this is bbc news. the headlines. the chancellor says it's very likely the uk is in a significant recession, as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. it is now, yes, very likely that the uk economy will face a significant recession this year and we are in the middle of that as we speak. another £600 million for covid—19 infection control in care homes is promised by borisjohnson, but he's challenged by labour on thousands of excess

deaths amongst residents. can the prime minister give us the government's views on these unexplained deaths? he is right to draw attention, as i've said, to the tragedy that has been taking place in care homes. the education secretary defends plans to reopen some primary schools in england next month, insisting they're based on scientific advice. the easing of lockdown begins in england. people are encouraged to return to work, though avoid public transport where possible. and good news if your lockdown lawn needs some love, as some garden centres reopen. good afternoon, and welcome to viewers on bbc one and the bbc news channel for a special programme ahead of the daily downing street news

conference, which today is led by the housing, communities and local government secretary, robertjenrick. the chancellor, rishi sunak, has said it's ‘very likely‘ the uk economy will face a significant recession this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. he was speaking as official figures showed the uk economy shrank by 2% in the first three months of this year, which include the early days of lockdown. it's the sharpest dip since the global financial crisis in 2008. it comes as some of the lockdown restrictions have been eased in england and some people have returned to work. latest figures from the department of health show another 494 coronavirus—related deaths have been recorded in the past day in the uk. and the prime minister has announced a further £600 million to help tackle the virus in england's care homes. more on that shortly, but first this report from our economics correspondent andy verity. if the economy looked like this at the start of the year,

not growing but still busy, then this is how it looked at the end of the first three months. and this is a chart showing how big the fall was in the services sector which makes up four—fifths of the economy, down a record—breaking 6.2% in march alone and it is likely to get even worse. the bank of england for example put together a scenario suggesting in the second quarter we might see a 25% fall in economic output and that is completely unprecedented, that is nine or ten times the biggest quarterly fall we've ever seen. the speed with which this has hit the economy and the depth of the impact is really unprecedented. this manufacturer in derby normally makes bespoke stainless steel equipment mostly for restaurant kitchens and other caterers. it successfully adapted to the shutdown in march by furloughing some staff and converting machines to make equipment needed in the crisis. we recently supplied 1000 mobile washbasins which have gone

into a variety of sites including the nhs but also some large supermarkets. we are now in the process of manufacturing drug dispensing tables for the nhs manchester nightingale. but now demand for wash stations is slowing down and the firm will be lucky to get half of its normal income this year. even if it furloughs more staff it is likely to be forced to make some redundant to keep its core business afloat. do you remmeber before the shutdown when there was all that concern about avoiding a cliff edge brexit? well, actually, it turns out the economy was flat before we left the eu at the end of january and in the transition it fell a little bit, but of course it was the antivirus measures that really pushed the economy over a cliff. the official estimates of economic growth only cover a few weeks of antivirus measures but it is already the worst quarterly performance since the height of the financial crisis and the worst month for the economy on record.

the result of deliberate government policy to fight the virus. in common with pretty much every other economy around the world, we are facing severe impact from the coronavirus. you are seeing that in the numbers. and that is why we've taken the unprecedented action that we have to support people's jobs, their incomes, livelihoods, at this time. and support businesses. so we can get through this period of severe disruption and emerge stronger on the other side. in spite of that unprecedented support today came another devastating jobs announcement when air travel company and owner of thomson, tui, said it was laying off 8000 people. labour said the government had to keep up its unprecedented expansion of the state's role in the economy to stop unemployment rising even faster than it has been. andy verity reporting there and andy is here with me now. the chancellor says it is likely we are ina the chancellor says it is likely we are in a significant recession but since that first quarter what will

the figures look like in the next quarter? it could be ten times as large so the first quarter of the year, a 2% contraction which has only happened for other times in the past 60 years, that is how serious it is for the economy. but the bank of england last week predicted we could see a 25% contraction in the second quarter of the year from april untiljune. it makes sense because the whole point of lockdown is to reduce economic activity. the extraordinary thing about this unprecedented recession that we are in is governments around the world ordered this and it is a successful government policy. that is a strange thing to say in the same sentence as we are seeing an economic contraction and the like of which we've never seen in a contraction and the like of which we've never seen in a lifetime or possibly in 300 years. it is extraordinary serious, it is a recession no one can remember anything like, bigger than that after world war i where we had soup

kitchens, big red in the south sea bubble at the winter frost of 1709. it is unimaginable but unfortunately we are forced to go through the reality of it and that also means plummeting government tax revenues and soaring government spending on things like the furlough scheme so we will run up a deficit dwarfing the one that successive governments have spent the last 12 years trying to reduce. we are going to hear from robertjenrick at five o'clock and i think he may be talking about the housing sector, the building sector and getting them back to work, encouraging house—building. and getting them back to work, encouraging house-building. there has always been a question as to whether house—building can be done within social distancing rules. if you do not have everyone else working on the same property, doing perhaps the plumbing first and brickwork later, that could be accommodated within social distancing rules in the same way

that hardware stores have strict rules about where people come in and go out, how far apart they stay each other just as we go out, how far apart they stay each otherjust as we do here in the bbc and other workplaces. some reason really why construction activity cannot go on. it could be controversial on until nine o'clock at night and may not be popular with some of the neighbours but underlying this present crisis, there is a housing crisis and this makes sense for that to go on. and any kind of stimulus to economic activity that there can be weathered from the government or private spending has got to be welcomed to offset the very severe effects of the antivirus measures. and the figures out today reveal what was happening before the pandemic?m january the economy was flat, no boris bounced at all and in february economic activity fell after we exited the european union and that

may be partly because although we did not have antivirus measures in place towards the end of february it was still knocking confidence by then as we were starting to hear about it. but in march we really got the big 5.9% fall in one month, the biggest on record in almost every sector and the strange thing about it as sector and the strange thing about itasi sector and the strange thing about it as i say is it is what the government ordered. borisjohnson has announced a further £600 million for infection control in england's care homes. at prime minister's questions the labour leader, sir kier starmer, challenged mrjohnson to explain why official figures show there were an additional ten thousand unexplained deaths in care homes in april. the prime minister acknowledged the death rate has been too high, but said outbreaks in care homes are coming down. here's our political correspondent iain watson. the lockdown is slowly easing in england. though westminster remains subdued. labour had long called for an exit strategy but criticised the prime minister's planned route out of lockdown for a lack

of clarity and for being too slow to get on top of the crisis. at pmqs, sir keir starmer began by questioning the government's response to infections in care homes. care home residents accounted for about four in ten deaths from coronavirus recently. does the prime minister accept the government was too slow to protect people in care homes? the prime minister seemed to anticipate the question, as he had a fund ready to announce. what we've seen is a concerted action plan to tackle what has unquestionably been an appalling epidemic in care homes and a huge exercise in testing is going on, a further £600 million i can announce today for infection control in care homes. the number of deaths in care homes for april was a staggering 26,000. that's three times the average. 18,000 additional deaths this april.

using government figures only 8000 are recorded as covid deaths and that leaves 10,000 additional and unexplained care home deaths this april. since the care homes action plan began we are seeing an appreciable and substantial reduction notjust in the number of outbreaks but also in the number of deaths. i want to stress to the house and also to the country that solving the problem in care homes is going to be absolutely critical. then sir keir starmer wondered why graphs showing international comparisons of death rates from coronavirus had recently apparently disappeared from downing street press briefings. the uk has been going through an unprecedented, once in a century epidemic, and he seeks to make comparisons with other countries, which i am advised... which i am advised are premature.

i'm baffled, it's not me seeking to draw comparisons but these slides have been used by the government for seven weeks to reassure the public. and the problem with the prime minister's answer, it's pretty obvious that for seven weeks when we were not the highest number in europe they were used for comparison purposes but as soon as we hit that unenviable place they've been dropped. just on his earlier point about not learning from other countries — nothing could be further from the truth. we are watching intently what is happening in other countries. sir keir starmer says he's offering constructive criticism but nonetheless it is criticism and in his recent questioning of the prime minister a pattern has begun to emerge, to try to establish the government has been slow to react to the crisis. for his part, the prime minister wants to convince us that he is doing his very best under challenging circumstances. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. 0ur political correspondent helen cattjoins us from westminster. there's a row building between labour and the government over care homes?

yes, there is consensus that care homes are something that needs looking at, we have heard of thousands of deaths and acknowledgement among uk government scientist that there are three epidemics going on, what is happening in the community, in hospitals and also in care homes. this specific argument has arisen after prime minister's questions today and the labour leader keir starmer has written to borisjohnson about one particular exchange that they had. in that keir starmer quoted from guidance and said until the 12th of march the government and official guidance was it was very unlikely that people receiving care in care homes would become infected. borisjohnson reply in care homes would become infected. boris johnson reply to that sent no it was not to that the advice said that. that line, it does appear in some public health england guidance, document written on the 25th of february and stayed in place until

the 12th of march. it is in line within a paragraph about whether or not care home staff should be wearing face coverings. 0n the strength of that keir starmer says borisjohnson should be coming to the house of commons at the earliest opportunity to correct the record. downing street argued this is one line ina downing street argued this is one line in a document, dave accused sir keir starmer of inaccurately and selectively quoting from guidance and that that is what the prime minister was referring to. it may seem minister was referring to. it may seem like a granular row but it is because the issue so important to ca re because the issue so important to care homes understanding help we must understand where we have got to this and then crucially how we stop this and then crucially how we stop this happening. seven weeks after the prime minister announced the lockdown, some restrictions have been eased in england. people who can't work from home are now encouraged to return to work — although avoiding public transport if at all possible. 0n the london underground this morning, passenger numbers were up 7.3% on the same period last week. here's our transport

correspondent tom burridge. social distancing impossible in places this morning. london, inevitably worst. not everyone was following the government's advice to cover your face. i have my mask with me, so if anything, i will put it on and just turn my head — face off people. that's what i'm going to do, that's the plan. people who cannot work from home are now being encouraged to go back. some able to avoid public transport altogether, some of the time. when i have had to use it, it definitely is still quite busy. i think a lot of people... some people are really conscious about keeping their distance, you know, two metres. and other people just aren't, really. the rmt union says rail staff should refuse to work if they feel unsafe.

train bosses plan to ramp up capacity soon. we are going to need everybody‘s help to make this work. we are going to start scaling up our services, so in some places have longer trains, so there is more space for people to maintain that social distance and, from next week, we will see a gradual upscale in services. the government concedes that social distancing will not be possible all of the time. and working out how many people get on a particular service at a particular stop, at a particular time, is complicated. so the message is change the way you travel, if you can. absolute key here is for anybody who can to make alternative arrangements for travel, so cycling, walking — last week i put a £2 billion package together to try to encourage

more cycling and walking and, if necessary, cars, as well. traffic on some of our main roads also appears to have risen. governments normally encourage us to ditch our cars, but now we are told any form of private transport is better than travelling in a public space. tom burridge, bbc news. avoiding public transport means more people on the roads and using other methods, and several of london's main roads experienced higher traffic this morning than in recent weeks. let's speak now to edmund king, president of the aa. good afternoon. thank you for joining us. what has been the picture on the roads and traffic? certainly, at the aaa, we've seen a 1296 certainly, at the aaa, we've seen a 12% increase in breakdowns compared to the same day last week. that

doesn't totally equate to the traffic because about 40% of those have been flat batteries, so that represents people who have not use their cars for 55 six weeks, then they are trying to start them up and they are trying to start them up and they have got problems. —— 45—6 weeks. the traffic that we have loved has been increasing day on day this week. probably about 5% up from last week. but overall, if you search on the highways england website to find congestion, i can only find four or five spots where it was, mainly due to an incident, so it was, mainly due to an incident, so yes it has increased but certainly not back to the levels we saw before lockdown. certainly not back to the levels we saw before lockdownlj certainly not back to the levels we saw before lockdown. i was surprised, i saw two trafficjams yesterday but they had been sparked by roadworks. the roads have been repaired during this time. indeed, thatis repaired during this time. indeed, that is right, and the a14 extension

from cambridge to huntingdon was finished before the published finish date so some opportunities have been made to fix potholes, but there are still lots of key workers using the roads because of the public transport restrictions, because they are working shift work, and at the aa we are offering free breakdown cover to nhs staff, and 100 nhs staff each day are using that service, so the roads will get busier, as more people get back to work, because public transportjust can't cope. for shorterjourneys people can walk and cycle. we did a survey of 20,000 drivers and 36% said that they would cycle and walk more, after lockdown and 22% said they would use their car less if that was possible. so there is some hope that a combination of walking,

cycling, using the car in limited amounts of public transport will keep things going, but i think the biggest problem to come around the major cities where traditionally, people commuted in long distances by train, so for london, from kent or hertfordshire, bedfordshire, and perhaps something they ought to look at is an emergency park and cycle parking around the outskirts of london, places like stratford in the east or hessen in the west where if you cannot get a train in uk driving without driving to the centre, then parked up and cycle. that might be pa rt parked up and cycle. that might be part of the solution. you wonder how much this could change the way people use the roads, for good. absolutely. i think one positive that has come out of this is that people have found that they can work from home quite effectively. so, if only 10% of people work from home full—time, and i totally understand

not everybody can. we need construction workers, essential workers, but if that 10% can continue working from home, that is equivalent to reducing traffic by the school holidays, both on the road and indeed public transport, so one of the things we have talked about is perhaps investing more in broadband, to help those people who wa nt to broadband, to help those people who want to work from home, the it capacity isn't always enough. so, that could make a fundamental change to the way that some of us travel. edmund king, thank you forjoining us. heidi alexander is the deputy mayor of london for transport. she joins us from south east london. good afternoon. millions of people commute into london every day. some have started getting back onto public transport today. how big an increase have you seen? what we have seen increase have you seen? what we have seen for the whole of this week actually is a slight increase

compared to last week, so use of the tube for example is about 9% up this morning on monday, tuesday, about 7% up, but we have to remember that only 6% of travel compared to normal levels is happening on the tube network at the moment, so it is a small increase, and that is the picture on the tube. we have been running about two thirds of the normal tube service. on the buses, we have been running about 80%. so thatis we have been running about 80%. so that is the sort of change we have seen. that is the sort of change we have seen. we are seeing pictures of people pouring off a london bus, it is very difficult to social distance on buses. across the network we have seen on buses. across the network we have seen the vast majority of people doing journeys in a socially distanced way. what happens in certain locations and certain times,

own particular bus routes or at particular stations is that people are still travelling in the morning peak, so we need londoners to help us peak, so we need londoners to help us in this. we need people to work from home if they possibly can. lots of people have been doing that over the last few weeks. we need that to continue. we need people to delay their journey, continue. we need people to delay theirjourney, don't travel between six o'clock and eight o'clock in the morning, and i heard your previous guest talking about switching some journeys. cycling if you can. if it isa40 journeys. cycling if you can. if it is a 40 minute cycle ride into central london instead of a 15 minute trainjourney, consider central london instead of a 15 minute train journey, consider doing that. and we are saying to people if you have to use public transport, it isa you have to use public transport, it is a precious resource now, a sacred resource, and it needs to be for people who really need to use it. when you are encouraging so many people to cycle and walk to work, i've been cycling the last few weeks when the roads were empty and the

rose felt safe but traffic is building so what can you do to make cyclists safer? can you have pop—up new cycle lanes? what provision can you do? that is precisely what we are doing. we are putting in some temporary cycle lanes in central london and across london, places like park lane, euston road, chelsea embankment, on the a21 between lewisham and catford because we recognise that that part of london is where people want to be cycling from and we are doing some work as pa rt from and we are doing some work as part of the mayor's street space programme to make the pavements wider so that people standing at busy bus stops have got more space to wait for those buses, and we are working with local authorities in london so that when people are shopping, we have seen pictures in the last few weeks of people standing outside supermarkets, you need more space to do that, and

looking at how we can reconfigure the space in town centres, so that people can actually, you know, do the things that they need to do, but have enough space in which they do that, and so, that is an ambitious programme that we are working on in london at the moment. could we see large parts of cities pedestrianise because of this, do you think? we have seen some positive news this afternoon. the city of london are looking to give pedestrians priority ona number of looking to give pedestrians priority on a number of roads in the heart of the city of london. they have recognised that when people start to come back to work, whilst lots of people will be working from home and we need lots of people to stay working from home, actually, in a congested urban environment, people need space to move around, and so i think, through this process, the way that we move around our city is actually going to change, and there could be some quite exciting plans and parts of london, going forward.

heidi alexander, thank you. the government has insisted its decision to approve a phased re—opening of schools from june the 1st in england is the right one. education unions have expressed concerns over capacity and the ability to maintain social distancing among young children. but speaking in the commons this afternoon the education secretary, gavin williamson, insisted the government had taken appropriate scientific advice, and he rejected a call from his labour opposite number, rebecca long—bailey to rethink the date. we would give the sector as much notice as possible and we have said that, you know, if we are allowed, which it seems likely that we will be, we would like to see schools opening from the 1st ofjune. giving schools as much forward notice as possible in order for them to get ready. we think this is a responsible and sensible approach in terms of the phased return. i slightly fear that the honourable lady, if we were asking her to pin her down

as to what would be the date, it would end up being as to what would be the year as against what would be the actual start date, but we do want to work with her, we do want to work with the whole sector to make sure this is a phased, sensible and controlled return to schools because the people who suffer the most from schools not being open are those children who are so desperate to attend. many of us have been wondering how little children and social distancing go together — well, we can look to denmark. schools there re—opened a month ago, and our europe correspondent jean mackenzie has been talking to staff and pupils at one of them. it has been hard to not hug each other. she says you can't hug each other, so you have to hug yourself. keeping kids apart requires some imagination. they're not worried about the virus at all. when they came back,

we had lots of activities to try to make them not worry, but they didn't worry, so we had to give up on that. it wasn't needed? not at all. the school's been cleverly redrawn so each child only comes into contact with a very small number of children. normally they sit two and two. you have the class of 20 that's been cut down to two groups of ten. that's why you have the plastic. because those two groups aren't allowed to mix? no, exactly. when they are going outside in the breaks, we have to divide those groups into even smaller groups. so the kids just have four other children that they are allowed to play with and they are only given one part of the playground that they are allowed to be in. my name's sky, i'm seven years old. we keep our distance when we play. you can't play catch. what do you play instead? hula—hoop. and there is a lot of this.

how many times do you wash your hands a day now? five to six. denmark reopened primary schools very early on. it was feared the infection rate would rise and, initially, it did, but it's back down again and, with so many parents in work here, this was a targeted risk. if we have to get the economy moving again, then we need to get the kids back into not only schools, but also daycare, to try to enhance productivity for those forced still to work at home. it was a challenge to do yourjob while having him home. it is much more easy for me to concentrate. i have a row of hours where i canjust work. a lot of parents wrote to me that they had some kind of concerns, a few parents that are so concerned that they wouldn't let their child come in the first week. after two weeks, they rejoined and it's been no problem. actually, it was the kids at home who said, "why can't i go?"

this, they said, was impossible — children social distancing. now it might not be school as they know it, but they are making it work. a very beautiful danish song, actually. the direct translation is, "when the light returns, it's back." the light is back. jean mackenzie, bbc news, denmark. let's talk to our political correspondent helen catt, who joins us from westminster. we are going to hearfrom robert jenrick and the focus is expected to be an house—building in particular. this is of course the date we have a housing secretary, the date the government has talked about reopening the housing market. of course when lockdown restrictions we re course when lockdown restrictions were put in the government said no one should move unless they had to and you were not supposed to have house viewings but that has changed from today. the debate has been dominated since prime minister's

questions about the issue of care homes and we had the prime minister saying then that he was going to announce this £600 million fund for infection control and care homes. we did not know any more than that sulphite so it could be perhaps we get some more detail on that in this press co nfe re nce . get some more detail on that in this press conference. i think certainly questions will be asked about that and there has also been this war of letters that has broken out over what was in government guidance. keir starmer quoting government guidance that said from the 25th of february but said it was unlikely the people receiving care in a care home would become infected. boris johnson saying that that was not to that the advice said that. it is there in black and white in that document by then the past 30 minutes borisjohnson has written back to keir starmer to say what he did not say was the critical top context demand that that it was guidance that was four when there was no

transmission of covid—19 in the community. so this huge focus today and care homes and it is a big issue the government needs to get to grips with so we could be hearing more on that. 10,000 unexplained deaths and that. 10,000 unexplained deaths and thatis that. 10,000 unexplained deaths and that is what the labour party was putting pressure on the government over. there has always been an acknowledgement that there is an issue in care homes and the uk government scientists have said before that effectively we had three epidemics come in the community, in hospitals and also what is happening in care homes. and earlier today borisjohnson said it was absolutely crucial to get what was happening in ca re crucial to get what was happening in care homes under control. 0ther things have been talked about as well as theirs moves in the housing market, we had some warnings about the economy this morning of course, and the scheme for self—employed people, opening, the equivalent of

the furlough scheme to try to help freelance, sorry, small, self—employed people. that opened this morning so we could find that we get a range of subjects discussed at this press conference this afternoon. there hasjust been at this press conference this afternoon. there has just been so much going on and of course this is the first day that in england there is lockdown restrictions have started to be eased. and in fact the housing market, changes to the housing market, changes to the housing market, changes to the housing market came as a real surprise. we knew about some of the easing of the restrictions that we would get, about removing the cap on exercise and how many times the date you can go out to exercise. but it was the housing market measures we did not really know were coming down the track so we could get quite a lot of different topics covered at this press conference. some detail already coming out about the housing sector and building. specifically about the times building sites will be able to operate even in residential areas, up to nine o'clock at night. it is part of

trying to get building sites operational again and guidance suggesting developers could agree with local councils kind of staggered start and finish times so they could work longer hours than they could work longer hours than they are currently permitted to. but could mean they go until nine o'clock at night with the idea to try to give the industry a bit of a boost and get construction back up and running. many other subjects as you say that i said sure to be covered but we are looking still at this high death toll. we are and the government has said they were not expecting that to go down, we've gone through the peak of the virus but certainly the death toll was not going to disappear overnight and pa rt going to disappear overnight and part of this next phase of the virus and the pandemic, the government... the press conference is about to start. good afternoon and welcome to

the downing street press conference. ijoined the sentiment by doctor jenny harry is the deputy chief medical officer for that as housing secretary i will set out our company has a plan to safely restart, reopen and renew the housing market. first i want to update you on the latest data on the coronavirus response. 2,094,209 tests for coronavirus have now been carried out in the united kingdom including 87,063 tests carried out yesterday. 229,705 people have tested positive. that is an increase of 3000 242 cases since yesterday. 11,327 people are in hospital with cover 19. that is down

1596 hospital with cover 19. that is down 15% from 13,273 cases last week. and sadly of those tested positive for coronavirus across all settings 33,186 have now died. that is an increase of 494 fatalities since yesterday. these figures include deaths in all settings notjust in hospitals. before turning to the housing market i want to remind people of how we will address this phase of our fight against covid—19. firstly and if we could turn to the first slide, thank you, in order to monitor our progress we are establishing a new covered alert level system with five levels, each relating to the level of threat

posed by the virus. the alert level that we base primarily on the r value a number of coronavirus cases and that alert level will determine the level of social distancing measures in place. the lower the level, the fewer the measures in the higher the level the structure of the measures. the social distancing measures remain critical in our effo rts measures remain critical in our efforts to control the virus. throughout the period of lockdown which began in march the 21st we have been at level four meaning cover19 have been at level four meaning cover 19 epidemic is in general circulation and transmission is high or rising exponentially. thanks to the hard work and the sacrifices of the hard work and the sacrifices of the british people in the lockdown we have helped bring the r level down and now that we are in a position to begin moving to level three we will do so in time and

careful steps. if we turn to slide number two we set out the first of three steps we will take to carefully modify the measures and gradually ease the lockdown. and begin to allow people to return to their way of life. but crucially doing so while avoiding what would bea doing so while avoiding what would be a disastrous second peak that could overwhelm the nhs. after each step we will closely monitor the impact of that on the r and number of infections and all the available data will be used and we will only ta ke data will be used and we will only take the next step when we are satisfied that it is completely safe to do so. the first step from this week will be as follows. those who cannot work from home should now speak to their employer about going back to work. you can now spend time

outdoors and exercise as often as you like. you can meet one person outside your household in an outdoor place provided you stay two metres apart. the second step from the 1st ofjune at the earliest as long as the data allows we will aim to do the data allows we will aim to do the following. primary schools to reopen for some pupils in smaller classes. nonessential retail to start to reopen when and where it is safe to do so. cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed doors without crowds. and then step three nil earlier than the 4th of july and again only if the data says it is safe to do so, we aim to allow the following. more businesses and premises to open including potentially those offering personal

ca re potentially those offering personal care such as leisure facilities, public places and places of worship. and on that last point i've been speaking to faith leaders and will convene later this week a task force to establish when and how places of worship open safely for some of the practices were social distancing can ta ke practices were social distancing can take place. such as private prayer, potentially private prayer have been able to be carried out earlier than july the 4th. many of these businesses and organisations will need to operate in new ways to ensure they are safe and we will work with those sectors and individuals on how to do this. if we turn to the third slide, having taken the first step in carefully adjusting some of the measures and ourand adjusting some of the measures and our and what to do we have also updated what we are asking people to do. which is to stay alert, to

control the virus and to save lives. for many people the appropriate course still means staying at home as much as possible. but there are a range of other actions we are advising people to take when they do go out to work or for other activities. limiting contact with other people, keeping distance when you do go out, two metres apart wherever possible. washing your hands regularly, wearing a face covering when you are in an enclosed space where it is difficult to be socially distant for example in some shops or public transport. and if you or anyone in your household has symptoms all need self—isolate. this slide sets out some of the activities you can now do and as i will come to later you will see you can now move house. 0n the fourth

slide if everyone stays alert and follows these rules we can control coronavirus by keeping the r down and reducing the number of infections. this is how we will continue to save lives and livelihoods and we can begin as a nation to recover from coronavirus. and as we begin to recover it is essential that we cautiously open up parts of our economy where it is safe to do so. earlier today in parliament i made a statement setting out our clear, coherent and comprehensive plan to restart, reopen and renew the housing market and our construction industry. i'm sure that this will be of interest to many people at home who are hoping to move house and i would like to set out what this means in

more detail. from today anyone in england can move house if they follow the new guidance that we've published in the government website. when the lockdown was announced in march we changed the rules so people could only move home if they thought it was reasonably necessary. that meant that more than 450,000 buyers had to put their plans on hold and each month 300,000 up for renewal as well. a significant proportion of these will result in people needing to wanting to move home. the pressure to move for some was becoming acute with serious legal and financial and health implications. during an already difficult time these people have been stuck in limbo. now they can

carry on with their house moves and add some certainty to their lives so from today, estate agents offices can reopen, viewings whether virtual or in—person are permitted, show homes can open and removal companies and the other essential parts of the sales and lettings process are restarted with immediate effect. for most people moving home is not a luxury, people decide to move home because their personal circumstances change. the changes i've announced today are happening safely in order today are happening safely in order to control the virus and to protect the public, we published very detailed guidance informed by public health advice to explain how this can be achieved with all parties observing hygiene measures and social distancing guidelines. people

have asked why would they be able to look around strangers home but not visit their parents or loved ones at home. i understand why this may seem confusing at first glance especially when people have been separated from their loved ones for so long. 0ur guidelines make clear that in the first instance viewings should happen virtually and when viewings do happen in person we have set out a clear plan to ensure the safety of everybody involved in the property itself. there is considering moving in and the estate agents and letting agents. these requirements include visits being by appointment only, open has feelings should not be taking place and speculative viewings where buyers or tenants are not yet serious are highly discouraged. all parties should follow strict social distancing

guidelines and all internal doors should be opened where possible, the current occupier should vacate the property for the duration of the visit going out for the daily exercise or going to the shops or standing in the garden if that is possible. all involved in the process should wash their hands upon entering the property and once the feeling has taken place all the surfaces of the property including the door handles should be thoroughly cleaned. there are exceptions. for those who are self—isolating or have coronavirus they should not be moving, going back to work or allowing tradespeople or professionals into their home. where this is the case, all parties involved in house buying or selling should prioritise amicable, sensible arrangements to change the move dates for the individuals concerned. that has been happening across the country in recent weeks, and it will

need to continue. we will also ask those who are clinically vulnerable and those who are shielding to consider very carefully their personal situation, and to seek specific personal medical advice before deciding whether to commit to you or to proceed on moving home. if you or to proceed on moving home. if you are in this situation, and you decide that you must go ahead, all professionals involved should be made aware, so that they can put in place any additional precautionary measures to provide further protection for your health and further legal protection to make sure that the transaction goes as smoothly as can be expected. a vibrant housing smoothly as can be expected. a vibra nt housing market smoothly as can be expected. a vibrant housing market needs more than buying and selling homes. we need to get building again, and britain needs that. it is something this government has always been committed to, something that our ambitious first oz programme will do

with a 30% discount or new homes for key workers including nurses, teachers and police officers as well as local first—time buyers. teachers and police officers as well as localfirst—time buyers. we teachers and police officers as well as local first—time buyers. we want them to be ready as soon as possible, and that is just one of the reasons why i am keen to get construction up and running. to help with this, i am today announcing further steps to support safe house—building, by allowing more flexible working hours on construction sites, where appropriate, and with local consent. iam appropriate, and with local consent. i am allowing sites to apply to extend their working hours, again with immediate effect, to 9pm monday to saturday, in residential areas and beyond that in nonresidential areas, and setting out a very clear government position that these applications should be approved by local councils, unless there are very compelling reasons not to do so. very compelling reasons not to do so. varied start and finish times

will make it much easier for building sites to observe social distancing. take the pressure of public transport like the tube in london and keep britain building. there are countless examples of the industry behaving responsibly and proactively during this pandemic. i would like to thank today taylor wimpey who have today got construction safely under way on the majority of their sites, and have started removing staff from the furlough schema back to work on full pgy- furlough schema back to work on full pay. they are offering a discount of 596 pay. they are offering a discount of 5% for nhs staff and care workers on new homes, a great way to recognise the contribution that our front line heroes are making across the country, so thank you to them. it is also time that the planning system makes more use of digital technology to operate remotely and efficiently during this pandemic. i am

determined that the planning inspectorate is at the forefront of this work, and i welcome the inspectorate now undertaking its first ever virtual hearings. i am asking them to make all hearings virtual, within weeks, so the planning system can resume and be made more permanently accessible and user—friendly. this is the most comprehensive restarting of an industry in the first phase of our road map, with few, if any transactions, there is no visibility and no precedent with which to accuratelyjudge and no precedent with which to accurately judge the state and no precedent with which to accuratelyjudge the state of the housing market, but history tells us that, in every economic recovery in modern british history, economic life, the housing market has been key to recovery and revival. as housing secretary, i will do everything i can to support the

millions of people employed in the construction and housing industries, to help their sector bounce back whilst always prioritising the safety a nd whilst always prioritising the safety and well—being. almost 100 separate organisations have already signed up to the charter for safe working practice, pledging that they will share the responsibility to ensure that their sites operate safely and in accordance with government advice. i would like to thank all of those who have signed and encouraged the whole industry to join them. today, we reopen, restart and renew the housing market and the construction industry, to protect lives, to save jobs and to begin rebuilding our economy. thank you.|j will rebuilding our economy. thank you.” will now hand over to you doctor

haas. jenny. i will run through some of this lies which will show how we have in managing social distancing asa have in managing social distancing as a nation. this compares traffic and buses from earlier in the year usage and rail from last year. and you can see that oval of the different types of transport, the reduction in use has been more than 50% except in heavy goods vehicles which are transporting essential items for us. and it is important for us to watch that. it has been a strong indicator of how successful the social distancing policy has been and that has obviously translated through to add reduction in the numberof translated through to add reduction in the number of infections we have seen in the number of infections we have seen and the pressures on our hospitals, and we will be monitoring that continuously as we go forward. next slide. this slide shows the current situation on testing and new cases. testing is at nine o'clock

this morning, 87,063 tests completed in the previous 24 others, and that brings the total of tests that have been completed, to well over 2 million. we have capacity well over that, and that will take us forward into supporting our testing in particular hot spots, so care homes and hospitals, where we want to ensure we have maximum capacity, but absolutely increasingly with our test and trace programme so, having that capacity will allow us to go forward as the number of cases drops. and we can see the bottom half of the slide, the number confirmed cases, sojust in the cases confirmed on the 13th of may, 13,242, again, 229,705 cases

confirmed in total. of course, we recognise that not all cases will be counted here. these are laboratory confirmed cases but even so, as testing capacity has increased, we can see that the number of confirmed cases continues to decrease and that isa very cases continues to decrease and that is a very positive sign as we move forward. next slide, please. this slide represents the current information from our hospitals. it is collected slightly differently across the uk nations. in the top half of this light, you can see that the numberof half of this light, you can see that the number of admissions on the 11th of may was 711, and if we look at the week before that, that is down from just under 1000, so a continuous downward trend in hospital admissions. continuous downward trend in hospitaladmissions. clearly, continuous downward trend in hospital admissions. clearly, it continuous downward trend in hospitaladmissions. clearly, it is still important that we recognise that there are a significant number of people getting ill and needing support in our hospitals. that represents huge amounts of work still on the front line for health

ca re still on the front line for health care workers but, nevertheless, it isa care workers but, nevertheless, it is a positive trend. but it is a slow one and we need to ensure that social distancing continues through this next phase of the plan. and on the bottom half of the slide, again, the bottom half of the slide, again, the fewer patients coming into hospital, it is a proportion of the sickest patients who go on to need critical care beds and that you can see in all of the nations has decreased over the period. you can see the epidemic curve, but particularly important where we have been concerned previously as we were rising up the curve, that capacity to deal with critical care, just 21% of critical care beds are occupied with covid patients. next slide, please. it is important to recognise that, although there is some variation across the country, everywhere we can see that there has beena everywhere we can see that there has been a peak, and there was now a plateau and a general trend

downwards. london, clearly, had a significant peak and in other areas the shape of that curve is flat. it does mean that, again, we need to be careful about social distancing and apply all of the control measures to manage the virus as we go forward, but nevertheless, you can see that 11,327 people in hospital, that is down from just about 2000 higher than that last week so a continuous downward trend. next slide, please. this is the last slide. so, these are the confirmed deaths from every pa rt of are the confirmed deaths from every part of the system, notjust hospital deaths, so sadly, there have been 494 tests confirmed that positive laboratory test in the last 24 hours, and 33,000 overall, but again, you can see that reflection of the downward trend carrying on as

we go forward. thank you. thanks very much, jenny. the first question comes from a member of the public and it is from michael who is in london. i am one of the many thousands of people working in the theatre and performing arts industries. it is clear it will be many months before theatres reopen and customers feel comfortable enough to come again. will the government pledged to protect these industries which will be without any income for quite some time? are very good question from michael. all of us good question from michael. all of us who care about the arts, are very concerned for the future of theatres, museums and galleries, performing arts, all of those who work in this sector, which is incredibly important to the uk. 0ne of our great international strengths, and something that's important for our well—being as well, as a country and as

individuals. we have made available the unprecedented economic support package that the chancellor has brought forward to many of the organisations within the arts, and so, the furlough scheme which is paying part of the wages of millions of our citizens today is available to some of those organisations. for those people who are self—employed, there is also the treasury scheme there, launched today, and i would refer self—employed people working within the arts that if it is applicable to them and the culture secretary is also working closely with our main cultural institutions to see how we can guide them through undoubtedly a very difficult period of time, and to put in place the social distancing guidelines, so that they are ready to reopen, when the science and medical opinion allows, and as you will see from the

that we have set out, we hope that that we have set out, we hope that that will be later this summer, but it is conditional upon continuing to keep the rate of infection down and continuing to control the virus, of which we have all got an important pa rt which we have all got an important part to play. the second question is from laura, who is from rossendale. laura asked, there was a lot of talk about people being able to meet up infamily about people being able to meet up in family clusters or bubbles. when are we likely to see this put in place? the guidance that we have set out in this first phase doesn't propose that. it says that you can go out. more, you can exercise in public places, and when you are out in public settings like parks for example you can meet up with one person from outside of your family, as long as you maintain social

distancing, so you can sit in a park bench or go for a walk talking to them as long as you are two metres apart. jenny, you want to set out what the longer term trajectory might be for meeting up with family. it is important as we recognise that people particularly those who have been on their own or who are isolated from others with very much welcome this. it will be a very positive mental health boost quite apart from anything else. it gets complicated however i do not want to run the risk of going back to other social advice but there are, to make ita fair social advice but there are, to make it a fair intervention and consistent with public health advice it can get quite technical so for example if you have families with large numbers already in their families who want to meet up then you end up effectively with quite a

large gathering even if it isjust two families meeting. i think it's important that we think through the implications of that and particularly across families in different circumstances. if your family for example is a long way away you may be less able to do that but recognise what the benefits would be for individuals and we are able to put in health advice to some of those decisions. now the first question from a member of the media is lower conspired from the bbc. thank you very much, white said the government cannot seem to get a grip on the crisis in care homes and can i ask is it right for some hospitals to be trying to persuade care homes to be trying to persuade care homes to ta ke to be trying to persuade care homes to take in patients who have tested positive for the virus? care homes are the absolute heart of all the work we are now doing across government, it is essential that we provide them with the support that they need and deserve. today the

prime minister announced a further six worth of financial support that will be given to councils and flow through to care homes so they can fund the changes that we are asking them to do which will include better infection control within care homes, bringing that up to the high standards if they are not doing so already, ensuring there is less rotation of staff particularly agency workers between care homes so we can shield those care homes that have not had outbreaks as much as we possibly can. ensuring there are named contacts within councils and the nhs for each care home and particularly the smaller care homes who might have traditionally less connection with the local council. ensuring they're getting the support that they need to put in place all those measures. 0bviously continuing to ensure that they get the personal protective equipment they need and the testing for residents and for ca re the testing for residents and for

care workers weathered their symptomatic or asymptomatic and were using all the bits we have in the testing infrastructure to make that as accessible as possible. whether giving them privileged access to testing through their employers and also ensuring that the mobile testing units that we have in many cases operated by the ministry of defence are going to places that are convenient for care homes and in some cases to their own car park so the staff are getting the test they need. you'll ask a very important question about good infection prevention and control when patients are moving and obviously many elderly care home residents will be some of the most vulnerable patients. it's important to remember that if the patient has gone into hospital and been tested positive at an early phase and they've had the disease and recovered they will still be marked as a positive test but very unlikely to be infectious after a long period of convalescence

in hospital so i think we're not talking about that but what is important in this, the test is an important in this, the test is an important element but it is about the systems of good infection control both in the hospital and in the receiving care home. and that is the receiving care home. and that is the fundamental basis whether it be covid—19 or anything else of managing patients carefully. the same kind of issues arise to a degree with the flu and with norovirus. but i think although every potential care resident, moving care resident is tested now in hospitals, there is an important element here. even prior to that testing was a policy whereby an individual living into a care home would be retained if you like in safe isolation within the care home because it was recognised that this was a risk group. so they now having a test but they would have been treated much the same way for quite a few weeks before this. but i think

it comes down to the degree of local discretion and i know nhs england colleagues have sent a clear instructions to hospitals to support the testing and make sure that is donein the testing and make sure that is done ina the testing and make sure that is done in a convenient time period before the patient is due for discharge and to have local conversations about this where on occasion and i think it is not the rule, there are difficulties. clearly a percent of these discussions is often a very elderly and quite vulnerable individual and it is very important that they are managed in the weight which is best for their health and everyone else and also their personal life as well. you've listed some actions the government is announcing today but we are now two months since the first case was recorded in a care home and there are not enough tests, not enough kit as we are hearing from their homes across the country and managers are desperately worried

about what is going on. why does it seem about what is going on. why does it seem that the government is not getting a grip on this?” seem that the government is not getting a grip on this? i do not underestimate the challenge faced by residents and staff of care homes. the package of support we are giving today builds on work that we've been doing many weeks now with respect to ppe for example, if we did tens of millions of items of pp to care homes through local resilience forums across the country. testing has been going on for some time, i'm sure that there is more that we can do but we have now brought to capacity for testing nationally up to 110000 and we need to ensure it is focused on the people who need it the most including care home workers. is more that we can do and now our whole focus needs to be on ensuring care homes are guided through the weeks and months ahead and we protect as many people as we possibly can within them. the next question is from paul brandt from

itv. that afternoon. thank you. any extra money for care homes of course is welcome but the funding announced today as your client is specifically for infection control. care homes are telling us that one of the greatest cost they face from covid—19 is that many of their beds are now empty. how does this money prevent ca re are now empty. how does this money prevent care homes from closing? the £600 million that we are announcing today will help care homes implement some of the further measures that we are announcing in the support package that has been published and that will be focused on infection control as you say and also around helping them reduce the amount of rotation staff between care homes. it builds upon £3.2 billion of funding that would have given in the past two months to local councils and the vast majority of which, 90% of which has gone to those councils with responsibility for adult social care. so almost £4 billion of

additionalfunding being care. so almost £4 billion of additional funding being given care. so almost £4 billion of additionalfunding being given to councils to help them meet the very significant additional costs that they are facing to do the things that we've asked of them to meet the challenge of coronavirus. 0bviously we re challenge of coronavirus. 0bviously were working closely with those councils and with the care sector and if there is further funding required then we will consider that in the weeks in the months ahead. we need to ensure they had the support which is partly financial but goes beyond that as well and the package includes ensuring that care homes including those smaller independent homes also have expert advice from councils, from public health professionals and from the nhs to ensure they have the best infection control and access to testing, the right protective equipment and they are making use of the new discharge policy so residents are only arriving or returning to the home once we know they are free of covid—19. anything you would like to

add in the package? from a clinical perspective nhs england already had a plan of enhanced support for care homes in progress but in fact that has been brought forward and there isa has been brought forward and there is a lot ofjoint working to ensure that each care home has a clinical lead in each area who can oversee and provide specialist advice. i do not have the figures here but there has been a lot of training, training around infection control for example which is an important element and directa which is an important element and direct a public health were critical in local authorities and work between the adult social care directors and between local public health teams will be increasingly taking a leading role in oversight of that. many are already but i think it isjust pulling these things together to give that added assurance that there is consistency. but i think going back to the earlier point these are all elements that generally were in place so

every ca re that generally were in place so every care home has an infection control policy. it is an added focus to it now and i think we recognise that in some smaller care homes for example it can be quite difficult to maintain special skills. so having this extra clinical support and advice available to people is an important step. do you have a flop follow—up question? important step. do you have a flop follow-up question? as you know some of the funding is not getting through to care homes, not being passed on by councils who say they do not have enough money and the money to announced today is specifically for infection control will not be better to allow parents to spend the money on whatever they need to spend the money on because some of them are closing. we reported on last night which has moved residents out of the care home. we want to ensure care homes are financially sustainable, through this crisis. that is why we've given the £3.2 billion so far and now this

additional £600 million. councils are undera additional £600 million. councils are under a lot of pressure and we are under a lot of pressure and we are asking a lot of them to do a range of tasks to support us in the national effort at the moment but it is essential that they get that money through to the front line as quickly as possible and we will make sure this £600 million gets to the ca re sure this £600 million gets to the care homes as quickly as we possibly can so care homes as quickly as we possibly can so it can help them put in place some important measures we just talked about. our next question is from andy bell from channel five. good afternoon. i do not think that we can hear you i am afraid. try again. can you hear me now? the government has said parents will not be penalised if they choose not to send their children back to school

because they're worried. with the same applied to staff if they are concerned about what is happening in schools next month will be simply be expected to go back to work and do you agree that the prime minister said that it is premature to have international comparisons on death rates and if so what has changed since you were happy to stand at the podium there and make this comparisons in recent weeks? well the education secretary is working closely with the trades unions, with teaching professionals, to ensure that they are comfortable and have sufficient guidance to return to the workplace. many teachers of course had been working in those schools that have remained open ensuring that have remained open ensuring that the children of key workers and vulnerable children are given schooling during the lockdown measures and we are very schooling during the lockdown measures and we are very grateful to those teachers for doing that. but we will keep on working with the trades unions to provide as much comfort as we possibly can with a view to getting the school is as

possible and towards the timetable that the prime minister set out at the weekend. i think you are referring to the slide scent that has changed slightly, as a scientist and professional i work on the basis of transparency of data and i'm delighted to discuss statistics comparisons on whatever occasion is necessary. but i think there is no reason why the death of data cannot be produced here and it is available in public. there are a number of new reports which i think are adding insight andl reports which i think are adding insight and i think it is becoming clear that there are a lot of cassettes to understanding death data so for example the office for national statistics data, a number of reports coming through which the public can have access to and look at theirs. i think there is no suggestion that the death data cannot be available and it is in a numberof

cannot be available and it is in a number of different places. the main point i think of your question was around comparisons and you will know that i have stood here often but i think a range of other professionals, chief scientific advisers and medical officers, enzyme and is well and highlighted some of the risks of doing this. so i think all of us professionally are clear that because death data is collected in very different ways in different countries and particularly at the moment, because the rate of testing is very different and because we are still understanding the risks to different stratus of the risks to different stratus of the population for example by age or other risk variables, the only really good comparison in the longer term overall would be to look back at all cause mortality, cell deaths from many courses at all whether that be confirmed or not and look at that be confirmed or not and look at that when it is adjusted for age of population, whether a particular

country has a very high proportion of older people and therefore would expect more deaths but also to be seasonally adjusted as well if possible because we know for example in normal times when we do not have covid—19 that we will see excess deaths through the flu season. all of those things are important, were not quite there yet and in fact the pandemic is still moving at different times and different countries so the time to do this on an international scale will be to look back probably 12 months hence still and then do the comparison. it is always good to keep looking and the wait and see if you can learn and we do do that but that is the timel and we do do that but that is the time i think to do it and it will be all cause mortality. andy, would you like to follow up on that? people might think it is a little strange that that slide and those comparisons have disappeared at this point. we want to be as

transparent as we can. we believe the way that the report deaths is the way that the report deaths is the most clear and advanced of any advanced country. we record deaths in all settings. asjenny has said making international comparisons is very difficult, to do with accuracy at this moment in time. that doesn't mean that it is not worthwhile and that there are not lessons to be learned from our performance and how it appears to relate to those of other countries, but that accurate comparisons will be for the months to come, when we are able to look at that measure of excess deaths in the way thatjenny has just set out, and that day isn't now, but we will keep on reporting the statistics as transparently as we can and then you slides you have seen this evening set out some further measures and i think they will be very interesting for the public. thank you very much, andy, and the next question is from

gordon raynerfrom the andy, and the next question is from gordon rayner from the telegraph. thank you, secretary of state. a question to doctor harries on schools. the french government has said that children are safer at school than they are at home and i wonder if doctor harries could tell us if statistically speaking which is more dangerous for children, being in school at the moment or the journey to school whether one bus or public transport hour by car, and a question for you secretary of state. the telegraph reported this morning that the treasury thinks coronavirus will increase the deficit to £337 billion this year. at this stage has the government ruled out any ways of finding such as tax scrapping the triple lock on pensions? let me a nswer triple lock on pensions? let me answer that last question before turning tojenny. those are matters for the chancellor. he will return to those questions in future fiscal

events if he wishes. he was very clear yesterday that coronavirus is having a profound impact upon the economy, here in the uk as it is in our economy is all over the world, and you are seeing people losing their jobs, and you are seeing people losing theirjobs, you are seeing stress and harm to businesses large and small. the unprecedented measures we have brought forward from the furlough scheme to the bounce back loa ns furlough scheme to the bounce back loans and so on are all designed to protect as many people and businesses as we possibly can. we know that we will not be able to protect everyone and everyone's business but we will do as much as we can and stand behind as many people and businesses as it is possible to do. it is important that, where it is safe to do so, we do begin to cautiously reopen and restart aspects of the economy and, today, i have announced a very significant step in that direction, with the reopening of the housing

market and that, i hope, as an example of how we can safely get more people back to work and ensure the economy starts to get going again. jenny. you actually gave quite a broad question. i am presuming it is in relation to coronavirus as well as the other issues. i am coronavirus as well as the other issues. lam not coronavirus as well as the other issues. i am not particularly familiar with the french school syste m familiar with the french school system apart from knowing that they must have slightly different age groups and day timings, so the important point here is, where our children going to flourish and to balance out risks and opportunities? it is important not tojust think about infection control, which is the prime conversation often these days and the risk of disease transmission but also about why the public health issue so vulnerable children particularly are benefited hugely from being at school and having a safe environment there, and obviously that schooling has continued. equally important that

children at particular phases of their education don't miss out, because, in terms of health risks, ifa because, in terms of health risks, if a child in early years doesn't grasp the basics of education and feels comfortable in that environment, you can predict that their whole life chances, economic prosperity, based largely on their ability to move into healthy, good, employed work will affect the long—term health, so we shouldn't just be thinking on what is happening this minute but what happens over a child's lifetime and how important that is, and in terms of risk of transmission, there are a few other scenarios where infectious disease, it is quite interesting because the school environment is quite controlled, and when children are at home they can potentially behave in different ways, and it can be, when social distancing isn't around, they can mix more, and so the balance of risk is not as clear

with a child at home or at school, so with a child at home or at school, soa numberof with a child at home or at school, so a number of issues there. we do know that overall children, we know that they have less severe disease. we can see that from the data. and they are certainly not transmitting this disease any more than adults do. they is some indication that younger children particularly are, if you like, a safer group. that is coming out. and is reflected in a numberof coming out. and is reflected in a number of european school policies. your other point was around getting to school as well. the modelling that has been done, one of the critical features is notjust about the disease risk and transmission, but actually the really important thing is the social behaviours of the children when they get to school, so for younger children, they tend to be closer, staying in their own areas, potentially working or going to school in a body and for older children they tend to move across boundaries using a lot of

public transport —— going to school ina public transport —— going to school in a buggy. there are opportunities for children to get good health benefits from school walking and buses rather than an actual school buses rather than an actual school bus along question, along answer, but there needs to be a really balanced one, and notjust about risks now back balancing those with the risks of the child's whole future. does that comprehensive a nswer a nswer future. does that comprehensive answer answer your question? the only thing i was going to ask is if the schools do not reopen onjune the schools do not reopen onjune the 1st, as some of the unions are asking, how much of effect that has on your plans for economic recovery. i think it is important for schools to return, when it is safe to do so. anyone who is a parent knows the challenges of home—schooling and so on. it is important that we get children back into the school setting for all of the reasons that

jenny has set out, but we will keep working with the trades unions. 0ur door is always open to them and gavin williamson the education secretary will do everything he can to reach agreement with them so that staff ca n to reach agreement with them so that staff can feel to reach agreement with them so that staff ca n feel co mforta ble to reach agreement with them so that staff can feel comfortable in the workplace, which is absolutely right. the next question is from dominic eaton from metra. hello, secretary of state. care homes were told until march the 13th that it was very unlikely that any of their residents would become infected and early on that date where the advice to review visiting policies. dg neglect the risk to the care sector and prioritise the nhs at the expense of the old? thank you, dominic. jenny can set out how an outbreak is managed and how discharge and testing policies have been developed over time, to answer your question. then you can come

back. i think it is really important that there is an understanding of how a public health incident is managed, whether it be covid—19 or any other issue, there is a relationship between the local health protection team, he will always advise on outbreaks and work with local health and care systems to do that. so, if a case arose so that any symptomatic individual would have been assessed, if it looks as if there is an outbreak, although we are doing much more testing now with much more knowledge of the disease that has grown over the last few weeks, it would be a normal policy to start with two test up normal policy to start with two test up to say five symptomatic residence. once you can identify what the disease is, we are talking about covid but it might be flew in another year, it is important to understand the proportion of illnesses in that care home. it goes back to the point i made earlier in

this briefing. it is notjust about the testing or discharge policy but about the systems of care that are in place. this is the fundamental building blocks of managing infectious disease in a care home, but in the context of the point you we re but in the context of the point you were making, throughout this outbreak, and it would be the same for any other, we look at the background epidemiology of disease, andl background epidemiology of disease, and i think the document referred to as the public health england document, they would be monitoring that disease, and so that document will be looking at where we knew there was a background risk of transmission so, if it is sustained community transmission, then it is at that point that you might expect cases to be appearing in other environments, and the same applies, you step up the alert system then step it back down again. obviously we are still at the top, now. in between that time and now there have beena numberof between that time and now there have been a number of different steps, so the point i made earlier about

advising discharge into an isolation period for an elderly person is another example of that particular management of care. so it needs to be taken in the background of what the epidemiology was, at the time of the epidemiology was, at the time of the incident all the advice, and that will apply to any documents public health england has produced, andl public health england has produced, and i think, at that time, we didn't recognise there was any sustained community transmission. doctorjenny harries there. we believe that daily briefing there. in a moment the bbc news at six. now, the weather, with darren bett. hello there. it's quite chilly again today and it will turn cold overnight tonight. but gradually over the next couple of days, we will see temperatures rising both day and night and it should be dry again for much of the country, as it's been today. we've still got a few showers across some north—eastern areas but high pressure is essentially in charge. that weather front thickening the cloud in northern scotland.

elsewhere, the cloud that was seen bubbling up will melt away this evening, we'll have clearer skies overnight and the winds will drop a bit as well, allowing temperatures to fall sharply. northern areas of scotland, though, seeing more cloud, seeing some showery rain moving in, that will keep temperatures up here. elsewhere, with those clearer skies and light winds, we are looking at a touch of frost, actually, particularly across rural parts of the country. so tomorrow will start off cold but it should be generally bright and sunny. cloud amounts will increase throughout the day and this cloud will move southwards across scotland into northern ireland, bringing with it some showers. elsewhere, probably staying dry, the best of the sunshine in the afternoon towards the south—west of england, parts of wales. here, temperatures of 16 celsius. on the whole, temperatures should be a degree or two higher tomorrow compared with today but still a bit of a breeze blowing in southern england and through the english channel. that is around the edge of that area of high pressure that continues to build down across the country overnight into friday. around it, we are drawing down much more cloud so for many areas it won't be as cold to start with on friday. a cold start for southern parts

of england and wales where the cloud is more tenuous, here will see the best of the sunshine, perhaps. on the whole, there will be more cloud around on friday, some showers mainly for the north and west of scotland. further south, temperatures continuing to rise in the lighter winds, 17 celsius. over the weekend, the wind direction starts to change. we pick up some warmer air coming in from the south—west. there is still a patch of colder air in the far north of scotland and where those two air masses collide, you see these weather fronts setting up and bringing the increasing chance of catching some rain as well. that is mainly for the northern half of the uk, still even here, temperatures will be higher over the weekend. there will be more cloud around, the wettest weather i think will be for northern parts of scotland but more areas at risk of some rain, i think, during sunday. head further south across the uk, higher pressure, the wind still in from the west or south—west, there will be some sunshine around, temperatures continuing to rise up to 20 celsius in the south—east.

today at 6pm, we're facing a recession — and that comes from none other than the chancellor. official figures show the economy shrank by 2% in the first three months of the year, and that only covers the beginning of the lockdown. it is now, yes, very likely that the uk economy will face a significant recession this year, and we are in the middle of that as we speak. the aerospace supplier who's now making protective visors — good for the national effort, but not good for the industry's future. i think it would be naive to suggest that everyone will get through this. unfortunately, there will be casualties. we'll be asking how we're going to pay the bill in the future. also tonight... labour questions the guidance care homes were given at beginning