to affect the integrity of the competition. on friday, premier league clubs were told that playing the remaining games at neutral grounds will be the only way to complete the season, with up to ten stadiums likely to be chosen to host matches behind closed doors. but brighton's chief executive paul barber says they would "not be in favour" of the proposal. the club's currently two points above the relegation zone with five of their nine remaining games supposed to be played at home. brighton calling for patience. the premier league says it'll only return when it's safe and appropriate to do so. the former manchester united striker andy cole has told us it's crucial the decision isn't rushed. everyone wants to see football back on the tv. i support football, but

ultimately, we are talking about health. we have to do things right. if they believe football can come back, it can come back. up until then, just tough to continue doing exactly what do we are doing. and it should it not come back? do you think liverpool should be given the title? 10096. i think liverpool have proved to be the best team in the premier league this season. me, personally, i don't think there should be any argument. they have proved they have been the best team this season. the newly re—elected chairman of world rugby, bill beaumont, says it'll be difficult for any leagues around the world to complete their seasons any time soon because of the pandemic, including the english premiership. clubs are understood to be looking at a potential return injuly. we have to listen to what the

government is saying. you have seen in france, for instance, where rugby will not be played until september. they have decided their league has closed down now so they will not play. certainly in england there is a hope that they can maybe get the season away. when you listen to advice from the experts, it's going to be tough i think for both domestic and international rugby to resume sooner rather domestic and international rugby to resume sooner rather than later. i think it might be later. while the majority of professional sport around the world may be suspended, there is some action going on. the tennis—point exhibition is continuing in germany. there are no line judges, there is an umpire, no ball boys or ball girls, no handshakes at the end. britain's jan choinsk with the winner here, eventually beat jean—marc

werner in straight sets. the tournament favourite, dustin brown, who's serving here, recorded his fourth win out of five. after taking the opening set 11—2 againstjohannes harteis, brown was made to work harder — eventually winning on a tiebreak. all these players live nearby. and there've been people trying to break world records during lockdown — and one of them is game of thrones star, thor bjornsson, who was once the world's who was once the world's strongest man. back home in iceland, he's managed to deadlift 501kg. if you fancy having a go at home and haven't got the weights,

we're told that's the equivelant of 250 four—pint milk cartons. that's all the sport for now.

this is a bbc news special. i'm reeta chakrabarti. the headlines: is staggering uk workers' hours the solution post lockdown — to prevent overcrowding on public transport? the government says it's considering the idea. in an interview, the uk prime minister has described preparations to announce his death, while he was in intensive care for coronavirus. a contact—tracing smartphone app is to be trialled this week, with the aim of limiting a second wave of coronavirus once the lockdown in the uk is eased. churches in germany reopen for sunday services with strict regulations in force and singing forbidden. russia reports a record one—day rise in coronavirus infections, with more than 10,000 people testing positive. india's military pays tribute to health workers, showering them with petals

in gratitude for their work. good afternoon. we'll be live in downing street for the latest government briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, led today by the cabinet office sectretary, michael gove. we're expecting that in about ten minutes time. but first, the uk government says it's considering different options for how to start taking the country out of lockdown, including changing working hours — as the british prime minister has spoken for the first time in detail about his experience of being in intensive care with the disease. speaking to the sun on sunday borisjohnson said "contingency plans" were made to announce his death while he was seriously ill with covid—i9. speaking

to the bbc this morning, transport secretary grant shapps, said the new nhs contact tracing app is being trialled on the isle of wight this week before being rolled out more widely later this month. elsewhere, churches, mosques and synagogues in germany are opening today for the first time since the lockdown there began in march. but the number of worshippers will be restricted and singing is banned, as officials in germany say it can spread the virus. russia has recorded its biggest one—day rise in new coronavirus cases since the start of the outbreak, with more than 10,000 people testing positive on sunday. however, the mortality rate remains relatively low, with 68 deaths recorded in the past 2a hours. but first, with more on that interview boris johnson has given, here's jonathan blake. for the first time since returning to work, the prime minister has talked in detail about how seriously he suffered with coronavirus. in an interview with the sun on sunday, borisjohnson reveals that while in intensive care he and those around him had prepared for the worst.

mrjohnson said, "i wasjust incredibly frustrated because the indicators kept going in the wrong direction. and i thought, there's no medicine for this thing and there's no cure." "i was fully conscious," said the prime minister, "and all too aware of what was going on." "the bad moment came," he said, "when it was 50—50 whether they were going to have to put a tube down my windpipe. it was a tough old moment, i won't deny it." reflecting on his experience, the prime minister said that, "so many who've lost loved ones. and so if you ask me, am i driven by a desire to stop other people suffering?" "yes," he said, "i absolutely am." there was something different about him. he looked more... his emotions looked a little bit more raw. he was clearly aware ofjust how close he came to death, and there was a mixture of elation. the birth of his son. joy- but also a seriousness and a bit of relief.

and a little bit of exhaustion, i would think, too. the prime minister also stressed his desire to get the country back on its feet. exactly how, we will find out this week, but ministers say tracking and tracing those with the virus and the people they've come into contact with will soon be crucial. we will be asking the whole country, where possible, to download this mobile phone app which will help automatically to remove the need for people, individuals, to be involved, because that will say if you and i have it and we are within bluetooth range of each other and i'm later tested and i'm positive it will alert you, so it removes the need to have a person in between. we are told there is no date set for schools to reopen but this morning the welsh first minister gave a rough idea of the earliest that some pupils could return. our advice from the trades unions and from the local education authorities is that it will need three weeks as a minimum from the point that we decide to do

that when the schools can reopen, so we are talking about the beginning ofjune there. and we are thinking about ways in which we can bring young people with special educational needs back into education. we're thinking about particular year groups. as he makes decisions about the way forward, like so many others who have suffered with coronavirus, the prime minister knows personally what is at stake. jonathan blake, bbc news. it's emerged that more than 2,000 coronavirus patients in intensive care in england, wales and northern ireland had to be treated for kidney failure as well as respiratory problems. those affected received specialist renal support treatment, and that led to a shortage in essential equipment. angus crawford reports. meet maurice marshall before covid — singer and student... ..and now survivor. i was terrified, petrified. well, as i got into the ambulance,

looked at the house, i thought, "say goodbye to the house, you're not coming back," because i was struggling to breathe. he spent 22 days on a ventilator. the virus attacked his lungs and moved on through the body. my kidneys failed several times, so what people do fail to realise is that with covid, it's notjust about covid pneumonia, you know, you get a bit of a heavy—duty flu, or you have problems breathing, it does go for other internal organs. the latest figures show more than 20% of those in intensive care suffer kidney failure. many needed specialist treatment. some with this kind of machine, delivering what's called renal replacement therapy. the virus can be seen within the very fine structures of the kidneys, and it also affects the stickiness of the blood. the blood becomes very sludgy, and because the kidneys are full of little blood vessels, it sludges up in the kidneys and therefore the kidneys start to fail. leading to a worldwide surge in demand for machines, tubes, filters and fluids.

this german factory has increased production, but there's a warning of severe disruption to supply in the uk. british doctors are having to use new techniques to conserve equipment. some patients are now sharing machines. the volume of kidney failure has reached the point that neither myself nor my colleagues have ever seen such a great surge in the incidence of acute kidney injury, and that is certainly putting stress on the system. but a word of reassurance too — these machines are only used in intensive care, not for the 30,000 or so people who need regular dialysis in the community. that service shouldn't be affected. this thing, it's vicious. it's non—discerning, it will go for anyone.

we really do have to focus and not get lax about it, because that's when things will get worse again. angus crawford, bbc news. we are expecting the daily briefing from downing street and a couple of moments time. our health correspondent richard galpin is here. these briefings are always a mixture of strategy and science, and today the wealth organisation has released some interesting information about antigens —— the world health organization. it's what seems to be good news. and this is all about people when they have the virus developing antibodies, and the who has said clearly that people are developing these. there has been some questions about that in the past saying it is not happening, therefore people are not getting immunity, but the who today has said to the bbc that people are developing antibodies and it means that they are getting immunity, and therefore cannot be reinfected, which is really very significant, i think. the big question is, how long

will the immunity last? that is the one point where they said they weren't sure about it. this is still a work in progress but it is vital, because in the short term it won't help that much but the hope is that this would last for some time, perhaps a year or so and maybe we could have a vaccine once we get that up and running. and in the meantime we need a test to find out if people have had, for those who have been asymptomatic or had it mildly. absolutely. the government are talking about the second phase that there needs to be massive surveillance and testing and it really needs to keep going because otherwise you will never actually get a otherwise you will never actually geta grip otherwise you will never actually get a grip on the full—scale of the epidemic in this country. in many ways, it's a very late on but this is being done but it remains absolutely crucial, particularly with this prospect of some of the lockdown measures being lifted, or at least there is talk about that going on at the moment within the

government. ok. richard, just stay there for a moment because we are expecting the press conference very shortly. you're watching bbc news. we are expecting the briefing from downing street very shortly. business groups and trade unions across the uk are receiving draft guidance from ministers today about safer working practices once lockdown measures are eased. the british chambers of commerce has said the government need to keep levels of public spending high to help boost the economy after the lockdown is lifted. our business correspondent katy austin has more. liz and phil's independent health club near nottingham had to close in march, like other leisure businesses. revenue has ceased but the costs haven't, so huge impact. support schemes, including furloughing employees, have helped. but will soon run out, so they want to know when they can reopen.

we also need to know how we can reopen, the scope of it, and also how many people we will be allowed to have in, because if the turnover will be restricted by the fact that we've got to keep huge social distancing measures in force. they think further support will be needed. extending the furlough scheme may be one thing the government could do. we have also talked about potentially, rather than deferring vat or tax, that they could potentially write that off. that would mean additional cost to the taxpayer, and tens of billions of pounds has already been spent on emergency support schemes for businesses, but the british chambers of commerce says high public spending levels should continue if necessary, and called for a phased reopening of the economy. other workplaces waiting for advice on reopening are offices. there are measures we're putting in place, like hand sanitiser, bacterial desk wipes, which is really important.

spacing. one thing we are looking at incorporating is a shift system, so perhaps an a shift and a b shift. announcer: social distancing measures are in operation on our services... business leaders have received draft government guidance today, and there are plans are being worked out for how commuters can start using trains again, but the path back to business as normal will be very long. how stressful has this been for you? on a scale of 1—10, i would say about 1000. very stressful, lots of sleepless nights, because at the end of the day, this is our whole livelihood, and we don't know where our future lies at all. just to let you know, we are expecting the daily downing street press briefing and we hear it has been delayed by a few minutes, but do stay with us and we will bring you live as soon as it starts. spain has recorded its lowest

daily number of deaths linked to coronavirus, since its lockdown was declared in mid— march. another 164 people have died. there have been 838 new infections, the first time the number of cases has been under a thousand in a similar period, despite higher rates of testing. at a news conference in madrid, spain's health ministry emergencies coordinator, said the figures were good, but cautioned that weekend numbers are sometimes lower. translation: today's figures are evolving with the same trend. we have only 838 cases. to say "only" in this situation is always a bit strange. but the truth is, it's a good figure if we compare it with the previous days. we know it's a weekend, a long weekend, so sharp declines in these periods we have to value them carefully and see if they are consolidated in the coming days. but 838 is the lowest figure we have had in the last weeks. however, it's a different story in russia, which has

recorded its biggest one—day rise in new coronavirus cases since the start of the outbreak, with more than 10,000 people testing positive on sunday. however, the mortality rate remains relatively low, with 68 deaths recorded in the past 2a hours. our correspondent sarah rainsford explained what the figures mean. yet, according to the official statistics around 1% of those who are confirmed to have coronavirus have been dying of the illness, so it is round about 1200 people so far. but certainly in the last few days, we have seen an increase in the recorded number of people with the infection. now, officials here are saying that that is because testing has been increased quite significantly, particularly here in moscow over the past couple of days, so they are now carrying out, they say, some 40,000 tests in moscow every day. something like 170,000 across the country. they are saying that of those that are being picked up, those cases picked up, some 50% of the new cases are those who don't have symptoms of the illness, so they are doing screening,

for example of medical staff, that is why some of those asymptomatic cases are being picked up. also, screening those who have been in contact with people who are confirmed to have coronavirus. there is quite a lot of this sort of testing and tracing that is going on here in russia, but certainly there have also been questions about the numbers in terms of the death rates, people questioning how exactly corona death figures are recorded so i think there are still some doubts around that particular figure. in the united states, the total number of coronavirus related deaths has exceeded 66,000. there are now more than 1.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases. but despite the high numbers, president trump insists the country should start to open up. rich preston has this report. large parts of the us are slowly starting to open after weeks in varying states of lockdown. in texas, beaches have opened. for many, it couldn't

come soon enough. it is so awesome to be out of the house and be in galveston. the beach is beautiful. we've just been desperate to get out of our houses, and the beaches are one of our biggest things. it's really going to bring a somewhat sense of normalcy back. but authorities are saying they are still taking care. we are trying to dress it as best we can. but our main thing is if we have a couple of hundred thousand people here, our main thing is we want to get them home safe. authorities in san francisco have extended a stay—in—place order until the end of may. i think it's really a smart decision just to keep everybody safe. i think we can do this together. we feel so fortunate that our mayor london breed really was the first one in the whole country. she locked us down, put a shelter—in—place so early and we really crushed the curve. and in new york city, face masks are being handed out

in the city's parks. meanwhile, the subway system, normally 24—hours a day, will close down for four hours every morning so that every carriage can be disinfected. to make sure the transit workers are safe, to make sure the riding public are safe, the best thing you can do is disinfect the whole inside of the car. as massive a challenge as that is. the president himself has left the white house for a weekend at the presidential country retreat camp david. he is keen for the country to open up to be back in business again. conscious of an election on the horizon, and an electorate in rising numbers of unemployment, and with the economy suffering. military jets flew over several us cities on saturday, honouring health care and essential workers. over new orleans. phoenix, arizona.

and washington, dc. the might of the us military on show for a fight that is far from over. rich preston, bbc news. our health correspondent richard galpin is here. whenever the government is asked about it strategy and coronavirus, it says it is guided by the science, but there are people unhappy about the science? yes, this has come out today, the former chief scientific adviser, a man called sir david king, has announced he set up a separate scientific advisory group, what he is describing as an independent group. one of the key thing is he is upset about is the fa ct thing is he is upset about is the fact that currently sage does not make its advice public. so none of us can make its advice public. so none of us can actually find out what was said, what the arguments were, what the decision where within that. so

he is saying it is wrong and their group will publish their advice. and he is also criticising them, the government, in a sense that they are alleging the government was interfering in the scientific advisory group, quoting the fact that dominic cummings was in one of those sage meetings. saying this is seriously wrong. of course, the government denied these allegations. really interesting. we heard earlier from the cabinet minister grant shapps talking about some of the measures the government is considering, in terms of easing the lockdown. just run us through those? we are beginning to get a bit of a picture. it is not definite, we are waiting for that big announcement later this week, sometime on or

before the 7th of may. but obviously it will be gradual, it is going to be done with safety first. we are not at the point, nowhere near, we arejust not at the point, nowhere near, we are just waiting not at the point, nowhere near, we arejust waiting for not at the point, nowhere near, we are just waiting for what the government is thinking about at the moment. some of the ideas are for example, staggering employees' working hours so you would not get a rush of people coming into big cities, crushed inside trains and tubes, buses and trams, as we all know what it can be like. that would be disastrous, because then you could have a massive spike in infections. that is one big thing. he is saying we need to encourage people to do more things like cycling and walking into work. i think there will be a big push on that. and then, one of the more controversial things he is talking about is actually quarantining people who come into this country.

that quarantine potentially lasting for 1h days. the airlines are already up in arms about that, saying they are under enormous pressure, losing huge amounts of money, they are saying this would kill the industry. so there will be a big fight back from the airlines. but that is what he has been talking about. ok, i suppose whatever shape the government's plans take, what is going to be important is public confidence and there has been some research suggesting that even if the government does ease restrictions, as inevitably at some stage it will, the public isn't necessarily ready to embrace that? research shows very clearly, there is a large percentage of people who would feel anxious, he would feel worried about coming out of this lockdown. obviously, it may be those figures will start changing, i don't know, but at the moment it looks like people are

particularly anxious. we have had a huge number of deaths, 28,000 deaths in this country, much more than we expected and the virus is absolutely deadly and people are fearful about getting infected. yes, indeed. richard, we will come back to very shortly once this downing street press co nfe re nce shortly once this downing street press conference gets under way. thank you so much for the time being. the world health organisation has warned that countries which are lifting their lockdowns may face a second wave of infections. dr maria van kerkhove is the covid 19 technical lead at the who, and she spoke to the bbc‘s andrew marr, who asked her about the likelihood of a second wave of infections hitting the countries that are already beginning to release their lockdowns:

what we are seeing in a number of countries that have been successful in suppressing transmission is that the virus, that many more people remain susceptible. and what we're seeing in countries like singapore, where they have seen almost like a second wave, essentially what it is, is actually outbreaks that are in expat dormitories, and so the virus has found a place where it can take hold and resurge again. so, all countries must remain on alert to the possibility of additional transmission. even if they have been successful in suppressing transmission in the first round. now one question a lot of people have been asking themselves is, to what extent masks are going to be useful in the process of unlocking? masks are very helpful in a number of situations. first and foremost for our health care workers, that is the priority and i think everybody agrees that. we also recommend the people who are within the community, who are feeling unwell, even if they are feeling a little bit unwell, to wear a mask and the reason that that is important is because it is source control. what that means is that somebody who may be infected with covid—19,

if they sneeze or cough, they still have to transmit the virus through respiratory droplets, that mask can prevent the virus from moving from their mouth to someone else, so we do recommend the use of masks, for people who are feeling unwell. but masks alone will not solve the problem. they cannot solve the problem and especially if you are thinking about lockdowns is, and you are thinking of lifting lockdowns, there have to be a number of measures that you have to put in place before lockdowns can be eased and it must be done in a slow and staggered approach. now, it seems that there is some evidence that the transmission of covid—19 from children to adults is rare. does that mean that, for instance, unlocking schools relatively early in the process might be safer? it appears that children seem to be less infected, less developing the disease, from all of the countries where we have seen this virus globally, children primarily develop mild disease and that is really important. we have seen in some very controlled studies, where you look at a household for example and you follow adults and children all the time, that adults can infect children

and that is mostly what is happening, adults infecting children, but it can happen the other way round as well, so children remain susceptible which means they can be infected and it is possible for them to transmit, but it does seem rare. what we really need to understand is why. why is this happening? why do children seem to be spared? one of the things that is worrying people, was when they heard that people in south korea had had covid—19 and recovered and then been reinfected, and it seems that that is about false positives, so to be clear, are you relatively sure that once you have had covid—19, you can't get it again? what they are finding in some individuals, after they test negative, after a week or two or longer, they are finding that they are testing positive again and what is actually happening is that as the lungs heal, there are parts of the lungs that are dead cells, that are coming up, there are fragments of those lungs that are actually testing positive. it is not infectious virus, it is not reinfection, it is not reactivation, it is actually part of the healing process that is being

captured as being positive, so that is something that is really interesting. in terms of your question about, can people be reinfected, that is a very important question. what we are learning right now is that when somebody is infected with covid—19, they develop antibodies and they develop part of an immune response, one, to two, to three weeks after infection. what we are trying to understand is that in that antibody response, does that mean that they have immunity? does it mean they have a strong protection against reinfection? and if so, how long that protection lasts. we don't know the answer to that yet. churches in germany are opening for sunday services for the first time since the country's coronavirus lockdown began in march. but strict safety guidelines will apply and singing will be banned to help stop new infections. germany is just one of many european countries that are gradually easing

restrictions as the number of infections comes down, with austria now allowing all shops to reopen, and portugal lifting its six—week state of emergency. for more on the logistics of holding religious services with the restrictions, i've been speaking to our correspondent in berlin — damien mcguinness. today, as you say, is the first day that sunday services can take place in germany since the middle of march really. not all churches will start, though, opening their doors to worshippers just yet because strict restrictions are needed. so some churches have already started services today but others are trying to figure out how they can go along with these new rules because, for example, in some churches they're talking about having to go in one entrance and leave from another door, another exit. other churches are thinking of how to spread out congregations because you can only have... you still have to have distances between worshippers, as you said earlier. singing is not allowed because it's

thought that loud singing, forceful singing is quite a dangerous way to spread the infection, and also numbers are going to be restricted of people entering churches. some churches are even registering people as they come in, so it's quite complicated. also synagogues and mosques are looking at how they can go along with new regulations and are allowed to open. they haven'tjust yet because again, they are also trying to figure out how to best protect worshippers, so it's quite a complicated situation and it's reallyjust one part of the broader picture here in germany where all sorts of sectors are reopening but trying to figure out how to do it in a safe way and how to do it while going along with the new regulations, which the government has enforced in order to prevent another wave of infections sparking off here in germany. you've been sending in your questions on coronavirus and exiting

lockdown. earlier my colleague martine croxall spoke to dr chris smith, consultant virologist at the university of cambridge. first she put to him a question from peter, who said that he was on immune suppression treatment and was previously advised not to have a ‘live' flu vaccine. where will this leave me even if a covid—19 vaccine is found? the answer is there are lots of irons in the immunologicalfire the answer is there are lots of irons in the immunological fire with this one because they are producing vaccines around the world, won here in the uk. but they work in different ways and some of them will contain live agents, but many of them won't. so the idea to have lots of opportunities to attack this thing from different angling means that if one group of people cannot use a certain vaccine, they can hopefully use another one. they are using a live virus, but it is

disabled, so it cannot grow. it is not even know weakened virus, you just cannot grow into the human cells it would go into. the likelihood it would be fine for eve ryo ne likelihood it would be fine for everyone anyway, but if it doesn't turn out that way, one of the other options being developed will also be fine for somebody in your position. judge says, i am 76 and walk about ten miles a week, i do periodic intense training covering 100 is in about 19 seconds. i am one of those people believes it is not your calendar age put your physiological age that matters, am i correct? obviously thinks he is not up risk as other people his age might be? george is hinting at what we call chronological age rather than biological age and we know people who have a well lived in body, in other words people whose lifestyle has made their body age prematurely and those people might only have 50

yea rs on and those people might only have 50 years on the clock but their body has aged much more than that. conversely, people might be in their 70s and 80s and they have the body of someone much younger because they lived well and they have a good chamat —— genetic and dealt by their pa rents. chamat —— genetic and dealt by their parents. and it's not a given that someone in a certain age bracket is at risk, but the reason we talk about ages because you do increase your risk profile as you age and one of the things as you might have other diseases which might increase in incidence with age. so someone in their 70s might have lots of other things wrong with them and have a much higher risk than someone who is in their 70s much higher risk than someone who is in their70s and much higher risk than someone who is in their 70s and has no other pre—existing health conditions. so age is a simple guide but not the be all and end all, so if a person is otherwise an extremely good health, there is no reason why they should regard themselves in the same risk bracket is someone in the same age bracket is someone in the same age bracket but without other health problems. he's quite right. stuart asks what is the impact on other

viruses such as the common cold. surely all viruses have nearly been eradicated because of the good hand washing and there are fewer chances transmission about. virologists like me all over the world are looking forward to the complete dip in doses of things like morrow virus which calls explosive outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting and common colds, because this is a good point. we've all become aware of how easy it is to transmit viruses and other infections and we are adopting improved hygiene measures so we should hopefully see a drop, and because we are collecting data on all of this all the time, when people have a chance to pick through all of this, i expect we will see a reduction in the spread of other infections because what works for this coronavirus in terms of breaking the chain of transmission is also going to work for all these other viruses as well. where it will be interesting is the southern hemisphere, places like new zealand and australia who are going into their flu season and very soon they

will be thinking about, do we have the flu vaccine, and it will be interesting to see if they have fewer cases of flu because everyone is adopting social distancing measures at the moment. they are looking at that. maybe we will hold onto some of these good hygiene practices, i don't know. let's hope there will be. appalling that it is taken this. jim, why are we not wearing masks? most other countries are saying wear it on public transport and taxis and supermarkets? is it because there is a shortage of ppe in this country? the prime minister mentioned this week that this might be one of the measures used as we de—escalate from the lockdown. i think, really, the lockdown. ithink, really, the evidence has been scant until now as to whether or not there is a compelling case for making people adopt facemasks. there might be a small benefit under certain circumstances and it was heated by

nicola sturgeon, but the point people are making is no mask is as good as the current social distancing measures or a front door, but under circumstances where you can't observe circle —— social distancing and you have to leave the house, you have to have another option and it will be things like going on public transport if you are packing into a crowded bus or train, despite everybody‘s best efforts it will happen from time to time, then perhaps a face mask under those circumstances could help to cut down the transmission risk. we pretty much agree that facemasks are better for those around you than for the wearer. what i mean by that is, there's a way in you can interrupt, if someone is symptomatic and coughing and spraying out droplets, if you have a face mask on, that could interrupt some of the spread of material which it lights likely to get into those around you. but the sorts of facemasks in public are not the sort that protect the wearer, so much asjust not the sort that protect the wearer, so much as just absorb things they are breathing out, sort

of surgical masks and for that reason i think there might be a reason i think there might be a reason to start adopting that under certain circumstances, but not as a general thing. we don't think we have evidence that would help if everybody did it. thank you. robin asks what will happen to the clinically vulnerable people when the shielding is over and we have to return to work and coronavirus is still going to be around. we are still going to be around. we are still going to be around. we are still going to be at risk, she says. the answer is there will be a risk and people shielding themselves will be encouraged to carry on shielding themselves. the mitigation is what we have all done and achieved the lockdown is to strongly suppress the spread of the virus in society and supported by measures like increased testing, the government will be wheeling out their app in the coming days and this will help us to keep a tighter rein on who has the virus, where it is going on to it spreading to. these measures combined with increased vigilance on everybody‘s pa rt

increased vigilance on everybody‘s part will help protect people but the long—term solution is only going to come when we have some way of stamping out the virus completely or a vaccination, so for now, u nfortu nately, a vaccination, so for now, unfortunately, for those people who are being urged to stay or shielded they will have to stay shielded. finally, stuart, not the same stuart, a different stuart, is the virus spread by face—to—face conversation with an asymptomatic person, and if so, shouldn't this be made known and additional behavioural changes advised such as holding your breath when spoken to or when you are entering the wake of talking to passers—by, or encouraging gestures for greeting rather than speech? people are looking at this. there is some evidence that when we are talking the spray of material that comes out of our mouth and nose by the pressure, as i speak, i produce waves of pressure and blowing out their —— the air, and if i'm infected with any virus, it doesn't matter, any infectious entity, the drops that might come out of my nose

and mouth might contain infectious material and form an aura around me, and if you're close to me, you can breathe those in and if you breathe them in, you can catch it. this is where the whole thing about social distancing comes from. that's why staying a certain distance away from people is beneficial and also for outside, the amount of delusion from fresh air is so high that the chances of transmitting outside is vanishingly small. where this really matters is when you are in the side having prolonged contact with people and that is why people are being urged to stay that extra distance away because it will cut down the risk of it happening. i wouldn't go as far as holding your breath unless someone has really bad breath, of course. that was doctors chris smith from cambridge university speaking earlier. our health correspondent richard galpin is here and we are waiting for this downing street briefing which is slightly delayed but we expected shortly. we heard chris smith talking about this at that will be very keen —— key to

easing restrictions. and it will be piloted this way? yes, we think it is but we are not certain. we think it will take place on the isle of wight this week and this is very significant. essentially what this does is track when users come into contact with each other and then if someone does have symptoms and alert can go out to all of those contacts. so, very quickly you are able to contain what would have been potentially quite a lot of infections. so if this does all work, and it requires a lot of people to actually download this app. how many? what proportion question mark a big proportion and i cannot give you the answer of the top of my head but it's a lot of the country and i've seen a figure of about 60% of mobile phone users, so it's a big number, but if it does go ahead, then you could significantly bring down a number of infections. that is just what the government is

looking for if they are trying to get some sort of easing of all of the restrictions under lockdown. and then the onus is on someone who has beenin then the onus is on someone who has been in contact with someone with covid—19 to self—isolate. been in contact with someone with covid-19 to self-isolate. yes, absolutely. the person who has had it in the first place would have to isolate but then some of those contacts around if it looks like they have been very close and therefore at risk and potentially they would have two self isolators well for a period, yes. and this is a tactic have seen used successfully in countries like south korea. yes, they have done this and of course, mass testing. another of the issues talked about today in terms of looking at easing up lockdown, i will stop, because here comes the cabinet minister, michael gove. good afternoon, and welcome to this number ten press conference on our progress in the fight against covid—19. i'm joined today by professor steve parris, the national

medical director at nhs england and i will hand over in a moment to steve to take us through the slide updates from the cabinet office briefing room, but first i want to set out the latest coronavirus data. 1 million tests for coronavirus have now been carried out in the uk, including 76,000 496 yesterday. overall, 186,599 people have tested positive. that's an increase of 4339 cases since yesterday. 14,2118 people are currently being treated in hospitalfor are currently being treated in hospital for coronavirus compared to 14,695 yesterday. sadly, of those who have tested positive for coronavirus across all settings, 20,446 have died. behind the numbers there's been an increase of 315 deaths yesterday across all

settings. this pandemic has claimed more than 28,000 lives, and each one of them is precious stop each one valued, each one irreplaceable. the pain of bereavement and heartbreak is deeply personal, but as a society, we are showing care and compassion across boundaries, offering support and a chance to talk through grief together. and for those experiencing the first ramadan without a loved one, this will be a particularly painful time. i send my sincere condolences for all families who are grieving. as with christians, who could not celebrate easter together in church, and the jewish community whose passover rituals were affected by social distancing, our thoughts are with muslim neighbours who cannot break their fast together and must adapt their fast together and must adapt the religious and cultural practices because of the crisis. we have all learned to adapt and we must carry on doing so after the prime minister sets out how we will get back to

work later this week. his comprehensive plan will explain how we can get our economy moving, how we can get our economy moving, how we can get our economy moving, how we can get our children back to school, how we can travel to work more safely and how we can make life in the workplace safer. but, before we can ease the existing restrictions we must ensure that the government's five tests are met. that the number of cases are falling, that death rates are declining, that the nhs has what it needs and that measures are in place. the second big overwhelming the nhs. the second peak. i'm conscious that those on the front line of services will need clear guidance on safe working and need the right ppe and appropriate access to testing if we are to make all the progress that we want in the weeks ahead. we are consulting with employers and unions, professionals and public health experts to establish how we can ensure that we have the safest possible working environments and the prime minister will be saying more later this week.

on personal protective equipment for key workers, we are increasing the spread of distribution and supply. franck ribery the 25th until may the 2nd, we delivered over 1.08 billion items of ppe across the health and social care system within england, and tens of millions more have been distributed by our colleagues in the devolved administrations. this overall figure includes 149 million masks, 173 million aprons, 2 million gowns, and 614 million gloves. on the 2nd of may alone, we delivered an additional 20 million items of ppe within england. but there is much more to do, and the work to improve domestic production of ppe is vital to our efforts. and on testing, thanks to the hard work of so many across the nhs, public health england, our pharmaceutical sector and our universities, we have tested over 200,000 key workers and theirfamilies, allowing tested over 200,000 key workers and

their families, allowing those who do not have the virus to go back to work and protecting those who do. we have now, of course, extended the criteria for testing beyond key workers to anyone over 65 displaying symptoms and anyone who has to travel to get to work. and this week, we will be piloting new test, track and trace procedures on the isle of wight with a view to having them in place more widely later this month. all of these steps will help us to get more people back to work and help to support the delivery of our public services. and i want to thank those who have done so much to maintain the provision of critical public services during this crisis. our teachers have worked incredibly ha rd to our teachers have worked incredibly hard to provide educational support to millions, and the government has committed £100 million to boost remote learning for those who need it most. our newly launched oak national academy is supplement in the work done by schools and teachers by providing 180 video lessons each week.

we are keen to help vulnerable and disadvantaged children to carry on the education during the pandemic. we have ordered laptops to help disadvantaged young people he will be sitting the exams next year and we are also providing laptops and ta blets for we are also providing laptops and tablets for those children with social workers and care leavers to help them stay in touch with the services they need, keeping them safe and supporting home learning. if disadvantaged children and care leavers do not have access to the internet, we will give them free writers. we were able to ensure more than 60% of schools will open every day with places for both vulnerable children and those with critical workers. on the free school meal voucher scheme and showed that children who needed it could continue to access food despite

school closures. so far, 15,500 schools have placed orders for vouchers, of which over £35 million has been redeemed. the latest available data shows around 49,000 of the children in attendance on april the 24th were classed by schools is vulnerable. more than double the figure from a week earlier. while this is going in the right direction, we estimate that still represents only around one in ten of all children and young people classified as vulnerable. we want to see this figure go up further and we are working with local authorities, schools and colleges to provide improved support to vulnerable young people. of this additional support ta kes people. of this additional support takes time, puts pressure on existing staff and costs money. that is why we have pledged an extra £1.6 billion to councils across england to support the essential front line services, including adult social care. this takes the funding given to councils to over £3.2 billion to

help communities through this crisis. we have deployed military support to assist the public sector. the covid support force mobilised by the mod is now 20,000 strong. today, over 3600 personnel are deployed on 86 separate projects, in which military aid is given to support authorities. on a national level, the ministry of housing and local government, the department of health and social care and the nhs with planning and logistics in england, scotla nd planning and logistics in england, scotland and wales. on the ground, they are helping to build and staff they are helping to build and staff the temporary nightingale hospitals and operate both regional testing centres for coronavirus, of which there are 49 around the country, and also the mobile testing units we're rolling out. date, there are 77. across the country, 156 military planners are embedded at grassroots level with our existing forums. local parks, the nhs, the

environment agency and others. they helping to coordinate and protect our services and supplies with additional support of whitehall senior officials. in addition, we have to thank local government for their energetic work because since their energetic work because since the end of march, 90% of rough sleepers known to councils have been made an offer of accommodation, reassuring them about their safety. the government is also working hard to support those who have not been identified as shielded, but are still vulnerable. in the coming days, we will be delivering 1 million parcels to those at highest risk across the country. up to 200,000 telephone calls a day are being made to the shielded and councils are helping to support them in other ways, including regular calls from volunteers to those who are isolated. in our communities the sport in place by many local organisations has been inspirational, as people step up to help friends and neighbours. the government has helped to mobilise

another important lifeline through the nhs and volunteers of responders programme. over 600,000 people have had their id verified and are helping and it is making a significant difference, collecting shopping, a human voice on the other end of a telephone and delivering supplies for the nhs. and the supermarkets, making sure a greater number of online delivery slots are made available to those in need. westminster has been working with ministers from the scottish government, the bush government and the northern ireland executive. it has helped us to monitor and react and enable us to intervene whenever people are in need. at each of these conferences, we have paid tribute to the compassion and dedication of our key public sector workers. i recognise how much we all owe to their stoicism and steadfastness.

nurses, doctors, porters, cleaners, paramedics, pharmacists, care home staff, present and police officers, teachers, social workers, those preparing and delivering food, collecting our refuge and administering our welfare system. they deserve our gratitude, they deserve our support and they are in all of our minds, they are the very best of us. we owe them so much only in government will do everything we can to support them during the next phases of our pandemic response. i will now hand over to professor stephen powis to take us to the latest on the pandemic. thank you and good afternoon. if i may remind everybody of the five tests the government has set for adjusting the lockdown. so these are shown in the first slide. the first is the nhs has sufficient capacity to provide critical care and specialist treatment right across the uk and of course, iam treatment right across the uk and of course, i am delighted the nhs today has been able to deal magnificently

with the surge in coronavirus patients we have seen. but that needs to continue and we need to be confident the same is true going forward into the months ahead. secondly, that we see a sustained and consistent fall and early deaths from coronavirus. and as i will show you later, that is indeed occurring now, although we need to make sure it is sustained. thirdly, that there is reliable data to show that the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels across the board and although we are confident that we have seen a decrease in the spread of the virus in the community, we need to see the data and be sure of the data to know that is indeed the case and can be sustained. fourthly, that the operational challenges, some of which you have just heard about, including testing and ppe are in hand and are in a position that will be able to meet future demand in the months ahead. on fifth, confident

that any adjustments to the current social distancing measures do not risk a second peak of infection and a transmission rate that goads above one, in other words one person infecting more than one. that will lead to a rise to the number of people infected and increase pressure on the nhs once again. those are the five tests. as we have said many times come the british public has responded magnificently to the request of the government to comply with the social distancing measures. in the next slide, we can give you some more data on the evidence that compliance has been high. you can see here, a decline in the

time people are spending on their settings. i think this overall, along with other slides we have shown you over the past week shows the public continues to respond to the public continues to respond to the request to keep social distancing measures, to comply and protect the nhs and to save lives. in the next slide, we show you the number of positive tests, sorry of daily tests. you will have had a little bit about that and you will see that testing capacity has ramped up see that testing capacity has ramped up very quickly over the last week or so up very quickly over the last week orso and we up very quickly over the last week or so and we are now at a very up very quickly over the last week or so and we are now at a very high level of testing, over 100,000 with a little dip in the weekend. but we anticipate that testing capacity will continue to increase and it is a very important component of our approach going forward. in the next

slide, you see how it translates into new cases, said that is test positive cases. you have seen an increase in recent days, and i think that reflects we are now testing in most settings, we are able to let more people come forward for testing because testing capacity has been ramped up. but the numbers have not increased dramatically and i think that means, that even with more testing, it is evidence the rate of infection in the community is declining. in the next slide you will see how it translates into people in hospital with covid—19. and as i have said many times, this isa mild and as i have said many times, this is a mild disease for the vast majority of people, but u nfortu nately for majority of people, but unfortunately for some, hospital admission is required. you can see the peak of hospital admissions has passed, particularly in london where we saw the steepest rise and we have seen the steepest fall. and since the middle of april, we have begun to see a decline in the overall

number of people in hospital. that is evidence that the transmission rate of the virus in the community is falling and that is translating into fewer people being admitted into fewer people being admitted into hospital. on the next slide, it shows how this translates into the usage of critical care beds. these are the sickest patients. again, a small minority but people that need ca re small minority but people that need care in intensive therapy units. and asa care in intensive therapy units. and as a proportion, this has been declining since the middle of april. indeed, if we looked at the absolute numbers, you would see a decline in absolute numbers. so evidence we are seeing the benefits of complying with social distancing measures and the reduction in transmission of the virus in the community is beginning to have an effect on fewer people in critical care. then finally, the last two slides unfortunately represent those who have died. of

course, there are stories behind every single death and our hearts go out to those loved ones who have suffered the loss of a relative or a friend. but you can see on a seven—day rolling average on these figures by public health england, public health in devolved administrations, the trend is now downwards. it does appear we are past the peak of deaths and we are seeing a decline in the number of deaths, which is good news and represents the benefits of complying with social distancing. then in the final slide, as we have shown before, an international comparison now reporting uk deaths in all settings, remember previously in these charts showing deaths, we were reporting for some time deaths in hospitals. this is now all settings. the usual caveats at this, the

different countries measure this differently. the measure i think we all recognise it will be the key measure which is excess deaths for all mortality because that will take into account the overall effect of the pandemic but it will be some time before that sort of comparison can be done between countries. thank you. thank you very much. we will turn now to questions and i believe we have two questions from members of the public which have been submitted? what lessons have you learned to prepare a health and care systems for the expected future waves of the virus? and how are you ensuring that we have adequate supplies of working ventilators and ppe for those expected future waves now? that question was from chris in london. what lessons have we learned for future waves of the virus and how will we ensure we have enough

ppe and ventilators in the future. we are learning lessons all the time, as indeed the world is. it is a new virus and scientists are working internationally to determine what the best means is of dealing with it. that is why we are piloting treatments which can prevent the virus once people have been affected, becoming more dangerous for them. it is why we are working internationally to seek a vaccine, so expect that maybe some time away. one of the things we have learned is how to improve our testing capacity. we also have domestic ventilated production and we are making more ppe as well. as you have heard the chief medical officer say at this podium, going forward the intention will be to keep the transmission rate, the r valley below one, that is one of the five tests set by the

government before adjusting the lockdown, which i mentioned a few moments ago. if we can do that successfully, we should protect ourselves against future waves of the virus. having said that, nothing is ever certain and it is absolutely the case we need to go forward, putting in place the measures within the nhs to ensure that if, for whatever reason, we do see future waves, whatever reason, we do see future waves , we whatever reason, we do see future waves, we can cope with this. i think the lesson i have learned is that the nhs is able to behave incredibly flexibly, incredibly agile and surge in its capacity at very short notice. if you go back only a month or two, when we were at the start of this, the nhs was planning on how we could manage an increase in the number of cases of people with covid—19. at that time, remember we were seeing health systems in other parts of the world becoming overwhelmed. you will

remember the pictures from wuhan in china at the start of this in january. you will remember the images we saw from northern italy when that health system became overwhelmed and patients had to be flown to other countries. you will remember seeing images in places like france, of patients having to be moved out of major urban centres, such as paris. the staff of the nhs, when given the challenge can put in place, the extra capacity that is required and they have done that magnificently and at no point during the surge of cases in april, was the nhs ina the surge of cases in april, was the nhs in a position where it was not able to give the treatment to patients with covid—19 that they needed. that is a great testament to how well the nhs has been able to cope. the lesson going forward is that we can do that but we need to keep that capacity in place, but we need to keep it in place at the same time

are standing up all the other services that the nhs is providing, the ones we've always provided, the emergency services but some services we had to stand down in april like elective surgery, for instance. my lesson is that the nhs is incredibly flexible and can respond to this challenge and will respond to the challenge and will respond to the challenge going forward in the months ahead. thank you, and we will turn to the next question submitted from the public. rebecca from scotla nd from the public. rebecca from scotland asks, we see daily charts showing the quantifiable scientific effects of lockdown. how do you take into account the unquantifiable, nonspecific social and emotional effects when considering the balance between damage and benefit caused by lockdown? we seek all the time to make sure we balance the need to protect life and protect the nhs with an acknowledgement that you are right, that lockdown will have an impact on the mental and emotional well—being of so many of our citizens and, of course, by

suppressing economic activity it also means that the wealth the country needs in order to ensure high quality public services is affected as well but the five tests that have been laid down and which steve reminded us of our a good way of making sure that we can make an appropriatejudgment of making sure that we can make an appropriate judgment because the worst thing to do would be to prematurely relax the measures and see a second spike which might risk overwhelming the nhs and which would compel us to introduce lockdown measures all over again. that would be the most dangerous course for us to take. as a doctor i'm very aware that the measures that we have had to ask people to comply with, to stay at home, avoid social contact, can have detrimental effects in terms of health, but also emotional and social effects as you have asked in your question. we are very keen, as are all my clinical and scientific colleagues, to make sure that as soon as we possibly can, we

are able to give advice that allows those measures to be relaxed. as you heard a number of times, the harm that might be done in terms of health is a direct effect of the virus, deaths due to the virus, has to be balanced over time against harm that is done around lockdown, and it's not easy. those are two things that it's not easy to reconcile but i can say that we are very, very reconcile but i can say that we are very, very aware reconcile but i can say that we are very, very aware of the effects that lockdown has both socially, emotionally and on health will stop and that is why plotting the way ahead that allows, over time, those restrictions to be lifted while at the same time, keeping the transmission rate low in the community, is absolutely the goal we are working towards. we will turn to questions from news organisations and the first is from chris mason of the bbc. good afternoon. mr gove, as

the bbc. good afternoon. mr gove, as the lockdown measures ease, how will the lockdown measures ease, how will the government persuade people that it is safe to be out and about more and professor paris, how confident are you in the models that have been predicting what impact a change in the rules might actually have? thank you, and you are right. the british public have shown amazing stoicism and understanding of the need for the lockdown measures and quite rightly they want to ensure that if and when they are eased they are eased in a way that make sure the british people's sacrifice has been worthwhile and that we continue to operate in a way that means that public health comes first. and that's why it's so important we consult with employers and trade unions in order to make sure that people understand the guidance about working safely. it's also important we make clear that any approach we ta ke we make clear that any approach we take is staged and we are not, as the first minister of scotland said, flicking a switch from one situation back to the old normal. our phased approach is one that allows us to

monitor the impact that those changes are having on public health and if necessary, in a specific and localised way, that means that we can pause or even reintroduce those restrictions that might be required in order to deal with localised outbreaks of the disease. and of course, it's also important we make sure that people have as well as the right guidance and the right safe working environment, the right personal protective equipment and that will vary from setting to setting, the type of ppe you will need if you are operating in intensive care is different from the type you might require in another public sector setting. and then the final thing is, matt hancock's amazing success in increasing testing means people can have greater confidence, along with the development of the test, track and trace approach being involved in the isle of wight which means we will be able to make sure that people who are suffering from the virus can be

and their contact can be encouraged to stay at home so we can limit the potential of any outbreak. on the modelling, chris, the first point to make is it isjust modelling, chris, the first point to make is it is just that. modelling, chris, the first point to make is it isjust that. it modelling, chris, the first point to make is it is just that. it is a process of taking a set of assumptions and knowns and predicting what will happen in the future and the reality will always be different from the model. he will not exactly replicate the model. and sometimes some of the assumptions you can't be certain about and you there are some unknowns. so having said that, right at the start of this, a reasonable worst case scenario model was produced by the government, for the government, which predicted what would happen if no measures were taken to prevent or mitigate or to reduce the level of transmission in the community. of course, no country has actually stood aside and not put in place

some form of social distancing measures, so we won't know what that would have been against that model because everyone has put in a set of measures which meant that didn't happen. once the lockdown measures we re happen. once the lockdown measures were in place, and other models were produced which took into account the predicted compliance of the public with those lockdown measures, and you've heard before that the british public have been excellent at complying with those, and in fact, what we've seen in the nhs in terms of the predictions of those sorts of models and they come from a variety of academic groups working together, has predicted in terms of bed numbers, bed usage, has actually, the reality is as follows the shape and never follows in absolute numbers but has followed it pretty much in the shape of what we have seen. so that gives me some confidence going forward that models

area confidence going forward that models are a reasonable way of predicting what we might see and they do predict that over the next month or so we will continue to see a decline in the number of patients in hospital with covid—19 and the number of people in critical care and the number of deaths and that is what we are seeing in reality. clearly, we will need to do more modelling and clearly it's important that various academic groups feed into those models. that is right and proper and that is what sage and other modelling groups do. they will never be an absolute prediction of reality, but i have confidence that going forward they will give us a good guide of what we are likely to see. thank you very much. was that 0k, see. thank you very much. was that ok, chris? anything you wanted to follow u p ok, chris? anything you wanted to follow up on? very quick follow-up with you, mr gove, we are used to the mantra across the lectin you are stood behind, and can we expect a

more subtle message to come in the next phase to mirror what could be a more subtle and nuanced set of rules? you are right that the message has been taken to the heart of the british people. what we need to do, i think, is make sure that on the ground, the advice we give, is sufficiently reassuring. it's about making sure that people feel that the pointers we are giving about how the pointers we are giving about how the work place can be save are sensible, reliable, supported by employers and trade unions and i think that is the most important. i will turn to dan hewitt of itv. sorry about that. good afternoon to both of you. first of all, on the nhs contact tracing app that is being trialled in the isle of wight this week, given that you need 50 up to 60% of the entire population to download the app once it is up and running, how crucial and central will it be to the government's policy of suppressing the virus, and

how much will it dictate going forward the measures you have put in place or that you lived in terms of the lockdown? and secondly on testing, with the number down to 76,000, how do you account for the sharp fall injust 76,000, how do you account for the sharp fall in just 24 hours and how concerned are you by the fall of almost 30,000 tests? thank you. on the first, you are right, when it comes to contact tracing, the more people who download the app that has been developed by the nhs, the better. there are some 80,000 households on the isle of wight and we would like to see more than half of households, if we can, sign up to the app but it is striking and it refers back to the point that chris mason made how public spirited people have been through the crisis, and knowing this is a contribution that all of us can make to helping to keep our neighbours and community safer is a very, very powerful incentive and the leader of the isle of wight council and the isle of wight‘s mp have both said that they

believe it's in the interests of the island and the country that as many as people as possible sign up to the app. on the point about testing, it is the case that you might expect over a weekend with fewer people going to work you might have a dip in the amount of testing that might occur at that time, but again, i don't think it detracts from the amazing achievement of the nhs and of others then so significantly increasing the amount of tests that are available. steve? on the app, you are right. it's one component of a number of measures, or likely, to be needed, and i think it's unlikely that on its own it's going to be the single measure or the single intervention that will ensure that the virus is always under control. there will need to be contact tracing on the way we have always done contact tracing, so people following leads as to who you have contacted. that is exactly why

public health england are recruiting many thousands of people to help with contact tracing. and it will need to set aside other measures we have become used to, such as, if you are symptomatic and you have the virus and if you test positive, you will need to stay at home for a period. so it is one component and the more people who download it and use it, the likely the bigger contribution it will make. but it will not, i doubt, be the single contribution. and of course testing it will help us understand before it is deployed exactly what that contribution is likely to be, so the testing in the isle of wight is a very important phase in understanding how the app is going to be used and exactly what the contribution will be. thanks. do you wa nt to contribution will be. thanks. do you want to come back on anything there? only on the app. what evidence do you have from other countries or research you have done so far suggest this could actually work, because it is very new. i got the

sense that you are not overly reliant on this. again, it was underlined that it is one arrow in the quiver. but it is the case that other countries, germany, and france, are developing apps as well and we want to make sure they are interoperable and we want to make sure other developed nations and our european trends and partners are going down this route and that only under lines how the nhs was clever to invest on this technology. other countries are developing or using apps and not everyone has deployed one and you are absolutely right that there will be international learning as we go forward as to when the apps are deployed. in some of the apps are deployed. in some of the far eastern countries, they have been used successfully, so there is evidence that they can be used as pa rt evidence that they can be used as part of a series of measures, but i think even in those countries such as singapore and other countries, again, it is a suite of measures, not a single measure. so we will learn some of that as we test and as

we roll it out. and i think the other important point to make is that this will never be about a single set of measures that you freeze and then don't change over time. i think measures will always need to be reviewed and adjusted based on what the infection is doing and what the reality of the situation is. but the app will be an important component of that going forward. thanks, steve, and we will turn now to inigo gilmore from channel 4 news. turn now to inigo gilmore from channel4 news. mr turn now to inigo gilmore from channel 4 news. mr gove, turn now to inigo gilmore from channel4 news. mr gove, do turn now to inigo gilmore from channel 4 news. mr gove, do you agree with your transport secretary that had mass testing been in place sooner, many lives could have been saved, and mr gove, you keep telling us you are on top of the ppe issue once again today, but a report today from the bma said half of doctors had to source their own ppe because the government failed to do so. what would you say to the families of front line nhs workers who have died without being provided with the proper protective equipment that they needed?

thank you. on the first point about testing. i think there will be a time when we have got this virus under control, when we can ask ourselves some deep and probing questions about lessons we can learn asa questions about lessons we can learn as a country, from how we handle this virus in its early stages. i would say the amazing achievements of matt hancock, jim bethell, our nhs and others to make sure we can increase the number of tests has been an example of what the public sector and the private sector working together under strong political leadership can achieve. but we will have an opportunity to look back and reflect and consider what it is we got right and what it is we got wrong. undoubtedly, this government, like all governments, will have made mistakes but it will be impossible to determine which areas gave us the gravest concern

until in the future when we have all the information we need. on ppe, i would never say we were on top, i would never say we were on top, i would always say we were doing everything we can. it is concern to any others are people on the front line don't have the right personal protective equipment. but the bma does excellent job, and protective equipment. but the bma does excellentjob, and it has been the case in the past that for those in general practice they will have been sourcing quite a lot of their own equipment themselves in any case. but we want to make sure we do anything at an nhs level and beyond to support everyone who does have the right personal protective equipment. there will be an opportunity in due course to look back and see what we have got right in making sure front—line workers get everything they need. in the meantime, all ourfocus get everything they need. in the meantime, all our focus is get everything they need. in the meantime, all ourfocus is making sure we can do as well as possible

in supporting people who are putting everything on the line to look after us. i hope that is helpful. there have been failings over ppe and what do you say to families who have lost loved ones who have been front line nhs workers? every death is a tragedy. we want to make sure we do everything we can to support those who are on the front line in the nhs. there will come as i say, be a moment when we can reflect on what we might have done better. in the meantime, what we must do, we use all the tools at our disposal to increase production of the gowns, aprons and visors and other equipment people on the front line need. it is important to recognise, andi need. it is important to recognise, and i know you do, that the range of personal equipment that might be neededin personal equipment that might be needed in one setting, might be different from another. on ppe, as a

doctor who worked on the front line for many years, i know how critical it is that ppe is provided to my collea g u es it is that ppe is provided to my colleagues and my friends on the front line. i know that has been a challenge, i know government has been working very hard. i know it is an international market that is under significant stress, as every country tries to purchase ppe. a couple of weeks ago i was concerned about gowns, the position on gowns has improved a bit over the last couple of weeks. so depending on the item of ppe, things will improve over time. but it is a challenge for exactly the reasons we have said, but it is critical, as you said, the government stays on top of that challenge and ppe is provided to front line staff. steve is right, it doesn't take away of the responsibility of any of us in

government, but it is a global challenge and channel 4 view was will have seen some of the protests in france and germany when doctors have complained about the lack of ppe. but it doesn't take away a second of our responsibility to do better, but people recognise this is a global challenge. chris hope, of the telegraph. grant shapps today talked about one—way systems in stations and staggered starts to working days, when will life return to the way it was before the pandemic struck, how many years will it take? nightingale hospitals are empty, where they built in error or built to be filled up the second wave? what built to be filled up the second wave ? what is built to be filled up the second wave? what is the virus's r value today and what is the exact time you say we pass through the peak? those

are four very important questions. on the first one, but when can we return to normal? people have used the phrase a new normal and by that, what they have sought to imply is that we can begin, we hope, as you rightly point out as the r figure comes down, to ease some of the restrictions, but we have to do so cautiously and the transport secretary was right to say we can see more people use public transport, but provided they are helped to stagger or control the times when they use public transport ina way times when they use public transport in a way people have already adjusted to how they might use supermarkets and food shops. ultimately, unless and until we have a vaccine, i suspect we will have to live with some degree of constraint because of the nature of the virus, but we obviously want to, wherever possible and consistent with

measures people's lives to as close to normal as possible. you asked three detailed technical questions, which steve may be able to answer, but they are so precise, it may not be possible to answer precisely. on the first, how long will the new no money to last? that is an answer we cannot give at the moment. if i remind you and everybody that this isa remind you and everybody that this is a virus at the end of last year was not known, had not been in the human population and therefore, the population around the world was not immune to it. so we are only four months into any knowledge at all about this virus and it is very difficult to know how this is going to play out in the months and years ahead. but a few things i think i can be certain about, firstly is that the scientific response to this

virus has probably been the greatest to any new virus. the fact that it was sequenced, its genetic sequence was sequenced, its genetic sequence was known within weeks of it being identified has meant that the science can accelerate very quickly, including the ability to generate, produce vaccines and start to test them. also, to start to use drugs and to understand which drugs it is likely to bind to either the virus or parts of the body's machinery that the virus itself affects. so that the virus itself affects. so that means we can proceed with a pace that i am certain has not been the case in any previous pandemic. so that gives us hope that we might get to a solution, whether it is a vaccine or whether it is drugs, sooner than we might have hoped ten, 20 years ago. but it is impossible to say when that will be, but it is true to say we will need to adapt to a new normal until we get to that

point. on the second question, which was where the nightingale hospitals built in error? absolutely, 100% not. i was talking earlier in response to another question, if you wind the clock back a month or two, we we re wind the clock back a month or two, we were looking at an increase in the number of cases, infections in the number of cases, infections in the uk, watching images from around the uk, watching images from around the world of health systems that we re the world of health systems that were overwhelmed and we had not put in place, all we were about to put in place, all we were about to put in place a series of social distancing measures, not absolutely knowing how the public would respond to that. it would have been foolish to that. it would have been foolish to have not planned for extra capacity within the nhs. we did that ina number of capacity within the nhs. we did that in a number of ways, including the nightingale hospitals. the fact we have not needed to use all that capacity is actually good news, because it means the public have complied with the social distancing measures, they have started to flatten the curve and we have seen

fewer admissions and ultimately fewer admissions and ultimately fewer deaths we might have seen if this virus had just been left to spread unchecked in the very early worst—case scenarios, as i said, no country has let play out, it would have meant many, many, many deaths and a lot of pressure on health services. i think you would be 1000 times more critical if the nhs had not put in that extra capacity and had become overwhelmed. you would be quite rightly asking us why we had not gone every mile we could possibly go to put in that extra capacity. so the nightingale hospitals were not built in error. we may still need them, we are not through this yet. although government policy and the scientific advice is to try and ensure the virus does not start to spread widely again, we can never absolutely be certain. therefore, for the months ahead we need to maintain that extra capacity until

we have more certainty. and then thirdly, on when was the peak? i think that is the question that cannot be precisely answered, as you have heard. because there has been a series of pea ks, have heard. because there has been a series of peaks, pigs in deaths, pigs in hospital admissions and peaks that have occurred in different regions of the country. —— peaks. as you saw from the slides presented at the start, most of the measures we are looking at started to reduce from around the middle of april. so i think broadly we saw that plateauing of a variety of measures around the middle of april. thank you very much, thank you, steve. chris, you wanted to come back? i asked what the r value was. so you did, that was the fourth. sir patrick