this is a bbc news special with tina daheley. we'll bring you the latest government briefing on coronavirus shortly, but first, the headlines. more than 20,000 people have now died from coronavirus in uk hospitals — the fifth country in the world to pass that milestone. coronavirus tests for key workers through the government website were booked up within an hour of it reopening this morning. all home testing kits were ordered in less than 15 minutes. countries around europe pursue options to end the lockdown — belgium sets out a detailed plan to relax restrictions. meanwhile, former chancellor philip hammond calls on the government to set out how britain can ease its lockdown and restart the economy. in the next 15 minutes the home secretary, priti patel,

will lead the uk's daily coronavirus press briefing at 10 downing street. and the english premier league holds talks with ministers about how football matches could resume with televised matches played behind closed doors. good afternoon. the number of coronavirus—related deaths in hospitals in the uk has surpassed 20,000, according to the department of health. the death toll now stands at 20,319, as of 5pm yesterday. it comes as the world health organization has warned that people who have recovered from coronavirus may not be protected against reinfection.

in other developments — the majority of coronavirus tests for essential workers here in the uk were booked up through the government website within an hour of it reopening today — with some still available in scotland. as european countries start to ease their lockdowns — belgium has announced a timetable for gradually lifting restrictions. all shops will reopen from 11 may. the former chancellor philip hammond has called on the government to begin easing the lockdown to restart the economy. and the premier league has been holding talks with the uk government about how football matches could be permitted to resume. more on that later, but first for more on the situation in the uk, richard galpin reports. the drive to get millions of key workers such as teachers, the police and staff working in the food industry began yesterday. but the numbers applying are overwhelming the system.

just before ten o'clock this morning, we looked at the government website which key workers use to book a test. home kits were all booked out within 15 minutes. the only available option for a test was at a site in scotland. this, for many, very frustrating, and requiring a lot of persistence. i tried and it was not working. so i kept on trying throughout the evening. eventually, i got back on. and, again, went through the system of trying to book a test. i booked it and this morning when i woke up, i received a text to tell me that a test has been allocated for me at 2pm this afternoon. today, senior nhs officials have urged people to be patient. more capacity is coming on stream and i would urge people who fit in those criteria, key workers,

to go back onto the website as more appointments become available. campaign calling on people who have fallen seriously ill with conditions other than coronavirus to go to hospital for treatment. since the coronavirus pandemic hit the uk, the number of people coming to a&e departments has dropped by around 50%. apparently because people fear being a burden in the midst of this crisis. we are here for non—coronavirus patients, too. so, if you're worried about chest pain, maybe you might be having a heart attack or a stroke, or you feel a lump or you're worried about cancer, or you are a parent concerned about your child, please come forward and use the health service in the way that you normally would. delaying coming to hospital when suffering from heart attacks or strokes, or other serious conditions, could have very

serious consequences. the nhs has said it has the capacity to look after non—coronavirus patients. richard galpin, bbc news. more than 20,000 people have now died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the uk. the milestone comes as the coronavirus lockdown continued into its fifth weekend. last month, the chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance told mps the hope was to keep the death toll to under 20,000. sir patrick was appearing before the commons health select committee on march 17, when the uk death toll stood at 71. if we can get this down to numbers 20,000 and below, that's a good outcome in terms of where we would hope to get to with this outbreak. but, i mean, it's still horrible. i'm joined now by professor karol sikora — an 0ncologist and professor of medicine at the university of buckingham.

your response first of all to that grim milestone that we have reached of 20,000? it's not good. but if you look at the figures and smooth them overfor look at the figures and smooth them over for day—to—day variation, today it is quite high, probably because yesterday was a friday. there are all sorts of artefacts in the data collection. i suspect tomorrow, we will see it down, monday a bit up and then gradually, compared with each week, each friday to saturday it has gone down since the peak. and infections are going down, which is great. hospitals are now free with quite a few spare beds. the covid disaster has moved through, so there is capacity for hospitals to take patients with other serious illness and get back to the work of the nhs that it and get back to the work of the nhs thatitis and get back to the work of the nhs that it is designed for, to deal with other serious illnesses. but

what about in the context of that figure that we had a month ago, the chief scientific adviser sir patrick valla nce chief scientific adviser sir patrick vallance telling mps the hope was to keep the death toll to under 20,000? when this started a month ago, the reason the panic button was hit by government was because of a report from imperial that it could be up to 500,000 deaths. that would have been awful, and that led to the lockdown on monday the 23rd. some of the estimates have varied enormously. 20,000 was at the lower end, 500,000 at the top end. i suspect now, if you look at the curve, and i'm not an epidemiologist, i am just a cancer specialist, it looks to me that we are going to end up with about deaths by may, by the time we can come out of lockdown. it is horrendous, but the nhs has achieved

a fantastic opportunity to treat a lot of people quickly and do the best it could for one illness. now it has to get back to work treating other illnesses. as a cancer specialist, how concerned are you about the steep drop in the number of people seeking urgent medical care? when we started, it seemed as though cancer and cardiac care had been forgotten about. and of course, if you look at april is a month, we would expect up to 30,000 new cancer patients coming through. my pathology friends in the laboratory say they have seen less than 4000 specimens from people who have had biopsies. that is how you get the definition of cancer, which means it is running really low. cancer research uk released figures saying they were at less than 25% of the number of cancer patients coming through that you would expect for april. so we have to get back to

business. i know people are frightened. they don't want to go to the gp. they don't like the look of fort knox in many general practice surgeries at the moment, but it is a necessary precaution. please go if you have symptoms. the system is opening up. next week and a week afterwards, we will see the nhs open up afterwards, we will see the nhs open up much more widely to people with cancer, heart disease and other illnesses and it will get back to normal. 0therwise, more people will die from cancer than they were from covid, so we have to get going. but people are understandably worried. what is your message to people watching who might be scared about going to hospital because they may be worried about catching coronavirus, or worried about putting pressure on the nhs? everything is now in place, tina. the testing in hospitals is in place, testing for key workers. it isa place, testing for key workers. it is a bit clunky when it starts, and

the logistics are horrendous to get this going, so i do sympathise. it is nobody‘s fault. don't be afraid. if you have the symptoms symptoms, whatever they are, sore throat, cough, coughing up blood or coughing up cough, coughing up blood or coughing up anything that persists, abdominal pain, loss of weight, these are the symptoms that could be cancer. go and see your doctor. phone up, do 111 , and see your doctor. phone up, do 111, take a phone consultation. a lot of older people are not familiar with skype and the rest of it. they wa nt to with skype and the rest of it. they want to see their doctor. and of the insta nces, want to see their doctor. and of the instances, you may not be able to. just do it. you will be looked after. and a quick thought from you on today hearing from the world health organization, who say having coronavirus doesn't give you immunity and you may catch it again? this is a puzzle for everybody. the

vaccine is coming, but it will be a longer time than people suppose, i suspect not until 2021. if coronavirus can reinfect people that we re coronavirus can reinfect people that were thought to be immune, this is going to go on a lot longer. i am an eternal optimist. you have to be in the cancer world. i think it is unlikely. we have not seen a second wave in korea or china. austria came out of it ten days ago, and they are doing fine, the incidence continues to drop. let's see what happens. monitoring and testing are the key to getting out of this and we will get out of it. professor karol sikora, thank you forjoining us. insurance companies are warning that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be the most expensive event in their history — with payouts totalling £1.2 billion. the government says it's encouraging insurers to do all they can to support struggling firms.

here's our business correspondent katie prescott. like so many businesses, this clinic in cheshire has seen its revenue fall to zero since the lockdown. they had bought business interruption insurance to pay out if they ever had to stop trading. but their claim for closure due to the coronavirus was rejected. it's a bit galling to realise that we've, over the years, we have spent over £10,000 on insurance which was not valid and when we finally came to claim, we were told we can't. i think all businesses thought they had inoculated themselves by buying this insurance and they have found that this financial vaccine does not work. sonia rishi's now empty clinic. she had a business interruption policy which covered closure due to human contagion. her insurer is disputing her claim, as coronavirus was not directly on her premises. we've paid our premium, always paid on time, have done the right thing, there is a clause in that document

which is in my view really clear. i think we're going to close. without that payment, we can't continue. the bbc has been inundated with e—mails from business owners like sonia who feel unfairly treated by their insurers. the treasury select committee of mps and the financial watchdogs are all looking at this issue. but insurers argue that to make this sort of cover widely available and affordable for people would require government subsidies. given the scale of the unprecedented disruption that it's caused. most business interruption policies that most businesses have up and down the country are very much designed to protect them from standard things like fire and flood. they're not designed to cover and they were not priced either, to cover for a global pandemic. insurance pay—outs for floods are already covered by a government—backed fund which all insurers contribute to. and there's speculation that another such scheme could be created for pandemics.

but that won't help those who are looking for pay—outs today. we're nowjoined by viewers from bbc world news for this downing street bbc news special. our political correspondent nick eardley is here. home secretary priti patel is leading today's briefing. what you expect will come up? we will hear a lot more of this message to stay at home. we have heard a lot of pressure 011 home. we have heard a lot of pressure on government in recent days to talk more about how it might eventually lift restrictions but there is some concern in government, in particular in the home office, that some people are becoming a bit complacent when it comes to some of the restrictions we have seen. sol expect the home secretary will want to talk a bit more about how the importance of sticking to those restrictions will help us get to a point where eventually they can be

lifted. we are also going to hear from professor stephen powis, the medical director from nhs england and lynne owens. we have not heard from her at one of these briefings before, she is the director general of the national crime agency, so we may hear more about how some of the restrictions are being enforced. yesterday there were key questions, as you'd expect him about the government's key worker testing website, which was overwhelmed. 40,000 tried to register, 16,000 we re 40,000 tried to register, 16,000 were successful and that will surely come up again today. were successful and that will surely come up again todaylj were successful and that will surely come up again today. i think it will. it seems to be a smoother process this morning. the government's argument was there were only ever going to be a certain amount of tests released each day and yesterday the tests were snapped up and yesterday the tests were snapped up really quickly. this morning they took a bit longer but within an hour there were all gone, in england and wales they rested a bit longer than

scotland. but that issue of testing is one the government is still feeling the heat on. it has, what, five days to reach the 100,000 tests day target and that will still be tough so quite rightly, that will come up again today. significant intervention too from former chancellor philip hammond who expressed concerns about the impact of lockdown in not having an exit plan, certainly not one that has been shared with the public, on the economy. salute me right. going to have to stop you there, the press conference is getting under way. -- absolutely right. we will take you there now. good afternoon and welcome back to downing street for the government's daily press conference on coronavirus, i'm joined daily press conference on coronavirus, i'mjoined by daily press conference on coronavirus, i'm joined by lynne owens, director—general of the national crime agency and by stephen powis, national medical director of nhs england. the government's step—by—step plan has always been to slow the spread of this disease. increasing the capacity of our world

class hospitals so that they can cope. and your hard work has helped us cope. and your hard work has helped us to do this. our instruction remains clear. people should stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. through our ongoing monitoring and testing programme, as of 9am today, i can report that 640,792 tests for coronavirus have been carried out in the uk, including 28,760 tests yesterday. 148,377 people have tested positive, that's an increase of 4913 cases since yesterday. 16,411 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus in the uk. down from 17,049 yesterday. and sadly, of those in hospital with the virus,

20,319 have died. that's an increase of 813 fatalities since yesterday. as the deaths caused by this terrible dai virus pass another tragic and terrible milestone, the entire nation is grieving. —— terrible virus. my deepest sympathies and condolences go to those who have lost loved ones and i would like to pay tribute to the selfless front line workers who have been struck down by this virus. their exceptional public service and sacrifice will not be forgotten. the last time i was here, i spoke about the impact of this national emergency on crime, and the tough but necessary measures to tackle it. i announced enhanced support for victims of domestic abuse, many of whom are particularly vulnerable and exposed. our you are not alone

campaign to signpost the help available and make it clear to victims they can still leave home has made an incredible impact with 98 million online impressions. i refuse to ignore the amplified risk for the victims of hidden crime and i. for the victims of hidden crime and i, along with lynn and our entire law enforcement agencies, refused to allow criminals to take advantage of these unprecedented times. —— lynne. provisional data from police shows a fall in overall crime during this coronavirus outbreak. car crime, burglary and shoplifting are all lower than the same period this time last year. but we also know the most sophisticated criminals continue to exploit and capitalise on this horrendous crisis. so today i have a message for them. our world—class law enforcement is also adapting and they are on to you, and their

effo rts they are on to you, and their efforts are paying off. last week border force found £1 million worth of cocaine set to be smuggled into the united kingdom through the channel tunnel hidden in boxes of facemasks. the national crime agency has taken down multiple websites running phishing scams and selling bogus ppe. last week they arrested two people suspected of trying to sell unregistered coronavirus testing kits. the nca have alerted police of 1300 potential child sexual abuse cases. they have made arrests and safeguarding children. this is a sickening reminder of the activity targeted towards our children every single day. international action to crush criminal gangs and to shut drug supply lines continues and the national crime agency helped to seize 700 kilograms of heroin in pakistan, potentially bound for the united kingdom. reported losses of

coronavirus fraud now stands at £2.4 million, and i would like to thank the major banks and uk finance who are working with us to protect vulnerable people from becoming victims of crime. and our outstanding front line police officers and their staff continue to do an exceptionaljob in keeping our streets safe. they are still responding to all types of crime. that includes some extraordinary dangerous driving with a minority of drivers using quieter roads as their own personal race track and endangering people's lives. we have seen speeds of up to 151 mph clocked on the m1 and 134 mph in a 40 mph zonein on the m1 and 134 mph in a 40 mph zone in london. police and fire continued to put their arms around people and our communities by taking

people and our communities by taking people shopping and taking prescriptions to the elderly are driving ambulances, and supporting those in need throughout this difficult time. i am immensely grateful to each and every one of our emergency service heroes. and i would also like to take this particular opportunity to pay tribute to the south yorkshire police cyclist tragically killed as he responded to an emergency earlier this week. my thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and collea g u es are with his family, friends and colleagues at this truly heartbreaking time. his death shows how our exceptional police put their own lives at risk every day to protect the people that they serve. coronavirus merely highlights the extent of their courage, their compassion and their commitment. police officers and staff continue to put their themselves at risk to ensure that people follow the life—saving instruction to stay at home. staying at home for almost five weeks has changed the way in

which we are living our lives, and i know how tough this has been. huge sacrifices have been made. jobs have been lost. people's futures have been lost. people's futures have been put on hold, weddings have been cancelled, families have been unable to see one another. every single person across our united kingdom has given upa person across our united kingdom has given up a great deal. from the vulnerable, the elderly to those self—isolating alone, to the hundreds of thousands of small and medium—sized businesses, to the children and young people whose education has been put on hold. this extraordinary national effort has been quite remarkable and i'm grateful to everybody for playing their part. but we should not lose sight of the fact that the country's effo rts sight of the fact that the country's efforts are working. so my thanks goes to the british people. you have fostered a spirit of national unity thatis fostered a spirit of national unity that is helping us to get through this challenging time. the action we are collectively taking is working and your sacrifices are undoubtedly

saving lives. we know that people are frustrated but we are not out of danger yet. it is imperative that people continue to follow the rules designed to protect their families, their friends designed to protect their families, theirfriends and designed to protect their families, their friends and their loved ones. this will continue to save lives. we all want to return to living our lives as normally as possible, and of course, as soon and as safely as we can. and that is what the entire government is working towards. the five tests we have laid out must be met before we can ease these life—saving restrictions. we must ensure that we can continue to protect the nhs, that there is a sustained and consistent fall in the daily rates of death. that the data shows the rate of infection decreases. that the operational challenges are met. and of course, that there is no risk of a second peak of infections. until then we all have a role to play in pulling our country out of this crisis. so i

urge you all to stay strong and embrace that spirit of national unity by continuing to follow the advice to stay at home, to protect the nhs and save lives. i will now ask lynne owens from the national crime agency to give an operational update. thank you, home secretary. criminals have adapted to our new situation but law enforcement is adapting just as quickly. as the country pulls together, i want to explain what we are doing to keep you and the nation safe from serious and organised crime. this is clearly a new environment for all of us. officers across policing are doing a fantastic job across policing are doing a fantasticjob engaging across policing are doing a fantastic job engaging with across policing are doing a fantasticjob engaging with the public, in explaining and encouraging people to comply with the government guidelines stay home, protect the nhs and to save lives. it is proving effective in the vast majority of cases. but serious and organised criminals are looking to ta ke organised criminals are looking to take advantage of these

unprecedented times. it is showing them for what they really are. amoral, corrupt and exploitative. we have not yet seen an increase in any form of serious and organised crime under covid—19, but we have seen offenders continue to take every opportunity for their own gain. i wa nt to opportunity for their own gain. i want to assure you that the national crime agency, which is responsible for leading the uk's fight to cut a serious and organised crime, is responding as quickly as ever to stop them and so are our police, border force and other uk law enforcement colleagues. i want to thank all of these officers who are working tirelessly to protect the public. they are ensuring there is no safe space for criminals to operate in. so let me paint you a quick picture. we are protecting you from offenders who are trying to avoid the lockdown rules and carry on their illegal businesses. we

remain unflagging in our work to recover illegal guns. in the last month the nca has worked with police forces across the uk including west yorkshire, bedfordshire, thames valley, greater manchester police and police scotland, but others too, which has led to 24 firearms being recovered. working with uk police forces and the dedicated regional organised crime units and border force, we continue to prevent the corrosive harm to communities from the scourge of drugs. in the last month, uk law enforcement officers have seized over 360 kilos of class a drugs. as one example, the british transport police have made 70 arrests of people suspected of involvement in so—called county lines drug dealing. in another example, working with the metropolitan police, we have seized 20 kilos of cocaine and £500,000. and only yesterday, working with

border force and the police service of northern ireland, we seized 36 kilos of cocaine. but the supply of illegal drugs is a transnational business, so too is our law enforcement response. internationally, in the last month, the nca has contributed to the seizure of in excess of 1.7 tonnes of illicit drugs. we are working to protect vulnerable children in the uk and overseas. the home secretary has described some of the exceptional work we have undertaken in the past month, together with our partners. following an international investigation, we recently arrested a british man suspected of possessing indecent images of children who was attempting to re—enter the uk from the philippines. we are working to protect the border. we know that our joint work together with immigration enforcement is helping our partners in france to bring people smugglers

to justice and an increasing proportion of attempts to reach the uk by small boat are being thwarted on the french side with at least 30 people having been convicted. we are protecting you from those that are preying on your fears and trying to ta ke preying on your fears and trying to take your money. in addition to our work we have 86 other instances where we are working alongside a range of regulatory bodies and public health england on fraud. we will take swift action against anyone unlawfully selling fake kits or ppe. for example, a man from west sussex was recently arrested by city of london police and charged after being caught making and selling covid—19 treatment kits to people in the uk, the us and france. online in the uk, the us and france. online in the last month, the national cyber security centre, together with ourselves and city of london police, have taken down more than 2000 scams related to coronavirus. including,

fa ke related to coronavirus. including, fake online shops malware distribution sites and phishing sites seeking personal information such as passwords or credit card details. the home secretary has highlighted the collective national effort to tackle coronavirus. but the public can help fight crime too. indeed, we have an ask of you. criminals will try and exploit this national crisis. we are not trying to scare people at a time when many of us are already anxious. but we do wa nt of us are already anxious. but we do want you to be aware of the simple steps you can take to protect yourselves and your loved ones from harm online. firstly, protect your children online. we have created a range of material that will help you to talk to them, however young they are and without frightening them. it includes guidance on how to identify manipulative behaviour. you can find

a step—by—step guide at think you know dot co—dot uk. secondly, stay safe online. the new cyber aware campaign sets out six top tips on how to protect yourself online. these include creating strong passwords using three random words, regularly updating your devices and turning on back—up. more details are on the cyber aware website. thirdly, look after your money. fraudsters have targeted members of the public by phone, by text and by e—mail. they have used the current situation to pedal fake testing they have used the current situation to pedalfake testing kits they have used the current situation to pedal fake testing kits and prescription drugs. we are asking you to be vigilant for these scams. be even more cautious than usual if you are contacted by unknown numbers, and don't open suspicious e—mails or their attachments. the police and banks will never ask you to withdraw money or transfer it to

a different account. if you believe you are a victim, please report it to your bank and action fraud immediately. while the national restrictions are in place and you are staying home to protect the nhs and save lives, we, the national crime agency, together with our law enforcement partners, are pursuing relentlessly the most harmful criminals, whoever and wherever they are to keep you safe. looking ahead, we will help ensure that the country's economic recovery is not subverted by organised crime. we will continue to protect the public to the best of our collective ability. thank you. i am now going to hand over to stephen powis. the nhs has pulled out all the stops to manage the surge in patients with coronavirus and our wonderful staff of course continue to work around the clock to do just that. as a

result, the nhs has not been overwhelmed and we have at all times maintain to protect patients affected by this virus with the treatment they need. but today we are reminding everyone that the nhs is also there to help if you have a condition that is not coronavirus. it is particularly important that if you have symptoms of an illness that might need urgent attention, sudden facial weakness that might be a stroke, chest pain that might be a heart attack, a sick child who is not improving or perhaps a pregnant woman whose baby is moving less than usual, you should contact the nhs. go online or call but go online first 2111, or contact your gp first, of course. 0r first 2111, or contact your gp first, of course. or in a real emergency, there is always 999. there is methods of contacting the nhs are still there. for many of these conditions, fast diagnosis and

treatment is crucial. so it's really important not to delay. the nhs is still there for you. i want to go through some data you will be familiar with in through some data you will be familiarwith ina through some data you will be familiar with in a set of slides that you have seen over recent weeks, and to update you on the current position. the first slide shows transport use in the uk. as we have often said, we continue to see reductions in public transport usage and here we show transport in london on the tube, buses throughout the country, national rail and transport for london buses. they are all at much lower levels than they were prior to the social distancing measures being introduced. we have seena measures being introduced. we have seen a reduction in motor vehicles as well, but there may be a bit of concern that that is starting to rise again. ever so slowly, but it

is important to think about that. on the next slide, this takes data from apple, from apple maps, from people seeking directions and similar programmes are available from google. this is a rolling average. it shows a decrease since the lockdown measures were introduced of requests for walking, driving or instructions on public transport. of course, the sun is out around the country. the days are getting longer andl country. the days are getting longer and i am sure it is tempting for people to feel that they should go out, particularly as i will show you in the next few slides, when we are beginning to see the benefits of that social distancing. but of course, i can't emphasise enough that we are far from there yet. it is critical that people maintain their compliance with those social distancing instructions. it won't

ta ke distancing instructions. it won't take much for this virus to start increasing its transmission again and to spread more widely, and it would be foolish and not right if we lost the benefits we have gained over the last four weeks, which i know have been hard for everybody. so it's important that despite the weather, we stay at home and keep to the guidelines we have been issued with. in our next slide, we are beginning to see sets of data which show the benefits of complying with those instructions. firstly, this shows the number of new cases by testing is reasonably stable. we are of course expanding test capacity all the time, so we may see more positive cases through that expanded testing capability, but this is a fairly stable set of data now. on the next slide, we show people in hospital with covid—19. you can see we are getting a sustained reduction

in people being treated in our hospitals, particularly in london, where you will see a steady decline, but you also start to see the beginnings of a decline in other parts of the country. in the next slide, we focus on the small number of patients who unfortunately have to be treated in our critical care facilities, our intensive treatment units and high dependency units. again, we are beginning to see a decline, although that decline will like the overall number of admissions in our hospitals. we have data here for northern ireland. you can see that in the light blue line. we have put that in to present a truly uk—wide picture. but i should note that this is new data and it is note that this is new data and it is not currently comparable with the other lines as it shows cumulative data, which is why that line looks different. on the next slide, this

is the numberof different. on the next slide, this is the number of deaths in uk hospitals. we report hospital deaths ona hospitals. we report hospital deaths on a daily basis. these are reported deaths rather than the date of death, and you can see again that there is a trend towards a decline in deaths. that is a trend that will occur later than the decline in hospital admissions and critical care, but it is critical that if we keep complying with the social distancing instructions, we will begin to see a decline in deaths. thank you very much. sorry, there is one more slide! sorry, home secretary. it is the global deaf comparison, which shows uk hospitals only —— the uk death comparison. it shows deaths out of hospital but as we have set on the number of occasions, there was more of a lag

in that data. so that shows as being a little bit behind hospital death reporting. thank you very much. i am going to hand over now to questions. the first question is from lauren moss from the bbc. thank you. on the 28th of march, professor powis, you said we will have done well if fewer than 20,000 people died during this epidemic. we have sadly passed that number now. does this mean the strategy should have been different? it's a very sad day for the nation, 20,000 deaths is clearly 20,000 deaths too many. we should all recognise that and my heart goes out to the families who have lost a loved one. when sir patrick vallance andl loved one. when sir patrick vallance and i made that comment a number of weeks ago, we were emphasising that this is a new virus, a global

pandemic, a once in a century global health crisis and this was going to bea health crisis and this was going to be a huge challenge notjust for the uk, but for every country. unfortunately, we have seen that challenge not just here, unfortunately, we have seen that challenge notjust here, but around the globe. and even in countries that have got on top of this early on, we are unfortunately beginning to see new infections. so the first thing to emphasise is that this unfortunately will not be something we will get over in the next few weeks. it is something we are going to continue to have to work through in the months ahead. as i said before, this is not a sprint, it will be a marathon in dealing with this virus. the 20,000 deathsjust remind everybody what i was saying when i introduced the slides, it is still absolutely critical that we continue to follow the social distancing guidelines because we are

seeing the benefit of following those guidelines and we will only continue to see reductions in deaths if we continue to do that. thank you. lauren, on that point as well, i think the nation today will be deeply moved by the figures of the number of people who have died. every death is a tragedy. but there isa every death is a tragedy. but there is a strong message here. stephen has articulated this and to viewers at home as well, we have made a great deal of progress, but we are not out of the woods yet. there is a lot more that we can all do as responsible individuals in the way we follow these measures. the message could not be clear in terms of protecting the capacity of the nhs, making sure people protect themselves with social distancing and hygiene etc. but right now, this isa and hygiene etc. but right now, this is a tragic moment for the nation. all our thoughts and sympathies are

with those individuals have lost family members through this horrendous virus. was there anything else you wanted to add? yes, please. with that in mind and with this rising death toll, are there any circumstances now in which he would be able to envisage relaxing any of the measures of the lockdown? the government has been abundantly clear, in fact i outlined that in my remarks earlier, about the five specific things that have to be satisfied. this isn't optional, they have to be met so that we can judge with the scientific advice and the advisers as to when we will consider it to be safe to adjust the current measures. and that is not right now, frankly. as we have all said here today unequivocally, we need people today unequivocally, we need people to continue. the national effort has

been extraordinary. i pay tribute to everybody. our lives have changed in the way we function on a daily basis, whether it is from our children, our households, our family, even the way those of us are still going to work every day. so those tests are vital and we have to meet them before we can make any changes. we are conscious of that. we have obviously had a devastating moment in terms of the number of people who have died. we are fighting this virus and that is the national effort we are all behind. we are all putting a shoulder to the wheel to make sure we fight that virus so we can get the right outcome in the long—term, which is protecting the public and saving lives. i will now hand over to pull brand from itv. firstly to the medical director, the 20,000 figure refers to reported deaths in hospitals and you said there was a downward trend in that number. when

downward trend in that number. when do you expect the peak to come in ca re do you expect the peak to come in care homes specifically? and to the home secretary, please, doctors and nurses who have come to the uk to work in the health care sector have to pay a health surcharge of hundreds, even thousands of pounds for their families. given that they too are fighting this pandemic, is now the right time to scrap that surcharge for them? thank you. all along we have tried to resist when we think pigs will occur because it's difficult in advance, you can do that by looking backwards. the point about care homes is a really important point, though. we know there are outbreaks in care homes and we know it is really important, obviously for the residents and staff of those care homes and their loved ones, that they are dealt with swiftly a nd loved ones, that they are dealt with swiftly and they are dealt with correctly. so public health england and others are assisting when outbreaks occur. the government is increasing testing, p h increasing testing in those care homes, which

will be an important part of getting on top of infections in care homes. and of course the staff in those ca re and of course the staff in those care homes are working around the clock and i pay tribute to nhs staff earlier but i'd always done might also like to pay tribute to the many staff and carers in care homes and also caring for people at home in social care at home. because they are working just as hard to ensure that we get on top of this virus. thanks, stephen. and paul, in response to your question, first of all, everybody working in the nhs and front line who are working night and front line who are working night and day, clearly, are making an extraordinary contribution at this particular time. paul, extraordinary contribution at this particulartime. paul, you extraordinary contribution at this particular time. paul, you will be aware of many of the changes already made around the immigration status and visa status for nhs workers, extending their reasons already if they were coming up for expiry and we are providing a great deal of support on that basis. i'll be very clear, we have a range of measures,

that, like most things in government, are under review and we are looking at everything in terms of visas and surcharge and i'm working with my colleague matt hancock in the department of health and social care because that is a joint policy with matt's team and we are looking at everything in terms of what we can do to continue to support every one of the front line in the nhs. we are speaking about the health care professionals, the medics, the doctors, nurses, health ca re medics, the doctors, nurses, health care professionals who have come to the uk and are making an immense contribution. was there another point that you'd like to raise?“ contribution. was there another point that you'd like to raise? if i could, please, to stephen powis again. i appreciate could, please, to stephen powis again. iappreciate is could, please, to stephen powis again. i appreciate is difficult sometimes to get data on the care sector but many in the care sector are telling us they feel they are dealing with this crisis blind because they are not being given a sense of how the virus is spreading across the sector. is there anything you can tell us about the way the virus is spreading, the likely impact in the care sector and how many people may end up sadly losing

their lives in that sector?|j many people may end up sadly losing their lives in that sector? i think, asi their lives in that sector? i think, as i said, i know public health england are stepping up their support for the care home sector. and i know increasing testing, not just of people in care homes who are symptomatic but increasingly of others as well. it is going to be a really important method of ensuring that we get as quickly as possible on top of those outbreaks in care homes. so it is something that as a group of clinicians, within government, within phd and within the nhs, we care very much and worry very much about the care home sector and we are increasing the support that goes into managing the virus in ca re that goes into managing the virus in care homes in particular. paul, many thanks. i'm going to move on to lisa holland from sky news. good afternoon, lisa. good afternoon. this is a question for the home secretary. we saw that motor vehicles are starting to rise and

you have said that was a cause for concern. sky news has spoken to a memberof sage concern. sky news has spoken to a member of sage cosmic behavioural advisory group, who says the government is sending out mixed messages come on the one hand telling people to stay at home and on the other allowing nonessential work to take place. what would you say to that? and professor stephen powis, what would you say to people who are struggling to understand that if they have been in complete lockdown for over a month, they have absolutely played it to the letter, followed all the rules and have a loved one who has done exactly the same, why they can't extend their household into a smaller group, rather thanjust the household into a smaller group, rather than just the people household into a smaller group, rather thanjust the people living under the same roof. let me start by answering your point and question raised about transport and messages. the government's message has been consistent from day one about staying at home. obviously to protect the nhs and to save lives. but we have also been clear about

people going to work, but if you can't work from home, through social distancing, the measures that are in place in some workplaces now, that you can go to work. but i do want to say something else around this. you have highlighted, and in fact stephen has highlighted as well, from the very first graph that was put on the screen that we are seeing an increase in the number of journeys that are being taken, more people being out and about. we understand the frustration, of course we understand the frustration. people have been at home forfive weeks. frustration. people have been at home for five weeks. however, frustration. people have been at home forfive weeks. however, if frustration. people have been at home for five weeks. however, if we are going to combat this virus and save lives we want to stop the spread of this virus. we have enforcement measures through policing. those enforcement measures are being applied and they are working and we have been very clear about that from a policing perspective as well. i have seen, andi perspective as well. i have seen, and i speak to police officers every single day, everyone from law enforcement, chief constables across the police and family, who have

officers out and about in our communities, they are engaging, explaining what the guidance is and why people must stay at home and why social distancing matters now and social distancing matters now and social distancing matters now and social distancing will continue to matter in the future, we have no doubt about that. that is what is stopping the spread of the virus and thatis stopping the spread of the virus and that is effectively what we are trying to do. so there are no mixed messages, we have been clear, the police have been clear, law enforcement has been clear. i think throughout every single aspect of government communications and the practices that we are encouraging, and in some quarters enforcing in society through the police, staying at home and enforcing social distancing is absolutely vital. that's the message for viewers today as well. we are seeing that uptick in transport and we say again to the british public we need you to continue to follow those social distancing measures and stay at home to protect lives. . i know how difficult it is, particularly for those who want to visit loved ones, extended households, extended

relatives. but i think it's important to remember that one of the main ways that this virus is spread and transmitted is from household to household. and so at the very basis of the social distancing measures that were put in a number of weeks ago was to interrupt that chain of spread from household to household. i think we have seen that that and the other measures are working. we have shown that in the data we have shown today and on other days, and i think the british public have done fa ntastically well to british public have done fantastically well to keep complying with those measures and to break those chains of transmission. but i think we would all be disappointed if we forfeited those gains by releasing two early and by allowing those chains of transmission from household to household to start to be re—established because then we would start going backwards. then the virus would start to transmit and spread more those downward curves we a re and spread more those downward curves we are seeing would u nfortu nately start to

curves we are seeing would unfortunately start to rise again. it is too early yet. we need to be confident as in the five tests the government has set that we are really on top of this virus before we proceed to the next phase. thanks, stephen. lisa, was there anything else you wanted to add? yes, just to say that you said there are no mixed messages but isn't opening a diy shop mixed message? well, shops are open, we have seen supermarkets open and they are practising social distancing and they have been doing that incredibly well, i should add. the british public have adopted that incredibly well. we have also been clear that if you can work that you should be able to work and that is down to employers following social distancing measures and practices. and effectively that is what we are asking the british public to follow, those particular practices and measures. they are restrictive, but with that the public know why they are restrictive as well. so if i may say so i think the government has

been very clear in the stance that it has taken and in the communications and messaging. i think it is quite remarkable whether you go to the supermarket or even out on a walk in parks the way in which the public are conducting themselves is very much in tune with that social distancing policy and the advice that has been coming from the advice that has been coming from the scientists and from medical officers and from the government. and i pay tribute to the british public for following that. thank you, lisa. iwill public for following that. thank you, lisa. i will now go to nigel nelson from the sunday mirror. good afternoon. it is one for the home secretary. the royal college of surgeons has told us that the backlog of cancelled operations could take five years to clear. is that the timescale that you are now working on? and how many lives do you estimate that these delays will cost? and one, if i may, for stephen powis. when dominic cummings attended sage, did he ever say

anything, and if so, what? nigel, let me start. into your point and comments and reflections from the royal college of surgeons, as ever, the department of health, social care, will work with the nhs, nhs england, and advisers, in terms of care, elective care surgeries, addressing many of those issues that you have highlighted and are of course of enormous concern to individuals who are perhaps waiting for operations. we want to make sure, of course, that services resume in the right and proper way. but while this virus is on, obviously within the nhs, and perhaps stephen could expand on this, there are certain ways of working across the nhs and certain privatisations of cases of surgery and the treatment of patients. and of course, those decisions will be based on making sure the nhs is adequately resourced, has the capacity, but also is able to cope with the virus and contain the

spread of the virus within a medical facility. stephen. we work very closely with the royal college of surgeons and neither the royal couege surgeons and neither the royal college or ourselves in the nhs would want to see delays of that order of magnitude. we have had to step down elective surgery in order to focus on ensuring that we cope with the surge in patients with the coronavirus. but as soon as we possibly can we do want to step that back up again. i think the chief medical officer has come on a number of occasions, articulated the consequences of a global pandemic in terms of deaths and harm to individuals and populations, the deaths that occur directly as a result of the coronavirus, we talked about that sadly earlier, there are other deaths and harm that occurs because the health service becomes overwhelmed and cannot cope, and we have not seen that here. as i said

earlier the nhs has coped admirably and we have always maintained the capacity and it hasn't been overwhelmed. we can also see death and harm because individuals for whatever reason don't access the services that are up and running and that's why i opened today with a reminder to everybody that those emergency services are still there for you and you must not be afraid to come forward and to access them, and certainly not to delay accessing them if you have symptoms that might be an emergency. and finally, the harm that is potentially done because of the consequences of a pandemic, and it will take many yea rs pandemic, and it will take many years to see exactly what those consequences are in terms of harm to the population. but in the third of those, we do want to get those services, those elective services up and running as quickly as we can. we are beginning to focus on that in the nhs now, but clearly we need to make sure that we are also managing the patients that we still have with coronavirus. on the question on the

sage, so, i've been participating and attending sage since towards the end of february and my experience of sage has absolutely been about scientists and experts. there are scientific experts at sage from a variety of disciplines, to be mailing lists, behavioural scientists, public health officials, immunologists from the wide range of expertise you would need to manage this crisis. —— epidemiologists. it isa this crisis. —— epidemiologists. it is a scientific discussion at sage, between scientific advisers, robust discussion at the time as we consider the evidence, conclude what the evidence is telling us. sometimes point to where the evidence is missing and where we need to gain and generate further evidence and as is in the name of the group, provide advice to government and government officials in terms of the scientific basis of the choices that government quite

rightly has to make as elected representatives. thank you, stephen. was there anything else you would like to raise, nigel? just whether or not dominic cummings made any contribution at those meetings. the scientific contributions are exactly asi scientific contributions are exactly as i said. it is the scientists who make the scientific contributions and the scientists are the experts in that group that are absolutely involved in generating the advice. so the advice comes from those scientific experts to government and government officials. that's exactly what sage is set up to do an exactly what sage is set up to do an exactly what my experiences of the way sage works. thank you, stephen. nigel, thank you. i will hand over to brendan carlin from the mail on sunday. good afternoon. good afternoon, home secretary. you have stressed to date sacrifices made by the british public and paid tribute to them. one of the biggest sacrifices is the fact schools are closed. do you not sympathise with

parents up—and—down the country who are having tojuggle between childcare and the need to get back to work to help restart the economy as soon as possible? brendan, of course. i think, as soon as possible? brendan, of course. ithink, you know, as a pa rent course. ithink, you know, as a parent myself, and all parents working from home, and particularly with children who may be engaging in the home schooling as well that's taking place, this is immensely difficult and it is an immensely challenging time. i pointed that out in my opening remarks. these are very, very difficult and unusual times. i have to say i think the schools that have opened have been brilliant, they have been absolutely remarkable and i pay tribute to many of the teachers and head teachers. i know from my own constituency some outstanding examples of teaching and people in the teaching profession who are doing a great deal to help support the children of key workers but also vulnerable children right now as well and we shouldn't forget about them. the fact of the matter

is, brendan, i've already outlined the five tests that will have to be met absolutely before we can look at restarting schools. and i think the key thing to note is that before we can even do that those tests have to be made, we want to do this in the right and proper way and we need the scientific and medical advice to come together in the right kind of way. and i think both parents, teachers and children would welcome that on the basis that they want to know that they are going back to school at the right time, in the right way, with the right kind of support and that is absolutely what this government is working towards achieving. did you have another question at all? you have not given much of an assurance today in the press conference that any active planning is under way for how we restart the economy. and again in relation to the schools, teaching unions have been making it clear to ministers that safety is paramount

when we come back. but can you give parents any sort of assurance today that there is any active consideration of when we come back to schools? and one question to stephen powis. at the beginning of this process, there was much debate about the time we entered the lockdown in terms of making sure people would accept and live with it. if it appears to be something that may have to go on and on, what's the point of the point at we entered it? first of all, let me come back to your question. we can give a clear assurance to the british public. the government is working night and day on looking at how we can move out of this situation. i touched on this in my remarks. we understand the difficulties and frustration, but this is not a binary choice. we cannot move from removing restrictions in terms ofjust moving back to how things work. it is right

that we consider the advice, and we are doing that. we are working with our advisers, with sage and others. but as you will know, we are working and listening to others from business and industry as to how we can move forward. the fact is that we wa nt can move forward. the fact is that we want to prevent a second wave of this horrendous virus, and to do that we have to make sure we continue with the measures we have put in place. also, to move to any changes, whether it is school, business or restarting aspects of society, we need to make sure we have the right kind of preventative measures in place to stop another wave of that virus. the british public would look to their government to make sure their health, their safety and well—being is paramount, along with the health, safety a nd is paramount, along with the health, safety and well—being of the nhs and protecting that capacity. that is something we have been consistently doing and we continue to work towards achieving that. i know you

would love me to give you a date as to when schools may reopen, but we are not going to do that. that would be irresponsible. it would set hopes up. the fact of the matter is, as you have heard me say, we are putting our shoulder to the wheel to work night and day to look at how things we can do things in the right way going forward, and that is what this government is committed to doing. timings of lockdown is, at whatever point in a pandemic, and the timings of individual measures, are difficult decisions. i talked a bit earlier about the harm and the deaths that occur from a pandemic and some of those relate to the health service being overwhelmed or having to stop some activity to manage the virus. and i talked about the harm that comes from an economic lockdown. as the chief medical officer said a number of times, it's not always possible to manage those

in the same direction at the same time. so there are difficult choices to be made in pandemics. that is why deciding the timing around lockdown measures and the combination of lockdown measures is a challenging thing to have to do. thank you very much. i am going to bring this to a close now but before i do, i want to thank both stephen and lynne for their contributions. lynne has shown their contributions. lynne has shown the stellar work of the national crime agency, and i say again to any criminals seeking to exploit this virus for their own again, our law enforcement agencies are unto you. they are the best of us all and they continue to work tirelessly to keep our country safe. finally to the british people, i want to thank you andi british people, i want to thank you and i urge you as ever to back and

to continue to back the extraordinary national effort to beat this virus, to stay strong and to follow the consistent message we have been giving to stay at home, to protect the nhs and save lives. thank you very much. studio: the home secretary priti patel, bringing to an end today's uk press briefing. let's recap on the day's main developments in the coronavirus crisis. here's a reminder of the main points from today's briefing. (take ff) the latest figures show another 813 deaths were registered across the united kingdom in the last 24 hours. that means the number of coronavirus—related deaths has now passed 20,000,

and britain is only one of five countries to have reached that level. addressing the number of deaths, the home secretary said the entire nation was grieving and the country had passed a tragic and terrible milestone. priti patel also said that while crime overall is down, "the most sophisticated" criminals are seeking the home secretary said 16,411 people are currently in hospital in the united kingdom , that's down from 17,049 the day before. our political correspondent nick eardley is here. nick, a sombre tone at today's press conference as we reach the 20,000 milestone. what were the most significant bits of detailed messaging for you? the most significant thing by far was the message we got time and time again from the home secretary, which was that people need to continue to follow the rules. we have seen those daily graphs. we have heard that car activity is backed up. we have heard

anecdotal stories about people starting to relax their own discipline slightly. but it was clear from that that the government doesn't want to even entertain the idea of relaxing rules at the moment because it wants to continue that basic message we have heard for some time now are telling people to stay at home. it was also interesting that the home secretary said explicitly that the government is looking at how we might be able to lift those restrictions eventually, but that time is not now. and those five tests which dominic raab, the foreign secretary, set out a week ago now, have to be met before that can be considered. and again, the question is asked almost daily now. they wouldn't be drawn on any of the detail of their planning around when there is lockdown restrictions will be eased, other than, as you say, those five tests. professor stephen powis was again reinforcing the message about social distancing. he

also said that it is working and compliance is high. there has been a slight uptick in the numbers of cars on the road. he was also asked again, as you'd expect, about his comments on the 28th of march when he said, along with sir patrick vallance, chief scientific officer, that we would do well if the deaths we re that we would do well if the deaths were kept below 20,000. yes, and the question was along the lines of, did they get the strategy wrong? is the fa ct they get the strategy wrong? is the fact that the number of deaths have surpassed 20,000 a signal of failure? he did not quite get into that. i think the feeling in government and in the scientific advisory groups is that it would have been a very low figure and the fa ct have been a very low figure and the fact that we are above that shows that we have not met that, but the consistent message you are going to keep hearing is that to keep that figure as low as possible and make

sure we are over the peak and those death figures continue to be written down is that social distancing will have to continue. the home secretary also said that social distancing will continue to matter in the future. we have no doubt again that this isn't a short—term thing. it is a long—term thing. the exact phrase that professor powis used to it that this is not a sprint, it is a marathon. and that reflect the broader thinking that this isn't going to be over any time soon and that if we are to keep the death figures low or comparatively low, they will have to continue for some time. not much new, then, in terms of what we had today, but reinforcing existing messages about social distancing and the new one today that people who need urgent medical care in light of today's figures about there being a dramatic fall in the number of people seeking help in going to a&e, reinforcing the message that the nhs is there

for them too. a huge fall in the number of people going to a&e over the last few weeks. in some ways, it isa the last few weeks. in some ways, it is a success because the message was to keep as much of the capacity available for coronavirus patients as possible. but it has got to the point over the last few days were the nhs also feels it has to make clear that when people have conditions which potentially could be serious, they need to take medical advice, be that phoning the 111 helpline, be it 999 or potentially having to go to a&e. there has been a messaging campaign on that day which shows how seriously that has been taken. one other thing that came up in the press co nfe re nce other thing that came up in the press conference from the national crime agency, talking about how some criminals were trying to adapt what they were doing to exploit the coronavirus crisis, an extraordinary

story about £1 million of cocaine being hidden in surgical masks coming over via the channel from france being found. the message was that that is not going to be tolerated, but also repeating the fa ct tolerated, but also repeating the fact that there has been a dramatic fall in other forms of crime. some of it is pretty self—evident, the fa ct of it is pretty self—evident, the fact that shoplifting has gone down will not be a surprise as most shops are shut. but it's a reminder of the remarkable ways in which society has changed in the last few weeks and how all of our lives are completely different. nick eardley, thank you very much. i'm joined now by professor dame anne johnson — an expert in infectious disease epidemiology at university college london. there is a lot to take into day. we have reached a tragic milestone and at the same time, we are talking about easing the knock—down. some european countries are already doing

that, like belgium. what is your assessment of where we are now?m isa assessment of where we are now?m is a sad day to have reached this 20,000 number of deaths. that is terrible for all the families involved. however, there are some glimmers of hope. we have good evidence when we take account of some of the reporting delays, because the number of deaths reported on a day is not the true number occurring on that day due to the delays in reporting. there is now good evidence that the number of deaths, at least occurring in hospital, is beginning to diminish. that doesn't mean a course that the epidemic has gone away. we know that the social distancing members, thank goodness for the compliance that has been achieved, has reduced the amount of transmission in the population. the key thing is to keep the number of infections low by ensuring that people don't pass it on to one another. that has to be achieved by the physical distancing we have discussed, but also trying

to crack down on transmissions in other settings including care homes, and also people in their own homes, trying to stop passing the virus on to other people in their home. so there is a long way to go, but there are some glimmers of hope here. the number of cases in hospital is declining, particularly in london. but the fact that we are getting new cases coming in means there is still ongoing transmission, so we have to keep working hard to stop any more new cases occurring. what are the key challenges ahead as you see them? it is interesting that the government is no longer talking about exiting this, this is our new normalfor a long time about exiting this, this is our new normal for a long time to come. about exiting this, this is our new normalfor a long time to come. of course, there needs to be a big increase in testing and contact tracing, and we are still not there yet. the testing is critical because the key issue is to get people

diagnosed and also to be able to separate them from others to stop them passing it on and also to make sure their contacts understand the importance of keeping out a contact with others. but there are other challenges. we must remember that the debts arising from this pandemic arise not just from the debts arising from this pandemic arise notjust from the direct deaths from people who acquire the virus, but also the increasing concerns that people may not be going into the nhs when they have and related conditions and also issues about the diagnosis and treatment of people with chronic conditions like cancer. so one of the big challenges is to get other aspects of the health service open to non—covert cases to make sure we reduce those harms. we should also remember the economic harms, and this is the difficult balancing act. how can we ensure that the health effects of the economic downturn, the effect on people's lives to employment and mental health and so

on are not also adding to the deleterious health impacts of this epidemic? those are real challenges. given that we are talking about waves, is a second wave inevitable? we need to know and there are several community studies being carried out, which will give us a better idea of the true number of people who have been infected because we don't have good counts or surveillance on the people in the community who have not been tested. because we know that probably we don't know what fraction but a high fraction of the population are likely to still be susceptible, the danger is that if we relax the lockdown rules to rapidly, or have lockdowns reduced, aspects that release transmissions, large gatherings and so on, we may see the return of a second wave and that has been seen in a number of viral pandemics. one key thing we are also looking at is the extent to which

this virus turns out to be seasonal, whether we will see a downturn in the summer with warmer weather and people outside and greater ventilation and so on. this may reduce some of the transmission but that remains to be seen and there is a real risk of seeing a second wave and trying to keep the balance between viral transmission and the ability for us to succeed as a society more generally is a really difficult one. but for the time being the focus is absolutely one physical distance and end of these physical distance and end of these physical distancing and other measures to reduce transmission. and are you concerned , measures to reduce transmission. and are you concerned, we are hearing from the world health organization, that they are saying that there is no evidence having the virus guarantees immunity today? this is an incredibly important area of scientific study. we are beginning to get better antibody tests, those are tests that tell you if people have markers in their blood which show they have been infected with

the virus and they have produced antibodies. what we don't know is the extent to which those mean people have protective immunity. there are a range of immunological techniques being used to study whether these antibodies are protective and neutralise the virus, or whether they are simply markers of past infection. that is a crucial area of science which we need to understand and we need to study representative samples of people who have had both severe and less severe infection to understand the extent of their immunity. and we also need close surveillance on whether or not people do get reinfected and to understand the nature of the virus with which they are reinfected and we can do that by some studies of the molecular structure of that virus to understand whether people have been infected with a new infection or whether they are just continuing to excrete virus, to shed virus, for a long time after their

illness. professor dame anne johnson, thank you very much for joining us this afternoon. our health correspondent richard galpin is here. richard, your assessment of the numbers we heard. of course, the key and a tragic number, the 20,000 milestone, but take us through your interpretation of those figures. milestone, but take us through your interpretation of those figureslj interpretation of those figures.” think one of the most important things which we learned today is that it does seem to be a decrease in the number of people going into hospital, who are in hospital and being treated in hospitals. the figure we were given was 16,411. now, previously it was around 18,000, so we have seen the continuous reduction over the last few days and i think that's very important. professor stephen powis, the medical director of nhs england, highlighted that and he said it was a sustained reduction of people being treated in hospital and it was

particularly in london, but he also said there was a start in declines in other parts of the country. obviously it is very important if you see that reduction of people being treated in hospital, that is a very significant statistic. as for the numbers of deaths, he is saying that the trend in that they expect to slow down but it will be later on because as far as we understand it, the numbers of daily deaths will continue for at least another ten days or so, so we are going to see quite significant increases in the total death toll in the coming weeks or so. there is more to that 20,000 number because that is of course deaths that happen in hospitals and it reflects the reporting of not the time of death. that is an absolutely crucial point because obviously there have been a lot of deaths outside in the community, particularly in care homes. the figures initially were very low and thenit figures initially were very low and then it jumped up figures initially were very low and then itjumped up to around 200 and

then itjumped up to around 200 and then up to 1000. and now one of our collea g u es then up to 1000. and now one of our colleagues has had information that the number of deaths in care homes could be in the order of about 2000. they are waiting for confirmation of that in the next few days. but there isa that in the next few days. but there is a very significant coronavirus crisis in care homes in this country. what can you tell us about regional variations? we have country. what can you tell us about regionalvariations? we have had other statistics coming from the nations in terms of the numbers of deaths. there have been increases in wales and in scotland. not so clear on northern ireland. but those numbers continue to go up and add up to quite a significant number when you put it together, more than 2000 actually. the r rate is one of the key measures, at the moment it is under one and that will be one of the key things that is looked at and will decide when and how those restrictions are eased. absolutely

critical, the r rate has to be kept right down, it is less than one at the moment, because that means the infection, or the the moment, because that means the infection, orthe spread, is the moment, because that means the infection, or the spread, is much, much less and is manageable so you can bring all of those numbers down, and when you have really, really compressed the numbers that is the moment when you can start looking at lifting the lockdown. we are nowhere near that at the moment. and again the government will not be drawn on any of the detail in their planning. no, they are very silent about that and there is increasing criticism about that, that they are not being more open with the british public. and politicians, even conservative politicians, have been saying the government is treating the british public like children. so i think there is more and more pressure on there is more and more pressure on the government to be much more open. obviously in other countries in europe they are much more open about what their plans are. here we are really told absolutely nothing. richard galpin, thank you very much

indeed. for much of the world, the pandemic shows few signs of slowing and the lockdown continues. millions of people are forced to stay at home. many businesses have had to shut their doors. but there are glimmers of hope as some countries, particularly in europe, consider easing the restrictions. from berlin, damien mcguinness reports. for the past six weeks, a quickjog in the park has been one of the few ways people in belgium could leave the house. apart from exercise and essential work and shopping, they have been confined to their homes. belgium has suffered the highest per capita death rate in the world from coronavirus, almost 7,000 deaths so far. but, infection and death rate appears to be slowing. so, the government has now announced a three stage plan to ease the lockdown. in may, most shops will reopen, then a week later children will start going back to school. but, to minimise the risk of another wave of infections, new rules will be introduced.

translation: wearing an item of protection that covers both the mouth and the nose will be compulsory when taking public transport starting may 4th, for travellers aged 12 and over. spain is also starting to ease restrictions. on sunday, children will be allowed to be out for the first time in more than a month, despite a death toll in spain of more than 22,000. there have been worries about the physical and psychological harm for children cooped up in small flats. so, pressure has been growing to exit the lockdown. translation: despite these measures which will alleviate the current situation for the population, we have to avoid excessive euphoria, because we must maintain collective responsibility in order to stop and control this epidemic. italians are also hoping that some of the toughest measures can be lifted. as the country celebrates the anniversary of the defeat

of the nazis in world war ii, there are hopes that the government may announce a plan for lifting restrictions in may. and in germany, where smaller shops opened again this week, there are rows about which sectors are being allowed to get back to work. larger shops, cafes and restaurants say it is unfair they can't reopen. in some ways, leaving the lockdown is proving harder and more divisive than implementing it was. and angela merkel has warned against easing restrictions too quickly. translation: no-one likes to hear it but it is the truth. we are not living in the final phase of the pandemic, but we are still at its beginning. we will have to live with this virus for a long time. that's the big dilemma facing all european countries. how to get the economy going again without sparking another wave of infections. damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin.

ican bring i can bring you some news now from italy, where we are hearing the death toll from coronavirus has risen by 415, up to 26,000. italy has recorded the third highest number of deaths from covid—19 in the world, behind the united states and spain. of course in the uk we have hit that grim milestone today of 20,000 deaths. of course, those are only relating to deaths recorded in hospitals and don't include deaths in care homes or the community. let's hear again from the national medical director of nhs england, professor stephen powis. it's a very sad day for the nation, 20,000 deaths is clearly 20,000 deaths too many. i think we should all recognise that, and my heart goes out

to the families who have lost a loved one. and the families and friends of those loved ones. when sir patrick vallance and i made that comment a number of weeks ago, what we were emphasising was that this is a new virus, a global pandemic, a once—in—a—century global health crisis and this was going to be a huge challenge notjust for the uk, but for every country. i think, unfortunately, we've seen that challenge notjust here, but around the globe. and even in countries that have got on top of this early on, we are unfortunately beginning to see new infections. so i think the first thing to emphasise is that this unfortunately will not be something we will get over in the next few weeks. this is something we are going to continue to have to work through in the months ahead. as i've said before, this is not a sprint, it will be a marathon in dealing with this virus. i think moving past 20,000 deaths just remind

i think moving past 20,000 deathsjust remind 20,000 deaths just reminds everybody what i was saying when i introduced the slides, it is still absolutely critical that we continue to follow the social distancing guidelines because we are seeing the benefit of following those guidelines and we will only continue to see the benefit and reductions in deaths if we continue to do that. in a moment i'll be back with a round—up of the day's news. but first, let's hear again from the home secretary priti patel, who described the uk coronavirus death toll in uk hospitals passing 20,000 as a "deeply tragic and moving moment". the nation today will be deeply moved by the figures of the number of people who have died. every death is a tragedy. but there is a very strong message here. stephen has articulated this and to viewers at home as well, we have made a great deal of progress, but actually we are not out of the woods yet. there is a lot more that we can all do as responsible individuals in the way we follow these measures.

at the end of the day, the message could not be clear in terms of protecting the capacity of the nhs, making sure people protect themselves with social distancing and hygiene etc. but right now, this is a tragic moment for the nation. all our thoughts and sympathies are with those individuals that have lost family members through this horrendous virus.

good evening. the number of people known to have died from coronavirus in the uk has now passed 20,000 — a sombre milestone.