health care leaders in england are warning of "severe consequences" if a test, track and trace strategy to avoid a potential second surge in coronavirus cases, isn't finalised soon. a uk—wide deal has been agreed on the supply of antibody tests — which will be available on the nhs — with health and care workers first in line to receive them. scotland's first minister announces an easing of lockdown restrictions, but says they must be cautious. we view them as a proportionate and suitably cautious set of first steps, and i hope that they will bring some improvement to people's well—being and quality of life, start to get our economy moving again, and start to steer us safely towards a new normality.

withjennifer arcuri whilst london mayor — but a review establishes there may have been an intimate relationship. an international trial has begun to see whether two anti—malarial drugs could prevent covid—19. the international olympic committee president says he understands why the rescheduled tokyo 2020 games would have to be cancelled, if it can't take place next summer. hello, and welcome. we'll be bringing you today's briefing from downing street very shortly, which today is being led by the health secretary, matt hancock. first, a summary of today's main developments. downing street says a uk—wide deal has been agreed on the supply

of antibody tests to check if someone has had the coronavirus. these will be available on the nhs for those who need them, with health and care workers first in line to receive them. it's after the government agreed a deal with a large pharmaceutical company. meanwhile, the government has been warned of severe consequences for the health service in england if its covid—19 test, track and trace system isn't in place soon. the nhs confederation says any further easing of the lockdown depends on a clear strategy, and a delay will risk a second peak of the infection. the prime minister has pledged to have what he's called "a world—beating" contact tracing system up and running by the 1st ofjune. a further 338 people are known to have died from the virus in all settings, taking the uk total death toll to 36,010. and a global trial to see whether two anti—malarial drugs death toll to 36,010. could prevent covid—19 has begun, with uk trials in oxford and brighton.

our first report from our health correspondent lauren moss. test, track and trace — three words we've heard a lot during the pandemic. three words that will be key to controlling the spread of covid—19. but now those representing hospitals, health and social care members have warned that, if the system isn't ready soon, there is a risk of a second peak. if you were going to go further and make further relaxations, then obviously the danger of the r number, which the government absolutely recognises, the danger of the r number rising becomes greater if you have not got in place an effective test, track and trace process. prime minister... borisjohnson has promised a world—beating tracing system will be in place by the 1st ofjune, the same day that non—essential shops and schools could gradually reopen. and schools in england could gradually reopen. there will be 25,000 trackers, they will be able to cope with 10,000 new cases a day,

and that is very, very important. so how does it actually work? contact tracers will alert those who've been in the company of someone who has the virus by phone call, text or e—mail, and give them advice. the new nhs app will also notify anyone who has downloaded it if someone they have recently been near has tested positive. the phone app is particularly advantageous in that it helps you identify, as you previously said on the news, the people you may have trailed around a supermarket with or been on public transport with, and it is certainly looking at how long someone has been in contact with as well. but the clock is ticking. the government had hoped to roll the app out by the middle of may. it's still being piloted on the isle of wight. we're working at huge pace in relation to the app itself, and, therefore, having put that in place, now trialling it in the isle of wight, therefore, whilst i am unable to give

you that definitive timeline this morning, please be in no doubt as to the extent, the effort, the energy, the focus that is being put on that as well. the office for national statistics' surveillance programme suggests there may currently be around 8,700 new infections a day in england. 128,000 tests were provided yesterday. having the capacity to deliver 200,000 a day is the end of may target. but there are calls for clarity about how nhs workers will make use of the tracking system. nobody in the nhs knows how they are going to interact, at the moment, with this new track and trace operation, so i hear the prime minister saying the ist ofjune, but, equally, what you have heard in the last 2a hours is a whole load of behind—the—scenes briefing and individual cabinet ministers saying, "oh, actually, we are not quite sure exactly when injune." different parts of britain are easing out of lockdown at varying speeds. northern ireland, wales and scotland are trialling or implementing test, track and trace programmes.

those three words pivotal to what happens next across the uk. lauren moss, bbc news. we are going to go straight to westminster now, jonathan blake has got some information for us on the nhs surcharge. this has to be paid by some nhs and care workers. yes, the government has been under pressure on this ever since yesterday. sir keir starmer, the labour leader, called for an exemption to be made to this payment which, just to remind you, is paid by immigrants to the uk, coming from outside the eu or the eea, as a one—off payment in return for access to the nhs. currently £400 per year, rising to £623 in october. and after sir keir starmer said that labour would table an amendment to the

immigration bill which would exempt health care workers from having to pay that, several conservative mps have, throughout the course of yesterday evening and today, backed that call and that has led to pressure on the government to make a move. as of lunchtime, the prime minister's spokesman was defending the surcharge, talking about the money that it raised going back into funding the nhs, but downing street has now caved in, it seems, and in the last few minutes, we have had a statement from the prime minister's spokesman and i will read it. it says the prime minister has asked the home office and the department of health and social care to remove nhs and care workers from the nhs surcharge as soon as possible. work by officials is now under way, the statement goes on on how to implement the charge, change, excuse me and full details will be announced in the coming days and it refers back to what borisjohnson said in the house of commons yesterday, when he was facing

questions on this, and the pm said he has been thinking about this a great deal, he has been a personal beneficiary from carers from abroad and understands the difficulties faced by our amazing nhs staff. so that news just coming in faced by our amazing nhs staff. so that newsjust coming in in faced by our amazing nhs staff. so that news just coming in in the last few minutes and, it seems in the face of pressure from labour, many conservative mps and elsewhere, and potentially some awkward press conference questions this evening for the health secretary matt hancock, a change has been announced. and it has happened pretty quickly, hasn't it? just yesterday at prime minister's questions, the prime minister was saying that this surcharge brought in hundreds of millions of pounds, a figure that was actually question, so this does feel like a very screeching u—turn. so this does feel like a very screeching u-turn. i think that is exactly what it is, and that figure you mentioned, £900 million, which is what borisjohnson said the nhs surcharge had raised, was, on later examination, in fact, the total

amount that it has raised since it was brought in in 2015, taking it up to the end of 2018—19 financial year. when you look at what it raises on an annual basis, that figure is closer to £35 million, so the amount of money this raises, i think, was part of the equation but, also, at a time when the uk is in the grip of this coronavirus crisis and the government has been at pains at every turn to celebrate and congratulate the hard work of those in the nhs and the care sector as a whole, to have this payment, this extra payment, in place for migrant workers, people from other countries coming to the uk to work in the nhs, was deemed, as far as many people we re was deemed, as far as many people were concerned, to be unfair. in fa ct, were concerned, to be unfair. in fact, the former chairman of the conservative party chris patten was one of those adding his voice to the calls for the government to change its policy, describing it as

immoral, and it is now clear that the prime minister has come round to that view. interesting that he has raised his own experience at the hands of nhs workers from overseas, because, of course, some of those who treated the prime minister was singled out in that video message he made after he was discharged from hospitalfor a special made after he was discharged from hospital for a special mention. 0k, jonathan, many thanks, a big development this afternoon at westminster. we will speak to you again very shortly in the run—up to the briefing. let's speak to our health correspondent nick triggle, who's here with me now. so, a big breaking story there in westminster, but, separately, there isa westminster, but, separately, there is a lot that we are expecting from this briefing this afternoon, isn't there? we know we were more about there? we know we were more about the —— we will hear more about the antibody deal the government has been talking about. yes, that has come out this afternoon, this is the antibody test that will look at whether someone has had the infection in the past and has maybe

developed immunity. what i would say about that is we still don't know how strong or how long any immunity may last, so the deal they have done today with the swiss firm roche will mean that health care and social care workers will be offered this antibody test in the coming weeks. this is very much a research exercise. what they want to do is see if those health and social care workers who have been infected get reinfected. they are not going to stop using their personal protective equipment, they will still use that but it will be a way of finding out about that level of immunity they have. in the future, we might see it spread out to more people in the population but, at the moment, it is just being reserved for health and social care staff. we have had some new figures out to dave from the office for national statistics —— today from the office for national statistics showing the spread in the community. these are the diagnostic tests which show where there is

infected at the moment and this programme from the office for national statistics is effectively the government's surveillance programme, it is very different from the daily tests that are done in hospitals and care homes, the kits that are sent out, this is to monitor how widespread the infection is and it was looking at cases between the 4th of may and the 17th of may, and 0.25% of the people chosen tested positive, that is around one in 400 people that we can estimate out there in the community have the infection. the research suggests there may be around 9,000 new infections a day and that is an interesting figure because, yesterday, when the prime minister announced the test, track and trace strategy that would go live on the 1st ofjune, he said it would have the capacity to test and deal with 10,000 cases a day, so if there are 9,000 new cases, it isjust 10,000 cases a day, so if there are 9,000 new cases, it is just within the parameters of what is possible. nick, many thanks. the older people's commissioner

in wales says she has "serious concerns the fundamental human rights of older people in wales may have been breached" over the welsh government's coronavirus testing policy. helena herklots said that blanket testing was not in place across care homes "as quickly as it needed to be" and that lives could have been saved. the bbc has also heard details of how care homes were pressured into taking covid—19 patients from hospitals, often without testing, and that may have contributed to the spread of the disease in the care sector. wyre davies reports. there's my mother there. the middle of the photo... 82—year—old joyce loved life, but died in a cardiff care home from coronavirus at the height of the crisis after being transferred from hospital where she had been treated for an unrelated condition. on the 10th of april, my brother received a phone call from the care home to say that my mother, basically, was very unwell, and she was displaying all the symptoms of covid—19. you can imagine if we had heard that

covid—19 had been in that care home, we would not have allowed her to be transported to that home. days beforejoyce died, the welsh government had issued guidance saying that hospitals could discharge covid—19 patients to care homes, and that patients without common symptoms did not have to be tested before they were moved. it is an absolute disgrace, because it is basically throwing sheep to the wolves, it's as simple as that. we have heard from several care homes across wales, including this one in port talbot. staff moved in to try to keep themselves and patients isolated, but they could not get testing for weeks, and we felt pressured for weeks, and felt pressured into taking in hospital patients who were either covid—19 positive or were untested. they would ring every day to ask what vacancies were in the home, if we had vacancies, we told them why we could not take

we were told why can't we take people in, and when i spoke to the hospital, she says she would go to the care inspectorates to ensure i had to start taking people into this care home if they have no tests or not. the older people's commissioner in wales says she is concerned the welsh government's policy on the testing in care homes may have amounted to a breach of older people's fundamental human rights. the fact that testing wasn't in place as quickly as it needed to be for every resident and every member of staff, and that's why i believe the equality and human rights commission needs to investigate how older people have been treated throughout this pandemic. the welsh government has now updated its testing policy to cover all care homes, but refutes accusations that delays in testing cost lives. what i do accept is that, in some parts of wales, there are examples of where some care homes were wrongly refused tests at that point in time. it took much longer than i would

want to to see my very clear policy choice implemented across wales. throughout this crisis, the government says it has followed scientific advice, but there is no doubt that many in the care sector say that has made them feel completely undervalued. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has outlined a plan for exiting lockdown. from next week, restrictions around some outdoor activities will be relaxed. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon has been giving us more details of the gradual changes which are planned. nicola sturgeon said there is no risk free way of lifting the lockdown because of the virus has not gone away, but she did set out this, this route map, if you like for how she sees life going back to some semblance of normal in the weeks and months ahead. this first phase as you said from next thursday

on wards will involve outdoor activity, people being able to see others from another household as long as it is outside and social distancing is maintained, some outdoor sports being able to resume like tennis, bowling, fishing, and golf and outdoor businesses like agricultural and for industry able to resume. garden centres will be able to re—open, as will recycling facilities the as well. these measure, most of which have an outdoor focus are not in place yet, let me stressed that and they are dependent on us continuing to suppress the virus. they will be monitored carefully, as they do take effect. however, we view them as a proportionate and suitably cautious set of first steps and i hope they will bring improvement to people's wellbeing and quality of life, get the economy moving and steer us

safely towards a new normality. scotland's first minister. the northen ireland assembly education minister has said some pupils may go back to school in late august, with the remainder returning in a phased manner in september. peter weir told the stormont assembly that his department was planning for "limited provision" for some key years in august. he said the phased return for the rest of children in september would involve a mixture of school attendance and home—learning. thermal screening technology is being trialled at heathrow‘s terminal two today, to try and make flying safer for passengers. the technology detects if passengers have high temperatures as they walk around the airport. john holland—kaye is ceo of heathrow airport and hejoins me now. good afternoon to you. thank you for speaking to us, afternoon. most people will not have been to an airport for a good two months now, how many people have you got in terminal two? in how many people have you got in terminaltwo? in terms how many people have you got in terminal two? in terms of passengers we are down to about 5,000

passengers a day, travelling through heathrow and that compares to nearly quarter of a million on the equivalent day last year, so, very few passengers compared to normal. it is extraordinary. i can't really conceive of that. so you are trialling this new technology, to check passengers' temperatures, what other measures are you trying to bring in? well, the measures that we have for to keep people safe op their journey, have for to keep people safe op theirjourney, are the things you would expect. face coverings, very good sanitation and high general so we can minimise the possibility of representsration or contact transmission. where we are need to move to is there a common international standard for screening which means when you come into the checkin which means when you come into the check in area at heathrow and you screened you can be confident when you get to your destination you won't be quarantined or sent back do your home country. that is where we need the government to work with other countries, in particular the european union and the us, to agree

what the common standards should be so people can start to fly between low risk countries with confidence. do you, do you detect any of those conversations going on? because it seems as if country has been dealing with the pandemic by itself, although we did hear of the idea of air bridges from the transport secretary, an idea there might be travel countries with similar rates of low infection. yes, and you are right. coming in to the crisis every country was doing its own thing. that is why we need consistency. the air bridge idea which grant shapps suggested, is the right kind of thing to do. it is similar to what we are seeing between australia and new zealand, both of whom have very low infection rates and it recognises the fact although debeen be confident nobody who is flying has the disease, the chances of

someone coming from a low risk country, with the disease, is very low, and therefore, we should accept that they would be allowed to fly, and that kind of risk based approach is what, it applies to security and other measures so it is the right kind of thing we should use there. this that will allow us to get eaviation moving. it matters not because of jobs but eaviation moving. it matters not because ofjobs but because it is the life blood of the economy. it has led the uk economy out of recession and until we can get people flying again, and get if goodsin people flying again, and get if goods in the plane, passenger planes from heathrow flying round the world again, we can't help to recover the uk economy, and protect morejobs. and, do you think that any of the ideas that you are talking about now, are imminent in terms of, what is government's position on debting the aviation industry back up it

would seem from here, that they are not expecting anybody to go on a foreign holiday this summer. nobody will fly with a two week quarantine, thatis will fly with a two week quarantine, that is why it can only ever be a short—term measure, we need to make sure that is time limited. there is a clear review period and a plan for what happens after that. i think the kind ofair what happens after that. i think the kind of air bridge concept that grant shapps was talking about is the right thing of thing to do, to start opening markets up. we know greece is opening up its borders to other countries and a lot of brits would like to go on holiday there. there. other countries are doing similarthing, there. other countries are doing similar thing, that can be the next step. it has to be the government's decision, and they have to agree it with other countries but we need to see that plan for how we are going to get people flying again and how we get trade moving again because companies can start to plan with confident for their own businesses

and every day we are seeing thousands of people being laid off, across the country, what we risk seeing is this terrible health epidemic turning into an unemployment epidemic, and unwill es we can get the economy moving again, we can get the economy moving again, we risk losing morejobs that we can get the economy moving again, we risk losing more jobs that could have within saved. 0k have within saved. ok e, we will have to leave it there. thank you for your time. thank you for your time. we brought you the news there had been a government u—turn on the issue of nhs and care workers from abroad, having to pay a surcharge to use the nhs, and there is a tweet now from the labour leader sir keir starmer, who says as you can see borisjohnson is starmer, who says as you can see boris johnson is right starmer, who says as you can see borisjohnson is right to have u—turned and backed our proposal to remove the nhs charge for health professionals and care workers this isa professionals and care workers this is a victory for common cease psi. —— decency. so sir keir starmer claiming a victory there because this san issue

he raised yesterday at prime minister's questions. issue he raised yesterday at prime minister's questions. over £20 million raised by captain tom moore has been handed out to nhs charities across the country. each charity has been given a grant of £35,000 from the fund and will be issued with a second grant based on the size of the trust that they each serve. organising the work is the team at nhs charities together, a federation of over 250 charitable organisations that support the nhs. ellie orton is the chief executive, and joins me now from warwick. ellie, what sort of charities are getting this money first of all? thank you, so so nhs charities together is a, is the way the nhs can receive hold and spend charitable funds, and so, we grant the funds that have been raised, by lots of people all over the country,

including captain tom moore, to our members, to be able to support nhs staff, volunteers the and patients that have been impacted by covid—19. so, this is, i mean, the country has lauded captain tom moore's achievement here and it is really one of the few rays of sunshine this this terrible crisis but there are issues raised by how the money is being used, can you be sure this money is being added to the funds that the nhs gets, rather than being used to replace them? yes, so nhs charities work alongside the nhs from the outset of the nhs, so the charities were there beforehand, some of them are over 900 years old and so from 1948, the charities and the nhs have been working hand in hand, to ensure that patients benefit from nhs charity funds, and that they can enhance the services that they can enhance the services

that government funding for the nhs and charity funding together, can do so much more. now you, of course, represent nhs charities together, but do you worry at all that the masses of very understandable support for nhs charities make it difficult for other sector, other bits of the charity sector?|j difficult for other sector, other bits of the charity sector? i think it is really important that we understand that nves charities are pa rt understand that nves charities are part of that sector, some are very small themselves, —— nhs, and the next stage within our granting is actually about community care and partnerships, so, that those smaller charities that support the nhs are actually benefitting from this support as well, so, it is, the, it is incredible the support that the nhs is having, and it is incredible for other charities that have also had campaign, they are getting great support and together, the voluntary sector and the statutory sector

makes such a difference to, to the public, to each of us. and how do you think overall the pandemic has affected the charity industry? you think overall the pandemic has affected the charity industry7m has been difficult. it has been really tough, you know, fundraising, comes in many different shapes and sizes, but a lot of charities do rely on community—led fundraising and events, and those have had to be stopped. so, they are looking now at much, at newer and different ways innovative ways of doing fundraising, and overall, it is going to be a difficult year, but it is going to be a difficult year for everybody, and one of the really good things is the charity sector is working together, they are pulling together, and, and looking at where gra nts together, and, and looking at where grants are going, so that they are not all going to the same place, that they are being shared, among the charities that are working with

the charities that are working with the public, but it is going to be a tough year. 0k. tough year. ok. we will have to leave it there. very nice to talk to you. thank you so much. now, we'll be bringing you today's briefing from downing street shortly, which, today, is being led by the health secretary matt hancock. let's speak to our health correspondent, nick triggle, who's here with me now. what do we expect today? undoubtedly i think we will hear questions about the test track and trace strategy, this is going to be key as we ease out of lockdown, to contain local outbreak, people who test positive, a team will contact them, to try and identify their close contacts to see if they need to self—isolate, if they are at risk of being infected. we heard from the nhs confederation which erepresents health leaders thatty are concerned there is no collar strategy. the prime minister said we will have a programme if place by 1stjune. we understand the

app which is part of this programme will not be ready by 1stjune. that is still being piloted in the isle of wight. peel are being asked to download it and identify close contacts they have had going about their every day life. thank you very much. don't go away because the briefing is to start fairly shortly. for the time being i want to go back to jonathan blake for the time being i want to go back tojonathan blake in westminster, for us, a big story this afternoon, are u—turn from downing street? . yes e after 24 hours or so of pressure on the government over the surcharge paid by migrants to uk for access to the nhs and call from the labour leader sir keir starmer to except those working in the nhs from that, in the last half hour the prime minister has changed his mind and we hear via a statement from downing street he has asked the department of health and social care to exempt health care workers from

that payment. just to give you a few more details, we understand it will be applicable, the exemption will be applicable for workers ranging from medical health staff, doctors and nurses, through to porters and clea ners nurses, through to porters and cleaners and also including independent health care workers and social care workers. and it is clear that boris johnson social care workers. and it is clear that borisjohnson has changed his mind because, yesterday lunchtime, he was saying in the house of commons that keeping that surcharge in place was the right way forward and while he understood the contribution made by those from overseas, the nhs as a national institution needed funding. but something has changed his mind and the labour leader sir keir starmer has reacted to borisjohnson was my decision in the last few minutes, saying it is right he has you that turned. —— that he has u—turned. saying it is right he has you that turned. —— that he has u—turnedlj

suppose he is also describing it as a victory for himself. it is a political victory for sir keir starmer, no doubt, in the space of over 24 hours, achieving this u—turn in government policy. it was a timely issue for the leader of the labour party to quick, to question borisjohnson on at prime minister's questions yesterday and i think you saw from the conservative mps who we re saw from the conservative mps who were willing, since then, to come out and say they would back an amendment to the immigration bill, which is what sir keir starmer was suggesting as a way to achieve this exemption, and added pressure from elsewhere, including jeremy hunt, the former conservative health secretary who himself introduced this surcharge, suggesting the government needed to make a change year, all those factors together have resulted in this change of policy, but it is, as you described ita policy, but it is, as you described it a short time ago, a screeching u—turn, nothing less than that from the government and one they have donein the government and one they have done in the face of considerable pressure from the opposition and

some of their own mps. jonathan, we can show a tweet now from william wragg, the conservative mp, or one of them, who called publicly for a change of heart from downing street. you can see it on the screen. we are going to take you straight to downing street now for today's daily briefing. good afternoon and welcome to the daily downing street coronavirus briefing. i am joined daily downing street coronavirus briefing. iamjoined by daily downing street coronavirus briefing. i am joined by professor chris whitty, the chief medical officer, and john newton. before i turn to the latest coronavirus data, i wanted to say something. it is mental health awareness week. i know

how difficult the change and uncertainty generated by this awful virus has been for so many people. so many moments ofjoy have been put on hold, cherished milestones and important events and time with loved ones and things that were in the diary that you might have been looking forward to, but can't any longer take place, so i want to say this to anyone who is finding it hard. these are tough times. it is 0k to hard. these are tough times. it is ok to be not ok. and it is normal to feel low and anxious and unhappy sometimes. but it is so important that, if you think you needed, please seek help. if you want to talk to someone, please go to the nhs, it is there for you. and if you area nhs, it is there for you. and if you are a health or care worker, there isa are a health or care worker, there is a bespoke series of support. so we can ca re is a bespoke series of support. so we can care for you just as you care for the rest of us. just text "front

line" to 85258. mental health charities are also providing some brilliant support. today, i am providing a furtherfour brilliant support. today, i am providing a further four million so organisations like the samaritans, young minds, mental health uk can carry on doing what they do best. everyone can strengthen their mental health. just in the same way that we keep our eye on our physical health. including when we are healthy, and the public health england every mind matters campaign is something every young person can engage with and used to strengthen your mental health and well—being in good times and in bad. so lets all come together on this mental health awareness week and support each other. turning to the daily figures. we have now completed over 3 million test for coronavirus. in total, 3

million, 90,066 tests have been carried out. 250,908 people have tested positive, that is an increase of 2615 cases since yesterday. 9543 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus. that is a 14% fall from the same time last week. sadly, for those who tested positive for coronavirus across all settings, 36,042 have now died, and that is an increase of 338 fatalities since yesterday. this is a deadly virus and it has brought pain to so many, both here and across the world, but we are making some real progress. and i would like to take a moment to

remind everyone about our plan to defeat coronavirus and get britain moving once again. slide one, please. as you may have seen previous briefings, we have now put in place our covid alert system. it consists of five levels based on the r value and number of cases. this guide to social distancing rules which have proved to be so effective at getting the virus under control. the higher the alert level, the stricter the rules. throughout the lockdown, we have been at a level four. as you can see, level four means that coronavirus is in general circulation and transmission is either high or exponentially rising. but, thanks to your shared sacrifice, we have now brought r down and because of this caution, we are in a position to start moving to level three. next slide, please. here is how we can move forward. we have set out three steps we planned to ta ke

have set out three steps we planned to take carefully to modify social distancing rules and start to restore freedom in this country, all the while avoiding a disastrous second peak that could overwhelm the nhs. at each step, we will closely monitor the impact on r, on the number of new infections and on all available data. we are currently at step one, which means that if you work but you can't work from home, you should speak to your employer about going back in. you can now spend time outdoors and exercise as often as you like and you can meet one of the person from outside your household in an outdoor public place, but you should stay two metres apart. we will move to step two on the 1st ofjune if we are able to do so. step two involves reopening more things, like schools and some retail, and using our test and some retail, and using our test and trace a system to keep r down. we will only move to step two and in

due course to step three, when it is safe to do so. next slide, please. it is important that we stay alert and think about what we can all do to control the spread of the virus. this means, of course, staying at home as much as is possible, working from home if you can. it means hygiene, washing your hands and cleaning surfaces remains absolutely crucial. distance, staying two metres apart wherever possible. protection, wearing face coverings on public transport and in shops. and self isolating altogether if you have symptoms. and as we approach a bank holiday weekend, may we must all renew our efforts. over the course of this pandemic, people all across the uk have been making difficult but vital sacrifices for the greater good, so let's not go back to square one. we can all play our part in a national effort to get r down and keep r down and control

the virus, so we restore more of the things that make life worth living. as we follow our plan, our testing regime will be our guiding star. it is the information that helps us to search out and defeat this virus. over the past few months, we have built a critical national infrastructure for testing on a massive scale. we have already put in place the building blocks. we developed the test, built the test centres and the lab capacity, created the home testing kits and all of this gives us clarity and certainty. we hit the 100,000 tests on time, when we said we would, but we are always striving to go further. to expand our testing capacity and to improve our understanding of this virus, there are two developments that i wanted to share with you today. the first is around swab tests, these are the tests that tell you if you currently

have coronavirus. as i announced on monday, anybody over five who had symptoms is now eligible for a test, and getting a test is important, but getting a quick result is important, too. we are working hard on innovative developments and i wanted to bring you up to speed with this. now, it is really important to be clear about this. working with innovative science always has its risks. like all r and d, lots of projects don't come off, and just like, for instance, vaccines, where we don't know if we will ever get one, but i am prepared to back innovative developments even if they might never happen. i think it is worth it and i think it is worth it especially in these circumstances, to back things before you know for sure if they are going to work, and i make no apologies for that. we are working with many top names to help us working with many top names to help us deliver testing with a rapid

turnaround, and, for example, one innovative company has produced an early test that is being trialled from today and it is interesting to us from today and it is interesting to us because it is so fast. it doesn't need to be sent to a lab to be protest processed, so you get the result on the spot, typically in around 20 minutes. it has already proven effective in early trials and we wa nt proven effective in early trials and we want to find out if it will be effective on a larger scale. and we wa nt to effective on a larger scale. and we want to support companies like these and others to support these innovative projects products. we will monitor its progress very closely and, if it works, we will roll it out as sooner we can. this is one of a number of innovative testing technologies that we are pushing forward as fast as the science allows. i will leave no stone unturned and i want to thank everybody involved for their dedication. the second development i wa nted dedication. the second development i wanted to share today is around antibody tests. these tell you if

you have had the virus and have developed antibodies in response that might help you to fight the virus in future. covid—19 is a new virus in future. covid—19 is a new virus and we are learning more about it every single day. i want to be frank with you about what we don't know as well as what we do know. we are not yet in a position to say that those who test positive in these antibody tests are immune from coronavirus. but, as our understanding of the disease improves, the insight of these antibody tests provide will be crucial. they can help us to understand how our bodies react to coronavirus and how it is spread across the country. we are backing effo rts across the country. we are backing efforts to develop our own home—grown antibody tests, through our uk rapid test consortium, and that work is showing some early promise. and, as you know, we have been looking at a whole series of

commercial antibody tests. now, been looking at a whole series of commercialantibody tests. now, many of these early tests were not reliable enough for clinical use, but we have made some available at a small scale and we now have the results of our antibody surveillance study. this has told us that around 17% of people in london and around 596 17% of people in london and around 5% or higher in the rest of the country have tested positive for coronavirus antibodies. this was based on a sample. but, for the public at large to know whether or not they have had coronavirus, we need antibody tests at a larger scale. two lab —based products produced by eight to diagnostics and abbott labs have been given a positive evaluation by pag and have been approved by the mih ra, and further tests are being assessed right now. —— mhra. we have signed contracts right now. —— mhra. we have signed co ntra cts to right now. —— mhra. we have signed contracts to data supply in the

coming months over 10 million tests from roche and abbott. from next week, we will begin rolling these out ina week, we will begin rolling these out in a phased way. first to health and care staff, patients and residents and the uk government has arranged supplies of these tests on behalf of the devolved administrations, and each devolved nation is deciding how to use its test allocation and how testing will be prioritised and managed locally. this is an important milestone and it represents further progress in our national testing programme. it is not just about the clinical advances that these tests can bring, although obviously that is important. it is that knowing that you have these antibodies will help us you have these antibodies will help us to understand more in the future, if you are at a lower risk of catching coronavirus, of dying from coronavirus and of transmitting coronavirus. we are developing this critical science to know the impact ofa critical science to know the impact of a positive antibody test and to

develop the systems of certification to ensure people who have positive antibodies can be given an assurance about what they can safely do. history has shown that understanding an enemy is fundamental to defeating it. and, in this latest fight, our ingenuity and our brilliant scientists and scientific curiosity are what will keep us one step ahead of this virus. we all have something to bring, though, in this fight against our common foe. one action that each and everyone of us can ta ke that each and everyone of us can take is to follow the rules on hygiene, and social distancing. not just for you, but for your loved ones and for your community. so, please, stay alert, control the virus, and save lives. iam going i am going to pass to chris white. thank you secretary of state. so, this is the first slide to show you isa

this is the first slide to show you is a new slide, with new data that came out today from the office for national statistics ons and other partners. and they have been doing a random swabbing system, round the country, to estimate how many people have got infection and over time this will also allow us to work out how many people are newly getting infections. these are central estimates wand i want to be clear there are wide confidence intervals round them, but based on these data, they estimate that about 137,000 people in england have had, have covid at this point in time, this point in time being between 4th may and 17th may, so slightly old data, and 17th may, so slightly old data, and that this is around about a 0.25% of the general population. they estimate that every week, at

that stage, round 60,000 people were newly being infected with the virus, so round about 10,000 a day. as the ris so round about 10,000 a day. as the r is still below one, we expect these numbers to go down and to continue to go down. next slide please. starting off with what all of us are doing, there is clear evidence firstly, that almost everybody is sticking to the social distancing guidelines and staying at home and travelling much less than they normally would, but there is some increase in activity, in terms of people driving, and heavy goods vehicles and light goods vehicle, which are compatible with people making a very cautious return to work, where that is considered to be safe. but as you can see, on the lower graph here, line of the graphs, that the national rail transport for london and buses really have remained where we were,

very few people using them except for essential purposes. next slide please. the secretary of state has talked about testing, here is is a graph showing the top, a top row of this, the testing rates, this is a combination of tests done and sent out, and then below that, the number of confirmed cases, remember, of course, that the number of tests has gone up course, that the number of tests has gone up so course, that the number of tests has gone up so the denominator is changing over time but they are gradually drifting down. next slide, please. but, important data, think, here from hospitals. now the key thing here is not the absolute numbers, but the fact is the trend lines, which are measured the same way overtime. what you can overall you can see the estimated new daily admissions with covid—19, peaked in early april, and has been steadily decreasing ever since. and the same

is true for those who un, are u nfortu nate is true for those who un, are unfortunate enough tow have severe disease and have to have mechanical ventilation, and the proportion mechanicically ventilated beds, where people are having to be supported in intensive or critical ca re supported in intensive or critical care units, in all of england and wales, scotland and northern ireland, are steadily decreasing over time. next slide please. and looking at people with covid who are in hospital, as you can see, the pattern varies slightly round the country and the four nation, but in all of them, the trend is downwards. next slide please. this is is a slide which has been shown nor some time, there was a slight variation we showed it again, the key thing is the shape, not the number, the secretary of state has laid out the numbers on the left, but as you can see, the trend line for people who have sadly died, with

confirmed tests, tests for covid, in hospitals and social care settings is stead his decreasing and this trend accounts. now, i have added on two extra slides at the end, both of these from ons, the office for national statistics. i have said several times in some of these briefings, that the most important metric for mortality is all cause mortality which is, all the people who have died, of whatever cause, and the reason for that is that it ca ptu res and the reason for that is that it captures not only people who are diagnosed with covid, buts are, potentially people who might have indirectly died, as a result of the epidemic. and here what you have, is, the whole of the year and as you can see, there was a significant, the dotted line shows the average number of deaths for this time of year over the last five years and what you can see is there was a

sniff can't peak of this, which coincided with the peak in covid deaths, but the all cause mortality has come down, at the same time, as the covid deaths have come down, and it is now roughly the rate it is at in an average winter. so we are having a winter in health terms in terms of mortality but in late spring and early summer, and this is likely to have a gradual tail off over time, we do not expect this suddenly to return to the baseline. finally, i wanted just to show the shape of the number of excess death, again, these are all causes of death, these are the number of deaths in excess of what you would expect, this time of year, compared to previous years and on the left, what we have is hospitals, acute and community hospital, and as you can see, there was a significant peak in

excess all cause mortality in early april and that has come right down now until it very close to baseline in the last week, it was looked at. so it was a bank holiday week, so we need to be careful of interpreting that in the last week. if you look at care homes, the other thing which people are very concerned is of, rightly. again, the care home deaths have peaked and come down a long way, but that peak was slightly later, was one to two weeks after the peak in hospitals. thank you very much. thanks very much indeed, chris. we are going to first go to questions from the public, and then from the media. so, if we go to, if we go to moish in coventry. will you be advising the muslim community to stay at home or stay alert during the up coming three day celebration

of eid. if not, what is your advice for them? as a member, of eid. if not, what is your advice forthem? as a member, iam concerned that some people may be finding ways to flout the rules like having garden parties or gatherings. thank you. i want firstly to say how much we appreciate all those who threw ramadan have followed the social distancing rules, the cleefrd is that the muslim community, in the uk, and indeed across the world, have done so much in order to respect what is immediated with the social distancing roles. so i want to say thank you. i know that eid is coming up and appreciate that many people won't be able to celebrate in the normal way, because of social distancing, and it is normally a time when people come together. so, i hope that i hope that people can enjoy eid celebrations but i know they will be different from usual,

soi they will be different from usual, so i want to say... and pass over to chris white. so the clear answer for all faiths, is people will have to adapt the celebrations, the joyful celebrations around the social distancing rules, and everybody knows what those rules are, and they remain the same for every community and the reason we must all do that is this is to protect the whole community, all community, and all of us community, all community, and all of us must find ways round this, of whatever faith, but eknow all muslim colleagues and friends of men, are adapting as every other faith has adapted over this period, their celebrations to make sure they can maintain both the celebration, but also maintain the social democrat ocean, which is absolutely critical to keeping the r below one and the

transmission rates going down across the whole of the uk. thank you. the next question is from finley. he asked if a vaccine is developed will it be mandatory, if not how will you bridge the opinion between to those who think it is necessary and those who are do not. we are doing everything we can do get a vaccine, we will only recommend it if it is safe. if we get a vaccine and i very much hope we will and we will working hard for that, and people are asked to, to vaccinate, to take that vaccine, then they absolutely should, because we will only do it on the basis of clinical advice it is safe. the question of whether it is manned triis not one which have addresses, thatis triis not one which have addresses, that is some time off a vaccine being available, but i would hope, given the scale of this crisis, and

given the scale of this crisis, and given the scale of this crisis, and given the overwhelming need for us to get through this, and to get the country back on its feet and the very positive impact a vaccine would have,is very positive impact a vaccine would have, is that everybody would have the vaccine. cani the vaccine. can i add an additional point which isa can i add an additional point which is a technical point. if you think about vaccines there are are different sorts but you can broadly use them in two ways. the first way, which everybody thinks is about you give to it the whole community like mmr and that protects everybody from getting these infections. but the other way you can use a vaccine is that you can use it as a disease modifying if vaccine, you give the vaccine to those people who are most at risk and you might do this because there isn't enough vaccine so because there isn't enough vaccine so you would want to protect the most vulnerable or because it is partially effective and it can stop

people dying but not enough to stop the transmission of the virus, you would give to it a smaller number of 7 people. clearly in that second group you are doing it the only protect the person who is being vaccinated. if they choose not to have that protection it doesn't affect anybody else, that is simply their choice but then they are dee nighing themselveses the protection this kind of vaccine could provide. just a more general observation about vaccine programme, that the most successful vaccine programmes tend to be by consent so what matters is clear explanation of the benefits and risks that are associated wit and a good system to make it available to everybody who needs it. although some have adopted mandatory programmes the most successful seem to be done on the basis of consent, good information and good delivery. but man location is is there, can be used in some

instances. thank you. we will go to laura kuenssberg of the bbc. did the prime minister change his mind on making health and care workers from overseas pay towards the nhs or was he worried about losing a vote? can i ask you on social care, can you confirm you were planning to introduce a cap on care costs in england, and you accept this crisis has shown that reform of the system cannot be put off again? thank you laura. the prime minister has asked the home secretary and i to work on how we can remove nhs and care workers from the nhs surcharge as soon as possible, and i am very pleased to be able to do that, i have spoken to the home secretary and we will say more on how we do it in the next few day, the prime minister has clearly himself been a beneficiary of carers from abroad and we have talked many times during

this crisis, about the enormous contribution from people from overseas make to the nhs and social care. so the purpose of the immigration health surcharge within the nhs is a fair one, and the purposeis the nhs is a fair one, and the purpose is to ensure that everybody contributes to the nhs, but also, those who work within the nhs, and within the social care, are themselves making that contribution directly, so, having, so the prime minister has made that decision, and he has asked us to make it happen. on the social care more broadly, as you know we put in the manifesto on which were elected the need to reform social care. i would they the crisis has demonstrated the need to bring health and social care closer together. colleagues in social care have worked so closely and are working so closely with the nhs, much more closely than i have ever

seen before, yet there are organisational boundaryings that hold them apart, and, so, i can confirm that we are work, as sweat out in the manifesto, on making sure that social care is as strong as sustainable as it possibly can be in the future so we have a sustainable system that gives people the dignity that they crave as they grow old, and for adults of working age. can i come back on that? can you tell us when that plan will emerge and can you confirm that will include a cap on care costs for individuals who are sometimes in a panic to sell their homes in order to pay. we have been clear on the second point, absolutely, that people shouldn't have to sell their homes to pay for care, that principle is very clearly set out in the manifesto and is something that i think is very

important. and i've seen the injustice, you know, it is impossible to know in advance whether, especially in older age, whether, especially in older age, whether you are going to need care or not and there is no system of insurance for people to be able to do anything about those costs, so i've seen the injustice of that. we've set out that we will address that as part of the reforms in the ma nifesto that as part of the reforms in the manifesto and i would love to give you an update on timing, but we have got all of the urgent work on coronavirus to deal with at the same time, soi coronavirus to deal with at the same time, so i am notable coronavirus to deal with at the same time, so i am not able to give you any firm commitment on target, i'm afraid. thanks very much. dan hewitt from itv. good afternoon, health secretary. research from the food foundation shed widows showed the numberof foundation shed widows showed the number of households struggling to get access to enough food or skipping or rationing food has doubled since the start of this crisis. that includes 1.7 million children. given we don't know when this crisis will end, does the government have a long—term plan beyond what it has already done to

help millions of struggling families? secondly, yesterday, the prime minister insisted it was the right thing to do to charge migrant health workers to use the nhs. now health workers to use the nhs. now he says it is the wrong thing to do. what exactly happened in the last 24 hours to make him change his mind? the prime minister yesterday gave an a nswer to the prime minister yesterday gave an answer to the immigration help surcharge as a whole and has asked the home secretary and i to work on making sure that nhs and care workers don't have to pay it. so thatis workers don't have to pay it. so that is the explanation to the second part of your question. on the first part, you are absolutely right to ask about this, it is incredibly important, it is something that we worry about, making sure that people get a ccess worry about, making sure that people get access to the basics, no matter their circumstances. we have introduced a programme for those who are being shielded because they are clinically vulnerable. 2.2 million people have the offer of support and we have delivered over a million

food parcels to those who need them who, when they are contacted by the nhs, are asked, all of those 2.2 million, do you need help for insta nce million, do you need help for instance with food ? million, do you need help for instance with food? and we have been able to give them support and we have connected to supermarkets, and i want to pay tribute to the supermarkets who have done incredible work for the shielded, but there is also a group of non—shielded people who are vulnerable and they may, in some circumstances, they may not be clinically more vulnerable but they are vulnerable and this is one of the many impacts, one of the many bad things about this virus, is that it can be harderfor some bad things about this virus, is that it can be harder for some vulnerable people to deal with the consequences of the virus, like all the social distancing, so we have a programme in place to support them as well and we have put significant amounts of money into the shielding programme and local support, coordinated locally by councils. and it is an

incredibly important part of the support and i think you're absolutely right to raise it. thanks very much. beth rigby, from sky. secretary of state, the government's own covid—19 recovery strategy states in black and white that an app states in black and white that an app system needs to be built and successfully integrated for the track and trace system to work, but now the government is saying the syste m now the government is saying the system can function effectively without it. was your strategy document wrong or have you moved the goalposts? and if i may, to professor newton, oxford scientists are advising the government on the contact tracing app and say test results need to come back within 24—hour is to stop the spread of the virus. i know you have just announced this new swab trial, but how long do tests take at the moment? thanks, beth. on the first

one of those, we are absolutely clear that the test and trace system needs to be in place and that is on track for delivery by the 1st of june. and, as you know, we have been hiring the contact traces and we have hit the deadlines for those and they are in place, 24,000 as of yesterday. and we have got the testing capacity and the technology is an important part, but it is not the only part and, in fact, one of the only part and, in fact, one of the lessons from the isle of wight is that getting the human contact tracing in so that people understand the consequences of, if you have beenin the consequences of, if you have been in close contact with somebody who tests positive and somebody calls you and asks you to, therefore says you have to self—isolate, it is important it is done properly. the app is, as you know, working in the

isle of wight. we want to make sure this whole system lands well and supports the ability, safely, to make changes to social distancing rules and the system will, as the prime minister said yesterday, we have high confidence the system will be in place by the 1st ofjune and thenit be in place by the 1st ofjune and then it will grow stronger and stronger. john. thank you, secretary of state. it is a good question. it is important to understand that the test and trace programme has more than one component and core to this is the public health contact tracing thatis is the public health contact tracing that is used internationally, it is recommended by who, it is public health good practice and we used it in the containment phase. so somebody who tests positive is contacted and asked to self—isolate themselves and their household to self—isolate and themselves and their household to self— isolate and then themselves and their household to self—isolate and then they will be asked about their close contacts. those contacts are then contacted and informed and given advice. that

isa and informed and given advice. that is a process which is completely independent of the proximity app, although it is, in fact, it is augmented with an online information syste m augmented with an online information system which is web based, and this will become a little bit clearer when we introduce it, but all of that work is now in place and we are ready to go with that system. and, in fact, it was used, as i say, in the containment phase and we have had a very successful trial of it in the isle of wight. in addition to that process, for people in the general public, the app is an additional component which tells you if your phone has been close to another phone with the app in such a way that you might have been in contact with somebody who has the risk of passing on coronavirus. so that can be layered on top of the more personal contact tracing, which is driven by the public—health process and the telephone process. so they are distinct but complementary and it is perfectly

0k, complementary and it is perfectly ok, in fact possibly advantageous, to introduce the one before the thank you. sorry and in terms of the timing of the test, you are absolutely right that the sooner the tests come back, the sooner people can be alerted about the risk and the more effective the processes, so we are working very hard to get these turnaround times down. at the moment, 90% of tests, the results come back within 48 hours of the test being done and almost half of those are back within 24 hours, so many people will get a result the same day but we are introducing various ways of reducing that time to the absolute minimum. can ijust ask, though, that do you accept that you do need to get the tests back within 24 hours for the system to work? obviously a lot is riding on this in terms of public confidence. indeed. there is no specific cut—off, the sooner you can get the test back, the better, but we have beenin test back, the better, but we have been in discussion with the

modellers at sage and the model has been built on 80% of the tests coming back within 24 hours, so we know the effectiveness would be there with pretty much the level of performance we have now, but we would like to get it better, we would like to get it better, we would like to get it better, we would like to get the test back even more quickly because we know it will be more effective if we can do the testing more quickly. thanks very much, beth. laura hughes, from the ft. good afternoon. can i ask, if we never needed this app to launch a track and trace system, why is it still taking until the 1st ofjune to launch this army of human traces because i could we not have got them in place earlier while we were ramping up testing capacity? can i also ask, how many daily tests do you estimate your new test and trace syste m you estimate your new test and trace system is going to need for it to work? two very good questions. i will askjohn newton to come in on it. the point about the app is the app is working on the isle of wight,

but rolling and app out, especially one of such significance, because if you download the app and you have beenin you download the app and you have been in close contact with someone, it tells you you are at higher risk of having caught coronavirus, we wa nt to of having caught coronavirus, we want to make sure that rolls out in exactly the right way and one of the things we have learned from the isle of wight is making sure the importance of getting that order, so we have chosen to do it in this order and the reason for the timings is that it interacts with the changes and move to step two of the lockdown, which is scheduled to happen no earlier than the 1st of june. whilst we are all in lockdown, the implications of being told that you yourself need to go into lockdown are smaller as those social restrictions ease, so that is the interaction with step two. and the

critical point is that we, of course, when the number of new cases was much higher, then the ability to do the contact tracing is much more difficult and less effective, but, as professor whitty has just demonstrated with the new statistics published this morning from the office of national statistics, with around 61,000 new cases per week, thatis around 61,000 new cases per week, that is the sort of scale that the contact tracing that we are bringing into place will be able to grapple with. and we have always said that the test and trace system will be more effective the lower the number of new cases, and social distancing is bringing down that number of new cases to a point where the test and trace cases to a point where the test and tra ce syste m cases to a point where the test and trace system will be able to hold r down. john, i don't know if you want to add anything? you put it very

well, the time for the test and trace programme is a little bit later on, as social distancing starts to relax. in terms of the numbers, and, of course, we haven't stopped doing contact tracing, public health england still does contact tracing to investigate outbreaks, for example, at the moment, so it is a question of increasing the scope and the scale in the way we do contact tracing in a progressive way, and hiring the staff, the core public health staff who do the more complex contact tracing are already in place and have been in place throughout, but we are recruiting additional staff as they are needed. it clearly wouldn't have been sensible to recruit 20,000 people and have them not doing anything. at the moment, they are going through training and making sure everyone is ready for when we do need to introduce the new programme. sol when we do need to introduce the new programme. so i think it is all being introduced in a very measured and effective way. in terms of the numbers, as professor whitty pointed out, the ons estimates there may be

something like 10,000 new cases a day at the moment. we are seeing around 2,000 positive tests a day, so these are very manageable numbers and the trajectory is for those to decline at the moment. so those are very manageable numbers for the test and trace programme to take on. thank you. if i could just follow up very quickly, is it not a risk, though, that, as you introduce this new system, you are also loosening lockdown measures, so people will be going back to school, for example. are you not concerned that the numberof daily are you not concerned that the number of daily infections could start to go up? is there a point that we see the level so high that the system stops working because we don't have the capacity to deal with it any more? do you have a figure, a threshold, at which you might have to rollback back their system because it might not work any more? we now have, through the

surveillance system, a much greater clarity of what the level of r is and a clear goal that r shouldn't go above one, and that is in place to mitigate against exactly the scenario that you set out and the goal is to keep the number of new cases coming down, whilst lifting measures, social distancing measures, social distancing measures, as much as it is safely possible, but with the emphasis on safety. and, of course, with a test and trace system in place, that will allow us to do more on the social distancing release safely, and so the two need to be seen hand—in—hand and it is all about how do we manage this epidemic down using a more targeted focus on people who are higher risk because they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive, rather than the blanket measures than we have ——

that we have got in place at the moment. thanks very much. we now go to robbie savage. thank you for allowing me to ask this. it is mental health awareness week and we know how important all sport is as a contributor to healthy minds and body, why is it in published guidelines that junior tennis player, golfers and athletes are able to receive one—on—one coaching session, but young people who play the working class game of football, are currently not allowed to? thank you robbie. it is good to have you, and thanks for taking part in the press conference. look, i absolutely get the impact of this, of this virus on people's lives, and the mental health impact and for many people being able to play football is a huge release, and

really, a positive thing. and the rules are there, of course they can go outan rules are there, of course they can go out an exercise but i know exercising just with members of your own dean holdsworth or on your own is nothing like being able the play football. i understand why say it problem, i get it. but unfortunately these rules have to be in place, among, among the population as a whole, because we have got to get a grip of this virus, and it is only by following it, the more people follow the rules that faster we will get the, the number of new cases down and, and the more we are going to be able to release social distancing rules, but you don'tjust want... can ijust. .. so distancing rules, but you don'tjust want... can ijust... so why are some governing bodies, you know, allowing one—on—one coaching with under 18s while the governing body the fa aren't allowing the under 18 game coach one—on—one, why is it

different? chris? i fully game coach one—on—one, why is it different? chris? ifully understand the reason for the question, to absolutely reinforce your point, exercise of all sorts is good for physical and mental health, that is one of the reasons we consider keen in the first very tentative easing of some of the lockdown, to make it easierfor people to of some of the lockdown, to make it easier for people to do things outdoor, and if it is within their own family, then a kick round in football within the same household, a kick round is fine, so, difference and this is one of the issues that we need to think about a balance, andi we need to think about a balance, and i think with all of the things we are trying to do, it is about trying to release where we can, but not take the risk that we start having the transmission again, and we we re very having the transmission again, and we were very confident that it is much safer, to do things the same thing outdoors, than indoors, so thatis thing outdoors, than indoors, so that is is the first thing, that is pa rt that is is the first thing, that is part of the reason we very able do things but as you know, the rules are, except within your own

household it is one other person at two metre, it, that is a small increment from where we are, it is possible to play the kind of sports you are talking about, at two metres, with one other person or within your own household, to have a league football game which is a contact is part, and does involve a large number, the risks are greater so the question is, at what stage, accepting that outdoors is safer than indoors, but that a group of 22 people, many of them coming into contact with one ear, linking households is is risk than two people at a two metre distance, at what stage do we think the rate is low enough for that to be a safe thing do? so that is the logic for this very very gradual move, because we are very keen, both to try and make it possible, particularly for people to do sport outdoors for all the reason you give, but also not in the reason you give, but also not in the process of that to link

households again and start the process of the r going back up again, so that is a long answer but thatis again, so that is a long answer but that is because it's a serious question. cani question. can i have one more question please? can i have one more question please? can you or your colleagues give an indication of the pathway, the grass roots football being allowed to restart, do you this which he have to wait for a vaccine? i very much hope we won't haven't to wait for a vaccine, the first thing i would say is some of the, some of the projects we are putting in place, like this test and tracing we are been talking about are there to hold the number of new cases down, while allowing more social distancing measures to be lifted, and this is one that we can look at, and we have a discussion about it last time round, and chris is better placed than me to advice how, how, how much of an impact upwards it would have on r, and how much further we can go.

my and how much further we can go. my expectation and sir patrick valance's expectation is that a vac seen before next year on a widespread basis is unlikely so i definitely hope that football will be available possibly with a degree of change of how it is played, there may have to be weighed to think it through, in advance of a vaccine, what we are trying to do is go cautiously along that past that the secretary of state talked about, but, my very strong hope and i am sure this is the strong hope of everybody is football is well before we get right out to that, the right hand end of that path, because outdoors is safer than indoors, no doubt about it, but mixing large numbers of people in a contact sport isa hiring numbers of people in a contact sport is a hiring risk of transmitting the virus than something which can be played in two or for people at a distance. we want grass roots football back as soon as possible.

last question is from ian swanson. ian. i wanted to ask a couple of points about the hospitality and tourism sector, a crucial part of edinburgh's economy and one of the la st edinburgh's economy and one of the last to re—open potentially. from august, employers will have to contribute to the cost of furlough, many bars and restaurants say if they are still closed that will be impossible and even when they can open, social distancing might mean it is not viable, so will the government continue pool funding of furlough for this sector or is there some new support it could offer? and secondly, many hospitality businesses failed to qualify for the retail hospitality and leisure grant, often just because retail hospitality and leisure grant, oftenjust because their location pushes them over the threshold of 51,000 rateable value. is that something that you would also consider reviewing? well, thank you ian. the, the furlough rules

have been set in place, as one of the most generous schemes in the world, and i am very pleased that the chancellor was able to extend them from the deadline, this side of summer, up to october. clearly, the details of how it operates is for him and for the treasury and i would ta ke him and for the treasury and i would take your comments back, i do understand the important of it, especially in edinburgh which is especially in edinburgh which is especially during august traditionally has relied on an enormous influx of visitors for the biggest festival certainly in the country, if not in the world, with the edinburgh festival, so i understand the specific concern, and i will take that away and talk to the chancellor about it. that concludes our daily briefing, thank you very much for all of the questions, and hope to see you again soon. studio: matt hancock there bringing

to an end today's daily coronavirus briefing, we can speak now to our political correspondentjonathan blake in westminster who was listening to that. jonathan, an unusual session in a way, because probably for the first time, party politics entered that briefing, didn't they, question from our political editor laura kuenssberg about that u—turn that borisjohnson has made on the nhs surcharge. yes, and that is the main news of this afternoon, really, not withstanding the announcement that the health secretary made about antibody testing and interesting numbers about an antibody survey which is being conducted, giving us an idea of how many people have had the virus in total, which will come to ina virus in total, which will come to in a second, but yes, the health secretary was asked about that u—turn the government has performed over the surcharge paid by immigrants to the uk, for access to nhs, and whether or not those

working in the nhs from overseas should be exempt from that. and the prime minister has now decided they should be, and matt hancock was asked about that as you say, by laura kuenssberg and he said that he was pleased to be able to begin the work on exempting those working in the nhs, he was asked what had changed since yesterday, when the prime minister said that keeping the exemption in place was the right wray forward? and mr hancock said that yesterday, boris johnson was giving an answer in terms of the immigration health surcharge as a whole, but he has asked for nhs and ca re whole, but he has asked for nhs and care workers to be exempted from it. so not pretending this has been the policy all along but attempting to separate the prime minister's comments yesterday, from the decision he has made today, which was a neat trick to try to pull off but i am not sure that he managed it. ok. the focus from the

government's point of view was intended to be on that announcement about antibody tests. jonathan, many thanks. jonathan blake there. we will hear from thanks. jonathan blake there. we will hearfrom our thanks. jonathan blake there. we will hear from our health correspondent about those antibody tests, the antibody tests but also the test for people who have covid—19. the test for people who have covid-19. yes, two interesting developments, the antibody tests that the government have brought from roche will be for the health and social care staff at first to see if they have been exposed to the virus and if they have developed immunity, the new swab test, that could be done in 20 minute, could be significant, it is going to be piloted. currently, the tests are done, have to be sent away to a lab, they take several hours to be processed to turn round times by the time people get their results can be a number of days but these swab tests can be done and analysed on site and that has big implication not just for the testing site and that has big implication notjust for the testing programme but the test track and trace system.

0k, nick. but the test track and trace system. ok, nick. many thanks, that is nick triggle, summing up what we heard earlier. now it's time for a look at the weather, with darren bett. hello, there. warm today — not quite as warm as it was yesterday, mind you, and over the next few days things are going to cool down a little bit. we're also going to find a spell of windy weather for the next few days, unusually windy, and there be some rain, although not necessarily where it is needed most of all. and this band of cloud here didn't bring very much rain today. this cloud looks much more threatening. it is a deepening area of low pressure, with some wet and windy weather to come. and that rain starts to push in to western side of the uk later this evening and overnight. as the winds pick up, that rain gets blown northwards into scotland as well. still dry, though, overnight for east anglia and the south—east, and particularly warm here as well. in these areas you're probably hoping to see some rain. the problem is, that the weather front that is driving that rain is weakening as it runs its way eastwards. and most of the wet weather, and indeed the windy weather, is going to be closer that deep area of low pressure.

so this is the rainfall accumulations over the course of friday, saturday and into sunday. little or no rain towards the south—east, much wetter further north—west, with the focus for the heavier rain in the highlands of scotland — over a month's rain here. also going to be very windy for a while as well. we start on friday with the wettest weather in scotland, it's a narrowing line of rain running across eastern england. once that clears in the morning, the sunshine returns. there will be blustery showers blown in, mainly for scotland and for northern ireland, and it is here we have the strongest winds — gusts of 50 or 60mph. and, of course, that will make it feel quite a bit cooler than it has done of late, but still we are looking at temperatures of 16 or 17 degrees. the higher temperatures across eastern england, 22 or 23 degrees on friday. now we have more windy weather and wet weather to come close to that area of low pressure overnight and into the start of the weekend. so wet weather continuing across the north—west of scotland, and other parts of scotland seeing some rain too and there will be blustery showers blown in across england and wales and northern ireland. a few may get through to eastern areas, but still generally dry here. those temperatures continuing to take a dip to round 18 or 19 —

much cooler where it is wetter further north. and there will be some more rain to come during saturday night and into sunday morning. during sunday, the rain does tend to ease off. it probably won't be quite as windy, and for many parts of the uk, away from scotland, it may well be dry, with some sunshine. those temperatures starting to get a bit of a boost, up to 22 or 23.

building a better picture of how many people in britain have had coronavirus — a new antibody test will be available on the nhs from next week. nhs workers and care staff will be the first to be tested after the government bought 10 million coronavirus antibody tests from the pharmaceutical company roche. knowing that you have these antibodies will help us to understand more in the future if you are at lower risk of catching coronavirus, of dying from coronavirus, and of transmitting coronavirus. trials are also being carried out on a new swab test, which could tell you in just 20 minutes if you currently have the virus. also tonight...