cases of coronavirus, but many countries in europe are beginning to ease their lockdowns, as it appears the peak of infections has now passed. the british prime minister, borisjohnson says he won't throw away the progress made so far by easing the lockdown restrictions too soon. it was his first address since recovering from the coronavirus. after much back—and—forth, donald trump will brief the nation with updated coronavirus testing guidance, the white house had previously cancelled the briefing. a spokesperson for mike pence said ‘we like to keep reporters on their toes‘. there's been another spectacularfall in the price of american oil. west texas intermediate, the us benchmark, dropped to less than thirteen dollars a barrel. brent crude, the european standard, is also down by nearly eight per cent. you are watching bbc news now,

earlier today the uk's health secretary matt hancock hosted the government's daily press briefing... welcome back to downing street for today's coronavirus briefing. i want to remind you that today's briefing will follow a bit of a new format. following significant demand, as well as questions from the media, we will take our first questions from members of the public. this is going to become a regular feature of these briefings. the questions are selected by an independent polling organisation, and just like the journalist questions we don't see the questions in advance, but we will give them the very best answer is that we can. in the past few hours since we announced this new approach we've had over 15,000 questions submitted, and you can ask a question yourself this is outside source on bbc news for viewers in the uk by going to gov.uk/ask. and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. today i am joined by

professor chris whitty and professor stephen powis, the uk's prime minister boris johnson is back in downing street — the medical director of the nhs. after his own fight against coronavirus — to tell the country now the government is working through our action plan, and at its core the objective is the moment of maximum risk. is to protect life and to protect the nhs. i refuse to throw away both by slowing the spread all the effort and the sacrifice of the virus, so we flatten of the british people and to risk the curve, and by showing a second major outbreak and huge loss of life that the nhs always has more than enough capacity to provide and the overwhelming of the nhs. critical care for all those who need it. according to the most recent figures, there have been 719,910 tests for coronavirus so far in the uk. that includes 37,024 yesterday. 157,149 people have tested positive, an increase of 4310 cases since yesterday.

15,051 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus, down from 15,239 yesterday, and sadly of those hospitalised with the virus 21,092 have now died. that's an increase of 360 fatalities, and we must never lose sight of the human cost of coronavirus and the pain and the grief that it causes. and each death serves as a reminder that we must stand firm in our resolve. sadly, these death figures include 82 nhs colleagues and 16 colleagues who work in social care. they dedicated their lives to caring for others, and i feel a deep personal sense of duty that we must care for their loved ones. today i am able to announce

that the government is setting up a life assurance scheme for nhs and social care front line colleagues. families of staff who die from coronavirus in the course of their essential front line work will receive a £60,000 payment. of course nothing replaces the loss of a loved one. but we want to do everything that we can to support families who are dealing with this grief. as a government, we are looking closely at other professions that work on the front line against coronavirus who also do not have access to such schemes to see where this may be required. this crisis has shown this country values so much our health and social care workers, and i want to pay tribute to the perseverance of the british

public who, even this warm spring weekend, in their vast majority, did the right thing and stayed at home to protect the nhs. thus far in this crisis, at every single hour of every single day, the nhs has always had the capacity to treat the people who need that treatment. i'm glad to be able to report there are now 3,190 spare critical care beds. indeed, 42% of oxygen supported beds in the nhs now lie empty. in most parts of the country, the number of people in hospital with coronavirus is beginning to fall. one of the reasons nhs capacity has always exceeded need is our amazing programme of nhs nightgale hospitals. today i was proud to attend, virtually, the opening of the eighth

of their ten nightingale hospitals across the uk, again built in the matter of weeks. this nightingale hospital project stands as a monument to the nation's ability to get things done when it matters. this is one of the most ambitious projects this country has ever seen in peacetime, and i'd like to thank the nhs, the armed forces, and all the companies that have worked side by side to make these plans a reality. the nightingale project isjust one of the measures that has boosted capacity all across the nhs, by re—enlisting thousands of former staff, former clinicians, and enrolling early thousands of students, and we have boosted the workforce of the nhs. and we have changed forever the digital capability of the nhs. i think many people who have now used online gp consultations and online outpatient visits won't ever go back. and i pay tribute to the staff who have worked in different ways to how they would ever have imagined, and who have been more

flexible and open to change when it was really needed. so where there have been advances amongst these huge challenges of this crisis we must not lose them. however, we also know that fewer people are coming to the nhs when they need to. a&e attendances have dropped to 221,000 emergency department attendances in the last week, compared to 477,000 in the same week last year. that's more than 50%. now, some of this drop is due to lower road traffic and people following the social distancing rules. some of it will be due to people accessing the nhs in ways that work better to them, like online or through pharmacies, and that's a good thing. but in some cases we know that the drop is due to people not coming forward and using the nhs for critical things that matter.

0ur message is that the nhs is open. help us to help you. if you are worried about chest pains, for instance, or maybe you might be having a heart attack or a stroke, or you feel a lump and you're worried about cancer, or you are a parent concerned about your child. please, come forward and seek help as you always would. it is so important that everybody uses the nhs responsibly, and the nhs will always be there for you when you need it. just as it has been their for us all throughout this crisis and throughout our lives. as the number of hospitalisations from coronavirus begins to fall, i can announce that starting tomorrow we will begin the restoration of other nhs services, starting with the most urgent like cancer care and mental health support.

the exact pace of the restoration will be determined by local circumstances on the ground, according to local need and to the amount of coronavirus cases that that hospital is having to deal with having written off £13.4 billion of historic nhs debt, i want to ensure that the nhs is always there in a way that doesn'tjust help us recover from coronavirus as a country, but also puts us in a stronger position for the future. we are coming through the peak. we will honour those who dedicated their lives to caring for others, but it will count for nothing if we let things slip now and risk a second peak. i know that lockdown is hard for so many people. but let us all have the resolve to see this through. so, please, stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. we are now going to go

to professor chris whitty, the chief medical officer for the daily data charts, that we will take questions from the public. thank you very much, secretary of state —— daily data charts. the first slide is a remember to people of the five tests for adjusting the lockdown. the first three of which are about the epidemic, that the nhs is critical care to provide capacity across the uk, and a sustained and daily fall in deaths from coronavirus, and the rate of infection decreased to manageable levels across the board. then there is an operational point about operational challenges including testing and ppe, in hand with supply able to meet future demand. finally, importantly, confident that the adjustments to current measures will not risk a second peak of infections. the next two slides are really ways

of looking at whether people are continuing, as they have been consistently throughout this crisis, to heed the guidance in terms of keeping pressure of the nhs by staying at home, unless they have to go out for necessary things. as you can see, after a very remarkable fall initially, broadly this has been flat. very slight trending up in terms of motor vehicles, but otherwise really the data remain largely unchanged on these then looking at other forms. we spoke about driving before. very slight increase in walking. public transport remains largely flat. evidence, i think, that the great majority of people are continuing to honour the lockdown, which is helping us drive the number of cases down and therefore take pressure the nhs. the next few slides are really ones people who watch these briefings

will be very familiar with. it is just the most recent data. new cases in the uk. as you can see, obviously one thing to bear in mind is the number of tests is going up overall, but despite that the trend is flat or slightly down, in terms of positive cases. but when we actually look at people in hospital, i think the trends that demonstrate over the country as a whole we are going through the peak are reasonably clear to see. obviously a biggerfall in london, but the rest of the country in different areas are either flat or decreasing over time. then when we turn to one of the most important questions which is critical care capacity, if you look at these trends across england, scotland,

wales and northern ireland, these are the percentage of all critical care beds being used for covid—19 patients, and both in absolute and relative terms this is gradually trending down. importantly, and i talked about this last time i was here, this is a very gradual peak. we are not seeing a dramatic fall of and nor do we expect to in the next short while. the lower the number of cases, the more successful a system of testing and tracking is. if it gets bigger, the system can work on a higher number of cases ido i do actually expect there will be a bit ofan i do actually expect there will be a bit of an uptick later in the wake as we catch up from the weekend drop. nevertheless, the trend overall as you can see from the seven day rolling average at the top which smooths out these weekend

effects. it is a gradual decline. we are definitely not consistently past the peak cross—country at this point time. finally, a slide which co m pa res time. finally, a slide which compares different countries and again, i would compares different countries and again, iwould be compares different countries and again, i would be really clear that we should not over interpret the absolute numbers the way these are actually measured in different countries is different. but the trend lines i think are reasonably clear from this. thank you very much. thank you very much. now we are going to go to the first question which is from lynn and skipton. and i'm going to read out the question and i'm reading it for the question and i'm reading it for the first time. and then we will answer it. i'm missing my grandchildren so much. please can you let me know if after the five criteria are met, is being able to hug our closest family one of the first steps out of lockdown? thank you lynn for that question. an

incredibly important one and brings home the emotional impact of the lockdown measures. why don't we take the direct medical evidence from the chief medical? well, very clearly for most people. the ability to actually interact with families in the way that they have not been able to during this period is absolutely essential. in terms of the direct a nswer to essential. in terms of the direct answer to this latest question, it depends, if i'm honest, of the situation that she finds herself in. so if she is someone who has a significant medical problem in a way that means that she would have to be shielding, and she's an older person, some grandparents are younger grandparents, some obviously, are older. issues in a gi’oup obviously, are older. issues in a group which is vulnerable than the a nswer group which is vulnerable than the answer is it might well prudent and this will be depend entirely on

individual and circumstances for her to not get into a situation where she is putting herself at risk. obviously, she's healthy and younger that may well not be true. but the overall view that actually one of the thing that clearly is important to everybody is the ability to get together with families remotely but also physically. everyone fully accepts. nevertheless it is important that people that are vulnerable continued to be protected even after whatever the next steps are occui’. even after whatever the next steps are occur. thank you. the thing and say to lynn directly is we understand the impact of not being able to hug your closest family. it affects all of us to. as well as the direct health impacts of the lockdown bringing down the curve and trying to stop this terrible disease. and also the economic impacts which are clearly very significant. there are also the direct emotional bonds. because it's

one of the most natural things in the world to want to hug a member of your family. and we just hope we can get back to that as soon as possible. in the best way we can get their fastest is for people to follow the rules so we can get those five criteria met as soon as possible. i don't know if you want to do... only to add we all know how ha rd to do... only to add we all know how hard this is. my mother lives hundreds of miles away and i know she's wondering when she'll be seeing me and her grandchildren again. this is really tough. but as the secretary said, it is bearing fruit in we are seeing a reduction in the numberof fruit in we are seeing a reduction in the number of hospital admission. was ina in the number of hospital admission. was in a reduction in the number of deaths. it's only by the british public continuing to comply with that guidance. until the time is right that we will all continue to see a reduction. which i know is touch so many people around the country in terms of loved ones. thank you very much, lynn for your

question. and for submit again. i think that is shown that the questions form the members of the public can be just as informative. and just as difficult to answer as questions from journalists who are trained to assem. thank you very much question for the secretary of state, it's about testing in the short term at least for up to 10 million key workers and their families. we are hearing variant reports on how easy it might be or not to book tests online. what do you say to that? and do you think you say to that? and do you think you will hit your target of 100,000 times a day by the end of this month outside of this week? well, thank you. we are on track to the hundred thousand target. we are broadly where we expected to be. you've seen a big increase over the weekend to

37,000 tests yesterday. we are also enhancing and making it easy and easier and how you get access to test. the home tests have been particularly popular. we delivered 5681 of those yesterday. that is all about being able to make the testing as easy for people who if you've got symptoms, by the nature of the thing you are already ill. and so we want to make it as easy as possible to get hold of those tests. alongside still we are opening more and more drive—through centers. we are broadly where we expected to be. and we've got a lot of work the rest of this week to keep continuing the round up to the goal that i so clearly set out. can i ask a follow—up? yes, of course. beyond

this week it's very important we have testing significantly to help prevent a second spike. where do you wa nt to prevent a second spike. where do you want to be with testing ability a few months' time? so, this is a really important question. the reason that i set the goal and that we are working so hard towards it is because testing is an important part of how we keep the spread of the virus down. especially once we've got the number of new cases down through the social distancing measures. so we through the social distancing measures. 50 we want through the social distancing measures. so we want testing to continue to increase. as you know, the prime minister set a goal of 250,000 sometime ago. especially when the antibody test come on stream. but so far there isn't one of those that is clinically valid.

so, we will keep on increasing. it's important to note that we've already gone past the number of tests per day. for instance that they carried out in south korea. and we are approaching the levels that joni undertakes. it's a project to keep increasing. also we need to think very ha rd increasing. also we need to think very hard and take the clinical advice on how to use those tests. for instance, we are putting far more into care homes, we are making sure that now nhs staff get tested. including when they're asymptomatic to make sure that we understand whether people who are working in hospitals have got the virus. and using the test for surveys. the office for national statistics who got a's survey for instance in the field. and with people being tested this week to find out how many people have that the virus, how many have had the virus, the critical

questions that we need to know the answers to. so i don't know if you wa nt answers to. so i don't know if you want to add anything, chris. it's a really important question because testing is a critical part of controlling the virus once we get the numberof controlling the virus once we get the number of new cases down. only thing to add is the more testing capacity of that the more flexibility you've got to do different things. which both the patients in terms of things like ca re patients in terms of things like care homes actually stay the same. good afternoon. on the life insurance scheme, will overseas health care workers working in the nhs and those who have come back to the nhs temporarily, will they qualify for this life insurance? right now they don't qualify for normal debt and service benefits. question i think largely chris

whitty, the transmission rate the so—called are helpful below .5. so in language we don't understand on average it can take two infected evil deck and can infect one of the person for that once the magic of that? what to give you comfort? and we started knowing how many people are walking around with funny symptoms are no symptoms at all can have the virus will stop how can you be remotely confident that you will get? neil ferguson said he thinks that number is more 2.7. how can we possibly be confident of that?” will take the first question, robert. the answer is yes this is for front line staff working in the nhs and in social care. who died. us and our employees within the nhs and social care. as i say we are also

looking at which other groups of key workers that applies to. and who don't have a scheme already in place. can ijust correct, i don't recall ever saying that the target was not .5. what i did say is it's in the range not .5 at the present time. probably somewhere in the middle of that range. secondly, it's really important we do not go above one. that one is an absolute target. the reason for that is that once it goes above one for any prolonged period of time, short. you go backs to exponential growth. and then sooner or later, depending how much above when it is you get back to the situation the nhs is threatened to be overwhelmed because exponential growth goes from very small numbers to very large numbers very fast. i would like to clarify its not going above one is the long—term target. clearly the level we can get it at the moment the better but as i say, it's probably in the middle of the

range .521. that is bringing down the arm which is what you're actually seeing when you look at the critical care and other metrics we look at in the slide. hello. it's been so dry it's high time we got some rain and rain is on the way. a fair amount for southern pa rt the way. a fair amount for southern part of the uk and i'm sure our gardens will love it as well as our products. let's face it, most of us are stuck at home. the rain clouds are stuck at home. the rain clouds are visible on the satellite picture. they're coming in from the south. that's tomorrow's rain and this band of clown here that's the weather front that will come our way on wednesday. you can see over the next few days at one whether system moves next few days at one whether system m oves a cross next few days at one whether system moves across other parts of the country and this next bigger air of low pressure swings in fronts and art direction as well. the forecast for the coming hours through the course of the night we expecting clouds to thicken across the south. it will start raining almost anywhere from cornwall to the tip of

kent. into the midlands quite possibly early hours of tuesday morning. not particular cold here because we will have the cloud in a bit of a breeze to the rain 10 degrees. where is in scotland we would have clear skies overnight. a touch of frauds. here that ring. the thing about this rain and the south is that it will be very slow moving. sort of hanging around in any one place for a considerable amount of time. which means it could be a wash—out in some parts of southern britain. in chile too. those temperatures will be suppressed perhaps nine or 10 degrees in some spots. different across the legs, northern ireland and scotland was up you can see here all through the day bar at the odd shower here and there actually is going to be mostly clear. towards the end of two that rain should clear away out into the north sea. this is what's happening through tuesday night into wednesday. one weather front moves away and then there's this big error of low pressure swings and force of the difference with this weather front midweek will be that rather thanit front midweek will be that rather than it being slow moving fleet next

moving wednesday this weather fronts can move through a bit quicker. in birmingham we might get a couple of hours worth of rainfall. behind it we've got showers coming in as well. this rain will spread a little bit further north on wednesday. for example glasgow will get some rain too. beyond that it looks as though the weather is going to remain u nsettled, the weather is going to remain unsettled, perhaps an indication that things will be turning a little less chilly towards the end of the 00:27:26,492 --> 2147483051:50:28,848 week around 16 in london. that's it, 2147483051:50:28,848 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 bye— bye.