this is a bbc news special. i'm kate silverton. the headlines... adults in spain enjoy their first outdoor exercise in seven weeks, as the country eases its strict lockdown rules. with everybody out like this, it feels like a mistake. i'm happy and i hope people are respecting the rules. blood plasma from people who've had covid—i9 will be used in uk trials to see if it can help critically ill patients. an experimental drug is authorised by us officials for emergency use on severely ill coronavirus patients. commuters in the uk could be asked

to take their temperature before leaving home. it's one of the measures being considered under plans to ease the lockdown. and uk prime minister borisjohnson and his fiancee, carrie symonds, name their baby boy wilfred lawrie nicholasjohnson. good afternoon. we'll be live in downing street for the latest government briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, led today by the communities secretary, robertjenrick. that's due to start in the next 15 minutes. but first, after seven weeks of stringent lockdown restrictions, adults in spain are now allowed out of their homes to exercise. but strict timetables are being enforced detailing who is allowed outside

and at what time, based on age groups, and, on monday, face masks on public transport will be made compulsory throughout spain. here in the uk, more than 6,500 people have signed up for a trial to see if blood plasma from covid—i9 survivors can treat hospital patients who are ill with the virus. another 370 people have died in hospitals in england after testing positive for coronavirus, according to the latest daily figures. and an additional 44 people have died in hospitals and care homes in wales after testing positive for the disease. that figure the same in scotland, but the scottish government has warned that figure is likely an underestimate. more detailed uk—wide figures including deaths in care homes and the community will be released later this afternoon. and in some happier news, borisjohnson and carrie symonds have named their newborn baby boy wilfred lawrie nicholasjohnson. a tribute to the pair's grandparents, as well as

the hospital staff who saved the prime minister's life when he was hospitalised with coronavirus just weeks ago. with more on today's developments in spain, this report from our correspondent, damian grammaticas. 0nto empty streets, tentatively, spaniards began emerging today, released from 48 days of confinement. then the numbers began to swell. adults first, allowed out to take a walk, to exercise for the first time in weeks. until now, the only acceptable reasons for leaving your home were to buy food or go to the chemist. this is fantastic. it's amazing. the first time i arrived with my bike this morning, it was incredible, really incredible. i'ts the fresh air in your face. translation: i think it's all crazy. the first day that you give yourself a little freedom and i don't see

any social distancing. i see people i've never seen before. i live next door and when they said one kilometre and i went a kilometre away, i didn't think i would find 1000 people like that, running around like nothing happened. translation: everyone does what they want. if people want to catch it, let them catch it. but this will mean that in 15 or 20 days, we will all be locked up at home again. amazing, yes, the truth is that i felt this is going a bit too fast, everything that is happening. but i still have to admit that this is amazing. some clearly wanted to capture the moment. for others, just being out in the sunshine was a relief. then, at ten in the morning, it all changed. adults back indoors so the elderly could have two hours to themselves. and, after midday, children. spain is giving different age groups specific time outdoors to limit the chances the most vulnerable can catch the virus.

with this relaxation, spain's government is dipping a cautious toe in the waters to see what happens. if virus cases continue to trend downwards, there will be more easing in the coming days. if they surge up again, well, then then lockdown will come back. damian grammaticas, bbc news, valencia. i'm joined now by our political correspondent, chris mason. you are dashing shortly to ask a question at the press conference, which is due to start, so two questions. let's start with what we might hear today. robert jenrick will be in front of one of the lectins and drjenny harries will be there as well, the chief medical 0fficerfor england, there as well, the chief medical officer for england, so there as well, the chief medical 0fficerfor england, so i think there will be a focus for robert jenrick on his brief, communities and local government. he has been at the heart of the plan to ensure that people who are shielding and need support, packages, are receiving them. that has been a vast effort on

behalf of the government, with the armed forces involved as well. it will be interesting to hear from armed forces involved as well. it will be interesting to hearfrom dr jenny holmes around testing, but the next stage, because there has been a huge focus on the testing target, 100,000 tests per day and all the arguments about whether it was met 01’ arguments about whether it was met or not. i think the coming challenge for the government, and it will be intriguing to see if they flash this out in any way, is how they use that expansion of capacity, and it has expanded exponentially, in the context of tracking and tracing. this is the idea that, once you get beyond the point of the current lockdown and there is some easing of restrictions, how do you focus that testing on clusters of cases that might emerge to ensure that they remain isolated and you don't get widespread spreading of the virus ain? widespread spreading of the virus again? part of that is recruiting this army of tracers and testers who will do a lot of that work, and there is also talk of an app been developed to ensure there can be

communication anonymously between people who might have got the symptoms to try and work out who they have been in contact with and therefore you also might soon be symptomatic. those are two things i will be intrigued to see if the two people in front of the lectins shortly will address. we know boris johnson will not be there today because he is at home with his baby boy, and we now know that little boy, and we now know that little boy, not winston, as some might have thought, but wilfred. wilfred lawrie nicholasjohnson. we have a picture which was put on instagram by kerry symons, borisjohnson‘s which was put on instagram by kerry symons, boris johnson's fiance. which was put on instagram by kerry symons, borisjohnson‘s fiance. my project expertise is limited, but there is quite a striking shock of blondejohnson hair on the top of wilfred's head. not only a lot of hairfora wilfred's head. not only a lot of hairfor a newborn, but it is blonde as well, so very much maintaining thejohnson as well, so very much maintaining the johnson family tradition as well, so very much maintaining

thejohnson family tradition as as well, so very much maintaining the johnson family tradition as far as the hair is concerned. as far as the names go, wilfred, his first name, he is named after one of boris johnson's grandfathers. lawrie is after one of carrie's grandfathers, and nicholas is a tribute to two doctors who carrie symonds described as saving boris's life in his recent stay in intensive care at saint thomas is hospital in london. there we re thomas is hospital in london. there were also thanks from carrie symonds to university college london hospital and their maternity services, and they will be living in the flat above number 11, which is where prime ministers tend to live, despite that being the chancellor's official home, and there has been the patter of tiny feet in there in recent yea rs the patter of tiny feet in there in recent years before, because the camerons had baby florence, who spent her early years in the flat above number 11, spent her early years in the flat above number11, and spent her early years in the flat above number 11, and the blairs had baby leo, who is now no longer a baby, as you can imagine. so he knows —— who knows what bits and

bobs of baby paraphernalia might in the cupboards? thank you for those thoughts, and i'll let you get going to ask your questions. thank you, chris. doctors in london say they have enough blood plasma donated by survivors of covid—19 to test it as a treatment for 148 patients. more than 6,5000 people have registered interest in taking part in the trial. —— more than 6500 people. let's talk now to catherine briggs. she developed covid—19 in mid—march and was contacted by nhs blood and transplant to ask if she could donate plasma. catherine, tell me more about your part in the trial? i should say, you are a doctor as well. tell us about your experience the virus. i contracted it in mid—march. i had about two weeks of feeling pretty rotten, five days of flu—like symptoms, which started to improve andi flu—like symptoms, which started to improve and i thought i was getting better, but then i started getting severe temperatures and low oxygen

levels, and it continued with breathlessness for about seven days after that before i started feeling better and able to return to work. you are a gp, i understand. how are your colleagues on the front line and those you are speaking to and your patients? what are the biggest challenges at the moment and how are they coping? in general practice, we are adapting to a different way of working with lots of telephone and video consultations, and i have got patients who are ever so scared, and we try and reassure and reinforce the message we are open, but also having video consultations so people don't have to come in. but we are encouraging people to come in if needed, because there is obviously the concern people are ignoring other symptoms or putting things down to covid that might be other things, so we want to emphasise we are open. and you can empathise over

the phone, having had this yourself. tell us a bit more about this trial to stop i'm intrigued to get your perspective, both from a medical perspective, both from a medical perspective and also personally. how did you get involved?” perspective and also personally. how did you get involved? i was content by the blood and transplant service then registered for the covid app and asked to give plasma, which i was keen to do. it feels like a real honour, after having the illness, to be able to get something positive out of it. i am excited to be able to do that. can you tell me again what you asked me after that? just in terms of how it is expected really to work and what we can hope to expect. obviously, having had an infection, generate your own antibodies to fight infections in the future, so hopefully i now have a good load of those antibodies that iam a good load of those antibodies that i am creating my own immunity for,

but the thinking of them is that those antibodies can be used for people in convalescent plasma, so i think it will be plasma which can be given to somebody else who is poorly in hospital to hopefully improve their recovery, and that is what is being researched. and a lovely thing to be able to do. definitely, a huge honour, having got through the on this myself. it was scary at the time, andi this myself. it was scary at the time, and i know what that feels like, and so, yeah, just very excited to do that. how confident do you feel now, having had covid—19, in terms of your own future? i don't know if you have a family or children, in terms of being reinfected? as far as i can see, there is still confusion around this, even though you might have the antibodies for this particular strain. yes. it's so uncertain, and i don't think i know any more than anybody else. hopefully, it will be

long—lived immunity and research will be able to tell us more about that. i am will be able to tell us more about that. iam hoping will be able to tell us more about that. i am hoping that myself and my family have had the illness and are 110w family have had the illness and are now immune, but we will have to wait and see. thank thank you so much for joining us, and i am glad you are able to take part and that you are well and able to join us. our health correspondent can add to some of that. how much difference could this trial make? in terms of taking critically ill patients and making them better, it's going to be invaluable, but this is still a trial. it's still about seeing whether it works. it's very early stages, as you heard the doctor saying there. it's about taking plasma, yellow liquid which is part of our blood, an odd colour, and filtering it out and taking those antibodies that people who have had covid—19 have generated and seeing whether they could be useful and used by those who are critically ill

in hospital. how long will it take to get meaningful results? in hospital. how long will it take to get meaningful results7m in hospital. how long will it take to get meaningful results? it will ta ke to get meaningful results? it will take time for the people taking part have to have recovered for at least 28 days before they can donate, and thenit 28 days before they can donate, and then it will begin to slowly introduce to various patients, and patients have to hit the correct criteria to have this plasma given to them, and then they will need to build up enough evidence so they can say for certainty whether or not it works. and presumably, if it's positive, it has to be scaled up, andi positive, it has to be scaled up, and i imagine there is a question over that and a timescale. they are confident they will be able to do this for thousands of patients every week when the time comes, they will be thinking about that at this stage but at the moment it's more important to prove whether the treatment works. in chemical and there is news in the us today about use of the antiviral drug remdesivir. what can you tell us about that?

it's been given what is called emergency approval, not full approval, and this has been given by the fda, which has nojurisdiction in the uk. it means at the moment that, in certain situations, for severely ill hospitalised patients, they can be given this drug remdesivir, and what is been shown to do ina remdesivir, and what is been shown to do in a trial scenario is reduce the amount of time that patients are in hospitalfor, usually by the amount of time that patients are in hospital for, usually by about four days. hesitations about this drug. experts say it's not a magic bullet to coronavirus. but it is something that hospitals which are under pressure, particularly in those problematic areas where coronavirus isa problematic areas where coronavirus is a huge issue, it is something they will be looking to maybe use more to try and help. it is palpable in terms of vaccine and the trial is going on, there is such a rush. can you give us the picture in terms of where we are? i am keeping an eye on

downing street, as we speak, but we hope to hear more about testing today. if we are going to get the big picture view, we need to understand more about the antibody tests which seem to have gone away a little bit. we are focused on people with symptoms. if you can give me that big picture view, because i am aware we may hear more about the testing today in this press conference. the important thing is every day that passes... and as i have said that, i am going to stop you because we can see robert jenrick and jenny harries. good afternoon and welcome to the coronavirus press conference from downing street and i am joined by dr jenny harries, the deputy chief medical officer for england. today's data shows 1,000,120 tests for

coronavirus have been carried out in the united kingdom. including 105,937 the united kingdom. including 105, 937 tests the united kingdom. including 105,937 tests carried out yesterday. 182,260 people have tested positive. that is an increase of 4806 cases since yesterday. 14,695 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus. that is down 15,111 from the previous day. sadly, of those tested positive, for coronavirus across all settings, 28,131 have now died. that is an increase of 621 fatalities since

yesterday. these are heartbreaking losses for every family affected and all our thoughts and prayers are with theirfamilies all our thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends. jenny will provide an update on the latest data on coronavirus, but, first, as communities secretary, i wa nt to first, as communities secretary, i want to update on steps we are taking to protect some of the most vulnerable people in society. as the prime minister set out this week, we have now passed the peak of the virus. he will provide more details on how we will address the second phase of this battle next week. we know that the restrictive measures as are necessary and as life—saving as are necessary and as life—saving as they are, are difficult for everyone. all of you watching at home this afternoon have made

sacrifices. big and small. i want to thank you once again for all that you are doing. you are helping us as a country to turn the tide on the virus. but some in our society, for some in our society, these measures involve sacrifices that none of us would wish anyone to bear. for victims of domestic abuse, it means being trapped in a nightmare. the true evil of domestic abuse is it leaves vulnerable people, including children, living in fear in the very place where they should feel most safe and secure. inside their own home. though domestic violence can leave physical marks, the true extent of the inflicted pain is much deeper than those marks. it can be

invisible. these are emotional scars and scars that for some will never heal. and which can even pass to the next generation, whose younger eyes see things they never should and hear things that none of us would wish our children to witness. as a father of three girls, i cannot even imagine women and young children being put in this situation, but they are. we must be alive to the reality of what is happening in all too many homes across the country. i wa nt too many homes across the country. i want us to defend the rights of those women and those children wherever we can, and that is what we are going to do. this is not a crime inflicted solely on women. it affects men also. this government has already prioritised tackling domestic abuse. the domestic abuse

bill, which had its second reading last week, is a landmark piece of legislation, which will create the legal definition of domestic abuse. this is important, because it holds those responsible to account. it gives those suffering at the hands of others more confidence that action will be taken and perpetrators brought to justice. today, i can confirm that through the domestic abuse bill, the government will also be ensuring the victims of domestic violence get the priority status they need to access local housing services much more easily. this is a fully funded commitment which will mean no victim has to make the unbearable choice between staying somewhere that they know is unsafe or becoming homeless.

this government has been clear that we are determined to break the silence that surrounds victims, to stamp out the stigma and to strengthen our support for survivors. we have announced an extra £15 million to strengthen our support. and an extra £16 million is going directly to refugee services. we recognise the extra pressures created due to covid—19. and that that necessitates more support. while the necessary social distancing measures remain in place, it is harder than before for victims of domestic abuse to reach out to their friends, of domestic abuse to reach out to theirfriends, family, of domestic abuse to reach out to their friends, family, to of domestic abuse to reach out to theirfriends, family, to colleagues and two neighbours for support they

urgently need. today i can announce a package of over £76 million in new funding to support the most vulnerable in society during the pandemic. this funding will help charities, support survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. it will support vulnerable children and theirfamilies support vulnerable children and their families and it will support victims of modern slavery. this additional support will ensure more safe s pa ces additional support will ensure more safe spaces and accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse and their children, and the recruitment of additional councillors for victims of sexual violence. and this funding will also help front line charities to be able to offer different ways of supporting those in need. including virtual or phone —based services. we know that some refugees have had to reduce or even

to cancel the services they would wa nt to to cancel the services they would want to provide during the pandemic. dash refuges. and to continue to help those that desperately need support. i would like to say a word of thanks to domestic abuse charities who are doing so much at this time to help so many people. the women's aid refuge in my constituency is one example and i would like to thank marlene and her amazing team in newark. people like that do incredible work and deserve our thanks and gratitude now more than ever before. where refuges do not have enough capacity to support those in need during the pandemic, some have asked if they can use hotels or other accommodation nearby

ona hotels or other accommodation nearby on a temporary basis. for example as a move on accommodation where they judge it safe to do so. we will work with refuges to make this option available if they judge with refuges to make this option available if theyjudge it to be the right one where it is necessary. and thank you also to pharmacies such as boots, who are providing safe space for victims of domestic abuse in some of their shops and are trading more staff to be able to support those people when they come into stores, so they can safely provide support and contact services for help and advice. and for victims of domestic abuse watching at home this afternoon, let me say once again that you are not alone. you do not have to stay at home. you can and

should leave the home if you are in danger. victims should call 999, if in an emergency, or, if you are in danger and unable to talk, call 999 and then press 55. our outstanding police will be there for you. they will help you. if you need support, please call the national domestic abuse helpline. 0n please call the national domestic abuse helpline. on 0808 2000 247 at any time. we have also been working with councils and charities to protect those sleeping on our streets, a group we know are particularly vulnerable to covid—19. we set out to bring people in from the streets. so far, more than 5400

rough sleepers known to councils have been offered safe accommodation injust under a have been offered safe accommodation in just under a month. have been offered safe accommodation injust undera month. ensuring have been offered safe accommodation injust under a month. ensuring that some of the most vulnerable people can stay safe during the pandemic. it means over 90% of rough sleepers known to councils have been offered accommodation where they can self—isolate in safety during the crisis. this country is now viewed around the world as having taken one of the most intensive and successful approaches to protecting rough sleepers during the pandemic. this was the right thing to do. by working with charities, local councils, churches, faith groups and volunteers, we have helped protect thousands of lives. i am extremely grateful to everybody who has been involved in this phenomenal national effort. today, iam

involved in this phenomenal national effort. today, i am announcing that dame louise casey, who is leading a review into rough sleeping and advising the government on ending it within this parliament, has been appointed to spearhead this new government initiative. she will lead a new task force. in this role, she will oversee our national effort to ensure the thousands of rough sleepers now in safer accommodation continue to receive the physical and mental support they need while they self—isolate during the pandemic. she will work hand—in—hand with councils and other groups across the country to plan how we can ensure that as many people as possible can move into the long—term sustainable and safe accommodation that they

deserve once the pandemic is over. we are determined that as few people as possible return to life on the streets. i can think of nobody better than louise to help us to achieve this. this is a major challenge and i do not pretend that the second phase will be easy, all that we will succeed in every case. but we will apply the same energy and commitment and determination to this national effort as we did to the first. i am certain that the charities, councils, volunteers, the people across the country who have achieved so much in the past month will do the same job again. third, and in closing, i would like to update you on our shielding programme. for those who have been identified by the nhs is being

extremely clinically vulnerable due to underlying health conditions, 1.8 million people in england alone, they have been asked to stay at home with no face—to—face contact outside of their household except for their carers. for those of the people in this group who do not have family or friends to support them, we have offered to provide a basic weekly package of food and essentials. i am delighted to say today that we expect the 1,000,000,000th shielded package will be delivered in the next few days. this service is entirely without precedent. nothing on this scale has been attempted in this country at least since the second world war. i am incredibly proud of the team who have helped us to deliver it. i have loved reading

e—mails i received from people who have the boxes and seeing the photographs posted on social media. isaid at photographs posted on social media. i said at the start of the process that there are many people who we are to stay at home for a prolonged period as a result of the virus, not least in the shielded category. but that we as a government and as a country are determined that they may be alone at home, but they should not feel that they are on their own. you are not alone and you never will be. thank you very much. earlier in the week the prime minister made it very clear that we had passed the peak of the epidemic in the uk, but also that we had a lot of work still to do, and in the data that i am going to present today, which shows all the hard work

that everyone at home has been continuing to do, we still do need to keep in mind that we have five tests that we need to apply for adjusting the lockdown. the first one of these is that the nhs has sufficient capacity to provide critical care and specialist treatment right across the uk, and we will look at the data shortly. secondly, a sustained and consistent fall in daily deaths from coronavirus. thirdly, we need to have reliable data to show that the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels across the board, and the increased testing capacity now and the new prevalence testing will all add to our ability to understand infection rates across the uk. fourthly, there are operational challenges, including maintaining that testing and in the ppe, and these are all in hand, with a supply able to meet future demand.

but i think the fifth one is the one we all need to keep in mind as we go forward. we have to be confident that any of the adjustments to the current measures, which have worked so current measures, which have worked so well to help everyone keep safe and to manage the peak and keep the nhs working through, but those current measures need to be very carefully adjusted in order that we do not risk a second peak of infections that overwhelms the nhs. next slide, please. so how have we been doing? we have often seen the transport use change, and i know we have had a little bit of concern, perhaps, that motor vehicle usage has flipped up a little bit, but we know from other evidence that, in fa ct, know from other evidence that, in fact, the number of social interactions has stayed very low stop the fact that the rh, the transition rate of the disease is down, suggest that all of these fit

together, so a very significant drop in transport use, accompanied by very good adherence to social distancing. next slide, please. as you can see here, and as the secretary of state has said, we have had a massive increase in daily testing, and you can see that, as we have gone forward, so over 105,000 tests in the last 24 hours up to 9am this morning. that will continue and, if we look at the next slide, we can see how that is now planning out between the nhs testing in blue and the orange testing, which is the growth in the wider testing capacity. obviously, as that number of cases requiring clinical care in our hospitals drops down, and you can see that in blue, the orange testing pillars are rising up. that

is despite the fact that actually, in the nhs, all patients coming in to the nhs now are being tested, so there is likely to be a drop off because of the reduction in the numberof because of the reduction in the number of positive cases, but there will then start to be a bit of an increase again in our blue pillars as we consistently test through hospitals. next slide, please. this is the slide, i think, which makes it very clear what has happened with our nhs capacity. this is a slide of the numberof our nhs capacity. this is a slide of the number of people in hospital with covid—19, and you can see that, over the last week, the number has actually decreased byjust over 13%, and london, which was clearly very significantly affected, has come back down to the sort of levels which are seen in other areas. of course, that never means that people on the front line are not continuing

to have to work really hard, but it does demonstrate that the pressure on the nhs is now moving down, and we recognise that in the fact that some nhs services are now planning to ramp back up again. next slide, please. again, this reinforces that message, so the most sick patients will require critical care, and this is our critical care beds use with covid—19 patients, and again, in all countries of the uk, we have seen the rise is the peak in the epidemic has moved on, and those case numbers are now starting to come down. next slide, please. and then these are the sad deaths associated with covid—19 and, as we are now reporting, these are across all settings. the blue bars are the daily totals, and i think we are very familiar now with the fact that

sometimes those individual totals can be recognised, the delay in some of the report on, but the orange line, the seven—day rolling average, gives us an indication ofjust how the death rate is now starting to come down, very gradually slowly, and it's really important that we continue to practice social distancing and watch that come down still further. next slide. finally, with all the difficulties that we have of comparing data globally, the uk data in black is all settings, so this is as comparable as we can get with other countries. eventually, we will look back and see how that compares with different mortality statistics but, for the time being, i think that gives an indication of where the uk is, and hopefully that thatis where the uk is, and hopefully that that is now starting to flatten out. thank you. thank you, jenny. the

first question is from a member of the public and it's from ashley from yorkshire. this question will be shown in a short video. the who re ce ntly shown in a short video. the who recently suggested that people who have recovered from covid—19 might not be immune to a second infection. what evidence is there to suggest that people can catch covid—19 twice and how would a vaccine change this? thank you. thank you, ashley. quite a compensated answer, and i will try and summarise. i think the who position is very similar to the one we would have, which basically says that we actually don't have enough information yet to be very clear on the immune status. we know that some people will have different status. we would normally expect to see some sign of immunity about ten to 12 days after an infection, then a consistent pattern about 28 days but

there is sometimes a delay in different individuals and we need to study this really carefully as we go forward. our testing policy and the development of new antibody tests will help us do that. i think there is some good news and some not so good news. for example, in the elderly, we know that antibody responses can be quite problematic. they tend not to respond as well, so this is clearly a vulnerable group. for them, we sometimes have to make different preparations or pay particular attention to vaccination policies. but i think we are also starting to see, with some very small pieces of evidence now from people in this country, who have had covid—19, and we know they have been tested positive and we have looked for the antibodies, that a very large percentage of these who have otherwise been pretty well do actually have quite a good response. how long that is going to last and whether it willjust provide

antibody response for one season, say, or two or three years ahead, we don't know, so still lots of uncertainty, but still a lot of positive hope for a vaccine. thank you, jenny. the second question from the public is from paul in the east midlands, and this question is, the trestle trust have an 81% increase in food parcels to those in desperate need in the last two weeks of march alone. what more will the government do to help those who are already in the design to sugar in dire need, which has been made because of coronavirus. it's a good question from paul. we know that the impact of the virus affects us all, it is indiscriminate, but some groups of society are affected, particularly seriously. so the response the government has taken has been to try and support all of those in society. i have already spoken about those we have asked to

be shielded because of specific clinical conditions, underlying health issues before the advent of the virus. those individuals have access,if the virus. those individuals have access, if they need it, to the food parcels delivered centrally by government. i am also working as local government secretary with local councils, who have done a fantastic job of bringing local councils, who have done a fantasticjob of bringing together community groups, faith groups and volu nteers community groups, faith groups and volunteers in different parts of the country to ensure that other vulnerable people, the elderly, for example, can get food and medicines and essential supplies that they might need, even if they are not technically within the shielded category and there are hundreds of thousands of food parcels and other supplies being delivered by them every day all over the country and, if people want to volunteer to support those efforts, i'd encourage you to get in touch with your local council, which has probably set up a hub to organise that work, or to go

on to the good samaritan app, which you can see opportunities to volunteer being posted on. and then, of course, through our economic response, we have set out to try and help as many people as we can, through thejob help as many people as we can, through the job retention scheme to try and ensure that those people who are in work can retain the essential link with their company so that they can get paid and can return to work when we start to ease the lockdown measures and the economy can bounce back as quickly as possible, for those who already were in the welfare system we have tried to make that more generous in a number of different ways to universal credit and the local housing allowance, for example. and there are other ways that we can take action as well. i have set out today a number of ways in which we are trying to support particularly vulnerable groups, such as rough sleepers on our streets,

and we have made some significant progress on that but some of those groups will need consistent support and care from us as a government, from local councils and from society in the weeks ahead and then, obviously, in the future, we want to ensure we emerge from this crisis as strongly as we can and support those people to begin to rebuild the economy and peoples lives more generally. i'm going to turn to the first question from the media, and thatis first question from the media, and that is from chris mason from the bbc. good afternoon. good afternoon, secretary of state and dr harris. a question for each of you, please. we are hearing a lot about the potential listening of the lockdown in the coming weeks for many people but, as you have touched on, there area but, as you have touched on, there are a good number of people who are shielding who are contemplating many more months potentially of being stuck at home. most would acknowledge the unprecedented nature

of what you have done so far, but i wa nt to of what you have done so far, but i want to put long—term plans they're off to help those people out, not just in terms of the provision of food but also their health and general wellbeing and a question for dr harris. a request for an update on track and trace, if i may, in turn in the context of the scaling up turn in the context of the scaling up of testing capacity. i wonder how many daily tests you will need for the track and tracing in a few weeks to be able to be fully operational and where we are in terms of an update on the staff that are being trained at the extent to which that system needs to be fully up and running before we will see any noticeable shift in easing the restrictions around lockdown. ifi restrictions around lockdown. if i answer the question firstly about those people who have asked to be shielded, and it's a good question, because we now have 1.8 million people in england alone who, for clinical reasons, are extremely vulnerable to coronavirus, have asked to stay at home and, when we

initially did that, which began five weeks ago, we said it would be for a minimum of 12 weeks, which was a very significant amount of time, and we appreciate the huge emotional impact that has on people, not having access to friends and family and the outside world, as well as the practicalities. we have tried to support people with the practical steps to stop for those people without access to family or neighbours nearby they can, if they need, at our food neighbours nearby they can, if they need, at ourfood boxes neighbours nearby they can, if they need, at our food boxes delivered. we are now delivering 300,000 of those every week. we appreciate that isa those every week. we appreciate that is a fairly rudimentary service, so we have also helped those people by sharing that data with major supermarket chains so, if those people would prefer not to receive our food boxes, they people would prefer not to receive ourfood boxes, they can people would prefer not to receive our food boxes, they can get privileged deliveries from their supermarket of choice. it the nhs is also trying to help them get access to medicine they

would ordinarily rely on. and local councils are also being shared the data on who those people are within their local community, so they can step in and provide more support and more tailored support to those people. so if you have particular medical or dietary requirements and the boxes do not suit you, councils can step in and provide a better quality of service to those people. we are encouraging councils to begin a check in and chat service so we get as many of those people as possible phoned up usually by volu nteers possible phoned up usually by volunteers or sometimes council staff to make sure they are ok and getting supplies and if there is anything else they need we can step in and do that. there is concern about mental health for people can find at home a long period of time, particularly those people with no one else in their household so we are working with charities who have

expertise to try to support those individuals. i think there is a question about what we do next. we are thinking about what further steps we can provide to people if they are asked to stay at home for a longer period than they already have and whether there is more we can do to ensure they get the support they need. jenny, is there anything you would like to add? picking up the shielded group, from a clinical perspective, when the pandemic came to the uk, we had limited evidence and we have used first principles to understand who we thought would be most at risk. as time goes on, we get more evidence from overseas and treating patients and some of that evidence we are seeing differential clinical conditions, notjust respiratory conditions but issues to do with the immune system and with

clotting for example. we are also having a stronger trial process, looking at drugs that might be useful and some of the things are giving slightly perverse answers. for example a drug an individual might take for severe arthritis, which you would expect to suppress their immune system, might be helpful in the mode of action in covid—19. in brief, we are trying to review that because we recognise that asking somebody to stay shielded for their own protection for a long period, and it may be several months, is a difficult thing to do, so we are looking at those risks again. now that we have more information, to build a more stratified picture, and the second is that working with nhs england, looking at what clinical need these people may have and how services could be adapted over a longer

period, including things like mental health services to people at home, or how one can safely and consistently provide virtual services to this group and at which point you should ask them to come into a clinical setting. both the longer term clinical management and the risk. that probably helps that. track and trace, clearly we will wa nt track and trace, clearly we will want to be testing this in a small way before rolling it out. i think there are still a number of uncertainties, all of which are under consideration. very exciting in the sense that for those who do not understand the principles clearly, if somebody has symptoms, they take themselves out of society, but anyone who has been in contact with them in a safe data managed way, using a phone app, will be

alerted. there are key points. the testing that you highlighted, clearly we want quick tests, we do not want to ask contacts to stay isolated for a long period, if the initial person who triggered the alarm actually turns out not to have covid. also an issue is that not everybody will be able to operate a digital system so elderly people are unlikely perhaps and also less likely to use a mobile phone app, so it needs to be a hybrid system. you highlighted contact tracing. it can sound simple but we need to look forwards and backwards. we need to ask a lot of questions. i think public health england have said they are looking for around 3000 clinical staff and 15,000 tracing staff. that discussion is on and there are

experienced people already in public health teams and local authorities working under directors of public health and to get this up and running at scale, is another significant task. but a lot of preparation under way. thank you. the next question comes from itv. did chris want to follow up? i think you try to follow up. i did not hear. if you want chris.|j appreciate the courtesy. you talked about thinking about what further steps around helping for shielding. can you elaborate on what they might be? and that seemed a long list of things before track and trace can be up things before track and trace can be up and running, is it a long way off? for the shielded, a priority is to ensure those who want to move our

food boxes onto privileged access from supermarkets can do so and supermarkets are doing great work in increasing capacity to do delivery services. as capacity rises, we will have more options to help the shielded to get access to services. we would like to do more for people's mental health working with charities such as mind, who have the expertise. and we are working with local councils to check in with people more often. if there is more we need to do and more bespoke services, particularly for the most vulnerable, obviously we will do. there is a broad range of people in the shielded category. it is not all the shielded category. it is not all the elderly, there are younger people, there are children in that category living with their parents. we will need to come up with more tailored answers if the shielding

programme is to continue for a longer period, so we are looking at different types and groups in shielding and what in particular those without family and friends to support them might need if it is going to be sustainable. you asked about the time period, yes and no. for a whole population we need the whole population to work with us. it is an exciting adventure, a bit like social distancing, everybody has to do it to get it to work. on the example of how people have worked on social distancing, i am sure it will be successful but if we want everyone to do it we have to be sure it will work and so the short question is, we need the answers, but we need to trial it and we will do that very soon. i hope that a nswe rs do that very soon. i hope that answers your questions. dan. good afternoon, rolls—royce answers your questions. dan. good afternoon, rolls— royce is answers your questions. dan. good afternoon, rolls—royce is the latest business from the aerospace industry we understand could cut thousands of

jobs with the british workforce bearing the brunt. given we have seenjob cuts bearing the brunt. given we have seen job cuts from british airways and ryanair announcements this week and ryanair announcements this week and the decimation of the aviation industry, what more is the government prepared to do to help this industry? and a question to jenny harries, could you define what you mean by contact and to what level of contact for someone to then isolate? the aviation industry is an extremely important one strategically for us as a country and one that employs a great deal of people. it is one we want to support in any way we can. we are conscious of the challenges it faces. lockdown in the uk is around the world is posing enormous challenges to it and it is grappling with what the longer term demand for its services might be in an age in which social

distancing will be important and in which business travel for example might be different. we have put in place unprecedented support for businesses and that applies to the aviation and airport sectors the job retention scheme is available to the employers you have listed and i know some are already making use of it. asa some are already making use of it. as a country we pay part of the wages of millions of people now, which is the right thing to do. it is to protect livelihoods and retain the essential link between the employer and the employee, so that when we are able to reopen those parts of the economy, we can hope there is less economic scarring and more can return to their companies and the economy can bounce back. the transport secretary and chancellor are focused on the aviation sector. and i am particularly focused on those parts of the country that rely

on their local airports, such as manchester airport, which plays a key pa rt manchester airport, which plays a key part in its regional economy. if there is more we can do to help them through a difficult period, we will do so. whether it is covid or not, any infectious disease, the traditional way, which is what we will use with an app, to contain the spread of the disease. to identify people who may be at heightened risk and exposure of whatever the infectious agent is. we talk about close contacts but a close contact may vary with an individual disease. if we look at ebola, it is a contact transmission, somebody touches somebody else, body fluids is the prime route of transmission. in this case there is a respiratory risk of transmission and a contact one, which is why we are washing hands as

well. the respiratory route is the prime route into the body and there are a numberof prime route into the body and there are a number of different categories of co nta ct are a number of different categories of contact we would describe as close contact. the primary one is usually people living in the same household and that is why we have self—isolation and family isolation rules, if you are symptomatic. it may be if you have been in an environment such as close face—to—face proximity with someone known to be symptomatic or positive, that also would be a close contact. and the individual would be at heightened risk of disease. the other issue is the time spent with them and how far away your contact with the individual was. whether you are close to them in proximity, but equally, how long ago you met them because if somebody had their disease more than 14 days ago, for

an incubation period, you are probably out of that risk. a number of elements to classify whether you are a close contact. all of them the same underlying principle. what the contact tracing will do on the digital app is identify people in close proximity to a person who declares themselves symptomatic or is positive on testing. it does not solve all issues of contact tracing, which is why we need the army of individuals to follow up with some of these to identify other routes, other risks that could be associated with a positive test. is there anything further you would like to ask? on the rolls-royce question, the chancellor has said that he would consider potentially bespoke support for the aviation industry only as a last resort and i wondered

what that would have to look like before may be the government would consider a specific package beyond the measures announced? both the chancellor and in this case the transport secretary and business secretary are working with all sectors of the economy and i and in my own area of housing and construction, to understand the specific concerns they face and to help to guide them as to what the second phase of the virus might mean, what the second phase of our response might mean in terms of social distancing and when we can begin to reopen the economy. we have tried to design interventions we have brought forward, such as the business loan scheme, to be as helpful as possible to those key sectors, but if there are further steps required i am sure the chancellor and business secretary will think that through in conversation with major employers like rolls—royce. if i could take

the next question from harriet from the next question from harriet from the press association. seroconversion, secretary of state, how will you manage to do a contact testing successfully if not enough people download the app, and will the level of download be keep to a decision when to lift lockdown measures? for dr harris, do you know where people are now getting coronavirus? do you have an estimation of how many of the new cases of front line workers or people in hospital or people picking it up in supermarkets? contact tracing will rely on all of us in society playing our part, but i am optimistic about the prospects for that. this has been a national effort so far. if you think of the different measures we have brought forward , different measures we have brought forward, the restrictions, the vast majority of people have got behind it, andi majority of people have got behind it, and i think they will do again when we are able to launch the app ona when we are able to launch the app on a national scale, and the nhs in this country is particularly dear to

our hearts, so i think there is every reason to believe that the uk of any country will take this seriously and people will download the app and play their part. but the app is one important element of contact tracing, but it's not the only one. there will also be, as jenny has said, the people we will be recruiting to be making contact individuals and those who they come into co nta ct individuals and those who they come into contact with, so it will be a multifaceted strategy with the app at its heart, but with well trained individuals to try and it as well. yes, it's an interesting question. when you have a large number of cases in the community, and we have sustained community transmission, it's perhaps not, well, it's not as easy but it's also if we are asking everybody to stay home, doing individual contact tracing does not happen because people are containing it themselves at home. if you have

highlighted, the combination of digital apps, contact tracing and understanding where pockets of transmission are, that can be potentially contained as we go forward to get us out of the social distancing measures is really important. there are some areas where we know and we will look to see what that is, because we will have community elements, but we also know that clearly many cases will be treated in hospitals, so that is one area where we will look in detail. we also have a very particular focus on social care environments and care homes at the moment. and then, as we get the results from the contact tracing, we will start to understand where the lines, if you like, of transmission are. it's not possible to do that when there are huge numbers of people with the disease in the community but, as we are starting to drop back down, we can follow some of them through, and i

think one of the really exciting things, we understand by a think one of the really exciting things, we understand bya number of different routes, so we have an 055 —— and ons surveillance programme on understanding not just the prevalence of the disease but trying to look at how it spreads within families, so we start to build up a picture of how the virus spreads and communities, but there are also some genomic studies, looking at the whole genome sequence, which allows you to see over time where one individual perhaps has passed the same genomic sequence virus on to the next person, and that is very interesting work. it is still in quite an early phase, and i think we will learn a lot from that. the whole combined means we start to understand disease transmission and, very importantly, how we can contain it going forward. content with that or do you have a follow—up question? on the new cases, you don't have a breakdown of where those people come

from? assumedly they are going to testing centres because they take one of the boxes. do you not have data to show whether they are front line workers? i don't have the data to be able to give that to you at the moment but clearly, as we do more tests as well, we will get more information back from the testing in an anonymized way to understand where the prevalence of disease is heightened, so, yes, absolutely, we do look at this, and there are a numberof do look at this, and there are a number of nosocomial, infection spread in care settings, and also in ca re spread in care settings, and also in care homes, where we are absolutely focusing on that, because we are looking for any opportunities to interrupt transmission and make sure people are kept safe. that's right, and we have a particular focus on ca re and we have a particular focus on care homes and ensuring that the tests are getting to those people who need them there, and that is both the tests delivered to peoples homes, the most accessible way of getting a test, particularly if you area

getting a test, particularly if you are a busy care home worker, but also using mobile units, and so, in scheduling the mobile units' progress around their local areas, we are ensuring that local councils and the local resilience forums play and the local resilience forums play a part so that they come to locations which are accessible to people working in care homes, and more of those units will be available next week, and we will be particularly focused on trying to ensure that notjust capacity is there but that it is actually readily available and accessible to those people who need it the most. an important category of which will be care home workers and residents. thank you. the next question is from toby helm of the observer.l question for the secretary of state festival. it seems like an age ago but it was a few weeks ago that professor whitty was telling us that we we re professor whitty was telling us that we were much more likely to catch coronavirus having a pint with our

mates in the pub then we were to go to an outdoor mass gathering foot ball to an outdoor mass gathering football match. can we take it from that therefore that, as we consider measures to ease the lockdown, that we are likely to see permission given for mass gatherings to resume before we will see permission for pubs to reopen and, if not why not? and a question for dr harris, if i may, following up from my colleague from the press association. can we assume that, for the number of new cases of infection, which are quite high today, that there is a much higher proportion of new cases among front line nhs and care home workers than the general public at large, and does that, what does that tell

us about our feelings in delivering ppe on time to those workers? thank you, toby. ifi ppe on time to those workers? thank you, toby. if i answer first before handing over to jenny, the you, toby. if i answer first before handing over tojenny, the prime minister has said that, now that we have passed the peak of the virus, it is the right time for us to begin to consider how we should be responding as a country in the next phase, and he is going to be setting out next week in more detail our thinking in that area. to informal advice him across government, we have been thinking about different settings, whether that is in the workplace, on public transport, in schools or outdoors, what sorts of steps might members of the public, families or employers take to ensure that those settings are as safe as possible when it is right to ease the restrictions in those particular settings? the very strong advice

todayis settings? the very strong advice today is that that moment has not yet come and that members of the public watching this afternoon should continue to stick to our message, which is to stay at home, protect the nhs and, by doing that, to save peoples lives, but you are right to say, and jenny can give her medical opinion to this, that the rate of transmission is significantly less outdoors than indoors, and so, when it is right to ease lockdown measures that will be a factor we will take into consideration, but obviously there is an interconnectedness between that and other things, like public transport, which make this more complex, and that is the type of analysis that is now being done across government, informed by sage and medical experts, so that the prime minister is in the right position to make those decisions at the right time. thank you. it's

probably quite a helpful example for explaining to people these apparent discrepancies in advice or understanding. the real trick in your question is whether you go to the outdoor event via the pub or whether you leave the pubjourney out of it. the virus itself will not survive as long in the outdoors. ultra violet, all sorts of things. so, generally, outdoor environments are safer and you will see from a lot of her advice people who are inside, we suggest they open the windows and let fresh air in. so, generally, outdoor environments are safer. but it depends how you go to your outdoor environment and what your outdoor environment and what you do. so, if you go as a family unit and sit in one place and you have got the same exposure there that you would in your house at home, that is probably quite a safe environment. if you go with a whole load of friends that you haven't

seen from before the coronavirus lockdown, you sit in a pub in a very small environment, you lean well over each other and to the table and stay there for some hours face—to—face, that's really not a good thing to do, and i think sometimes will get confused with the activities that they do before the event and the event itself. the other example is people piling into ca rs other example is people piling into cars together, and that is a potentially high risk. if it is your family unit, you are as exposed as you would be at home but, if you pick up all your mates on the way to the event, not a good thing at all. so don't go to the pub on the way is probably the one. but i recognise everybody is wanting to do that. you we re everybody is wanting to do that. you were talking about new cases and the proportion. as a doctor, if i go to work ina proportion. as a doctor, if i go to work in a clinical environment, i recognise that my risk generally, whether it be covid or other diseases, is higher, simply because we are treating patients with illnesses. and we do recognise that

there will be some transmission potentially within health care settings, and that does apply, and i we are starting to see very strong evidence both internationally but also specific initial studies we have done in this country around ca re have done in this country around care homes, which is why we have such a strong focus on care homes, and there is an issue in care homes, and there is an issue in care homes, a particular issue, because the residents themselves may not show the same symptoms that we might have and may not show them as early as younger people so, yes, we do expect to have high rates and, yes, there are studies ongoing. clearly, if infection prevention and control measures in health care environments are not good, and that is notjust about ppe. ppe is is an important pa rt of about ppe. ppe is is an important part of it and we need the ppe at the front line, but it's also about systematic processes of managing

infection, because, when we are using ppe, it sits on this background of continuously watching your hands, disposing of things safely, so ppe is an important element, but it will not be the only one, and we are looking at different health care settings to see if we can identify where there are particular risks. there is quite a lot of variation. toby, would you like to ask a follow—up question? just quickly, to the secretary of state, could we therefore, would it be right to assume that we might expect greater and faster relaxation of outdoor socialising rules than indoor socialising rules? we will be setting out our thoughts next week on that, so i can't go into much further detail on that for you now, but obviously we will be guided by the scientific evidence and, as you have heard from jenny and myself, there is evidence that outdoor

settings are better but it's highly interconnected with other factors, asjenny interconnected with other factors, as jenny elaborated interconnected with other factors, asjenny elaborated very interconnected with other factors, as jenny elaborated very well, including how you get there and whether you are mixing with people outside your own household, so it's not quite as simple as it might seem at first glance. for now, as the measures are certainly still in place, we are very focused on, are there safe things we can do which make the lockdown more bearable and livable for people? they are often outdoor activities. we have worked ha rd to outdoor activities. we have worked hard to ensure that all parks are open, and all except a handful are now open in the country, and people can visit cemeteries and graveyards to see their loved ones‘ graves, and that, for example, you can go and visit the local tip and take your rubbish and recycling their as long as you do so safely only with your household and observing social distancing measures. the more things we can do that make lockdown more bearable and socially just,

we can do that make lockdown more bearable and sociallyjust, we will do. thank you. the next question is david williamson from the sunday express. thank you. secretary of state, how seriously is the government investigating the idea that china may have been less than transparent when coronavirus first appeared if it is shown that this hampered efforts to prevent a global pandemic, will britain be at the forefront of a bid to claim billions in reparations? at the moment, as you would expect, we are 100% focused on trying to tackle coronavirus. that is what all parts of government, as with many other people across the country, are focused on, and that is the right to do. there will come a time when we will want to analyse the origins of the virus in detail and consider the actions of other countries, but that is not now. the task for us as a

government now is to ensure that we get the united kingdom through the virus as best as we possibly can, and to work internationally with our friends and partners who want to come together, whether that is on vaccine research, and we are one of the leading contributors to that, or the leading contributors to that, or the international supply of equipment like ventilators and ppe, which includes very important imports to the uk from china. but we will want to consider what has happened carefully in the future. ifi if i could follow up. polling shows that there is unease about the idea of going back to normal life and it has been suggested perhaps the government campaign has been a little too successful. how would you persuade people to overcome their fear by venturing back into normal life? will the message be a stiff upperlip?

life? will the message be a stiff upper lip? the good news is that the message that was crafted by scientists and leading medics like jenny harries and her colleagues has been listened to by the majority of people across the country, and people across the country, and people adhered to the restrictions, although they were difficult for people‘s lives. we heard earlier 1.8 million people have been asked to stay at home with almost no face—to—face contact outside their household and yet most of those people appear to have done it to protect themselves and the rest of the country. we will think carefully and the prime minister will say more about it next week about how we can approach the next phase of the virus and again we will be guided by medical opinion. i think you heard when the prime minister spoke to the other day that we will be taking a careful and cautious approach to that, because the overriding objective is to ensure the rate of

transmission remains below one and we build in headroom to protect the nhs and ensure it does not get overwhelmed at a later phase by a second peak. as we begin to think in the future about easing those lockdown measures, it will be approached in a careful manner and monitored on each occasion to ensure we are not seeing that rate of transmission rise to an uncontrollable level. and in that way, we will slowly bring the country out of the measures we have been through and a slow return to normality. just to support that, i think. we recognise, a good interview i listen to this morning with a public health professor from edinburgh, ithink, highlighting with a public health professor from edinburgh, i think, highlighting the behavioural aspects, edinburgh, i think, highlighting the behaviouralaspects, being edinburgh, i think, highlighting the behavioural aspects, being in quarantine, tucked away in your own

home has significant psychological effects, but as you highlighted, people need clear messaging to understand when they can come out and to be reassured it is safe and whenever you handle any public health response, it is always critical to consider how people are feeling about it, notjust about critical to consider how people are feeling about it, not just about the science of how the virus gets around. because a lot of the interventions you use are unsuccessful if people are perhaps not familiar with why you are trying to do things and to understand them. we have gone into this managing the peak, the public have been brilliant in following social distancing advice, and we need to make sure we explain the different interventions proposed and why we are doing that, so they can understand and hopefully support it. the last question is

from the sun on sunday. good afternoon, one issue that is raised consta ntly afternoon, one issue that is raised constantly by our readers is children and schools, they are being deprived of education, their parents wonder how they can go back to work, evenif wonder how they can go back to work, even if they are able to return back to work. also, elderly people who fearan to work. also, elderly people who fear an extended lockdown, even when the country starts to return to something like normal. can you give hope to parents of children whose education has been put on hold and also to older people who feel like prisoners in their own home? and on the app you talked about today, i am told it relies on about 80% of people using it but whatsapp, a popular system being used, only has 67% of the population using it and that was set up 11 years ago. so how

will that at work? on the app, there is reason to believe that given the nature of the crisis and given the overwhelming national response from people, so far, that people will get behind it and download it. you can see international examples of countries that have had some success in this area but the uk i think is well positioned because we are both a country that is fairly advanced in terms of technology and, where there is great affection for the nhs, and people want to get behind this. i am optimistic there will be a good response to that. in terms of schools, the secretary of state gavin williamson said we are not today able to give a date to parents for the return of schools. he has

said that will be done carefully and may well be in a phased manner. he is working closely with teachers and schools and the unions to ensure that all of the measures are put in place to begin to plan that when it is the right time to deploy it. we are focused to ensure all children get a good quality of education while at home and i understand that is not easy, particularly when one or both parents are trying to work from home, as well. i have seen anecdotal but important evidence of the differences in the quality of education delivered to different children and some of the most vulnerable children in society appearing to receive less education than those in other households. it is for that reason the education secretary has taken steps such as ensuring households that do not have

internet access can receive connections if they need it. and that children whose parents do not have ta blets that children whose parents do not have tablets or computers available to them can get access to those so they can do online learning. we have created an online learning resource for children and teachers, and we will take further steps we need to. as local government secretary, i am focused on those children who we know are vulnerable and who would otherwise have been supported and monitored in the school setting, but who are now in many cases at home and less visible. local councils are doing a good job trying to maintain contact, and when visits are not possible, phone calls, skype, zoo meetings, to try to have a conversation with their parents or their carers. that is a particular

focus in the days and weeks ahead. on the epidemiology is what you are asking as a background to some of that question. we are continuously in contact, so a lot of clinical colleagues link routinely with specialists in other countries, because at the moment there are different approaches, but we are probably looking at the same evidence and concluding and judging that within our own settings and the social setting may be different as well. what we know for children is that if they get infected, and younger children probably tend to have less clinical disease, and if they show symptoms, they tend to progress less frequently to severe disease, so that is pretty good. the bit that is perhaps in the unknown box, and some of our prevalence

studies will help us understand, is the transmission of disease. the quality of the evidence is quite difficult at the moment, so you should not take this as the truth, but there are some signs, let's put it that way, that potentially younger children, i mean infant, junior school age, are less susceptible to disease and potentially transmit it less, but those are very early indicators and they need testing with proper, robust evidence. one of the things thatis robust evidence. one of the things that is important is older children. i think the evidence is less clear. there may be some biological reasons for that, for the way older children handle disease and going through puberty, for example. what is important about settings is actually

how children interact with communities. it is notjust about the transmission of disease, we need to be thinking about what are the behaviours that go with it. it is a bit like have you been to the pub on the way to the outdoor event? younger children might be in safer settings because, on the whole, parents do not take them so far, they might go in a buggy to the local primary school or whatever it is, whereas older children may travel longer distances. so a number of behavioural issues need to be thought through when we have firm evidence. would you like a follow-up question? elderly people, perhaps, some kind of hope for them. we had a question from a member of the public who said they could not hug their grandchildren, which struck a chord with a lot of people. i am sorry i did not answer your question there. it is very difficult for those people we have asked to stay at

home, both the shielded, the extreme clinical reasons to stay at home, but also the many other people who having taken but also the many other people who having ta ken our advice but also the many other people who having taken our advice have chosen to stay at home. we want to be able to stay at home. we want to be able to offer them the hope that we are getting through this and there will be, in time, a return to normality. the fact we have passed the peak is great, and that is a result of all the hard work people have put in. those working in the nhs and social ca re those working in the nhs and social care on the front line, and the millions who have chosen to stay at home, not least the elderly. from our part in central government, we will do everything to continue to support them, whether through the delivery of food boxes, 1 million delivered already, ensuring they get the medicine they need, ensuring people are phoning them for their mental health. if there are further steps we need to do to make life or

that group more bearable, more humane, then absolutely we will do that. is there anything you would like to add? i think it refers back to the point, if we have more evidence and we can use that perhaps with younger children in transmission, then we can perhaps make different recommendations. it is important that older people, it is important that older people, it is very clear that they are generally at increased risk and particularly with people with specific underlying conditions who have been advised to shield. it is for them to choose, but i think we all want to make sure they stay safe. we are over the peak but we are not out of it and so we advise them to keep taking those precautionary steps. none of us would want restrictions to last a day longer than necessary, but for that group in particular, especially the shielded, it is important for

their own protection. thank you very much. thank you to everybody watching at home this afternoon. studio: we shall leave downing street after a lengthy press conference with a number of diverse questions covering a lot of subjects. robertjenrick the housing minister confirmed there has been an increase of 621 fatalities since yesterday. the uk covid—19 death toll rising by 621, up to 28,131, just short of italy. he also announced £75 million to support victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse and those in modern slavery. we will be catching up much more on all those subjects on bbc news. you have been watching the bbc news special programme. coverage continues now on the bbc news channel and on bbc world news. we‘re back on bbc one in 45 minutes.

you‘re watching the bbc news. let‘s just remind you of some of the main points from the downing street briefing which hasjust finished. it was led by the local government secretary robertjenrick, along with drjenny harries, the deputy chief medical 0fficerfor england. mrjenrick told us that yesterday 621 more people had died with coronavirus in hospitals, care homes and the wider community. this means a total of 28,131 people had died after testing positive for coronavirus in the uk as of 5pm yesterday. on testing, mrjenrick said that 105,937 coronavirus tests have been carried out in the uk on friday.

announcing financial support for victims of domestic violence, he said he wanted to ensure that "no victim of domestic violence has to make the unbearable choice between staying somewhere that they know is unsafe or becoming homeless." this is what robertjenrick said about the funding announced today. while the necessary social—distancing measures and remain in place, it is harder than before for victims of domestic abuse to reach out to their friends, to theirfamily, to to reach out to their friends, to their family, to colleagues and two neighbours for the support that the urgently need. today, i can announce a package of over £76 million in new funding to support the most vulnerable in society during the pandemic. this funding will help charities support survivors of domestic and sexual