this. this is bbc news, i'm mishal husain. in a few minutes we'll bring you latest briefing from the government on coronavirus. but first, the headlines: very early on it was not an address scotland's chief medical officer apologises after she is warned of this kind might come at some by police for breaking her own advice and twice travelling point. the feeling was that at some point. the feeling was that at some point it would be later on, closer to her holiday home. to easter. there have been close people have told me that i'm irresponsible, that i've behaved consultations of a couple of weeks as if my advice does not between buckingham palace and ten downing st. it was certainly a sum apply to me. that at some point it would be i want people to know that appropriate for the queen to make i have seen all of that, one of these rare national and i've heard the comments. what i did was wrong. addresses. i must say, ithought one of these rare national addresses. i must say, i thought it would be over easter because that would be over easter because that would give her a theme that she i'm very sorry. could develop as a committed christian. we are used to her christmas day message. the fact that it is taking place tonight it is in the next few hours suggested that it is being brought the queen is to make a rare forward by a few days perhaps at the television address to britain and the commonwealth — stressing the value request of the british government of self—discipline and resolve. because the british garment feel england's health secretary has that now is the time, as people here warned the government will look

again at allowing outdoor exercise if people flout social distancing rules. are perhaps just a weary and if you don't want us to have to take questioning the merit of the the step to ban exercise lockdown —— the british government of all forms outside feel that now is the time. in the of your own home then you've got to follow the rules. the new labour leader, position that which she occupies in sir keir starmer, has accused this country to rally the nation and the british government of making ‘serious mistakes‘ in its encourage resolve and response to the pandemic. self—discipline. we are just over one of the uk's top scientific 2.5 hours away from that address. advisors says there is currently no thank you very much. precise exit strategy from the lockdown. the religious events. exit strategies from this were very problematic, were challenging. there are a number of ideas in play. to mark the events without family gatherings and public ceremonies. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, has been speaking to religious leaders to find out how the faithful can get the most out in the united states, president trump warns of each holiday whilst his country to prepare observing coronavirus rules. for a big increase in the number jerusalem is shut, of coronavirus deaths. like cities around the world. new york state records its biggest although its holy sites should be at the heart of celebrations one—dayjump in deaths so far. for the coming holidays. and spain has reported a fall in its daily death toll for a third consecutive day. so i‘m asking religious leaders here how people can worship safely. they need to follow all the regulations of safety and to pray at home,

especially as a family. and what do you say to your parishioners who are really worried at this time? we are celebrating the holy week, meaning the passion welcome to this bbc news special. and the death and resurrection of christ, which is a message in the next few minutes we'll cross in itself, a message to downing street for today's daily of hope that the darkness coronavirus news conference, will not last. today with the health secretary matt cleaning is going on as usual hancock and the deputy chief medical as families prepare to remember officerjenny harries. the jewish exodus but first, let's bring you today's developments. a further 621 people have died from egypt at passover. in the uk after testing positive for coronavirus. but there‘ll be no big seder meals with distant relatives and friends. in a certain sense, this is going back to the passover that we had originally in egypt because the way that scripture it brings the total to 4,934. plays it out is that each person was in his own home in scotland, the chief medical when god took us from this bondage and i think this year, officer, dr catherine calderwood, we‘re all staying at home and awaiting redemption in a very similar sense. the holy month of ramadan has apologised after a warning will also be more austere from police for flouting social but islamic leaders say that may distancing guidelines for visiting her second home. leave muslims able to there have been calls for her

pray more and deepen their faith. to step down over the matter. the health secretary, matt hancock has warned that it‘s going be back to basics and it exercise out of the home could be banned if people ignore the lockdown might be also a reminder for all of us that what we take rules on staying at home and social distancing. and later tonight, for granted is not going her majesty the queen will deliver what's described as a "deeply to be always there. personal" television address. this contested holy city has seen many conflicts she'll thank front—line nhs over the centuries, often between people of different religions, staff and care workers, but now a common threat while recognising the "grief", could be an opportunity. "financial difficulties" and "enormous changes" the country is facing. more on those stories in a moment, there‘s a certain willingness to put conflict on hold but first, the scottish first and collaborate during minister nicola sturgeon has said these difficult times and i would say, why not? she will not be asking dr calderwood to resign. those days showed us clearly that we are one big human family. at her daily briefing, she condemned the chief medical officer's actions this challenge is a challenge in the face of strong criticism that affects everyone so universally, so equally, from members of the public. that i think it's a real opportunity to unite. however, she said scotland's cmo amid inevitable fears at a time of crisis, was learning from her error, such sentiments offer and that her advice and expertise a much—needed spark of hope. had been invaluable. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. dr calderwood herself spoke at the briefing and again apologised. i've already issued a statement this morning, apologising unreservedly for travelling away from my home while restrictions were in place. as well as this weekend,

the global impact of this, 1.2 it's important to be clear, that i also was there last weekend million cases round the world. with my husband. 65,000 deaths. i did not follow the advice i'm giving to others, i am truly sorry for that. we now say goodbye to i've seen a lot of the comments from members of the public on twitter today, people calling me viewers on bbc world news. a hypocrite, people telling me about the hardships they have endured while following my guidance. you are watching bbc news. my office has also received e—mails from members of the public who are making clear to me their disappointment, and unhappiness at what i've done. people have told me that i'm irresponsible, that i've behaved as if my advice does not nearly one million muslims live in apply to me. bangladesh after fleeing from i want people to know that myanmar, many are unaware of the i have seen all of that, and i have heard the comments. dangers of coalition government. : what i did was wrong. i'm very sorry. it will not happen again. coronavirus is an infectious disease i know how important the advice booms a loud speaker, a small way to is that i've issued. get the message out n the world‘s i do not want my mistake to distract from that. largest refugee camp, where it is a i don't want to make challenge. it has been more than a week since a the jobs of the police, or my nhs colleagues any harder, lockdown began here but many don‘t

and i apologise to them as well. know why. the bangladeshi government i have a job to do, blocked internet in the camps last as chief medical officer, to provide advice to ministers year, information‘s a precious on the path of this virus, and to support the medical profession, as they work night commonty. 37—year—old shares this and day to save lives. this was a mistake, human error, dholling with his family. like many and there's no excuses. i should not have done what i did. round the world he is home schooling his children. i'm very sorry about that. i've spoken to the police this morning about this, but he is not. we don‘t know about and i'm sorry for taking up their time on this when it coronavirus, he says. we heard that could have been avoided. having spoken with the first people can‘t stay close to each minister this morning, my intention is to continue to focus other, but our home is too small. if on myjob. the virus arrives in the camps we that was doctor catherine don‘t know how we will survive. calderwood, chief medical officer for scotland speaking in the last staying healthy is tough. his family couple of hours. get a limited supply of water. only a third of refugees in the camps have soap. the health secretary for england is warning the government could ban at the market outside social exercise outside the home if people distancing is nonexistent but they ignore the lockdown rules on staying need to buy food. this video shows at home and social distancing.

matt hancock said the lifting of restrictions would depend on how people behave. it comes after reports of groups people how to sneeze safely. of people gathering outside during this weekend's sunny weather. our political correspondent for weeks ngos have been raising jessica parker reports. no sunbathing, say police in this awareness on basic hygiene. if the london park, and here, virus hits this densely populated the gates are locked, after large groups were seen. now, it's empty. area, they could spread with lethal speed. this is the temporary the government says you can take one form of exercise a day, alone, or with members of your household, isolation centre. ngos are working but basking in the sun like this? to increase beds but there isn‘t a against the rules, and a stark single ventilator in the entire warning of what could happen if too many people break them. my message is really clear. camp. if you don't want us to have to take the step to ban exercise of all forms outside of your own home, then you've got to follow the rules, and the vast majority of people are following the rules, and let's not have a minority spoiling it for everybody. the rohingya fled persecution in myanmar. stepping into the debate, stateless, they rely on aid agencies the new labour leader, who are only entering the camps for essential services sir keir starmer, hinting that to prevent the virus spreading. nurses, doctors, coronavirus the things that makes the rohingya key workers, deserve refugees so vulnerable is because they are dependent

a pay rise in future. on external actors and humanitarian agencies but, for now, would his party for everything. support tighter controls? there is a real concern that not yes, we would. only will they have to face we do have to take whatever the consequences of covid—19, but they‘ll also steps are necessary. lack the protections that social distancing, staying indoors, is really difficult for people. were able to give them. it's particularly difficult if you don't have a garden, as the threat of the virus looms large, a plea — if you are in a flat, and i know there are many people dear corona, please stay away from rohingya refugee camps. in overcrowded accommodation, dear world, please save us. but we've got to get through this, rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news. and every time people break the guidance from the government, they put other people at risk because if the health service can't cope, people will die. he also said ministers should be this is it from the news special. clearer about an exit strategy, but a senior government scientific time for the weather with susan adviser said the way out is still being worked out. powell. hello there, there is a lot there are a number of ideas in play. of fine weather across the uk at the they certainly will rely on scaled up testing, moment. high pressure is to thank for that. so we have to get that in place, and it‘s been bringing a lot of sunshine to many gardens on sunday. but the precise strategy has not yet been formulated. this was cambridgeshire a little earlier. not to all, though — lanarkshire. it will be in the next week or two, hazier sunshine to the north it is the highest priority of, and west of the uk in general i would say, the whole scientific because we have got a frontal system and medical community. that is draping its way around so the lockdown goes on. the north—west of the high. and as people discover they can't notice how that cloud is kind

live like they used to, of streaming its way northwards out of spain. everyone's under pressure to lead by example. a strong southerly air stream — jessica parker, bbc news. that is what has been the queen is expected to give "a deeply personal message" pulling in such warm air. when she makes a special address that is what has been and that strong southerly wind will continue through this to the nation tonight, evening and overnight. stressing the value it will, perhaps, ease back a little of self—discipline and resolve during the coronavirus pandemic. through the small hours. wet weather, though, courtesy of a weather front finally pushing its way into the west through the evening. she will thank front—line nhs some quite heavy bursts of rain for a while, the rain extends further east staff and care workers, across scotland into northern england through the small hours, becomes patchier further south, but we keep that and also recognise the grief, southerly airstream. financial difficulties and enormous so these are our overnight lows. changes the country is facing. our royal correspondent they are figures more typical nicholas witchell reports. of our daytime highs recorded at windsor castle at this point in april. on thursday, the queen's broadcast will, according to officials, be a deeply personal message, so a very mild start to monday. which will reflect her experience in other difficult times. broadcasts such as this by the queen are rare. they're reserved for moments of particular national significance. speaking about the situation facing the nation, the queen will say...

to start the day. the wind is lighter than today. gusty towards she will pay tribute to all those the north—west. thanks to the change on the nhs front line, to care workers, and those carrying in wind i should mention behind that out essential roles, weather front for monday, and recognise the pain already we should have some clearer air in terms of pollen levels felt by many families, for england and wales so a relief as well as thanking those for those who suffer following the government with tree pollen. guidelines by staying at home. she will say... we look ahead into the rest of the week and the high pressure starts to bulge across us again from europe and what that, once again, will do is introduce much warmer air, aside from across the far north of scotland where a weather front mayjust come into play. it is a message intended both to reassure and to rally the nation's resolve. it will be transmitted at 8:00pm tonight. so our outlook for the week nicholas witchell, bbc news. ahead is one featuring a lot of settled weather, a lot of dry weather, a lot of sunshine and, if anything,

and you can watch the queen's our temperatures will start to rise, perhaps even higher than they have been through the weekend, message here at 8:00pm this evening. across bbc radio, television and social media as well. you're watching bbc news. welcome to viewers joining watching bbc news. welcome to viewersjoining us watching bbc news. welcome to viewers joining us around the world now on bbc world news, as we late for the latest news conference from we are still getting thousands of questions downing street, the home and office from viewers about coronavirus. of the british prime minister and the latest update the british government will have for us on the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in this country. we‘re going to do our best now to answer some more of them with me now is our political correspondent chris mason. on the bbc, in your questions answered. who are we expecting to see at this joining me today, catherine glass. catherine is a gp and brian daily update? we will hear from matt mccloskey, who is the former, hancock, the health secretary for as i remember, a director. tell me what yourjob title was. england and alongside him will be doctorjenny harries, the deputy i was the director of global health for public health england chief medical officerfor and i worked for chatham house. doctorjenny harries, the deputy chief medical officer for england. what will hear from matt hancock is lovely. a repeat of the message he had this thank you both very much. and thank you very much for agreeing to answer the questions i have. this

catherine, let‘s begin with you, julia. can covid—19 droplets infect our cells through cuts on our hands if we‘re not wearing morning on the andrew marr show, emphasising his willingness to step gloves ? up the nature of the lockdown in the uk if he feels that people are flouting the social distancing guidelines, and the obvious contrast that will be drawn out in the questions that will follow is this good afternoon, julia. news that doctor catherine so, no, there is no evidence calderwood, the chief medical officer in scotland, who has apologised unreservedly after two that the virus is weekends in a row visiting her holiday home some 50 miles away from transmitted via bloods. her principal address in edinburgh. it's primarily a respiratory virus the news conference we had from the which has the potential to also scottish first minister and doctor affect the digestive system. calderwood in the last couple of hours, you could see that although for a virus to attack the human body, it needs to locate and invade doctor calderwood apologised and the first minister condemned her host cells, which it uses to replicate itself. actions, one question after another as these host cells are located primarily in the respiratory tract, was focused on how doctor calderwood had issued the advice to stay at especially the lower part, the lung. and they're also found home and then flouted it. yes, i in the digestive tract. so in order for a virus to attach think it was the most to these host cells, it needs extraordinarily excruciating news conference i've ever watched, something called binding sites, because here is the very person who which are a type of protein. and these binding sites do not exist is the public face of the social in any cells within the bloodstream. distancing advice in scotland. she therefore, the virus cannot invade via blood or via any kind of blood transfusion. has been the person who has fronted 36 brian, this is a question the videos that are playing on from janice crouse who asks whilst queuing scottish television emphasising the outside my local supermarket,

need to stay at home and to socially the person in front of me exhaled large clouds of vapor distance, yet she acknowledges that from an e—cigarette. how dangerous is this? for two weekends in a row she broke should it be banned? i think it‘s certainly unpleasant her own advice. nicola sturgeon and actually i would say it‘s quite acknowledging that she had made a rude and people in general shouldn‘t mistake, she was wrong, and she be vaping in situations where they wouldn‘t smoke knows that and has apologised at that supermarket. but in terms of coronavirus, unreservedly. the first minister believes it is in scotland's i don‘t think they‘re adding any great risk, though clouds interests that doctor catherine of vapor from e—cigarettes look quite dramatic. calderwood remains in post. it would appear that she did offer to resign they‘re probably not exhaling any more but the scottish first minister wa nted but the scottish first minister wanted her to stay in post, after particles than normal. so providing you stay, the scottish sun on sunday you‘re six feet away from them. photographed her and her family it won‘t increase your risk. the scottish sun on sunday photographed her and herfamily in fife at the scottish holiday home it is a bit rude and selfish. she has last weekend. she has even we‘re having to learn had a visit today from police a whole new etiquette, scotla nd had a visit today from police scotland reminding her of her own even though we‘re supposed to be such experienced cures. advice about social distancing. it could not have been more awkward for i have read reports that more than her today, and a statement from 60% of the people who died in china police scotland in the name of the from covid—19 had high blood pressure. are you considered a higher chief constable ian livingstone, risk if you suffer reminding herand chief constable ian livingstone, reminding her and the scottish from high blood pressure? people of the very advice that she has been giving to the scottish you are not considered high risk if you suffer from high blood pressure alone. people. in this downing street press of course, if you have associated heart disease, you are considered conference, as you said we will hear from matt hancock, health secretary at higher risk. there have been some unfounded media for england, who has been front and centre in the last few days having

reports that taking certain blood recovered from coronavirus himself. pressure medications can change what about the prime minister, who the shape of cells and make them has also been affected? matt hancock more at risk of developing has also been affected? matt hancock has been at the news conferences every day for the last few days or being infected by coronavirus. since returning from his own this has been completely unfounded. self—isolation. the prime minister, those drugs include medications the latest to be had from downing street, is that he still has a temperature and has remained in like ace inhibitors. self—isolation, that is the advice, you're meant to self—isolate for a week, or until the symptoms subside. when i last spoke to downing street, so any medications they said he still had a temperature ending in —pril, and angiotensin two receptor blockers. and therefore he still was self—isolating in his flat in number 11. self—isolating in his flat in number ii. we self—isolating in his flat in number ii. we learned yesterday his fiancee carrie symonds has had the symptoms but as i say, this has been completely unfounded, said patients as well. she is pregnant and due to with high blood blood pressure alone and not known have their first child in the early to be at increased risk. but what i would say is if you did, summer. have their first child in the early summer. she hasn't had a test but you are unfortunate she has had the symptoms. we await enough to become unwell with coronavirus symptoms or indeed any update on the prime minister's with any other kind of illness it‘s best practice just to call health. matt hancock said this your gp, because if any patient morning that he was ok and he was who is on blood pressure medications continuing to work. we know that or other medications that matter, becomes unwell, they often yesterday he had a conversation with need to tweak the medications they take for a few days sir keir starmer, the new labour until they recover. leader. so the emphasis from downing street is that he has been

continuing to be prime minister, continuing to be prime minister, continuing to be prime minister, continuing to work, albeit from self—isolation. but clearly has been unwell, albeit with mild symptoms. one issue for the government, as you mentioned, has been the worry that people might end up being outside more than they would like with this warm weather but this press conference will take place after the news they have been a further 621 deaths of people in this country with coronavirus. now, where have we got to in terms of perception of the government's handling of all this? the new labour leader sir keir starmer has had some pretty strong words. he has. it has been quite striking in the last 2a hours how the language from the opposition has stepped up. while sir keir starmer said he will not oppose for opposition's sake and wants the government to succeed because he said it is a national emergency and a global emergency, he says in an article written in the sunday times today that the british government has made serious mistakes in its handling of coronavirus. he says he welcomes the additional clarity that welcomes the additional clarity that we have had in the last few days

about testing, this aspiration to reach 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. to put that into perspective, there have been 195,000 tests in total since testing began. that should be happening in two days, ina that should be happening in two days, in a matter of weeks, and that isa days, in a matter of weeks, and that is a total that's been running for several weeks. he also says there has to be a clear exit strategy for how the uk gets out of the current restrictions and that that should be published, and he argues that there must be much more clarity about the delivery of personal protective equipment to front—line workers in health and social care. so, a pretty stinging criticism from him on that. the idea of publishing an exit strategy, we have also heard from one of the key scientists advising the government, that there isn't a precise exit strategy at the moment and that they would have to be a range of different scenarios depending on how cases arise and how many deaths there are and the extent of infections. and both he and

others in the scientific community among the modellers have been keen to avoid the kind of language round an exit strategy and wanting to talk about what is going to be a staged process that could take some time. crucially make the argument that we are only a couple of weeks into this, and an exit strategy is a long way off, there is all sorts of ideas that have been floated about by the government about how you might do it. not least about this idea of an immunity certificate, that that scientists can say if you have had it you have some level of immunity. which feels like a long away way at the moment. you could have a situation where people were issued with some sort of documentary proof they have had it and crucially, cannot pass it on to anyone else. there are all sorts of questions about the extent to which what some

might regard as a dystopian idea that half the population or a chief co nsta ble of that half the population or a chief constable of the population would ca rd constable of the population would card carriers saying they have a certain liberty to be able to do a greater range of things than others and of course, arguably you could in that situation have a scenario where people who feel they have been the most diligent in social distancing have their liberty restricted further, whereas others who perhaps haven't and have caught the virus as a result are able to travel much more freely. so there is massive political questions about how you would implement that if even if the science gets to the stage that is something you could do if you chose to do it. thank you to the moment. chris mason our political correspondent. we are waiting for the latest news conference from downing street, the daily news conference, the update on where we are, with coronavirus at which journalists will be asking question, so journalists will be asking question, so two part, both what the officials and the government minister present put forward and the questions after, so we put forward and the questions after, so we will cross live to it when we

have it. in the meantime convenience shops have seen a surge in sales in the past few weeks as more people shop locally for essentials. many small stores in some air areaings have started delivery services but it is not the same for retailers in town centres or train stations. at this store in cambridgeshire it isa at this store in cambridgeshire it is a race to keep shelves stocked. sales are up 75%. as soon as we saw a small bit of up lift in sales and we are seeing what people are buying, we instantly said, one item percustomer, and please use your common—sense, we serve a lot of elderly and vulnerable people. check out screens, hand sanitiser and a queueing system should protect staff and customer, maintaining staffing levels is a challenge. just in the last week, we have lost three members of staff as a precaution, so we have had to isolate them. this

ba kery we have had to isolate them. this bakery and spa shop says it has been like christmas eve every day with staff doing 16 hour days to cope with customer demand. more and more, they are using us instead of the supermarket. things like meat sales we have had seen 800% increase. we doa we have had seen 800% increase. we do a free home delivery or we have been doing a call and collect and we go out to the kerb with their shopping. had you ever done anything like that before? no. most of us are are still relying on supermarkets but convenience stores have benefitted as people stay home and shop local more often. it is not a universal boom though. stores in now empty city centres or near major transport hubs find that customers and business have suddenly disappeared. and those need help if they are going to survive. those businesses are akin to restaurant, pub, hotels, airline industry, where those industries were maybe three weeks' ago and there were facilities put in place and that same system

applies to convenience stores who may find themselves having to close in the coming weeks. spa has stores in 49 different countries and that has helped inform its uk response we have tried to understand the italian buying behaviour, the times of day people will shop and we have also taken a lot of to protective measures we have seen taken a lot of to protective measures we have seen in the uk. stores like these say the government paying sick pay has been a lifeline and they hope many of their new frequent customers will stay when the pandemic finally goes. glasgow airport is converting a car park into an coronavirus testing facility, the long stay car park will become a drive through testing site for front line nhs workers only. here is our scotland correspondent. glasgow airport would usually be gearing up for the buzz of the easter holidays, but these planes are going nowhere. the check in hall

is early quiet and the escalator is transporting no—one. but from today, the airport's 17 acre long stay car park has been transformed, into a coronavirus testing facility. it is one of a series of measures round the uk to increase the number of people being tested for covid—19. the secretary of state for scotland who himself developed mild symptoms said it will keep our front line who himself developed mild symptoms said it will keep ourfront line nhs staff doing thejobs said it will keep ourfront line nhs staff doing the jobs they are trained to do. allowing those who do not have the disease to go back to work, and treat those who are most in need of care. we are increasing nhs scotland's current capacity of 1900 tests a day to at least 3,500 tests a day, by the end of this month, at the latest. at glasgow airport those being asked to provide swa b airport those being asked to provide swab samples will feed an

appointment and the centre is not open to members of the public. where do we stand with the nhs when we know those brand—new hospitals are already set up or in the process of being set up, continuing questions about protective equipment i think the striking detail that we keep getting now from the chief medical officers in the different parts of the uk and from ministers as well, are the core facts that i can rely on. one of the big challenges is the business of the lag, so the institute social distancing but the consequences don't play out in the figures for a couple of weeks after. what they can point to and they frequently point to, is the headroom that remains as far as to, is the headroom that remains as faras nhs to, is the headroom that remains as far as nhs capacity is concerned and matt hancock has done that for the last few days, pointing out how many critical care beds there are still available for covid—19 patients and then looking at the regional

hotspots so london has been a regional hotspot for some time and the expansion of capacity coming at the expansion of capacity coming at the nightingale hospital in east london. yesterday it was striking there were references made to the situation in the midlands, there is concern in the english midlands of a spike in cases there, and the provision that is being created at the nec in birmingham to expand the headroom they would have as far as critical care is concerned. the percentage increases in the midlands are significant albeit from a relatively low base, as far as ppe is concerned, it is quite something, the amount of communication we have had at the bbc from people on the front line, not just had at the bbc from people on the front line, notjust in hospital, not just front line, notjust in hospital, notjust in gp practises but in care homes as well. the message from the health secretary has been this isn't an issue of supply, it is an issue of distribution and he did say this morning that there have been fewer calls to this hotline he set up, allowing medical practises to ring up allowing medical practises to ring up and demand more ppe and hopes

thatis up and demand more ppe and hopes that is an indication that the problem isn't as significant as it was. and we will see him in hopefully in the next few minutes at this latest news c0 nfe re nce the next few minutes at this latest news conference from downing street. thank you very much. let us look at developments also round the world. despite another 674 deaths in spain, the country has seen another daily decline in president trump warns american to prepare for ‘the toughest week‘ with many worldwide cases have passed 1.2m, with at least 65,000 deaths. in italy there is also hope that the crisis has passed its peak. our europe correspondent jean mackenzie is in rome. we had encouraging signs not only has italy reached the peak of the epidemic but things could be starting to turn round so we had fewer deaths than the day before. 681, that is the first time deaths have been in the 600s for well over

a week and a number of patients in intensive care fell. hospitals finally starting to see progress. the lockdown at the moment is to ta ke the lockdown at the moment is to take place until 13th april, so that is after easter, now there was some suggestion from italy‘s members of thejury psi suggestion from italy‘s members of the jury psi response team the other day —— emergency response team this could be extended into may. it is too early to say how long it will go on for, it depends what happens to the infection rate so over the coming weeks and the death rates because the authorities are desperate to prevent the likelihood ofa desperate to prevent the likelihood of a second outbreak or a a resurgence of infection, they are saying it is too early to ease restrictions the hands will be tight today. road blocks are being stepped up. police telling people to stay at home, no do what they would usually do on palm sunday which is visit friends and family, taking a traditional gift of anle live bran.. in the vatican the pope led a some

liberal democrat service at a quiet st peter‘s basilica. the service did not include any public participation. instead, it is taking place behind closed doors as part of isolation measures that are in place. ? germany experts say measures taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus there have also started to show an effect. our correspondent in berlin explained why germany had such a large capacity for testing. political will. angela merkel‘s government recognised early that testing was key, so the political will and the government unity was there. all divides were thrown aside, straightaway the government threw itself into testing widely. germany‘s federal structure helps here because the way the health system is organised and the way government and, and administrative structures a re government and, and administrative structures are organised, it means lots of things are done locally so it does mean that because local authorities have a lot of power, they have budgets they have control

of and decent budgets as well. that does mean that you know exactly where to locate the testing, and where to locate the testing, and where to locate the testing, and where to set up the structures. one example, down the street from here there is one centre opened a week ago. so these testing centres are springing up all over. it is not perfect because there are big queue, people have to wait a long time and there is pressure to increase that testing still more, but it certainly, germany is leading the way for other european countries looking at how to do the testing more widely, which is seen as one way to get out of this lockdown. president trump has warned people in the united states to be prepared for a big increase in coronavirus related deaths. new york state has suffered its biggest one day rise in the number of deaths so far, 630 people. there have been more than 300,000 cases and 8,000 deaths in the us in total. with new york accounting for more than 3,500

fatalities. on the lawns of central park a field hospital awaits the ill. overflow from new york hospitals which have run out of space. it is fully equipped and paid for by the christian organisation samaritans purse and will provide some relief ahead of the peak which the white house has predicted in the next six or seven days. queens is one of the cities worst hit neighbourhoods. paramedics... and we are interrupting that to go straight to downing street, and the health secretary for england and the deputy chief medical officer and their latest update. what is being done to address that critical problem, and more widely we understand three hospitals in the past few days have come close indeed, so running out of oxygen, what has been done to increase supplies to ensure that doesn‘t happen in the coming days and weeks,

when clearly the number of patients will increase? yes, this is a very important operational question, we have adequate supplies of the oxygen thatis have adequate supplies of the oxygen that is needed in hospitals, we need to make sure that each hospital has that available, we have had an equipment failure, as i think you referenced, and we therefore had to divert some ambulance, but this is the normal operation of the nhs when there are things like equipment failure, of course interest is heightened because of the nature of coronavirus, but the supply, the quantity of ex general and supply of ex general is something we have been working hard on and we have a high degree of confidence in the supply of oxygen. i was going to add comments i think professor steve paris made, which is to signal this isa paris made, which is to signal this is a positive sign in most cases, if you have a whole system where it is

unusual in the uk where we have a national health service, it means that we have a system of flagging, where there are potential risks or problems, before they actually become a significant problem. it is the strength of our system we have these flags going off at regular intervals and his comment back to the questions at the time was, this isa the questions at the time was, this is a positive thing, we flag them, we deal with them as they arise, but to reinforce what the secretary of state has said there is no insufficiency of oxygen and i think the public should not be concerned if they becomel and need a hospital admission that care is available to them. great. charlotte from talk radio. si thank you, mr hancock. you changed and updated the rules on ppe a few days ago. i was speaking to a doctor who said before these changes he was moving between treating david patients and cancer patients who had

compromised immune systems and he was terrified that he would be deadly to them because it didn't feel it was adequate. —— covid. can i ask, was he correct to be scared and if he was correct to be scared why has something had to be changed? we have upgraded the guidance, so now in all instances it is at or above the levels of protective equipment recommended by the world health organization. but we have also upgraded it following more being known about the virus. as we have learned about the science of coronavirus over the last few months, so we will keep upgrading and improving guidance as we learn more about it. and so that was the main reason for the changes, to make sure that we reflected the latest that we know about the virus. i think the new guidance set out on

thursday has been very widely welcomed and provides clarity about what protective equipment is needed in which circumstance. and then of course we have to deliver and make sure that that protective equipment thatis sure that that protective equipment that is needed according to the guidance gets to the front line. journey? just to support that, i don‘t know the individual case that you are describing, but clearly it wouldn‘t matter whether you were a cancer patient or a patient in another setting, we want to maintain good prevention infection and procedures and the bedrock of that through the nhs is a systematic practice and one reason why this country is very good. we don‘t get a lot of onward spread of infection in health care is settings because it‘s the basics, which we have been teaching the public, around good hand and respiratory hygiene in a systematic approach and using ppe carefully keeps that at bay. the new

guidance, what it has done is it has reinforced the fact that our guidance previously was inconsistent with who guidance. it was endorsed. i think it was reported on the 27th by who and recognised. what we are seeing now is a slightly different prevalence of disease and we have adapted our guidance to manage that so adapted our guidance to manage that so there is a level of uncertainty and there is a level of protection which is higher in some high—risk procedures so the areas we are concerned about from the clinical perspective are what we call aerosol generating procedures under pressure, so generating procedures under pressure, so this is where you get a potential airborne spread and we wa nt to potential airborne spread and we want to make sure people have absolutely adequate protection there. the other issue is recognising the settings in which people are working. the most obvious one would be if we went back for months, very unlikely anybody in the

emergency department would see anybody with covid—19. actually now in some of those settings where it is uncertain for professionals when they are first seeing patients and understanding them, it is important they have cover in anticipation of what might be a different prevalence of disease. so that‘s basically, i can give you more detail of the actual equipment, but that is effectively what we are trying to do, covering the changing circumstances. did you have a follow—up? circumstances. did you have a follow-up? i was just circumstances. did you have a follow-up? i wasjust going to ask, you talked about us knowing more about the disease now. knowing what we know now, should we have had these higher levels of protection from the beginning? were people at risk? the thing is that you can only make decisions based on the information that you have at the time. we are constantly looking for new information about this disease so new information about this disease so that we can improve the guidance that we have and the response that we have two it. the question we have

in government and that i ask myself every day is are we doing the right thing now and what can we change to improve our response for the future? so you can have a debate about the past but you have to take decisions on the information that‘s available at the time, and i think the previous guidance was the best guidance possible on the information that was available at the time, and then we have upgraded it.|j that was available at the time, and then we have upgraded it. i think to support that, it is not so much... we are obviously learning all the time about the disease but the basic guidance was entirely appropriate and asi guidance was entirely appropriate and as i say endorsed by who despite some media reporting about differences. but the important thing is we are now operating in a slightly different environment. so it is the uncertainty that some clinicians, not all clinicians, find themselves in, that we have reviewed where that is to ensure that they feel safer in those environments. i think there are other opportunities we are learning from. so, for

example, where we are finding that you can reuse masks safely, for example, with appropriate cleaning and technology, that‘s very helpful because of course we need to keep in mind that regardless of supplies and advice, the whole world wants personal protective equipment and it‘s really important that we all use it appropriately and judiciously, have it in the right places where it is needed but not be wasting it so that the people who are working on the front line, whether it be in care homes, domiciliary care, or in the front line ofan domiciliary care, or in the front line of an emergency department, they have the right ppe at the right time for the right clinical risk. that is what our whole basis of the guidance is based upon. thanks very much. jane marek at the i. how do you square what the queen says that about the nation's attributes of self—discipline with your warning of having to toughen the restrictions of people don't stop gathering in

parks? that's to the health secretary. and to the deputy chief medical officer, what is the testing strategy for care homes and prisons, given that these are emerging as main hotspots for cases and sadly deaths? are prisons and care homes going to be next in line for massed testing after nhs workers?|j going to be next in line for massed testing after nhs workers? i think we are all looking forward to seeing what the queen has to say and watching her address and listening very carefully to it. i think the message from all of those of us across the board is very clear, which is that we need perseverance in the face of some great challenges. that also means the perseverance in following the rules, andi perseverance in following the rules, and i couldn‘t be clearer about my emphatic requirement of people, which is backed up by law to follow the rules set out and to make sure that people stay at home, that‘s the

number one thing that you can do, and we have set out those four exemptions and people should stay at home unless they are going out for one of those four reasons and those four reasons alone. jenny. absolutely. you have highlighted two very critical domains, if you like, for public health surveillance and intervention. that‘s been recognised from the start of this incident and in fact is recognised before covid—19, we always keep a close eye on care homes and prisons because the setting in which people live is potentially problematic. for care homes you tend to have a collection, in the nicest possible use of the word, of potentially elderly or more vulnerable individuals. that‘s one issue. and certainly in prisons, you are intentionally, through a prison operation, holding people together.

so both of those environments are very well recognised. in fact, public health england hosts the who collaborating centre for healthy prisons, so we have a lot of experience and advise other parts of the world, and i know the key co nsulta nts the world, and i know the key consultants there have been working with the ministry ofjustice and with the ministry ofjustice and with the ministry ofjustice and with the prime minister on establishing and looking at how those environments should be treated. you asked specifically about testing. testing in both prisons and care homes has always been on the priority list, so once we move from containment to delay, if you remember the categories of testing that we have, they are clinical care of patients in hospitals has an absolute category because that manages, that is how we manage the safety and the benefits of that health intervention. but what we then do is test in care homes and in prisons. what we do do, though, is we wouldn‘t necessarily test everybody because you want to test everybody because you want to test where there is going to be a

positive advantage to doing the testing. i will stop in a moment. we usually test up to about five people, can vary depending on the setting, but to be sure that we have established what the issue is, it is usually quite possible in a setting like that to understand then on a clinical basis whether there is a case. it may not be laboratory confirmed but it would be a presumed clinical case. thanks very much. jim at the ft. sorry, you wanted to come back, jane. i wanted to come back on the question of testing, that is that they are next in line, but when will that testing take place given there are probably lots of people that are very concerned about their relatives in care homes and also the people who work in care homes and the people who work in prisons?|j the people who work in prisons?” perhaps didn‘t explain myself clearly. so, for any care home outbreaks, whether it relates to a worker or an individual resident, or a prisoner or somebody supporting

him or her, those tests happen now. they are in the prioritised list already, so the groups of people who are routinely tested and have been ever since we have started responding to this incident include potential outbreaks in care homes and prisons. that‘s been going on right from the start. in terms of other workers, as we go forward for nhs workers in front line care workers and responders, clearly those are in the priority group because we recognise that those workers, we need to think of the ca re workers, we need to think of the care sector almost like the other arm. we talk a lot about the acute hospital sector but we often forget that it hospital sector but we often forget thatitis hospital sector but we often forget that it is the care sector who are operating in the community, community nurses and domiciliary ca re community nurses and domiciliary care workers who are equally important in ourdrive care workers who are equally important in our drive to manage this incident, so they will come within prioritised key workers. does that answer the question, jane?” think it wasjust that answer the question, jane?” think it was just to get clarity on when that testing would take place

for those workers. if there is no specific timing... for those workers. if there is no specific timing. .. if the outbreaks happen already and the other workers fall into the expanding programme, which has been ramping up, as you have heard, and been reported on a daily basis this week. thanks. jim from the ft? secretary of state, could you please tell us yet on whether the government is preparing to take equity stakes on taxpayers' behalf in some of the large companies that have found themselves in major crisis because of the pandemic? and if so, do think richard branson's virgin atlantic is a worthy recipient of that kind of assistance given that in 2013 virgin sued the nhs after not being given a contract and richard branson lives asa contract and richard branson lives as a tech —— tax exile. niall ferguson suggested this morning

there could be a staggered way of doing the exit strategy in terms of different sectors and regions coming out of lockdown before others. is that possible? i'm going to not a nswer that possible? i'm going to not answer the first question and then jenny can answer the second one. my response to the first question is this is an area which rishi sunak has been doing unbelievable work. he is recognised around the world for the first class economic response we have got here in the uk. overall, from the protection of workers, the protection of self—employed, right across the board, they have taken the right steps and i think done it with remarkable speed. of course, there is enormous economic consequences for businesses of all sectors of the decisions that we have had to take, and these decisions on social distancing aren‘t the sort of decisions anybody would want to take. that i think the

way the prime minister and chancellor have responded on the economic front has been absolutely first rate and i will leave it to them to answer questions about the details of what might happen, or what might not happen, which they are best placed to do rather than me. jenny on the second question? the brief answer is all things are possible and it is important because right from the start we have driven the response from science and we have modelled, and neil has clearly been one of the key contributors to that modelling group and in understanding what interventions we need to put in at what time. i know there is a huge amount of work ongoing at the moment looking at both the individual packets of intervention that have gone in, so we staggered them in. some of them had significantly more impact on the way in and those are the ones that we put in at the time to give the maximum benefit. but clearly what we

don‘t yet know, and i think this is critical, and i didn‘t hear neil‘s interview this morning, i apologise, but what we don‘t yet know is how the disease on a whole population basis has affected immunity, how many of us have had it and how many haven‘t. and that‘s important if we can find that information because it will give us an understanding then, as he has obviously described, by region, for example, so london has had a lot of cases here. if it was found that a large number of people we re found that a large number of people were immune, then it may be that different interventions could come off sooner or later. equally, if we find that there are areas where there have been less cases prevalent, then we need to be very mindful what would happen if the social interaction levels increased in those particular areas and what the impact might be. as you will have heard many people say before,

the very last thing we want to do is have put in all of this effort with everybody trying to do the right thing, almost everybody, across the country, and then find we lift the lid too early and we have a second spike. it will waste the effort we have put in and we still need to get over that very first hump really of the epidemic curve and then look at the epidemic curve and then look at the detail but i can assure you there is a huge amount of work involved in that and neil clearly is contributing to it. thanks, jim. the next question from harriet at the pa. hi. many people have been social distancing will be wondering if it is safe for them to see family if they have been following the guidance over the easter weekend. are they safe to do that, if not can you explain why not? surely the chances of them having coronavirus are very very small and to dr harris, we know the testing isn't showing the true picture of the current red of the virus. how many

people to you estimate have had or currently have coronavirus in the uk? thanks, harriet. the answer to the first question is really clear, which is that this virus can spread in all sorts of different ways, both from directly respiratory and also through objects and touching objects that others then touch. and the uncertainty over who has it especially before they have symptoms, means that the only effective way of bending the curve down, is to reduce that social contact, and that is why we came to the conclusions that we did, the difficult conclusions, that we have to have such extraordinary social distancing policies in place, and why we took the demore than a week ago to flip the basis of the rules from saying you can‘t do certain

things to saying, you must stay at home unless you are doing one of a small number of thing, four thing, which we have been crystal clear about the rules and the evidence shows that a very high proportion of the public understand those rules, and a very high proportion of the public are following the rules and we need everybody to be following those rules, and that is why we keep, we talk about them, so much and the importance of following them. i might add to the comments on that, because i think sometimes people get, they are into the phrase family with household, and that is an important difference, so, in infection control or public health terms it‘s a household that is really important, so for example if you a group of students and you probably will be home with your family in one household, now, but

previously, you might have had five stu d e nts previously, you might have had five students living in a flat, under one roof, sharing cooking, bathrooms, all sorts of thing, in infection control terms is a house hole, so the important thing is we know that households tend to have the same risks exposures so they tend to have the same opportunity to become infected from each other and that is one of the reasons we have to stay at home family isolation policies. it is is a household isolation policy. if your family is with you, the likelihood if one of you have had it, after you have worked your 14 had it, after you have worked your 1a days probably your risk is low, it is possible that one of you may have had it and not noticed anywhere symptoms, particularly, but if your family lives in a different town, they are an entirely different household, and mixing those two is not what we want to do generally. so, ithink not what we want to do generally. so, i think difference between family and households, so it is stay

with the people that you live under the same roof with and keep doing that for as long as you can and safely, so that rally adds to that from an infection control perspective and i can‘t answer your second question and i am not going to try, because that is why we need to try, because that is why we need to understand the immunity, the picture across the population, obviously some countries are a bit ahead of us, somewhere like china, other countries, we learn where we can, from reports that they do, and we are looking, but there is no country in the world currently which has good population based testing for community to be able to say can confidence how many of the population have had the disease and which layer, which ages, which sexes or people with different characteristics, we need to understand that in the future. i won‘t hesitate to guess at this point. does that answer your

question or explain why we are not able to answer it? yes, just to clarify, so people who have only been going to the shops or only going out for exercise are still at risk of having coronavirus, having picked up and aren't safe to travel by car to picked up and aren't safe to travel by carto go picked up and aren't safe to travel by car to go and see family or friends? that is right. i have a particular interest in this, having had coronavirus, and having come through it, obviously i have asked these questions for myself and as well as secretary of state, and we just, weave, the reason, the rules are there for a reason. even for those of us who have had it, where the science predicts it is likely that our immunity is hiring and our about to transmit the virus is lower, we are not yet confident enoughin lower, we are not yet confident enough in how much higher the immunity is and how much lower the likelihood of those of us who have had the disease transmitting it is to be able to change the rules so

there is clarity on the social democrating rules for people whether they have had coronavirus or not. and the rules are the same for everyone, and will be until the science can give us confidence that we can say something different to those who have been through it. final question, paris from the scotsman. thank you secretary of state. in the past few hours we have learned that the chief medical officer of scotland dr catherine calderwood for the past two weekends has driven over a0 miles to a holiday home, taking with her on one occasion her entire family and on the other occasion her husband, how damaging is that to your efforts to convince the public to stay home and save lives? if dr calderwood worked for you would you have asked for her resignation, and can i ask dr harries, is she still an effective spokesperson for the public

information campaign and do you have a second home that you visited since movement restrictions came into place. thank you. they are addressing the question that have been asked on scotland. these rules are there for everyone. we couldn‘t be clearer that the social distancing rules are there for eve ryo ne distancing rules are there for everyone to follow. i understand that the scottish cmo has apologised, and as far as i see it, thatis apologised, and as far as i see it, that is a matter for the scottish government to address. thanks very much everybody. that is it for today. and i hope that you, like me, will tune in to see the address from her majesty at 8.00 this evening, and thank you all very much indeed.

matt hancock the health secretary for england giving the latest downing street news conference alongside the deputy chief medical officerjenny harry, if you were watching from the beginning you will have no titianed something different about this one. normally it starts with the government putting forward its latest update and questions from journalists but because of a technical problem at the source of the broadcast, the broadcasters did not receive that first part of the news c0 nfe re nce not receive that first part of the news conference so we came to not receive that first part of the news conference so we came to it at the time part way through the questions but we hope to bring you the beginning bit so you can see the pa rt the beginning bit so you can see the part that all the broadcasters did not receive later on. in the meantime chris mason is here. perhaps we can start where that news conference ended chris, because matt hancock was asked about the news that we had from scotland where the chief medical officerfor that we had from scotland where the chief medical officer for scotland has had to apologise after flouting her own guidance. an astonishing

development. dr catherine calderwood the chief medical officer in scotla nd the chief medical officer in scotland who has regularly appeared alongside nicola sturgeon at the daily news conferences, she has been the face of the public information films demanding we stay at home and only leave the house in exceptional circumstances and the messages we have become used to over the last couple of weeks she received a telephone call last night from nicola sturgeon informing her that the scottish sun on sunday has pictures of her visitings her holiday home. we heard at the end of the news conference for two weekends ina row the news conference for two weekends in a row she visited her holiday home in fife, with her husband this weekend with her whole family, the weekend with her whole family, the weekend before, in direct contravention of the rules she has set out. there is an excruciating news c0 nfe re nce set out. there is an excruciating news conference featuring the first minister and dr calderwood in which profound apologies tumbled from the lips of the chief medical officer over and over again. crucially,

nicola sturgeon, while saying yes, dr calderwood had ma made a mistakes and she was wrong and she knows she was wrong, wants to keep her in place. so she had to weather the entire news conference facing question after question about her own conduct. interestingly there, matt hancock while able to say it isn‘t his responsibility because clearly this is a devolved matter for scotland to make a decision on, he repeated, didn‘t he, these rules are there for everyone, and making the point earlier in the news conference or the bit we saw, that there is an emphatic requirement for people to stick to these social distancing rules, backed up by the law. it is important, because across the uk, people have severe restrictions on what used to be normal life, for all of us and people in many other countries are experiencing similar restrictions of which vary slightly but they have the same essence so which vary slightly but they have the same essence so the idea that the same essence so the idea that the people who give us this guidance, who put these in place

will not honour them themselves. the simple reality, is while obviously the coronavirus crisis is one with deep clinical and medical concerns for lots of people, and particularly those who are ill, or who are recently breed. the experience for the mass of the population of this crisis is one of a restriction of liberty. that the reality, we are being told by medical officers across the uk and by our political leaders that is why these social distancing measures are essential. so when one of the figures who is tagg tasked with communicating that message is found and acknowledges she has twice ignored her own message, then clearly, that is something that is going to resonate and generate headlines, i suspect it will generate headlines in the uk and round the world. what a day she has had. not only has she had do that news conference standing

alongside the first minister, we know from police scotland she had a visit this morning from police officers, who had to remind her of the very advice that she has been communicating to scottish people. and her apology was to everyone but particularly to nhs staff who are at the front line of dealing with this. in terms of the questions from the downing street conference, on a whole range of different things on the, the testing that might take place in prisons and care homes, co—clea rly place in prisons and care homes, co—clearly personal protective equipment is still an issue, the way out of the lockdown, there is a whole range of issues. there was. you began to see a sense in the range of the questions today, about how understandably nervous lots of people are, so just as we joined that news conference, midway through, a couple of questions in, from reportersjoining remotely, matt hancock was talking about the story we were bringing you yesterday round about this time yesterday,

about the a&e at, in watford, being closed, and patients being diverted elsewhere. matt hancock making the point that is something that happens relatively often when you have an incident of equipment failure and it would only tend to generation headlines when there is a deep anxiety about the ability to cope. concerns about the provision of earn personal protective equipment, to people in front line public service, beyond those that often generate the headlines, so as you say in the context of prison staff, we have seen context of prison staff, we have seen it for a few days now, in the context of care homes and notjust gps surgeries and in hospitals, and i think adds long adds we head now into the third week of this lockdown, then the questions inevitably sharp none the direction of government, because as a country we are having to continue to live through the restrictions placed on our day—to—day life, and because of

the lag that exists between implementing social distancing measure, and any potential consequence that has in driving down the infection rate, we are still seeing, aren‘t we, day—to—day very grim numbers round those who are hospitalised and those who are dying, a further 621 deaths in the uk announced in the last 2a hours. that means the total number of deaths is now edging close to 5,000, a93a. chris mason, thank you very much. at the beginning of holy week, all christian churches in the uk are closed to public worship because of the coronavirus. but one anglican parish in central london has designed a weekly online service — complete with prayer readings, homilies and hymns. what they didn‘t expect was it would be watched around the world. our religion editor, martin bashir, reports on how the parish of all souls church holds a sunday service when no—one is allowed through its doors. this is god‘s reminder

that something is wrong. this is church during a pandemic. here is a virus we cannot see. and yet it might be anywhere. this rector in central london normally looks out at hundreds of congregants. now it is a single camera and online worshippers. you can get it without symptoms and yet it might kill me. god speaking to us reminds us our life is more fragile than we like to think. the music at all souls is world—renowned but the choir is now dispersed across the city. so how do you hold a sunday services when no a sunday service when no one can come to church? well, that was the challenge, martin. so we have been stitching together audio clips of people playing into their smartphones and tablets at home. here we go. clarinets and saxophones. here is the woodwind section.

we have an organist, and then putting that together and making a split screen video with lots of people playing. just amazing. the sound you‘re able to get when combined together, it blew me away when i was editing it. i will give you a bit of eric singing on his phone. # no scheme of man. # ourjob is bringing god and people together, most of the time people think it is hard to meet god and now it is hard to meet people.

hearing the a voiice and seeing aface is much more valuable a face is much more valuable than e—mail or text. it has been incredible to know that when you are watching, there are literally hundreds if not thousands watching the service in the morning and knowing that it is notjust london. people are watching all over the world and that would not have happened before this. this church has inadvertently stumbled upon a new era for worshipping and the local congregation has become a global one. martin bashir, bbc news. that report from our religion editor and in the studio now is our health editor hugh pym. you joined that, or dialled in, what of the term is, that a news conference at downing street which we didn‘t get the beginning of for technical reasons. matt hancock opened with repeating the key messages around social

distancing, particularly in the light of his comments earlier that if people continue to flout the guidelines, that may be they will have to be tightened up, that exercising won‘t be possible. he talked about the preparedness of the nhs. and then came the opening questions. i asked nhs. and then came the opening questions. iasked him nhs. and then came the opening questions. i asked him about ventilators because earlier today, this equipment obviously very important for critical care. there has been a lot of debate about ventilators and how many there are. early in the day he said there were between 9000—10,000 ventilators in the system and he wanted to get to and could see a pathway towards 18,000. but it wasn‘t quite clear how many of those would be in place next week. that‘s when the peak of the demand on the nhs is expected to start. he said that he would get to, the system would get to 18,000 but it wasn‘t entirely clear how many would actually be in place next week. there was another question asked about oxygen supplies because over the weekend watford general

hospital had reported a problem with oxygen and declared a critical incident. then the trust said that was down to a mechanical problem. it wasn‘t necessarily anything to do with overuse. but it was repeated by jenny harries, the deputy chief medical officer for england, that there was enough oxygen in the nhs to cope with a likely increase in demand. the point about ventilators ties into one about staffing and concern in the nhs that there are large numbers of doctors and nurses, and other staff who do support work in health care, who are either off sick, or having to be a way because someone sick, or having to be a way because someone in their household has symptoms. yes, there have been various figures put out there, the royal college of physicians said a week or so ago that 25% of doctors we re week or so ago that 25% of doctors were not at work because they are either looking after a member of their household or having to self—isolate or they were sick themselves. that was clarified during the week by the department of

health saying for england it was about 7—8% of doctors who were off because of sickness, but nothing in terms of numbers was given in terms of those who had to be off because they were self—isolating. this is clearly a problem and varies in different hospitals in different parts of the health system. but yes, there is a worry, and doctor david oliver who is a consultant wrote a newspaper piece today about the apprehension and anxiety that many staff face and know things are coming down the track towards them in work which are going to be very difficult if demand picks up. that's why this whole question of where the peak comes and how high the peak will be is so important. the gap, or hopefully no gap, between that and the capacity of the nhs at that point in time. the predictions are pointing toward something in terms ofa pointing toward something in terms of a peak at least beginning next week but how long it goes on for is not clear. the whole point of the government policy so far has been to

flatten that peak, to bring it down so flatten that peak, to bring it down so it isn‘t a spike but it could continue for a little bit longer. so no one is prepared to put any time on that, and of course the decisions about lifting restrictions will have to be made in the light of what happens through that period. but thatis happens through that period. but that is the expected time of maximum pressure on the national health service, whether it has the capacity to meet the demand which is expected. it was said in the briefing that there was a possibility that the caseload wouldn‘t be as high as what had first been predicted, although hospital admissions, we saw a slide, had picked up a bit in london and the midlands having been shown to have fallen a bit yesterday. though the point made was this was likely to bea the point made was this was likely to be a trend which was in line with what they‘ve expected. to be a trend which was in line with what they've expected. it was interesting to hear one of the key figures who has been advising the government, professor neil ferguson, talking about things reaching a plateau rather than a peak, which i guess might be worrying in terms of the fact that plateau might be quite lengthy and therefore you have that number of cases for a longer period

than you might want. that is implicit in flattening the peak, that it goes on for a little bit longer. but neil ferguson and ministers have said it all depends on whether people observe social distancing. they will know by next week whether the tighter measures introduced have begun to have some impact sadly on the number of deaths and on the number of cases and hospital admissions. they will be watching that data very carefully to see where this is going and what effect government measures have had so effect government measures have had so far. hugh pym, health editor, thank you very much. technical problems meant the first part of the briefing from the health secretary matt hancock was not broadcast, and we can bring that to you now. the government is working through our action plan, which aims to save as many lives as possible by slowing the spread of the virus. protecting the spread of the virus. protecting the nhs and preventing it from being overwhelmed. our response is built

upon the bedrock of the best possible scientific and medical advice so that we can take the right steps at the right time. first by slowing the spread of the virus across our society. and second, by boosting the capacity of the nhs so that we can always care for those who fall sick. sadly, that we can always care for those who fallsick. sadly, coronavirus continues to spread. i can report that through the government‘s ongoing monitoring and testing programme, according to the latest figures, 195,52a people have now been tested for the virus and a7,806 have tested positive. across the uk, the number of people admitted to hospital with coronavirus symptoms is now 16,702 and of those who have

contracted the virus, a93a have sadly died. we mourn their passing and we offer our profound sympathies to theirfamilies and we offer our profound sympathies to their families and their friends. i‘ve lost two people who i was fond of, so i understand what a difficult time this is for the country. this evening her majesty the queen will give a rare formal address to the nation. and i know that we will all be watching and listening to see and hear what she has to say on behalf of us all. i understand that people are yearning to know how long this will all last. and the answer is entirely dependent on how much people follow the rules on social distancing. following these rules is mission—critical if we are to protect the nhs, slow the spread and

give the nhs time to expand capacity and so save lives. the more people follow the rules then the faster we will all be through it. so i say this to the small minority of people who are breaking the rules, or pushing the boundaries. you‘re risking your own life and the lives of others and you‘re making it harderfor of others and you‘re making it harder for us of others and you‘re making it harderfor us all. we have included exercise is one of the things you can leave your house to do because exercise is good for our physical and our mental health. but please do not bend or break this rule. we can‘t rule out further steps. but i don‘t want anyone to think that any changes to the social distancing rules are imminent because the vast majority are following the rules. and to you, to all those at home, to all those who are following the rules, i want to say thank you on

behalf of us all. and especially on behalf of us all. and especially on behalf of us all. and especially on behalf of the doctors, nurses and other colleagues who put their lives on the line to care for you in the nhs. as well as working to slow the spread, of course, we are increasing the capacity of the nhs. last week we saw the completion of the nightingale hospital in east london. it was planned, constructed and fully staffed within nine days. it was humbling to see the nhs, the military and everyone involved in its construction pulling together in this time of need. and there are many more 19 girls to come across our entire united kingdom, including harrogate, immingham, manchester, glasgow, belfast and cardiff —— many more nightingales. these hospitals are on top of the expanding health ca re are on top of the expanding health care provision across the nhs. there are 2336 per critical health care beds in england and over 9000 ventilators are now available to nhs coronavirus patients across the

country thanks to the national effort to ramp up capacity. —— spare. 300 ventilators arrive this weekend from china and we have seen uk manufacturers working at pace to develop new ones. of course, hospitals and ventilators are critical but our nhs is nothing without the people who work there. and it has been so encouraging to see over 27,000 former health care professionals signing up to return to the nhs front line. i want to say a great big thank you to each and every one of you. welcome back, and i hope that many more will sign up in the weeks ahead. this weekend, we also have launched our latest technology, a new coronavirus status checker. it asks people who currently have coronavirus symptoms to share their experiences to help us to share their experiences to help us in ourfight against to share their experiences to help us in our fight against the virus. and it will help make use of this information which will in turn help us information which will in turn help us to understand the disease. so we

can, for instance, allocate resources like oxygen, ventilators and additional staff to where they are needed most. please do your bit. if you currently have symptoms. by going to www. /tasers —— status checker. the more people who use it the more informed our response will be and the smart use of data like this and digital technologies is one of the strongest bulwarks we have against coronavirus. because new technologies can help us to meet these new threats and allow us to gain the understanding and insight that we need to defeat this virus once and for all. technology is one piece of the jigsaw and an important piece, but ultimately the strongest weapon in our arsenal is if wejoin together and follow the rules that have been so i know what a challenge

this can i really understand how eve ryo ne this can i really understand how everyone wants to enjoy the sunny weather. but the cruel thing is about the coronavirus as it thrives on social contact and the human bonds that bring so much to life. so we must show our resolve. all the things we miss now, going to the pub for a point with friends, or sitting in the park with a book, or hugging a grandchild, we will have these moments again and they will mean even more to us. but until then, the only way to protect yourselves, your loved ones and your community is to stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. —— https://www. nhs. uk/coronavirus—stat— us—checker. https://www. nhs. uk/coronavirus—stat— us-checker. the health secretary for england matt hancock speaking earlier in downing streetjust after we heard the latest daily death toll of people who died after testing positive for coronavirus, which now

stands at 621 in the last 2a hours. the health secretary saying he could understand how difficult this is for the country and he revealed he has lost two people that he said, "i was fond of." he had to remind on the guidance on social distancing and warning people that if they flout that guidance you are harming us all come in his words. chris mason, our political correspondent is here. that point about the guidance important because he has again warned, particularly on exercise, that people should not bend or break those rules. we are a couple of weeks into this new world we have been adjusting to, the weather is improving, the east holiday and bank holiday weekend are round the corner and perhaps people retiring of rattling round home more than they are used to so the temptation is to go out and spend more time than the guidance allows so what we were hering there was a repeat of a message we have become familiar. in blunt news terms we didn‘t learn a

vast amount today compared with some of the news conferences of recent days, matt hancock repeating again something we have heard in terms of reassurance over the last couple of days about the headroom that exists within the nhs, there are critical ca re within the nhs, there are critical care beds that are still available, we haven‘t yet reached the point where the nhs is unable to cope. but then coming back to that central message about social distancing which is run through as a central theme through these conferences but was the key message today, just as it was yesterday and mr hancock saying this morning sitting in this very chair on the andrew marr show that he would be comfortable with the idea of stepping up the social distancing measures, maybe banning exercise outside our own homes. distancing measures, maybe banning exercise outside our own homesm has happened in other countries. pointing to france where people only leave home with documentation. he did say the vast majority of people are following the rules and thanked them. at this point he said the rules are for everyone, in answer to

the question asked about the scottish chief medical officer, who has apologised after leaving her home to go to her second home on two occasions. the most extraordinary astonishing detail today, courtesy of the scottish sun on sunday with pictures of the scottish chief medical officer dr catherine calderwood at her home some 50 miles away from her principle home in edinburgh in fife, she didn‘tjust go there for one weekend, she went there for two in a row, in direct contravention of the advice she has been broadcasting daily from the stage standing alongside nicola sturgeon, she apologised once, again and over and over again, she remains in post, despite all of the opposition parties or principle ones in scotland calling for her resignation, suggesting her position is untenable given her capacity to i ignore her owned a vice, nicola sturgeon believes as things stand at least that scotland is best served by retaining her expertise, everyone

if her embarrassment has been maxed out by a visit from the police and having to apologise over and over again in public. chris, let us hear again in public. chris, let us hear a little of what she said earlier, dr catherine calderwood, that this is what she said in that news conference. i have already issued a statement this morning apologising unreservedly for travelling away from my home while restrictions were in place. as well as this weekend it is important to be clear, that i also was there last weekend with my husband. i did not follow the advice iam giving husband. i did not follow the advice i am giving to other, i am truly sorry for that. i have seen a lot the comments from members of the public on twitter today, people calling me a hypocrite, people telling me about the hardships they have endured while following my guidance. my office has received e—mails from members of the public who are making clear to me their disappointment, an unhappiness. people have told me i a am irresponsible, i have behaved as if my advice does not apply to me. i

wa nt my advice does not apply to me. i want people to know they have seen all of that. and i have heard the comments. what i did was wrong. i am very sorry. it will not happen again. i know how important the advice is they have issued, i do not want my mistake to distract from that. i don‘t want to make the jobs of the police or my nhs colleagues any harder. and i eh apologise to them as well. i have a job to do as chief medical officer, to provide advice to ministered on the past of this virus, and to support the medical profission profession as they work night and day to save lives. this was a mistake, human error and there is no excuses. i should not have done what i did, i am very sorry about that. i have spoken to the police this morning, about this, and iam police this morning, about this, and i am sorry for taking up that time on this when it could have been avoided. having spoken with the first minister this morning, my intention is to continue to focus on

myjob. intention is to continue to focus on my job. deeply uncomfortable moment for her. most awkward excruciating news co nfe re nce for her. most awkward excruciating news conference i for her. most awkward excruciating news conference i have seen a public official have to give, there she is as the public face of public health in scotland, standing alongside the first minister of scotland, and acknowledging as we heard there that the police had knocked on her door to remind her of her owned a vice, and their legal obligation to remind her of all people, to stick to it is astonishing. earlier on today, the new labour leader has been making his first public appearance, interviews since being elected to his post, and he talked about the government, how in his view the government, how in his view the government has made serious mistakes, you have news in about his top team, the first announcement. mistakes, you have news in about his top team, the first announcementm the last couple of minutes keir starmer has announced some of the senior post, we haven‘t got the full list, we will get it in the next 2a hours so angela rayner who was

elected at the deputy leader yesterday, will be the chair of the labour party, anneliese dodds will be the new shadow chancellor, replacing john mcdonnell. she is a former shadow treasury minister, the mpfor former shadow treasury minister, the mp for oxford east, former member of the european parliament. lisa nandy, one of the contenders for the leadership becomes shadow foreign secretary. nick thomas simmons, rachel reeves will shadow michael gove as shadow low chancellor of the duchy of lancaster and john ashworth will remain as the shadow health secretary, that team of names will form what happen he describes as a shadow covid—19 committee so will lead the opposition response do the government as far as the virus is concerned. what does that list of names suggest to you about the type of leader we will have? the most striking thing is the absence of those who were seen to be politically closest to jeremy

corbyn, so away has gonejohn mcdonnell. he said he would stand down whenjeremy corbyn stood down. also gone barry gardiner, john trick kept and ian lavery and the last two we re very kept and ian lavery and the last two were very close politically to jeremy corbyn. no word on rebecca long—bailey, in the final three for the leadership, we are told that emily thornberry, who was relieved of her services as shadow foreign secretary will remain in the cabinet. we don‘t know in whatjob. nick brown remaining as chief whip, angela smith in the lords. we will see from keir starmer, an attempt in his casting of the shadow cabinet and the remaining posts to have a broader range of voices from the labourfamily, broader range of voices from the labour family, than just those associated with the left—wing under jeremy corbyn. he has been asked about whether he will bring back home who are blairites or brownites, people are keen to attach labels because we are searching for answers about the kind of thrust of

direction. we are, because sir keir starmer was cautious in the way he approached the leadership campaign, he got off to a good start, he was very well—organised. he was quickly seen very well—organised. he was quickly seen to be the front runner, and then was quite cautious, because he wa nted then was quite cautious, because he wanted to ensure he was going to win and he was seen quickly, as the useful preceptable of votes of those who didn‘t want to see rebecca long—bailey win, who wanted to see the labour party learning the lessons of the last five years but asa lessons of the last five years but as a result, there is a lot about sir keir starmer politically in terms of his instincts we don‘t know. is he to the right ofjeremy corbyn? yes, he is. is he probably to the left of tony blair? yes, he probably is. but beyond that, he has been relatively circumstance spectrum and so who he puts in round his top table, and in the more junior ranks and then how he prosecutes the business of being the

leader of the opposition, particularly in these unprecedented times will be fascinating. there will be continuity in thejonathan ashworth. yes. chris mason, thank you very much. more of what we heard earlierfrom you very much. more of what we heard earlier from downing you very much. more of what we heard earlierfrom downing street, because we brought you a clip a moment ago of matt hancock, the health secretary and now let us hear what jenny harries said. so, what we have here, i think we have got four slides to show what is happening over the last few days, i think it is important people can see the data, and what is happening from our intervention, and the first slide probably hasn‘t changed very much, but that is really good new, what it shows, is that our transport use is down and remains down, since early march, beginning back in february as well, and we are managing to sustain that, as the secretary of state has said, it is

really important we continue to do that, despite the good weather, so thank you to the members of the public for observing that and please ensure we keep moving in that direction. next slide please. so, the second slide shows the number of new cases, now these are lab number of new cases, now these are la b test number of new cases, now these are lab test reported case, you will be aware our capacity is increasing all the time, on laboratory tests so we need to interpret this with a bit of caution. we are following to a degree an epidemic curve, we can see the rise and we will, of course, in due course be looking to see that level off, but you will notice that over the last 2a hours or so, there is an apparent big surge there, we just need to keep in mind we need to watch this for a trend over time, because as our testing capacity increases, inevitably we will find more cases. thank you, next slide

please. and again, england hospital admissions for covid—19, so i think the critical thing here is again, looking at the data as it flows across, think of the trend across the points on the graph, not on an individual day—to—day basis, but nevertheless it gives an indication of how hard our different parts of the country are working, here it is hospital admissions so it is the nhs, but there will be comparative streams of health and care staff working in the care sector as well, as the number of cases rise. so clearly, london, we all know has been working super hard on the front line, as those cases continue to rise now with an increase over the last 2a hours in the north—west. we still, as the secretary of state said have capacity in all hospitals to manage these cases, and we are hoping in due course, if everybody continues to practise social distancing, that those cases will

start to fall, clearly there is a delay in the number of hospital admissions, from one people contract the disease and become more ill and need more intensive care and so there will be a lag on some of this data compared with our social distancing measures. and the last slide please. and the last slide please. and again, this gives an indication of the global death comparison, now, again, as many of but colleagues have said before, —— my, this tries to give a direct comparison, even though some of the international comparative data is difficult to interpret, but i think it is important we continue to look and where necessary and where possible to learn from other countries, the uk in this slide is in blue, in the centre of that grouping, and these are the deaths which have all been calculated from a zero day, they have been brought back to who when

the first 50 deaths were reported in the first 50 deaths were reported in the country. now for the uk these are covid—19 associated deaths, they are covid—19 associated deaths, they are all sad events, they will not all be a death as a result of covid—19, but certainly we need to be sure that we are counting everything appropriately, and being very clear and transparent on that, and so we will continue to track and monitor this, and learn from other countries where we can. jenny harris, the deputy chief medical officer with the latest update on how coronavirus is affecting people in england and other matter, she showed again that after london the next part of england with the highest number of hospital admissions due to coronavirus is the midlands and she was asked in the subsequent questions from journalist, about the mixing of families and people seeing their relatives and she the reality important way to think about it is not families, but households, that is the key thing, the people you live with and the necessity of

noting your household with that of others. let‘s look ahead to tonight when there will be broadcast in the uk and around the world a rare message from the queen when she will issue a special address to the nation and commonwealth and i‘m joined by our royal correspondent nicholas witchell ahead of that in the studio. what are you expecting?‘ rare moment indeed, broadcast at the request of the british government but extremely unusual. we remember that the queen, queen elizabeth, is the longest serving head of state in the longest serving head of state in the world and this broad cat really will be without parallel throughout the 68 years of her reign —— broadcast. at a time when this nation and other nations are facing real peril. to find a parallel you really need to go back to 19a0 when, as princess elizabeth, just 1a years old, she broadcast at the time of 01:31:00,656 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 the blitz with her