previously a question that was asked previously but by beth rigby but i did not a nswer but by beth rigby but i did not answer which the nightingales are not going to be used for non—coronavirus purposes because they are precisely set up and designed to deal with people who are intubated designed to deal with people who are intu bated and are designed to deal with people who are intubated and are sedated. but the fa ct intubated and are sedated. but the fact that they are there does help us to restore it more of the core nhs and get that going as much as possible. did you want... were you coming in again? would you see all seven of the nightingale hospitals to be used in that way? in the first instance, yes. but as we go through this, we always keep things like this, we always keep things like this open to review to work out what is the best way to use the resources at the nation's disposal.

is the best way to use the resources at the nation's disposali is the best way to use the resources at the nation's disposal. i think the nightingale hospitals have been a very important part of the flexibility that the nhs has put in place to manage this. it was only a few weeks ago that we were really concerned we would see a surge in patients and particularly those who needed critical care that would go beyond even a surge capacity we could put in place in our existing critical care facilities by surging into theatres and recovery areas also for the nightingales are real proof that the nhs can be agile and flexible and can change this model of care in a very short period of time. clearly we want to keep them there because although the peak is reducing, we still feel that we need to have them there as the insurance policy for covid—19 patients. but as we go forward, we will be keeping them under review as the secretary of state has said and of course we are only into the first week or so of coming off a plateauing pecan as he would expect all that work is

being done at the moment to plan capacity going forward. and the restoration of services is a really important part of that which i'm sure will occur hospital by hospital and region by region because infection rates are a bit different everywhere and because different organisations have stepped up to manage the surge in different ways. but the key point is that we are now ina but the key point is that we are now in a position to bring those services increasingly back onstream. if you had asked me a month ago whether we will be having this discussion now about the restoration of those parts of the nhs that we had to pause in order to put capacity towards treating coronavirus, and the question is how much nhs capacity do we need to keep in hand in case there is a second outbreak which we don't want to risk. i would outbreak which we don't want to risk. iwould be... and

outbreak which we don't want to risk. i would be... and that the nhs had not in the meantime been at all over it topped by demand in any instance, then i think we would be... if you tell me to a month ago, i will be very pleased with where we have come to on the nhs capacity because that is absolutely core to the principles of this country that is if you need nhs treatment, you get it. and we have managed to keep that principle throughout this vast crisis. 0k, thank you very much indeed. that concludes our downing street briefing for today.

will lag behind the prime minister pulls my own. the prime minister now

back at work. there is a sense in the air here at westminster that if the air here at westminster that if the numbers keep going in the right direction, then by the end of this week, we might know more about the government's thinking, not about when we will start to be out of the lockdown but about how, gradually, step—by—step, things might change. but remember, there is still so much that they don't know and that we don't know, so much is evolving in this new disease. there is no comparison to what is going on right now, no familiar territory where politicians can look back and think, that was the solution on that occasion. as one senior minister said to me today, the trickiest part of this whole operation was always going to be the turning things back on, coming out of this unprecedented lockdown step—by—step, rather than when we went in and everything was turned off at the same time. so, the prime minister's return could mark the beginning of a different

conversation, but there is a lot still that is uncertain here tonight. laura, many thanks. the impact of the lockdown on businesses has been acute. today the chancellor, rishi sunak, said that he and the prime minister share a sense of urgency in getting the economy restarted but, as he put it, we're not there yet. mr sunak also announced plans that will see small businesses become eligible for new loans, which are backed by a 100% government guarantee. he's been speaking to our economics editor faisal islam. in an office in leeds... you are through to hmrc, how can i help you? social distance civil servants saving livelihoods. they are part of the team who within a month have started to pay the wages of 4 million british workers. had more than half a million applications. we have paid out more than {4.5 billion worth of support to businesses and we are managing to keep people employed. thejob scheme already extended by a month. the chancellor has had

to adopt the business loans element in this rescue package with another new scheme for small business microloans. today we announced a brand—new loan scheme for the smaller businesses. they will be able to get up to £50,000, a quarter of their revenue, very easily with a simple form, standardised, and hopefully have the money in their account within 24 hours. so these bank loans are 100% backed by government, worth up to £50,000 and could be available within a day. in the first year, no repayments are needed. that is badly needed at businesses such as in water flowers, where they are not seeing green shoots. we think many businesses in the hospitality sector including ours, we need assurances and support way beyond this initial period. we are going to need support over the next 12 months and beyond. so how long a loss—making business can be sustained

after the lockdowns has been lifted is really the question. as this coronavirus crisis endures, here at the heart of the treasury, another rescue scheme for the economy, this time focused on getting cash as quickly as possible to the smallest businesses. but the economic consequences look like lasting longer. the argument here, there is no simple trade—off between health and the economy. the economy will take a significant hit in the short term. i have been very clear about that before and that is going to have an impact on many jobs and many businesses. and for those people saying what a comet will be there ——what economy comet will be there when some sort of normality returns, the numbers are so big, that he is so big we need to move more quickly, what you say to them? we need a thriving economy not least because it provides people with theirjobs, their incomes and pay for all public services. but the best way in the long—term to ensure that is to get control of the virus now.

we have set out five tests that we have to meet before we can think about moving to phase two. we are not there yet. no contradiction here between rescuing lives and rescuing livelihoods. faisal islam, bbc news. well, the the prime minister was urging people not to lose patience with the lockdown, but there's concern that some people are doing just that. police in north yorkshire say they received abuse over the weekend as they tried to turn away day trippers from beauty spots. so is the lockdown fraying round the edges? here's our north of england correspondent danny savage. the signs have been up for weeks, but after a prolonged period, it seems a minority of people have had enough of lockdown. one police officer on duty this weekend took these pictures near the village of malham after she put a stop to this barbecue with a number of visitors from out of the area sitting around it. that particular party was broken up just over there on top of malham cove. one of the police officers on duty here on saturday has written on social media about what was said

to her, and it shows that some people are getting fed up with the lockdown and others just don't want to abide by the restrictions. recounting her day on duty, the officer said... i had to request a call eco—systems on several occasions. i endured more abuse than i ever have dealing with drunken idiots outside nightclubs. it's come as little surprise to the manager of one of the pubs in the village. there's a lot of vulnerable people in the village. a lot of farmers, it's their livelihoods, they can't be home. ——livelihoods, they can't be ill. they need to be out there looking after their livestock, and quite a lot of older people in the village as well. so, the locals are really concerned. it's also felt that police motoring advice, in which it states the time you spend driving should not exceed the time you spend exercising, has muddied the waters. people feel more righteous

and they have got a copy of the guidelines that have been issued and they are taping them to their windscreens and they are challenging officers when officers are trying to encourage them to go back home. it's perhaps no surprise that people in urban areas are growing frustrated with the restrictions. carol, who lives in leeds, is sticking to them, but says it's hard. because we don't even have balconies, we can't sit on the balconies. and they do assume that everybody's got a garden or everybody's got, but we haven't. all we've got is a communal green where we can go. the rules surrounding going out haven't changed, but the last few days have shown that some people's interpretation of them has. danny savage, bbc news, north yorkshire. for some time now the government has been coming under pressure to outline a way out of this crisis, some of the loudest voices coming from its own ranks. today borisjohnson said ministers would be saying more over the coming days. so, what would it take to lift the lockdown — and what have other countries done? our science editor david shukman has been examining the options.

week after week, the eerie sight of lockdown, while behind—the—scenes, governments all over the world desperately try to find a safe way out of it. switzerland has allowed hairdressers to reopen. everyone has to wear a mask stop it's a cautious first step and no country is rushing into this. in beijing, secondary schools have started again. there is no sitting close together because all the time there is the risk of the virus striking again. everything about what happens next hinges on the rate of infection, what scientists call the r number. at the height of the outbreak in the uk, it was about three, meaning anyone infected was passing it onto an average of three others, so the outbreak was accelerating. since then, restrictions have driven that rate right down to something like 0.7, a rough estimate, but crucially, below the level of one. at that point, anyone infected only infects one other person, meaning

there is no escalation in the outbreak, but look what happens if you relax the lockdown. suddenly, the rate jumps right you relax the lockdown. suddenly, the ratejumps right back up again, risking a second wave of infections. an essential first move to get out of this is testing for the virus. in germany, teams are out checking who has had the infection and who has got it right now. the aim is to quickly spot new outbreaks, a difficultjob even in countries that have done really well, like new zealand. to succeed, we must hunt down the last few cases of the virus. this is like looking for a needle in a haystack and we need your help to finish the job we have started. the next vital move is tracing the contacts of anyone infected. and china has drafted in a small army to follow up anyone who might have caught the virus. there was a plan for 18,000 people to do the same in the uk. also to use apps

to help with the task, and if it all works, it will make it easier to relax the lockdown. if only my outcomes alone, and it's important the public are part of that because it won't work and be effective u nless it won't work and be effective unless lots of buzz use it, and it requires the government to communicate with us and tell us —— tell us what we need to do to help. and of contact tracing fines more infected people, then they will have to self—isolate. patients may wear thin if this drags on into next year, but the alternative is maintaining the entire national lockdown. we have two choices as a country — either we can all be locked down all the time, all we can just lock ourselves down for the much shorter period of time where we may have been in contact with the infection. whatever happens, we all face a new kind of normality. in a hospital in greece, a birthday cake

delivered in full protective equipment. lockdowns will eventually be that really does make will be relaxed, but it won't happen quickly. now, every day the government gives us the latest figures to do with coronavirus. let's talk to our health editor, hugh pym, who's here. another drop in the number of reported deaths. on the face of it, reason for optimism? yes, cautiously so. we have a devastating figure from hospitals, and that doesn't include care homes. but the trend does suggest we are coming down from the peak according to officials. one chart shown at the downing street briefing does demonstrate that, which we can look at now. these are daily reported deaths from hospitals in the uk, covid—19 patients, and you can see there the number coming down each day and rather a bumpy progress down to where it is now. obviously slightly affected by the fa ct obviously slightly affected by the fact we've just had figures from the weekend which may underreport what

really happened. we will need to look for the next few days. then that orange, yellow line, a seven—day rolling average, and i think that shows the trend coming downwards. it was described as a gradual decline in the briefing. it is because of that, because there are fewer patients in hospital with covid—19 in intensive care, that matt hancock the health secretary said that from tomorrow hospitals would start reintroducing some of the care, including some cancer treatment that had to be postponed because of the coronavirus crisis. so, more work, broadly, across all nhs services starting from tomorrow. i also want to ask you about a report that doctors around the country have seen children coming in with illnesses that might be linked to coronavirus. yes, gps have been alerted that some intensive care units have seen some very sick children with unusual symptoms. a multisystem inflammation. a bit like septic shock. and some have also tested positive for coronavirus.

health leaders say this is a matter of concern, but nhs england says they are aware so far that there are fewer than 20 cases so far. so they need to look at this in more detail to see whether there is a link, there is no one proved at the moment. but parents who are worried are urged to contact nhs111 or their doctor or nurse if they want further guidance. thanks very much. perhaps one of the most controversial aspect of the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis has been the shortage of vital protective equipment such as gowns and masks for health and care workers. an investigation by bbc panorama has found that the government was warned that protective kit was missing from the stockpile of such equipment last year. ministers have acknowledged a poblem and have blamed logistical issues. richard bilton reports. pandemics are not unexpected. the government has been preparing for years. pandemic flu is very infectious and may make a large number of people ill. and some people will die.

this public information film is from 2006. wash your hands thoroughly and often. the government says covid—19 is a different disease with higher hospitalisation rates, but the advice and the ppe needed by staff are very similar. and to deal with it, you need a stockpile, a store of kit that's ready to use straightaway. the uk has one, and it's distributed from warehouses like this one in derbyshire. but there's a problem with what's been bought. panorama has discovered that just last year, the government's own advisers warned that gowns were needed in the stockpile, but still none were bought. john ashton is a former regional director of public health and a critic of the government. there's no excuse for not having adequate stockpiles. you need everything to protect against this kind of virus. it's breathtaking that there were no

gowns at all in stock, breathtaking! the government didn't buy any visors at all. there were no swabs either, which makes testing for the virus more difficult. and the government didn't buy a single body bag despite the fact they were supposed to be preparing for a pandemic. for weeks, the government has been dealing with criticism about stocks of ppe. it says it's delivered a billion items, but the government is counting items you might not think of as ppe, such as cleaning equipment, waste bags, detergent and paper towels. more than half the items are surgical gloves, and in most cases, each individual glove is counted rather than pairs. the second biggest item is plastic aprons that offer limited protection. when i spoke to this doctor, there were only four left in his a&e department so he had to use an apron.

the government says it's been working day and night to battle against coronavirus and to protect our nhs and save lives. that effort would have been easier if the basics had been in the stockpile. richard bilton, bbc news. and you can see more of richard bilton's panorama report, has the government failed the nhs, on bbc one, later this evening at 7.30. health workers are still struggling to get tested matt hancock has announced a new life assurance scheme for families of front line staff who died from coronavirus. they will be entitled toa coronavirus. they will be entitled to a payment of £60,000. the

government says 82 nhs workers and 16 social care staff have died during the outbreak so far. some health workers are still struggling to get tested for the coronavirus — that's the warning from the british medical association. it says that since the government increased the number of people eligible for the tests to ten million key workers and theirfamilies, the online system has been fully booked up within hours. the government target is to reach a hundred thousand tests a day by the end of the month — but yesterday just 37,000 tests were carried out. here's our health editor, hugh pym. the army testing for coronavirus, part of the plan to allow up to 10 million essential workers and their families to get tested if they have symptoms. elsewhere at drive—in centres like those people arrived for tests booked online. on the launch day last week the service was suspended with all of the slots taking but they were open today. what do you think of the process of booking and coming in?

it's quite easy, i would say. it's a bit nerve—racking because obviously there's going to be quite a few people with symptoms around here, that was our only concern, but other than that it was quite easy and straightforward. very simple. not as bad as i thought, as i imagined. easy to book online? yes, quite straightforward. there's been a fairly regular flow of vehicles at the centre with things going it seems quite smoothly but that's not necessarily the case based on what we've been told in other areas of the country and other parts of the system. just trying to log on for the fourth occasion... kevin from liverpool has symptoms but the only test he's been offered are some way from his home. doncaster and york, and edgbaston. when there is a test centre which is up in haydock, which is roughly about 15 miles away from myself. it's just not good enough. the health secretary said they were still on track to meet the target of 100,000 tests per day

later this week, but where to from there? where do you want to be with capacity and testing ability in a few months' time? we want testing to continue to increase. as you will know, the prime minister set a goal of 250,000 some time ago. we are making sure that now nhs staff get tested, including when they are asymptomatic, to make sure we understand where the people who are working in hospitals have got the virus. as virus testing continues at sites like this at twickenham stadium, the question is how quickly it can be increased from here, and whether a big enough network to trace contacts of those who test positive can be created. the immediate issue is hitting that 100,000 target in a few days' time. hugh pym — bbc news. it is the elderly who have been most vulnerable to the coronavirus — more than nine out ten people who've died in the last few weeks have been over 60. familes up and down the country

will have to get used to life without a revered grandparent. whether it's a lively veteran who still had ambitions or someone so frail they needed looking after, the loss is the same. our special correspondent lucy manning has been speaking to two familes working through their grief. across the country, in every city, in every town, in every village and community, few areas left untouched by grief. deaths come. hundreds a day. thousands upon thousands a week. when just one is too much for a family to bear, how does a country cope with, comprehend, these numbers? even though my dad was 76, it still feels like he was taken too soon, and it feels too premature. so, he had lots of plans.

he leaves three children, eight grandchildren, and 15 great—grandchildren with a 16th on its way, so he's leaving quite a legacy behind him. the newspaper obituaries list a new cause of death repeated again and again. it seems to be taken away the nation's grandparents. 90% of those who have died over 60. just one story of loss, ken sumner from newcastle, 96 years old, he led a long life, a good, fulfilling life, a second world war veteran, a dam buster. he received the distinguished flying medal from the king. he took quite heavy flak. he suffered an injury to his arm and hand, but my grandad refused to turn around or refuse the pilot's instructions to turn around.

what a hero he really was. it is easy for me to say that. he would never use those words, though. he was an amazing age, but do you feel, as a family, that your grandad actually had more time in him? yes, i do. if you listened to him he was going to do the great north run next year, so he obviously thought it wasn't going anywhere. all we can do is celebrate the lives of our grandparents. he's always been there. he's never not been there in my lifetime. he's always been a constant and someone i've always looked up to. a family so close yet who had to stay apart from ken as he died. you want them to pass in a way that makes them feel safe and secure, and the only solace in that is that i know that the nurses stepped into our shoes and provided that care that his family would have

given, that we couldn't, personally. the funeral bearers very kindly took a detour to my mum's house and did a lap of the block where all of the neighbours all lined the street and gave him a clap. one more story of loss. douglas mayne from east sussex. 76 years old. a paramedic in his day. he knew about the tragedy, here on the right coordinating the ambulance response to the brighton bombing in 1984. he leaves behind my two younger sisters, and his two grandchildren. he had an incredible heart to help people. and he spent most of his life actually helping people. he had plans for 2020. we were due to go to norway on a cruise injuly. he was going to take me as my mum died 1a months ago. how much were you able to see him in the hospital, and to spend any time with him? he'd been given an end of life chat.

they really did explain to him that he was dying, and he called me, and just said, catherine, i'm dying. his breathing was really, really bad. he said that he knew that he had to be very brave. he said, i know i need to be brave, catherine. he asked me to be strong, and to look after my sisters. later i got a call to say we could go and see him through a, just a pane of glass, and that was the last time that myself and my sisters saw my dad. we had about 60 seconds of waving to him and saying that we loved him, but through a pane of glass, and it was incredibly distressing. it is an image that i know will stay with me for the rest of my life. across this land, thousands of families share this pain, and more will, sadly, face it. in great britain, on the day

douglas mayne passed away, 777 others died of coronavirus.