Transcripts For BBCNEWS Coronavirus 20200519

An unproven anti malaria drug dont find yourself getting in your to prevent coronavirus. Dads way when he needs a roll plug . He comes in and out and he knows what do you have to lose . What times im usually going to be 0k, what do you have to lose . I have been taking it in there. Hes been great with it. For about a week and a half. Every day . At some point. Every day, i take racher in there. Hes been great with it. Rachels used to a bit more space the pill every day. Backin rachels used to a bit more space back in russia, even when she is and with cinemas closed putting her feet up, and production delayed, what does the future look back in russia, even when she is putting herfeet up, but like forfilm . Back in russia, even when she is putting her feet up, but in back in russia, even when she is putting herfeet up, but in return for the use of the garage, she is well be speaking to the writer mucking in with the daily chores. And director gurinder chadha. Racher mucking in with the daily chores. Rachels never really stopped dancing. When the stage called her back, she will be ready. Now, the six 0clock news is coming up now, the six 0clock news is coming up in now, the six 0clock news is coming upina now, the six 0clock news is coming up in a few minutes, but lets first hello and welcome to remind you of some of the main viewers on bbc one, points that came out of todays as we build up to todays Coronavirus Briefing downing street press briefing on from the government, today led by george eustice, coronavirus, led by the environment the environment secretary. Secretary, george eustice, who first, the number of people who have announced that there had been a died in care homes now accounts further 545 covid 19 deaths for a quarter of all coronavirus confirmed with a positive test in related deaths in the uk. The last day, meaning the official the figures from the office for National Statistics show more number of people across the uk who than 11,000 people have are known to have died with the died in care homes since the start of the pandemic. But, for the second week running, figures show the number virus is 35,341. 89,784 tests were of new deaths linked to covid 19 in care homes has fallen. Provided in the last day. The government, you will remember, had promised to carry out 100,000 meanwhile, the Economic Impact of the crisis has caused a sharp rise in the number of people covid 19 tests a day by the end of claiming Unemployment Benefits. That number has soared april. Those are the main points to more than 2 million. In westminster, a group of mps have from that briefing. Sophie is here written to borisjohnson saying the governments testing capability at six. First, a Weather Forecast for coronavirus has been for you. inadequate throughout the pandemic. And in the united states, tuesday was a one day across President Trump says he is taking the anti malaria drug southern britain, temperatures hydroxychloroquine reaching the mid 20s celsius, and to ward off coronavirus, that warmth is expected to increase despite Public Health officials warning it may be unsafe. On wednesday and thursday, pushing our first report this afternoon north. An increasing chance of is from our health showers or thunderstorms late on thursday, then we end the week on a correspondent, lauren moss. Different note, low pressure bringing windier and cooler its another day counting the human conditions to all areas. As we head cost of the coronavirus. Through the course of the night, latest figures show that while there has been a decline most central and southern areas will be dry with lengthy clear skies. It in the rate of people dying, the death toll is continuing to climb. Will be cloudy across parts of scotland, and the north of scotland from december until the 8th of may, more than 41,000 deaths related will see weather fronts that will to covid 19 were registered make it wet. Temperatures further in the uk. More than 11,500 deaths south, mild, double figures. 0n were in care homes wednesday we will see the peak of over a quarter of the total. The heat for this warm spell, High Pressure establishing itself, it is the second week in a row pushing the weather fronts north and that the number of those dying in care homes has fallen, drawing up warmerair pushing the weather fronts north and drawing up warmer air from pushing the weather fronts north and drawing up warmer airfrom spain and france. We start off with a little but for those working in the sector its a number revealing just some cloud across scotland and northern of the devastation that happened ireland, wet weather for the behind their doors northern isles. That should melt away. It will be a warm and sunny during the pandemic. Its heartbreaking, day for most, just a little bit of and its a tragic number, low cloud and sea fog affecting and i think looking at the number of excess deaths its perhaps Southern Coasts of england. In england and wales, temperatures in the only way we can see a reliable and more accurate picture the mid 20s. We could see the low of the true impact of 20s celsius across scotland, so a coronavirus in care settings. Warmer day in scotland and northern ireland. A weak cold front pushes in the situation in care homes on wednesday night, but then that is a huge challenge, and testing has also been a constant headache for the government. Might bring outbreaks of rain to 100,000 were provided on sunday. Northern ireland on thursday morning. As it pushes east end bumps a 200,000 daily targets been into the warm air across the set by the end of may. South east, we could see hit and the commons science and Technology Committee has called miss heavy showers or thunderstorms capacity inadequate and questioned the decision to stop testing during thursday afternoon. In the Community Early on. Temperatures again reaching the upper 20s celsius. A warm day for i think it is now a matter many, but a notch down across of consensus that if we had more Testing Capacity from the outset, scotla nd many, but a notch down across scotland and northern ireland, because we have this feature moving not only would that have been very in to close the week, a deep area of useful and important in being able low pressure that will bring windy to test people for example in care weather, gales in the north west, homes, but also it would and a band of round and some rain have shed more light on the spread of the pandemic. Early on friday which will clear eastern areas. Then a sunny day, a blustery afternoon with plenty of while the health and social care showers, some heavy across Scotland Committee has today heard that and northern ireland, driven in on a lack of testing meant care home gale force winds. We could see highs residents may have been exposed. Our focus at the start of this pandemic was clearly the nhs, and there was not a recognition of 21 or 22 celsius in the in either the planning process that happened in 2016, south east. Most of the showers on or indeed in this current pandemic at the very start of it, that the most vulnerable saturday will tend to be across the north west. People were in care homes. So we should have prioritised care homes. All residents and staff, regardless of symptoms, are to be tested in england by early june. As a collective result of our efforts, especially of care colleagues across the country, 62 of care homes have had no reported cases of coronavirus. And todays figures released by the office for National Statistics show that the number of deaths in care homes has fallen significantly. Different areas of the uk are continuing to take different paths. In northern ireland, groups of up to six people who dont live together can now meet outside. Downing streets announced nhs Contact Tracing app being trialled on the isle of wight will be ready to be rolled out in the coming weeks. As we all look to move forward, testing, tracking and tracing will be more important than ever. Lauren moss, bbc news. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young is at westminster. The government has been under more pressure today on care homes and also on testing generally. The number of people claiming particularly from the science and Technology Committee of mps, saying Unemployment Benefits in the ukjumps to its highest that the government record on level in almost 24 years. Testing has been inadequate. Yes, the figures for april, and its a fact that at the the first full month of lockdown, beginning wejust did not show a 70 rise in claims, and its a fact that at the beginning we just did not have that as the chancellor warns that capacity to test, and so the unemployment will rise sharply. Emphasis was put on hospitals and the nhs. Now, today, the Health Committee took evidence from people involved in the care sector and you it is not obvious there will be an could hear their anger and their frustration. They feel that they immediate bounce back as it takes we re frustration. They feel that they were pretty much ignored at the time for people to get back to the beginning. The fact that patients we re beginning. The fact that patients were sent out of hospital, they had habits that they had. The extent of the impact on human life has become clearer today with 55,000 excess covid 19, and went back to care deaths recorded in the uk since the start of march. Homes and potentially spread that more than 11,000 people around has obviously been a huge have died in care homes problem, and there have been a huge in britain during that time as the goverments criticised number of deaths, as weve heard for not acting fast enough. 0ne positive effect of lockdown the biggest fall again today. I think what is interesting that for years and years weve heard various Health Secretary talk about the aim in the long term reform to bring the nhs and health and social care much closer together, to integrate them more, and that has never happened. And i think what this virus has shown is how awful it can be and the repercussions there have been by that not happening. They wanted to be much more closely put together, the care system doesnt want to be treated like a second class citizen and that is what they think has happened. And i think that the government this has become not a long term problem, an urgent problem, and if were looking at living in this virus for months and yea rs living in this virus for months and years and the possibility of more outbreaks, they have to get this sorted because the government will not be forgiven for allowing this to happen again. Its interesting that the work and pensions secretary has been saying that maybe the scientists have got it wrong. If the science was scientists have got it wrong. If the science was wrong, scientists have got it wrong. If the science was wrong, she said, im not surprised if people think that we made a wrong decision. There is obviously a certain amount of people here trying to work out who is to blame, because i dont think anybody doubts that things went wrong. 0n the one side you will have Public Health england saying that we were ready to go, and others were saying that they werent quick enough to bring in private sector and there we re bring in private sector and there were universities and others willing to be there to do the testing and they were not responded to. And there are others saying that it was there are others saying that it was the government and the ministers who make the decisions. I think this is going to be an ongoing issue. Everybody thinks there will eventually be a public enquiry into all of this, so a certain amount of the blame game is going on here. But i think, the blame game is going on here. But ithink, in the blame game is going on here. But i think, in the end, what they need to do now is to make sure that it is sorted out because this could happen again, and they need to sort it out pretty quickly. Many thanks indeed. Dr ian hall is reader of mathematical statistics at Manchester University and former principal modeller at Public Health england. His data modelling is helping to inform sages advice to the government. Thank you very much indeed for being with us. First of all, can you explain to us simply the difference in the death figures that we are getting from the office for National Statistics, because those figures are higher, are they not, then the government figures, the department of Health Figures we get every day. The main difference is the daily data that comes in from the nhs to the government briefings is the quickly collected automatically collected data from hospitals and other key settings, whereas the 0ns data includes. And is more comprehensive and accurate, allowing for the fact that some people have to have postmortems and other complications in their registration to be mapped back to the date of death. So looking at all of the statistics, as i know you have been doing, what would you tell us about the trends now . How encouraging is that it the trends now . How encouraging is thatitis the trends now . How encouraging is that it is generally falling . M the trends now . How encouraging is that it is generally falling . It is quite encouraging. We have fairly strong trends going downwards, so the number of outbreaks in care homes peaked a few weeks ago, as did the number of deaths reported. So things are on their way down, which is optimistic, which is good news. But the thing we have to be cautious of as we relax some of the social distancing that is in place that there is not a bounce back, so whilst we have positive trends at the moment in terms of downward trajectories, we are not out of the woods, and we should not relax everything straightaway. And in terms of the r number we hear so much about, the rate of transmission, that seems to be varying quite significantly around different parts of the country. Yes. I think we have to be quite cautious with the estimates of the reproduction number. It is a very flexible measurement that is an intuitive measure. The number of people one infects, its fairly easy to understand, but its not something we can objectively measure. So we have something we can objectively measure. 50 we have to something we can objectively measure. So we have to be cautious of some of the estimates that come out of it. Many people use different methods. The fact that there is consensus, that most people think it is below one in the uk is a good thing. There is regional variation. That might be explained by some sort of care home outbreaks going on in some parts of the country and it being worse affected than others. But there may be some sort of regional variations that we have not seen yet, but yes, there is a bit of nuance, but its probably easier to look at growth rates in general than reproduction number. Good to talk to you. Many thanks indeed for your time. The number of people claiming benefits soared during the first full month of the coronavirus lockdown. There were 2. 1 Million People claiming benefits in april thats a rise of 70 . 0ur economics correspondent andy verity reports. Archive this is how snowedup britain looks from the air. And heres leicesters mainline station. But where are the trains . The big freeze of 19117. The only time on record when unemployment has risen faster than its rising today, when snowdrifts blocked trains bringing coal to power stations, forcing the railways and therefore the economy into a deep recession from which it quickly rebounded the next year. Today, with the economy shut down for a very different reason and 2. 1 Million People claiming benefits due to unemployment, ministers acknowledged it will get worse. So far, the employment stats really are indicative to the end of march and we will not have a more detailed understanding for about another month, so at the moment the universal credit claimants is where we are focusing our interest, but meantime the department is working across government on what we can do to help people get back into the Labour Market once the economy properly recovers. Todays figures showed jobless claims which fell in the 19905 and noughties are now getting back up there, rising by 850,000 injust a month. Thats far faster than in the Global Financial crisis, including nearly half a million employees and many self employed people robbed of an income by the shutdown. Todays figures confirm that, in spite of unprecedented government support, the shutdown is causing an economic calamity. Within the statistics, for every person that loses theirjob, that is a crisis for them and their families and the longer thatjoblessness goes on, the more serious the consequences are for mental and physical health. This wontjust have an impact on peoples well being in the here and now, it will affect their earnings, Mental Health and self esteem for years to come, so it is very important that we deal with the jobs crisis we face just like we deal with the health crisis. On top of the numbers claiming are thousands more who cannot claim any form of support. This woman was self employed then took a job at a cinema chain in march just before lockdown. Now she is unemployed and does not qualify for furlough, the support scheme for the self employed, nor even benefits. Financially, i think i have worried, up and down, a bit like a roller coaster. I love to work and save money, so not having an income is concerning me. My concern is long term, the impact, come october or november i would have to do my Self Assessment for tax for the past year and i am currently eating into my tax savings pot, so my concern is, the end of the year, when i have to do Self Assessment, i will have to give a lot of tax to the government and i wont have that because i have not been working and living off my savings. Some of the poorest areas of the country, from blackpool to middlesbrough and thanet, are also the worst hit by joblessness. I think whats most worrying is that we know there have been about a million universal credit claims in the time just in the time since the data was collected, so unemployment is probably closer to 3 million by now, there are probably between eight and nine Unemployed People chasing every vacancy in the economy. So without doubt this is the toughestjobs market weve seen in a generation. It is on young people that this government ordered lockdown will have the hardest impact, as they emerge from school or university into a landscape of mass unemployment. Many on furlough in retail and hospitality will no longer have an emplyer when the shutdown ends. As weve been hearing, the Economic Impact of the coronavirus has led to many more people being unemployed and a significant increase in applicants for universal credit. For some who are now looking for work, its the first time they have had to make a claim, as Michael Buchanan reports kyle is a boxing coach who has no one to train. The 50 year old is physically fit but financially stretched. Since the lockdown he has not earned anything, so turned to universal credit for help the first time he has been on benefits for decades. Even where i may have been eligible, my mindset never gone on benefits. Ive just struggled and worked my way through it. For me there was no option, so i dont feel guilty about it. I feel i am eligible for it. I am working my way out, sincerely, how to get out of it when everything is over. New figures today show an increase in men applying for the benefit in recent weeks, as well as regional variations. Cornwall saw a noticeable increase applications. Its tourist season has barely started. There was also a marked rise in claims from the south east of england, with the hospitality and leisure sector showing sharp falls in employment. The government has to Pay Attention to keeping those industries going and the local governments in those areas have to have a really strong plan for tackling that level of unemployment in those areas. In the month up to the 9th of april, 1. 5 million claims for universal credit were made. For two consecutive weeks applications were running at ten times normal levels. So thats me found you on our system. At thisjob centre in hertfordshire they went from processing 60 claims per week to several thousand a week, working saturdays and Bank Holidays to get people money. The main thing is a lot of people who normally work self employed, for example, just cant work at the moment because of the situation and they maybe havent claimed before. A lot of them here say, im going to make a claim for the time being because i dont know whats happening, because at the moment theyjust have no money coming in. For hundreds of thousands of people the benefits system is a new experience. Most wouldnt want to stay on universal credit any longer than they have to. It has been a life saver, but it can still be hard to make ends meet. I have enough to get through two weeks. Like i said, not much. A friend of mine cooked me some food. Im all right. As long as i can train, i have my basic fluid, then im 0k. At the moment those on universal credit dont have to look for work. That will likely change in the coming months. When it does it seems everyjob will be fiercely fought over. Michael buchanan, bbc news. President trump has once again been criticised by medical experts, after he said he was taking an anti malaria drug to protect against coronavirus despite a lack of evidence that it works, and evidence that it is dangerous. Last month he suggested that ingesting disinfectant could help to treat the virus a claim that was quickly dismissed by health professionals. Peter bowes reports. A lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy. A lot of good things have come out. And youd be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front line workers, before you catch it. The front line workers. Many, many are taking it. I happen to be taking it. A jaw dropping statement from President Trump. Theres no medical evidence that hydroxychloroquine prevents the disease or helps patients recover from covid 19. In fact, it could have fatal side effects. But mr trump says even though hes healthy, hes trying it anyway. Cos i think its good. Ive heard a lot of good stories. And if its not good, ill tell you right. Im not going to get hurt by it. Its been around for a0 years, for malaria, for lupus, for other things. I take it. Last month, the us food and Drug Administration said hydroxychloroquine had not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing covid 19. It issued a warning that some people could suffer serious heart problems as a result of taking it in combination with other drugs. Mr trump said hed heard anecdotal evidence that it had helped some coronavirus patients. What do you have to lose . 0k, what do you have to lose . I have been taking it for about a week and a half. Every day . At some point. Every day. The president has been roundly condemned for his use of the drug. Its a medication that has serious side effects, including cardiac arrhythmias, abnormal heart rhythms that could be fatal. And so i really worry about other people listening to what President Trump is saying and potentially taking this medication that has no proven benefit but could actually have a lot of harm. Mr trumps surprise announcement stunned even his most ardent supporters. Immediately following his remarks, a presenter on the fox news network, which is generally supportive of the president , issued a stern warning to his viewers. If you are in a risky population here and you are taking this as a preventative treatment to ward off the virus or, in a worst case scenario, you are dealing with the virus, and you are in this vulnerable population, it will kill you. I cannot stress enough, this will kill you. And in a separate development, mr trump has given the World Health Organization an ultimatum, threatening permanently to stop funding the who if it fails to commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days. Peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. Now, the Cannes Film Festival was meant to be under way, but the pandemic continues to delay the production and release of films, costing the industry billions of pounds. So, what will the future look like for cinema and when will it all resume and how . Im joined by the film, tv and theatre director and producer gurinder chadha. Shes best known for directing films such as bend it like beckham and blinded by the light. She also produced the historical drama tv series beecham house. Thank you so much for being with us here on bbc news, great to see you. How hard is it going to be to get back into making movies . Talk us through the logistical difficulties of making a film when youve got social distancing rules. If youve got social distancing, how are you ever going to do a shot with two people side by side having an argument, or kissing or whatever . I think the Biggest Issue is, how do we physically show characters together . There are ways round that where actors can quarantine for two weeks, but you also have to think about the crew. When youre shooting, you have a camera person, but also the focus puller who stands next to the camera person to do the focusing. There are all kinds of ways we will have to adjust, but thats fine. I think we can do that and we can be very inventive, using computers as well, Computer Generated imagery. Ithink the biggest problem is to make a movie you have to have insurance, you have to have a bond, and i think the biggest problem will be having enough confidence in our industry for Insurance Companies to go ahead and say, fine, go into production with all your health and safety measures, but we are not sure we are going to insure you. What is the word in the industry . Im sure you are talking to fellow directors and producers. What are people saying . Are they thinking about nothing being made until next year, may be . The Film Institute has been great on this. They have been organising a big covid 19 fund for people who are in desperate need small companies, freelancers and independent cinemas. They are organising all kinds of papers on what to do. They have come up papers on what to do. They have come up with Public Health guidelines on how production could happen, but im sitting here, ive written a script andi sitting here, ive written a script and i would love to shoot it. I dont really know how i can do that. Many people are in the same boat as me. The good thing is, i write, so i have been able to write a lot. I know other writers are really busy writing away, but i think the directors who dont write, and producers, i think people are busy trying to plan things for a time when we will be able to go out there, but in the meantime, i think we are like the rest of society we are like, we want to go to work but we also want to be saved. We want to go ahead and get on with everything, but until weve got the guarantees from government, unless we have either a vaccine or antibody testing, or just testing either a vaccine or antibody testing, orjust testing so we all know we are safe to go back to work, i think we are stuck. The good news is that korea is back in terms of film production, and they have a lot of experience with film production, sorry, with pandemics in the past, sorry, with pandemics in the past, so that industry is coming back into production. So, we can look to them, but they have been doing a lot of testing and tracing, so they are on top of the game and further ahead than us. As a society, they feel more confident in going back out and interacting. From the consumer as point of view, the viewers, if you like, they are worried, i guess, about whether there will be a drought ina about whether there will be a drought in a few months time of tv programmes, no new dramas on tv, huge holes in the schedule, presumably, and no new films whenever the cinemarks reopen. Presumably, and no new films whenever the cinemarks reopenlj dont whenever the cinemarks reopen. dont think there will be an enormous drought, but i think there will be a desire to see films that reflect what we have gone through. I dont mean covid 19 movies, but i mean content that reflects the Big Questions we have all been asking ourselves. 0ur place in society, in communities, what would happen if we caught the virus tomorrow and died . We have all been asking ourselves questions around death and protecting our children, and bigger questions, i think, protecting our children, and bigger questions, ithink, spiritual ones. And i think audiences will want to see those reflected somehow in all kinds of genres, and i think thats where our industry should be focusing right now, is on how we are going to bring audiences in with stories. And just briefly, i suppose, if there are lots of films and tv shows about the lockdown, featuring social distancing, maybe that would make it easier to make those films and tv shows. Yeah, but i dont think anyone wants to go to the cinema and watch those. I think we are done with that. No one wants to see a film with someone like me sitting here and someone else with a la ptop sitting here and someone else with a laptop talking. No one wants to see lockdown movies. Im not sure about that, i think they would. Zoom the movie would be fantastic. Thanks for being with us on bbc news. The government is considering introducing an extra bank holiday, possibly in october around the time of half term. The idea was put forward by the uks Tourism Agency visit britain. Its acting head, patricia yates, told mps the industry had lost the benefit of two Bank Holidays in may because of the coronavirus lockdown. The government said it would respond in due course to the proposal. The prince of wales has put out a call to pickers who are stickers to help farmers harvest. He backed an initiative to bring uk farmers together to make sure that crops are not left to rot in the ground during the coronavirus outbreak. For the prince of wales, support for farming and Rural Communities has always been part of his public and private life. Never more so than now. As farmers head into the crucial summer and autumn months, there is simply not enough people typically fruit and vegetables being grown. Coronavirus means a significant shortfall in workers from europe. Foods does not happen by magic. It all begins with our remarkable farmers and growers. If the last few weeks have proved anything, it is that food is precious and valued. And it cannot be taken for granted. Recorded at his birkhall estate in scotland, where he has lived during lockdown, the prince compared the effort now needed to the land army of the second world war, where women boosted the rural workforce. He said, like then, thousands of people will be needed, but recognised the work could be tough and gruelling. Harvesting runs until early autumn, and people are needed who are genuinely going to commit. The phrase i have often heard is pickers who are stickers. As unemployment rates rise and with huge numbers furloughed, the prince described the country as now needing an army of people to come forward. It was, he said, a time of great uncertainty when normal routines and regular patterns of life are being challenged. Daniela relph, bbc news. The downing street Daily Briefing is about to start in the next couple of minutes. Before it begins, lets talk to our chief political correspondent, vicki young, who is at westminster. Probably more questions with the government under more pressure on its record on testing and on care homes in particular. There will be. George eustice is the environment secretary, so hell certainly have something to say about seasonal workers. The backdrop today has been real anger that we heard from those in the care sector who feel that at the beginning of this corona outbreak, they were pretty much ignored. They couldnt get their hands on protective equipment. They feel that their residents and staff wa nt tested. Feel that their residents and staff want tested. I think its a longer term issue here, with lots of talk about reform of the health and social care sector, bringing the two together because they are interdependent. It has never happened. It has been talked about for so long, and happened. It has been talked about forso long, and i happened. It has been talked about for so long, and i think the outbreak of this virus has shown in the starkest terms what happens when that system doesnt function properly, and it has become an urgent problem now for the government. It has always been a long term aspiration for so many different governments, but i think now it will have to be dealt with much more quickly. Lots of questions about that, about testing. 0ngoing issues, really about how in the beginning we didnt have the capacity to test enough, so the focus was put on hospitals, to the detriment of other areas. The government says it has managed to mmp government says it has managed to ramp up ourwhole government says it has managed to ramp up our whole Diagnostics Industry from scratch in a reasonably quick time, but this is important because the government needs to learn those lessons because the next stage, things like the app for tracking and tracing those with the virus, that needs to be rolled out. We are told that well be in the next few weeks. Originally, it appeared to be that the deadline was more like the middle of may. 0ngoing issues there, but they have managed to recruit the people to do the tracing, and they are being trained at the moment. Lots of questions for the government, as ever, on all of these issues. Of course, its a time for the public and journalists to ask ministers the questions. People will be hoping that borisjohnson will be hoping that borisjohnson will do more in the coming days, and he will of course be a Prime Ministers questions tomorrow answering similar questions that we have heard coming from labour, really putting the pressure on the government over care homes in particular, because they think there we re particular, because they think there were avoidable mistakes that were made. I think that is the thing here, but people realise the government is grappling with something that is unprecedented, but they do want to make sure the government can learn from any m ista kes government can learn from any mistakes made. We have heard from the chancellor good afternoon and welcome to todays briefing where im joined by Angela Maclean, the deputy chief scientific adviser. I want to begin by updating you on the latest data relating to the coronavirus outbreak. 2,000,770 tests for coronavirus have now been carried out in the uk, including 89,781; tests carried out yesterday. 2a8,818 people have tested positive, an increase of 2412 cases since yesterday. 10,025 people are currently in hospital with the coronavirus, that is down 17 from the 11,716 this time last week. And sadly, of those who have tested positive for coronavirus across all settings, 35,341 have now died, that is an increase of 545 a talented since yesterday. Of course, our thoughts are with the families of all who have lost their loved ones to these virus. Before i turn to the work that depper is doing to make sure we can farm ice harvest today farming harvest i want to detail the details of the next phase of coronavirus . Defra. 0n slide number one, in order to monitor progress, we are establishing a new covert alert system with five levels, each relating to the level of threat posed by the virus. The alert level will be based primarily on the r value and the number of coronavirus cases. And in turn, that alert level will determine the level of social distancing measures in place. The lower the level, the fewer the measures, the higher the level, the stricter the measures. Throughout the period of lockdown, which started on march the 23rd, we we re which started on march the 23rd, we were at level four. Thanks to the ha rd were at level four. Thanks to the hard work and sacrifices of the british people in this lockdown, we have helped to bring the r level down and we are now in a position to begin moving to level three in careful steps. Turning now to slide number two, we have set out the first of three steps we will take to carefully modify the measures. To gradually ease the lockdown and begin to allow people to return to their way of life. But, begin to allow people to return to theirway of life. But, crucially, do this while avoiding what would be a second peak that overwhelms the nhs. After each step, we will closely monitor the impact of that step on the r value and the number of infections, and all the available data, and we will only take the next step when we are satisfied it is safe to do so. So in step one, as the Prime Minister announced last week, those who cannot work from home should now speak to their employer about going to work. People can now spend Time Outdoors and exercise as often as they like. Finally, turning to slide number three, having ta ken finally, turning to slide number three, having taken the first step in carefully adjusting some of the measures and our advice to people on what to do, our clear advice is to stay alert, control the virus and save lives. And staying alert means staying at home as much as possible and working from home if this is possible. And to limit contact with other people and where contact is made with other people, keeping your distance. Washing your hands regularly and also staying at home and self isolating if you or a household member shows symptoms of the virus. My final point today relates to the availability of labour this yearfor relates to the availability of labour this year for the farming harvest. Every yea r, labour this year for the farming harvest. Every year, large numbers of people come from countries such as romania and bulgaria to take part in the harvest, harvesting crops such as strawberries and salads and vegetables. We estimate only probably about a third of people who would normally, are already here and small numbers might continue to travel but one thing is clear, that this year we will need to rely on british workers to lend a hand to help bring that harvest home. 0ver to lend a hand to help bring that harvest home. Over the last couple of months, we have been working with industry on a plan to support and help people taking second jobs, particularly those who are furloughed, and we have launched a new pick for britain website that allows people to go online, check whatjob availability allows people to go online, check what job availability there allows people to go online, check whatjob availability there is and to marry up Job Opportunities for growers and employers with those people seeking a second job, particularly those who are furloughed. And we believe that those who are furloughed may be getting to the point that they want to lend a hand and play their part. They may want to get out and are maybe wanting to supplement their income with an additionaljob. And if they do feel that way, i would urge them to visit that website and to look at the opportunities that are there. I will now turn to angela mclean, who will give us further updates on the coronavirus. Thank you. If i could have the next slide, please. This slide shows the way people are moving around using their own cars, like goods vehicles or heavy goods heavy own cars, like goods vehicles or heavy goods vehicles or in public transport in the three graphs at the bottom. The data runs from the 16th of march to the 17th of may and what we see is although there is some increase in the use of private cars and also in light goods vehicles and heavy goods vehicles, that the reduction in the use of public transport, whether that be national rail, tube and buses in london, or buses elsewhere, held very low and has stayed very low. That is very good news for all of us, because it means that people are continuing to respect the fact that if we can, we must stay at home in order to prevent the transmission of this virus. Next slide, please. This next slide, the top air in red, that shows the number of tests done each day and what you can see is that it has been very much higherfor the second half of the graph, so the graph runs from the 6th of april to the 19th of may. 0n the 19th of may, there were 89,784 tests, and what that translates into is daily confirmed contest, sorry, daly confirmed contest, sorry, daly confirmed cases, so each day how many people across different settings had a positive test. Its quite difficult to interpret that green graph because it is in the context of lots of different people being allowed to be tested and, indeed, lots of extra testing becoming available. And when i want to know whats happening every day with coronavirus infections, if i could have the next slide, please, i turn to data from hospitals and the estimates of the number of new daily admissions into hospitals each day. So, we have this tending to look at the english data, and that is really the english data, and that is really the flow of infected people into hospitals and is therefore a much more sensitive way of keeping track of what is happening across the country. So what you see is a graph that raised sharply from the beginning of march, and it had already risen before then, and peaked on a proper second and that is exactly the date we would expect it to peak given the lockdown that we took on board on the 23rd of march peaked on april the 2nd. And the fact it would take about ten days for the number of sudden drop in infections, to the drop of people arriving in hospital with covid 19. And you will see that that has fallen fairly steadily since then. It is not falling quite as fast as it was at the very beginning, and thatis it was at the very beginning, and that is a cause of debate, about why is that. A different way of keeping track of how much infection there is in hospital is to look at the numbers of people who are really ill. So the bottom graph there is to do with people who need mechanical ventilation, so those are the people who are really most ill. And what it shows is, of all the facilities that we have, of all the beds in hospital where there is a mechanical ventilator, how many of them are being used by a patient who is infected with covid 19. And what you see is that that peaks, not surprisingly, a little bit later than the peak in new admissions, because of course, this is now the fa ct because of course, this is now the fact you can only be an admission once, but you can be in a hospital bed for lots of days. So you see that with a later peak and a flatter peak and a slower decline, but nevertheless a sustained decline across all four of our nations. Next slide, please. This breaks down the number of people in hospital with covert number of people in hospital with cove rt 19 number of people in hospital with covert 19 covid 19 across the uk, so we have it for the four nations of england, northern ireland, wales and scotland, but england is then broken up into different regions. If we look, and you can see there is a fair bit of variability across the different nations and the different regions. What you see is that for some regions the number of people in hospital has fallen rapidly and is still falling quite rapidly. And for others, the number of people in hospital, whilst it is still falling, is not falling as fast as in other places. Next slide, please. Here we see people who have sadly died from covid 19 with a confirmed, positive test, here across the uk. This is a graph that we are familiar with and we know that the numbers are always very low on saturdays and sundays, and for that reason, because it is very pronounced in the weekly pattern of cases, we look instead at the blue bars and raw numbers, we look at the gold line, and that is a seven day rolling average, and we use that on purpose because we want to average out the weekend effect. And what you see with that rolling average is that there is a steady decline in the number of confirmed covid 19 deaths here. Next slide, please. There are several different ways of counting how many people have died because of this pandemic. Here in the uk, these area this pandemic. Here in the uk, these are a couple of different ones. The top graph there runs from the 14th of march up to the 19th of may, and what it compares is 0ns data on weekly deaths with covid 19 confirmed or suspected, so that is the higher, purple line, or weekly deaths with covid 19 confirmed with a positive test. So you can imagine that not everybody who is suspected of dying with covid 19 has actually had a positive test. That is why the blue line lies underneath the purple line. And then, the bar graph below it, breaks those deaths down into deaths that occurred in hospital, deaths that occurred in hospital, deaths that occurred in hospital, deaths that occurred in care homes, at home, or in other places. And what we see is that every one of those different coloured bars is now falling. Deaths in hospital is falling, deaths in care homes is also falling, as our deaths at home and other deaths. So whilst we remain very sad and our hearts go out to the families of all those people, we do look at these falling deaths with some sense of relief that these numbers are consistently falling across sectors now. Thank you very much. Turning now to the first of our questions from the public, i think we have a video question from cool treat. Kuljit. I would like to understand what the government is doing in gathering information from other countries that have eased lockdown is, in terms of taking Lessons Learned from their approach and using those on our journey to their approach and using those on ourjourney to easing restrictions. Thank you very much. That is a good question. We have known from the beginning of this epidemic that we have been roughly two or three weeks behind italy and france. We have seen the trajectory of the epidemic in those countries, seen how they responded. Many of the approaches we have taken have obviously been very similarto have taken have obviously been very similar to those countries, and of course, in many other areas that we are considering now, including potentially having quarantine at the borderfor potentially having quarantine at the border for arrivals, potentially having quarantine at the borderfor arrivals, we potentially having quarantine at the border for arrivals, we are also seeking to learn lessons from the approach taken from some of those other countries. I may ask whether angela has any particular points she wa nts to angela has any particular points she wants to add from an epidemiological point of view. I think those points are very good, and it is obviously really important and a very good point that we need to look to our near neighbours and also countries further away to learn what works and how long it takes to see if something is working or not. The two i would draw particular lessons from would be south korea, where i feel they have made inspiring use of all kinds of different Contact Tracing in order to control infection, to an extent that they are now down to ha ndfuls extent that they are now down to handfuls of new cases every day. And when they say new cases, they mean people they have found in the community because of the Contact Tracing efforts. And i think that is an experience that we are aiming to emulate. The other country i would look to is germany, where the importance of testing has always been so clear, and that is a place from where we have learned that we need to grow our testing facility and have grown it. Thank you. The next question we have i think is a written one, from nick from gatwick. His question is for those of us that work in sectors which we cannot return to aviation, hospitality, etc, will we see the government increasing the length of payment holidays for both mortgages and loa ns to holidays for both mortgages and loans to ensure we can financially weather this storm, too . Nick, the point i would make on this is that the chancellor has announced an unprecedented and comprehensive package to support businesses during this time of crisis, but also employees that are affected, so businesses are able to access the Coronavirus Business interruption loan, and there have also been a number of other grants to help Small Businesses and Business Rates have been set aside. In the case of employees in those businesses, weve obviously had the furlough scheme, theJob Retention obviously had the furlough scheme, the Job Retention scheme. Obviously had the furlough scheme, theJob Retention scheme. Around 8 Million People now work for a lowed under that scheme, and the chancellor is thinking carefully about how that can evolve as we go through these various stages, because it is the case, as you point out in your question, that there will be sectors, areas such as hospitality, the restaurant trade, aviation and others, where it is very difficult for business to get back to anything close to normal for some time, and i know the treasury will be thinking very carefully about how the Job Retention scheme we have can evolve to help support those businesses as they tentatively try to return to business injuly. I will move on now to some of the questions from journalists, starting with Sophie Hutchinson from the bbc. Good afternoon. You were just saying how inspired you are by south korea and germany, the Contact Tracing and testing that has been going on there. Do you regret the decision there. Do you regret the decision the government made in march to abandon that sort of tracing in the community . Well, i think the point i would make on the testing and tracing is, weve been expanding, ramping up that Testing Capacity over the last couple of months. We got it to 100,000 capacity by the end of april. We are continuing to build that. This week, matt hancock has made clear that anybody over the age of five with symptoms can get a test, and its also the case that we have now recruited over 20,000 people to assist with Contact Tracing so that we can help to track down infections and hotspots for this virus as we try to emerge from lockdown. I think its a case that, early on in this epidemic, clearly, there was a priority to make sure that people showing symptoms who worked in the nhs, because of their close proximity with patients, had those tests, so priority was given to those, but we are now in a position where we are able to offer testing to anybody over the age of five with symptoms, and that will be quite crucial to developing our track and trace capabilities in the months ahead. Angela . I think i would agree that, with the testing we had, the right thing to do was to focus it on people who were really sick in hospital, so we knew who in hospital had covid, so it was the right thing to do at the time. Sophie, anything else you would like to. . So, you would agree therefore that your strategy has been based on capacity rather than the science . Well, its undoubtedly the science . Well, its undoubtedly the case that early on we were wanting to build that capacity, and we have pointed out before that there were countries like germany that naturally had more capacity existing in their economy. We were building it very rapidly from a very early stage, and we have now got to the point, as matt hancock pointed out this week, that we can offer tests to anybody over the age of five with symptoms, and that will be pretty critical in terms of developing that track and trace capability. Next we havejohn ray from itv. Good afternoon. A question to each of you, please. About the return to school, i wonder if you will both accept the deep, profound and very sincere fears of teachers and very sincere fears of teachers and parents about heading back to school beginning in june. And parents about heading back to school beginning injune. Foryou, minister, this question when so much has quite obviously gone wrong with the governments leadership of this crisis, track and trace, ppe, ca re this crisis, track and trace, ppe, care homes, you cant really blame teachers for not believing you when it comes to returning to school. And for the scientist, please, frankly, isnt itjust too for the scientist, please, frankly, isnt it just too early to conclude that the science says that its safe to return to schools . Well, john, it wont surprise you to know that i dont share your caricature of the government approach in this. Of course, there have been challenges along the way in these extraordinary times we are in on a number of fronts. 0ther times we are in on a number of fronts. Other countries have experienced similar challenges. The government has grappled with what has been a very difficult situation and make timely decisions and taken action to ensure that we have the capacity that we need to deal with this epidemic, and so, for instance, we constructed very quickly all of those nightingale hospitals that gave us that additional capacity, should that have been needed, and the steps we took meant we were able to flatten the curve of this virus better than some had expected us to better than some had expected us to be able to. But on the specific issue of schools, we are working very closely with the teaching unions and with School Leaders on our approach to this. We do believe that its important that initially we get you a 1 and year numeric six pack into a School Environment to help prepare them for the move up to help prepare them for the move up to secondary school six back into school. And we do believe that other countries like denmark have demonstrated how it is possible in fa ct to demonstrated how it is possible in fact to bring schools back into opening, albeit in a socially distanced way, with fewer pupils initially and staggering the times that year groups arrive and so on, so other countries have demonstrated ways that this can be done. And linking to the question that was raised at the beginning of this question session, i think its important that we learn from those other countries, and thats exactly what we are trying to do. My final point is, we should bear in mind that throughout all of this crisis, i completely understand that there is apprehension and anxiety of those being asked to return to work, but there are some sectors, like the nhs, police, the food sector, who have continued to work, and in the case of the food industry, they have continued to work and done so successfully by putting in place social distancing measures. We dont underestimate that there are challenges and that there is a job to do to reassure people, but we do believe it is right to embark on this, as other countries have. Angela, do you want to add anything . Yes, thank you. Scientists have been clear that changes to our lockdown as we model them need an effective track and trace system to be in place. We are also clear that any change to social distancing measures should be based upon observed levels of incidence in places that those will be changed. 0k. John, is there anything else . To the scientist, as i understand it, the track and trace will not be in place fully by the 1st ofjune, will not be in place fully by the 1st of june, so will not be in place fully by the 1st ofjune, so does that affect the scientific advice you are giving . Will it be safe to reopen schools . To you, minister, you seem to be accepting that the decision to send children back to school is not a scientific one but a political calculation. You know, even if that means there is an aspect of risk for the children. We are getting a full update on thursday of exactly what will be in place and when, so you seem to be party to knowledge that i am not party to, so. Im going to wait to see what i get told on thursday about what will be in place by when. And, john, look, its absolutely the case that as we evolve our policy from lockdown to something more nuanced, with easing being progressively rolled out in several stages over the course of this summer, of course, absolutely, we are following the science on this, and just as other countries like denmark, who have also embarked ona similar like denmark, who have also embarked on a similarjourney, are also following the science, so i dont accept it is putting the science to one side, but it is absolutely the case that all of us are going to have to live alongside this virus for some time to come, and we do need to try to live our lives and identify ways of returning to work as far as possible, and to put in place though social distancing measures. That is what has happened from day one in supermarkets, as people will have seen. It is what has happened since day one in the nhs, who have obviously been dealing with people affected by the virus, and its the case that as other walks of life get back to something closer to normality, we do have to identify ways of doing that while observing the social distancing. The next question is andy bell from channel five. Thank you very much. Today, the chief executive of cat might care england has told a Parliamentary Committee that people we re Parliamentary Committee that people were discharged care england. Discharged when they were symptomatic and hadnt been tested. Secretary of state, how was that allowed to happen as a policy . And dame angela, was there any scientific advice given at the time about doing that . Look, we dont accept the caricature that we took an approach that was wrong. Very early on in this epidemic, we had protocols in place for care homes. There was guidance as to how they should approach things. As the situation developed, then more stringent policies were introduced by way of policy around discharge, and we got to the point that everybody was tested before discharge. In those early weeks, there will have been some instances where people may have been discharged who were asymptomatic. There may have been some small number of instances where they may have been showing symptoms but would have been showing symptoms but would have been showing symptoms but would have been isolated, and that was the guidance at the time that was in place. We have strengthened that very much ever since then and we are now testing and a very rigorous discharge policy that is in place, and that is getting stronger all the time, and it is reassuring, while it is obviously a tragedy to see the number of deaths we have had to do this epidemic, it is reassuring, as angela said earlier, that we have passed the peak academic that was taking place in peak epidemic that was taking place in the number of infections is declining. that was taking place in the number of infections is declining. I cant a nswer of infections is declining. I cant answer that question without going back to the exact list of what advice was given when, and i dont wa nt to advice was given when, and i dont want to give an answer that is incorrect. Could we take notice and get back to you . Yes, if you can get back that would be very good. It leads on to another question, which is that the chair of the science and Technology Committee said today that the advice given by scientists is too secretive in this whole process, that more should be published. Do both of you think that would be a goodidea . Both of you think that would be a good idea . Would it lead to better Decision Making . I dont really accept it is secretive. We have been having these briefings on a daily basis for weeks and weeks now, and this is my fourth time doing this Daily Press Conference and at every one of those occasions i have either had somebody from the chief scientific adviser is department orfrom from the chief scientific adviser is department or from Public Health england or the nhs alongside me, and i think we have been very candid in sharing with people, at every step of that way, exactly what we are doing and why we are doing it and what the evidence shows, replete with graphs that show the trajectory and trends and the epidemiology behind the outbreak, so i dont really accept that criticism at all. I think we have been very candid throughout this in terms of sharing knowledge with people and sharing our approach with people. We have been really very, very focused on trying to give high quality advice, com pletely trying to give high quality advice, completely rooted in evidence. I can assure you that in every conversation we are always challenging each other, saying, what is the evidence for that . Our challenging each other, saying, what is the evidence for that . 0urjob is to give science advice here and make sure everything we say is rooted in good quality science. I have to admit that i have not spent much time worrying about how secretive or not secretive it is. I can see that is going to be a big issue when we have a big look back. Id be more inclined to address that them. I realise that is not what you want me to say, i know, buti realise that is not what you want me to say, i know, but i dont think thats the most interesting conversation. The most interesting conversation. The most interesting conversation is that we are able to give good advice. Thank you very much. Next we have jane merrick. wa nt much. Next we have jane merrick. want to follow up on sophies question, first of all to dame angela. In february, a who and china report said that Community Testing and Contact Tracing was the best way to tackle coronavirus. So was the decision then on the 12th of march to scale back on Community Testing and Contact Tracing in the uk . Was that based on sound scientific advice . And to the secretary of state, who takes ultimate responsibility for these decisions and for that decision on the 12th of march . Is it the ministers all the scientists offering the advice . The advice that we gave certainly took account of what testing was available. It was what was the best thing to do with a test that we had. We could not have people in hospital with covid 19 symptoms not knowing whether or not they had covid 19. And as i explained earlier, jane, we have been expanding dramatically our Testing Capacity over recent weeks and months simply because it is going to be a very important feature of that track and trace approach that we are developing, and we have now recruited over 20 tracers to work on that, and as we evolve the policy and emerge from full lockdown to something where we try to support people getting back to work normally, having that track and trace approach is going to be increasingly important and that is why we are increasing that capacity. Asi why we are increasing that capacity. As i pointed out earlier, at the beginning of this when there was a issue of capacity on tests, we needed to prioritise where the tests we re needed to prioritise where the tests were most needed, and that was in our nhs. You could not have a situation where people working in the nhs did not know whether they have the coronavirus or not so it was right to initially prioritise the tests for that particular outcome. If i could follow up, just to go back to dame angela, your colleague, sir Patrick Vallance told the Science Committee on the 24th of march that he wished there was more capacity available, so are you saying that given the International Expertise on coronavirus it wasjust what was available at the time, the capacity available at the time and that was the best advice you could give in the context of the capacity . I think that is what ijust said, yes. 0k, thank you very much, jane. Next we have stephan from city am. Thank you secretary of state. David frost and the uk brexit negotiating team said on multiple occasions that one of the key contentious areas of negotiation has been fishing policy and if there is not any movement on these talks by june and if there is not any movement on these talks byjune that the deal will be unlikely to go through. This would mean that the city of london is locked out of lucrative eu markets. With this in mind, can you tell me what the government is prioritising, the city of london or Financial Services firms that contribute 7 of gdp to the economy, or the fishing industry that contributes 0. 1 . And to dame angela, any chance of the lockdown being lifted entirely where island or isolated communities in the uk have not had any instances of covid 19 . Have not had any instances of covid19 . Thank you very much. The short answer is in this negotiation we prioritise becoming an independent, self governing country again and we want to make our own decisions and make our own laws, control our own waters, set our own fishing policy, have a seat at the table where fishing opportunities are negotiated each year, not only with our eu members but also with countries such as norway and the faroe islands. Countries such as norway and the fa roe islands. We countries such as norway and the faroe islands. We believe that the interests of our economy are best served by taking back control and making our own laws again and that is the approach we are taking. So as david frost has pointed out, there area david frost has pointed out, there are a couple of sticking points so far in these negotiations. 0ne are a couple of sticking points so far in these negotiations. One is that the European Union seem to be insisting that we continue to abide by their laws even after we have left, and the second is that the European Union seem to be saying that, uniquely, amongst every other country in the world, the uk should give unlimited access to its waters for eu countries even though we are not any longer part of the common fisheries policy. And both of those asa fisheries policy. And both of those as a point of principle are wrong, and that is why we have adopted the sta nce and that is why we have adopted the stance that we have. As you know, you cant ask me what policy might be but you can ask me what kind of questions a scientist might look at andi questions a scientist might look at and i can tell you that location is and i can tell you that location is a huge focus at the moment. Islands area a huge focus at the moment. Islands are a very special case, which is particularly interesting, but there are also other parts of the country which see the spread of infection across the country being quite diverse and that of course raises interesting questions, particularly as we get incidents right down on what we should do about it. Did you have a comeback at all . If i can come back to you, secretary of state. I do understand the rationale for the fishing policy negotiations going on, but can you say today definitively if this will not be softened for the sake of Financial Services firms that contribute so much to the uk economy, getting access to a market that is important for them . Ijust access to a market that is important for them . I just think in this approach it is very important that you are clear about your priorities and one of ours is to become an independent coastal state with control of our own waters again and managing and controlling access to our waters. That has been our position from the very beginning, and it will not change. And i think its not something to get into to be saying you have to sacrifice one industry to give a leg up to another. That is not the way to approach these negotiations. The way to approach it is to stand up for our interests as an independent country, and that is the approach we are taking. Next we have ben fishwick from portsmouth news. Thank you secretary of state. Even with extra government funding, councils are struggling to cover increase cost during the crisis. Can you commit to matching pound for pound their expenditure and cover any budget shortfalls from loss of income . And separate the on testing, we have a Testing Centre in portsmouth but several of our readers waited for two weeks for a result despite being told it would be arriving within between 48 and 72 hours later, and 14 days after the tests many were told the result was unclear. Is there the capability to ensure proper turnaround in testing . Then, on your latter point, we do recognise there have been a few reports of people not getting the results to their tests as quickly as they would expect, and its also the case that there are instances where a test result comes back as inconclusive and sometimes second tests have to take place. I will ask angelina moment to say a bit more on that. On your former point about local authorities, of course, the government recognises that this coronavirus outbreak has put pressure on local authorities and we recognise that and we have given them an additional £3. 2 billion to help them cope with the new burdens that have been in place. We also made available £600 million to support care homes and to help them respond to this crisis. So, yes, we recognise there are new burdens on local authorities as a result of this and we have put in place an additionalfunding to this and we have put in place an additional funding to recognise that. And i completely appreciate that. And i completely appreciate that local authorities will always say that they need further funding, and you know, in situations like this they will have funds set aside for events of this sort, and we think that the approach we have taken with that £3. 2 billion injection is the appropriate intervention from government to support them in the really important work they are doing. Angela, did you wa nt to work they are doing. Angela, did you want to add anything on the second point . I think running a rapid and reliable testing system is an entirely operational issue. And so, the science advice would be that you need to have rapid and reliable Testing Systems. 0k, any final thing . Are you confident we have a rapid and reliable testing system . think its getting better. One of the things we have looked at a lot todayis the things we have looked at a lot today is evidence from other countries, and it clearly as possible to set up Testing Systems with a 48 hour turnaround. Possible to set up Testing Systems with a 48hour turnaround. 0k. Thank you very much. And thank you to eve ryo ne you very much. And thank you to everyone for those questions. I think we have covered a large amount of ground today, but thank you very much. That is the end of todays downing street bereavement on briefing on coronavirus. Lets take you to some of the points covered led by the environment secretary, who announced there had been a further 545 covid 19 deaths confirmed with a positive test in the last day. That means the official number of people across the uk who are known to have died with the virus is 35,341. In terms of tests, 89,784 tests were provided in the last day. You will remember that the government had promised to carry out 100,000 tests a day by the end of april, and 200,000 by the end of may. And the environment secretary said that farmers will need more help from british workers this year to bring in the harvest and said that he hopes british workers will be able to find jobs on farms via a new online recruitment hub called pick for britain. The urged furloughed and unemployed workers to sign up to help get the harvest in he urged. Lets talk about that with lauren moss who was watching and listening to their briefing. Lets talk first about testing numbers. The Health Secretary set the target of 100,000 on the Prime Minister then said 200,000 by the end of this month but at the moment well below 100,000 again today. Yes, a lot of talk about targets, as you mentioned over the last couple of months, so almost 90,000 tests provided today, so very short of that 200,000 daily target which the Prime Minister said he wa nted which the Prime Minister said he wanted to reach by the end of may with just 11 days to go. If we look at the graphs we were shown in the briefing, we can see 89,000 tests provided, just under 2500 new positive cases diagnosed in the last 24 hours, so the number of people contracting coronavirus appears to be dropping daily although more people have been tested and there we re people have been tested and there were several weeks ago as the Eligibility Criteria is widened. So we can get more of a clearer picture about how coronavirus is in the community and further afield. If we look at hospital admissions. 0n community and further afield. If we look at hospital admissions. On this graph you can see that the peak in admissions was in the early part of april, and now 10,000 admissions was in the early part of april, and now10,000 people, roughly, are being treated with covid 19 in hospitals and its been a steady downward climb in admissions. Again, some areas more sharply than others and some with a more steady and slow decline and the chief scientific adviser Angela Maclean said the reason for that would be subject to debate. This ta kes would be subject to debate. This takes us to the number of new recorded deaths in all settings in the last 24 hours where if someone has tested positive for coronavirus. Important to make the distinction that this is not where coronavirus has been mentioned on the death certificate. You can see today there has been an increase, 545 new recorded deaths and yesterday was 160, so quite an increase, but its similarto 160, so quite an increase, but its similar to what we have seen on the tuesday after the weekend is in previous weeks and takes the total to 35, 341 previous weeks and takes the total to 35,341 deaths in all settings where coronavirus tested positive. That brings us onto the final slide which includes data from the office for National Statistics which weve been talking about for some length and this is where deaths with covid 19 has been mentioned, not tested for. On the top graph of the table we are showing you you can see that the blue line is where someone has tested positive and the purple line, quitea has tested positive and the purple line, quite a bit above that, is where it was suspected and up to the 8th of may you can see there were 41,000 deaths, a quarter of those as we spoke about today, occurred in ca re we spoke about today, occurred in care homes, so that is 10,000 more than the official figure where coronavirus was tested for up to the 8th of may where there were 31,000 deaths. So those 0ns figures considerably higher than those recorded in all settings. Some difficult questions at that briefing from journalists for the minister and the scientific advisor, particular if issue of going back to the 12th of march, when it was decided to stop the programme of test and trace in the community. They were asked about that, and we heard from the commons science and Technology Committee, saying that was one of the most consequential decisions of this crisis, to stop that programme of test and trace at that programme of test and trace at that stage in the middle of march. That committee has written a letter to the Prime Minister saying that testing at that stage was inadequate, and the capacity we had. If you go back to february and march when we were testing a couple of thousand people a day, and now we are at 89,000 provided in the last 24 hours, hoping to get to 200,000 by the end of may. They say that a couple of months ago, the tracing system wasnt quite in place and there were too many people testing positive to trace. We were testing people who were the most poorly, who ended up in hospital, and then nhs staff as well. And they reiterated today they felt that was the most important way to carry out testing with the capability they had at the time. Of course, now it has been widened to care residents and staff who are asymptomatic and anyone over the age of five who has symptoms, so they are increasing that, but the message we got from the briefing today, when we heard from the deputy science officer, was that we needed to be learning from south korea and germany, who got the Testing Capacity and laboratories working quickly early on. She said we needed to be learning from that but we did the best we could at the time. Some people would say we should have learnt from them a while ago, and specifically those two countries, south korea and germany, are held up as examples of best practice. South korea had a testing in Contact Tracing system up early on. We have the Contact Tracing being trialled in the isle of wight which downing said would be rolled out in the coming weeks, and over 21,000 people have been recruited to find the people who have coronavirus and who they have been in contact with, and we are still not there yet. Lauren, thank you very much. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young, is at westminster. Lets pick up on the point lauren was making about the government target, 100,000 tests for the end of april, but 200,000 at the end of may, and at the moment, today, they did not make 100,000. A lot of this and a lot of what weve heard today from various select committees, mps and others has been about what has gone wrong, what wasnt in place at the beginning, testing being the main part of that, the fact that not having the capacity was driving Decision Making, rather than what was the best thing to do, and i think that was really interesting, listening to the scientist talking about the fact that, given what we had, we had to pursue this particular policy. I suppose it is also about the future and the government learning lessons from all of that, and nowhere more so than in the increase in capacity for testing, because that will be at the centre of how we get out of this, with lockdown measures being lifted, being able to trace where those outbreaks are going to be and to try and dampen them down is going to be incredibly important, so, yes, the government have talked about how they are proud of the fact that they have managed to increase capacity a lot once they got going, if you like, building up this Diagnostics Industry from scratch, but the fact now that the app, which originally we we re now that the app, which originally we were talking about a roll off roll out of it in the middle of may, well, that hasnt happened. We think well, that hasnt happened. We think we will be hearing more about that in the coming days, pretty soon, but all eyes are on that now to see whether the government can get that right, and pretty quickly. Vicki, many thanks. Children from wealthier families are spending more time each day studying during the lockdown than the poorest, according to new research from the institute for fiscal studies. It found children from disadvantaged backgrounds had fewer resources. From disadvantaged backgrounds had fewer resources. Fewer resources for home learning. Some families have been given laptops and digital donations to see how much of a difference it can make. Becky was struggling with home learning, sharing one device, a smartphone. Its sharing one device, a smartphone. Its the only device i have got. We have been inundated with offers. Many of you have been donating your own devices for home schooling that you are not using. Paul had equipment gathering dust. you are not using. Paul had equipment gathering dust. I have these pcs from a call centre that was shut down, and why not give them . So we brought them to the schools it hub. Them . So we brought them to the schools it hub. In 35 years of being in education, ive never seen this kind of generosity. Any equipment we get, we will clean it and make sure it is almost factory reset with no data on it. Then we will configure it for kids to be able to learn. Just round the corner, we meet seven of nicks pupils, all trying to do homework on one smartphone. But its been hard, yeah . Really hard. And to make things harder, when dad goes to work, he takes his phone with him. When my dad is in work, i dont do my homework, but when hes at home, idomy my homework, but when hes at home, i do my homework. And im very happy to do my homework. This new tablet, donated by a viewer, will help. Thank you. And its a similar story a few streets away for michelle and nevilles six children. A few streets away for michelle and nevilles six children. You are doing it all on this . All on the phone. It does stress them out because they cant do it when they wa nt because they cant do it when they want to do it. We have to try and ta ke want to do it. We have to try and take it in turns, but some of them dont quite understand turns. Each child gets a one hour slot. Ten year old sion is in the last year of primary school. Hers is just before bedtime. Its quite hard because im falling around a little following behind a little bit. I just want to produce more good art level work, and there might not be time before your bedtime. And then its hard to fit all of you in on the phone at the same time to do your schoolwork. This tablet has been donated by the viewers, and i hope it helps with your home learning. Thank you. Just two devices transforming the lives and 01 23 19,435 2147483052 18 27,000 education of 13 children. 2147483052 18 27,000 4294966103 13 29,430 last