with me now. Nick, as well as those figures about cancer ca re we nick, as well as those figures about cancer care we have also had some figures out about routine operations and emergencies. Yes, they show there have been significant disruptions to the services. If youll remember, routine operations like knee and hip replacements were cancelled en masse at the start of the pandemic so hospitals could prepare for the expected surge in coronavirus cases. Looking at a chart, it is no surprise there has been a big drop in the numbers being operated on. Normally it would be touching around 300,000 operations a month, and that dropped to 200,000 in march, then in april down to 40,000. That is unprecedented. Normally you would expect hospitals to get through that number into mac 01 to get through that number into mac or three days. Hospitals are restarting this routine work but nhs leaders are warning it could take at least a year before they get back to normal. Meanwhile, a e is a different story. That has stayed open. People appear to have stayed away. Generally, more than 2 Million People a month would come to a e, but in february that dipped below, that figure, the first as the first coronavirus cases started to emerge in march, then dropped again before sinking to under a million attendances in april. It has now gone back up to 1. 2 million in may. Doctors are seriously concerned people are missing out on the care they need and these are people who need urgent care who are seriously ill so they are urging people to come forward and start using a e as normal. Nick, we have also had to date the first figures from the governments test and tray system. What have they shown . Yes, these have been eagerly anticipated test and trace system. These are crucial for containing local outbreaks and helping us to ease out of lockdown. We have the figures for the first week in england, from the 28th of may until the 3rd ofjune. The other uk nations have their own services. It shows just over 8000 people who tested positive for coronavirus were transferred into the service to contact their close contacts, but concerning the one in three did not provide any contacts, and some gave incorrect Contact Details, some actually refused to participate in the programme. But those that did provide Contact Details, and there were nearly 32,000 contacts provided, five in six of those contacts were then reached and many were reached very quickly, in 24 hours, and many agreed to self isolate. Nhs bosses accept it is not Gold Standard yet, it is only the first week, but they say it is a good start and it is something to build on. Ok, many thanks, our Health Correspondent, nick triggle there. Concerns about the risks of deploying a uk coronavirus Contact Tracing app are causing further delays. A second version of the Smartphone Software was due to have begun testing on the isle of wight last tuesday, but the government decided to postpone the trial. Ministers are now considering switching the app over to tech developed by apple and google. Lets speak now to our technology correspondent, Rory Cellan Jones. Rory, an app was meant to be up and running on the first of this month and we were told it was vital to the whole test and tracing system. Where are we . Reeta, the whole focus of the government on this seems to have shifted. A couple of months ago this was to be the be all and end all, and we didnt hear anything about this system you just heard about now, the app was going to do the job. I think they have gradually realised this is very unproven technology. The first trial was on the isle of wight and went 0k and that plenty of people downloaded the app that plenty of people downloaded the app, but it was a very primitive version, it didnt have testing built in. Now the team behind it has updated it, have put far more symptoms in it, and it has got testing built in. They are ready to go, but they were expecting to really start the second trial in the isle of wight earlier this week, and downing street has basically put the brakes on. I think there is a iieivousiiess brakes on. I think there is a nervousness in downing street about whether this will work. They dont wa nt whether this will work. They dont want anything to go wrong. There are problems with these apps. Dont forget, this is completely untested technology. It uses bluetooth on your phone and others around the world who are developing similar apps are finding they dont necessarily work very well. There has not been a successful launch nationally of an app like this anywhere around the world, and other big debate is whether we stick with the current system, which is a centralised app where the data is collected by the nhs, fairly ce ntrally, collected by the nhs, fairly centrally, or go down the route offered by apple and google, their platform, a decentralised app. That would take more time and we would have to sort of switch out the engine, how someone put it to me, then even with that system, theres not a lot of evidence around the world that is working either. People are generally having problems with this app. I think the lesson we learning is that people are a couple of months ago thought this kind of technology would be some kind of Silver Bullet and everybody is waking up to the fact that, yes, if it works it would be brilliant because it would give you lots of early warnings of peoples contacts, but making it work is a big challenge. 0k. Many thanks. Our correspondent Rory Cellan Jones there. Keith neal is Professor Emeritus of the epidemiology of Infectious Diseases at the university of nottingham. He has 30 years of experience in Contact Tracing and has previously served as a consultant for Public Health england. Good afternoon, thank you for joining. Good afternoon. What do you make of the governments difficulties with developing this app, and how important do you think it is getting on top of this epidemic . Im not an expert in developing apps and it is sort of sad and disappointing that we havent got one. There are other apps around the world but they are incredibly intrusive and go as far as tracking peoples movements directly, which i think wouldnt be a cce pta ble directly, which i think wouldnt be acceptable in the current. In our human rights situation of basically privacy data. I think it is a big help having these apps because it helps you identify who you are in close contact with, particularly when we reopen shops. Currently i seem to get. Through my local supermarket i travel, including the queueing outside, in under 20 minutes, so i dont really meet the 15 minute rule for anybody. What is the 15 minute rule, sorry . Just explain that, please. The who is looking at people who are within one metre for 15 minutes as a significant contact. As you know, people walking along the street, people walking along the street, people seem to give you a very wide berth, and really that is really not necessary to prevent any significant infections, because the speed that people walk past each other, youre not going to catch anything just like that. Just fleeting. I wonder what you think of the figures we have had today for the governments test and tray system. The third of people not providing their Contact Details, that is worrying, isnt it . Basically abject. This is a Public Health crisis and it involves the public being part of it. The government has managed to arrange testing for everybody with symptoms and it is up to the public to get tested to get tested, and for them to cooperate with the system, because at the moment we are not in a position where we send people round to shake them up and demand the contacts, and i dont think people want that. Really, we want people want that. Really, we want people to cooperate. We are not sure how many of those 32 are actually pa rt how many of those 32 are actually part of other outbreaks and have already been contact traced, and my understanding and i checked this, you need to put your mobile phone number in when you order a test yourself. I think the good news was out of the contacts who were identified, 85 were identified and these were identified very quickly, and sufficiently quickly to stop them going on to spread further infection. Hopefully, they will continue to self isolate. The system of course only identifies people who are showing symptoms of coronavirus, because they then request a test. I guess the system isnt really geared up for people who are asymptomatic . How would you find them, a good question. This is the point of Contact Tracing. It helps to find people who would go on to become a symptomatic spreaders or possibly they were the source of the infection, but they are probably no longer infectious. People who havent got symptoms, unless we test people every week, which we can only do in high risk situations, and even thenif do in high risk situations, and even then if you tested them on monday and they were negative, they could start showing the virus on tuesday 01 start showing the virus on tuesday or wednesday. A difficult situation. Listen, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much, keith neal, emeritus professor of epidemiology at the university of nottingham, thank you. The government is facing increasing pressure from within its own party to relax the two metre distancing rule in england, to help businesses and schools re open. The former conservative leader sir Iain Duncan Smith has warned that the uk faces shattering consequences if it doesnt soon change the guidance to one metre, which is recommended by the World Health Organization. Borisjohnson has previously said he hopes the distance can be reduced as virus rates go down, with ministers saying the issue is under active review. Heres our Political Correspondentjessica parker. Cheers remember this . When people could crowd into pubs and restaurants . You wont see that again anytime soon, but with more shops opening from next week, and measuring up hopes for hospitality in july, theres a question. Thats two metres. How distant does social distancing need to be . For our businesses, it is the difference between survival and failure. With a two metre social distancing rule, a third of our premises simply will not be able to reopen. Thats a million jobs at risk, and it means that businesses will be opening at an average revenue of 30 of their normal revenue, of their normal revenues, whereas at one metre, theyre opening at 70 of normal revenues. The uk has the same two metre rule as spain and canada. That drops to 1. 5 metres if you are in australia, italy or germany. And then further reduces to one metre if youre in china, france or singapore. Meanwhile, official guidance from the World Health Organization is to leave at least a metre between yourself and others to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. Its all a numbers game. We know that you need to get whats called an infectious dose to pick up the virus. That infectious dose for this new coronavirus is pretty low, perhaps as low as 20 virus particles in order to guarantee that a person is going to get infected, so the further you are away from someone, or the more fleeting your contact with them, the lower the likelihood that youre going to pick up the infection. Theres the priority of bearing down on the virus, but also fears that the two metre rule could clog up efforts to get the economy going. Scientists will give their assessment of the risks, but ultimately, its a political decision. A devolved matter scotland, wales and Northern Ireland can do different things. For england, Boris Johnson said that as infection rates are driven down, itll need to be kept under constant review. Theres clearly discussions going on on this, but at the same time, theres nothing which we can say at this point which changes the advice that were offering the public. Im not seeking to evade that question, we all recognise that there is of course an important discussion to be had about it, but were not changing the advice that were offering the public. But bars and shops will need enough customers, and some tory mps are arguing for a shift in the balance. Our economy is facing a complete crash. The debts were racking up on how were supporting people, the fact that no work or very little work is taking place. If we dont get the economy moving, we will be unable to afford any of the things that we need to support public services, so getting the balance right is important. And also schooling, by the way. If we had had a one or 1. 5 metre rule for schools, it would have made it much easier for them to have opened. Two metres remains the marker for now, but its possible the rule could be rewritten. Jessica parker, bbc news. Lets speak now to our chief Political Correspondent vicki young. How much pressure as the government under over the two metre rule . How much pressure as the government under over the two metre rule . |j think they are under pressure from business, but in a sense, they want to do this themselves, it is not just about being under pressure, borisjohnson, for a few weeks now, has made it clear that it is under review, rishi sunak, the chancellor, not surprisingly, given he is the one looking at the numbers every day and looking at some pretty stark, horrific numbers when it comes to the economy, made it very clear to conservative mps last night that he would like it to change. But the key thing is the timing of all of this. They still do feel that the number of cases are still too high. We have heard a lot from ministers talking about the incidence rate of the virus itself. So i think they would wa nt virus itself. So i think they would want that to come down quite a lot more before they introduce it. But it isa more before they introduce it. But it is a huge problem, and it is that balancing act which weve seen for quite some time now between the health consequences, at the point where there were almost 1000 people a day dying in the uk, and weighing that up against the impact on the economy, which has its own very severe issues, including to do with health. So, constantly, theyve had to look at this. But it is very clear from the tone that they do wa nt clear from the tone that they do want it to change. The fact that other countries have done it shows that this is all a bit of an experiment, and no one knows for sure, the scientific guidance is just that, guidance, they cant be entirely sure. And its about how much risk in the end people are willing to accept. Vicki, in a bit under half an hour, we will be hearing from the Health Secretary, matt hancock, at the downing street briefing, and he has got with him the person leading the governments test and Trace Programme, dido harding, what do you think todays figures show, and what will be concerning ministers . figures show, and what will be concerning ministers . I think it is a step in the right direction, i think that is how dido harding will talk about it. Its not fantastic, in the sense they have not traced absolutely everybody, some people are absolutely everybody, some people a re clearly not absolutely everybody, some people are clearly not giving their details. But there are some positives in all of this, and really in the end this is part of a package of measures. If you look at the social distancing, you look at people washing their hands, people behaving differently, plus, a test and trace system, it means you can break that chain of transmission, and that is what all of this is about. So at the moment, if they can get to two thirds of people who are going along with this, and they can trace them and chuck that area down, all of that is going to help. But now zico they want it to be better. We had lots of stories of those contact tracers sitting around not doing anything, some of them said, partly i think that is because a lot of people enter the data themselves, you can do it online. But what they will want to do is to encourage those who are not engaging with this process to do so, and in many ways this is a rehearsalfor when process to do so, and in many ways this is a rehearsal for when and process to do so, and in many ways this is a rehearsalfor when and if the virus starts transmitting again, with those fears about a second wave at some point, they need their system to be working and working well at that point. Many thanks, vicki, and we will come back to you just before that briefing, in a few minutes time. Non essential retail shops will be allowed to open from next week, with the retal industry preparing to make things safe for customers. To speak more now on how that will look in practical terms, lets talk to james daunt, ceo of book shop chain waterstones. Hello, good to have you on the programme. Difficult to imagine how you are going to have customers doing what they want to do in a bookshop, which is to browse, to pick books off the bookshelves, have a look, how are you going to adjust things in order to maintain social distancing . I think a lot of quite sensible, practical measures. Marking distances, which people will be familiar with, from supermarkets, creating one way systems. And in fa ct, creating one way systems. And in fact, furniture which encourages it, ta bles fact, furniture which encourages it, tables and the like, so we are reasonably confident and indeed we have the experience of our european shops to know that it works really quite well. And weve just opened our shops in ireland, which again, by putting in these measures, customers seem to be enjoying themselves but behaving a little bit differently. But one thing, agreeably, theyre differently. But one thing, agreeably, they re buying differently. But one thing, agreeably, theyre buying a lot more when they come in. That is interesting and are you allowing them to handle the books . Wejust asking, if they pick up books, which obviously they should do, to browse, if they choose not to buy them, just to put them aside, we have trolleys that we put in the shop, and then we ta ke that we put in the shop, and then we take those back off the shopfloor and actually leave them in a place before we bring them back again. The advice is that the virus is not viable for anything close to that length of time. What has happened to your business during lockdown . Weve had all the shops shut, and that historically has been pretty much 90 of our sales. Our online operation has increased a lot, and customers have moved across to the online, but really, we need the shops open again, and were very much looking forward to at least having our english ones open again on monday. And do you think that this epidemic has changed the way in which people shop for books . Do you expect more of your business now to come from your online sales . L little bit. But weve been very familiar with online and books, amazon after all started as a bookseller. So i think in our little pa rt bookseller. So i think in our little part of the retail world, it probably wont change as much. But i think in other parts, clearly, it will. We very much hope that we will be reopening on high streets, where our neighbours continue to prosper. We need that diversity of retailers on our high streets and it will be important that that is the case. But all of us, as physical retailers, as shops, will need to continue to justify why people come into us and ensure that our shops are a real pleasure. And in bookshops, that will remain the case. Very good to talk to you, james daunt, the ceo of waterstones. Apologies for the slightly wobbly line that there was better some related news actually. This is being sent to us by our republic of ireland correspondent chris page, who says that the Stormont Executive in Northern Ireland have agreed to permit Shopping Centres to reopen. They can resume trading from tomorrow. Previously, ministers had decided to allow retailers with a street entrance to return to business, but theyve now allowed Shopping Centres to reopen. And theyve also decided to reopen. And theyve also decided to allow house sales and moves to resume in Northern Ireland on the 15th ofjune, which is monday. The owner of British Gas Centrica has announced the loss of 5,000 jobs at the energy giant this year. More than half of the job losses will come from the businesss leadership roles, as the Company Revealed it would strip out three layers of middle managers, in an effort to cut bureaucracy and cope with the impact of coronavirus. A major hotel chain has warned that up to 1,800 jobs could go, because there is little prospect of the industry returning to normal any time soon. Mcdonald hotels has 31 Properties Across the uk, including in aviemore and close to the holyrood parliament. They closed at the start of lockdown, and most of their 2,200 staff were put on furlough. The queen has been seen for the first time taking part in a Video Conferencing call. She joined Princess Anne and four carers on the call to mark the start of this years carers week. Her majesty and the Princess Royal heard about the carers experiences, and the pressures theyve faced looking after loved ones during the pandemic. There are 7 million unpaid carers in the uk, and during the call, the queen paid tribute to them. Ive been a carer really officially since i was eight. I only recognised when i was 11 or 12. So, it takes awhile for any carer to recognise they are a carer. Psychiatrist, the nurse, sociologist. You put all these different hats on, and then you can lose your sense of self as well. I think you all recognise that we know carers somewhere, maybe we have stopped and wondered how on earth we can help. I guess a little bit of recognition and support goes a long way for unpaid carers. The unsung heroes, the odd song would not go amiss. You carers watching this, i hope that they can see that there are other people in this situation who are similar to them, that theyre not alone. Interesting listening to all your tales and stories, and im very impressed by what you have achieved already. Im very glad to have been able to join you today. Earlier, we spoke to alex atkins, who has provided a caring role for her mother who has behcets syndrome a condition that results in inflammation of the blood vessels. She also now supports her father, who has various who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was on the call. It was an amazing opportunity to speak to her. We were not aware that she would be on the call. We were aware that the Princess Royal would be joining aware that the Princess Royal would bejoining us but we aware that the Princess Royal would be joining us but we were aware that the Princess Royal would bejoining us but we were not aware that the Princess Royal would be joining us but we were not aware that the queen would be joining us until the day before. We were so grateful for the opportunity to express the caring roles that we all face, and the young people that i support at the swansea carers centre. We waiting for the briefing at downing street, and before it starts, lets speak once again to vicki young. Vicki, we are assuming that test and trace is going to be one of the main things today, because the Health Secretary is going to bejoined by the person leading the test and trace system. I suppose looking ahead, with the economy opening up a little bit in england on monday, there must be some worry that as people have more contacts, that will put more strain on the test and trace system . Thats right. Thats why they want it to be functioning properly, before that maybe starts to happen. And there is some concern about loosening other measures while the number of cases is still relatively high. Of course it is nowhere near where it was at the peak of all of this, it is coming down, but clearly, from the scientists, not as quickly as they would like. Boris johnson scientists, not as quickly as they would like. Borisjohnson making the same point, that there are still too many cases, and they need to have this system in place and working well so that in the future, they can trace where these outbreaks might be, get in contact with people, get their contacts, and its all about breaking that chain of transmission so that you dont end up in the same situation as we were back in march and april, where it really was spreading exponentially. And a lot of talk about the app being piloted on the isle of wight. People saying in government that thatis people saying in government that that is the icing on the cake, if you like, that the main thing is to have this manual tracing. That the app would be nice, but of course lots of other countries dont have one working effectively. Some do, some dont, and it looks like they will have to open up without that being in place. But certainly i think today will be a question of it being started, getting there, first steps. Its not working perfectly, not to the Gold Standard they want at the moment, but it is they are really hopefully to be improved. And lots of discussion, we were saying earlier, but the two metre social distancing role. Ah, iwill stop my own question, because here comes the minister. Good afternoon and welcome back to downing street for the daily coronavirus breathing and i am grateful to be joined by baroness dido harding, the executive chair of nhs test and trace. Before we turn to test and trace, lets go through the daily slides. Can we have the first slide, please . The daily slides. Can we have the first slide, please . This slide shows testing and the number of new confirmed cases of coronavirus. The figures show that as of yesterday there were 197,007 tests, bringing there were 197,007 tests, bringing the total number of tests that have been done in this country to more than 6 million 6,240,000, and the numberof than 6 million 6,240,000, and the number of confirmed cases as of yesterday was 1266, bringing the total number of confirmed positive test results to 291,409, and you can see that despite the vast increase in the numberof see that despite the vast increase in the number of tests that have been carried out, the number of positive cases continues to fall and has been falling on that seven day rolling average, a little bit up from the very low figure yesterday of 1003, but nevertheless continuing overall to fall. Next slide, please. This matches the data from hospitals, which shows that the numberof hospitals, which shows that the number of new admissions with covid 19, excluding scotland, was 462, on the 8th ofjune, and this is down from 658 a week earlier on the 1st ofjune, and down from a peak of over 3000 in late march. Likewise, the numberof over 3000 in late march. Likewise, the number of those people on ventilator beds, mechanical ventilators, is down to 440, down from 604 a week ago, and again that was over 3000 at the peak so it is very Good Progress to see both of those numbers continuing to fall. That is over recent days. If we turn now to the next slide, which shows the regional breakdown, again, as it has throughout this crisis, it shows the shape is broadly the same in most regions of the country. The downward trend persists everywhere, which is obviously very good news. Turning now to the number of deaths, the final slide. The latest figures show that yesterday 151 people died with coronavirus. Thats the reported number. That brings the total to 41,279. Again, we can see this downward trend continues to come down, and in fact the number of deaths over the past week is the lowest since the week ending on the 28th of march, and this is Good Progress, but clearly, clearly, there is more to do. These data show that this virus is in retreat and, in summary, we are working through our plan, and the plan is working. And that means we are able to restore some of the freedoms that people hold so dear. From the beginning of lockdown, the challenge has been notjust how to get the virus under control but how then to be able to ease the lockdown measures, and i was really delighted by the announcements that the Prime Minister was able to make yesterday, allowing these bubbles so that Single Parents or those who live alone will be able to form a support bubble with one other household, and i think this is a big step forward and it is very difficult to imagine the impact, if you havent lived on your own, for 12 weeks, the impact, if you havent lived on your own, for12 weeks, so im the impact, if you havent lived on your own, for 12 weeks, so im very pleased we have been able to restore that human contact and the support that human contact and the support that so many have been missing, and i know that the Prime Minister pulls my announcement has given such hope and comfort to so many the Prime Ministers announcement. Im very pleased at the very positive reception it has got. To help us ta ke reception it has got. To help us take more measures to come out of lockdown, of course the Prime Minister tasked dido and i with delivering a test and trace system. Testing for the virus and tracing how it spreads is critical to containing it, locally, so that we can ease the National Lockdown. And it is by isolating the virus that we can control it and we can stop it spreading through our communities. In this plan to lift lockdown, test and trace is our radar, if you like. It helps us identify where the virus is and trace how it is spreading through the community. And you have your part to play. If you have symptoms you Must Immediately self isolate if you have symptoms you Must Immediately self isolate and if you have symptoms you Must Immediately self isolate and get the test. It is easy to get a test on nhs. Uk or by dialling 119. You must work with the traitors to help identify who you have been in close contact with, and if asked by them to isolate you must do so, to break the chain of transmission and to stop the spread of the virus. I would even go so far as to say that participation with nhs test and trace is your civic duty. Please, do it to protect your loved ones, do it to protect your community, do it to protect the nation, and do it to protect the nation, and do it to protect the nation, and do it to protect the nhs. Today we are able to publish some of the initial statistics about the first week of operation of nhs test and trace. Baroness harding will ta ke and trace. Baroness harding will take us through these figures in a moment, but i just take us through these figures in a moment, but ijust wanted to put them ina moment, but ijust wanted to put them in a bit of context. They paint a positive picture. As we will see when we go through the figures, firstly remember they represent just the first seven days of the service. And yet it has already had a huge impact. The system is working well, and as we both said from the start we will keep improving it. It will keep getting better. And i think youll see from these figures why we are confident it will be world class. Im also delighted to say that we still have spare capacity. And long may it remain so. This is a good thing. This is a sign of the teens success. I just good thing. This is a sign of the teens success. Ijust want to take this moment before i hand over, very formally, on behalf of us all, to thank dido and the team, to thank the army of contact tracers, to thank the nhs and Public Health england who are playing such an important role, to thank the private companies without him this would be impossible, including boots, amazon, serco and sita. And i want to thank you, the vast majority of people who have done their civic duty. As we work through our plan and keeping the virus down, let us maintain that spirit and fortitude that has helped us throughout this pandemic. And that, of course, includes not attending large gatherings. Including demonstrations of more than six people. Now, i understand that people want to show their passion for a cause that they care deeply about. But this is a virus that thrives on social contact, regardless of what your calls may be. So, please, forthe regardless of what your calls may be. So, please, for the safety of your loved ones, stay alert, control the virus, and save lives. Im now going to hand over to baroness harding, to take us all through the test and trace statistics. Thank you, secretary of state. If i can have the final slide, please . As the figures in the top half show, in the first week of the programme 8117 people who had tested positive for coronavirus had their details transferred to the Contact Tracing system. Of those, 5407 people, thats 67 of the total, provided us with the details of their recent close contacts, and it is very encouraging that over 75 gave us this information within 24 hours of being asked to do so. We really appreciate and recognise everyones swift response. Using that information, as you can see in the bottom half of the side, we we re see in the bottom half of the side, we were able to identify 31,794 people who had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive. Of these, 26,985 people we re positive. Of these, 26,985 people were advised and agreed to self isolate, which is 85 of all total contacts identified. Again, this was done speedily and timely. Given that it is still very early days, this is really encouraging. It means the vast majority of people are responding positively and willingly, sharing information and self isolating when needed. 27,000 people who otherwise may not have known that they and their families and communities were at risk now safely at home. I want to say thank you to all of you who have got a test, who have given us a list of your recent contacts, and to eve ryo ne your recent contacts, and to everyone who has responded and agreed to self isolate. Nhs test and trace is a service for the public that works best as a partnership with the public, and ourfirst week of data shows that this partnership has got off to a good start. But together we know there are further improvements we can make to the system. The data shows 4807 of the contacts we identified didnt confirm to us that they would self isolate. This doesnt necessarily mean that these people are not self isolating. Some of them we have been unable to reach, and some of the people in this category would have already been told by their friends to self isolate, and only a small minority dont want to self isolate. And we need to understand why this is and what we can do to support them to stay at home. I dont underestimate how tough this is for some of us and we are working hard to support you, whether from local authorities, the National Volunteering service, and through access to benefits such as statutory sick pay. I want to reiterate what the secretary of state has just said. If you have symptoms, a fever, persistent cough or new laws or change in sense of taste and smell, testing is freely available a new loss of change or change in sense of taste or smell. If nhs test and trace gets in touch with you to say you have tested positive, you should go online or call us if that is easier and provide us with accurate, up to date information about your recent close contacts. If you are one of those contacts, it is vitally important that you do what the vast majority of people are already doing and agree to self isolate. Because, in doing so, you will be taking the virus out of circulation, protecting your friends, your virus out of circulation, protecting yourfriends, yourfamily virus out of circulation, protecting your friends, your family and the Wider Community from infection. So, to summarise, the system is working well at scale. We are reaching the majority of people testing positive, and you are trusting in us, providing us with your contacts and isolating when asked. We will keep learning, improving and refining, but im confident that, together, we are building High Quality Service on which all of can depend. Thank you very much, dido. We will first go to questions from the public and then from the media. Firstly, from the public we have a video question from andy from bromsgrove. Hello. As businesses plan to reopen in the coming months, can the government give any assurances to any further financial support, if track and trace handlers request employees to self isolate and trace handlers request employees to self isolate and hamper trace handlers request employees to self isolate and hamper their ability to open and operate . If one employee has tested positive does that mean the entire workforce that has had contact with that person need to self isolate . For Smaller Companies this could be potentially devastating, having to close for 14 days with no employees to operate thanks, andy, those are incredibly good questions, and i am going to have a stab and then im sure that baroness harding will want to explain more. The Central Point i would say is that we have put in financial support, of course, for businesses, and for those who need to isolate. And if you have close contacts, and somebody tests positive, then those close contacts will have to isolate. But as a business, you can mitigate this by ensuring that you have a covid secure workplace. So, if you follow the covid secure guidelines that the government has published, for how businesses can operate in a way that is safe and doesnt pass on the disease, then those guidelines are consistent with what you have to do to ensure that you dont have to isolate if somebody in the business tests positive. So, by being covid secure at work, that helps to ensure that fewer people will have to isolate if one of the team tests positive. And the link between the two, four small businesses, i totally understand. Its incredibly important. But the most Important Message is that if you are asked to isolate by nhs test and traced, then you must, because the worst thing for everybody is to spread this disease. May bejust for everybody is to spread this disease. May be just to add, a close contact means being within two metres of someone contact means being within two metres of someone for 15 minutes or more, and or being in very close contact less than a metre. So, provided we are all socially distancing at work and using good hand hygiene, actually, you wont be in close contact with your work colleagues. I appreciate that that isnt possible 100 of the time. If youre wearing personal protective equipment correctly, that isnt a close contact. And in a number of roles, people are forming fixed teams where a subset of the business are working closely together, and they will be close contact. So, there are a number of things that all employers and all of us as individuals can do that will also help stamp out the virus and have the added benefit of not meaning that we have to go into 14 days of isolation. Thanks, dido. That guidance for businesses is available on the government website. Its really important because by following that guidance, you will reduce the likelihood that, exactly as you say, andy, the whole team might have to go off and isolate. Its one reason why dido and i are standing more than two metres apart here, because this is not close contact because a were far enough apart. The next question is text on the screen and its from katie from preston. Katie from preston asks. Asa preston. Katie from preston asks. As a parent of a child with significant additional needs, the lockdown has had an impact. Thank you, katie, this is a really, really important question, and we dont underestimate the impact that the lockdown has had on families in your situation. And one of the reasons that we made the decision to make the change and introduce the social bubbles that the Prime Minister was able to announce yesterday is because that way, without having much of an impact on the spread of the disease, we could give some relief to those who are in the most difficult circumstances, People Living alone, for whom we know that the lockdown has had a particularly significant impact, especially on mental health, and for lone parents who really, really need that support. I appreciate that if youre a parent but not a lone parent, with a child with significant additional needs, then i absolutely appreciate how you will need more support, too, and you are at top of mind when we come to what further measures we can take. And of course, the more successful the test and trace scheme is, the more we will safely be able to relieve other lockdown measures. That is absolutely at the core of the plan. So, thank you very much for your question. And i wish you the very best of luck for the rest of the lockdown, and i hope that we can bring relief to you as soon as possible. If we now turn to questions from the media. First questions from the media. First question from hugh pym of the bbc. Thank you very much. As youve explained, a majority of people who tested positive, you did get Contact Details from. Are you a bit concerned that with one third of people who tested positive, for whatever reason, you couldnt get details of recent contacts . Well, i would say that i think that the system has worked well and to get two thirds in the first week of operation, it beat my expectations, and then to have the vast majority, 85 of the contacts that were given, self isolating, that beat my expectations, too. And this system gets better and better. So i think dido and her team did a brilliant job in the first week, and she can give you the answer of what were doing to try to get those numbers up. Yes, i think for the first week ofa up. Yes, i think for the first week of a scale citizen service, this is good performance, and clearly, it can and needs to and well get better. If we look at why we havent got 100 of peoples close contacts, some of it. We all have a part to play in this, which is when we take a test, making sure that we give the right Contact Details for ourselves, so it is easierfor right Contact Details for ourselves, so it is easier for the test and trace team to contact you. Some of it is us learning when is most convenient to reach people. So, we Contact People ten times during a 24 hour period, and over the course of the last two weeks, weve already been testing and learning and improving, and we will continue to do that, to find what times of day and what means are easiest to reach people. So i think for the beginning of this service, hugh, the feedback is that people are pleased with the service nhs test and trace is providing. Can we do better . Yes, of course we can, and we will continue to work at it. There was a time when you said the Smart Phone App would play a crucial role in testing and tracing what is the situation with the app right now . Well, as weve repeatedly said, the app will help, and we will bring it in when it is right to do so, and as we launched nhs test and trace, we were clear we wa nt to nhs test and trace, we were clear we want to embed this system and get confidence that people are getting the advise which is given by human beings, before introducing the technological element, and that remains the case. Next question, tom clarke, from itv. Hi, thommo. Hi, secretary of state, thank you very much for taking my question. I think it is fairto much for taking my question. I think it is fair to say that test and traced is not yet the world beating syste m traced is not yet the world beating system that the Prime Minister promised. We have still got 1200 new cases of the virus each day. Isnt another significant easing of lockdown on monday a very dangerous step for both health and the economy . No, its not. And the first thing i would say is, i have confidence, and renewed confidence, with the statistics, that we will get a world class system. The Prime Minister promised that we would have a system up and running on the of june, and we delivered ahead of that commitment, at the end of may. And he promised that we will have a world class he promised that we will have a world class system, and we will. Clearly we are building and improving all of the time, and weve been incredibly frank about the fact that this system is going to get better and better. And you can see that its started in a pretty good shape, but of course it has to get better and better. The link to the lockdown measures is important as because the better test and trace is, so, the more lockdown measures we can relieve safely. But im confident that the measures that weve announced for saturday, for the social measures, and on monday, for the retail measures, they are safe, they re pa rt for the retail measures, they are safe, theyre part of the plan, were working through our planned, were working through our planned, were sticking with that plan, and the plan is clearly working. Were coming out of lockdown carefully and safely, and i think youve seen this week that we are prepared to take decisions in a cautious way, in a careful way, to make sure that we do it in careful way, to make sure that we do itina careful way, to make sure that we do it in a way that is safe. And the good news is that the surveys show that the incidence of the disease continues to fall, and that gives us confidence that the plan is working and we are able to make these steps, steps that weve announced and confirmed, in a safe and way. One very quick follow up, if i may. 0ne of the key measures to how efficient te st of the key measures to how efficient test and trace may work is the speed it takes for someone who has symptoms to get tested and get a result, and for that result to get to the test and trace system. So far, the government has not made available the data which those of us outside of government needed to understand how fast that system is working. When will you make that Data Available so that we can actually figure out how efficient the system is . I will ask dido to ta ke the system is . I will ask dido to take that question. I and happy to pick that up. Today we have published the time it takes from the point of identifying a contact to that contact committing to self isolate. And you can see that 75 or more are doing that within 24 hours. Youre quite right that we havent yet published the turnaround time for testing, and therefore the whole end to end turnaround time. We working hand in hand with the Uk Statistics Authority to make sure that what we produce is a verified data. I know its tempting to believe that it should be really, really easy just to give you believe that it should be really, really easyjust to give you all that data and itjust to be insta ntly that data and itjust to be instantly right. But in order to join up the point at which you order a test, all the way through to mapping your contacts, weve got literally hundreds of different laboratories across the country, and several hundred different points of testing, and the data needs to be good enough for us all to draw meaningful conclusions from it. So, our commitment is that we will publish that data as soon as the Uk Statistics Authority are confident that we can draw sensible conclusions from it. We aim to do that as quickly as possible, over the next few weeks, if at all possible, both nationally and ultimately at a local level as well. Next question is from andy bell from channel 5. Next question is from andy bell from channel5. Thank next question is from andy bell from channel 5. Thank you. Next question is from andy bell from channel5. Thank you. Its next question is from andy bell from channel 5. Thank you. Its clear that there are still thousands of people apparently not cooperating with the system, for whatever reason. Are you ruling out any kind of enforcement mechanism to try and make this work better . We are not ruling it out, andy, but we dont think we need it the moment. What weve got to do is keep seeing those numbers go up, the numbers of people in the system and the proportion that we get to because we think that is the best way forward. Can i just add that actually, the thing that i most add that actually, the thing that i m ost wa nt add that actually, the thing that i most want to encourages people to get a test. The proportion of people who are at risk of infection, that we can self isolate, is in the end dependent on people who are infectious getting a test. And so actually, we want to encourage eve ryo ne actually, we want to encourage everyone to feel safe and confident that they should get a test if they have symptoms, and making sure that we bring as many people as possible who have got coronavirus into the test and Trace Programme is actually the number one thing we need to improve over the coming weeks. And if you look at the other end, the fa ct if you look at the other end, the fact that 85 of people who are being called by nhs test and trace as co nta cts being called by nhs test and trace as contacts are agreeing to self isolate within 24 hours shows that the vast majority of the population is not onlyjust willing to comply, but really sees the importance of the service and are taking it really seriously. Weve had some wonderful reactions from people saying, thank you so much for calling me, iwas people saying, thank you so much for calling me, i was about to go to a family barbecue, but now im not because i dont want to infect my family, thank you. Go ahead, andy. Thank you. Just following up on that slightly, which is that those people who are then contacted and told to isolate, theyre not told to get a test, or they are not tested automatically, youve just said, secretary of state, that there is more capacity, would it not make sense to not only say, you have to isolate, but to make sure those people are also getting a test . Weve looked into exactly that, andy, and taken clinical advice on it, and the clinical advice is that because this virus can intubate sometimes for quite a long time, up to 14 days, if you got a test, it might give you a negative result, but you still are incubating the virus and come out with it later. So, the clinical advice is really clear, in that, even if somebody was tested in that period, they would still have to isolate for the full 14 days, because of the way that this virus into baits inside our bodies. So, that is unfortunately a matter of biology, that has led to taking that decision, it is not about testing capacity. Next question is from laura hughes of the financial times. You question is from laura hughes of the financialtimes. You have rolled out Antibody Testing for nhs workers. Cani Antibody Testing for nhs workers. Can i ask what youve discovered through those Antibody Tests . Are there people who are finding out that they actually had coronavirus but didnt experience any symptoms . And if there are people who are getting this virus and not experiencing symptoms, how does that hamperthe experiencing symptoms, how does that hamper the test and trace approach, because dearly people arent going to go and get a test or report themselves if they are not feeling any different . I will ask dido to come in with the details but the big picture answer is, yes, there are some people who dont have symptoms but do have the virus, and in fact, in the 0ns study, we find that around 70 to 80 of people who test positive dont have symptoms. So, thatis positive dont have symptoms. So, that is quite a significant finding, and one of the important things about this disease, in the same way that asymptomatically is one of the things that makes controlling this disease really hard, and is novel for any coronavirus, and its part of, one of the things, that makes it so difficult. But there is a solution to the problem that that raises, which is that the more people who do have symptoms, who we get into the nhs test and trace scheme, the more contacts we manage to isolate, so that whether they have symptoms or not, they are isolating for the period in which they would be infectious, and that brea ks they would be infectious, and that breaks the chain of transmission. And just to add the other thing we are doing, in the nhs and social care, we are now routinely testing staff to see if they have the virus, with the swab test as opposed to the Antibody Test you refer to. They are, we are looking to find people who have the virus but dont have any symptoms, and as the Prime Minister confirmed yesterday we are also now rolling that approach out to other high risk, high contact professions, like people who spend significant amount of time in enclosed space with a large number of people, so taxi drivers, security guards, and there, i think, of people, so taxi drivers, security guards, and there, ithink, we need to get better, at hunting out the virus, both as individuals, with getting the test if we have the symptoms, then nhs test and trace needs to get better at targeting our testing in communities and professions where there are likely to be more people who have the disease but are not showing symptoms. I hope that makes sense. Yeah, and is there an update when all members of the public are going to be able to get these Antibody Tests . To be able to get these Antibody Tests . Clearly plenty of people will wa nt to tests . Clearly plenty of people will want to know if theyve had it. Dido. Yes, i know one of the challenges, and we all want it to be true, that if we have antibodies we are then free to do things others are then free to do things others are not, but at the moment the science on antibodies, if we have an Antibody Test, what it tells you if you have antibodies. 0ver you have antibodies. Overtime, you have antibodies. Over time, you would expect that we will build up the evidence to demonstrate what proportion of our level of antibodies you need to actually have immunity, and for how long you would have immunity, but at the moment the science isnt there, so the moment the science isnt there, soi the moment the science isnt there, so i totally understand everybodys desire to know if that temperature they had back in february and march was in fact coronavirus, but it will only tell you whether you did or didnt have it. It will come in time, and the testing we are doing, Antibody Testing and health and care at the moment, it is enabling us to build up that Scientific Evidence base, to the point at which, then, we will start to see the real benefit for all of us. If you are called and you are asked to participate in one of these trials, like the one dido hasjust described, like having the link from having antibodies to whether you are then immune, if you are a member of then immune, if you are a member of the public, then, please, do take pa rt the public, then, please, do take part in those trials. So far we have had a very, very positive response to people being asked. They really are important because they increase our understanding of the virus, and therefore increase our understanding of what safely can be done to lift lockdown measures, get the country back on its feet, whilst also suppressing the virus. Thanks, laura. The next question is from the daily express. Thank you, secretary of state. If i can ask baroness harding, the people refusing to comply with self isolation, what sort of reasons have they given for not doing so . Are your contract racers tried to persuade then it is their civic duty, and should these people, frankly, feel ashamed they are not doing their bit to help fight this disease . Secretary of state, if i could stray onto the issue of racism that has been dominating the news this week, a number of labour mps have written to the home secretary to data expressed in dismay, talking about her own heritage and personal excuse of racism, and she wrong to speak out in this way . To explain, the 4807 contacts who have not confirmed they will self isolate, a significant proportion of them we havent reached yet and spoken to or been able to get a response from them, so i dont think we should lea p to them, so i dont think we should leap to the conclusion that all of them, all 15 of contacts, are actively choosing not to self isolate. Some simply wont have replied to the text message or the e mail, or we had the wrong e mail or text or number for them, e mail, or we had the wrong e mail or text or numberfor them, so i think we are overstating the number of people who are actively choosing to ignore the advice. And i think, in the end, all of us, it is incumbent on all of us to think carefully about what we are doing to protect our loved ones, our local community, and what is really encouraging is the vast majority of people are doing that, and i think we should focus on that and sort of hold the mirror up to ourselves on how we would behave when we get that phone call or text message, because our communities will be depending on us doing the right thing. On your question about priti patel, i think that of course priti patel was not wrong to talk of her personal experiences of racism, and i have seen experiences of racism, and i have seen this letter and i abhor this divisive identity politics that is being levelled at priti patel. Im incredibly proud to be part of the most diverse government in history, and im very proud to be part of that with priti, and rishi, and all the others, and we dont think there is such a thing as the wrong type of bame. We think people are equal. And thatis bame. We think people are equal. And that is what we need to see as a society. Everybody see in others as equal. And ijust hope the debates that are rightly taking place are debates that are all about how we can promote true equality of opportunity and see everybody for the individual that they are. Thanks. The final question is from john walkerfrom the thanks. The final question is from john walker from the birmingham thanks. The final question is from john walkerfrom the birmingham post and the newcastle chronicle. As i understand it the governments plan is to carefully reduce the lockdown nationally and to ask local councils to contain outbreaks in areas where there is a spike in cases. But councils i have spoken to said they are not in a position to do this. They were asked to create a control plan by june the they were asked to create a control plan byjune the 30th, and they dont have the legal powers to impose lockdowns locally. It seems the government is still looking at whether they need extra power. With shops opening on monday, it seems your easing the National Lockdown before the ability to impose local controls is in place, and i wondered if you could explain the thinking behind that. That is not quite the case, john, because we do have powers to do things locally if we need to take local action to control outbreaks. Those powers reside with me secretary of state and we have a system in place so that local leaders, if they have an outbreak locally, are able to raise concerns if they need more action than they have in their own powers locally. This link between the local and the national is absolutely critical to getting this right. Dido, i wonder whether you want to say more because you have been doing so much work on this . I willjust say that local authorities across the country and help protection teams are doing this now so help protection teams are doing this now so there are a whole host of people working really hard on the ground to support businesses and other organisations that have small outbreaks, and they are successfully containing them. What were doing is pa rt of containing them. What were doing is part of nhs test and trace is supporting those teams build scale, build resources and, as the secretary of state said, really codify and how they can escalate if they need help and how we make sure that everyone around the country has the resources they need. Thats why the resources they need. Thats why the government issued £300 million worth of additional funding to local authorities a couple of weeks ago, to enable them to build out those local plans. In fact, actually, i was on a call only yesterday, chaired by the mayor of london, with a whole group of stakeholders reviewing the london local containment plan, so actually i think this work is happening, rather like the rest of nhs test and trace it will improve over time, but the good thing is it is live and operating now. Does that satisfy you, john . It does. Can i quickly ask a small question . Secretary of state, will you publish the regional r figures you are using as they seem to be different to the ones the media have seen and we have been reporting so far . This point about the regional r is really, really important to get right. There are more than ten models that feed in to sage and to their analysis of what r is across the country and their analysis is r is below one in all regions. One of those models had r above one in a couple of regions, but you have to take all of the different science into account, you have to look at the direct reporting of what is going on through the ons surveys as well, which are not models, that is actually measuring, testing, bits on the ground testing people, to find out how many are positive boots on the ground. As i say, the incidence of disease, the number of cases, it is coming down, which is really good. The amount of disease that there is a newcastle and the north east is coming down, the amount of disease that there is in birmingham and the West Midlands is coming down, and thatis West Midlands is coming down, and that is testament to the people of this country who are following the rules in the very large part, and now we can confirm our doing their duty by nhs test and trace as well. Thanks very much, john. That ends todays daily coronavirus briefing. See you again soon. Studio matt hancock bringing that briefing to an end, as he said. And now lets have a recap of what we have heard in the last hour. The number of people who have died from covid 19 has risen by 151 in the past day, bringing the total number of deaths of people who have tested positive for covid 19 to 41,279. The Health Secretary matt hancock emphasised if anyone has symptoms it is their civic duty to get tested. Baroness harding, the head of the uks test and Trace Programme, went on to announce the testing figures for the first week between the 28th of may and the 3rd ofjune. She said 8117 people who tested positive were entered into the test and trace system. The tracing team reached 67 of those who tested positive and ask them to provide details of those they had been in contact with. Of those contacts that the team reached, 85 of them agreed to self isolate. Well, when questioned why there wasnt100 take up in agreeing to self isolate, baroness harding said the system can, needs to and will get better. Matt hancock also said the government hadnt ruled out enforcing people to take pa rt ruled out enforcing people to take part in the test and Trace Programme. Our Health Correspondent nick was listening to all of that and it is with me now. A lot of figures, nick. What struck you most of all . It is not surprising the test and trace system dominated that briefing, given we havejust received the figures for the first week of its operation. Some positive news in there, the server seems to be quite good at reaching out to the close contacts of people who have been infected, and many of those are agreeing to self isolate, but what is concerning is that one in three people who do test positive and are contacted people who do test positive and are co nta cted by people who do test positive and are contacted by the service are not really engaging with it. But i think what really matters is the numbers of new infections. After all, we are trying to suppress this virus, and the daily figures we get each day and we got at that press Conference Show that at the moment between 1000 to 1500 new coronavirus cases are being diagnosed each day, down from a peak of around 6000 some weeks ago. We are testing a lot more people so that is good news. The second source people so that is good news. The second source we people so that is good news. The second source we should look at is the office of National Statistics surveillance programme. The new figures for this week will be published tomorrow, but last week it showed there were one in 1000 people we re showed there were one in 1000 people were currently infected, that was down from the previous week from one in 400, so again it is improving, and restrictions started to be lifted a month ago. Some of this will just be filtering lifted a month ago. Some of this willjust be filtering through to these new infections we are hearing about, but at the moment that is encouraging news, but we will obviously be keeping a close eye on that and the test and trace system will play a crucial role in containing that. And what is the time lag on the ons figures . The ons data we have got is until the end of may, so we will get the figures for the start of june may, so we will get the figures for the start ofjune tomorrow. Obviously, when we talk about restrictions being eased, people having a bit more social contact, though obviously we are trying to keep our social distance, it will ta ke keep our social distance, it will take a keep our social distance, it will takea number of keep our social distance, it will take a number of weeks for those contacts take a number of weeks for those co nta cts to take a number of weeks for those contacts to filter through to new infections. But we should have started seeing a rise if there was early restrictions were going to have an impact. It is interesting that professor chris whitty emphasises in previous briefings that these are still modest steps being taken in terms of easing restrictions, but obviously we have to keep a very close eye on what our chief Political Correspondent vicki young is in westminster. Vicki, quite a lot of questions about how the test and try system is working . Yes, and i think overall, this is a matter of, its a good start, but there is one for improvement. Of course, there are some negatives, particularly the non answer on the rollout of the app, and given that borisjohnson talked about having a system which was well beaten, i dont think anyone at this point could say that thatis anyone at this point could say that that is the case. So that is clearly a problem for the government, there are obviously challenges which they havent been totally transparent about. It was due to be rolled out in the middle of may, so there is an issue there. That doesnt mean, of course, that you cant have something alongside it, that was a lwa ys something alongside it, that was always the idea, that they would work alongside each other, using human contact tracers, and that seems to be working relatively well. But again, the tone is very much that this can improve. But i think you also got a sense of some of the real challenges. The fact that the ons thinks that 70 to 80 of cases, people have no symptoms, is an obvious problem, because the test and trace system only works if people have symptoms and go and get a test. So, it does show i think some of the problems they are up against. I think it also shows, as they kept saying, social distancing is still incredibly, and probably the most important thing here, because its not the case that your contacts because its not the case that your co nta cts a re because its not the case that your contacts are everyone you have been ina room contacts are everyone you have been in a room with, its about being close, being within two metres, for 15 minutes or more. So, if youre social distancing even within an office environment, those people will not count as close contacts, so they themselves will not have to go into self isolation. So that message is still being pushed out very strongly. So, lots of detail about the test and trace, but as you say, not all the detail, and baroness harding wasnt able to say what the turnaround times are yet . Yes, the whole point again is that this has to be done quickly, if people do have coronavirus, the whole point is, they need to isolate extremely quickly so that it is not spread, and also that their contacts are contacted very quickly as well. So, i think this is the first week of data. People have been pushing for this information since it started, and of course, by putting out the information and having that transparency, it does mean that there is more pressure to improve it, and it means there is a greater understanding, and that is the other point. If you think back to the peak of this epidemic, what, two and half months ago, we all knew people who we re months ago, we all knew people who were either sick or isolating because they had some symptoms. The number of cases has fallen dramatically, so i think this really is about reminding people of what it was like back then, if you had a cough, if you had a fever, you must isolate immediately. Its almost getting people to think back to that time and remember what action you have to take, because thats going to be crucial to stopping any kind of second wave. There have been a few comments on social media during that briefing reminding us that the government talked about having a test and trace system that was world beating, and it was going to be world beating as it started at the beginning of that month. It does not quite feel like we are there, does it . No, it doesnt and a lot of people will feel that was an unnecessary thing to say, to be honest. If you look at some other countries, we know full well that countries, we know full well that countries like south korea have an incredible system, and partly that is because they have been exposed much more to coronaviruses over the yea rs. Much more to coronaviruses over the years. It is all up and running, they do it incredibly efficiently. So by saying that, i think it was obviously a pretty high bar, and something they are going to have to bejudged on. It was interesting, matt hancock talking about world class, which is maybe slightly different. I think without the app functioning properly, no one is going to say that this is a world beating system. Youve read his language very carefully, vicki, many thanks lets take another listen to Health Secretary, matt hancock, from todays briefing. He said todays figures on the test and trace system paint a positive picture of the scheme in operation so far, and added that ministers are confident it will be world class. Testing for the virus and tracing how it spreads is critical to containing it locally, so that we can ease the National Lockdown. And it is by isolating the virus that we can control it and we can stop it spreading through our communities. In this plan to lift lockdown, test and trace is our radar, if you like. It helps us identify where the virus is and trace how its spreading through the community. And you have your part to play. If you have symptoms, you Must Immediately self isolate and get a test. Its easy to get a test on nhs dot uk or by dialling 119. If you test positive, you must work with nhs test and trace to identify who youve been in close contact with, and if youre asked by nhs test and trace to isolate, you must do so, to break the chain of transmission and to stop the spread of the virus. I would even go so far as to say that participation with nhs test and trace is your civic duty. Please, do it to protect your loved ones, do it to protect your community, do it to protect the nation and do it to protect the nation and do it to protect the nation and do it to protect the nhs. Today, were able to publish some of the initial statistics about the first week of operation of nhs test and trace. Baroness harding will take us through these figures in a moment, but i just wanted through these figures in a moment, but ijust wanted to put them in a bit of context. They paint a positive picture. As we will see when we go through the figures, firstly, remember that they represent just the first seven days of this service, and yet it has already had a huge impact. The system is working well, and as weve both said from the start, we will keep improving it. It will keep getting better, and i think youll see from these figures why we are confident that it will be world class. And im also delighted to say that we still have spare capacity. And long may it remain so. This is a good thing. Its a sign of the teams success. And ijust want good thing. Its a sign of the teams success. And i just want to ta ke teams success. And i just want to take this moment before i hand over very formally, on behalf of us all, to thank dido and her team, to thank the army of contact tracers, thank you, to thank the nhs and Public Health england, who are playing such an important role, to thank the private companies without whom this would be impossible, including boots, amazon, serco and sita. And finally, i want to thank you for your participation. It is brilliant that the vast majority of people have done their civic duty, and as we work throughout plan and as we keep driving this virus down, let us maintain that spirit and fortitude that has helped us throughout and that, of course, includes not attending large gatherings, including demonstrations of more than six people. Now, i understand that people want to show their passion for a cause that they care deeply about. But this is a virus that thrives on social contact, regardless of what your cause may be. So, please, forthe regardless of what your cause may be. So, please, for the safety of your loved ones, stay or, control the virus and save lives. Stay alert. Some breaking news coming from our ireland correspondent emma vardy, who says that police in Northern Ireland say they have found the gun used to kill the journalistlb mckee who was shot last year. They say the weapon was recovered during searches at the weekend, along with a quantity of explosives in a lunch box which officers say was primed for an imminent attack. Just to remind you thatlb mckee was killed while standing beside a police car. A gunman from the dissident Republican Group known as the new are fired shots at officers. There is a statement from the detectives from the serious crime branch, who says that examinations of the gun recovered last weekend have now confirmed that this is indeed the gun that killed lyra mckee, and he is as clear today as he has ever been that the bringing of that gun onto the streets involved a number of seniorfigures in onto the streets involved a number of senior figures in the new ira. The duchess of cambridge is urging people to document their lockdown experiences through photography, as part of a project she has launched with the National Portrait gallery. Theres one week left for people to submit their pictures 100 of the best will feature in an online exhibition on the gallerys website. Our royal correspondent Daniela Relph has been taking a look at some of the entries so far. Not being able to touch those you love is shown here, in this entry. Commemorations being marked at a distance. There is still a week to submit your entries to the exhibition. Encouragement from the patron of the National Portrait gallery. It isnt too late to take pa rt gallery. It isnt too late to take part so please take a moment to ca ptu re part so please take a moment to capture what life is like for you, because together, i hope that we can build a lasting illustration ofjust how our country pulled together through the pandemic. I cant wait to share the final 100 images with you. The photos submitted so far reflect the hope, fear and mood of a nation. The final 100 portraits shortlisted will be a snapshot, a gallery, of the people of the uk in trying times. With many familiar scenes, this is simply called working from home. Daniela relph, bbc news. Now its time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. Hello, there. An ominous looking skyline earlier in the day in scarborough, the rain clouds gathering, and they gathered in the north and the east. We have got thunder clouds gathering elsewhere, and it is turning increasingly humid, and that is because we have got low pressure sat in the bay of biscay, and it will feed in that humid air. So, a risk of further thundery downpours throughout the rest of today. It will feel quite warm between them with some brightness, but we have got quite a lot of rain to come for the north and east