and, an raf flypast for captain tom moore's 100th birthday. a special thank you, for raising £30 million, for the nhs. i'm absolutely delighted with all the people like you who have come to wish me a very happy birthday. it really is absolutely awesome, the amount of people who have been so kind. hello and welcome to this bbc news special. in around half an hour, we'll be bringing you the government's daily news briefing on its coronavirus strategy, which will be led by the prime minister, borisjohnson. as well as providing the latest details of the government's plans, he'll warn that he won't gamble away the gains made by the sacrifices of the last few weeks by relaxing social—distancing measures too soon. this morning, he chaired his first session of cabinet since returning to work, as the government considers how the lockdown measures might be relaxed, without accelerating the infection rate. testing will be a crucial part of any strategy, but a senior minister has conceded the government is unlikely to meet its target of a 100,000 tests a day in england, by the end of today. here's our health correspondent, anna collinson. it's deadline day for testing. 100,000 daily virus tests by the end of april is what the government have promised. thousands of kits have been ordered online, while the army have been brought in to help with some drive—in sites. all of these measures will play a key role in exiting lockdown. as you start to ease, you want to know exactly where transmissions are likely to be happening, and of course it's likely to be happening when people are infected. how do you know people are infected? you test them. a senior minister has admitted the government may miss their 100,000 daily target, but hospital chiefs say that's a red herring and testing needs to be part of a wider strategy including contact tracing and regular checks of front line workers. what we need to know is what are we going to do in terms of the testing regime over the next six, eight, ten, 12 weeks, as we come out of lockdown and as we ensure that we protect patients and staff in hospitals, community mental health and ambulance trusts. prime minister boris johnson will now attempt to answer some of those questions. today's daily briefing will be his first since returning to work, and one focus will be the so—called r number, which reflects how infectious a virus is. at the height of the outbreak, the r number was around three. this means anyone affected could pass it on to three people. since then, restrictions have brought that number down to around 0.7. crucially, that's below one. however, there are fears that if you ease restrictions too much, the number could jump back up again. the need for caution is clearly something that we are bearing very much in mind here in the uk. the key for us, i think, is to avoid an awful second spike in this virus. wouldn't it be terrible, after all the huge efforts the british people have made, to find that we were laid low by a second spike just at the wrong moment for our economy and indeed for the wellbeing and the health of our nation? one way to save lives and ease the lockdown would be a cure, and an area of hope is the repurposing of current drugs. trials involving drugs used for hiv and malaria are currently being tested to see if they can stop the coronavirus replicating in the body. results aren't expected untiljune. then there's remdesivir, a drug originally developed to treat ebola. us officials say there's clear—cut evidence that it can help people recover from covid—19. but there's a warning that, even if it's successful, it can only go so far. the medicines being tested are unlikely to give much more than, say, a 20% improvement in the number of deaths from people in hospitals. now, of course, 20% is a big advance, but we mustn't think that this is a total palliative, that it deals with the problem. even once the government's testing hurdle is passed, levels will need to be ramped up further, particularly in hospitals and care homes. without a vaccine, some form of social distancing will be with us for the foreseeable future. anna collinson, bbc news. let's speak to our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson, who's here with me now. iam sure i am sure there will be lots of questions for mrjohnson and the chief medical officer about testing. it had been, so they hoped, around 100,000 a day by the end of today. the latest figures from yesterday suggestjust over 50,000? yes, we are only halfway there. whether they have pulled a rabbit out of the hat today, i think people would be pretty surprised if they get to the 100,000 they say will be tested by now, coming up to the end of april. if you look back even further than that, the prime minister had actually said he thought that very soon, that was about a month ago, there might be tests of 250,000 a day, he was hoping for. we are way off any kind of figure like that. there has been criticism that other countries like germany, one where the example is often given, they have been testing half a million people a day, a week for a number of weeks now and questions about why aren't we there? what is it we should be doing? the government has said there is more availability for tests but people are not taking them up. so there are questions about why people are not coming forward to ta ke people are not coming forward to take those tests. even if people we re take those tests. even if people were coming forward, we wouldn't be at the 100,000 mark at the moment. the problem for the prime minister, the cabinet and the scientific advisory group dealing with all this, in order to answer the calls of those who want an easing of the lockdown, testing has got to be ramped up much more significantly thanit ramped up much more significantly than it is now. one follows from the other. it is probably unlikely we are going to get any big announcement today or any any indication whether we will get a relaxing of the lockdown rules? that seems to be what the mood music, if you like, that there is unlikely to be any time in the very short future are real, real easing of this lockdown. the benefit of a lockdown, it isa lockdown. the benefit of a lockdown, it is a bit ofa lockdown. the benefit of a lockdown, it is a bit of a sledgehammer technique, if you like, is to really prevent the virus from being transmitted from family to family, from household to household but that has other consequences as well. it is extremely difficult for people to put up with that type of restriction. now, if testing was available and scientists were able to test and then trace where people had been, who they have been in contact with, they could shut down those much, much smaller communities and everybody else might be free to at least go about their business in at least go about their business in a slightly more normal way. whether we get back to life how are used to be anytime very, very soon, i think there is a big question over that. but some type of easing is expected at some point, but perhaps not quite yet. so testing, clearly of the conundrum as to whether or not a relaxation of the lockdown should ta ke relaxation of the lockdown should take place. also this r number, the reproduction rate. that is now below, if you canjust reproduction rate. that is now below, if you can just explain what it is and if you can explain it is 110w it is and if you can explain it is now below a certain number which means there is, i don't know, green shoots out there and a bit of light at the end of the tunnel? it means the lockdown is working. the r number is about how many people it has transmitted to. it was thought one person infected was affecting another three people. you can see thatis another three people. you can see that is why the rates of infection would rocket, one, three and then etc, etc. now it has come down to below one, it means there is a decline in the number of infections, so decline in the number of infections, so the lockdown is working but it is about where we go from here. it would be extremely hard, some would say impossible, to remain in the current position just going forward. so what happens next? are they able to ramp up testing? you know, we have this target of 100,000 which we are still only halfway there. we will see today what the figures bring, but if you are going to be testing in terms of being able to shut down the virus transmitting across a whole population, then 100,000 tests a day is nowhere near enoughin 100,000 tests a day is nowhere near enough in order to do that. we will get the latest hospital rates and tragically the death numbers as well, which will include care homes and the community? that is right, yesterday for the first time care homes in england and the wider community were included in those death rates. in scotland, wales and northern ireland the numbers of deaths had included those wider community figures already. but in england, those were missing. in fa ct, england, those were missing. in fact, there was some criticism because of the extent of the numbers of people who are believed to have died from the virus in care homes in particular. so getting those figures into the hospital death rate figures and having a total amount has been seen and having a total amount has been seen as and having a total amount has been seen as being extremely important. there were figures being released once a week by the office for national statistics which did show deaths in the community and in care homes and those figures seem to suggest a third of deaths have been in care homes. so it is a considerable proportion. but some of the tests for covid—19 come back negative when in fact they should be positive. it is not a dead cert on whether, you know, you will get the correct result. it is hard to know exactly how many people are actually losing their lives from this virus. 0k, sophie, for that. losing their lives from this virus. 0k, sophie, forthat. as losing their lives from this virus. 0k, sophie, for that. as the world economy begins to struggle with coronavirus, there are worries the budget deficit could reach levels not seen in peacetime. across europe, the story is similar, with france today entering a recession, after its economic output fell by nearly 6% — the worst quarterly growth figures since records began in 19119. spain and italy's economies are also suffering. joining me now from paris is world—renowned economist thomas piketty. hello, thank you forjoining us on bbc news. given the economic challenges that the globe is facing, can you single out any one country thatis can you single out any one country that is dealing with it in a better way than any of the others? well, i think we are all learning. i think we will need to reinvest more in our hospitals and i think we should use this opportunity to rethink our economic model and try to move towards a more sustainable model. at this stage, the priority is to do everything we can to limit the casualties and then with the public debt, we will have to return to history and to remember, you know, what we did in previous times of public debt and we will have to be imaginative. at this stage, we need to invest more in hospitals, we need to invest more in hospitals, we need to improve wages, of unskilled workers and low wage and middle wage workers, which we now see are so useful. a bit of monetary policy was used after the financial crisis to save the banking sector and a lot of money was printed. the european central bank increased by 30% of its own gdp. so huge money creation. the public today would not understand if we didn't save the economy by investing and improving the wages of workers. if we had a little bit more inflation at the end, with this kind of large public debt. if i can just come in there, is a starting point for a reordering of the global economy that central banks forgive all the debt that global economies are now having to dip into in order to keep their countries afloat? that central banks should just wipe it out? in effect, this is already what they are doing a little bit. in britain, central banks have been taking from their balance sheets the growing debt of the government, keeping interest rates extremely low. the question, are we going to be able to put the same energy to reinvest in our health care system, but also to reinvest in the environment? we need to take this opportunity to rethink the economic model in general. in answer to your question, yes, central banks will have to demonstrate to the people they are able to take into account social needs as much as they have taken into social needs as much as they have ta ken into account social needs as much as they have taken into account the need to rescue the banking sector ten years ago. 0therwise, rescue the banking sector ten years ago. otherwise, i rescue the banking sector ten years ago. 0therwise, ithink rescue the banking sector ten years ago. otherwise, i think the public opinion will not follow public authorities and financial authorities and financial authorities and financial authorities and this. yes, i think thatis authorities and this. yes, i think that is part of the solution. now, that is part of the solution. now, that will not be enough because we cannot solve everything just with the central bank, we also need to move towards a more equitable tax system. including wealth tax on billionaires which has proven to be very popular in the us, even the republican electorate was in favour and is still in favour of the billionaire tax proposed by bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. i thinkjoe biden in the us, but also politicians in europe. they should ta ke politicians in europe. they should take this into account. indeed, ifi can interrupt, use a global leaders need energy and imagination, but they also need memory, they need to rememberjust how they also need memory, they need to remember just how awful the situation is at the moment. we saw what happened in 2008, with told the economy would collapse globally and huge fiscal measures were taken in order to keep the financial system afloat. —— we were told. we are now, what, 12, 1a years on from that? we are in another crisis. do you think the lessons of 2008 have actually been lent? well, that is what authorities have to demonstrate. they will have to show to the public opinion and to the people they are ready to make the same effort, to invest in social services, invest in a new economic model, than the effort they were able to make to save the banking sector, which was a good decision to make. at least we learnt the lesson from the 1930s when central banks actually decided to let financial institutions go bankrupt one after the other which led the will to a major catastrophe. in 2008, we had a different risky strategy and this is good. —— let the world to a major catastrophe. there are another —— there are other economic and social factors to save rather than the banks, the people are facing a pandemic. there is the need to reinvest in our social services. we can see in france and i am sure in britain, we are very proud of our hospitals and universal healthcare system, then we realise we don't have masks, we don't have the necessary medical supplies. we have an issue with hospital beds today for urgent situations compared today for urgent situations compared to ten years ago and people realise, why don't we put the proper resources for that? that is going to bea resources for that? that is going to be a big challenge. this means that political leaders will also need to challenge their view, think of trump or macron, they have spent a lot of money making tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers. are they ready to question this policy? i think they will have to be, to be ready for that. in the short run, that and money creation is a big part of the solution. but in the medium run, it is also the tax system that we need to fix. both in terms of the progressive taxation of individuals, high earning individuals, but we also need to think of a new carbon tax system which will be more like a very progressive carbon tax system which will allow us to in effect put large sanctions and carbon emissions, to protect at the same time the people who are just taking their car to go to work or whatever, much lower levels of carbon emissions. and this was one thing also we have learnt in france from this crisis, that if you tax everybody the same, and low carbon emission to medium to high carbon emission to medium to high carbon emission and then use the tax revenue to cut the tax of the wealthiest group in the population, you go into a major misunderstanding and people get mad. so all our problem, whether we are talking about reinvesting the big services, the health system, our social problems, we need a change in our current system. all right, thomas piketty, it is good to talk to you from thank you. thank you, thank you. —— to talk to you from paris, thank you. british airways has said it may not restart its services at gatwick airport once travel restrictions are eased, in a memo seen by the bbc. in a letter sent to airport staff, the airline said up to a quarter of its pilots could lose theirjobs because of the pandemic. a separate letter, sent to pilots, said the few services still running from london heathrow could be suspended due to a collapse in customer demand. let's get more from our transport correspondent, tom burridge, who's at heathrow airport now. the problem for british airways is that heathrow is its hub, what is it, about a fifth of its planes fly out of gatwick? it is surplus to requirements at this particular moment. well, people are raising questions about gatwick airport tonight. it is a bitter blow for them and even the suggestion ba could walk away from the second largest airport in britain. but it raises questions also about heathrow, where we are now. most to be a's business at gatwick is tourism travel, flights to places like the caribbean, florida, european cities. analysts believe tourism travel probably will recover more quickly after the pandemic and business flights, the bulk of ba's business flights, the bulk of ba's business at heathrow. so if it suggests it might walk away from gatwick altogether, it suggests it believes its hub at heathrow will ta ke believes its hub at heathrow will take such a significant hit that the best thing is to effectively consolidate into two large centres outside london, notjust one. the problem, of course, for all the airlines, air traffic has fallen off airlines, air traffic has fallen off a cliff with more than 90% reductions. airlines are haemorrhaging money and it was suggested not long ago that in terms of commercial passenger numbers, ba is ferrying about 1% of its usual levels so it has got all its planes parked up at airports like heathrow, that because a huge amount of money, they have to be maintained. they have furloughed staff. in normal times and we are anywhere from that at the moment, if it announced a largejob losses, ba at the moment, if it announced a large job losses, ba would invoke a really angry response from the unions. but i think the amount of vitriol we have got from union leaders over the last couple of days is something we have rarely seen. they are absolutely fuming mad at the idea that british airways has gone ahead with such drastic steps at the height of the pandemic, after entering into an agreement with the unions to fellow so many stuff. ba says it has to do it not only to get through this pandemic, but also to survive in the longer term because it believes, and many people i speak to agree with it, they don't think that passenger numbers across the aviation sector will return to pre—pandemic levels for at least several years. so ba is taking these steps, but as one cabin crew texted mejust now, he said, he has worked for the airline for a very long time and he said he felt like he has been stabbed in the back. 0k, time, thank you, from heathrow. doctors and nurses are under extraordinary strain, as they treat patients with covid—19. some say they're unable to put the thoughts of the virus out of their mind when they go home. lorna gordon has been to a hospital in ayrshire, to find out how staff are dealing with the stress. welcome to our staff wellbeing suite. in a quiet corner of a busy hospital, a place of respite away from the heat, the noise, the stress. again, this is our kind of quiet corridor, where people can come and rest. a little over a month ago, this was an outpatient clinic, but as the numbers becoming sick increased, so too did the realisation that it wasn'tjust the patients who needed help. this emergency medicine consultant saw anxiety among colleagues mounting. we said, we will have to do something to support our staff because we, you know, this is a fairly new experience for all of us that we're all anxious about. we don't know the answers to it all, and we really need to support each other going through this. crosshouse has more than doubled its intensive—ca re capacity. covid and the new procedures for those being treated has led to new pressures on those treating the sick. this respiratory consultant is one of a network of clinicians in here providing peer—to—peer support. many of them facing the same challenges as those colleagues they are helping. unfortunately, we see people and patients who are very unwell, some of them are dying. and normally, we would spend quite some time to sit down with the person and the family and their nearest loved ones. in the current situation, that is not possible, so it feels like a huge disconnect at a very human, basic level. and i, as a clinician, struggle with that. medics, he says, were not emotionally or mentally prepared for what has happened. i can't leave it behind completely. you have flashbacks at the end of the day. you dream about it at night. you wake up in the morning and start thinking about it. you can't escape it entirely. it's so intense, and so present all the time. so, this has become an area where staff can go to to get a break from that intensity, to get support. open to everyone working at the hospital, it is a place for rest and reflection and, if needed, help. in icu, we're very busyjust now, so coming along here, we're just getting five, ten minutes' quiet time. nice to get out the unit because it's quite intense. also on offer is what is called here "psychological first aid". a light touch now but, if needed, the chance to explore in more depth with mental health professionals the extraordinary challenges staff on the front line are facing. as we move through this pandemic, will some people potentially feel more mentally scarred by some of their experiences? that's possible, but what we're hoping is the wellbeing suite will give people the opportunity to try and diffuse some of that in the earlier stages, that may go on and prevent further psychological problems in the future. a hospital notjust treating the sick, but caring for those who care for us in these unprecedented times. lorna gordon, bbc news, at crosshouse hospital in east ayrshire. the nspcc says calls concerning suspected child abuse have risen by nearly a fifth during the lockdown. the charity fears neglect and mistreatment are less likely to be spotted at the moment, because schools and social spaces are closed. tomos morgan reports. i'm worried about the children now, that they'll be at home all day due to the coronavirus pandemic. last night, i could hear the mother screaming and shouting aggressively. this has been happening almost daily since the lockdown. these are just some examples of the types of calls the nspcc‘s helpline has been receiving in recent weeks. for some children, their situation may have gotten worse, as they have been forced to remain at home. i think the emotional side of it was a lot worse than the physical side, and it went on for quite a few years. bethann, which isn't her real name, is from north wales. since she was six years old, she says she suffered abuse from her father. i mean, it could be anywhere from a slap to a push down the stairs. he wouldn't think twice about holding a knife up to you. when it's happening sort of on a daily basis, you're just accustomed to it. it's just normal. as the lockdown continues, bethan fears for any child that may be in a similar situation as she was. to be stuck inside at, you know, a point like this, it's got to be terrifying. and itjust gives me chills to even think about being back in that position. new figures from the nspcc‘s childline, seen exclusively by the bbc, show that there's been almost a 20% rise since the lockdown of adults calling with concerns that children may be subject to neglect, physical abuse or emotional abuse. the longer lockdown goes on, the more intense and at risk children are, if they are invisible to the outside world. at the front line, safeguarding children, are social workers. but unions say that staff sickness, patchy provisions of ppe across england, scotland and wales and social—distancing measures are all having an impact on the way the profession is able to function. social workers should not be missing out on face—to—face contact visits because of a lack of ppe. the three devolved governments in westminster, scotland and cardiff bay say they're working hard to make ppe available for all front—line staff in social services. every other person thinks their home is a safe environment, and that's what a home should be. and bethan hopes that any child in a vulnerable situation at this time can get the support they need. tomos morgan, bbc news. we expect the downing street briefing on the government's coronavirus strategy led by boris johnson. 0ur chief political correspondent vicki young is in westminster. what are we likely to get from the prime minister today? well, it is the first time he has led one of these press conferences for over five weeks and suffering from coronavirus. lots of people very keen to hear what the government's planas for easing some of those lockdown measures. what we are much likely to get today is what they are going to do, the thinking behind how they will make these decisions. borisjohnson behind how they will make these decisions. boris johnson has behind how they will make these decisions. borisjohnson has talked about wanting to be transparent with people, he has talked about the difficult decisions ahead, and i think what they will explain today is what they are going to look at, the data, and what that needs to show before they can start to think about easing some of these measures. i think we will hear a lot more about that r number, we have heard that explained by fergus walsh our science correspondent earlier, it is about how this virus transmits around the community and why it has to be kept, that level has to be kept below one. 0therwise, to be kept, that level has to be kept below one. otherwise, it starts to snowball really and spread very, very quickly. so he will talk about the hurdles that still need to be passed before they can start thinking about easing some of these measures. meanwhile, there has been an update on the brexit situation? yes, that isa on the brexit situation? yes, that is a word we have not talked about for some time. 0fficials involved in this say they are still making progress with all of this and of course, i think the big question people have been talking about is the government insisting it doesn't wa nt to the government insisting it doesn't want to extend that deadline at the end of the year. they don't want to extend the transition whereby everything pretty much stays the same. a lot of people are saying with the coronavirus having the huge impact it has been having across europe, but that is going to be a huge issue. and actually, that should be delayed. and that is something the government at the moment simply won't countenance. the chief medical adviser and the scientific adviser are going to be by boris johnson's scientific adviser are going to be by borisjohnson's side at the briefing, we think and this 100,000 testing a day given by matt hancock, we won't know until tomorrow the figures for that but the latest suggestion from yesterday is they are suggestion from yesterday is they a re halfway suggestion from yesterday is they are halfway to that target. we will flush out a little bit more on that at the briefing? yes, this was a very ambitious target by matt hancock at a time when capacity wasn't expanding and there were obviously problems are getting more widespread testing. now that has improved and behind—the—scenes they are pleased it has improved a lot. they have extended the eligibility for those who qualify for a test. let's have a listen. let's have a listen. let's go straight to downing street and the prime minister is about to address the briefing. good afternoon. welcome to this number ten address and i am joined by sir patrick balance and chris whitty. | by sir patrick balance and chris whitty. i am sorry not to be part of this trio for so long and i want to thank everybody who has been doing such a good job in my absence. and i wa nt to such a good job in my absence. and i want to thank the nhs for so much, including getting me back here and, imight add, including getting me back here and, i might add, for a very much happier hospital visit yesterday. in a few minutes i will hand over to patrick to update you on the epidemic, but first i am going to set out today's latest data. 901,905 tests for coronavirus have now been carried out in the uk. including 81,611 tests yesterday. 171,253 people have tested positive, that is an increase of 6032 cases since yesterday. 15,043 of 6032 cases since yesterday. 15,0113 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus compared to 15,359 people yesterday. and sadly, of those tested positive for coronavirus across all settings, 26,711 have now died. that is an increase of 674 fatalities since yesterday across all settings. this figure, of course, includes deaths not just figure, of course, includes deaths notjust in hospitals. across this country therefore, families every day are continuing to lose loved ones before their time. we grieve for them and with them. but as we grieve, we are strengthened in our resolve to defeat this virus, to get this whole country back to health and back on its feet and we are determined urgently, and in particular, to overcome those challenges that in the last few weeks have been so naughty and infuriating. i am weeks have been so naughty and infuriating. iam not weeks have been so naughty and infuriating. i am not going to minimise the logistical problems we are faced in getting the right protective gear to the right people, at the right time both in the nhs and in care homes. 0r at the right time both in the nhs and in care homes. or the frustrations we have experienced in expanding the numbers of tests. but what i can tell you is that everyone responsible for tackling these problems, whether in government or the nhs, public health england, local authorities, we are throwing everything at it, heart and soul, night and day to get it right. we will get it right and we are making huge progress. i will not underrate the work and achievements of those who are dealing with global shortages in a global pandemic. they are rising to a challenge we have never seen are rising to a challenge we have never seen in are rising to a challenge we have never seen in our are rising to a challenge we have never seen in our lifetimes. and the same can be said of the entire people of this country, staying in enforced confinement, not seeing family, not seeing friends or grandchildren, worrying about their jobs and the future. so my message to everyone again today is, your effort and your sacrifice is working and has been proved to work. today, the number of covert hospital admissions is falling, the number of patients in intensive care is falling. we have so far succeeded in the first and most important task we set ourselves as the first and most important task we set ourselves 3s a the first and most important task we set ourselves as a nation, to avoid the tragedy that engulfed other parts of the world. because at no stage has our nhs been overwhelmed. no patient went without a ventilator, no patient was deprived of intensive care. we have five of the seven projected nightingale wards and it is thanks to that massive collective effort to shield the nhs that we avoided an uncontrollable and catastrophic epidemic where the reasonable worst case scenario epidemic where the reasonable worst case scenario was epidemic where the reasonable worst case scenario was 500,000 deaths. and so i can confirm today that for the first time we are past the peak of this disease. we are past the peak and we are on the downward slope. we have so many reasons to be hopeful for the long term. the slope. we have so many reasons to be hopefulfor the long term. the uk is leading international efforts to find a vaccine. today, 0xford university has announced a partnership with astrazeneca to develop, what they believe, could be a means of inoculating ourselves against this disease. but until this day comes, and i am afraid we cannot say exactly when it may be, we are going to have to beat this disease by our growing resolve and ingenuity. so i will be setting out a comprehensive plan next week to explain how we can get our economy moving, how we can get our children back to school, back into childcare, second. and the third, how we can travel to work and how we can make life in the workplace safer. and in short, how we can continue to suppress the disease and at the same time we the economy. a huge amount of work has been going on on that plan and of course, as we produce it we are being guided by the science and we will try to build the maximum political consensus as we produce it across all parties and across the uk. but there will be five key tests that we must satisfy before we can put that plan into action. we must be sure that we can continue to protect the nhs and its ability to cope. number two, we must see a sustained fall in deaths. three, we must be sure that the infection rate is falling. number four, must be sure that the infection rate is falling. numberfour, we have got to ove rco m e is falling. numberfour, we have got to overcome the operational and logistical challenges on testing and ppe. fifth, and this is the most important, we must all make sure that the measures we take do not risk a second spike that would overwhelm the nhs. we have come through the peak, or rather we have come under what could have been a vast peak, as though we have been going through some huge alpine tunnel and we can now see the sunlight and the pasture ahead of us. sunlight and the pasture ahead of us. and so it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain. and so to avoid that disaster, are fifth and final test is that nothing, as i say, we do should lift the r other reproduction rate of that disease back above one. and before i hand over to patrick, i am going to ask for a short explanatory clip about the one and before we come to that clip, let me emphasise, keeping the r down is going to be absolutely vital for a recovery, keeping the reproduction rate of the disease down. we can only do it by our collective discipline and working together. i know we can do it, because we did it and we have shown we can do it in phase one of this disease. this country came together in a way a few of us have seen in our lifetimes to protect the nhs and to save lives. that is why i am absolutely convinced we can do it in phase two as well. can we play the video now? the government has set out five tests that must be met before we begin to adjust social distancing measures. 0ne begin to adjust social distancing measures. one of the most important tests is the rate of infection. we have to make sure this is decreasing. good, i hope that it was clear and useful. patrick, any update please. can i have the first slide please? as the prime minister has said the government has five tests laid down for adjusting the lockdown. i will go through some of the epidemic and show you where we are. the r is below one, we think it is between 0.6 and 0.9 across the nation. maybe a little lower in some places, a little higher in others but it is below one across the country. this shows the number of new cases, but asi shows the number of new cases, but as i have said before, this only shows in the blue, the cases in hospital and in orange, the cases that have been tested outside, so it is not the total number. we know the total number of cases is on the way down and you can see in the blue bars, the number in hospital is coming down and the orange bars represent others who have been tested, including essential workers. but the number of infections will be coming down. next slide please. this turns into a reduction in hospital admissions for covid and this is the nhs data so it is england's only data. but what you can see is in the blue, in patients newly diagnosed with covid and in the orange, new patients confirmed with covid at the time of admission. you can see very clearly from the 20th of march there was a rise of up to a peak, somewhere at the beginning of april and now it has come down. the number of cases is coming down, hospital admissions are coming down. next slide please. that translates into the number of people in hospital with covid and this shows the data across the nations and in different regions, you can see very clearly the decrease in the number of people in hospital in london. you can see a slightly flatter situation in some other places. we need to make sure and to stick with what we are doing in order to get the r down further, to continue to keep it down and to make sure the number of people in hospital comes down right the way across the nation. that, in turn, leads to the question of how do you get the critical care beds down? again, when you look across england, northern ireland, wales and scotland, the number of patients in critical care and those on ventilators is coming down right the way across, it is coming down slowly, as you would expect, but it is on its way down. next line, please. and that in turn starts to lead to the decrease in deaths. and here, you can see the number of deaths in all settings, this is not just hospitals but across all settings, and you can see it is gradually beginning to come down. it is not coming down as fast as it went up and i said before i expect there to be a bit of a plateau stage before things really come down further. but you can see it is on its way down. final side, please. and again, this is the comparison, it is difficult to look at exactly what this means because people recall things differently, but the message is, r is down. the number of new cases is down. that is turning into fewer admissions, fewer people in hospital, fewer people in intensive care and we are beginning to see that decrease in deaths. thank you. thanks very much, patrick, we will go first to members of the public you have questions. i would like to hear from michelle, you have questions. i would like to hearfrom michelle, in cornwall. you have questions. i would like to hear from michelle, in cornwall. we are getting inquiries daily to book holidays from june onwards, we are worried there will be an influx of people going away from the cities and two tourist hotspots which could bring a second wave to areas such as cornwall. please could we ask how tourism in the uk will be managed in the coming weeks? well, thanks, michelle and first, i wa nt to well, thanks, michelle and first, i want to say i sympathise very much with everybody in the tourism industry who has taken such a hit. it has been one of ourjob is to make sure that we look after businesses as far as we possibly can, through our loans and support schemes, following schemes for workers. —— furloughing schemes. you will come back, michelle, we will make sure the uk bounces back strongly as it possibly can, but we have to be sensible and the public have to be sensible and the public have been sensible in staying away as far as they have and obeying the advice. it is vital, as i say, that that does not free and we don't see people starting to disregard what we are saying. —— it does not fray. a lot more will be said next week and in the coming weeks about how and when we propose to unlock the various parts of the uk economy. what you are going to get next week is really a road map, a menu of options. the dates and times of each individual measure will be very much driven by where we are in the epidemic and watch the data is really saying. and we are getting in a lot more data every day now and in the course of the next few days. so, michelle, the short answer is you are dead right, we have got to get your business going again, we have to get tourism going again, but we can't allow such a big influx of tourists is to create a second spike, a second wave of the disease. chris patrick, is there anything you wa nt to chris patrick, is there anything you want to add to that? 0k. chris patrick, is there anything you want to add to that? ok. i hope that is ok, michelle, thank you very much for your question. katy, from liverpool. she asks, the lockdown has seen an increase in suicide. what help is available for people experiencing a mental health crisis? clearly, this is a major issue that we have been thinking about stop people can find at home can become to existing mental health conditions. that is why it is very important to understand taking pressure off the nhs in the way that we have means that we can now, as matt hancock said a pink on monday, we can now make sure the nhs is once again prioritising other urgent care needs across the community —— said i think on monday. including people's mental health needs. and public health england is doing a huge campaign to reach out to people who have mental health needs, who are feeling in need of comfort, in what isa feeling in need of comfort, in what is a very difficult time. if you are experiencing it yourself at home, then there are lines you can call, go on our website to see what you need. we are putting money now into mental healthcare charities across the country to support what we ee, the country to support what we agree, i agree very strongly with katy, it is an issue that needs to be addressed. and it goes to show why it is all the more urgent for us now to begin to come out of lockdown and to continue to suppress the disease. happy with that and succumb a more or less? absolutely, i would add to that if you go on to the nhs website, there are contact details both for nhs things which are available for people who have mental health issues or who are feeling lonely or indeed in this case suicidal. there are also many remarkable voluntary organisations, well known ones like the samaritans and others as well and i would strongly encourage anybody who is feeling they are going into a mental health crisis of feeling suicidal or very low mood, please do look up those numbers and go to one that is releva nt to those numbers and go to one that is relevant to your particular needs and call someone. because there are and call someone. because there are a lot of people out there he would be very keen to help you. that is absolutely right and that goes for anybody who is stressed out by the current situation, whether the atmosphere at home has gone wrong, people who feel at risk of domestic abuse in particular. there are helplines for you, it is absolutely vital that people should use them. and as i say, one of the reasons why we don't want, there are good, practical health reasons why we don't want to protract this lockdown any longer than it needs to be protracted. 0k. let's go to the media. laura kuenssberg, from the bbc. thank you very much, prime minister. there has been such a cute suffering, there have been 26,000 deaths since you last studied at that lectern. there has been huge suffering to people's health and also to the country's wealth, many people are very worried about making ends meet. by continuing with lockdown, are you telling the public that the economyjust has to wait? and if i could ask leading or professor whitty, you said the r is between 0.6 and 0.9, at what level does the r need to be out before you are comfortable with starting to ease restrictions? thanks very much, laura and what you say is totally right, and we mourn for every life lost. and we mourn for the economic damage as well that the country is sustaining. for people's, the dreams of people's that they are seeing shattered in their businesses and their anxieties about their jobs. shattered in their businesses and their anxieties about theirjobs. we totally understand that. the government has made a huge effort, as you know, to look after workers, to protect them with our furloughing scheme. colossal sums in loans are going out of the door, we are doing everything we can. i really pay tribute to rishi sunak, the chancellor, for the speed with which he has come forward with the schemes that he has. i do think that the uk has done very well by comparison with a lot of places around the world. but it is absolutely vital, laura, that if we are to bounce back strongly as i think we can, but we don't have a second bout of this, a second bad spike. because that would really do the economic damage. and thatis really do the economic damage. and that is why we have got a lasting, and lasting economic damage, and thatis and lasting economic damage, and that is why we have to calibrate our measure so that is why we have to calibrate our measure so carefully and make sure that we not only unlock the economy gradually, but also find ways of continuing to suppress the disease. and possibly new ways, more ingenious ways of suppressing the disease as well. that is what we are working on now and you will see a lot more of that, i hope, next week. chris. ben patrick. so, there is not a perfect answer to what should the r be? but we are absolutely confident the wrong answer is anything over one. as soon as r goes above one, you restart exponential growth, it may be slow if it is just above one and maybe faster if it goes a lot above one, but exponential growth restart and sooner or later and the higher it is, the sooner it is, the nhs goes back to the risk of being overwhelmed and the number of cases will go up. it is also important from a health point of view to emphasise one other thing, which is, i have talked before about the fact you have the direct deaths from coronavirus, but also indirect deaths, part of which is caused by the nhs and public health services not being able to do what they normally can to look after people with other conditions. and it is therefore important, at whatever point we are at, but the nhs not only has the r below one, at or below one, at all times, preferably significantly below in an ideal world, but certainly below, but also that it has headroom which allows it to operate not just that it has headroom which allows it to operate notjust in doing the emergency things which it has managed to maintain throughout the entire coronavirus first phase, but also to do the other important things like urgent cancer care, elective surgery and all the other things like screening and public health preventative terms which we need to do to keep people healthy. so, those two things, from my perspective as someone who is responsible for talking about health and thinking about health as the chief medical officer, absolutely, those two, to me, seem critical.|j completely agree with that and i'd been it is worth thinking at the beginning of this, we talked about the doubling time of the epidemic. we are now talking because the r is below one of the halving time of the epidemic and we want to keep it going down so it has to be below one. then we need to get the numbers down to a level which is manageable and gives us some headroom in order to be able to make changes. thanks very much, laura, robert preston in itv. that afternoon, gentlemen and it is good to have you back, prime minister. —— good afternoon. you may bea minister. —— good afternoon. you may be a pod touch plate we have avoided the reasonable worst—case of 500 thousand deaths, but the death toll in the uk is possibly amongst the worst in europe. as we head into the second phase, what lessons have you learned from that seemingly worrying outcome? and secondly, because of the unprecedented help you are giving to struggling individuals and businesses, the national debt is rising by hundreds of millions of pounds, a record amount in peacetime. prime minister, how great a risk is there that when we are through this question —— crisis, you will feel compelled to cut public services and move us back into a new era of austerity? first, robert, on the uk's international comparisons. it is very, very important that people should understand that the collating of data internationally is bedevilled with difficulties and comparisons are very, very difficult. and actually, i think that the only real test, only real comparator, comparison, is going to be possible at the end of the epidemic when you look a total excess death. and i will ask chris or patrick to say a bit about that. soi or patrick to say a bit about that. so i genuinely think when i look back at what the uk has done, i think that... and by the way, when we put in the lockdown, it was earlier in the curve of our epidemic and it was relatively —— than it was relatively speaking in france, italy and spain and i think we did the right measures at the right time. and don't forget that people are talking about the difficulties of lockdown and some very good questions about mental health, suicides. it is a very, very demanding think as a population to do, very tough. so i think it was com pletely do, very tough. so i think it was completely right to make our period of lockdown coincide as far as we possibly could with the peak of the epidemic. that peak, as i said just now, has passed. i do think that broadly speaking, and we are learning lessons every day, we are learning lessons every day, we are learning lessons every day, we are learning lessons every day, but i do think that broadly speaking, we did the right thing, at the right time. and since you make international comparisons, let me remind you that at the time we had to take those very difficult decisions, we were looking at a situation in which it seemed all too plausible that people would not get ventilated beds in the way that was happening in other countries. and it seemed really possible that people would not have access to intensive care, as we were seen access to intensive care, as we were seen happening tragically in some other places around the world. and together, this country really did come together to protect the nhs, to enforce, to obey the social distancing rules and to save lives. so overall, i am not going to pretend that we are not learning lessons every day, of course we are learning lessons every day, but those are the conclusions that i draw. and on the international data, wait and see until the end of the epidemic. you know what my instincts are, robert, i think the economy will bounce back strongly and i think this government will want to encourage that bounce back in all kinds of ways. but i have never particularly liked the term that you have just used to describe government economic policy and it is certainly not part of our approach. posterity, by the way was the term you just used for viewers. —— austerity. i come from a profession like patrick, we must learn lessons at the right point. but what you don't do is do that in the middle of something. we are nowhere near the end of this epidemic. we are through the first phase of this, there is a very long way to run for every country in the world on this. and i think, let's not go charging in to who has won and who has lost at this point. let's try and take it quite carefully, learning lessons from one another as we go along. but if you wa nt to another as we go along. but if you want to see how this is actually to do technically, there is an excellent article into the guardian which is actually laying out why comparing covid deaths as you see on the grass is very, very difficult to do and to be done with extreme caution. i will say again, the metric we should be using when we get to the point this is the right thing to do, which is definitely not yet, it's because more mortality adjusted for age. that is the key metric, we have discussed it among a lot of the scientists and everybody agrees it is the key metric. the reason for that is that every country measures its covid cases in a slightly different way so to compare it with one another is a fruitless exercise. but there are technical things all the time we from other countries and to be clear, other countries can learn from us. for example, the ability to get people into trials at the moment is something where the uk is taking a leading role. lessons go in every direction, but let's do the post—action review, which we absolutely must at the right and we are definitely not at that stage yet, sadly. absolutely nothing to add. thank you, robert. dan wooton, talk radio. experts believe there is a ticking cancer time bomb as a result of this crisis. a group of leading oncologists predict that 60,000 extra cancer patients could die asa 60,000 extra cancer patients could die as a result of a lack of treatment and a lack of diagnosis. professor whitty, have you done any similar modelling and if so, can you give us an idea of what those numbers look like? prime minister, as we move into the second phase of the lockdown, can you guarantee that anyone who needs life—saving cancer treatment will be able to get it? chris. we looked across the board, throughout this what i have said there are four ways in which people will suffer ill health and die as a result of this epidemic. directly from covid, which we have been talking about. indirectly because the nhs is overwhelmed, which as the prime minister said is one of the things we have managed to avoid so far. but the third group is all the things which, under in normal circumstances preventative health would be doing, but it is not able to because efforts for the nhs and public health have had to be reoriented. and finally, the impacts of increasing deprivation. the third group, it is notjust cancer. we are very concerned, for example there has been a fall away in people coming to accident and emergency departments with things like strokes and heart attacks. they must be going on and one of the worries we haveis going on and one of the worries we have is people are thinking, i cannot go to the nhs because it cannot go to the nhs because it cannot deal with these emergencies. it definitely can. but you are correct, what we are determined to do is to make sure that much of normal nonemergency services for the nhs and public health are switched on in nhs and public health are switched onina nhs and public health are switched on in a responsible way where we can do it ina on in a responsible way where we can do it in a phased way, to ensure that the period where actually there has been a delay is minimised and prioritise the things that are most urgent first and then other things which are as important but less urgent, we do slightly late in the system. the concern for my nhs colleagues is how you go back into phasing back on again right. you are asking an important question because one of the things we are increasingly concerned about as we have seen the decline in corona and covid cases in the nhs, particularly in intensive care and elsewhere, are we seeing an unnatural displacement? are people reluctant, scared to go to hospital when they should be going to hospital? it is important if people have urgent conditions and need treatment they should go to hospital. i can certainly say when it comes to urgent cancer care, people will get the treatment that they need and let's be absolutely clear about that. can we go now to francis elliott of the times? hello, prime minister. you have made the r rate the guiding star of your policy going forward, but you can only say it is between 0.6 and 0.9, which is a wide range of uncertainty? i press again on what is a manageable r rate going forward and what are the manageable number is professor valla nce manageable number is professor vallance has talked about? you have talked about you will give some guidance to safer workplaces next week, can we, and transport, can we expect some clarity on facemasks, please? thank you, on the r, and i am going to give my lehmans account of it and i hope chris and patrick may want to correct me or explain further. 0n the r, at the moment, there are different rs in different environments. but the critical thing is to stop the overall r going up again because that is the risk when you get the risk of another exponential curve going upwards. the change now in where we are, we are starting to get much more and much better data about where things are. that will continue to improve. so that as we go forward with our plan for phase two, we will be much more sophisticated in the way that we are able to respond to what we think may be changes in the r, whether locally or regionally or indeed nationally. i hope you understand what i am saying, but people need to understand that driving down the r is of course our collective endeavour and the better we can do it, locally, nationally and across the country, the faster we will be out of it. on your second excellent point, which was about masks and face coverings. i think what, and againi face coverings. i think what, and again i will defer to chris and patrick, but what i think sage is saying and what i certainly agree with, is that part of coming out of the lockdown i do think that face coverings will be useful, both for fda genealogical reasons, but also for giving people confidence that they can go back to work. you are going to be hearing more about that kind of thing next week. at the moment, we are using a calculated r looking at all sorts of things, including contacts, genomics, data from ambulance, hospital admissions and so on to calculate the r. it is right it has a range, it will be false to say we know exactly what it isa false to say we know exactly what it is a different models give different rates. and it is not exactly uniform across the country. in london it is probably somewhere between 0.5 and 0.7. what we are doing now is actually measuring the r by measuring the number of active infections in a random population survey. that is going on this week, it will go on next week and it will go on the week after. we get a measured value of r and we can refine where the r is. it is always the case in an epidemic, you get closer and closer to a precision value. it is never going to be precise but we will narrow it down and it will be more of a measured r, which is an important point. chris, anything to add? thank you very much. richard vaughan. hello there. following on from francis, given you have a better idea of how many people are infected, what figured do you think you need to get to in order for test and traced to be effective? and prime minister, ifi may, you have contracted covid—19 in yourself and needed serious hospital treatment, has it changed your approach to tackling the crisis at all? thanks very much, richard. on how far you need to get the new cases down, the r down to be able to do, new cases is the key, i will ask the scientist to answer that, chris and patrick. you can do things like track and trace at any stage of the epidemic but it has a greater effect on the higher proportion of the heavy load can be taken by it if you are doing it at a much lower lumbar of cases a day. —— number. putting exact numbers on that, there is no precise way of doing that but this is one of the things that modelling groups that sage and others have looked at in a lot of detail and patrick and i were discussing this with a lot of teams earlier on today, because we need to look at the range of possibilities. but to be clear, there isn't a magic number, but in broad terms, the lower the number the more effective it will be as an intervention. thanks. richard, on your question about my own case. i was very, very lucky, i had wonderful care, as i have said, wonderful treatment. let's be frank, tragically, thousands of people have been less fortu nate thousands of people have been less fortunate than i was. that is why, you know, the objective of this government is to save lives across the country, to minimise the suffering that this epidemic is causing and is going to cause. and that has been our objective, frankly, from the beginning. it is unchanged and it will continue to be our objective. thanks very much, richard. can we go to alex wickham of buzzfeed? hello, prime minister. the nhs has stayed under capacity, which is a good thing, but given the numberof spare which is a good thing, but given the number of spare intensive care beds available during the peak, why is the uk's death rate so high, particularly in care homes? for the experts, they said they had a drug that would lock the virus. the prime minister said there might be ways we can manage this later on, do you share that confidence about remdesivir and is the share that confidence about remdesivirand is the uk share that confidence about remdesivir and is the uk working on securing this drug for britons? aren't your first question, i am really going to, there are all sorts of discussions about all sorts of factors, morbidity is and so on that increase the risks of coronavirus in this or that country, there is a huge debate already opening up. what iam going huge debate already opening up. what i am going to do is defer to the a nswer i am going to do is defer to the answer that chris gave earlier about the vital importance of waiting until the end before making these international comparisons. and just looking at the total excess mortality and trying to draw some lessons and some conclusions there. at the moment, ijust lessons and some conclusions there. at the moment, i just think the data is not clear. and on the other point, on remdesivir, i defer to the experts. remdesivir is a drug that was made for a bowler and has been tried for covid. it absolutely does hit a particular part of the virus, that has been shown. there are some structures of proteins on the virus which you can show the drug binding too. and there are two big studies that have reported, one from china and one from the us. the one from china was smaller and did not show any china was smaller and did not show a ny overall china was smaller and did not show any overall benefit in terms of outcome. and it was stopped early, partly because the number of cases where decreasing. the one in the us, a bigger study, showed a benefit in terms of the time to recovery, so down by about four days. it didn't have a statistically significant effect on death, although it looked like there were fewer deaths in that group but it wasn't statistically significant. the answer is, this is a really promising first step, in other words it showed that if you have a drug you know binds to a bit of the virus and inhibit it, you can get some effect. and that effect is in very large at the moment, it could get bigger as more studies are done and there are more going on and the uk has been part of those studies, but it is a very promising first start. it is not a magic bullet to cure this but it does show that drugs are going to be possible to have an effect on this virus and therefore, there will be more that come along and ultimately it may be a combination of drugs that comes together to make the first thing is, and this is the cautious medical scientist in me, you should always wait until you have seen the published paper that is peer reviewed in a journal before jumping to conclusions. we had a very encouraging verbal report of this, let's see the data before we over interpret where we are. but clearly, encouraging first step. and the second thing, building on patrick's point, i think people often imagine that you move suddenly from a situation where you have no treatment or no vaccine, particularly on treatment, to suddenly you have the treatment. the incremental steps, you tend to move forward , incremental steps, you tend to move forward, thing steadily improving and sometimes combinations of drugs, each one of which has a small effect, but put them together and the additive effect is very considerable. sol the additive effect is very considerable. so i think we should see this as an encouraging, providing it holds up on publication, there step along a long path toward significantly better treatment for this disease. but i am very confident that if you look back at this disease from one or two years out, we will have significantly better treatment in the future than we have today. my final point is i would really like to thank those in the uk who are taking part in clinical trials because the way that you learn about drugs and for the future help to improve treatment for us is for these trails to go on. the trails in these trails to go on. the trails in the uk are recruiting at an absolutely extraordinary rate due to people volunteering. the first step says, yes, it is going to be possible to do something, more work will be done to get more drugs out than this. thanks very much, alex. and can we go finally to joe byrne from the stoke sentinel? good afternoon, prime ministerand sentinel? good afternoon, prime minister and gentlemen. can you hear me? yes, well. stoke—on—trent 's key workers are being told they must drive an 18 workers are being told they must drive an18 mile workers are being told they must drive an 18 mile round trip to manchester airport for coronavirus tests. many workers in need of test don't drive or have access to transport. there is a facility at stoke's stadium but is for emergency workers and the nhs. will the prime minister make more testing available for centre workers in stoke—on—trent and will be 365 testing be included to extend to families? and given that 600 patients at royal stoke university hospital are undertaking drug treatment trials to combat the virus, how vital of a role our royal stoke patients playing in reducing the overall number of deaths through these tiles? thank you very much, and first, thank you to all key workers in stoke and to the entire people of stoke for what they are doing to help us collectively to get this virus down and get it under control, to pass the peak in the way we have done today. thank you for bringing to my attention this point about the 18 mile round trip for testing. we will bring it up immediately, i will check it out immediately, i will check it out immediately with the nhs and with the huge team that we now have responsible for testing. you are going to be hearing a lot more in the law —— in the next couple of days about where we are with testing. you heard me say earlier on today that we have got the numbers up today that we have got the numbers up to today that we have got the numbers uptoi today that we have got the numbers up to i think 86,000 plus. but there is clearly a massive way to go. in principle, every key worker in this country should be able to get a test. and we want that to happen. we are massively ramping up testing. and i think i am right in saying, although i know that matt hancock will undoubtedly be telling you more about this tomorrow, i think i am right in saying that we are now dealing about as much testing as any other country in europe. if you look at the more recent figures. i know we're supposed to deprecate these international comparisons, but we have massively ramped up our testing operation and we will wrap it up even further. and on your specific point about making sure that key workers in stoke at the tests they need on time without an 18 mile round trip, the best i can tell you is that we will be onto it and we will come up with a way to ensure that they get the tests they need without going through that kind of palaver. so i want to wrap up this session. 0n trials. second question. sorry, i don't want to wrap up without him. really extraordinary so many people in stoke and many other cities around the uk, but absolutely in stoke, have volunteered for this. i would just like to say huge thank you on behalf of future patients who are going to benefit from the fact that people had volunteered to do this and that means we will learn, as patrick says, as new drugs come through and old drugs are tested against this and we will be able to treat this better and that will be down to people in stoke and elsewhere who are taking part in these trials, so enormous thanks.|j echo that, it is the only way we can find out what works. it is really generous people to volunteer for this and it makes a massive difference. because of the ways, the world is full of anecdotes and what this does is allow you to really understand what works and what doesn't, so big thank you. thank you very much, everybody. see you all again thank you very much, everybody. see you allagain in thank you very much, everybody. see you all again in the next few days. thank you. the prime minister borisjohnson ending his first coronavirus briefing since recovering from covid—19. and let's just briefing since recovering from covid—19. and let'sjust flesh briefing since recovering from covid—19. and let's just flesh out some of the key points from that briefing. the prime minister said the total number of deaths in the uk due to coronavirus has increased to 26,711. this figure includes those in care homes and the wider community who died after testing positive for covid—19, in addition to deaths in hospitals. 0ver positive for covid—19, in addition to deaths in hospitals. over the past 24 hours, there was an increase of 674 coronavirus deaths in the uk in all settings. 81,611 tests were carried out yesterday, a big increase on the 52,000 tests on tuesday, but still short of becoming's100,000 test tuesday, but still short of becoming's 100,000 test target which is due by the end of the day. we should know whether or not that target has been met this time tomorrow —— the government's100,000 test. he said the uk was past the peak of this disease and on the downward slope, mrjohnson said he would set out a comprehensive plan next week to restart the economy while continuing to suppress the disease. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young, is at westminster. some people perhaps were hoping that there would be a bit of an indication as to whether or not the prime minister and the government might be able to ease the restrictions in the lockdown, we are not going to get that until next week now. no, they are being incredibly cautious and as ministers have said, the british public would expect them to be cautious, particularly as we saw yet again today people are still dying in large numbers of this illness. but very interesting, the prime minister laying out and saying that next week, he will talk about a comprehensive plan. what that seems to entail, he says it is a road map, a menu of options, but still at that point probably not dates or times when things can happen because that depends where we are in the virus and they will look at more and more data as it comes through. but he did list some areas, he talked about getting the economy moving, about getting the economy moving, about getting schools back open and about making it safe for people to travel to work. my understanding is part of this will be another push to get people back to work in areas where they were not specifically closed it down. if you look at some takeaways and construction, factories, they we re and construction, factories, they were not told to close, but many did stop they will try to make sure it is safe for people to go back to those kind of areas. as you say, very important, he feels we are past the piece —— we have gone past the peak of this and an acknowledgement of how difficult it has been in terms of increasing testing capacity and getting protective equipment to the front line, saying he was not going to underplay the logistical problems that they have had and admitting that they are learning lessons every single day of this epidemic. stand by because the leader of the opposition keir starmer has given his reaction to the briefing, let's hear what he had to say. i have been calling on the prime minister to have a plan for the next stage, an exit strategy. we have been pushing hard on that in the last week or two. the prime minister has now said he will have a plan next week. so i think that shows that we were right to challenge on it and i am pleased that we will see a plan. we will look at it when we see it, but it is a step in the right direction. pause there for the suggestion there will be a plan next a menu of the options the prime minister said —— applause. he talked interestingly about the possibility of masks and how that might be part of loosening the lock down a little bit next week. this is interesting because only yesterday on the day before, the health secretary matt hancock talked about the evidence of face coverings being weak. there has been scientific advice on all this and it has been sent to ministers, they are considering it, but clearly, boris johnson is saying he feels they will be useful. interestingly saying to give people confidence as they go back to work. i think that chimes with this idea of making it safe for people to travel, particularly on crowded public transport. because i think ministers do think they are going to have some work to do to persuade people when the time comes that it persuade people when the time comes thatitis persuade people when the time comes that it is safe to go back, given that it is safe to go back, given that many people are still incredibly fearful, many have seen loved ones die or be seriously ill through this illness. so they will have to start to talk to people about why it will be safe and people will have to have confidence in the government's measures before they do return to work. thank you for that, vicki young, at westminster. coming up, it's the bbc news at six with george alagiah. but for now, it's time for a look at the weather, with stav danaos. hello there. for the first time this month, april is living up to its name of april showers and sunny spells. today's been very showery. some of the showers heavy, with hale and thunder. gusty winds too. and also, windy across the south coast. and through the rest of the day, it looks like we'll hold on to the showers, with low pressure anchored right above the uk. now, stronger winds gradually easing down across the south. the low—pressure system slowly pushing towards the north sea, so that'll be taking some of the heavier showers eastwards. so, as we head through tonight — again, clear spells, patchy cloud and further showers, most of these through central and northern areas. but because of the breeze, cloud and showers around, it shouldn't be too cold anywhere. lows of 4—7d. now, low pressure's still with us on into friday as well. it's positioned a little bit different, more towards the north sea, so it's the northern half of the uk which will see the focus of the heavy showers through the day. further south, we could actually see quite a lot of dry weather around, bar the odd shower into the afternoon. it looks like it'll be largely dry, with lighter winds here. but further north, northern england, scotland, northern ireland could see some heavy showers. again, some of these could be heavy, with some hale and thunder mixed in. those temperatures again around the low—to—mid—teen celsius. could be a degree or so higher in the south, because we should see more sunshine and also lighter winds. 0n into the weekend, our area of low pressure slowly pushing over towards scandinavia. we're in—between pressure systems, so the pressure will be rising a little bit. so, a lot of dry weather, i think, for part one of the weekend. we will tend to see cloud build up through the day, though, and the back edge of that low—pressure system could bring further showers to the north and east of scotland. but with lighter winds and drier, brighter weather, we could see the temperatures creeping up a little bit higher — 17 degrees could be the top temperature on saturday. on sunday, a little feature will start to push up from the south—west. a bit of uncertainty into the north the extent of this, but it looks like it could bring a few showers to southern and western areas. again, a few showers to the north—east of scotland, but many central areas will be dry. temperatures, again, around the mid—teen celsius. now, as we head on into next week, it looks like high pressure starts to build back in again to settle things down. this feature could bring some rain to the far south—west, but i think the general consensus for high pressure to bring some drier and sunnier weather to our shores through monday and to tuesday. feeling quite warm by day but, under the clear skies, the nights will still be chilly. today at 6pm... borisjohnson says the uk is finally past the peak of the coronavirus outbreak, and on a downward slope. the prime minister took charge of the daily briefing for the first time in weeks. there was praise for what's been achieved, but a warning, too. we can now see the sunlight and the pasture ahead of us, and so it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain. the prime minister said he would have a comprehensive plan next week on how to gradually come out of the lockdown.

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