this is a bbc news special. we will bring you the very latest government briefing on the coronavirus shortly. but firstly, an eastern message to stay indoors this weekend as the number of deaths from coronavirus in the uk rises by more than 900. downing street says the prime minister continues to be in very good spirits in hospital, and after leaving intensive care. new york sta rts leaving intensive care. new york starts to bury some of its debt in mass graves, with nearly 160,000 people infected across the state. here there are concerns that postal workers aren't being fully protected against the virus. and nearly £2 million lost in virus —related fraud. we confront was behind the

websites selling protective equipment that they can't provide. urs camera, though, aren't you? you're trying to rip people off, people in need. good afternoon. there have been more than 900 for the deaths of people with coronavirus across the uk. we expect more detail on those figures shortly. the government has launched a publicity campaign with the message stay home

and have a "safe easter". borisjohnson is out of intensive care and is said to be in "extremely good spirits" at st thomas‘ hospital in london. police in scotland have handed out more than 500 fines to people who have flouted lockdown rules. new york state now has more coronavirus cases than any other country outside the us, with almost 160,000 people infected. and, european union finance ministers have agreed an emergency rescue package worth half a trillion euros for the economies worst hit by the pandemic. more on all those developments later but first here's later, but first here's richard galpin with the latest. the bank holiday has begun with beautiful weather in many areas, like here in brighton. but there is also trepidation. will we abide by the social distancing instructions to ensure we don't now cause a surge in infections? no running, please. 0nly walking.

here on the thames footpath, they are stopping runners who normally crowd this route. and on facebook today, a doctor working in a hospitalfilled with coronavirus patients begs people to respect the government instructions. and those pleas would surely be re—enforced by the prime minister, seen here before he went into hospital. he's now out of intensive care and recuperating from his battle with coronavirus. but it may be weeks before he's back in work. i don't think you could say that he's out of the woods now,

he has to take time. i am not across the details but i cannot believe you can walk away from this and go straight back to downing street, and pick up the reins without a period of readjustment. there's no rest, though, for the construction workers who have almost completed the building of another nightingale field hospital, this one in birmingham. it will have up to 4,000 beds. there are indications hospital admissions and new infections across the country are beginning to level off. and government officials and experts are now focusing on ways in which the lockdown can eventually be lifted. measures will be targeted probably by age, by geography, and we will need to introduce, in my view, it is not any sort of government policy, just my view, much larger levels of testing at a community level, to be able to really isolate cases more effectively and identify

where transmission is happening. much depends on what we all do in the coming weeks. if social distancing is observed, then experts hope the spread of coronavirus will decline. it needs to get to lower levels before there is any possibility of the lockdown being lifted. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley is here. do we have any indication where the main emphasis may be of the conference come up main emphasis may be of the conference come up of downing street press conference? we're never sure. i think we will hear more about the death figures. it does seem that... the numbers keep rising. today could be one of the highest 2a hour period death figures. i'm sure matt hancock will want to talk about that. and

theissue will want to talk about that. and the issue of ppe. we keep hearing about the shortages in certain parts of the country for nhs staff object front line. each day we get a briefing from no 10 in the early afternoon, where they read out the number of ppe pieces of equipment that are being delivered. there are those anecdotal cases of where it is not getting through quick enough. we may here more of that today. the government has been saying it does have the right quantity of personal protective clothing, distribution seems to be the problem. but they said that two weeks ago. they did and there was controversy when the deputy cmo suggested the issue had be solved when we were still hearing cases where people weren't getting everything. there is a couple of things here. first nhs hospitals,

maybe, the supply lines to them have improved to the extend to the key areas where people with coronavirus areas where people with coronavirus are being treated. they are getting that equipment a bit more than they were. there is still issues in care homes, where some people have raised concerns that individual carers are having to recycle some pieces of ppe. some places don't have enough to make sure everybody is protected and likewise the other maybe not front line health services, but places where some coronavirus infected patients may end up or pass through, maybe they have not had as much. it is probably an issue that the health secretary will want to address. as you say, the numbers of people who have died as a result of all this, probably continuing to rise. but yesterday we had the suggestion that the number of hospitals admissions were beginning to stabilise.

that seems to be the green shoots we hear, the idea that hospitalisations are stabilising, that doesn't necessarily mean deaths will stabilise, there is off a two—week lag between the two figures. so the death figures potentially could be the highest we have seen so far. clearly, there are reel concerns thatis clearly, there are reel concerns that is still happening and i think there are questions for the government on that. also i should say that the chief nursing awe fillser for say that the chief nursing awe fillserfor england, say that the chief nursing awe fillser for england, ruth may will be there, reemphasising the easter message that people need to stay indoors or stay at home to protect the nhs. yes the weather might be beautiful this weekend, but the government are hammering home that message that things are not changing. we had that conversation about whether the lock down might be lifted. the truth is it is not going

to be, the government has made it clear this needs to continue for a wee while yet and there is a fear in white hall, if you have any sort of mixed messaging and even suggest it may not continue for longer, people will go out this weekend. i suspect you will hear from the health secretary and from the the chief nursing officer and the deputy cmo, the deputy chief medical officer, that message that you need to stay inside and don't be going to the park or sunbathing or going for a drink. nothing has changed. thank you. as we heard we're all being reminded to stick to the rules around lockdown and keep to distancing guidance when we do go out. 0ur correspondent phil mackie has spent the morning with enforcement

officers in the west midlands. parklife under lockdown. birmingham has more than 500 and this is one of the biggest. the weather is perfect for exercise but it might me bad news for infections if too many people come out. police officers are patrolling to make sure people keep their distance. if you're sitting on the bench, walking around but staying stationary, are you from the same household? but everyone is doing their bit and park rangers now find themselves on the front line trying to enforce the rules. it appears from the government figures what people are doing is having a beneficial effect. i think this weekend will be a big one because everyone is off. just making sure you keep yourself and your family safe and not put pressure on the nhs. this park is 250 acres, so steve has his job cut out and will spend the rest of the day patrolling. his staff are doing the same in all of the city's other parks. since the new coronavirus powers were introduced, west midlands police has issued just 155 instructions to go home, 138 notices of dispersal

and 17 fixed penalty notices. there are 3 million people in the west midlands force area, which means only a tiny percentage have had to be dealt with under the new regulations. this is a really important weekend in a region that has seen some of the biggest numbers of infections. if people will stick by the rules forjust a little bit longer, those numbers will start to come down. the vast majority of people have got the message and they are fully aware they are playing an important part in fighting the virus. i suppose what they're saying is, they don't want people travelling from a long distance to come to places like this. yeah, and that makes sense. we're trying to do as much as we can to get rid of this virus. if the lockdown is to come to an end, people need to stick to coronavirus regulations, especially this weekend when the temptation to go out and gather in groups is at its greatest. if you're going to your local park, enjoy the peace and tranquillity

and hope for better days to come. 0ur reporter has sent this report from scarborough. well, this is the most popular holiday destination outside london. i can tell you we haven't counted more than 30 people here at south bay at the moment. we've spoken to one couple who are here, out for their daily exercise. they are nhs members of staff. they work at a local hospital, it was their day off today. they were immensely grateful to visitors for staying at home. we spoke to another woman who was here with her daughter. they were out working and she said it feels really strange. you know, being in scarborough on a normal bank holiday weekend it would be really difficult to pass people here on the promenade, she said. and we are concerned for some local businesses but once we through this, we will be visitors back.

you're just heard a police van go past there. we have more police patrols here in and around scarborough today, checking the town centre, checking traffic coming into scarborough. there are increased patrols by the coast guard, too. traffic wardens are checking all the car parks. if you don't have a permit or you are not a key worker, you should not be here today. north yorkshire police are saying their first approach is to educate people, make sure they understand the government guidelines. but, of course, the last resort is they will fine people if necessary. the people here on south bay are all residents who are out taking their exercise still police are saying to them, when you come here today, don't bring food, don't bring drink. you should be here for an hour, don't stay longer than necessary, just stay at home.

nearly £2 million have been lost in coronavirus related fraud in the uk since the outbreak began, according to police. nearly £2 million have been lost in coronavirus related fraud the bbc has learnt that most of it relates to bogus companies selling non existent protective equipment and sanitiser. criminals in west africa have set up hundreds of websites in the last month. angus crawford reports. somewhere in west africa, there are facemasks for sale. hot demand and plenty of suppliers. look at this. as fear of the virus spreads, so do the adverts. everyone is looking for masks, disposable gloves and hand sanitiser. just one click away. even a covid—19 testing kit. and there's glowing reviews. except it's all fake. time to bring in an expert.

scammers are all fairly parasitic and reactionary in nature. when there are spikes in the need for a product, they will flock in towards the need for that product and exploit it. the damage is actually huge. i spoke to a business last week that was actually defrauded of £180,000, which was frankly shocking. so just how easy is it to place an order? do you sell surgical gloves and masks? yeah. oh, good, good. i'm looking for quite a lot. how many can you sell me? the maximum we can supply is 300,000 masks. how many? 300,000. 300,000 masks? but you're not, are you? you're not, are you? you're a scammer. you're not, are you? we know you're a scammer. is that the end of this conversation, sir? you are a scammer, though, aren't you? you are trying to rip people off.

people in need. so, he hung up. i don't think he's got any masks or gloves. he just wants my money and then won't send me anything. scammers don't care at all. so long as they get their money, it's all that matters to them. people are very desperate right now, there is so much of a shortage of these things. people are looking everywhere to try to find them. they feel betrayed, they feel completely ripped off, they feel angry. at a time of crisis, fear and exploitation go hand in hand. angus crawford, bbc news. concerns have been raised by a senior official in the nhs that children with illnesses unrelated to covid—19 are going to hospital too late and coming to harm as a result. the comments by the national clinical director for children and young people in nhs england emerged on the same day as figures showed a&e attendance numbers in england were down 29%

from the same time last year. let's talk now to martin marshall, chair of the royal college of gps, and a gp in east london. hello, thank you very much indeed for joining hello, thank you very much indeed forjoining us. at the best of times, particularly in winter, we all try to get across the message, don't we, don't go to a&e unless it is absolutely necessary? the problem is absolutely necessary? the problem is perhaps people are taking that too literally now? yes, i think that's exactly right. i think the very focused message in the middle ofa very focused message in the middle of a crisis you have to really focus on the main problem, covid—19. that is such an important message but it does have unintended consequences and one of those is that people, pa rents and one of those is that people, parents in particular of young children, become increasingly concerned about when they should access the health service for non—related covid problems. we have seen that in general practice,

casualty departments and paediatric departments as well. so overall, the number, the reduction is 29% on this time last year of people attending a&e. what kind of sort of issues are we talking about that children may have that parents are simply not taking them to hospital with? the biggest concern is when present with symptoms that could be covid and when everyone is focused on covid, covid is the diagnosis they are most likely to be given. if they have a fever, the risk is they will be told to go home, safe isolate and take some paracetamol. whereas covid is very rare in children and it's more likely they would have another cause for a fever like meningitis or sepsis or an acute kidney infection. that is the biggest concern, that we might be missing serious illness and that, of course, can have very serious consequences for children. the other issue we are concerned about not focusing on his routine

preventative measures, particularly immunisations. because parents are anxious about coming in and seeing theirgp and anxious about coming in and seeing their gp and having the immunisations, there is a risk we might see epidemics next year of other things like measles or rubella asa other things like measles or rubella as a consequence of that. but it is difficult, what should parents be doing? there are a number of really important messages out there. first of all, if a parent has a concern that their child might be seriously ill, it's really important they seek help. that help might be different from usual. it might be an initial telephone call or an online consultation in general practice that they must seek help, that is fundamentally important. the other message is general practice is open, as casualties open. of course we have to deal with the crisis and things are busy and of course may be the front door of the general practice is shut, but actually there will always be gps or practice nurses that can be seen who will assess your child if you have

concerns. but it is fair enough if you are in two minds to air on the side of caution, rather than think, oh, i might be putting more pressure on the nhs at a time when the service is at breaking point because of coronavirus? yes, i think there are two reasons parents are doing what they are doing. partly, they don't want to make a fuss when they realise the nhs is under pressure. also partly because they are anxious about accessing, going to an nhs facility and risk catching the virus themselves. so yes, your message is absolutely right. if people have concern that there might be something serious going on, it's really important that they seek help. 0k, we're going to leave it there. martin marshall, thank you for joining there. martin marshall, thank you forjoining us. pleasure. some breaking news just coming forjoining us. pleasure. some breaking newsjust coming in out forjoining us. pleasure. some breaking news just coming in out of ireland. lee varadkar breaking news just coming in out of ireland. lee va radkar says coronavirus restrictions in the republic will be extended until may the 5th. he says the truth is nobody

knows for certain when we will get back to normal. we know that that debate is beginning to develop on this side of the irish sea at any rate about when perhaps restrictions could be lifted, or at least loosened a little bit. we know that the authorities in wales have made it clear that they are willing to extend the lockdown there, regardless of what might be coming out of westminster. that certainly in ireland, the republic of ireland, the irish prime minister says we have slowed the spread of coronavirus significantly. u nfortu nately, we coronavirus significantly. unfortunately, we have not stopped its spread. leo varadkar in dublin making sure the restrictions, social distancing and so on will be extended until the beginning, the first week or so of next month. new data released by google has identified an increase in the numbers of visits to parks in britian last weekend. data collected from google maps shows overall activity

was still well down on normal levels, but sunny weather appears to have encouraged people to break the lockdown restrictions. our technology correspondent rory cellanjones joins us now. google is tracking us and they are keeping an eye on exactly what's going on, as regards the lockdown? yes, clive. this is the second lot of data that they have released. what they have, they always had this data. every time you walk around with your mobile phone and it is using google maps and you have ticked a little box saying they can track your location, you are providing a vast amount of data. they have a lot of that material. they have a lot of that material. the first week of the shutdown, they produce some very dramatic figures showing how far activity in all sorts of areas had dropped. the second lot of data is out now. it cove rs second lot of data is out now. it covers last sunday, april the 5th. what is noticeable as well, yes, still activity at shops and so on is

well down, very far down, activity at parks not so far down. so it was 5296 at parks not so far down. so it was 52% down, visits to parks, last sunday it was just 29% down. and in london, just 15% down. so there was concern last weekend that their sunny weather would draw people and the data shows that was indeed happening. is this the kind of information that the government itself uses? well, when google started releasing this they said it will be useful to governments around the world. 131 countries, included in this data. you get to see how various shutdowns in various parts of the world are working. for instance, far more dramatic in italy. 90% falls in visits to parks in italy where the lockdown restrictions are much more severe. yes, they will be looking at that data. one doesn't know whether google is actually supplying them with more up—to—date data. this data

isa with more up—to—date data. this data is a few days out of date and they must know almost instantaneously what is happening, what the patterns are. is this the kind of tracking as well that could be used, potentially, for those people who test positive for the antibodies, for instance, and therefore are able to continue going to work in the future, is this the sort of technology that can be used? we know south korea was doing that.|j technology that can be used? we know south korea was doing that. i think it will be a different system. the nhs is looking to build a contact tracing app and that would be an app that everyone would be encouraged to use, to install. there was a similar app released in singapore, which was a p pa re ntly app released in singapore, which was apparently quite successful there. that would say... you would enter into that app if you at any stage got a positive diagnosis for the infection. it would immediately inform everybody that you'd met. it would know if i had been, for instance, close to you. it would

know by the bluetooth signal on the phone that i had been close to you and would send you a message saying you better self—isolate as well. and would send you a message saying you better self-isolate as well. we will leave it there. thank you, rory cellan—jones. many postal workers aren't being properly protected from covid—19, according to one union representing royal mail staff. the bbc has spoken to employees who say there's a shortage of personal protective equipment, and that it's almost impossible to social distance inside delivery depots. royal mail says it has invested significantly in ppe and that the health and well—being of staff is its top priority. sarah corker reports. royal mail staff, working shoulder to shoulder in leeds. cramped conditions make it very difficult to keep safely two metres apart. and in northampton, there isn't much social distancing in the canteen. royal mail say conditions have improved across the business since this footage was filmed last week, but employees told me they still feel unprotected. well, they're scared.

they're scared that they're choosing between theirjobs and their safety, and their families' safety. for the first time, a supervisor has now spoken out. he's worried he'll get sacked, so we've concealed his identity. do people feel safe, do you feel safe? i know people who've worked in that business for a0 years—plus, who are terrified. i'm scared that myjob will be in danger if i refuse to do a task that i believe puts me in an unsafe position. and that's happening, people are being put in unsafe situations? yeah, on a daily basis. at seven royal mail sites, staff have walked out over safety concerns. this is didcot in 0xfordshire. similar scenes, too, in southampton. there are reports daily about the unavailability of masks and gloves, wipes, and i think that equipment really does need to get to the frontline quicker. an estimated 20% of postal staff

are thought to be off work. that equates to 26,000 postmen and women who are either sick or self—isolating. that, of course, puts increased pressure on those who can work at a time when the number of parcel deliveries has soared. unions say it's been busier than christmas. 0ne postman told us royal mail has been slow to act. when this was all kicking off and you could see where this was going, we were saying, "we need this stuff." but our big boss upstairs just said, "no, you just need to wash your hands." i'd love to wash my hands, but nowhere's open, ever — it's ridiculous. the company says it has invested heavily in protective equipment. i don't think we've been slow, we've moved as quickly as we possibly could to get supplies to our people that they need. this will help them stay safe. and we've spent way over £15 million

now making sure people have got appropriate protection. they are the frontline staff keeping the uk connected. but our posties are feeling the strain. sarah corker, bbc news. like health staff and care workers, hospital chaplains have been playing their part in serving the community during the coronavirus outbreak. 0ur religion editor, martin bashir, has been speaking to the woman who leads the chaplaincy team at one large nhs trust. at 12 o'clock we light a candle and then we stand in silence for a minute. to honour those who have died in the trust that day, or those who will die that day. the testimony of a chaplain at one of london's busiest hospitals. if you think of a major incident, that's the thing is that we've gone through with regards to westminster bridge,

london bridge, 7/7, grenfell, they've all really shocked you to the core but you've had to keep going. this one is different. because every day is relentless. and it's going on and on and on. one of those patients, of course, is the prime minister who was admitted last sunday to a hospital where, in the 19th century, florence nightingale established the world's first professional school of nursing. one of the things that she said, florence nightingale, she said that outside there are princes and paupers, but in her hospital she wants her nurses to treat every patient as if they were a prince and i would hope that that is true, that everybody gets treated with the same level of decency, respect, honour, and care. and so they should do. doesn't matter who it is. prime minister or pauper? doesn't matter. mia holborn has worked at st thomas'

for almost 20 years. she says all the staff, from cleaners to consultants, are exceptional. to be working physically that hard, and still to care about the individuals that they are looking after, is extraordinary. they could so easilyjust become like machines, because they're so busy but they truly aren't, they actually give compassionate care. please don't forget who are the true heroes. keep holding, grasping hold of when the chips are down, who are the people that you really, really admire? and really believe in? and give you a sense of calmness come of purpose, of security and safety. and hope.

many of you have been in touch with your questions and what you should be doing and what hopefully the nhs and the other health authorities around the world are doing to tackle this. let's bring in two guests, i'm joined by dr margaret harris and a gp. i'm going to start with you, sarah, how does testing more people reduce deaths? so if you have got the virus, it is unlikely to make a difference to whether or not you survive, unless you go into hospital and they can confirm that you have got something else. because that would determine what you get. in the great scheme of things, if we can test more people quickly, we can get

more essential staff back to work, because we know 10% of nhs staff are aware and that will make it easier for us to care for people who are ill and secondly we can pick people up, possibly, at the early stages, get them to isolate and reduce the number of people that they infect. because what we're always looking for this is this so—called where one person infects less than one person. let's go to you dr margaret harris. what is the guidance on the wearing of medical masks by the public. the centre of disease control in the united states suggests it is a good idea, president trump said it will only be voluntary and we seem to have a different shifting idea in europe as to whether it is a good idea for members of public to wear

masks. our position is that medical masks, those that prevent the transmission of the virus through the mask should be reserved for health care workers, because they're the ones at greatest risk of being in contact with the virus. they should also be worn by members of public who are ill and who have symptoms, before they tested and after they're tested, if they have found to have the illness, they should wear a medical mask and anybody else caring for them. clearly the person who is ill will be at home, but there will be other family members caring for them and they should wear medical masks when they're in contact with people. as for people going about in their normal lives, the issue with masks is preventing them from coughing or sneezing on someone if they're in the early stages of disease when

they don't know and we don't know and nobody knows they nay be infected. the idea is to have another barrier to catch that cough or sneeze, just in case there are people who are asystematic. we still say it must be done with a package of other things, the hand washing, the not touching your mouth, nose and eyes and ensuring, if you cough or sneeze, cover with your elbow and ensure that you limited any spread of whatever you cough and sneeze out. thank you for that. we have an update on the condition of the prime minister, borisjohnson, update on the condition of the prime minister, boris johnson, a update on the condition of the prime minister, borisjohnson, a no 10 spokesman has issued a press release, saying the prime minister has been able to do short walks between periods of rest, as part of ca re between periods of rest, as part of care he is receiving to aid his recover y. he has spoken to his doctors and thank it is whole clinical team for the care he has

received and his thoughts are with those affected by this disease. so the prime minister has been able to do short walks between periods of rest, as part of care he is receiving to aid his recovery. dr sarah jarvis, people receiving to aid his recovery. dr sarahjarvis, people are asking well, and you can't speak to the prime minister's personal condition, you're not his gp, but in general, he wasn't on a ventilator, he was getting oxygen through a mask. he is now walking, many people will be wondering, when is it likely he could be back at work? one of the things we are seeing with people who have moderate to severe and certainly severe symptoms of s of covid 19 there is an enduring tiredness. i'm hearing from patients who have been at home and haven't needed hospital admission, but it is taking them weeks to get over it. not only are they feeling tired, but

they feel short of breath and that may come and go. i would say that he would be sensible if he took a good few weeks. but of course if it is just his brain, rather than doing any physical activity, me may be alert enough to do some work in a shorter time. back to you, dr harris, bill says, what proportion of people who get coronavirus die and how many recover? well the vast majority recover. so the deaths... it is 10% of people who have very severe illness who are at most risk of dying. of those, from most of the figures we get from intensive care, the numbers we are seeing from different countries, suggests 50% of those people who need intensive care

will die. it varies from country to country and when you see high death rates, it reflects health systems that are overwhelmed, so the ventilators are being used and many people who could be nursed through this terrible illness don't have that opportunity, simply because the health system is overwhelmed. that is why we put this emphasis on slowing your transmission to give your health system the space to look after those who really need the care. thank you. interesting question for you drjarvis, with all the measures put in place, will we see a reduction in other public health issues, for example people with muches and so on? —— mumps. health issues, for example people with muches and so on? —— mumpslj had hoped i would be able to say

mumps is not a thing. but we have a disease for which there is no vaccine. most of us have taken for granted we will survive to adulthood because of the vaccines and until 20 yea rs because of the vaccines and until 20 years ago there was the rise of anti—vaxers and the the discredited ideas of ma we have seen more cases with measles and mumpses. 0ne ideas of ma we have seen more cases with measles and mumpses. one person with measles and mumpses. one person with measles and mumpses. one person with measles can infect 30 people. if we are in less contact with each other, we should see a reduction. but i hope the real reduction we are going to see is the people will

genuinely understand the benefits of vaccines. dr harris, we have heard that the taoiseach in ireland is going to extend the lock down there until the beginning of next month, may 5th. the welsh authorities have made it clear they're going to continue the lock down measures there as well. of course we are going to get a decision soon on the situation in england, as farm far as continuing the lock down. how will governments decide about easing measures? we are in uncharted territory. we have had whole countries shut down in order, for any reason, but certainly when an infectious disease is threatening. the questions are how do you do it

gently and slowly resume? and what do we even call normal? what we should be thinking about is what we we re should be thinking about is what we were doing before is part of what led us to this situation. let's look at living and working and managing our lives differently. many of the countries that have eased the restrictions, we can look to china asa canary restrictions, we can look to china as a canary in the coal mine as it were, they began to ease restrictions when the new case numbers were low and they were not seeing new cases in wuhan. what they we re seeing new cases in wuhan. what they were seeing was imported cases and many countries are looking at when their new case numbers have begun to reduce considerably, they will think about how to ease things back. but for many of us, we must think about can we work more at home, can we

work differently? can we school our children differently? because until we have the tools that can fight this virus, the vaccination, that we see need, we are going to have to use the old fashioned methods, the social distancing, the hygiene, to ensure this virus is stopped. thank you for that. a lot of us when we go out to get our exercise once a day, joggers come flying past, huffing and puffing, with vapour coming out of their mouths, this question is from kate, it says, can we catch the virus from joggers who run past not keeping the two metres distance?m the two metres distance, the idea about close contact when we first started looking at social distancing, was within two metres for more than 15 minutes. that is

because the more time you spend in close contact with somebody, the greater the risk. when somebody goes past you close, yes, there is a risk and particularly if they cuff or spit, which is a particularly unpleasant habit that i do see with somejoggers. so the unpleasant habit that i do see with some joggers. so the closer they are and the more they cough or spit at you, when they spit, those virus particles will spray out in all direction the same thing when they cough or sneeze. sweat is unlikely to pass on the virus, unless their coughing or sneezing, they will only be in contact with you for a short space of time and the risk is low. but yes, there is a theoretical risk. that is why we recommend eve ryo ne risk. that is why we recommend everyone should stay at least two metres apart and possibly further. thank you. margaret, how far away

are we from a vaccine? we are at least a year away. we have got some fantastic work going on and there are 15 vaccine candidates being assessed. to do the work to understand it does induce the level of antibodies you would like, but you have the make sure it is safe. you have to go a vaccine to a healthy person and you must ensure there are no side effects or u ntowa rd there are no side effects or untoward things that take a person from being healthy to unhealthry, as a result of the vaccination. that testing has to be done over six months. you look at the immediate side effects and then the longer term side effects. that involves people volunteering to have that testing done on them. even though there is fantastic work and very good news on the number of vaccine

candidates that human safety testing, the proof that it works, when... that the level of antibodies you produce actually protect. that will take six to 12 months. thank you. sarah is, philip says, i had symptoms of covid 19, but never got a temperature. can you get it without a fever? that is a good question. the answer is yes you can. the majority of people and we are looking back at big studies, looking at cohorts up to 1,500 or tens of thousands of people who went in in china and italy and what we saw was fever was the single commonest symptom and cough was the second commonest. but just because something is common doesn't mean eve ryo ne something is common doesn't mean everyone get is and up to 90% of

people in some studies have had it. but they are people who have gone into hospital. it is possible that others will have symptoms. 0n patient access, the web—site, we have a tool where people have been logging their symptoms and we have had over 200,000 people log symptoms and a lot of people are saying they're getting the cough without getting the fever. however there are some other symptoms such as loss of taste and smell, which has come up very recently as a big one. profound firedness. —— tiredness. while they may be symptoms, if you have neither the cough or the fever, the nhs advice is that you don't need to isolate yourself. margaret, what can we learn from the chinese experience of sars? you mean sars in 2003. yes.

are —— a lot was learned at that time. that's why we see regions singapore and hong kong dealing well with this even though they were so connected geographically and socially to wuhan. you would have expected to see much bigger outbreaks. they are not out of the woods and are still dealing with significant outbreaks but have managed to keep the rise slow. they have done it through having several things. very, very good messaging to their people, very clear messaging. testing very early. also taking the social distancing measures. they did different ones. singapore didn't close their schools, hong kong did. i think singapore just has. they did keep working but they changed how they work. in singapore, they split shifts. hong kong, it's varied, what they have done. but because their

population really understood what a threat a thing like this was, they have been dealing with a respiratory illness for which there is no treatment and vaccine so they understood what this could do to society. so when they were asked to do anything, they did it. that has been the very big difference. ok, thank you for that. doctor margaret harris from the world health organisation and doctor sarah jarvis. thank you both. new york has started to bury some of its dead in mass graves, as the city's daily death rate from the pandemic continues to rise. images taken by drones show labourers working on excavated ground on hart island. new york is the worst hit city in the us, which is now the epicentre of the pandemic. lucy hockings reports. this is hart island, near the bronx, in the 19th

century a burial place for those whose next—of—kin is not known or whose family can't arrange a funeral. in the 21st—century, it is now the location for a mass grave. workers use ladders to climb down into a huge pit to stack the coffins. new york now has more coronavirus cases than any single country, nearly 160,000. more than 7,000 people have died here. 0verwhelmed hospitals have no chance to be discreet about the deaths, bodies are stored in refrigerated trucks parked outside the main doors. but officials still believe there is hope. the number of admissions is beginning to level out. new york's governor said social distancing is working but this is not time to ease off. the instinct is to think this is good news, we can now relax. i have been dying to relax and get out of the house,

we can end this groundhog day. yeah, you are not out of the woods. new york is bearing the brunt of the american pandemic. yet, like so many places across the world, suffering the silent killer, communities have come together to thank those on the front line, the health workers. every evening at seven o'clock residents say thank you and write messages of support as medical staff head in to emergency rooms to face another day of battle. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has given her daily briefing on the coronavirus pandemic. she says a further 48 patients have died, taking the total to a95 in scotland. she also says more than 5000 people have tested positive for coronavirus, up 318 on yesterday's total. ms sturgeon said she was urging people to stay at home over the easter weekend. i want today to extend my deepest condolences again to everyone

who has lost a loved one to this virus. i also want once again to thank from the bottom of my heart all those working in our health and care sector. at eight o'clock last night, people across scotland yet again demonstrated our appreciation for the incredible work that you are doing. all of us owe you an enormous debt of gratitude. there are a few things i want to briefly update on today. firstly, an update on the meeting of cobra that took place yesterday. following that meeting, the position and the advice from all four governments across the uk is unchanged. scotland, like the rest of the uk, will remain in lockdown through the easter weekend and into next week. at the moment, we simply do not have enough evidence on the impact of the restrictions to have confidence yet about when we could start to come out of them. as that evidence becomes available, we will be able to review

the situation, but for now the message remains exactly the same as it has been. people need to stay at home. i know how difficult that is and i know how difficult that will be, particularly over this easter weekend. 0rdinarily, that is a time to see friends and family. it's a time to get out and about or even take a short break. none of that will be possible this year. so, for all of us, i know that this weekend will be especially tough. however, i am confident, very confident that the vast majority of people across scotland will continue to comply with these rules. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon. people are increasingly going on line for their entertainment, stage shows, comedians and pub quizzes to allow people to enjoy them from their own front rooms. these shows must go on isa front rooms. these shows must go on is a new initiative from universal pictures, allowing theatre fans to

watch a musical by andrew lloyd webber free of charge each weekend on youtube. tonight they will be able to watch jesus christ superstar and in a moment i will speak to the man in the title role but let's get a taster of the show. people who are hungry # people who are starving... # people who are starving... # matter more... # matter more... # try not to get worried, tried not to talk on your problems that upset you # don't you know, everything is all right # everything's fine and we want you to sleep well tonight. let the world tell me that you tonight... if we

try we'll get by, so forget... studio: we didn't hear ben sing there! very annoying. good to see you. thank you forjoining us. this is fantastic, that despite the lockdown, you will be able to get out there to all the fans? it is. it's an amazing thing universal have done. such an amazing bulk of material andrew lloyd webber has and the fact people get to see the art we create, the musicals and the show we create, the musicals and the show we created, they can see them on a friday night for free. it's a really fantastic initiative, yes. is it possible to get excited about it the way that you obviously would if you are about to tread the boards onstage live? for me? yes. 100%, i'm onstage live? for me? yes. 10096, i'm quite nervous. it is a musical we did eight years ago now. we did it at the 02 did eight years ago now. we did it at the o2 arena. we did arenas all over the world but it still... i

still feel the nerves in my memory from performing that show. actually that it's going out tonight, i think 2.5 million people watched joseph and his technicolour dream coat last week. the fact we might have an audience of millions is quite nerve—racking! audience of millions is quite nerve-racking! because they could all get back to you now on twitter. absolutely! but given the lockdown restrictions, you know, our ease of movement is not what it used to be. to have this kind of facility and obviously it is notjust andrew lloyd webber‘s productions and your work. you can listen to wagner's work. you can listen to wagner's work from new york, the national theatre are putting on plays, virtual walk—throughs of gallery exhibitions. quite a phenomenon, this virtual art scape that we have at the moment? but we have to adjust, you know? we are born performers. 0ur industry is show

business. we want to entertain people and in these times, where people and in these times, where people are locked up in their houses and don't dare go out and we can't go out, we need forms of entertainment. why shouldn't we enjoy the live entertainment we've been enjoying for so long? it's incredible seeing everyone do concerts online. some brilliant stuff going on. if you are at home board and you don't know what to do, get online, get on youtube and instagram, there are so many things going on. is there the fear that this could become the new normal?” hope not. what we have to remember is going to a theatre, sitting in an audience, being part of a journey in audience, being part of a journey in a live environment, for us, that's a i°y a live environment, for us, that's a joy and it is always a joy for the audience, it's why people go back to theatre all the time. people come back and watch live pieces of theatre all the time and i think thatis theatre all the time and i think that is a massive passion for a lot of people. i think that will carry on. you are right, you cannot get away from that live experience, you have to have that as well as have

the ability to be able to have this online as well. you said this performance is eight years ago, do you remember it? oh, my god, vividly! it was a real turning point in my career. since then, i got to play phantom of the opera in the west end. i played by db else. i've done things all over the world and i own concerts in london, the west end. i... it really highlighted me. it was a wonderful thing for me and a huge turning point in my career and a piece of art i am really proud of. iam and a piece of art i am really proud of. i am really excited that millions more people all over the world get to see that tonight. absolutely fantastic. ben, great to talk to you. thank you forjoining us. thank you very much! schools go backin us. thank you very much! schools go back in south korea for online lessons for the first time since their winter break. the government says all students

across the country will be given the technology to learn. laura bicker reports. it's difficult. 0ur teacher is having difficulty talking in an empty room, right? this is not how the teacher wanted to greet her first year students. you see me, 0k, let me see... she never dreamt that her phone could become a blackboard, or that she would have to introduce herself online. i spent my vacation with keeping social distancing... at first, i was so nervous, and even scared, because i've never used these technologies before. but you know, having my first class, finishing my first class, i think that it wasn't as bad as i thought. it can never be like an original class, but still, in a situation like this, this is the best option. how has this time been for you? so, we are supposed to go to school in february, but since we are still staying home for the last few weeks, our lifestyle has become

more slack and lazy. the teacher tells me she can check her students' work in real time to ensure they are indeed studying. but learning to work in a virtual classroom in just a few days has been a real challenge. it's overwhelming. you really have to adapt to a new change, which is so fast that it feels like a tsunami. the government is handing out over 300,000 smart devices. there are huge digital gaps to fill, even in this tech savvy country. the charity good neighbours is delivering food parcels to ensure students from low income families can focus on schoolwork. and they're offering tech support, including free wi—fi, to thousands. translation: when i talk to the parents, they're less worried about the access to smart devices

and more about whether the kids will be able to learn properly by themselves. the fear is that some students will be left behind in an already tough education system. the government admits this is an experiment, but in a year were normal life has become a distant dream, this is as close as pupils can get, for now. laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. well, it's almost five o'clock, you're watching bbc news, and we're shortly expecting the daily coronavirus update from downing street. we're expecting matt hancock the health secretary to lead proceedings, and he'll be joined by ruth may, the chief nursing officer for england and jonathan van tam, the deputy chief medical officerfor england. within the last half an hour we have had an update on the health of the prime minister. a number 10 spokesperson says borisjohnson has been able to do short walks between

periods of rest as part of the care he is receiving to help his recovery. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley is here. i was talking to an a&e doctor a couple of days ago and he made it clear that he had all the ppe he needed and he was pretty sure his collea g u es needed and he was pretty sure his colleagues in central london had that but we're still getting reports anecdotal reports of some working for the nhs not having ppe and we understand that will be a fairly important part of the briefing today? yes there are parts of the country where the issue of ppe appears to be sort odd united. —— sorted out. but it is patchy. we have been hearing some of the distribution has been inadequate and there are still some on the front line who are scared and feel they're unprotected. on the front line who are scared and feel they‘ re unprotected. the government knows it has to address

theseissues government knows it has to address these issues of workers not having these issues of workers not having the equipment they need to do their job. i think we will hear the health secretary talking about what the government is doing to try and address that and what measures they're going to take to make sure that everyone who is on the front line is protected. a lovely day, it is easter weekend, again we are i'm sure going to get a reinforcement of the message that people must abide by the social distancing rules? yes the government is conscious this weekend could be a big test. in many area it is weather is beautiful. normally it would be great to go out and spend time with friend and family and the message is don't do it. here is matt hancock. welcome back to downing street for the daily coronavirus virus. i'm

joined by the ruth nursing office and the deputy chief medical 0fficer. 0ur and the deputy chief medical 0fficer. our plan is to protect life and to protect the nhs, both by slowing the spread of this virus to flatten the curve and by ensuring that the nhs always has more capacity to provide the critical ca re capacity to provide the critical care for those in need. now, this is a national effort and every single person can play their part. this easter will be another test of the nation's resolve. it is a time of year when people normally come together, but however warm the weather, however tempting your local beach or park, we need everyone to stay at home. because in hospitals across the country, nhs staff are battling day and night to keep

desperately sick people breathing. and they need you to stay at home. i'm very happy to report that the prime minister's condition continues to improve. he wants to personally thank the whole clinical team at st thomas's for the incredible care he has received. his thoughts are with all of those who have been affected by this terrible disease. the nhs is there for all of us in this country and and! there for all of us in this country and and i know our amazing there for all of us in this country and and i know ouramazing nhs there for all of us in this country and and i know our amazing nhs staff have given the prime minister the very best care possible. in the same way that they would give every single person in this country the very best care possible. 0ne single person in this country the very best care possible. one of the thins that makes me proud of this country is that it doesn't matter who you are, the nhs is always there to ca re who you are, the nhs is always there to care for you. before updating you

on our plan, i want to share the latest data from the ongoing testing programme. yesterday, i'm glad to report that 19,116 tests were carried out across great britain. 5,7 # 06 tested positived. —— positive. of those who have contracted the virus, 8,958 have died. an increase of 980 since yesterday. we never forget that behind this number, behind each one, isa name, behind this number, behind each one, is a name, a loss, and a family that will never be the same again. and we all share a responsibility to tackle this virus, first and foremost by staying at home. now earlier in the

month i outlined our testing strategy and i'm glad to report a positive response to the whole of 100,000 tests a day. i can announce we have capacity for all key social ca re we have capacity for all key social care staff and nhs staff. in addition to the testing being done in nhs hospitals, we have opened 15 drive through testing centres, in glasgow, cardiff, nottingham, plymouth, leeds and london and other places. the uk life sciences industry is answering our call to arms. yesterday i opened the first of our three megalabs in milton keynes. two more are on track in cheshire and glasgow and two of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world are opening another in cambridge. i want to thank the team

and the volunteers who are working night and day to make this happen. today, i want to address what we are doing to make sure that we have enough ppe and to make sure that it gets to the right people. the goal i have set is that everyone working in a critical role must get the ppe that they need. nhs and care staff protect us every day while we are safe at home they go off to work to ca re safe at home they go off to work to care for us. we owe it to them to get them the kit they need to protect themselves. i want to be frank about the challenges our plan is designed to overcome. first, there is a huge international demand for ppe and a global squeeze on supply and some countries have restricted ppe. next there is high demand for ppe from within the uk and everyone should use the

equipment, use the equipment they clinically need, in line with the guidelines, no more and no less. then of course there is the challenge of distribution. the sheer quantity and type of ppe needed has radically changed, because of coronavirus. many parts of nhs have never had to rely on weekly the deliveries. in normal times, the nhs supply chain for equipment supplies 233 hospital trusts. now, 58,000 separate health and care providers need ppe. we have had to create a new network from scratch, all of these challenges around supply and usage and distribution are being overcome. and i want too take a moment to set out how. today we are publishing our ppe plan. it has

three strands. 0ne publishing our ppe plan. it has three strands. one is about guidance, being clear who needs ppe, when they need it and who does not. there is enough ppe to go around, but only if it is used in line with guidance and we need everyone to treat ppe like the precious resource it is and only use it when there is a clinical need and not using more thanis a clinical need and not using more than is needed. last week after consultation with the royal colleges, all four uk governments published updated guidance for what ppe to use and the guidance included advice that many items can be used for a whole session and not be changed after treating each individual patient. everyone is still protected, but there is enough ppe to go around. the guidance is also clear where ppe is not needed. because outside of health and social

ca re because outside of health and social care in most circumstances, the best way to protect yourself and to protects others is to regularly wash your hands and keep at least two metres between you and the other people. of course the most important way to protect yourself is to stay at home. because a front door is better than any face mask. the second strand of our ppe plan is about distribution. making sure eve ryo ne about distribution. making sure everyone can get ppe at the right time. this is big effort. we have brought together the nhs, private industry and the army and in fact the armed forces, to create a giant ppe distribution network on an unprecedented scale. that is delivering daily to our front line heroes. since the start of outbreak we have delivered over 742 million

pieces of ppe to the front line. this includes 161 million masks and a million growns and 345 million pairs of gloves to hospitals, ambulance trusts, gp settings, social care and community pharmacies and we have set up a hotline for providers experiencing problems and crucially every nhs hospital has received a delivery of critical ppe once every 72 hours and over the next week we are making that daily. this week, we have arranged a priority drop of 30 million items of ppe to the local resilience forums. they are delivering to social care and others according to local need and others according to local need and in the coming weeks we will be scaling up our delivery systems further. i can announce that over the next three weeks, we are rolling

out an online portal allowing primary and social care a system to request ppe and we can track demand in real time request ppe and we can track demand in realtime and request ppe and we can track demand in real time and deliver a according to need. this effort of enormous complexity to get the right equipment to the right person at the right moment, i pay tribute to the enormous efforts of those making it happen. we will do everything we can to keep improving this. but i want to keep improving this. but i want to ta ke to keep improving this. but i want to take a moment to say thank you to all those involved. the third strand is about the future supply, which is making sure we have enough ppe to see us through the crisis. we are using up ppe on an unprecedented scale and we are buying more from abroad and making it at home. our ppe sourcing unit is securing new

supplies from across the line, ensuring what we buy meets standards. this includes teams from the foreign office, the department for international trade, out in the far east, buying from manufacturers and teams in whitehall focussed on straight operations to get it here. —— freight. we have published our global shopping list and it is about ramping up domestic production and going into the crisis we did not have a major domestic ppe manufacturing industry and like with ventilators and testing, we are creating one. many businesses have come forward with offers to turn over production lines as part of this effort. in particular, i want to thank burberry where their offers of gowns. ineos are producing hand sanitiser. we want more to step up

to the plate. if you have production facilities and can meet our published technical specifications, we wa nt published technical specifications, we want to hear from you. so we can make this kit here in britain that will keep people safe. this is our comprehensive ppe plan, to protect the people who protect us. to make sure they have the kit they need to do theirjob safely and with confidence. but i want to finish by saying this, even if you're not directly involved in the nhs in ppe supply or testing, there is something everyone of us can do to play your part in the national effort. stay at home. because spreading the virus today risks lives tomorrow. and it increases pressure on those who work in the nhs. do it for them. pressure on those who work in the nhs. do it forthem. do pressure on those who work in the nhs. do it for them. do it for the people who you love. the more we all

follow the rules, the faster we can lift these restrictions and get back to wards normal life. thank you to all those of you who are already doing your bit as part of our national effort. stay well. stay at home. protect the nhs. and save lives. i will hand over to the chief nursing officer ruth may. thank you. i would like to offer my personal wishes to the prime minister in his speedy recovery. for this bank holiday is like no other i can remember. at easter we are normally looking forward to catching up with friends, seeing our families looking forward to catching up with friends, seeing ourfamilies from across our country. but at the moment, we are asking you to stay home. it is not possible to do that this year. and i know that is difficult. staying at home is saving

lives. the actions you take will have consequences. i want you to remember the sacrifices that others are making, the nurses, the doctors, the many others who are not at home, because they're working in a hospital in a social care setting, saving patients' lives. i want to offer my thanks to each and everyone for what you're doing around—the—clock. i also want to offer my thanks on behalf of nhs staff to key workers who have allowed us to keep working to stop teachers, supermarket workers and others, you are helping me stay at work and others stay at work like me. you may have seen some

tv coverage this week about what's happening in our hospitals. dedicated, skilled professional nhs staff calmly dealing with the mounting number of patients with coronavirus. they are frank about the toll it takes both physical and emotional. and, of course, nurses, health care assistants, midwives and other nhs staff are now among the victims of this coronavirus. some have lost their lives. the loss of our own, however they have contracted the virus, is heartbreaking. the nhs is a family and we feel their loss deeply. i'd like to offer my sincere condolences to the family, the friends and the collea g u es to the family, the friends and the colleagues of every member of nhs staff who have died in the recent weeks. every single person in this country can help our nurses and our

nhs staff. you can keep yourselves and others safe and out of our hospitals by staying home. we freed up more than 30,000 beds, the equivalent of 50 general district hospitals in the last few weeks, and that's before opening the extraordinary nhs 90 gail hospital in east london. —— nhs nightingale. alongside the new hospitals in birmingham, manchester, harrogate and bristol, i can confirm that sunderland and exeter will soon see nightingale hospitals in their communities, too. these extra hospitals, if we need them, will be pa rt hospitals, if we need them, will be part of the nhs's nationwide response to coronavirus. the greatest health ca re response to coronavirus. the greatest health care challenge the nhs has ever faced and greatest health care challenge the nhs has everfaced and i'm proud it will continue a tradition dating back to the founding of our nhs 72 yea rs back to the founding of our nhs 72 years ago. nurses are at the

heartbeat of this health service. these are difficult days, but amid this dark news that each day brings, my colleagues are sustained by the extraordinary shows of support for the nhs that has been received from our public. the rainbows, the nhs signs in the window lift me and they lift my colleagues. i'd never thought to see people across this country clapping and showing your thanks every thursday. it means a great deal to me and my colleagues. more than i can say. but there is one thing. there is no doubt that this single greatest thing you can do to say thank you to our nhs and social care staff is for people to follow the advice. this is a long weekend. we need you to stay at home and stay safe. thank you.

i will now ask professorjonathan van tam to take us through the slides and the data that we publish every day. thank you, secretary of state. may i have the next slide, please? 0k, thank you, secretary of state. may i have the next slide, please? ok, so you will recall that one week ago i presented some data to you on transport use and how that had changed over time as the public had followed our social distancing advice. i'm pleased to report to you today, you can see on the slide, that on the week that has passed since i last stood at this podium, the trend has continued. the use of various forms of transport have all stayed at low levels. i can't tell you how important it is that you just keep going with this. this is not over. when i moved onto the next slide, you will see it's not over.

we have to keep pushing as a nation to maintain our social distancing. we have to take the pain now to make the gain in a few weeks' time. next slide, please. so, this is a slide that shows you from march 16 on the left through to 10th of april on the right. new uk cases. these are based on the day on which the laboratory test was completed. so, of course, there is a little variation there between when the test is taken and the test was completed, but nevertheless you can easily see the broad trend, that we have been in an increased phase and now we are at a point where we are ata high now we are at a point where we are at a high level and the numbers are varying day by day, but they are at this high level. we are in a dangerous phase still and i need to

reinforce that again to you, that this is not over. next slide, please. if you look at people diagnosed with covid—19 who are now occupying hospital beds in great britain, you can see that again, over the period of the slide from the 20th of march through to the 9th of april, there has been a steady increase. but possibly you can see that the curve is bending. it's impossible to say that we have peaked but london has gone down in the last day but the north—east and yorkshire have gone up. however, isuggest north—east and yorkshire have gone up. however, i suggest to you that the curve is beginning to bend and that your hard work is beginning to pay off. but again, i say this is just not over, it needs to continue. next slide, please. if you look at critical care, the

slide talks for itself of the extent to which london has been the epicentre of our wave, our first wave and you can see that the other parts of britain are at a lower level. but the trend overall is pretty much the same, that there has been this sharp increase. there may been this sharp increase. there may be some signs that the curve is beginning to bend but it's premature, absolutely, to say we are ata premature, absolutely, to say we are at a peak and the push that we are making with social distancing just has to continue. i would add a personal touch here and say that my mother—in—law is a health care assistant. two of my best friends, one is a nurse, another one is an operating department professional who has been repurposed to high dependency, to work on this crisis. this really matters and it really matters that

we keep going with it. next slide, please. if you look at the global death comparison on this slide, again, as la st comparison on this slide, again, as last week, these are synchronised so that day zero is the day at which each country reported 50 deaths. you can see that again there is this broad similar trajectory across many countries that report data, with one or two outliers. the uk continues to be broadly in line with what is happening in other countries. it is still a dangerous situation. we have to keep taking measures to bring this under control. thank you, health secretary. thank you very much. if we now go to questions, the first question we have got is from hugh pym at the bbc. thank you very much. secretary of state, you and other ministers

have said repeatedly in recent weeks that you have plans to get protective equipment to the nhs and social care, health and care workers are saying to us they are still struggling in some cases to get that equipment, they feel unsafe. are you now acknowledging that previous plans were just not enough, not sufficient? thanks. what i'm acknowledging is this is an enormous challenge, a herculean logistical effort. we have so far delivered 742 million pieces of protective equipment but it is a task that needs a constant effort because of the1.4 needs a constant effort because of the 1.4 million people who work in the 1.4 million people who work in the nhs, and the over two million people who work in social care, using ppe has gone from being something that happens in a relatively small way to right across the board. the critical thing is

that people use ppe like the precious resource that it is and that we get the ppe to them so that they can always have what is clinically needed. now, of course, i listened to the concerns that are raised with me and what i can tell you is... the team who are trying to deliver on this have themselves put in an enormous effort. we are getting the ppe out there but there is clearly a huge task ahead to keep it flowing and to make sure that those who need it get it. i don't know if ruth wants to say anything in terms of reports from the front line as a nurse yourself? absolutely. so, i know as a nurse that ppe is very important. for their safety but also the feeling of being safe. i know that i also want to make sure that people are using it and wearing it to the right level

in the right environment and that is really important. but i also know andi really important. but i also know and i hear that it is a challenge, it's a struggle right now, making sure we have it everywhere we need it at the right time. that is what the secretary of state has already set out in his strategy that's being launched today, making sure the government is doing just that and collectively we are wanting to do it. it is really important we are doing that. i know also i was yesterday at the london excel nightingale hospital receiving my refresher training about how to put my ppe on and off. it's tough wearing ppe. iwant my ppe on and off. it's tough wearing ppe. i want to recognise that for all of our staff right now. thank you very much, itv? can i come back? sorry, hugh pym, yes. you have published plans before and given

reassurances about protective equipment. there will be a lot of scepticism about another plan being published. what guarantees can you give that people will be made to feel safe with the right equipment? yes, well we have made progress on ppe throughout this. i think what you might be referring to in terms of what we published before is last week making sure that we brought clarity to what ppe is needed in what settings. this plan is about that but it is also about how we then deliver, with details of how their supply chain works. also, crucially, how british manufacturers can step forward and delivered to specifications that we've published the technical details of, so that manufacturers can come forward to replenish the stocks that we've got. what i would say is it is a constant effort to get the ppe to the front line. a huge logistical effort. we

acknowledge the challenges, of course we do, we face them every day and we are doing everything in our power to get that ppe to the front line. those with concerns about ppe at the front line, we are making sure that they have a place that they can go in order to call for help. so it's a detailed plan, set out in public, but so we can encourage more suppliers to come and add to and replenish the stockpile and also so everyone can see the challenges that there are and how we are proposing to overcome them. back to itv? thank you, secretary of state. it is good news the prime minister's health is improving. does he accept, though, he is unlikely to be able to return to work soon and is the government able to take key

decisions such as if the lockdown is to be extended in his absence? given the republic of ireland announced their lockdown will continue until their lockdown will continue until the 5th of may, shouldn't you level with everyone that we are heading for a much longer than a three week lockdown? the prime minister is recovering and i'm sure the whole nation is delighted to see the news that he is getting better. the fact that he was so ill demonstrates once again just how serious this disease is. i'm delighted about that. the good news is that the government in his absence has been functioning very efficiently, very effectively. the foreign secretary yesterday made clear that we don't have enough information yet to be able to make any changes to the social distancing arrangements and that sage will meet next week and they will look at the

data then and there way that we make that decision has been set out very clearly a nd that decision has been set out very clearly and is functioning very well. i think the foreign secretary is doing an excellentjob in sharing the committee that makes these decisions in the prime minister's absence. but that is within the context of a strategy that the prime minister very clearly set out and that we are working through and we are able to get on with the day—to—day things, like publishing today's ppe plan and do the things that are needed whilst the prime minister recovers. thank you. ben kentish from lbc? many people are asking why the uk is continuing to allow people to enter the country from virus hotspots and planes to land without the people being tested, or asked to guarantee

teen. isn't there —— quarantine is there a risk the efforts we have made will be undermined by people continuing to enter the country unchecked from other countries, where ifi if i could ask the professor, the health secretary said staying behind your front door is better than any facemask but other countries are not seeing it this week germany becoming the latest to say that facemask will be the key part of their exit strategy to tackle this virus. the uk risks becoming an outlier because the government's position is that there is no real benefit to those masks. can i ask what evidence our decision is based on and why you think other countries have taken such a different approach if the science does say masks are not particularly effective? the answer to both questions is the same which is that we follow the signs. and we

follow this volume is in terms of international travel and right at the start of this pandemic. the country that brought in the most draconian international travel restrictions, the united states and italy, both of them have now got serious problems themselves so i think the science which we followed on international travel has been borne out by events on the second question as well ijust borne out by events on the second question as well i just want to underline the same we don't have the material impact outside but also here we are following international evidence it

came to the conclusion that facemask should be saved for those in health and care who really need them and it is not a risk—free option to have facemasks because that means it's ha rd to facemasks because that means it's hard to get hold of facemasks for the people where the science says they are needed. where they are needed. professor. thank you. to your first point about closing borders, our scientists have been very clear from the start that that would not work as a measure to prevent the ingress of coronavirus into the uk. coronavirus is now in the uk and transmitting very widely. i understand the point you're making, and! i understand the point you're making, and i see where you're coming from, in terms of when we get this under control, doesn't that

change the situation? but we won't go from a position of widespread community transmission among our own people to a position of zero transmission among our other position, which was the case back in december 2019. we will likely go back to low levels of transmission and the virus will continue to be here in and around us in our communities i suspect for a very long time, even if we can keep the levels right down from. that perspective, i hope that adds a bit of sense to the context of the question around travel. now in terms of face masks and general wearing of them, by the public, i do know that this is a very vexed and very emotive issue, with citizens all

around the world frankly and we have ke pt around the world frankly and we have kept this under very careful and repetitive scientific review. 0ur expert advisory committee met again this week to consider all of these matters. and we do remain convinced that there just isn't the evidence base to support general mask—wearing by the public. you have probably seen the paper that was released four days ago on, by our xiv, by paul hunter's team and they have been through that evidence again and we have looked at all of that evidence in that paper again and it remain it is case that we do not see at this point a persuasive argument for general mask—wearing by the public. but i want to assure you personally and those who are

listening in, that we will keep the science evidence under review and we are going to be guided by the science and if the science evidence changed, then we will change. thank you. charlotte at talk radio. thank you. charlotte at talk radio. thank you. could ask how many front line workers have died from covid—19 and when health care worker does pass away, has there been some form of investigation put in place to we can learn lesson from what happened to them and make sure it doesn't happen again to their colleagues? yes this isa again to their colleagues? yes this is a question for you, ruth. we know that any death due to coronavirus is a tragic one. we also know that a death of a one of our workers, one of ourfamily is, for me,

heart—breaking. we do have a number of people who have died, nurses, midwives, health care assistants and doctors, it would be inappropriate to go into listing them and numbering them. because we haven't necessarily got all of the position across england with all of the people's families giving them permission to talk about them. but i recognise that we will want to make sure that we are learning any lessons to be learned. but it would be inappropriate to comment on any individual death that we have seen, whether that is one of our health ca re whether that is one of our health care workers or not. thank you. the telegraph. a question for the health secretary. economists are predicting there will be a 14% drop in gdp this

year. and i understand some in government fear it could be worse. what would the impact of that be on the numbers of deaths that are not directly related to coronavirus? this is a really important question and one that i worry about a lot. the goal that i have as health secretary is to protect life. but you have got to make sure that you look at that in the widest context. of course protecting people from deaths due directly to coronavirus and that is the subjects of discussion in most of the press conferences and to make sure the nhs capacity is there. the second kind of mortality that we protect against is deaths that occur because the nhs is deaths that occur because the nhs is overrun. i'm pleased that thus far there is no point at which the

nhs has been overrun and everyone has been able to access the best possible care in the nhs, because we have taken the action to expand the nhs, sourced the ventilators and increased capacity to make sure there is the capacity there. that is top priority as we repeat at the start of each of these press conferences. the third type of impact is due to delaying nhs activity, because we are responding to coronavirus. some of this you've to coronavirus. some of this you've to delay, because for instance some treatments for cancer require you to ta ke treatments for cancer require you to take immunity down to low levels, thatis take immunity down to low levels, that is a dangerous thing to do when there is a very significant virus around. and the fourth impact on mortality that we consider is the economic impact. now, we do not yet

have an established estimate of the impact of the... the huge problems in the economy that have been caused and that impact on itself back on to the health of the nation, but it is a piece of work that i'm working on jointly with the... with the chancellor to make sure that we, when we make decisions about the big policy decisions, especially around social distancing, we take into account the entire impact on the health and well being of everyone in the country, not just health and well being of everyone in the country, notjust on the highly visible impact on the deaths from coronavirus, but right across the board, including indirectly through the economic impact of the crisis. so it is something that i, as a trained economist, am very alive to, i work closely with the chancellor

on itand i work closely with the chancellor on it and it is something that will be at the heart of ourjudgments as we make those, the decisions in the future, but what is clear is that right now it is too early to make thosejudgments right now it is too early to make those judgments and so the position has of this weekend and the most important message for everyone this weekend is to stay at home, because thatis weekend is to stay at home, because that is what saves lives. did that a nswer that is what saves lives. did that answer the question? can i quickly follow up, you say that work is ongoing, i understand if it is too early to tell what the economic impact will be, but it has been reported that there is existing government modelling of 150,000 deaths that could be unrelated to coronavirus, but because of the other impacts, does that sound plausible to you? no, i saw that figure in the telegraph, bit is

wrong. it is not part of our analysis and when we do that analysis, then and we have confidence it, i'm sure we will be able to answer the question more directly. but that 150,000 figure is not correct. tom newton at the sun? thank you very much health secretary. a question to the chief nursing officer if i may first, when you're out and about and see people mucking about in parks and there have been reports of house partying being broken up by the police, how does that make you feel personally about what you said about the colleagues you have lost and obviously it is too early to talk about relaxing the lock down and restrictions, because you don't have the data, when the time does come

for that in weeks in advance maybe, what sort of are the targets you would consider for case loads in hospitals, admissions, fatality rates, what does the level have to get down to before you advice the government to think about relaxing them. can you give the british people some sort of target they can look out for? i will ask ruth to a nswer look out for? i will ask ruth to answer the first one and professor van—tam to answer the second. i want to correct something in the second question, it is not that we don't yet have data, it is that the information that we do have so far shows that we are not there yet. it is because if you look at the curves, while they are flattening, they're not flattening far enough to be able to make any changes and that is what sage will look at again next week. so just... it is what sage will look at again next week. sojust... it is an important

nuance in the way that the question was put. i will askjvt to answer that. ruth? tom, it is frustrating, it is personally frustrating to see people clearly not doing social distancing, clearly coming out in large groups. i was only on the way here going over westminster bridge and seeing a hoard of cyclists. it is very frustrating. the reason that is very frustrating. the reason that is frustrating is because there is also still occasions where my collea g u es also still occasions where my colleagues are getting abuse from their neighbours, for driving off to work. sam, a nurse in a mental health organisation in the east of england, had grief from her neighbours, because she was travelling to work. our nurses, our health care staff need to be able to get to work and my ask of everybody, please stay at home, save lives and protect my staff. thank you.

professor? tom, thank you for the question. i completely understand that everyone wants a completely understand that everyone wantsa numberor completely understand that everyone wants a number or a figure or something that they can say... can i look out for this, well that then begin to tell me that we are finally beating this for real, for good in this wave, if you see what i mean? that advice, unfortunately, is complicated. it will come from sage, the scientific advisory group for emergencies. and it will come from looking at the number of tests that are positive. it will be based upon the numberof are positive. it will be based upon the number of new hospital admissions with confirmed coronavirus. it will be based upon the numberof coronavirus. it will be based upon the number of people going to i and

a numberof the number of people going to i and a number of deaths. all of those indicators will need to be taken into account to give us a proper reliable picture that things are definitely on the downturn and that we feel confident that it is consistently now the case. you have seen on the figures that i have shown today, with new cases, you know, the figures are kind of bouncing around a bit. that is entirely normal. that is random variation that you get with any biological phenomenon, any disease phenomenon involving humans. and much as i am itching to give you one thing you can go on and say, this is the signal that we are looking for... ijust the signal that we are looking for... i just can't. the signal that we are looking for... ijust can't. it isjust too soon and it is a more complicated judgment than that, based on a

numberof judgment than that, based on a number of indicators. thank you very much. does that satisfy you, tom? just quickly, i completely accept that point. in which case can you define what you mean by the peak? obviously there are weeks apart from hospital admissions and cases to fatalities. what exactly is the peak and how do we know when the peak has passed? right, so, in terms of the indicators i have given you, this is a bit... this whole concept is a bit like a hose pipe in your garden with a tap at one end and when you turn that tab off, water still comes out the hosepipe for a few seconds before it dies down. so it is with the indicators here. there are people being infected with coronavirus today. they will develop their symptoms at some point over their symptoms at some point over the next two weeks. regrettably, some of them will become ill enough

to go into hospital, possibly about seven days after the onset of their symptoms. and then not all of them will need intensive care, thankfully, only a small proportion, but they won't or need intensive ca re but they won't or need intensive care the moment they are admitted to hospital. some will perhaps take a few days before that happens and thatis few days before that happens and that is a further delay, and then those that are, unfortunately, going to succumb to this disease, don't succumb instantly. again, that takes time for those deaths to show from infections that occurred maybe two weeks before that. so from that perspective we work all the time with these lag period and the peak of each of those indices will be different and you do need to have a composite understanding of all of their men to be thoroughly assured that this is now turning down for

goodin that this is now turning down for good in this wave before you can signal to the government that it is time to think about what happens next on social distancing. ok, thanks, tom. hannahfrom buzz feed? hello. mr hancock, how exactly are you going to get from 19,000 to 100,000 tests by the end of the month if two of the three mega labs you setup won't be up and running for another couple of weeks? and what will you do if you don't? a question third jonathan van tam, doctors have told us they are being asked to ration oxygen. what are you doing to ensure that not just oxygen tanks are full but hospitals have the capacity to deliver those supplies to patients at the rates they need? thank you very much. i've set the clear goal of 100,000 tests a day by

the end of the month and i am pleased that the number now is over 19,000 a day. i was setting out how we have got four mega labs coming on stream. the first three of those have already got going. it is the cambridge one that will come on strea m cambridge one that will come on stream at the end of this month. we also have all of the existing labs within public health england and the nhs and some other research institutes that we are using. as i say, this is a part of the national effort. one of the things that has happened since i announced the goal for the nation as a whole for 100,000 for the nation as a whole for io0,000 tests for the nation as a whole for 100,000 tests by the end of the month is we have had a huge number of offers, people have come to us and said, we can turn this facility which hasn't been a coronavirus testing facility into a coronavirus testing facility into a coronavirus testing facility. facilities we

didn't know about or equipment that we didn't know about that they have brought to the task. the other thing about the mega labs that we are opening is that many of them are staffed by volunteers. volu nteers them are staffed by volunteers. volunteers who are super specialist and volunteers who are super specialist a nd exa ctly volunteers who are super specialist and exactly what we need. meeting many of them yesterday, it was incredibly inspiring to see what they are doing because they know that this is vital for the national effort and they've brought their skills to us to help everybody get through this, because testing is so important. so i have set that goal of 100,000, we important. so i have set that goal of100,000, we are important. so i have set that goal of 100,000, we are working 20 47 two hit it. -- 24-7. of 100,000, we are working 20 47 two hit it. —— 24—7. everyone can see the trajectory which has almost doubled since i set it and we had clearly got a lot of work to do to get to 100,000 but we are on track.

the second question was to you, professor? yes, thank you, hannah. oxygen. this disease is unlike anything i've seen in my almost three decades in medicine. it is really, really unusual in that the requirement for patients who are hospitalised to have oxyg e n patients who are hospitalised to have oxygen is very high. sorry to go back to the hosepipe analogy, but if everyone in a certain area turns on their sprinkler in the garden at the same time, the water pressure will go down for a while and it is a logistic and engineering challenge to create all those thousands of extra intensive care beds that we have done, with ventilators, and also secure the oxygen supply that

goes behind them. now i do know that there has been absolutely enormous logistic work 24—7 behind—the—scenes to keep hospitals surprised with —— supplied with oxygen. but you are right, we have seen one or two reports where something has gone slightly wrong with an oxygen supply and that is partly about the stress on the whole engineering system of a hospital that is required to produce the oxygen demands the double the amount of ventilators. we have to learn as we go along and our engineers have to adapt. you are going to see these isolated incidents and we will learn from them, but oxygen supply, you are right to flag it, it's an unprecedented demand with this virus. you might have been referring to the

challenges we had in watford last weekend. i don't know if there was more detail you wanted to ask about? we spoke to doctors across the country who said they were concerned by things they were being told, such as they may not be able to give oxyge n as they may not be able to give oxygen to palliative care patients. when we spoke to the bma they said they were concerned by those reports and is something the government should be taking seriously. ok, so the truth is that in all the challenges and oxygen supply that professorjonathan challenges and oxygen supply that professor jonathan van tam just challenges and oxygen supply that professorjonathan van tam just set out, in all cases there has been available ventilated oxygen to be able to treat those who need it. in fa ct, able to treat those who need it. in fact, we have currently over 2000 spare beds with ventilators. so we have spare capacity and in fact, the

spare capacity is currently going up faster than need. so the overall capacity is going up faster than need, so the spare capacity is increasing. for anybody listening or watching, the message is a very clear, which is there is enough capacity in the nhs to look after you no matter if you catch it, how serious it gets, but it is very important that we don't allow the spread of the virus to accelerate because we have got to keep that demand below the levels of supply even though as we increase supply. on the point about whether an individual patient should be put onto a ventilator, that is a different question. it is not about the capacity, it is not about the availability of beds, it's about a clinicaljudgment for each availability of beds, it's about a clinical judgment for each and every person and that should never be made ona person and that should never be made on a blanket basis. it should always be made on the basis of advice of clinicians as to what is in the best interest of the patient. it is

something i think came up last time ruth and i were at this press conference and we talked about it with respect to do not resuscitate notices, which are a standard part of any health system. but there is no link between the capacity of the nhs and the needs of an individual because we have, thankfully, so far, in all circumstances, managed to keep the available capacity above the demand curve. the reason we have been able to do that is because people are following the social distancing advice and staying at home. if they weren't, that would be a much more of a challenge. if anybody needs another motivation as to why you should stay at home and follow the social distancing rules, it is precisely because we don't wa nt it is precisely because we don't want the concerns that he raised understandably in your question to

become the reality across the nhs. i don't know if you have anything else to add? you are absolutely right, clinicians from all sorts of backgrounds are making those decisions all the time. even when patients are not in intensive care, people are needing oxygen and clinicians are doing that day in and day out. they will make sure if a patient, a person at home, wherever they are, if they need to have oxygen, clinicians will be needing to do that and they will. thank you. dave west from the health service journal? firstly for the secretary of state, we have heard consistently from yourself and from the government about the vital importance of staying at home to relieve pressure on the nhs and to save lives. we have also heard that if you do need to travel to work, you should if humanly possible, keep going with social distancing measures and stay two metres apart

from each other. we have been told since your illness and the prime minister's illness that the government is conducting its business in a way to achieve this as faras business in a way to achieve this as far as humanly possible. yet we have learned that a number of times in re ce nt learned that a number of times in recent days you have continued to hold meetings yourself and your office for between 10—20 officials and their assistants, clearly not able to observe those rules of staying two metres apart are not working from home. senior nhs officials dialling into those meetings have expressed concerns to us about the example that sets to their staff and the way they will behave and concerns that they will in turn think that they need to be turning up to work and it's irresponsible not to. so are you going to stop holding those meetings in that way or do you think it is impossible for you to meet those rules? and in the question to ruth

orjonathan is a follow up on hannah's about the wide—eyed... we will leave this press briefing, six o'clock is coming up next.

almost 1000 more people have lost their lives. runners and cyclists banned from using a stretch of the thames, as we are all urged to stay at home this weekend to save more lives we all share a responsibility to tackle this virus, first and foremost tackle this virus, first and fore m ost by tackle this virus, first and foremost by staying at home. after weeks of criticism over a shortage of personal protection equipment for front—line staff, the government insists there is now enough. downing street says the prime minister's health