this is bbc news i'm reeta chakrabarti. the headlines at a50: the prime minister is back at work in number 10, after he and his fiancee carrie symonds announced the birth of their son this morning. he'll take a short paternity leave later in the year. millions more people in england are eligible for covid—19 testing, after the government loosens rules on who can apply. more than half of scotland's coronavirus deaths are now happening in care homes, new figures show. and the us economy shrinks by nearly 5% — the biggest drop since the 2008 financial crisis.

hello and welcome to this bbc news special. in around half an hour's time, we'll be bringing you the government's daily news briefing on coronavirus, which will be led by the foreign secretary, dominic raab. but first, as news on the pandemic continues to dominate, that baby announcement this morning from downing street that caught everyone by surprise. the prime minister's fiance, carrie symonds and their baby boy are said to be "doing very well", and mrjohnson has thanked nhs workers involved in the birth. the prime minister is back at work in downing street, and is expected to take a short amount of paternity leave later in the year. he's spoken to the labour leader, keir starmer, about the coronavirus pandemic, and was congratulated on the birth at pmqs. here's dominic raab and keir starmer expressing the well wishes of both political parties. the pm and his and his fiancee carrie symonds have announced the birth of a healthy baby boy this morning.

both mother and baby are doing well and i'm sure the whole house will want to join with me in sending congratulations and our very best wishes to them. congratulations from the labour party, and i'm sure everybody in this house, to the prime minister and carrie symonds on the birth of their baby boy. whatever differences we have in this house, mr speaker, as human beings i think we all recognise the anxiety that the prime minister and carrie must have gone through in these past few weeks, unimaginable anxiety. so, i really hope that this brings them incredible relief and joy. the labour leader keir starmer speaking earlier. in other developments today — coronavirus testing is now available for millions more people in england, after the government loosened rules on who can apply. expanded eligibility now means care home residents and staff with or without symptoms can request testing. also today, new figures show that more than half of scotland's coronavirus deaths are now happening in care homes. and in the us, the economy has

slumped by nearly 5% in the first quarter of this year — the lowest since the financial crash of 2008. more on that later, but first our health correspondent richard galpin reports. it is now known that thousands of elderly people have been dying in care homes. and, finally, the government's saying all care home staff and residents can now be tested to see if they have the disease. the st cecilia's care home in scarborough has lost four of its residents to the virus. today, staff have been logging on to the government's website to book tests for everyone. but it's not proving easy. we got onto the website very early this morning to see if we could actually book tests and there was no way that we could see about getting tests for residents on the website. we could see the staff portal but that was the same as it was a few days before. i got the feeling they were inundated this morning, with the change in policy, and therefore weren't

quite sure perhaps what they might do and offer. many of those running care homes believe the elderly and disabled have been left very exposed in this coronavirus pandemic. and experts say the high number of those dying in care homes is likely to continue as the peak of those deaths hasn't yet been reached. maybe there's 350, 400 deaths a day from covid being reported to them. this is a large number and we have to add to that, of course, the number of people dying at home as well from covid. at the moment, there is probably as many deaths happening from covid outside hospital as there are inside hospital, in england. the government says earlier on in this crisis it had to focus the testing programme for the virus on staff working in the core medical services. we have, yes, prioritised the nhs to get those tests first and i think that is right, but we're already now rolling it out to all care homes so they can all get a test today, if they need one.

and that, for many care home residents, will have to be done inside the homes. we're also sending swabs directly to care home. so we call this the satellite model, where a bunch of swabs are delivered, administered either by the staff and then sent back in the bunch, so that's the satellite model. but also there's. .. we also have the pop—up centres, the mobile testing centres, that can visit a care home and set up at the care home and test staff and residents. beyond care home staff and residents, all people over 65 who have symptoms are now eligible for tests, as is anyone with symptoms who cannot work from home. along with all key workers who can already get tests, it's estimated, with this latest expansion, around 25 million people can now get tested — a significant proportion of the population.

and with capacity being ramped up, the government says it's still aiming to hit its target of 100,000 tests taking place every day. even though earlier this week it was around 43,000. richard galpin, bbc news. let's get more with our health correspondent nick triggle. we are expecting some new daily figures to come any moment now, but they are quite different from what we have had before? yes they are. we have largely been getting deaths in hospital, although some of the figures from scotland, wales and northern ireland have included cases from the community. but from today, we will get in england, the number of deaths in the community and that is people who have tested positive for the virus and then died. it will involve, crucially, care homes for the first time. yesterday there were

21,600 deaths in total so far. we will expect to see that figure jumped because these figures will date back to early march, so they are doing an historic revision of the total number of deaths. i expect in the briefing later we will hear about a big in the briefing later we will hear abouta bigjump, in the briefing later we will hear about a big jump, but that must be seenin about a big jump, but that must be seen in the context that it is over two months of deaths in the community. even that may be an underestimate of the scale of the problem. this is relying on people getting tested. in the early days there was a limited amount of testing in the community. i think the government is trying to give a more accurate picture, it has had some criticism for not having these figures. going forward, it will enable us to have a full picture of exactly how many people are dying. we can expect a big jump today and thereafter every day we will have figures that are then updated with deaths in the community as well as in hospitals? exactly that, it will bea in hospitals? exactly that, it will be a much more accurate picture

because we know growing numbers of outbreaks in care homes are leading toa outbreaks in care homes are leading to a rapidly rising death toll in ca re to a rapidly rising death toll in care homes. in scotland, we have had figures today which show nearly half of coronavirus deaths last week where in care homes. in england and wales, the data lags behind because this is from death certificates. so different from the daily figures. but we know from mid april we know a third of coronavirus deaths were in ca re third of coronavirus deaths were in care homes in england and wales and that may be similar to scotland, half of new cases. because hospital deaths have peaked and are beginning to come down, we are seeing rapidly rising numbers of deaths in care homes. almost like two epidemics, one in hospitals, which is a sign of transmission in the wider community and that is coming under control. but in care homes, it is raging. very sobering. just to be clear, these new figures are going to include deaths in the community, but

the recording is only a people who have tested positive for the virus. what about people whose deaths are recorded on their death certificates from being from covid—19 but haven't had a test? we have to rely on the national statistics from england and wales and its counterparts in scotla nd wales and its counterparts in scotland and northern ireland. because it's figures relies on that certificate that lags by ten days. we almost have two sets of data about deaths, which gives us a fuller picture. we have the daily deaths which require people being tested and then we have the deaths that are coded on death certificates, a game that is a comprehensive look but it lags behind. so we have to wait a few weeks to get that. 0k, behind. so we have to wait a few weeks to get that. ok, that is very clear. thank you so much, we will talk to you again after the downing street briefing, hopefully.

well, every day, we are looking at the latest figures from the government on the number of coronavirus deaths and infections. but how do we give those statistics context and understand what they mean? sir david spiegelhalter is professor of statistics at cambridge university, and author of the art of statistics. thank you so much forjoining us on bbc news. we saw a little clip earlier in our health correspondent‘s package. i wanted to ask you about the figures we got yesterday from the office for national statistics, which suggested a much higher number of deaths in ca re a much higher number of deaths in care homes last week, triple that recorded at the end of march. these could be called excess deaths, if you like. what do we put them down to because we don't know they are purely covid—19 do we?|j to because we don't know they are purely covid-19 do we? i am feeling a lot of sympathy for anyone trying

to understand the statistics we are bombarded with about this epidemic. it is difficult to disentangle what they actually mean. yesterday's statistics from the office for national statistics were extraordinary. as your correspondence had, they refer back to the week after easter, ending april 17. they showed that although we would normally expect 10,500 deaths in that week, we actually had about 20 to —— 20 2500. about three quarters, it had covid on their death certificate. but that left about 3000 deaths extra, over and above what we would expect which did not have covid on their death certificate. it is a mystery we need to disentangle, because as the deaths in hospital from to disentangle, because as the deaths in hospitalfrom covid go steadily downwards, although there

is the deaths in care homes, as was said, they are carrying on with no sign ofa said, they are carrying on with no sign of a decline yet, we need to understand why so many other people are dying but not having covid on their death certificate. this could be because they are missing out on other medical treatments?m be because they are missing out on other medical treatments? it was thought for a while, and i thought this was because of under diagnosis, people in care homes and at home have not been tested and have not been tested in the past. the doctor was reluctant to put covid on the death certificate without any proof. but the new data coming from the ca re but the new data coming from the care quality commission suggests that the care homes are actually making good diagnoses, roughly matching what was on the death certificate. although there will be some underdiagnosis, the increasing worry is that many of these will be cases of people who are essentially suffering because of the disruption in the health service. we have heard about the cancellation of the

clinics, the radiotherapy, the chemotherapy and so on. those might not be having such an immediate impact, they may very well have in the future, in the rest of the year and the coming years, but also there is evidence that there is very low attendances in a&e, people are not calling ambulances when they are having chest pain. maybe they are elderly people isolating on their own? and actually, these are what has been called collateral damage of the lockdown. it is very worrying indeed because all we have got is this excess death figure. indirect but very widespread effects of the pandemic. we have had daily death totals from the government, how helpful do you find those statistically? i have actually pretty much stopped listening to those. as has been said, they relate only to death in hospital, people

who have been tested. 0ften, only to death in hospital, people who have been tested. often, a couple of days ago they referred to deaths that happened a month ago. they oscillate wildly because there is very few at the weekend and so on. so those are not reliable figures to look at. i much prefer looking at the actual data that is released by nhs england about the real date on which people died. that looks at a much smoother curve and there was a clear peak around april there was a clear peak around april the 8th of people in hospital and since then, a steady decline over the last three weeks. i would much prefer looking at the official data, although it is slightly more out of date, the death registrations because that enables us to get a solid picture of what is going on. 0k, is it helpful to compare the uk's deaths to that of other countries as a sort of measure of how badly we have been affected?

0urcar in very 0ur car in very broad terms, obviously. but i think construction of league tables are very unhelpful. there are so many different ways in which you can measure the impact. we could do it as total debt soared deaths by the million population, that useful, it shows a different picture. we know that different countries have different mechanisms for recording covid deaths and i don't want to answer any of those questions until perhaps the end of the year when we can look back at the year when we can look back at the overall excess deaths in all the countries that are associated with the epidemic. sojust countries that are associated with the epidemic. so just briefly, sir david, you are clearly not very happy with the way in which certain measurements are being released are certain measurements are taken. will there be a better way of doing it? it is very difficult because we just don't know what's happening on a day—to—day basis. it would be inappropriate to claim that we did.

there is always delays confirmation and so on. i think it's best to be honest about that, to be upfront and admit the uncertainty about the totals and to use the best up to date data which is available. in a sense, not to pretend this is the true total in any way. i think we've got multiple data sources and from those we can get a broad picture of what's going on, as was said we are in almost two air epidemics, the declining one in the hospital statistics and the ones happening in ca re statistics and the ones happening in care homes and in homes to some extent, which is showing no sign of decline and suggests we might be having a kind of shoulder where the death rate is extended out into the future possibly well after deaths in hospital have been substantially reduced. 0k, very good to talk to you and i am sure we will be

speaking again. sir david spiegelhalterfrom speaking again. sir david spiegelhalter from cambridge university, thank you for very much for your time. the education secretary has told mps that schools in england are likely to re—open in a phased manner but no date has been decided. gavin williamson said schools would be given plenty of notice and added there were no plans to open schools during the summer holidays. we are working very closely with the whole sector in terms of when we'll be the best time to bring schools fully back into operation. we have set out five clear tests as to what is incredibly important and what will inform the reopening of the schools. we want to make sure that schools. we want to make sure that schools are given proper notice that we do not have a day as to when schools will be opening. that was the education secretary gavin williamson talking a little earlier.

the us economy has shrunk by nearly 5% — ending the longest expansion in us history, as coronavirus virtually shut down the country. the gross domestic product figures show a 4.8% fall for the first quarter of the year. that's the sharpest drop since the financial crisis of 2008. the latest figures from the department of commerce account only for the first three months of the year, which means figures for the next quarter are expected to be even more dramatic. joining me now to discuss is the former us treasury secretary, larry summers. thank you so much forjoining us on bbc news, mr summers. a dramatic drop of nearly 5% in the economy. is this what you expected? it's about what i expected. i thought it might have actually been a little worse for a variety of technical reasons. i suspect it will be revised downwards inevitably. in the first estimate they don't have all the

data from the last part of the quarter and the economy was in freefall during the last two weeks of march. i expect this number will be revised downwards. i would expect the next quarter's number will be far, far, far worse. we guess the next quarter's number will be somewhere between —30 —50. next quarter's number will be somewhere between -30 -50. -50, meaning the economy is shrinking by half? no, it means the economy is declining by 50% at an annual rate. so that would refer to a situation where it would decline by —15% or so but when you extrapolated that to an annual rate, you would get —15%. so my guess is ultimately gdp will be 1596 my guess is ultimately gdp will be 15% or so below where it otherwise

would have been. that would be very, very bleak indeed. we have seen across the world that very specifically in the us, the government trying to balance the health of the economy with the health of the economy with the health of the public. if you still had your treasury secretary's hat on, what would you be recommending to the president? a manhattan project level of investment around testing, treating, vaccinating and contact tracing. i'd be recommending that the federal government show leadership in bringing everybody together around all those things and mobilising us industry like we would ina war mobilising us industry like we would in a war because ultimately the virus is going to tell the story here and if people are scared to go shopping and scared to go to work, the economy is going to be in trouble no matter what you do with

fiscal or monetary policy. then, after... that would be my first priority. second, i'd be making sure that we were protecting purchasing power and were protecting the ability to maintain safety and we we re ability to maintain safety and we were protecting the ability of those who are less fortunate to do what was necessary to take care of their families, by taking this opportunity to hugely strengthen our unemployment insurance system and turnit unemployment insurance system and turn it into an employment insurance system, including by substantially supporting work sharing activities so supporting work sharing activities so that people could work part time rather than full—time. third, i would be supporting state and local governments that are getting badly, badly hurt through this period and try to turn it into a moment of

opportunity to fix the power grid and make the necessary investments in green energy, so as to maximise the opportunity that we have here. cani the opportunity that we have here. can ijust the opportunity that we have here. can i just pick the opportunity that we have here. can ijust pick you up on one thing, you mentioned inequality. this pandemic does seem to be highlighting economic inequalities and exacerbating them, in often people who have office jobs and desk jobs can do those from home, they don't have to choose between having to keep themselves safe and being able to work. whereas people who have to go out and work in the service industry or work in industry can't do that. what sort of measures can't do that. what sort of measures can be taken to try to shield people who have to choose between their health and work? we need to do a much betterjob of ensuring workplace safety than we 110w ensuring workplace safety than we now do. we need to be investing much more heavily in necessary protective

equipment. nobody should be delivering goods in america without having all the protection that it's possible to give them. we need to make sure at this moment, when we are ina make sure at this moment, when we are in a common war against a common enemy that we have a common health ca re system enemy that we have a common health care system that is available to eve ryo ne care system that is available to everyone and that no one has to show up everyone and that no one has to show up without insurance in an emergency room hoping for the best any longer. before we had this situation, the gap in life expectancy between a 50—year—old man who was fortunate and a 50—year—old man who was u nfortu nate and a 50—year—old man who was unfortunate in america was a decade. we need to make sure that that goes down, not up in the post—corona period. 0k, very good to talk to you, thank you so much, larry summers, the former us treasury secretary. bye—bye. there's more evidence about the huge impact coronavirus

is having on our shopping habits. next has warned investors that sales could drop by a0%, while dixons carphone says online sales have soared by 166% in the past few weeks. retailers say the lockdown could lead to the permanent closure of thousands of struggling high street shops. independent, family run businesses could be the hardest hit. 0ur consumer affairs correspondent sarah corker reports from county durham. you do have the dark times. should ijust close now, should ijust stop now, hand the keys back to the landlord and say thanks very much? martin wiseman swapped a career in a carfactory to run a coffee shop. i first met him back in february when he was getting ready for opening. back then, he admitted it was a gamble investing in a high street where almost 25% of shops were empty. they can't get any lower than this, surely. if it gets any lower

than this, they'lljust bulldoze the place down. but it did get worse. he put his life savings into this business, but the week before he was due to start trading, britain went into lockdown. how long do you think you can last without it being open? another month, possibly, before it dries up, before the money side of it dries up. i stay awake at night thinking i'm actually going to go bust before i even get the chance to open. retailers have warned that the very survival of our empty high streets will be decided in weeks rather than years, and some businesses may never recover 01’ reopen after such a sudden drop in trade. in march, the bbc launched its year—long high street project, charting the changes of this north—east town. coronavirus has plunged sole traders like bernie into turmoil. the financial side's just crippled me altogether. she runs her sewing business from her garage and says she feels abandoned by the government. i have never ever claimed anything off anybody.

i've never been out of work and at the time when i could do with a little bit of help, i can't get any help. so quite bitter. because she works from home, bernie isn't eligible for a one—off grant designed to help small businesses through this crisis. back on the high street, alex, though, could get financial help — a £10,000 grant and her landlord has given her a three month rent holiday. i know that we will be back after this, but it is concerning to think about the other shops in the street and if, when i come back, am i going to be the only one left or one of the only ones left? the great british high street was already struggling and some retailers may not recover from the economic damage caused by this pandemic. sarah corker, bbc news, in bishop auckland. tributes are being paid two brothers, from south wales, who died side—by—side after contracting coronavirus. ghulam and raza abbas passed away within hours of each other at the royal gwent hospital — just weeks after losing

their father from ill health. their families have pleaded with people to stay at home and stop the spread of the disease. colette hume reports. united in life, united now in death. brothers raza and ghulam died side by side in intensive care. they were just 53 and 59. at ghulam's home in newport, friends and neighbours come to pay their respects to his widow and two daughters. we were all hoping and praying that he would fall through, —— pull through and my uncle also. but allah had other plans. it gives us a bit of comfort knowing they were together. i mean, they were in the hospital beds together, next to each other. so it's hard, but then at least we kind of comfort herself thinking at least they are together now.

and they didn't go alone, they each other. just a few miles away, the family of ghulam's brother raza are grieving too. he was the father of two sons and a grandfather. he and his wife nicola had been together since they were teenagers. he was nothing but a true gentleman with a heart of gold, and he would do anything to help anyone. i love you, raz. we will never forget you. and she has this message for those defying the lockdown. people going to beaches, having door—to—door barbecues, they do not realise how dangerous this virus is. in a blink of an eye i've lost my husband and my brother—in—law. and i wouldn't wish this tragedy on anyone. please, stay away from each other, stay home and be safe. the government's daily news

briefing on coronavirus is expected to start shortly, and will be led by the foreign secretary, dominic raab. let's cross to westminster and join our chief political correspondent, vicki young. what are we expecting today?|j what are we expecting today? i think there will be some differences and thatis there will be some differences and that is partly because we have been told there will be numbers the deaths outside of hospitals. there has been a big debate about how we count that very difficult number and of course it is a toll we get every day that on this occasion, they said they will give some kind of number of those who have died outside of hospital settings. vicki i'm just going to stop you. we just had the detail of the number of deaths. this isa detail of the number of deaths. this is a total of people who have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community and that total is now standing at 26,097. just to repeat that, a total of 26,097

patients have now died from coronavirus in hospitals, care homes and the wider community. so that it isa and the wider community. so that it is a figure that takes the total up by several thousand, as our health correspondent was warning us that the figure would be is a jump at several thousand, in terms of the total number of deaths. there will be a lot of questions about that today? there welcome and about that today? there welcome and a lot of questions about if the government was quick enough to act on what was happening in care homes, of course, which are settings where a lot of elderly people do live. there is accusations really that they were not testing people quickly enough, that there were residents going at hospitals, leaving with coronavirus and coming back into that setting. can be very difficult to isolate people in those circumstances and they are being

cared for. so staff do of course have to get close to people to look after them, they have to then sometimes travel between different settings. so a huge challenge there and really some suggesting that testing should have happened much sooner. at the beginning, there wasn't a huge capacity for testing, it was focused very much on hospitals. i think there will be questions about that. now that capacity for testing has been increased and i think there will be questions about that also, with the target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month looming, matt hancock confident they will reach that but at the moment it seems like that but at the moment it seems like thatis that but at the moment it seems like that is a pretty big ambitious task given the capacity... let's take you straight to downing street now where dominic raab is giving today's coronavirus daily briefing, welcome

good afternoon and welcome to today's press conference. i am pleased to be joined today's press conference. i am pleased to bejoined by today's press conference. i am pleased to be joined by professor jonathan van tam, deputy chief medical officer. huge congratulations to the prime minister and to his partner on the wonderful news of their baby boy. i have spoken to the prime minister andi have spoken to the prime minister and i can tell you both mother and son are doing really well. next, let me give you an update on the latest data on coronavirus from cobra data file. i can report that through the government's ongoing monitoring and testing programme, as of today there have been 818,539 tests for the virus across the uk, including 52,429 tests that took place yesterday. 165,221 people have tested positive and that is an increase of 4076 cases on

yesterday's number. as the health secretary announced, we are moving to and improve daily reporting system for deaths so deaths in all settings are included, wherever the individual has tested positive for covid—19, rather than those in hospitals. those figures show that up hospitals. those figures show that up to yesterday, on the new measure, we have recorded an additional 3811 deaths in total. and i think it is important to say that those additional deaths were spread over the period from the 2nd of march, the period from the 2nd of march, the 28th of april. so they don't represent a sudden surge in the number of deaths. sadly, today's figures show an additional 765 deaths compared to yesterday. i will let professor doyle talk us through the data in detail in a little while. but i think we must never lose sight of the fact that behind every statistic there are many human lives that have been tragically lost before their time. we also pay

tribute to those caring for the sick and yesterday at 11 o'clock in the morning, the whole country observed a minute's silence, a moment to reflect on the sacrifice of all of oui’ reflect on the sacrifice of all of our front line workers who have died while dedicating themselves to caring for and serving others. on the 16th of april, i set out five principles that will guide our approach to the transition away from the current set of social distancing measures in place and into a second phase. we continue to see evidence in the data of a flattening of the peak of the virus and that is only happening because we delivered on the two central pillars of our strategic approach to defeating coronavirus. the first one was that reinforced our nhs capacity through the nightingale hospitals, the extra critical care capacity, extra ventilator beds and extra doctors and nurses on the front line. the

second, we introduce the social distancing measures at the right time guided by the scientific and medical evidence. the public‘s overwhelming support for those rules has helped save lives and protect the nhs from becoming overwhelmed. we are still coming through the peak and this is, as i said before, a delicate and dangerous moment in this crisis. i know a lot of people have made a lot of sacrifices, which is why it is so important that we don't let up now and risk undoing all of that hard work. as we look to the future, are five tests remain absolutely key. first, we must continue to boost nhs capacity, preventing it from being overwhelmed. second, we need to see a sustained and consistent fall in the number of deaths. thirdly, we need to see further reductions in the rate of infection to manageable levels across all of the relevant areas and settings. and fourth, we must be confident that the nhs will

be able to cope with future demands, and that includes as a result of changes to existing measures only measures we may need to take. fifth, andi measures we may need to take. fifth, and i think this is probably the most critical of the five principles, we need to be confident that any adjustments to the current measures will not risk a second peak of infections that could the nhs. a second spike would be harmful to public health and it would result in many more deaths from covid—19. that in itself would lead to a second lockdown, inflicting further prolonged economic pain on the country and as the governor of the bank of england, andrew bailey said last week, that wouldn't just be economically dangerous, it would inflict a serious blow on public confidence. so this issue of a second spike and they need to avoid it, it is not a theoretical risk and not just something it, it is not a theoretical risk and notjust something confined to the united kingdom. having relaxed

restrictions in germany over the last week, they have seen a rise in the transmission rate of coronavirus. angela merkel has said publicly and she has made it clear, they may need a second lockdown in germany if the infection rate continues to rise. this is a very real risk and it is vital we proceed carefully guided by the scientific advice so that our next step through this crisis is a sure—footed one. we mustn't gamble away the sacrifices and the progress we have made, we must continue to follow the scientific evidence and we must continue to take the right decisions at the right moment in time. we are working on all of the potential options for a second phase. there is light at the end of the tunnel, whether you are an nhs work on the front line working tirelessly shift, after shift. 0r front line working tirelessly shift, after shift. or a parent at home with young children. what we do need to be is patient and careful as we come through what is a moment of maximum risk. we will wait for

sage's review of the data in early may and we are ramping up capacity with over 73,000 per day and 52,429 tests carried out per day. and eligibility for those tests has been expanded further to include anyone who needs to go to work but cannot work remotely and who has symptoms. it also includes anyone over 65 with symptoms and all care home residents as well as care home staff. at the same time, as we ramp up the testing capacity, we will keep working on oui’ capacity, we will keep working on our tracking and tracing capability which is going to be a key component in the next phase of this crisis. we will continue to source a ventilators and personal protective equipment, both at home and abroad. paul is leading the national effort increase production and supply. we continue to source ppe from abroad

and we are setting ourselves as the international buyer of choice in the international buyer of choice in the international market place. i can tell you that in the last ten days we have secured over 5 million masks from china, three flights with gowns from china, three flights with gowns from turkey, because we know that every single one of those items of ppe is needed by those working so ha rd ppe is needed by those working so hard on the front line. both in the nhs and also in our care homes. and oui’ nhs and also in our care homes. and our international effort is not confined to procurement. i can tell you we have made enormous progress in returning british nationals, who otherwise would have been at risk of being stranded abroad. it is worth just noting that since the outbreak in wuhan, we have helped an estimated 1.3 million british nationals return on commercial flights and we have done that by working with the airlines and with those governments to make sure the flights can run and the air space is left open and we have brought back over 200,000 british nationals from

spain, 50,000 from australia and over 11,000 from pakistan, to name but just three countries. over 11,000 from pakistan, to name butjust three countries. as well as those commercial flights we have chartered flights were commercial options were not possible and we have now reached the stage where we have now reached the stage where we have brought back over 20,000 british nationals on 21 flights and that includes 9000 british nationals who have been brought back from india, 2000 from south africa and 1200 from peru. it is also just, india, 2000 from south africa and 1200 from peru. it is alsojust, in terms of repatriation, bearing in mind that on the 17th of march when we changed our travel advice for those travelling on cruise ships, there were something like 19,000 british passengers on 60 cruise ships sailing around the world. and as the border restrictions were put in place by country after country, we faced a daunting task of getting people home. but we stuck at it and six weeks later, we have now got all

19,000 british passengers back home safe and sound. so that was an enormous effort and we recognise the job is not yet done. we will continue with this unprecedented effort with further charter flights coming back from new zealand, pakistan and bangladesh, amongst others over the next week or so. i must pay tribute, at this point, to all of the outstanding work are concealer teams working night and day at the fco in london but around the world have been putting in. finally, the health secretary announced last week that uk trials have started as we draw an incredible scientific talent we have got in this country, to pursue a vaccine. that has an international dimension to it. so today we announce the uk will provide the international vaccine allowance with the equivalent of £330 million each year over the next five years, as we seek to come up with a vaccine, both

to protect the british people but also to help immunise millions of the poorest and most vulnerable people right around the world. combining the depth of our innovative know—how with the bighearted determination that has characterised our national effort to defeat the coronavirus. i am now going to ask yvonne to talk us through the data slides. thank you, we have a selection of measures and slides here today to show and the first one is just to remind us of the five tests for adjusting the lockdown, as the secretary of state has said. this is about capacity, it is about a fall in the daily deaths, reliable data and also that we have good supplies and also that we have good supplies and material for and also that we have good supplies and materialfor our and also that we have good supplies and material for our nhs and also that we have good supplies and materialfor our nhs and care staff and that we are confident that the adjustments to the current measures will not risk a second peak. but moving to the actual

slides, the next slide please, shows what is going on out in society at the moment. this is a transport slide which shows the use of various transport, as we have seen up to now a dramatic fall in most modes. but there has been an uptake in motor vehicles. the message here is we are still passing through this peak. this use of motor vehicles is the highest working day use since the 23rd of march and we really have to be vigilant that most people are making huge efforts to stay at home and save lives. this is slightly worrying, so please do stay at home, protect the nhs, save lives and go out for the necessities and the transport data will reflect that. the next slide please, is about new

cases in the nhs and the country at the moment in the uk. we can see the increasing amount of testing that is going on through the orange bars, but basically cases have remained broadly stable over the last weeks and that is good news. but i want to move on to show you a little more about that. the next slide does show this. now we have a slide about people in hospital. this is broadly good news because the numbers in hospital have decreased from over 18,000 to over 15,000, a 16% decrease. it is manifest in all regions, you can see how london had an early peak, but now london is declining in its of hospital facilities. but of course, other regions may overtake that, so we do have to be careful. as i say, we are passing through this peak, we are not through this yet. the next slide is about critical care bed use in

the uk. this means all beds, both high dependency and intensive care wards use. this is good news because we can see here 40% of the beds are being used. that means there is critical care capacity and that is a credit to the nhs for how it has got us through this crisis to the stage and there is capacity and room for patients who need it. the next slide is about the daily cumulative covid deaths. this is an interesting slide where we can get into what's going on with deaths. the deaths in hospital is the blue line. that is what has been measured very reliably up until now but now public health england, with support from the nhs, has been in a position to congregate deaths in all settings based on confirmed tests that we see coming through our labs. what we can see here is first of all, deaths on

the orange line are confirmed deaths from coronavirus. that tells us exactly what is going on in all settings. when i say all settings, i mean hospitals, health protection team, the local outbreak teams, in the community, broadly, and in care homes. so now we see there is a divergence, it's about a 20% divergence, it's about a 20% divergence but it's good news in the main, in terms of what it is showing, because what it is showing as we are getting a comprehensive picture. this is most important for control. could i move onto the next slide, please? that is about the daily deaths, which is excluding deaths outside of hospital. these are hospital deaths, which is what we we re are hospital deaths, which is what we were looking at in the previous slide in the blue. it shows this declining trend of deaths in hospital. the trend started to

increase at the end of march and we can see it declining. but to re—stress, we are still coming through the peak because, of course, this doesn't represent all deaths but it's good news about hospital deaths. the next slide looks at covid deaths in all settings. you can see it is a cumulative line, the orange line. it is good to do it that way because otherwise you get swings and ups and downs when weekends occur and people are not sure what has happened with deaths. with the line, you can see the trend. the trend is quite flat, actually. it may begin to decline but we are not convinced of that yet. but it's good to show that and the reason it starts march 30 it's because this is about all settings, that was the time when we were able to start measuring that from then on. this is a seven day rolling

average. it is very important we know what is happening daily. now onto global. global death comparisons, two slides here. the first one is just crude numbers. comparisons, two slides here. the first one isjust crude numbers. you can see here a pattern that looks like the united states has a very high number of deaths and other countries perhaps are aligning with each other. but the point on this slide at the side says a number of things. first of all, these measures may not be comprehensive measures of death in the way that... we are very keen to do here are doing now, comprehensively. for instance, in spain, we are not absolutely clear whether the deaths in spain include all care home deaths. this is understandable because it's very complex and difficult to get these measures, particularly on a daily basis, which is why the news today about being able to do this on a

daily basis is very good news. although, of course, the news about numbers of deaths is not good news and again stresses how dangerous this virus is and how sad it is for those individuals and how we have to be ever vigilant about how we look after each other and how we adhere to the requests to stay at home, protect the nhs and particularly to save lives. the last slide is also interesting because there now shows the cumulative death number per million population. this shows a very different pattern, where we can see two measures for the uk. the hospital deaths and a comprehensive deaths, they are not hugely different on this scale but you can see where we are now tracking much more along our european neighbours and also seeing italy and spain and france there, but the us, of course, has dropped, because we are now

measuring rates per million. other countries have increased. the important thing here is our measure are comprehensive, they are daily and they are taking in all care settings. so i thought you would wish to see the two contrast, thank you, secretary of state. rank you very much indeed. now questions from the media and first up we have hugh pym from the bbc. are you there? question about testing, foreign secretary. what support will you give care homes in administering and organising tests and helping them keep residents and staff safe? iam happy keep residents and staff safe? i am happy to let yvonne orjonathan come in but to be clear, we've expanded the eligibility, it now includes anyone in a care home, whether resident or staff. we have obviously had a distribution issue. there is no sugar—coating the challenge we have had with that. we

helped deliver them through the local resilience forum. we are getting the clipper service up and running in the military have also done an exceptionaljob. so whether it is the supply which we are ramping up in the way i described and the health secretary has explained, or the delivery, and the health secretary has explained, orthe delivery, but and the health secretary has explained, or the delivery, but we are doing everything that we possibly can. yvonne, i don't know if you orjonathan want to add anything? thank you, yes indeed. there are a number of ways that testing is and will continue to happen at scale in care homes. since this epidemic in care homes, which still continues, there has been a huge local effort, both through local government, our director is a public health, our health protection teams but increasingly with support from national endeavours to get the tests to the home, to make sure staff at the testing they need. this will continue for some considerable time until we are convinced we have got under this epidemic in the care

homes which is of utmost concern. anything else you would like to ask on that? couldn't testing have started sooner than that? testing has always occurred during outbreaks. that has never been given up outbreaks. that has never been given up at outbreaks. that has never been given upata outbreaks. that has never been given up at a local level. our health protection teams supported by others, including the nhs, have been going into care homes throughout the country. the scale and the speed of this epidemic is really, in the last couple of weeks, and there is a huge national and local endeavour to not just test, which is very important, but to also understand the measures that would make a difference in care homes and to look at that in a very rapid way, looking at the evidence so that we can put in place measures that protect people. people are absolutely passionate about getting this right but it is a most complex sector to get to. 16,000 homes, a lot of places to go and critical to

use local intelligence as to where the risks are highest. also it is worth saying that of course you would have to do have an enormous testing capacity to deliver what i think you are suggesting we could or should have. 0ne what i think you are suggesting we could or should have. one of the big challenges we have had is asymptomatic people coming to and in and out of care homes, whether it is other care home workers who work in more than one place, nhs staff coming in or indeed members of family. as yvonne said, it's a decentralised system but the social distancing of the control over transmission in and out of care homes is probably the single biggest factor and obviously we are doing everything we can to give the guidance and give their support to cairns to achieve that. dan hewitt, itv. thank you, secretary of state. we have discovered hospices are being denied access to government supplied ppe. unlike hospitals and care homes, they are not being included

in the main nhs supply chain manager by the government. instead, hospices are still run relying on donations and they are having to buy their own largely on the open market at hugely inflated prices. it means hospices have told us they could run out of ppe within a matter of days. why is it that hospices are being treated differently to hospitals and care homes when it comes to accessing ppe? i will defer to jonathan and ppe? i will defer tojonathan and yvonne but basically, and i don't know the hospices that you have talked to but we have been guided throughout by the nhs about where the shortfalls have been and also what is the priority? we've always said that the priority? we've always said that the priority is being on the front line in the nhs in care homes but we also wa nt to in the nhs in care homes but we also want to make sure we have enough ppe, that's why we're doing with these flights from abroad and the domestic capacity has been ramped up, to get to anyone who may need it

and hospices that are very important areas as well. yes, it's very important to be where these problems are. that's why local intelligence is very important. the guidance cove rs is very important. the guidance covers all the places where people are at risk. so that is very important to say. there is no differentiation in where people are at risk and what they might need. what may often be lacking is the knowledge of where there are pockets of problems and we have had this throughout. it is welcome to know this. there are ways in which hospices can actually make known what they need through helplines but if that isn't happening, then it is very important that we do hear this. do you want to come back on anything? reed thank you. on that, hospice uk domain charity have been coordinating and speaking to the releva nt coordinating and speaking to the relevant bodies in government and providing evidence to show they need the ppe. they have made a very

strong case to say they need it. they are treating three times as many terminally ill patients as they we re many terminally ill patients as they were this time last year, treating people with coronavirus, so they need this ppe. the assurance they wa nt need this ppe. the assurance they want is when they will be included in the nhs supply chain because they are caring for very sick and vulnerable people as well. absolutely. my heart goes out to all of those working in hospices, those who are being cared for and their families and we will do everything we can in the way yvonne described to get ppe to them as soon as we physically can. beth rigby, sky? thank you, on sunday you said you we re thank you, on sunday you said you were reasonably confident deaths in ca re were reasonably confident deaths in care homes are coming down at about the same rate broadly captured by nhs figures. what does this new data tell you, i'll be approaching a peak in care homes if not overall? and professor van tam, extra deaths

today show this situation even worse than we knew but it is also true that these numbers could under still, in part because of low testing levels, should we be braced for a further upward revision of the figures in the future? look, in the way that yvonne described, the importance of getting these measures refined as we have a clearer picture and of course what we would like is and of course what we would like is a perfect picture. we are constantly looking to see if we can modify and glean a more granular picture. the reality is, and i think when sage gave its evidence on its review of the social distancing measures around the 16th of april, shortly before then, they were very clear that the r level was coming down, below one in the community but there we re below one in the community but there were challenges in hospital settings. we are getting to grips with that, but also in care homes. we have known about this challenge

and are doing everything we can to meet it. ppe is one of the aspects of it, testing is another. but probably the single biggest thing, and this is tough in a decentralised, de—localised set of ca re decentralised, de—localised set of care homes, is making sure that we control the ebb and flow of people into those care homes that may risk transmitting the virus. so alongside all those other practical measures, disseminating that guidance, refining that guidance and supporting those care homes as best we can is the surest way we were really get a grip and drive down those infection levels in the care home scenario. yvonne, anything you would add? i might add but jonathan can supplement this. the question is at the what also measures. cqc will also put out deaths in care homes. they were not always be confirmed by

testing. so in due course, those deaths may sadly occur on death certificates. we may expect more than we are seeing at the moment, yes. sorry, jonathan. and also worth bearing in mind what we're trying to do is get the most granular picture. i think when it comes to the international comparisons, certainly not all of the countries are recording even to the level that we have got to now, which is why some of those international comparisons. we are committed to maximum transparency because people should know the full picture and secondly when you know more about the data, you have better chance of ripping it in the way we are committed to doing. jonathan? thank you, i will answer your question in a slightly different way. we have moved to a system that is better and more granular way of recording deaths. in epidemiology terms, eventually we will be able to

compute a different estimates of death called excess deaths. that is really that accepting across the year deaths go up in the winter and down in the summer in a broadly oscillating wave and one can work out what the average is over multiple years and work out in this particular coronavirus pandemic, our departure has been from that in terms of total number of deaths. that will give us an excess death figure and that will be highly comparable one of the excess death figures come out across the world, including many parts of europe. there is a standardised methodology the europeans used for calculating excess mortality. to your point, will there be more? excess mortality. to your point, willthere be more? ithink excess mortality. to your point, will there be more? ithinkl excess mortality. to your point, will there be more? i think i would turn that question slightly, or turn the answer and say, in time we will have a much better answer when we start to let carter excess mortality

asa start to let carter excess mortality as a total, which will take into account both deaths related to covid—19 and deaths that may have occurred, not due to covid—19 at all, but as a consequence of the crisis. in some of those will take time to come through. i am afraid it isa time to come through. i am afraid it is a phenomenon that will be faced across the world with this awful crisis we are in. do you want to pick up on any of that? it has been really encouraging that although the death toll has been horrific, it has been falling in hospitals. now you have the care home data, is it falling in hospitals but the death tally still going up in care homes? iam not tally still going up in care homes? i am not sure we have the data? tally still going up in care homes? i am not sure we have the data ?|j don't think we can say that quite yet. i wouldn't make any predictions about what will happen in care homes, but we should know that soon because the hospital curve has

declined. bearing in mind that still the majority of deaths do occur in hospital, including those who are resident in care homes. thanks very much. andy bell, from channel five. thank you very much. you have your five tests that you say have to be met before we can move on in terms of lockdown, right now how many of those tests do you think you are passing? as i said when i set them out, we will need the advice from sage, which was going to be three weeks after, the 16th of april, so it will come in early may. we don't know yet. there is some positive signs in the data, but we are at a delicate and dangerous moment in this challenge. we are coming through the peak but we are not there yet which is why focusing on there yet which is why focusing on the social distancing measures, which has been one of the great su ccesses which has been one of the great successes of the approach taken because of the sport of the british

people, has been taken. so people sitting at home watching this have save lives by following this guidance. until we are out of the woods, if i can put it like that, they need to keep doing that. we won't know if we have reached that point until sage give us a review of the evidence. can i come back in? the government has said several times the nhs has not been overwhelmed, are you saying you are not even satisfied at this stage you have passed test number one? the nhs, quite clearly, has not been overwhelmed. that has been the second key critical bit of the strategy we delivered successfully. it isa strategy we delivered successfully. it is a great credit to those on the front line, but we have also got the ventilator beds and the critical ca re ventilator beds and the critical care capacity and the military have done a greatjob in supporting the new nightingale hospitals. we are confident at this stage but if you look at the five tests, and i know you are taking this very seriously, we have also said we need to make

sure we can see to the future that that will still be the case. and also, any changes we might make and what that would do, notjust also, any changes we might make and what that would do, not just to the coronavirus infection rate, as we have seen in germany, but also to the non—covid cases. we need to be confident the nhs will be able to cope. you are right to point to the five tests and at this moment in time, we are waiting for sage's evidence on all five aspects we are going to get in early may. jason g roves from going to get in early may. jason groves from the daily mail? thank you, foreign secretary. you may have seen overnight the new mail for charity has brought in £1 million worth of tv from china. you have your own challenges with dte, i wonder how helpful that sort of private sector initiative is? to professor van time, we have heard a little bit about this idea the virus

perhaps spread small slowly outdoors than indoors, but could you tell us more about that at the implications of that might be? dating, fantastic male force campaign, 100,000 miles, 50,000 overalls all going to those front line workers in the nhs in ca re front line workers in the nhs in care homes. i have got to pay tribute, the daily mail has contributed to that national effort and it all counts. so huge thanks, i think from the government's side. jonathan. thank you for the question about how the virus spreads and to what extent it spreads. if i can just reply the question back to you, you are asking about the difference between indoors and outdoors? yes. so we have learnt a great deal over the years from studying influenza and patterns of transmission of

influe nza. and patterns of transmission of influenza. i accept that the coronavirus is a new virus, it is not entirely the same as influenza and we are getting more and more data on transmission of covid—19 as the days and weeks roll by. but nevertheless, there is a definite truism across all of the science literature that ventilation is a most critical part of reducing transmission from respiratory viruses. and if you think about being outdoors, first of all by and large, distancing between human beings is greater anyway, that if you just stand still for a moment and experience just normal breezes and experience just normal breezes and aircurrents around and experience just normal breezes and air currents around you, you absolutely get a sense that any kind of plumes of anything are going to be very rapidly dispersed. and from that perspective, it is absolutely categorically clear that outdoor

spaces with higher degrees of ventilation are less problematic environments for transmission than indoor spaces. and of course, you only have to go as far as thinking about the flu and summer and winter and the way we live our lives. in the winter, we live indoors in conditions of relatively low ventilation with the windows closed. in the summerwe ventilation with the windows closed. in the summer we go outdoors and leave the doors and windows open when we are at home. jason, do you wa nt to when we are at home. jason, do you want to come back any of that? thank you for your comments, i was going to come back and that latter point. people would be thinking about what will happen in this next phase, given that difference might it mean there is some hope for places like garden centres, events like park runs, going to the beach and even beer gardens before people give up hope? thank you for the question. i

completely get it and understand why you are asking the question. sage absolutely is keeping all of that evidence under very considerably detailed review. and that evidence has been formulated into guidance that we are putting forwards to ministers on a periodic basis. now, in terms of any of the events, any of the settings that you mentioned i just want to go through the journey a little and say these are complex and at various different points, they might involve the congregation of individuals and one has to be very painstaking and very careful about thinking through some of these before we make the wrong move to relax measures. 50 before we make the wrong move to relax measures. so from that perspective, i think all of your comments are valid but i think we

have to be extremely sure—footed and extremely painstaking about this. this virus will absolutely come back. you have seen the secretary of state refer to the resurgence in germany and the difficult considerations that are going on there. this is with us for quite some time, potentially for as long as we get a vaccine. so from that perspective we have to be really careful and really sure—footed and i am just not going to suggest for a moment that any of this should be rushed. thank you, jason. dan blum from the daily mirror. hello. if we had been able to access better testing and screening earlier than we did for care home residents, so for example testing those discharged from hospital before mid april and some of the other things the government has introduced, might some of the deaths that have been published today been avoided?” think there is always learning in

her unprecedented and unique crisis like this to feedback into make sure we can fine tune the measures we are taking. you will know, we the actions and the steps we take on the best scientific evidence at the time. in relation to care homes, as i mentioned before, the key thing above all is manage the transmission of people, the ebb and flow of people into those care homes that might carry the virus. that includes family members and friends, it includes people that are working in more than one care home setting and includes nhs staff. 0n more than one care home setting and includes nhs staff. on top of testing and ppe and all the things you want to raise, it is one of the most single most important aspect. do you want to come back on anything else? i would like to ask the medical experts what they think of the same question because they may have an opinion on it. of course, yvonne. thank you, it is a very good

question and also a learning one. my put it this way, where there has been outbreaks in care homes there has been intervention, that would be no different to normal practice. what we have learned a lot about is how the virus is behaving in different populations. 0ne how the virus is behaving in different populations. one of the sad thing is we have found is that the virus, when older people get this virus, it is affecting predominantly older people, particularly people over 75. one of the reasons the deaths are so high, they demise quite quickly if they get the dose of this virus that perhaps a younger person might be able to put over their shoulder, because the way the immune system works. that is one feature. it may not have been possible to get to the test by the time the event happens. second, we have learned by looking at the literature, we have asked what would make a difference to stop this epidemic in a home? the movement of staff is an absolutely

critical one. and how the virus moves within a home. that has only begun to become evident since we have been able to look at new techniques like genomics. that has given us a huge insight into the dynamics of what is happening within a home and not every home will be the same in the way that people, residents and the staff interact, the use of bank staff. but there is some very the use of bank staff. but there is some very interesting learning that we have come across quite recently. whether testing makes, would have made a huge different or not, is impossible to say at the moment and thatis impossible to say at the moment and that is one thing we want to learn. but there has been testing, but i think there are more fundamentally and structure issues the way care homes are run in an epidemic that we are now looking to implement. matt foster from politics are now looking to implement. matt fosterfrom politics home. are now looking to implement. matt foster from politics home. your colleagues have spoken about is all being in this together but there are a sizeable number of people in the

uk, despite paying taxes are barred from claiming universal credit, housing benefit or free school meals for their kids, because the home office has deemed they have no recourse to public funds. some of those people are working in front—line jobs right now, the nhs, social care and delivery drivers. would the government consider at least temporarily posing the status during the outbreak and if not, what reassurance can you give people they will not be shutout reassurance can you give people they will not be shut out of the same help we may all need to rely on during an economic crisis?” absolutely understand the point and we feel for anyone who is going through the challenges, whether professionally or at home. i know the home secretary has been looking at this very carefully, she keeps theseissues at this very carefully, she keeps these issues under constant review andi these issues under constant review and i think she has been before the home affairs committee today and has said we will always look at new measures and what more can be done, particularly in relation to front line workers from overseas who are

working in care homes or the nhs. i cannot give a commitment, but i can tell you the home secretary is very carefully looking at that and the government wants to make sure we are a sensible and flexible in our approach as we can be. do you want to come back with another one? that is fine, thank you. very good. finally, peter madley from the express and star. thank you, question for the medical experts. schools across the west midlands are starting to consider how things might look when they are up and running again. the education secretary said schools will reopen in phases and some form of social distancing would be required. can you give us an idea of how you think social distancing will work in a school setting and do you envisage home education continuing for some pupils into next year? secondly, a question for you, secretary of state. he mentioned repatriation flights before. there are still thousands of british citizens

stranded in india, particularly in the punjab region, a lot from the we st the punjab region, a lot from the west midlands in that area of the country in fact. the ctm charter team have said 20,000 people have registered for flights but there is only one flight every couple of days with the maximum capacity of 300. so people running out of money and medicine have been told it is not possible to confirm when they will be able to get back. do you have an idea of how many brits are stuck in india and are you planning to increase the number of repatriation flights in northern city so people can return home? can i first say a great effort from the midlands in terms of following the guidance. we follow the regional impact of the measures we are putting in place at nhs capacity and i know the west midlands have put in an incredible shift. 0n repatriation flights, just to give you a sense, we have already

charted, separate from the commercialflights, charted, separate from the commercial flights, 58 returning more than 12,000 people from across south asia. i can tell you that in recent days, we've announced 28 more charter flights, with the capacity to get around 7000 more brits back home. they will return home, that scheduling will be until seventh may. 14 flights from india, nine from pakistan and five from bangladesh. we are doing everything we to get stranded brits from the west midlands and right across the country home. as i set out in my earlier remarks, i think the foreign office and the department for transport and our missions abroad have put in a heroic shed. thejob is not yet done and as long as there are people in a predicament, we will wa nt to are people in a predicament, we will want to see what more we can do. i don't know jonathan want to see what more we can do. i don't knowjonathan or yvonne want to come back? on schools, yes? please. i have two sons at home,

alex and theo, 11 and 12, and i know how difficult it is for them wanting to go to school and the stress and strain this is placing on people. but i'm absolutely clear that it was the right thing to do, to close schools when we did. equally, we now have to be very careful indeed about how we relax social distancing measures and when we do it. clearly, there are multiple combinations of how one might i think about that. i'm not going to go into those in detail because the scientific thinking is not yet complete all settled on those. it is still a matter of detailed daily deliberation and study. and clearly, as part of that, relaxing schools is in the mix. precisely how one would do that i'm not going to comment further because i think there are

multiple permutations you can think of and we have to work through those carefully one by one, scientifically, and get the best and the most optimised answer we can. i wouldn't want to make any premature comments about exactly how and to what extent schools are going to be involved in how we relax social distancing carefully, painstakingly and as and when we can, with safety. is there anything else you would like to come back on? mr van tam, if i could be more direct with my question. do you think it's possible for young groups of people to stay two metres apart all day at school? i think that would be very difficult with a classroom of four—year—olds, five—year—olds, i think that would be really tricky. i think we have to think through all those measures and how that might work. thank you very much, peter. nowa how that might work. thank you very much, peter. now a couple of questions from members of the

public. we have matthew from surrey asking what's being done to ensure visitors or returning citizens coming through british ports or airports are going into a 14 day quarantine and why hasn't this been implemented before? iwill turn quarantine and why hasn't this been implemented before? i will turn to yvonne to answer this. we have looked at this regularly and have been asked this question quite a few times. so far, the advice has come back that actually it wouldn't make any significant material difference to stopping the spread. it may become more relevant as we progress through this crisis and as we bear down on the transmission rate within the uk. yvonne, i don't know if there is anything you would add? not very much. thank you, a very interesting question. as we move into a new phase over the coming months, it is one that will come back to again. the scientific advisory committee is looking at all of the measures that ports could and should perhaps implement that could

make a difference. that's the important thing. otherwise, we are just disrupting everything for no particular game. we've had some experience of it in the contain phase when we worked intensively with all the ports in britain to ensure that we kept our citizens as safe as possible. we have learned quite a bit from that. there are a number of measures of which quarantine is one and it is being looked at. and as they keep the ports and the airport is open the vital supply chains, that's a consideration as well. we will continue to keep it under review. i think there is a second question which is coming up on the screen. as there has been a success so far are not overwhelming the nhs and there seems to be plenty of space in there seems to be plenty of space in the nightingale hospitals, why can't we re m ove the nightingale hospitals, why can't we remove some residents from care homes for their immediate safety? if this takes place immediately and

perhaps with military assistance, this could save some lives. is it feasible in any way? i will let yvonne talk to the current situation. what i can say, it's something that has been under co nsta nt it's something that has been under constant discussion. of course, we wa nt to constant discussion. of course, we want to make sure, the nightingales have been amazing and the military have been amazing and the military have done a greatjob in supporting nhs teams. we have to make sure we have the nhs capacity as we set out in ourfive have the nhs capacity as we set out in our five principles have the nhs capacity as we set out in ourfive principles in how we step forward to the next phase, not just to deal with current cases but future demands that may be put on the nhs, in relation to the virus and also other health needs. but we are looking at that, not least in the context of some of the cohort and that may need to be done which hasn't been done in some areas, some areas it has. so it is something that, again, remains under review. yvonne? thank you. it is. the nightingale hospitals operate on a number of different models. we are

looking at the difference between those models and whether they are adaptable to circumstances that may arise as we go forward, of which this would be one. the issue about the home resident says this has to bea the home resident says this has to be a humane solution for people, that it be a humane solution for people, thatitis be a humane solution for people, that it is a more damaging or harmful to have people move, particularly people who are already frail, vulnerable, maybe sufferfrom dementia. it has to be looked at as a judgment, in terms of what is the best thing to do for those people and what is the most humane intervention, given the risk they may face? that it is certainly something that is looked at and will be continued. it is also worth saying that one of the pieces of learning that the cabinet office it had from 2016 when we looked at the lessons learned from the flu epidemic we had was that the shift of people out of the nhs and into the community, including care homes, with something that was important and which should

be taken forward. but i understand your question, we have to make sure all of these things are done safely and that doesn't mean that certain nhs facilities couldn't be used in the way you described. so we're looking at all of that. thank you very bob and to everyone for your questions. that brings to a close today's downing street press conference. thank you very much. the foreign secretary dominic robert ending today's daily downing street news briefing. let's look at some of the key points made. the first secretary of state dominic raab confirm the number of deaths in the uk due to coronavirus has jumped by nearly 4000 to 26,097. for the first time, this figure includes those in ca re time, this figure includes those in care homes and the wider community who died after testing positive for covid—19, in addition to deaths in hospitals. 0ver covid—19, in addition to deaths in hospitals. over the past 24 hours, there was an increase of 765 coronavirus deaths in the uk and all

settings. yvonne doyle from public health england said there had been a slightly worrying increase in road traffic. she said we have seen the highest working day use of vehicle since the lockdown began on the 23rd of march. dominic raab confirmed the lockdown will not be eased until ministers know the real risk of a second peak can be avoided. he said scientific advisers will provide a report in early may. to talk through some of that, let's go back to our chief political correspondent vicki young. a bigjump in chief political correspondent vicki young. a big jump in the number of deaths. quite a shock but expected? it is expected because we had had other figures suggesting the number of people dying from coronavirus outside hospitals was a large number. just to go through those figures. the new total number of deaths, 26,097. that does include all settings but it does only include people who have tested positive for covid—19. that of

course doesn't include others who may have died from it but haven't had a test. so lots of people expecting that number to go up. actually, listening to the public health england officials and others, they are saying the full scale of they are saying the full scale of the deaths could take some time to come through. so it will change again but it does confirm what most people have been expecting. there area large people have been expecting. there are a large number of people dying in care homes and the government has been under pressure over this, particularly about testing. should they have done more to test more people earlier in those settings? because the emphasis really was on those in hospital and that is partly because they didn't have the capacity to do widespread testing. that has increased hugely in the last couple of weeks or so. they we re last couple of weeks or so. they were testing and care homes where there were outbreaks that there are certain problems in care homes because they have talked about the staff looking after them and moving from one place to another. i think

this is an issue which the government will have to answer questions about as we carry on with this. and there is also the issue of testing capacity, that target of carrying out 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month. it doesn't look like they will reach that u nless look like they will reach that unless there is a big change in the next couple of days. 73,000 capacity, 52,000 tests carried out, so still quite a challenge for the government. 0k, many thanks. our chief political correspondent vicki young. thank you for talking us through there and for all of that analysis. coming up next, huw edwards with the bbc news at six o'clock. that now a look at the weather with nick miller. hello. after that wet day that some of us had yesterday that made quite a change, we're going to squeeze out a bit more wet weather before the month is done. we've already had some rain today across parts of wales. it's brightened up a bit since then but there is more rain on the way because low pressure is in charge. it's around this area of low

pressure, as you can clearly pick out here, several bands of wet weather moving up across the british isles over the next couple of days. so, this is this afternoon's wet weather pushing across more of northern and eastern england into southern scotland and through northern ireland. we've got this drier, brighter gap before more heavy downpours bear down on south west england and wales to end the day with gusty winds. it's breezy wherever you are, particularly where you're seeing some rain and temperatures in the mid to low teens. so, into tonight then and this first batch of rain will push further north across scotland. we still have this drier gap but look at all of these heavy downpours feeding in across england, wales, northern ireland and into southern scotland. with all of that going on overnight, as you can imagine, temperatures aren't going down too far, they're holding up into the mid to high single figures. as we start the day tomorrow, just a reminder, low pressure of course in control. this next feature to the south of it will bring in further heavy showers tomorrow. it doesn't mean it's going to be raining all the time, some will start the day with blue skies, sunshine, but that isn't going to last

as the showers get going. some outbreaks of rain in northern scotland but to the south of scotland, northern ireland, through england and wales, this is where we're likely to see some heavy showers. some may be thundery, a chance of hail, gusty winds with these as well and particularly strong winds through english channel coasts, where we'll be gusting around 40—50 miles an hour into the channel islands as well. but between the showers, there will be some drier and brighter moments and temperatures tomorrow pretty similar to today. that means the mid to low teens. on friday, still some showers around parts of scotland, especially to the south, northern ireland, northern england through the midlands, patchy rain in northern scotland but for the first day of may, there could well be very few showers toward southern england and south wales. some places here staying dry, with a bit of sunshine it will feel a little bit warmer. going into the weekend, looks like a gap between weather systems on saturday. still a few showers possible towards the north and east but, actually, many places on saturday will be staying dry. but then by sunday, low pressure pushing another area of wet weather northwards across the uk.

today at six: a new way of counting the human cost of coronavirus — the number of deaths reaches 26,000 across the uk. the figure, for the first time, includes deaths in care homes and the community since early march, as well as hospital deaths. 0nly people who've died after testing positive for coronavirus are included in the figures. care home providers say they're in a full—blown crisis. there is a... a tsunami of deaths that we probably... we may have been able to avoid, should we have had this testing an awful lot earlier. tens of thousands of people have now booked coronavirus tests —