this is bbc news. the headlines: the department of health says a total of 17,337 patien have now a total of 17,337 people have now died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the uk as of 5pm on monday — up by 828 from the previous day. the figures come as we also hear that in the week before easter — deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high, with more than a thousand covid—related deaths recorded at care homes. last week, we were looking at 217 deaths that had been registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings. now, we are seeing over 1000. the health secretary, matt hancock, will lead the daily press coronavirus press briefing at 10 downing street in half an hour's time. boris johnson is speaking

to donald trump today, and he'll hold a phone conversation with the queen later this week. but downing street says the prime minister still hasn't formally returned to work. mps have approved a motion to enable new arrangements for questions by video link, and strict new social distancing rules, with up to 50 members allowed in the chamber at any one time. and the brand—new nightingale hospital in harrogate is being opened today by nhs fundraiser captain tom moore — by videolink. good afternoon. shocking figures today show that look in the week up to easter, deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high, with 8,000 more people dying than would be regarded as normal at this time of year.

that's according for national statistics. that's according to the office for national statistics. the latest figures released by the department of health and social care show that across the uk a further 828 people have died from the virus — taking the total number of deaths to over 17,000. figures from the office for national statistics also found that there has been a surge in the number of people dying in care homes because of coronavirus with more than a thousand covid—related deaths. so, lots of tough questions for the government as parliament returned to business today. mps agreed new voting arrangemets for a new hybrid parliament — with mps dialling in via zoom. also today, the prime minister borisjohnson will speak to president donald trump later on and will hold a telephone conversation with the queen later this week. and captain tom moore who has raised more than 27 million in his walk for the nhs has opened the new nightingale hospital in harrogate today. this report from our health correspondent

richard galpin. for those living in care homes across england and wales, the figures are particularly bleak. the number of deaths, shooting up. and all this, mostly due to coronavirus. in total, the office for national statistics says, in england and wales, coronavirus was involved in 1662 deaths outside hospitals in the week ending on good friday. the vast majority of those deaths were in care homes. also, 466 people died at home, and 87 in hospices. if we look at that care home number, i know that's a source of real focus at the moment, last week, that was about 5% of deaths involving covid were in care home settings, now 13%, based on death registrations. in terms of numbers, last week, we were looking at 217 deaths that had been registered up to the 3rd of april

in care home settings, now we are seeing over 1000. there are more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes in england alone. they are amongst the most vulnerable, and the virus has already spread into many of these homes. we always had hoped that the figures would be less but i think there is more and more evidence that they may be more. i mean, it is disappointing, disappointing for the families, it's disappointing for the carers who have done their utmost to contain this within very difficult circumstances. but certainly, if we'd had the testing in place, if we'd been part of the contingency planning at the very beginning, we may have been able if we'd had been part of the contingency planning to mitigate some of the figures we are looking at today. another big issue being discussed today is whether all of us should wear masks when we are outside so we cannot spread coronavirus.

scientists advising the government have been debating this morning whether there is sufficient evidence it would be beneficial. there are concerns it could jeopardise supplies for health workers. at this point we do not have accurate scientific steer that it would be right to broaden this to the general population and we would obviously bear in mind representations from nhs providers about the need to prioritise supply to where it can do the most good. there have also been developments today on rolling out testing for all front line workers. 27 of these drive—in testing centres are now up and running across the country. besides health workers, teachers, police, prison officers and others can now get tested for the virus. there's huge progress been made in building lab capacity so there is a plan to deliver that level of lab capacity. we now have a number of ways of meeting demand and matching that

capacity to demand but the real aim is to secure the testing capability that the country needs. and i'm confident we have that and we will be able to allow the country to respond with the testing that is required. the government has pledged to scale up the programme to 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. whether that's possible is not something the new testing coordinator would answer. richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur health correspondent jane dreaper is here. we have the latest uk death figures for hospitals concerning coronavirus. yes, the latest total is now more than 17,000. it stands at 17,337, an increase from yesterday's figure of more than 820 further deaths linked to the virus. another really big increase, and grim figure with a lot of individual

pain beside it. one thing to note is that although that figure and the increase is much bigger than it was in the past couple of days, overall, the trend for the past couple of weeks seems to be a steadying in these figures for uk hospitals at least, and that has to give us some cause for hope. a sense, then, that we have reached a peak? some experts think the peak was reached on the 8th of april. there is a separate situation in care homes, figures about the broader patterns of death for the whole community, which is not good news, but that dates back toa not good news, but that dates back to a couple of weeks ago. there is a time lag in those figures, so it is a complicated picture. 0verall, statistical experts think the peak in hospitals has been reached for the moment. we could still get a nasty shock if some other figures are uncovered, and we are by no means out of the woods yet in terms of the lockdown measures, from the

government point of view, but there is starting to be some cause for hopein is starting to be some cause for hope in the statistics. is there a sense that it is the lockdown measures that have led to this potential flattening or plateauing of the numbers of people dying in hospitals? the lockdown does appear to be having an impact on the death figures. that is good news. jane, many thanks. a spokesperson for downing street has said that the prime minister has been talking to donald trump and thanked him for his good wishes while he was unwell. the leaders agreed on the importance of a coordinated international response to the virus pandemic. including through the g7, which the us currently chairs. according to number ten, they also discussed continued uk — us cooperation in the fight against the pandemic. the leaders committed to continuing working together to strengthening

oui’ working together to strengthening our bilateral relationship, including the signing of the free trade agreement as soon as possible. prime minister boris johnson, trade agreement as soon as possible. prime minister borisjohnson, it must be made clear, is not fully back at work, so he did take a call 01’ back at work, so he did take a call or makea back at work, so he did take a call or make a call today to the white house and had a brief conversation with president trump, and he also a p pa re ntly with president trump, and he also apparently will be having a phone call with the queen, borisjohnson, later this week. the government's national testing co—ordinator has told the bbc that any frontline worker with coronavirus symptoms should now be able to get a test for the disease. professorjohn newton said 27 drive—in testing centres were operating across the uk, and more were planned. government scientists are also rolling out workplace testing. he told the bbc‘s health editor, hugh pym, that he was confident the uk now had the laboratory capacity it needed. but he would not be drawn on whether the government would meet its target of 100,000 tests per day by the end of april.

what we've done is to build an end—to—end testing service, mainly to support testing for front line workers, and there is a big lab system behind this, and these drive—in centres is one way in which we are getting people tested, but there are other routes where we can get swabs to people rather than the people to the swabs. so, how widespread is this system now in england, and how widespread do you want it to be? well, there's been a huge effort to stand up these sort of centres, so we now have 27 centres running already, and we will have more to cover the country, so that everybody should be able to drive to one of these centres, if that's the right route for them. but we are also working on building a system to deliver swabs to people's homes and also to their places of work. and just explain who this applies to, which front line workers. well, the testing facilities here are designed to help front line workers get back to work. if they've got symptoms of covid, they can be tested, and if it's negative, they can go back to work.

and we've extended that now so that really any front line worker who needs a test should be able to get tested now. we've heard reports from some nhs staff that it's quite a long way to go to some of the centres and it's difficult for them to actually get tested, still. yes, that's true, and that's why we are thinking of other ways of doing it. those have been just a little bit slower to get in, to set up, than the drive—in centres. so, these drive—in centres are useful. they are really helping a lot of people, but we are also doing other things to get test to staff more conveniently. i think some of the points made were, some people don't have cars, and it is a bit inaccessible. there is no public transport. a lot of nhs staff are in fact being tested in the nhs, so right where they work, and we are now piloting testing at home, which will be a lot more convenient for many more people. the government set a target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of april. that's not far off. the current level isjust over 20,000.

how are you going to get to your target? well, there's huge progress being made in building lab capacity, so there is a plan to deliver that level of lab capacity. we now have a number of ways of meeting demand and matching that capacity to demand, but the real aim is to secure the testing capability that the country needs, and i'm confident that we have that and we'll be able to allow the country to respond with the testing that is required. are you confident you can get to the 100,000 tests a day level by the end of april? well, you need to talk to the secretary of state about his target, but we are confident that we have the lab capacity to deliver the testing service that the country needs. isn't it the case that, actually, you may have the capacity, but you can't get the actual tests done because of the swabs needed and other equipment? we now have a really good process for getting people tested within the nhs, and also through drive—in centres like this. it's not perfect, but it's very nearly complete.

it needs further work. but ultimately, what we are doing is testing everybody who needs a test and responding to the changing pandemic. at white knight professorjohn newton there, national testing coordinator. —— professorjohn newton they are, national testing coordinator. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, says she's "cautiously optimistic" about the latest data on coronavirus in scotland. earlier this afternoon, she said the hospital figures appear to be stabilising, and the number of people in intensive care appears to be falling. i can report that there have been 8,672 positive cases confirmed, which is an increase of 222 since yesterday. a total of 1,866 patients are currently in hospital with either confirmed or suspected covid—19, that is an increase of 57 from yesterday. a total of 166 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected covid—19, that is a decrease of three since the figure

i quoted to you yesterday. now, while i would still urge caution in interpreting these figures, i do remain cautiously optimistic that firstly, while the numbers being admitted to hospital are still fluctuating on a daily basis, they do appear to be broadly stable and secondly, the numbers being admitted to intensive care are, at this stage, reducing. we shouldn't forget how important that is. it is not too long ago that we were seriously worried about the potential for our hospital capacity to be overwhelmed. the fact that it is not is down to the planning that has been done in the national health service, of course, but more than that, it is down to the high compliance with the lockdown restrictions, so my thanks to all of you for helping us to ensure that the nhs has been able to cope, although the work that they do is very difficult and very challenging.

scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, cautious optimism for her. cautious optimism here in england as well. i'm joined now by professor sir dave king, who was the uk's chief scientific advisor from 2000 to 2007. thank you for being with us. we have heard the latest deaths, a rise of 828, but that seems to be consistent with figures we have had over the last few days, not taking into account monday's and the drop off over a weekend in reporting. do you sense a plateauing of the situation 110w sense a plateauing of the situation now in terms of the numbers of deaths we are seeing in england? yes, i think it is fair enough to describe this as a plateauing. we can therefore anticipate, as it

moves along, that the numbers will be decreasing and in particular, the numbers that need to go into intensive care. however, it seems there is a problem with care homes. we don't know enough about what is happening in care homes. that is clearly a n happening in care homes. that is clearly an issue. when you give us the number of deaths on a daily basis, that is still the deaths that occui’ basis, that is still the deaths that occur in hospitals. it would have cost be much more satisfactory if this was a broader analysis, which is provided by the office for national statistics, but only on a weekly basis. is that annoying to you? well, i think we can factor it in. the exact numbers bounce around, but it is the approximate figures that give it some indication as to how it is progressing. but i do

believe the lockdown is operating. i think we would see cases increasing much more substantially. but let me emphasise one of the points about testing that isn't discussed. if we are looking forward to the moment of lockdown, it is important to know what proportion of the population already has had the virus and has therefore developed the antibodies. those being talked about on your programme are those who can go back to work. if we are going to go out of lockdown, it would be important to know what percentage of the total population have had the disease. we need quite a substantial programme of careful testing. 5000 people,

say, tested randomly, and then the same 5000 people tested over the coming weeks. that would give us a better indication of the level of immunity in the population at large. indeed. but it is notjust testing, is it, to get out of the lockdown situation, it is contact tracing as well. and we do seem to be behind in that. yes, we started off well and then we abandoned it. i think as we go back to lockdown, everything will depend on the figures. the who is estimating that 3% of our population is likely to have had the virus already. that is a very small percentage, nowhere near herd immunity. but there are other calculations indicating much larger figures and we need to know that figures and we need to know that figure urgently as we move towards

lockdown, or removal of lockdown. indeed, testing and contact tracing, these are important parts of this pandemic. but also the question over personal protective equipment, ppe. do you think enough was done, particularly when you were chief scientific adviser, to keep the strategic stuck at levels that may have given the country a better chance in dealing with this at the beginning? i am confident that we we re beginning? i am confident that we were ina beginning? i am confident that we were in a better place in the period up were in a better place in the period up to 2008, 2010, and that there has been a rundown in the stockpile of equipment to deal with the crisis at this time. this is one of the issues that will have to be examined when and if there is an analysis of actions of government in handling this pandemic. professor sir david

king, thanks forjoining us. as we have been reporting, the prime minister and president trump have discussed us cooperation over the pandemic. let's speak to our political correspondentjessica parker. what were they saying? well, we never get a transcript of the conversations that go on, but we have had what is known as a readout from downing street in the past few moments regarding this call between borisjohnson moments regarding this call between boris johnson and president moments regarding this call between borisjohnson and president trump, saying they spoke this afternoon. the prime minister thanked donald trump for his good wishes while he was unwell. 0f trump for his good wishes while he was unwell. of course, donald trump did send his wishes to borisjohnson when the prime minister was admitted to hospital. boris johnson when the prime minister was admitted to hospital. borisjohnson is obviously continuing to recuperate at chequers following his illness with coronavirus. we are told the leaders agreed on the importance of a coordinated international response to coronavirus, including through

the g7, which the us currently chairs. they also discussed continued cooperation in the fight against the pandemic and they committed to continue working together to strengthen bilateral relationships including signing a free trade agreement as soon as possible. a couple of things to pick up possible. a couple of things to pick up on that of significance. we are told boris johnson up on that of significance. we are told borisjohnson is not doing government work, he is still recuperating at his prime ministerial retreat in buckinghamshire. however, he is having this phone call with donald trump. we understand he is having an audience, albeit by phone, with her majesty the queen later this week. so it does seem like the prime minister, who are told is receiving daily updates but not doing government work, is beginning to dip his toe back in. dominic raab continues to deputise for the prime minister and will hold pmqs tomorrow. and of course, you would expect the two leaders to talk about coronavirus, but it is interesting that they mention this free trade agreement. of course, it seems a long time ago that we use to talk about this a lot, about how

following brexit and the uk leaving the eu and no longer being part of the eu and no longer being part of the customs union, it would look to strike new trade deals across the world and of course, america was seen as a world and of course, america was seen as a big prize. they are still having those conversations. how far advanced those trade agreement discussions will get is a question, given that both countries are preoccupied with tackling the pandemic. the words back burner spring to mind. thank you. as the number of victims of covid—19 continues to grow, health workers, too, find themselves mourning the loss of colleagues and friends. daniela relph reports. their stories are of compassion and care across a range ofjobs. they are the growing list of health care workers who have lost their lives to the virus they were helping to treat. the anguish of their families is acute, the tributes of the work colleagues fulsome. manjeet singh riyat was an accident and emergency consultant at the royal derby hospital. he died on monday.

he was 52. he was the uk's first sikh a&e consultant and a much loved doctor. a fellow consultant at the hospital described him as the father of the emergency department in derby and an inspiration to others. absolutely fabulous man, inspirational. inspirational on the shop floor, loved a clinical challenge, had a massive intellect, encyclopedic knowledge. he was an inspiration to many junior doctors. paramedic gerallt davies had worked for the welsh ambulance service for 26 years. at the weekend he became the first paramedic in wales to die after contracting coronavirus. he was 51. last week, sonya kaygan died in hospital in london after spending two weeks in intensive care. she was a care home worker and just 26 years old. for herfamily, there is now grief and questions. whether they have ppe

now, i can say that my cousin didn't at the time, and she was wearing just a general mask and gloves that she would wear before the pandemic. so nothing really changed in terms of the way that she was protected at work during this time. and it's incredibly frustrating for all of us because carers need this attention. you know, my cousin is 26 years old. this could have been prevented. she was too young to lose her life. they are just a few of the front line workers who have died. they represent a group of people who stepped up to help others suffering and who have themselves lost their lives. theirfamilies, friends and colleagues want their sacrifice remembered. daniela relph, bbc news. oil prices have bounced back after they turned negative yesterday for the first time in history. negative prices meant oil producers were paying buyers to take oil off their hands — over fears that storage capacity could run out.

will it mean dramatic falls in pump prices? you perhaps you won't be surprised to hear... probably not — as andy verity reports. if the world is producing more oil than it is using, the price will tend to drop and in the worldwide economic shutdown to fight off coronavirus, that's exactly what has happened. as ships stay in ports, aeroplanes on the ground and cars in driveways, demand for oil has dropped by roughly 30% to 70 million barrels a day, while all producers by roughly 30% to 70 million barrels a day, and while oil producers like saudi arabia and russia have cut production, it's only by about 10 million a day. with far more oil being produced and used, storage is running out. i've been doing this for 25 years and i've never seen it, so there we are. it's unprecedented. absolutely unprecedented times and the speed of the drop is the other thing. what suppliers will slowly now have

to do, you know, in north america, north sea producers in the uk, they will have to either stop production or totally slow it up. traders of us oil were caught out yesterday. they had agreed contracts to buy oil for delivery next month but couldn't physically take delivery because there was nowhere to store it. they had to sell, no matter what the price. that pushed the main us measure of the cost of a barrel of oil for delivery next month below zero for the first time and it stayed there overnight. the contract expired yesterday and that means whoever holds those contracts at that time physically has to take delivery of the oil. now, in a lot of cases, those are traders that never intended to take delivery of the oil, they've been caught out by the current economic situation and found themselves in a situation that they had contracts for oil that they could not store, so they needed to off—load them very quickly. while other measures of the cost of oil such as a barrel from the north sea were still above $20, the record in the us prompted an investment recommendation

from the white house. if we could buy it for nothing, we are going to take everything we can get. the only thing i like better than that is when they pay you to take the oil, this is a great time to buy oil. but the president might struggle to find somewhere to put his crude. oil producers are now hiring tankers not to transport it, but keep oil that no one wants. even in these unprecedented times you can't expect petrol retailers unfortunately to start paying you to take the stuff off them, partly because most of the price of a litre of unleaded is duty and vat and then they've got the refining costs. in spite of that, some retailers do anticipate that the price of a litre of petrol will drop below £1 a litre in the coming weeks. the last time the oil price rapidly dropped was in 2016, as new shale oil producers in texas oversupplied the market. now, though, the price is so low that many of them cannot cover their costs and are likely to go out of business. andy verity, bbc news.

dentists in england say a shortage of protective equipment is hampering their efforts to treat patients at new "urgent care hubs" — set up to deal with emergencies while practices are closed. the british dental association says patients with urgent problems are being forced to "take matters into their own hands". dan johnson's report contains some graphic images. this dentist is at work but not working. we've got all the equipment to treat people. he hasn't seen a patient for ages. all i'm allowed to do is give prescriptions out. i saw a patient last...about three weeks ago. the problem is protective equipment. the usual kit isn't good enough to protect against the virus and working close up, face to face, dentists are especially vulnerable. face—to—face without the appropriate ppe is not advisable. use of the dental drill can spread an aerosol spray of particles. i didn't know how hard it would be to take out a molar. so some patients are resorting to

diy after failing to get treatment. they basically said unless it is stopping you from breathing that they couldn't do anything, there is no point coming in unless i literally couldn't breathe properly. this wasn't the case, but the pain nevertheless was absolutely excruciating. so i thought i'd take it into my own hands, really. it was quite tricky. i thought maybe ten or 15 minutes but an hour and half, it took me. england's chief dental officer says a network of more than 200 urgent care centres is up and running, to treat emergency cases but appointments are still difficult to get. we've got a real backlog of patients who have been suffering. we have dealt with many of them with advice, antibiotics and analgesics. but many of these patients need face—to—face treatment. without the necessary ppe, many of these centres, even though they are waiting to provide care for patients, aren't able to do that. some dentists have moved to work in different roles. others just want to help their own patients.

frustrated, i think is the only word. frustrated that i can't do what i know i should be able to do. nhs england says the right protective equipment is in place, and more is on the way. dan johnson, bbc news. captain tom moore, the 99—year—old war veteran who raised over £27m for the nhs, has opened a new nightingale hospital in harrogate. a virtual ceremony was held to open the 500—bed facility at harrogate convention centre, the first of seven field hospitals built outside a city. captain tom, who raised money by completing 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday, was invited to appear via video link in honour of his fundraising effort. let's look at how other countries are dealing with the pandemic. germany has started to ease some of its restrictions on movement

but its famous oktoberfest will not go ahead this year. the world's largest beer festival had been due to start in mid—september, but has been cancelled due to the coronavirus. the event attracts around six million visitors to munich every year. italy's prime minister giuseppe conte says he plans to significantly ease the country's coronavirus restrictions on may the 4th, but said some restrictions would remain in place as it would be "irresponsible" to reopen everything. italy has been under strict lockdown since march 9th and is the worst affected country in europe. more than 211,000 people have died, and there have been over 180,000 confirmed cases of the virus. singapore says it has preliminarily confirmed more than one thousand new coronavirus cases, taking the city's total infections to over 9000. the health ministry said most of the cases were migrant workers living in dormitories. singapore has the highest number

of reported cases in southeast asia. tributes have been paid to the accident and emergency consultant manjeet singh riyat, who died yesterday at the royal derby hospital where he worked. mr riyat was the uk's first sikh a&e consultant. colleagues described him as "the father of the current emergency department", who was widely respected across the nhs. jagdeesh singh dhaliwal is a gp in melbourne in australia, who trained with mr riyat at medical school in leicester. he said he was shocked. yeah, it is absolutely heart—wrenching. i woke up with the news this morning when other friends and colleagues from the uk had messaged me, and it has just been a day of deep, deep sorrow and complete shock. particularly for manjeet, he was always such a lively, life and soul character and to think that he is no longer with us is galling. and the huge loss to the nhs

to have an experienced ed consultant of this calibre not working in the system any more. many people talking about the calibre of this man, that phrase, the father of the current emergency department, that is quite an accolade. well, we have all been talking today about how we were all 18—year—old medical students, and he was the adult in the room at the time, he was always the person you could go to for sensible advice, when we would still be quite naive and immature 18—year—olds so he always possessed that real white we will break out of that and go to downing street for the daily briefing. iamjoined by briefing. i am joined by professor van—tam and by professorjohn newton. at the heart of our plan is to make sure that nhs capacity is always ahead of need. this means that if you or someone you need need. this means that if you or someone you need need hospital care with covid—19, then you will always

get that care. if, god forbid, you need care in an intensive care unit, then you will have that bed and the life—saving equipment and team that you need. the latest figures show another record high of 2963 spare critical care beds available across the nhs. we said at the start of this that our primary goal in our battle plan was to slow the spread and protect the nhs by flattening the curve and increasing capacity. that plan is working. at no point in this crisis has anyone who could benefit from critical care been denied that care because there were not enough staff all beds or ventilators to treat them. but there is much further to go. on the most recent figures, 535,342 tests have

now been carried out in the uk, excluding northern ireland. of these, 129,044 have tested positive. the number of patients in hospital with covid—19 symptoms is now down to 17,681. 17,366 people have sadly died in hospital, which is an increase of 852. this number is another salutary lesson, and it tells us of the deadly nature of this virus. we owe it to them and to ourselves not to throw away the progress we've made so far. we have been clear that we will not risk lives by relaxing the social

distancing rules before ourfive tests have been met. first, that the nhs can continue to cope. second, that the operational challenges can be met. third, that the daily death rate falls sustainably and consistently. fourth, that the rate of infection is decreasing. and most importantly, that there is no risk ofa importantly, that there is no risk of a second peak. i now want to update you on two specific areas of huge importance. ppe. delivery is an operation of unprecedented scale and complexity. since the start of the crisis, we have delivered over1 billion items of ppe. we are co nsta ntly billion items of ppe. we are constantly working to improve that delivery system, buying ppe from around the world, and working to make more here at home. we have a diverse range of suppliers, and we are working day and night to expand

that supply base. we are in direct talks with the factories that produce the ppe and the fabric it is made. this has proved one of the most fruitful avenues, and i want to especially thank my foreign office and the it colleagues, especially in china, for the incredible work making these connections. i also wa nt to making these connections. i also want to thank the anonymous response we've had from our appealfor companies to come forward to help replenish stocks. as of yesterday, we've had 8331 offers of ppe equipment, and we are investigating each and every one of those mini leads. of course, some of these have led to very large scale purchases of items, but the reality is that not each of them, not everyone who approaches us can deliver on their offers in scale. i'm very grateful to all those who have come forward, and we are now actively engaged with thousands of these companies, and i

can announce that we are working with 159 potential uk manufacturers which are starting to come on stream. i've said many times that i am determined, determined, to get people to ppe that they need. this isa people to ppe that they need. this is a 24—7 operation, one of the biggest cross government operations i've ever seen, and i'm grateful to collea g u es i've ever seen, and i'm grateful to colleagues from the nhs, from public health england, the crown commercial service, cabinet office, communities department, the ministry of defence, the armed forces, the devolved administrations and the territorial officers, the business department, the treasury, the foreign office and the treasury, the foreign office and the department for international trade, for their enormous hard work on this, and i'm also very grateful to lord dighton, who delivered the 0lympics, for stepping forward to lead this national effort and deliver once again for his country. the second area i want to talk about is vaccines. in the long run, the best way to defeat coronavirus is

through a vaccine. after all, this isa through a vaccine. after all, this is a new disease. this is uncertain science, but i'm certain that we will throw everything we've got at developing a vaccine. the uk is at the forefront of the global effort. we've put more money than any other country into the global search for a vaccine. and for all the efforts around the world, two of the leading vaccine developments are taking place here at home, at oxford and imperial. both of these promising projects are making rapid progress, and i'm told the scion —— i've told the scientists leading them that we will do everything in our power to support. first, today, i'm making money available to the imperial project to support their phase two clinical trials which will assess a sample of several thousand, and for them to begin the work on

subsequently a very large phase three trial. second, i am today making available £20 million to the 0xford team to fund their clinical trials. the team have accelerated that trial process, working with the regulator, the nhra, who have been absolutely brilliant, and as a result, i can announce that the vaccine from the oxford project will be trialled in people from this thursday. in normal times, be trialled in people from this thursday. in normaltimes, reaching this stage would take years, and i'm very proud of the work taken so far. at the same time, we will invest in manufacturing capability so that if either of these vaccines safely works, then we can make it available for the british people as soon as humanly possible. nothing about this process is certain. vaccine development is a process of trial

and error and trial again. that is the nature of how vaccines are developed. but i told sara gilbert and robin shatter, two of our most inspiring scientist, that we will back them to the hilt and give them every resource that they need to get the best possible chance of success. as soon as possible. after all, the upside of being the first country in the world to develop a successful vaccine is so huge that i am throwing everything at it. coronavirus is a powerful enemy, but i believe that the power of human ingenuity is stronger. every day, the science gets better. we gather more information, understand more about how to defeat the virus, but in the meantime, there is one thing that you can do, and that is to stay at home, to protect the nhs and save

lives. thank you very much. i'm now going to ask professor van tan to ta ke going to ask professor van tan to take us through the daily statistics. thank you, secretary of state. i will begin with a slide that you've seen many times before. i don't apologise for showing it again. it is important that we continue to monitor the extent to which the british people are following the social distancing advice, and in this case, referring to the slide, not travelling. you can see a range of indicators that might, through all private motor vehicles, through buses and tubes in london, through to buses and national rail across the whole of the uk, and you can see a very clear prolongation of these low trends of usage compared to where we were in the middle of march. this is a good sign. it shows that we are

continuing to follow the advice given to us by the government, and that in doing so, we will get on top of the current wave of the coronavirus threat, and we will begin to turn the curve. next slide, please. this next slide, again, you have seen before, shows the new cases diagnosed in the uk. the dates along the bottom of the slide refer to when the lab tests for that individual were completed. and you can see, of course, that there is some day—to—day variation. but the numbers remain high, and it isn't clear that there is a enormous downturn at this point. the numbers are varying day to day but we remain ina are varying day to day but we remain in a situation that we must take very seriously indeed. you will see, as the slide progresses from left to

right, the proportion of orange are beginning to show greater and greater. this is a distinction between the nhs and public health england capacity and testing in blue, and the coming on stream of commercial testing to supplement that as time goes by across the slide. next slide, please. now, this isa slide. next slide, please. now, this is a very important slide, and of course, refers to the total number of people in hospital in great britain with covid—19. and you can see a variety of curves here, from the top one, referring to london, through the other curves, referring to the different regions of england, and scotland, wales. what you can see is that in terms of the number of people in hospital there has been a peak in london. it was probably

around the 10th of april, that kind of date, and since then, there has been a decline. but in the other parts of the graph, that is to say, scotland, wales and the other regions in england, i suggest to you that there is rather more of a plateau than anything else at this point in time. it is not absolutely clear that there have been peaks, nor is it absolutely clear that the rate, that the number of cases is dropping in the same way that we can illustrate it on the slide for london. so, again, this is important. it shows the regional variations in how the virus has been affecting the uk. it shows that we are not out of danger at this point, and that the curve is flat but not very clearly going down in many parts of the country. i'm sure it will go down in the days and weeks that followed, but we must keep pushing on this and we must bend

that curve throughout actions. next slide, please. here you see a slide that erase data by week from the 20th of march through to the 10th of april. and it shows you firstly deaths in hospital from april. and it shows you firstly deaths in hospitalfrom covid—19. those are the blue columns on the grass. —— on the graph. those are the deaths reported in hospital and the deaths reported in hospital and the orange bars show the all weekly registered deaths registered to the 0ffice registered deaths registered to the office for national statistics, and those are by date of registration. please be very careful in comparing these statistics, because as you will know, unfortunately, if you have lost someone, it takes a while for a death certificate to be issued and for that to be registered with

the office for national statistics. so there is inevitably some difference between those two bars and we are not comparing apples with apples. we are comparing apples with pears on this particular slide. but i hope it does help you understand the trends in the mortality data, and we need to see that turn. we will have to wait a little longer, but we need to see that turn. thank you. finally, iwillshow but we need to see that turn. thank you. finally, i will show you a slide i have shown you before about global death comparisons. again, as i have said before, the slide is indexed on time .0 when a country declares its first 50 cumulative deaths. for almost all of the countries on this slide, the reporting, as in the uk, has been for hospital deaths, and you can see

that there are broadly three patterns, the united states on its own, the european countries other than germany in the middle of the pack, and some outliers who have had very low rates of death. 0n the slide, if you look carefully, you will see a curve for uk hospitals only and a uk all settings, which has lagged further behind, which includes all of the deaths reported to the 0ns. but you will see that they are on the same trajectory within the same framing of those middle countries. these are important comparisons, but what will be really important in the future, and we do not yet have those data, our international comparisons of excess deaths, particularly across europe, where a pretty standardised methodology is used for counting excess deaths. but there was data

ta ke excess deaths. but there was data take time to assemble and i don't have them for you today. thank you, secretary. 0k, have them for you today. thank you, secretary. ok, thanks very much, jonathan. first question is going to be from laura kuenssberg of the bbc. thank you, secretary of state. 0n ppe, this was declared a pandemic over a month ago. why is the government still having to scramble now to get our health workers the equipment they need and allowing uk firms who could supply british hospitals and care homes to sell their products abroad? as you know, laura, we have been pushing at making sure we get ppe to the front line to the people who need it since the start of this crisis, especially since the big increase in demand about a month ago. we have now shipped over1 billion items and at

the same time, we are also replenishing the stocks on a 24/7 basis. i have described something of the operation to do that. we have bought a huge proportion of that from overseas, and that will continue to make sure that alongside making more ppe here, we also buy it from the big producers, especially in china. that is where the big numbers are, making sure we get that ppe into the country and out of the front line where it is needed. can i come back in? day after day, we are hearing from people on the front line that they do not have enough. how do you explain the gap between what you are saying about getting everything in place and what people who are working in care homes or hospitals are actually experiencing? and why did ministers suggest there

was a and why did ministers suggest there wasa mix—up and why did ministers suggest there was a mix—up about not taking part in the eu scheme to get medical kits we re in the eu scheme to get medical kits were the most senior civil servant at the foreign office said this afternoon that it was a political decision, to use his phrase? well, i haven't seen that exchange. but i haven't seen that exchange. but i have spoken to the foreign secretary and as faras have spoken to the foreign secretary and as far as i am aware, there was no political decision not to participate in that scheme. when we did receive an invitation in the department of health, it was put up to me to be asked and rejoined, so we are now members of that scheme. however, as far as i know, that scheme hasn't yet delivered a single item of ppe. so i think the most important thing to concentrate on is, what are the offers that can get is, what are the offers that can get is the most ppe to get it into the country, to be able to manufacture it here and then get it out to the front line? and we are doing everything we can to make that happen. robert peston, itv. you are

muted. can you hear me now? yes. good afternoon. is it correct that you are not ready to change your advice on the usefulness to the general public in wearing masks because you don't want to deprive health care workers of masks? secondly, you have dramatically increased the capacity to test. we are up to a capacity of 40,000 a day, but only 20,000 are actually happening. there seems to be problem of actually carrying out the tests and delivering the swabs to the lads. we have spoken itv to care homes who say are too far from the test centres and they are not getting enough help when it comes to testing their residence. yes, well, on both points, on the use of facemasks, we are advised by the

science. we have been asked this question many times in this forum and we listen to what the scientists say. there was a meeting of sage that addressed this question earlier today. i look forward to hearing from that and then to ministers making decisions based on the science, as always. on the question of tests, i think it is terrific. it is terrific that we have managed to increase capacity to over 39,000 tests a day, which is higher than our planned trajectory. of course, having excess capacity means we can then expand who that capacity can be used by and also, as you say, increase the availability to people. one example is that we have

introduced home testing, where a test ca n introduced home testing, where a test can be sent out and taken and then returned so that the individual doesn't need to move. obviously, home testing will be particularly helpful to those living in care homes, for whom, as you say, a trip toa homes, for whom, as you say, a trip to a drive—through testing centre might be difficult. thank you, secretary of state. yes, capacity has gone up dramatically and will continue going up a lot soon. we can say we are meeting the requirements in hospitals. we are also meeting the requirement to test nhs and care staff with the driving centres. we have tested over 100,000 staff and many of those have gone back to work. in fact, many of those have gone back to work. infact, nhs many of those have gone back to work. in fact, nhs sickness absence rates are now falling as a result, so rates are now falling as a result, so that is good news. we are now expanding the access. you are right, the driving centres are not ideal for people working in the care

sector. so although access is available in nhs settings, which is widely distributed, we are piloting a number of different ways of getting tests out to people both directly sending swabs to care homes. the secretary of state also mentioned testing at home, and also mobile delivery. there are a number of ways to get swabs to people rather than expecting the people to come to the swabs. does that satisfy you? ifi come to the swabs. does that satisfy you? if i could come to the swabs. does that satisfy you? ifi could ask come to the swabs. does that satisfy you? if i could askjonathan van tam, is the priority when it comes to facemasks health care workers? and that although there may be a general case for the public using them at some point, this might not be the right moment? thank you for the question, robert. i would be the right moment? thank you for the question, robert. iwould reply on four points. the first thing to say is, i have always said to you that we will keep the evidence under review, and we are doing that. i

have also said to you that we will change if we feel that the evidence is driving us that way and we will advise ministers accordingly. sage has indeed met today and discussed personal protective equipment, and advice will go to ministers in due course. i am advice will go to ministers in due course. iam not advice will go to ministers in due course. i am not going to comment about that further today, nor would you expect me to. what i can say is that there is an enduring principle here that sage places great value and prime importance on never jeopardising the supplies of ppe to our health and care workers, and thatis our health and care workers, and that is a line we are not going to cross under any circumstances. thanks, robert. victoria mcdonald, channel 4. thanks, robert. victoria mcdonald, channel4. thank thanks, robert. victoria mcdonald, channel 4. thank you. thanks, robert. victoria mcdonald, channel4. thank you. back thanks, robert. victoria mcdonald, channel 4. thank you. back on ppe, we have talked to a number of suppliers and distributors who have talked a lot about the obstacles

they have faced of getting through they have faced of getting through the procurement system. they will send an e—mail or make a phone call and they don't hear back. then they will be asked questions they have already answered. are you satisfied that you are somehow going to clear away those obstacles so that you can increase the supply? secondly, we have heard a lot of numbers over the past few weeks. today, you have just talked about 1 billion past few weeks. today, you have just talked abouti billion items of past few weeks. today, you have just talked about 1 billion items of ppe. that sounds a lot, but it is clearly not enough. do you have any idea about what enough would be? well, yes. the answer on how much is enough ppe is what is needed according to the guidelines set out by public health england, to get that to everyone who needs it, and it is in the billions of items per

month. the numbers of items needed are absolutely vast, hence the need both to manufacture it at home and also to buy it from abroad. we are a lwa ys also to buy it from abroad. we are always trying to improve the processes we have in place to make purchases. the number of uk companies that have come forward has been very encouraging, but we have had to make sure we sort out the credible offers from those that are not. we have had some offers, for instance, that have come from companies where upon investigation, the company has onlyjust been formed in the previous day or two before asking for a cash deal with the government. so you will understand that there has to be some process in there. nevertheless, we wa nt to process in there. nevertheless, we want to engage with all of those companies who can help us in this national effort and we are

accelerating the progress of getting back to all of those companies with a substantive response to their offer. this is a fast—moving market because essentially, the problem on ppe is that there is a global shortage. there is more demand across the world than there is supply, across the world than there is supply, and that means we need to be as nimble as we can. and crucially, as nimble as we can. and crucially, as much as possible, get right to the source of the ppe, which is often in factories in asia, including in china, rather than going through middlemen, which can seem going through middlemen, which can seem attractive on the surface but if you get directly to the factory owner, you get a more secure supply. so it is a complicated picture. none of this takes away the importance of delivering on this agenda, or the resources and the support we are

throwing at it. daniel wootton, talk radio. a report by the eu agency, the european external action service, to be published this week, concludes that official and state backed chinese sources are behind the spread of conspiracy narratives designed to exonerate the chinese government over coronavirus. the report says, china has run a global this information campaign to deflect blame for the outbreak of the pandemic. what is the uk government doing to stop these chinese disinformation campaign is?|j haven't disinformation campaign is?” haven't seen that report, and i haven't seen that report, and i haven't seen that report, and i haven't seen any evidence of what you describe, but we have seen more broadly disinformation, and this being put about, especially on

social media, and tackling that is incredibly important, because what the public want and what the public should be able to expect is high quality information, highly factual, evenin quality information, highly factual, even in this uncertain environment, because we are still learning about the disease, to be able to be as clear and transparent as possible, and for the government to describe which information we think we have high confidence in, and to be to explain the conclusions we've reached from that information. and so, tackling disinformation is an important part of it, but i'm i can't comment on the specific piece you refer to. chris smith from the times. thank you, secretary of state. can i ask about asymptomatic transmission. given the need to isolate cases in easing restrictions, how big an issue will this be in any attempt to ease the lockdown and the risk what ever we

do we could get a second peak? and related to that, can we pick up cases where people don't have any symptoms without any accuracy? given concerns about hospitals, should we now be screening asymptomatic health staff? these are very good questions. what i would say is that the fact that this virus appears to have asymptomatic transmission makes it incredibly difficult to deal with, and is one of the central fa cts with, and is one of the central facts of this pandemic that has made it as difficult and challenging as it as difficult and challenging as it is. and i will askjv t to ask about asymptomatic transmission, and john newton to answer on the testing. these are exactly the right

scientific questions that we are also grappling with. thank you, secretary of state. you are absolutely right, and really, the secretary of state has answered the medical question for me. did i get it right? you did. when we started this crisis, we did not have enough information to understand the extent to which patients who were pre—symptomatic and asymptomatic we re pre—symptomatic and asymptomatic were shedding the virus. we now have a lot more information and it is clear that, for at least a proportion of patients, they begin to shed the virus before the onset of symptoms. and we, of course, have scientific data now that show that some people are asymptomatic and we can still detect the virus using a pcr test. where the difficulty in

the science comes is understanding just how infectious those other people, those people, either presymptomatic or asymptomatic, our might, compared to those who are symptomatic. remember, they don't have the cough, the respiratory symptoms, they don't have the same means of expelling the virus to the same amount, so i think it's absolutely impossible to rule out that there are some cases where spread occurs from asymptomatic or presymptomatic people, but the vast majority of the force of transmission in the community is still coming from those people with symptoms. that isn't to say that we are not picking up the asymptomatic infections. i hope i've been very clear on that. we recognise they exist now, but the extent to which they are the primary problem, as

opposed to the primary problem for transmission being the people who have the cough, the fever and are clearly transmitting the virus through coughing and sneezing, they are undoubtedly the biggest route of transmission in our communities, and the public health advice remains the same, that the moment you have symptoms of covid—19, you go home and you begin self—isolation. and if you live in a household with others, then you take them with you, and the family isolates with you for 14 days. thanks, professor. thanks for the question. the simple answer is, yes, it will detect the presence of the virus in people who are asymptomatic, and one of the ways we are using the current capacity is to do scientific studies to show the spread of the virus in

representative populations, and we are ramping that up a lot to give us more of this sort of information. it's already obvious from the early studies that in areas, particular settings were social distancing isn't possible, particularly closed areas such as hospitals, care homes or prisons, there is a need to go in and do intensive testing to try and understand how many people might be asymptomatic in carrying the virus, so asymptomatic in carrying the virus, so those studies are under way and we are working closely, particularly with the nhs to design an approach to that. look into the future, one of the reasons we need a good level of the reasons we need a good level of testing capacity is to provide the testing for infection control, so the testing for infection control, so when we do have outbreaks of infection in certain settings, we need to be able to go in and test notjust people need to be able to go in and test not just people who are symptomatic but also those who are asymptomatic, and that is what we are doing. does that satisfy you, chris, or... ? those early studies, what does that

show about the extent of transmission in health care settings? to clarify the point about screening of nhs staff, can we expect that to make a contribution to meeting the 100,000 target by next week? there is international literature which shows that in a study in new york in women in a maternity setting, it showed a small proportion who were asymptomatic and who had positive tests, and we also know from studies public health england has carried out in some care home settings that a number of staff and residents who were asymptomatic have tested positive, so it's all very consistent internationally. it isa very consistent internationally. it is a small proportion, and it is also important to emphasise that the testis also important to emphasise that the test is not a screen. so, the idea that you would use the test to screen that you would use the test to screen the whole population, or indeed to screen the whole of the workforce isn't really how the test could be used, so you would test somebody on day one, and donde two,

they might become positive and wouldn't know. —— and on the second day, they might become positive. we have to test in a setting to put in place the measures to give protection. it is not used as a broad screen. that is the current thinking. it is important we keep an eye on the science, and if it develops further, we will need to test —— change our strategy. develops further, we will need to test -- change our strategy. the question of whether we will do testing of asymptomatic staff in hospital as part of the meeting the 100,000 target by the end of the month, the answer to that is yes, and we have a plan to be able to do that as we expand access to testing to meet the capacity, and as we can see from the figures, that capacity is increasingly available, on the road to 100,000 test a day. thanks, chris. pippa careerfrom the daily

mail. hello. i have a question for professor newton. if i could just clarify, following on from the last question, a top diplomat at the foreign office says we are not in the eu ppe scheme and that the decision not to take part was a political one. but now you are saying it wasn't a political decision and we are a member of the scheme, which i believe is the first time we have heard that. you can't both be right, so who should we be believing? the invitation, when it came in to the department of health, andi came in to the department of health, and i know there has been debate about whether it was sent to the wrong e—mail address initially, but the invitation to participate in this scheme in an associate way because we are not members of the eu, came to me for decision and i said yes. but, having said that, as far as said yes. but, having said that, as farasi said yes. but, having said that, as faras i am said yes. but, having said that, as far as i am aware, this scheme has

not yet delivered any ppe. and that's the decision—making process that's the decision—making process that i was involved in. it was a recommendation and i took the decision in the normal way. and that is the long and short of it. but the impact of this on our ability to deliver ppe is zero. there is no impact at all, because the scheme has not yet made anything available. john. you haven't asked your question yet. i haven't asked the question yet. i haven't asked the question yet, professor newton. it is on airports. hundreds of thousands of people continue to arrive in the uk each week, and countries like japan and italy have introduced temperature checks and other forms of screening weeks ago, and in some cases have quarantine restrictions in place for new arrivals, so i wonder whether we haven't followed a similar route and whether it is something we might yet consider. it's a larger question really about how we respond in the

future to the pandemic, and i think i will pass it on to jonathan, because these are exactly the sort of questions that sage are considering. so, with port of entry screening, there is a basic problem, that the length of a flight from a far—flung place to the uk is typically no more than 12 hours. i think we would agree on that. but the problem is that people can be infected before they get on the flight, infected before they get on the flight, and the incubation period for this virus is up to 14 days, and it is typically five days, so i can fly back from, well, you choose the country, wherever you like, on a long flight, and i can become infected in that country before i get on the aircraft. and i will sail through heathrow with absolutely no symptoms at all is that i'm not

being untruthful, there is nothing to declare. i won't have a fever, i won't be picked out. but when i get back to my home in the north of england, at that point, i may develop symptoms a few days later and go, oh, i don't feel well. and clearly, the port of entry screening hasn't worked. so that's the basic mathematical problem that goes with it. right now, though, we are in a situation where you have seen from the slides that i showed to you, that there is widespread transmission in the uk. we are turning that down. it is clear we are turning it down, but it is still there and it has not gone away. and so, the proportion of new cases coming in from abroad, even if flights were operating, would be minuscule compared to the amount of force of infection currently still moving around in our societies in

the uk, and that, i hope, gives you a bit of context for the here and now. we do, at some point, hope that we turn this curve down, and that we then start to think about how and when and how carefully we begin to think about easing some of the restrictions we are under without letting this virus just chase off again. and that's a really difficult balancing act. and all things will be under consideration, all scientific options will be under consideration at that point. i am sure about that. geraldine scott from the yorkshire post. thank you. yorkshire's own captain tom moore has opened the nightingale hospital in harrogate today, but you have taken the decision to close the uk veterans helpline, who helped people

like him. some nhs staffare being threatened with referral to their regulatory and professional bodies for speaking out about the crisis, whether it is ppe or how it is affecting them personally. this it right for nhs trusts to be doing this, and can you guarantee that no nhs and social care worker will be punished for raising legitimate concerns? of course, people should be able to talk about the problem is that there are, and indeed they do. and i've seen both fantastic exa m ples of and i've seen both fantastic examples of people saying that they are working hard and celebrating the fact... celebrating is the wrong word. of going public with the work they are doing under conditions that they are doing under conditions that they are doing under conditions that they are working under. and i have also seen some people, for instance,

saying that they are delighted that there is good ppe, and we have also seen there is good ppe, and we have also seen people saying that there is a problem in their area, and seen people saying that there is a problem in theirarea, and i seen people saying that there is a problem in their area, and i think that's totally normal and standard. and people should feel free to talk about what happens at work. i think that transparency is important, and it's the sort of approach we try to ta ke it's the sort of approach we try to take as a government, including with press co nfe re nces take as a government, including with press conferences like these. in terms of the veterans uk point, i'm afraid i'll have to take that away and make sure that somebody get back to you on the details of it, because it's an important area but it's not one that i got a direct answer to today. thanks. finally, alistair smelt from reuters. you say the plan is working. yesterday, the ph of the medical director said the stats showed about 10% of total covid—19 deaths were

taking place outside of hospitals. the ons figures published today said the number could be 40% higher than the number could be 40% higher than the daily hospital figure. it is clear now that the uk death toll could match or even surpass italy's to make it the worst hit country in europe. so it feels like at least compared to large parts of europe, the plan isn't working. who has ultimate responsibility for that? thanks for the question. on the factual points, it's important to get the analysis right. i have seen this 40% figure and i asked the team about it before coming here. that is not an accurate representation of those figures. in fact, jonathan van tam took us through the important differences between how we measure hospital deaths in hospitals, which data we get daily, so it is important for tracking as soon as

possible what is happening in terms of the impact of this disease. with the ons data, which is measured in a different way, if the slides can come up again, we different way, if the slides can come up again, we can different way, if the slides can come up again, we can bring the slide up which shows that gap, which is between 20% and 25% in the latest data. all of this information is important, of course, and we take as much information as we can into account when we make decisions. on the second point of the international comparison, it is important again to take into account the size of the country and the different characteristics of the different characteristics of the different countries. looking per population is the right way to look at that information. the final point is that at the start of this crisis,

we said that there were two critical tasks which would form part of the battle plan that we published a long time before the lockdown began when we published the types of measures we published the types of measures we might have to take. one is that we might have to take. one is that we have the exponential nature of this infection under control and have brought the curve down. as you can see from the statistics, that curve is now flat, and that means we have achieved that objective. the second thing was that we said we must do all we can to make sure the nhs is not overwhelmed. lots of people said that would be impossible, but we have achieved that because every single person who has needed treatment has been able to get that treatment, including with the building of the nhs nightingale hospitals because the

nhs nightingale hospital in harrogate has opened today and that will ensure that there is more nhs capacity for the people of yorkshire and the north—east. therefore, on those two core measures, the plan is working. does that mean that every problem has been addressed? of course it doesn't. i have gone through some of the details on ppe today, where there are clearly challenges. does it mean that everything is done? no, it doesn't. for instance, the search for a vaccine is a top priority and i delighted that the first vaccines in this country were go into human clinical trials on thursday. there isa clinical trials on thursday. there is a huge amount still to do. but on the central core objectives that we faced as a country, thanks to the work of the nhs, the armed forces

and many others and the people who have stayed at home, we have managed to both bend down the curve and also ensure that the nhs capacity is there to deal with the cases that come through so that everyone can rely on the nhs when they need it. ifi rely on the nhs when they need it. if i could just come back, i think a lot of people would say that germany isa lot of people would say that germany is a comparably sized country to britain and obviously is faring fairly well. by comparison. yes. i absolutely concur with that, of course. there are some countries we re course. there are some countries were on that measure, they are below us, and there are other countries where they are above us. the critical thing when you are trying to work out, as we do every day, how do we make sure that we do our best for this country, you take that into

account. you learn from where things are going well. in fact, we learn also from place where things are not going so well. and we are constantly looking around the world that those comparisons. but the important thing you have got to do is scientifically look at the consequences of what people are doing elsewhere so that we can learn about it as a country. thank you very much, that concludes today's downing street press conference. i am very grateful to professor va n conference. i am very grateful to professor van tam and professorjohn newton for your support. thanks very much indeed. studio: the health secretary matt hancock, bring to a close today's coronavirus briefing. our health correspondent jane dreaper is with me in the studio. one eye—catching announcement by the health secretary was that human trials of a vaccine are going to begin this week? that's

right, on thursday if all goes to plan. that is breathtaking, because consider that covid—19 was declared a pandemic on the 11th of march. that was six weeks ago, so this virus has not been with us for a long time at all. vaccines take months, often years to get to this sort of stage of testing. so to have trials in humans from thursday is astonishing. the health secretary announced funding for the researchers in oxford, so another tea m researchers in oxford, so another team in london at imperial college. he stressed that the process of developing a vaccine is trial and error and tried again. it is never straightforward. a vaccine is the holy grail. if it can be developed, one of the questions will not only be whether it is safe and effective, but how long it can give us immunity against the virus. indeed, according to that briefing, we are seeing a fall in the number of hospital

admissions or the number of people in hospital in london as a result of contracting coronavirus, but not in other parts of the country. that's right. the deputy chief medical officer said cases remain high and we are still in a situation of danger, but hospital admissions have gone down in london, but it is not the same elsewhere in the uk. so very much still a dangerous situation. jane, many thanks. from the weekly applause to captain tom's walk — people across the uk are showing their gratitude to nhs staff and key workers. among them the portrait artist tom croft, who came up with the idea of artists to celebrate health care workers by painting them. his call on social media has been enthusiastically ta ken up by hundreds of artists as our arts editor will gompertz reports. the artist tom croft has painted a lot of portraits over the years. he's done footballers, politicians, bishops, and even

the occasional arts correspondent. but the pandemic left him short of subjects, until that is, he had an idea. when the lockdown first started i was really struggling, as i know a lot of artists were, to find almost the point in their work. and so i thought about a portrait being a celebration of people achieving extraordinary things, maybe in their professional lives, and who is more deserving at the moment than the heroes on the front line of the nhs? and so he posted an instagram message. the first doctor, nurse, key worker, to contact me in this post, i will paint their portrait in oils forfree. harriet durkin, an a&e nurse at the manchester royal infirmary did just that, and tom got to work, painting harriet wearing her ppe. what does it mean to you now to have it? i'll have that picture forever and be able to look back and remember what a difficult time it has been. but people that i work with, people that i call my friends,

everybody coming together, i can look at that and think, gosh, you know, it's very emotional. critical care nurse carolina pinto also got in touch with tom, who's been inundated with portrait requests from hundreds of doctors and nurses. he matched her with bp portrait award finalist mary jane ansell, who conducted a virtual sitting. so, i'm really excited to paint you and i think this is such a lovely idea. i've never had my portrait done before, but it's done before, but it's also good to have this kind of experience where people are supporting us in a different way. that must be really difficult when you've got your mask on, because i know that sort of connection you have with your patients, that's such a huge part of looking after them and not being able to have that... they cannot really understand your expression, so it's the same, if i'm smiling or not, because all they really see is your eyes. most of the time, it seems like we are screaming. and we just want them to understand what we are saying.

so, yeah, you lose a bit of the human connection. so far, there have been around 500 pairings of hospital key workers and professional artists under the hashtag #portraitsfornhsheroes. the hope is once the lockdown is over, to have a public exhibition of them all as the culmination of an initiative that has already been copied in america, spain, belgium and ireland. will gompertz, bbc news. the six o'clock news is coming up with george alagiah. time for a look at the weather. hello. for most of us, it's been a straightforward day of sunny skies and brisk winds again but for the channel islands, what a glorious start to the day it was. this was the fiery sunrise that we saw earlier injersey. that cloud is this cloud on the satellite picture. it also brought a few showers

in across the scilly isles, but they have moved out of the way. clear skies for most of the uk with rain—bearing clouds and wet and windy conditions across portugal, spain, france and italy. as well as the sunshine, we've had gusts of wind into the 30s of miles an hour around the east coast of england, bringing waves into the coastline in bridlington. tonight, it will stay clear for most of us, with just a bit of patchy cloud forming over the tops of the pennines and the southern uplands. temperatures similar to last night, but perhaps down to —3 in some of the deep valleys in scotland. high pressure remains in charge of our weather for wednesday, so another fine day coming up, but the isobars are beginning to spread out a bit more. that means although the winds still come from an easterly direction, they will not be as strong. any patchy cloud to start the day melts away quickly and for most of us again, it's going to be a day of unbroken sunshine, just a bit of high cloud making the sunshine hazy

in northern ireland. temperatures higher, given the lighter winds. we're looking at temperatures across the low 20s across england and wales. thursday, a few mist and fog patches to start the day. the winds are falling lighter still. any fog clears away quickly and again, plenty of sunshine will be around. it will probably be the warmest day of the week, with temperatures reaching maybe 25 celsius. another fine day coming up for most of us on friday, again with lengthy spells of sunshine. but you may start to see the weather turn cooler across the north of scotland. for most of us, though, it will be another warm day with temperatures into the high teens to low 20s. for the weekend weather, for most of us it will stay dry but still a bit cloudier. temperatures come down by a few degrees and there is the chance of seeing a few showers,

more particularly on sunday.

today at six — new official figures reveal the scale of the coronavirus pandemic — the number of deaths hits a 20 year high. in just seven days this month there were more than 18,000 deaths — a third of them were linked to coronavirus. in the same week care home in quadrupled and managers say they have been forgotten. it's been, you know, very lonely experience. that's all i can say. we don't feel as though we've been prepared or led through this. we'll explain those numbers in detail and spell out the human cost — also tonight. the drive to increase testing for the virus — but why is only half the available capacity being taken up.