the prime minister is expected to give further details shortly, on how and when measures in england will be eased. scotland will see some relaxation of their lockdown tomorrow. coronavirus contact tracing programmes get under way in england and scotland. those who've been in close contact with someone who has the virus, will be asked to self—isolate. the overwhelming majority of people, when instructed to self—isolate by the nhs, will do so, but, of course, we have the legal powers to make this mandatory if we need to. durham police say dominic cummings‘ trip to barnard castle might have breached lockdown rules,

but no action will be taken against the prime minister's chief advisor. thousands ofjobs are at risk at easyjet, as the airline says it will cut up to 30% of its workforce because of the pandemic. the premier league season is set to restart on 17th june, with two games. aston villa v sheffield united and manchester city v arsenal. good afternoon, and welcome to viewers on bbc one. borisjohnson is expected to give further details on how and when lockdown measures in england will be further eased, at today's downing street press briefing, in about half an hour's time. it comes as coronavirus contact tracing programmes have begun in both england and scotland. anyone who's been in close contact with someone who's tested

positive for covid19 will now be contacted and asked to self—isolate. northern ireland has a version of the programme already up and running, while in wales the scheme is due to start in earlyjune. here's sophie hutchinson. pinpointing people with the virus and tracing those they may have infected is now back on the table in england, after a two—month pause. the government says its new voluntary programme was up and running this morning, and it has urged people to participate. we are doing this on a voluntary basis because we think the overwhelming majority of people, when instructed to self—isolate by the nhs, will do so. but, of course, we have the legal powers to make this mandatory if we need to. i'd just rather not do that. so how does the test and trace service work? anyone with symptoms should self—isolate and book a test. if the result is positive, an nhs official will call or e—mail to ask who you may have had

recent contact with. anyone you have been within two metres or less from for 15 minutes, or closer than one metre face to face, so colleagues or friends, will be called by the tracers and told to self—isolate for up to m days. members of their household do not have to go into quarantine unless they develop symptoms. at least, that's how it's meant to work. the government has recruited 25,000 contact tracers and some were surprised when they received this last night, informing them the service was starting in the morning. we didn't get an e—mail through from the public health people until 9:50pm last night with logins that didn't work. this morning it still didn't work. just a happy, cheery e—mail saying we're going live tomorrow but that's all i heard about it. even yesterday, they didn't mention it. it seems like it might have been rushed through. the government did say there were issues today with staff logging on,

but that that has now been resolved. it is estimated an effective tracking system could cut the new infections by up to 15% but it all relies on test results being turned around quickly. 0ur trust leaders tell us that often when they are testing staff or patients it can take between 3—5 days for those test results to come back, on average, rather than the 2a hours which is the kind of international gold standard. the official tracers will ask infected people for the names, addresses, phone numbers and e—mails of those they may have infected. public health england insists this data will be protected and doctors say that is essential. the only way this will work is if the patients have the confidence that the information they disclose to those that are doing the contact tracing will remain confidential. and concerns have been raised about how to recognise a genuine call from an nhs tracer apart from a hoax. 0ne security expert said there is no

real way of telling. if somebody calls you and say they are a track—and—tracer, you pretty much have to take them on their word, which is really problematic because i think this is something scammers could then potentially take and really run with. all they would need to do is really phone you up, ask for your e—mail address and say, we're about to send you a form, then send you an e—mail, you click on a document and your computer is infected with malware. northern ireland has had a contact tracing system in place for some time. scotland's begins today and wales is hoping to launch a similar programme next week. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is at westminster. we will get op to test and trace in a moment but borisjohnson himself be the chairing the press conference in about 20 minutes‘ time. that

suggests fairly major announcements when it comes to an easing of the lockdown? clive, yes it would suggest the prime minister has something significant to say, we already know many of the measures that he is hoping to bring in in england after the latest advice from the government scientific advisory group for emergency, easing the lockdown restrictions by opening schools, to some pupils from the 1st june, opening up outdoor mar connects and char showrooms, then allowing nonessential retail to open as well, and we do expect this afternoon the prime minister to say that the government is ready to do that, and that those measure also go ahead. whether he has anything further to announce, around what we are allowed to do and when, we will have to wait and see, but this is the first time we have heard as well, from the chief scientific adviser patrick vallance and the chief medical officer chris whitty at the downing street news briefing

for a few days. one wonders whether north there will be something major because test and trace, the tracking programme is going, is now in place, and this will be seen as the way of bringing down the restrictions in the lockdown. that is is right. the government has said all along the on way in the absence of a vaccine we can get back to something like life as normal, is by testing and tracking and tracing the number of people that have had coronavirus, or may have been exposed to it. it is only by doing that you can allow the population to move about, socialise, allow the economy to open up a little bit more, otherwise, we will have to continue having the restrictions that we have seen in place over the last nine weeks or so. place over the last nine weeks or so. that is not viable in the long—term, so there is a lot riding on this testing and tracing programme that the government has launched today in england and a similar one launched today in england and a similarone up and launched today in england and a

similar one up and running in scotland, as a way of mapping the number of cases and keeping control of outbreaks which may flare up here and there and we have heard about local lockdowns that could be put in place, in response to those. and, finally on dominic cummings, the chief adviser police reckon he may have committed a minor infringement of the rules. a statement from the police, they have been looking into whether dominic cummings broke the lockdown rules, with that trip to his father's property, in durham, and then subsequently making that day trip to barnard castle, they have said that in the first instance, there was no problem with self—isolating on ten property but in the case of this a drive, to the local beauty spot, he may have breached the rules, that is something that they say they won't ta ke something that they say they won't take any further action on, downing street considers that the end of the matter, his political opponents, though, do not, and labour, the

liberal democrat, and others have seized on that statement by durham police this afternoon, saying it is further evidence mr cummings did break the rules, and should resign, but he is clearly as of now, at least, going nowhere. ok. jonathan, thank you. jonathan, thank you. let's talk more now on the next steps the government could take towards easing the lockdown and how contact—tracing will have an impact on that timeline. jimmy whitworth is a professor of international public health at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. hejoins me now from fishguard. hello to you. thank you very much indeed for being was, it is good to see you. in a nutshell, explain how test and trace works. the way this work, and, we must see this as an addition to the measures that we have at the moment, the physical distancing, the hand washing, and the cough etiquette. this works by identifying not only the people who

are infected, and making sure that they isolate, but also the people in their household, and the people that they have had significant contact with in the recent past. and the way this works is it allows to us get one step ahead of the virus, and allow us to identify those people who might be incubating an infection, and to make sure that they are isolating. ok. so... so what this does... so far so good for and we have seen how germany has used this successfully and south korea and a number of other countries. doesn't it depend on the speed of the tests you get back? so, if you're testing on average three the five days to get a result, which is what nhs providers are saying, that won't be fast enough, is it? you need it within 2a hourses and the success we have seen in other countries suggest that they have managed to get that in place but we still have a few problems in when it comes to speed of getting the results back. i think that is true.

i think for this to really work, one, we need to get the tests back very quickly, and as was mention earlier, 2a hours is what we should be aiming for, for this, and also, we need to make sure that the public has confidence in the system, and does actually follow the guidelines. are you confident that perhaps that will take place? i am hopefulthat it will take place. we have a public health emergency on our hands at the moment, and i do feel that people need to put their personal interests aside, for the common good, if we are going to be able to actually beat this virus. some of the actual traces themselves from said that it feels as if it may be rushed, they thought it was going to be coming out and begins next week, beginning of the next month. there have been early glitches today. is that the kind of thing that worries you, as

we move forward? it doesn't surprise me, ithink we move forward? it doesn't surprise me, i think to get a large complex system like this up and running, and working effectively, is going to ta ke working effectively, is going to take a bit of time, so i am not, it doesn't surprise me if there are some teething problems, as they get this belmarshed. i think that it will take a bit of established. established. it will take time to get the core ordination right. perhaps some the tests can get fed back quicker over time and eventually i think we will have this app, which will allow us to also identify those contacts who were not known to us, at the moment, of course, if you become infected, and you mention the contacts that you have had, you can only really talk about those people who you know, so, members of your family, about those people who you know, so, members of yourfamily, your neighbours, yourfriends, members of yourfamily, your neighbours, your friends, but members of yourfamily, your neighbours, yourfriends, but these people on the bus, or in the supermarket queue, you won't know who they are.

0k who they are. okoit who they are. oko it is who they are. 0k 0 it is good to see you professor whitworth from the international public health at london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. good the see you. thank you. thank you. nicola sturgeon has announced that people in scotland will be able to meet outside from tomorrow. the first minister said the move would allow people to meet with residents from one other household at a time. but they will need to remain outdoors, and in groups of no more than eight. but she urged people to stick to social—distancing guidelines, warning the virus had not gone away. from tomorrow, the regulations on meeting other people will change. you and your household will be able to meet with another household out of doors. for example, in a park, or in a private garden. we said last week this should be in small groups, and to give you greater guidance on that, we're asking that the total number of people between the two households meeting up should be a maximum of eight. please keep it to less

than that, if you can. now, we're not saying that you must pick one household and only meet the same one during phase one, but we are saying that you should not meet with more than one other household at a time. first minister of scotland there. the bbc has learned that the premier league season is set to restart on i7thjune. the 20 clubs in the league are still discussing the idea, but it's understood they've reached agreement in principle. let's get more from our sports news reporter, laura scott. laura, tell us more about this. give us a bit more detail unless. yes, it has been a lengthy meeting of the shareholders today, but it seems they have agreed in principle for this return in around 20 days, the 17th of june. for this return in around 20 days, the 17th ofjune. they have decided that instead of playing a full round fixtures first, they will complete two games in hand. at the moment, it looks like they will start with aston villa against sheffield united and manchester city against arsenal,

and manchester city against arsenal, and that would bring all the teams level on 29 games played, then we expect a full round of fixtures that weekend. now, this comes a day after the clubs approved contact training to begin, so that will enable the clu bs to to begin, so that will enable the clubs to have had around three weeks of co nta ct clubs to have had around three weeks of contact training before these matches resume. there have been 12 positive tests among premier league players and staff from around 2750 tests. the government expects to approve elite sport to begin from behind closed draws from a zero day is monday so by the time mccarty comes around, we might have seen a lot of horse racing and snooker behind close draws ——june 17th. but a lot of excitement among premier league fans at what will be the first premier league action on 100 days by june 17th. first premier league action on 100 days by june 17th. thanks, laura scott. china's parliament has rubber—stamped a hugely

controversial national security bill that looks likely to limit freedoms in hong kong. out of nearly 3,000 parliamentary delegates, there was only one vote against. the law will criminalise conduct in hong kong that undermines beijing's authority, it also allows china's intelligence agencies to set up in the territory for the first time. stephen mcdonell reports. the vote was never going to be close. 2878 in favour with only one again. the ball for tougher security measures in hong kong now goes to a standing, and should be law by the second half of the year. in hong kong, local legislature saw more pushing and shoving today. the numbers in the mini parliament are stacked so it will always remain under the control of the probation camp. it has not been able to pass a national security law so the central government imposed its own legislation on the city. it is unclear which types of speech are

actions —— or actions might constitute treason under the new law. but secession and subversion —— and subversion crimes could mean decades in prison for activists. many in the pro—democracy camp are calling for the united states and others to impose sanctions on both hong kong and mainland china. action is what will make the chinese impose these draconian laws on us. supporters of the law say it is to rein in protests which have become at times destructive and violent, and others say it will mean the end of free speech in hong kong. it has certainly reignited tensions there. we have got the latest figures and statistics from the department of health regarding their coronavirus pandemic in the uk. in the department of health says 37,837 people have now died in hospitals,

ca re people have now died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community, so in all settings, after testing positive for coronavirus in the last 24 positive for coronavirus in the last 2a our accounting period. that means the number of deaths has gone up by 377, from 37,460 yesterday. so the numbers of people who have died as a result of coronavirus in hospitals, ca re result of coronavirus in hospitals, care homes and the wider community, that has now gone up by 377. most children across the uk haven't been into school for more than two months. for some, the pandemic has affected their confidence and mental wellbeing. with some pupils in england due to return to the classroom next week, the children's commissioner is now calling for a mental health counsellor in every school. sima kotecha reports. sunshine and cricket. the lockdown hasn't always been like this. for ten—year—old umun, the youngest of three brothers, it's led to anxiety and distress. on one occasion, he had what felt like a panic attack.

i was very tense inside. it was very hard because i was thinking about what was going to happen next, like, is anything going to happen between the family? i couldn't do it any more, so ijust wanted to go out and just let it all out, but i couldn't. his mum's worried about the impact it will have on his long—term mental health. trying to support him now, and in the future, we don't know how this is going to impact him. the constant question of, when will it end? what if it comes back? what if one of us gets it? what if we die? it's quite a lot for a ten—year—old. a survey by one charity suggests 67% of parents and carers are also concerned about the mental—health impact the coronavirus outbreak will have on their children, with many noticing an increase in depression and anxiety.

the children's commissioner for england wants schools to be at the forefront of providing mental—health support. so, what i'm calling for is a mental—health counsellor in every school, to help children recover from the covid emergency and help them gain the confidence and resilience they need to move forward and make the most of their education and their childhood, which has been on hold for so many weeks. but at a time when the country is facing a recession and there's likely to be tighter budgets, there's doubt over whether this idea is financially viable. the government says it recognises the importance of mental health during this time. in a statement, it says... "that is why we have published guidance for schools and families about how to support their children's mental wellbeing and education at home." it says...

"we have also placed significance on mental health and wellbeing in our planning framework for the wider opening of schools." coronavirus has affected the lives of all of us. its impact on the minds of the youngest in society might only be properly understood in years to come. sima kotecha, bbc news. nurseries across the country will be reopening their doors to all children next week, although some have been taking vulnerable children and the children of keyworkers, of course. joining me now is marg randles, founder and chief academic 0fficer of nursery chain busy bees — the uk's biggest childcare provider. hello, thank you very much indeed for joining hello, thank you very much indeed forjoining us. when our nursery is going to be opening? well, we have been preparing for opening since the beginning of lockdown and plans are coming to fruition now, subject to no change in government guidance and we will be opening 198 busy bees nurseries onjune we will be opening 198 busy bees nurseries on june 1st, bringing we will be opening 198 busy bees

nurseries onjune1st, bringing the total to 304 with the 150 nurseries we have open for key workers. ok, what have been, one assumes parents have been getting in touch and they wa nt to have been getting in touch and they want to make sure preparations are in place in order to deal with this, what kind of questions and queries have they been giving you? pa rents have they been giving you? parents have wanted to know what safety measures we have in place, how we will protect their children. we have maintained a high level of communication with parents right across the lockdown. we have some sensible measures in place and we really do believe that we are in a good position to open in the safest way possible on monday. and how are you going to get toddlers to social distance? social distancing for early years will be very different to that we understand. i suspect so! children have been away from their friends for so long and they need to be with their friends, they need that

contact. what we are intending to do is to have small friendship groups, where children can play safely together. we are going to limit access around the nurseries, they will have their own space, their own resources . will have their own space, their own resources. so that they can interact ina resources. so that they can interact in a safe way. any concerns from staff, from the people who will be looking after these youngsters, about possibly getting infected? well, as i have said, we already have 115 of our nursery is already open and this has helped us to understand how we need to operate in a safe way. our staff, there will be different levels of anxiety, some staff will certainly be vulnerable themselves and they will have to stay at home. we are in a really good position because this is actually going to be small numbers of children, so we won't need all of our staff to start straightaway. so we can dip our toe in the water, see

what we need to do and see how we are going to progress through this. and whether any problems with the more than 100 establishments you have still been keeping going throughout all of this? —— whether any problems. has anything giving you pause for thought? we have been operating, busy bees has been operating, busy bees has been operating for 35 years and we are quite good at managing change and also adapting the way that we work. nothing out of the ordinary has caused any concern during the lockdown in the hospital nurseries. we are one of the biggest providers to the nhs in the country. we have nurseries across the world and we have been able to share best practice with our colleagues from singapore, from australia and canada. that has put us in a really good position to provide children with the best possible care, in a safe environment. it is good to see

you, marg randles from busy bees, thanks forjoining us, thank you. every thursday evening, the nation has come together to applaud the front—line workers in the coronavirus outbreak. tonight marks the tenth week of ‘clap for carers', and the woman who started it has suggested it should be the last. 0ur correspondent tim muffett looks at how a simple idea has impacted so many. applause the sound of thursday nights at 8pm. neighbours... car horn beeps ..shoppers. .. hospital staff... on land... at sea... across the uk... and abroad. a simple idea that grew and grew. cheering and applause on this council estate in north london, the impact of their weekly clap for carers has been profound. it's brought the community together.

even though i've lived here 17 years, i've got to know people that i never would have met. it's basically brought love, which is the key thing, to all of our lives. have there been neighbours you've seen because of the weekly clap which you maybe wouldn't have seen otherwise? definitely. i mean, windows open, curtains pull back and people show themselves, and you see an exuberance for being part of this big celebration. but after ten weeks, this estate is bringing its weekly nhs clap for carers to an end. tonight's will be the last. we'll be out again tonight, you know, cheering these people to the rafters, but some people feel it's time to end on a high. the idea of ending the weekly clap is shared by the person who started it. the reason why i will stop giving support to the weekly event is because i think it's good to end it whilst it still has such a positive impact. i hope that the legacy will be how

much it brought us together and that we will always feel that gratitude and appreciation that we have towards the essential workers. some have said the weekly clap has also become too politicised. but not everyone wants it to end. some nhs staff say it still inspires them. a really, really positive impact on us. it's made us feel really valued, as well. i think a lot of people would like to carry on. i'd be happy for it to carry on for another period of time. tonight at 8pm, we'll gather again and clap for the tenth time and, for some, the last. tim muffett, bbc news. and we will have coverage of that, potentially final clap for carers, the tenth, that is at eight o'clock this evening on bbc one. as we wait for today's government daily briefing on coronavirus — it's being led by borisjohnson

today — let's talk to our political correspondent, jonathan blake, who is at westminster. a few people, one suspects, will hope there is going to be a bit more ofan hope there is going to be a bit more of an easing of the lockdown that they have had to suffer for the last few weeks. yes, the fact that prime minister himself is taking the news conference today and he will be joined by the chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser, suggest that he does have something significant to say. we already know there are plans for the government to left lockdown measures. at least, is then to an extent from england as ofjune1st, opening up schools to some pupils in england and also opening up outside markets and car showrooms and allowing nonessential retail businesses to open in a couple of weeks' time as well. that all depends, the government says, and its five tests being met, those key criteria include falling death and infection rates and no risk of a

second peak in cases. it seems, though, from everything that prime minister has said in recent days, certainly yesterday when he was asked about this by mps on the liaison committee, that the government does expect to be in a position today to go ahead with those moves. whether the prime minister will go further and announce easing of lockdown measures in other areas, for example around social contacts, we will have to wait and see. clearly, there is the suggestion that there will be an easing of the lockdown in some respects because we now have up and running today test and trace. how will that affect the government's policy moving forward in easing the lockdown? yes, the test and trace programme is lockdown? yes, the test and trace programme is one lockdown? yes, the test and trace programme is one of those five tests that needed to be met and it is now ata that needed to be met and it is now at a point where the government believes it will work and it will allow it to keep a handle on the number of coronavirus cases, both

how many of them there are and where they are. because it is only with a system like that in place that you can system like that in place that you ca n allow system like that in place that you can allow people to go about their business not quite as normal, nothing like life as we were used to before the virus came along, but certainly with a greater degree of flexibility than we can at the moment. because if the test and trace programme works as hoped, it will allow the government to keep an eye on where cases are and put in place lockdown measures at a local level, which could keep outbreaks of the virus contained. but as we have been hearing, there are already teething problems with that programme in england and a similar one in scotland and we will have to wait and see whether it works as hoped because it does rely on people who have symptoms isolating in the first instance and then providing details of people they have come into co nta ct details of people they have come into contact with over the last, well, since they have had symptoms, and then those people in turn isolated at home when they are asked to do so by the nhs. so it is a big

ask, the government is clearly confident it will go —— people will go along with it, but we have to wait and see. easy critics point out the prime minister wants to move the conversation on away from dominic cummings which has dominated the landscape for two or three day, durham police have suggested he may have committed a minor infringement of the rule, so the story perhaps could go on a bit? yes, the central charge against dominic cummings, from those who believe he broke the rules is that doing what he did undermines the government advice, that ministers have been calling on people u telling people, to follow. so, if people take the view having seen so, if people take the view having seen what dominic cummings has done, that i can flout the rules and do as they like, then the government is going to find itself in a very difficult position, but so far, and as you say, durham police this afternoon saying that dominic cummings might have broken the

rules, and if he had been stopped, by police at the time, which of course he wasn't, he would have been reminded of those rules, then, the fa ct reminded of those rules, then, the fact they have said that has led his political opponents to add more weight to their arguments that he broke the rules, but the fact they have qualified it in saying he might have qualified it in saying he might have broken the rules, gives number ten the opportunity to say this is inconclusive, police won't be taking any further action and that is as far as thaw are concerned is the end of it. the five tests that are going to have to be met, in orderfor any kind of significant easing of the lockdown, it does require falling death rates and infection rates. we have had the latest figures from public health england, the number of deaths is up, down from yesterday's figure, is that the kind of number thatis figure, is that the kind of number that is going to signal to the government they can move forward in

easing? yes, the number itself isn't necessarily the most important thing. let's cross live to downing street for the daily government update — it's being led by boris johnson today. before i set out our next steps in the fight against the coronavirus, let me update you on the latest data. three million 9187079 tests have been carried out in the uk, including 119587 tests carried out yesterday. 269127 people have tested positive, and that is an increase of 1887 cases, since yesterday. 8560 people are in hospital with coronavirus, down 11% from 9,607 this time last week. and sadly, of

those tested positive for coronavirus across all settings, 37 , 837 have coronavirus across all settings, 37,837 have now died. that is an increase of 377 fatalities since yesterday, and we are with their friends and family, in mourning. as you know, we have set five tests which must be met before adjusting the lockdown. as set out on the first slide. it is vital that these tests are met before any changes are made, because we must not risk all the hard work and sacrifice of the british people. at all times, we are informed by the data and evidence about the spread of the virus, and the impact of the measures taken so far. i will now take you through our latest assessment of progress against each of the five tests. can

we have the next slide please? 0ur first test is to protect the nhs's ability to cope, so that we are confident we are able to provide sufficient critical care and treatment across the uk. at the start of the outbreak, there was significant concern that the nhs would not be able to cope. and that turned out not to be the case, thanks to the heroic efforts of eve ryo ne thanks to the heroic efforts of everyone who workings for the nhs and the heroic efforts of the british people to contain this virus. the data showed that on 26th may, 475 people were admitted to hospital in england with coronavirus, that is down from a peak of 3,121 on a single day on the 2nd april. 0n 2nd april. on 27th may, 11% of mechanical ventilator bed in the uk were occupied by patients with coronavirus, and that is down from a

peak of 41% on 10th april. and this significant progress means that we are meeting the first test. can i have the next slide, please? 0ur second test is to see a sustained and consistent fall, in the daily deaths from covid—19, so we are confident that we have moved beyond the peak. as measured by a seven day rolling average, the uk daily death rate now stands at 256, down from a peak of 943 on 14th april. while every death is one too many, it is now the case there has been a sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate, and so, the second test is being met. next slide please. 0ur third test is to receive reliable information, reliable data

from sage, showing that the rate of infection, the number of people catching covid, is decreasing to a manageable level across the board, and in the last seven days, an average of 2,312 new cases were confirmed with a positive test, that is down from a peak of 5,066 in the first week of may. based on the various data available, the government is satisfied that the third test is being met. in a moment sir patrick will tell us about other methods of measures infections including the r number. can i have the next slide please? 0ur fourth test is that we must be confident that the range of operational challenges including in testing capacity and personal protective

equipment, are in hand, with supply able to meet future demand. i fully acknowledge the difficulties on testing, and ppe that we have faced since the start of theout break. it has been immensely frustrating, but, we are now making progress. yesterday, we carried out 119,587 test, compared to round 12,000 at the start of april. testing capacity has now increased to 161,214 a day. we have now signed over 100 new deals with ppe suppliers around the world. here, in the uk, thanks to the efforts of lord deighton and his tea m the efforts of lord deighton and his team and the brilliance of domestic manufacturers we have signed contracts for over two billion items of ppe, including face max, visor,

gowns and aprons. we are therefore satisfied that the fourth test is being met and we can start to rebuild stocks, although we recognise there may be some settings that require urgent restocking on occasion. cani occasion. can i have the next slide please? 0ur fifth can i have the next slide please? 0urfifth and can i have the next slide please? 0ur fifth and final test is that we must be confident that any adjustments to the current measures will not risk a second peak of infections, that overwhelms the nhs. iam very infections, that overwhelms the nhs. i am very grateful to the chief scientific adviser and chief medical 0fficer, scientific adviser and chief medical officer, for their assessments of the measures i am about to set out on schools, retail, and social contact. although all parts of the uk are moving in the same direction, it is important to note that health is devolved and different parts of the uk are quite properly moving at different speeds. this package has

been carefully designed, so that we can ease the burdens of the lockdown, while expecting to keep that r below one. i cannot and will not throw away all the gains we have made together, and so the changes we are making are limited, and cautious. it is thanks to the cautionary —— caution shown so far, that all five tests are being met. that is not my achievement or the government's achievement, it is your achieve. it is only possible thanks to your resolve and dedication to our national purpose to overcome this virus. so, the result is, we can move forward with adjusting the lockdown in england, on monday. first, as i set out on sunday, we will now re—open schools to more

children. closing schools has deprived children of their education, and as so often, it is the most disadvantaged pupils who risk being hardest hit. 0n the most disadvantaged pupils who risk being hardest hit. on monday, we will start to put this right, in a safe way, by roping nurseries and other early years settings and reception, year one, and year six, in primary schools. —— re—opening. a fortnight later on 15th june secondary schools will start to provide some face to face contact time for years ten and 12. second, we will also start to re—open shops as we restart our and we will begin on monday with outdoor retail and car showrooms where social distancing is generally easier. and a fortnight later, on 15th june, distancing is generally easier. and a fortnight later, on 15thjune, we intend to re—open other nonessential retail, but only provided the five

tests are still being met, and shops have been made covid secure. lastly, i know the toll that lockdown has taken on families and friends who have been unable to see each other. so from monday, we will allow up to six people to meet outside, provided those from different households continue strictly, to observer social distancing rules, by staying two metres apart. at the moment, as you know, people can meet in parks, but not in private gardens, and this was a cautious first step. but we know that there is no difference in the health risk, so we will now allow people to meet in garden, and other private outdoor spaces. these changes, mean that friends and family can start to meet their loved

one, perhaps seeing both parents at once, or both grandparents at one, andi once, or both grandparents at one, and i know for many people this will bea and i know for many people this will be a lodge awaited and joyful moment. —— long await. i must stress, that to control the virus, eve ryo ne stress, that to control the virus, everyone needs to stay alert, act responsibly, strictly observer social distancing rules, and stay two metres apart from those you do not live with. minimising contact with others is still the best way to prevent transmission. you should also try to avoid seeing people from too many households in quick succession, so this that we can avoid the risk of quick transmission from lots of different families and continue to control the virus. and it remains the case, that people should not be inside the homes of their friends should not be inside the homes of theirfriends and should not be inside the homes of their friends and families. not inside the homes of your friends and

family, unless it is to access the garden, to get to the garden. i should add, that at this stage, i am afraid that those who have been asked to to shield themselves, should continue to do so, and i want to say to those extremely clinically vulnerable people, who are now being shielded, that i do understand how difficult this has been for you especially, and i want to thank you for all the efforts you have gone to, because your actions have helped the nhs to cope. we are looking carefully at how we can make your life easier and better support you and we want to say more on the that soon. and we want to say more on the that soon. i want to reassure everyone that we can make all of the changes i have outlined in a safe way. we know that children and particularly

young children are much less likely to be seriously affected by the virus. we know that if shops enforce social distancing, as required, by our covid secure guidelines, then the virus is less likely to spread, and crucially, we know that transmission of the virus is far lower outdoor, so we can confidently allow more interaction i understand that people will have questions as to how to do all of this safely and we will publish guidance on these changes to help people, to help you make the most of them. now, i know inevitably that there may be some anomalies or apparent inconsistencies in these rules and, clearly, what we are proposing is still just rules and, clearly, what we are proposing is stilljust a fraction of the social interaction each of us would normally enjoy. i know many of

you will find this frustrating and i am sorry about that. but i am is —— iam afraid am sorry about that. but i am is —— i am afraid that is unavoidable, given the nature of the invisible emily —— enemy that we are fighting. it isa emily —— enemy that we are fighting. it is a complex problem and we are asking for everyone's patients as we work through it together. we will inevitably not get everything right first time, but i must ask everyone to remember that it is the same hard work and sacrifices of the british people in lockdown that have got us so farand people in lockdown that have got us so far and allowed us to make the progress that we have. by protecting the nhs, getting us through the peak and getting this virus under control, we are able to deliver all of the adjustments and easing of restrictions i have set out today.

these adjustments are most of those we set out to achieve in step two of our road map and we have also been able to have them in place byjune 1st as we had hoped. there is no doubt we are making progress and i am hopeful that in the coming weeks, we may be able to do more. because of the sea, while protecting the health and safety of the public is and must always be our number one priority, we must also work to restart our economy and society —— obviously. so as many people as possible can begin returning to their way of life. but i want to reaffirm that fundamental commitment to the british people that all the steps we have ta ken to the british people that all the steps we have taken and will take our conditional. they are conditional on all the data and all the scientific advice, and it is that scientific advice which will

help us tojudge that scientific advice which will help us to judge what we are doing is safe. and i have to warn you, in all frankness, as we go forwards, there will be further local outbreaks. so we will monitor what is going on very carefully, we will put on the brakes as required and, where necessary, we will reimpose measures. it is very important to be clear about that upfront. and as before, we will see how these new changes are working and we will look at the r value and the number of new infections before taking any further steps, so we can ensure that anything we do does not risk a second peak that could overwhelm the nhs. and yesterday, as i hope you all know, we took a huge step forward that will enable us to keep

making progress in returning our lives to ask close to normal as possible, while continuing to control the virus and isolate any new outbreaks. and that is to our new outbreaks. and that is to our new nhs test and trace programme in england, the scottish government has established test and protect and welsh and irish schemes will follow next week. and i will show you a short video that explains how nhs test and trace works in england and what we'll need to do to our part. the government is doing all it can to find and develop a vaccine or treatment for coronavirus. but how do we return to normal life? for as many people as possible, the search goes on. the answer is the new nhs test and trace service. here is how it works. if you have covid—19

symptoms, you must self—isolate immediately and get a test. then you will know for sure if you and your household must continue to self—isolate. if you test positive for covid—19, you will be asked either online or on the phone about your recent close contacts. someone your recent close contacts. someone you have been within two metres of for 15 minutes, and places you have visited. the people you have been in contact with will then be told to self—isolate for 14 days. test and trace works. it allows localised patterns of infection to be detected and contained so the vast majority of people can return to a more normal life. but we need everyone to play their part. if you have symptoms, self—isolate, get tested and also, self—isolate if you are told to buy a nhs contact tracer.

thanks, i will hand over now to sir patrick. thank you, may i have the first side, please? to update you on where we are in terms of the r, the current value is between 0.7 and 0.9, so it remains close to one, it may be very close to one in some areas. and just to remind you of what that means, if the r is that one, it means the epidemic stays at the same level it is now, the same numbers. above one, it is growing, below one, it is shrinking. numbers are coming down at the moment, but they are not coming down fast and the r stays close to one. next slide, please. to put that into context of numbers, these are the numbers from the most

re ce nt these are the numbers from the most recent office for national statistics survey, which is a household survey taking samples from now over 8,000 households and 17,000 or so now over 8,000 households and 17,000 or so people, nearly 18,000 now. looking at the number of infections, so looking at the number of infections, so the proportion of people over the past couple of weeks with covid infection is 0.24% of the population, as estimated from the survey. that means that somewhere in the order of 130,000 people have covid infection. the second important number is the number of new infections, the so—called incidents. the number of new infections is estimated to be roughly one in 1,000 perweek, it means that 54,000 new cases are occurring every week, so somewhere around 8,000 or so per day. that is

not a low number. so it is worth remembering that we still have a significant burden of infection, we are still seeing new infections every day at quite a significant rate, and the r is close to one. that means there is not a lot of room to do things and things need to be done cautiously, step—by—step, and monitored. and the test and trace system needs to be effective in orderto trace system needs to be effective in order to manage that. so that is where we are as of today. and there is one must figure on this slide, which is an estimate of the number of people across the country who might have had the infection, as measured by an antibody presence, and that is something in the order of 6%. so it is still the case that the vast majority of us have not had the vast majority of us have not had the infection and this is a virus for which all of us are susceptible.

so, this set of figures urges caution, in terms of the measures we take, how we take them and how we monitor them. thanks very much, patrick. come and go to our questions from the public first and then from the media? first, to horsham. i first, to horsham. lam first, to horsham. i am a 33—year—old full—time working mum in the shielded community and i feel we have been forgotten. i am currently shielding with my ten—year—old son andl shielding with my ten—year—old son and i have had to stop him from staying at his dad's, i would like to get visibility and how you are going to approach loosening the lockdown for the clinically extremely vulnerable and how you will help as in this transition? let me first of all say, jay, i feel very sympathetic to all those more than1 million very sympathetic to all those more than 1 million people very sympathetic to all those more than1 million people in your position in this country, the clinically extremely vulnerable. i know how tough it has been, i am

sure that most of us can think of friends or relatives who are in the same position, jay. we want to release you from your captivity, your lockdown, as fast —— as fast as we possibly can. and that is why we continue to be extremely vigilant in our approach and what we are announcing today is very, very cautious. we are taking some tentative steps forward, both with education and with the economy, and a little bit with family and friends. but we need to get that r down, we need to get that infection rate down so that, jay, everybody who is being shielded now can be released. but i assure you, we are working as hard and as fast as we can. i wonder whether chris has anything more to add we can say to people in a positionjay? anything more to add we can say to people in a position jay? jay's question is important to many people and it is right, as the rates of

infection come down, and it is not the r, it is the number of infections in the community, the risk to people who are at higher risk, so the shielded and also people in other vulnerable groups, is decreasing. and we will get to a stage, we hope relatively soon, where the absolute risk of people has got down to a low enough level that it will be possible in stages for people to leave shielding. but i fully appreciate the very considerable constraints it has put on people and the very big burden of loneliness and other problems which have gone with it, which is the reason why now that the peak has passed, we need to plot a path, i think hopefully in the very near future, for people so that they can like you and others, jay, come out from the shielding. but still remain very cautious. because as sir patrick pointed out in the prime minister in their remarks, the

numberof minister in their remarks, the number of infections remains high and the risk has not gone away, it has decreased substantially and we hope it will continue to decrease, but there is still a risk and people are going to have to do this in stages. thanks very chris, anything much, to add on that, patrick? thank you. let's go to carol in sunderland. carol, what i can certainly tell you is that we will do everything we can to support those who are obviously, the furlough schemes remain in place, or the loans that we are giving to business, the bounce back

loa ns, giving to business, the bounce back loans, the support for the self—employed, you will hear more about. but those who face temporarily losing their income as a result of this will be helped. i just remind you of what we have done to increase universal credit and other benefits. but clearly, what we wa nt to other benefits. but clearly, what we want to avoid is to many local outbreaks, too many people having to go into quarantine, and that is why it is so vital that we will observe these measures and drive those numbers down. is there any... where we have to crackdown and where we have to implement local measures to

stop an outbreak, we will make sure we look after local people. remember the basic mantra i have tried to use, nobody should be penalised in this epidemic for doing the right thing. if you are doing the right thing. if you are doing the right thing and you are being forced to stay at home, you should not be penalised. can we go to laura kuenssberg of the bbc? more. thank you, prime minister. durham police have said this afternoon they would have said this afternoon they would have sent dominic cummings home if they had found him in barnard castle. if one of your most senior team was not paying proper attention to the rules, why should anyone else? and to the doctors, is that the kind of example you want people to follow? laura, festival, can i say i have said quite a lot on this matter already and while i also noticed the durham police said they we re noticed the durham police said they were going to take no action and that the matter was closed. and i

intend to draw a line under the matter, as i said i think yesterday to the parliamentary liaison committee. they are not taking any action and i intend to draw a line under it. and i know you have asked chris and patrick, but i am going to interpose myself if i may and protect them from what i think would be an unfairand protect them from what i think would be an unfair and unnecessary attem pts be an unfair and unnecessary atte m pts to be an unfair and unnecessary attempts to ask a political question. it is very, very important that our medical officers and scientific advisers do not get dragged into what i think most people would recognise is fundamentally a political argument. and if that is all right, laura,, and could we go now to robert preston of itv? just to be clear, i don't know this isa just to be clear, i don't know this is a wholly political question, prime minister. a us before of scientific advisers to the sage

committee have said that the behaviour of your chief adviser, in not going into quarantine at home, risked more people not complying with the social distancing rules, and,| with the social distancing rules, and, ithink with the social distancing rules, and, i think it is perfectly reasonable to ask sir patrick and chris whitty whether they fear that compliance with these rules will be reduced as a result of this, and second economy question, yesterday, prime minister, you said you would ask sir pat tring and chris whitty to review whether the appropriate social distance is two metres rather than one metre. most businesses would rather have one metre distance, pubs and restaurant, many of them will be bust at two metres, is this something that sir patrick and chris whitty are looking at, when will we know the answer when it is safe to go to one metre?|j when will we know the answer when it is safe to go to one metre? i will repeat the point i have made. it is very important that our advisers

protected from being dragged into political controversy, and to repeat the thing i have been saying, we wa nt to the thing i have been saying, we want to get some clear and simple m essa g es a cross want to get some clear and simple messages across to the british public, what they want to hear is what we are doing to tackle coronavirus, and what the plan is, we have announced a huge amount to day, i think people need focus on those messages and if i may, respectfully say i think the rest of it is you know, you yourself are argue it is a distraction, in so far as that is true, let's crack on with our programme and getting our m essa g es our programme and getting our messages across, and on your point about the social distancing distance, and the whether it should be two metres or less, i will really hand straight over to patrick, and chris. lam happy chris. i am happy to answer that, the evidence that we have got, and that

will be published, some of it is out and some is coming out shortly, is looking at the distance that droplets and exhaled droplets and aerosol might travel, and two metres isa aerosol might travel, and two metres is a distance beyond which things are very safe, you can is a distance beyond which things are very safe, you can see is a distance beyond which things are very safe, you can see it dropping off quickly, but it is not an absolute two metres is, beyond two metres is safe and slightly less is not safe, there is a graduation across that, and so, roughly, at a metre it is somewhere between 10 and 30 times more risky than two metre, what we have done in the paper is lay out clearly what the sorts of things are you could do to mitigate against those risks so we have not said it is two metres or nothing, we have said this is the scientific evidence that explains why two metres a distance beyond which thinks are safe —— things are safer and we have laid out what the sort

of things that reduce those risks, so of things that reduce those risks, so for example being back—to—back or side to side and in some cases wearing face coverings and looking at ventilation, there are many other measures you can look at, so this is not a policy, because we don't make policy, which give scienced a vines and laid out what that is from that policy decisions can be made, and we have laid out a series of considerations, that might allow people to think about what those policies should and could be. sorry, chris. could i have an additional point on that, if we want to really reinforce the point that if people are meeting in these new slightly relaxed, slightly relaxed social distancing guidelines in terms of meeting outdoor, it is essential that people maintain two metres and that people maintain two metres and thatis that people maintain two metres and that is really important. this risk has not gone away, and if people are outdoors and stay at two metre, very very small, not absolutely zero underany

very small, not absolutely zero under any circumstances, but that keeping that distance, people in different households is essential. the second point is about the test and trace the nhs test and trace system. if you maintain two metres distance and the contacts you have had, turn out subsequently to have coronavirus, you will not be counted asa coronavirus, you will not be counted as a contact and you will not have to self—isolate. if you don't, then actually, if they get coronavirus, you might get it, and because you might have got it, it is likely that you will have to self—isolate, so the two metres distancing helps individuals protect their own risk, and also means they will knot not be contacts for people who rack eventually have had a coronavirus episode. can we go to sam coates of sky news. first a question to patrick vallance and chris whitty. are you entirely comfortable with the prime minister telling you you can't answer question about dominic

cummings and if you can't give a verbal answer, a nod or shake of the head will suffice, is there anything else the prime minister has told you not to answer on? and prime minister, today the launch of track and trace could mean at any point you might get a call from someone on behalf of the government, telling you to quarantine for 14 days, can you to quarantine for 14 days, can you tell the nation, is that no ifs, no buts instruction that you must follow, what ever your childcare arrangements however important you think yourjob is? it is very important. do you want to answer the first question, by semaphore or otherwise? the desire not to get pulled into politics is far stronger on the part of sir patrick and me thanit on the part of sir patrick and me than it is in the prime minister. that is for sure! thanks. than it is in the prime minister. that is for sure! thankslj than it is in the prime minister. that is for sure! thanks. i have nothing to add. i am politically neutral i don't want to get involved in politics at all. i had no choice,

but let me just say on the track and trace thing, sam. what we are saying to the country is, if you get contacted, and you are told that you have been within two metres of someone have been within two metres of someone for 15 minutes, and you are a co nta ct someone for 15 minutes, and you are a contact of a coronavirus patient, someone a contact of a coronavirus patient, someone who has tested positive, yes, you must self—isolate, and i know that that is going to be hard and it is going to be difficult for people, but do not forget, that this is the way to beat it. we really will crack it with this test and trace system, and as it develops, as it the progresses i think it will be indispensable to our success against the virus, and people should be think of it, a the price that a small minority, hopefully a small minority are going to have to pay, for the eventual liberation of the whole of the country, 66 million

people, and enabling us to begin our lives again and to see each other again, in the way that we all want to do, so that is the nature of the instruction. could i add a question, a point on to what the prime minister hasjust said, i think it is important for people to understand why we are asking people to do this as well as what we are asking them to do. both are very important, and the why is, that this virus unfortunately is infectious for two, possibly three days before people get symptoms and maximum infection before they get them. picking up the people who might have infections, are much higher than average rate of infection, because they have been close to someone who has actually got the infection, we know they have it, those are the group, the biggest risk of unwittingly having an infection, without symptoms, and then spreading it for two or three days and finding

their first symptoms are in a place where they are surrounded by colleagues and friend. it is essential we do this to limit the chains of transmission, that key tool that will allow us gradually to reduce some of the other own rows things for the whole country, but these people have to do this for all of us. it is, for all of our benefit, they are doing it to protect their neighbour, friends and colleagues. isn't it right to say, chris, that you can have the virus, and, and not have symptom, but also continue to test negative for the virus? it, so it is the case you can have the virus in the incubation period, between catching its, and first displaying symptoms the and first having the virus, there is a period of time, if you do a test in that period it will be negative, correct negative and you will go on to

become infectious and go on to infect other people, so that is a very key point about the testing. thank you sam. can we go tojonathan riley from the sun, please. good afternoon, prime minister. now that households can travel across the country to meet members of their family, how long can they stay there and can we astay over at our parents' house and can we astay over at our pare nts' house if and can we astay over at our parents' house if we camped in the garden? are we able to say nip inside to use the loo? and when will we be able to hug our close family ain? we be able to hug our close family again? and secondlitor, the scientist, professor whitty and sir pallet trick, would you advice motorists to go on a 60 mile round to test their eyesight? jonathan, first of all, we are not there, it is very important that people understand the really limited nature of what we are saying, we do want people to be able to see their friends and family, we want people to be able to see two grandparents

at once buzz it has to be social distanced, there has to be a maximum of six people, and no, we are not, we don't want people to stay overnight, we don't want people to go to other households and stay there, we are not, i am afraid we are not at that stage, what you certainly can imagine, is that there could be meetings of families in a garden, you would even have a barbecue, provided you did it in a socially distanced way, provided eve ryo ne socially distanced way, provided everyone washes their hands, provided everybody exercises common—sense, but, iam grateful to you jonathan for asking the question, because this, this is a limited step forward. we hope that people will take advantage of it, and enjoy the opportunity to see friends and family, a bit more, but this is not a, we are not saying that people should now be allowed to move freely across the country and

stay in other people's houses, that is not where we are yet. chris? to reinforce the point, it is worth reinforcing, two ways you get infections are droplets from someone coughing or speaking round you, and thatis coughing or speaking round you, and that is high you need to keep the two metres and the second is, through your hands, and than is why just to take the two example, the example you raised and the example the prime minister raised, if someone was the prime minister raised, if someone was to the prime minister raised, if someone was to go the prime minister raised, if someone was to go into the loo because they had do that, the toilet, they had to do that, absolutely credit althey wipe everything down, wash their hands all the way through and if you were to do something like a barbecue, remember that passing things from one person to another, if you haven't washed your hand you can trans mitt the virus that way, so hands as well as the distance are absolutely critical to this. patrick, anything to add on bar cue ocean anything else if you are going to do things like that it has to be

scrupulous and careful, otherwise, really we risk transmitting that disease again, and we don't want that. adam fraun the new scientist. the uk likely has more than 9,000 cases a day, according to the symptom tracker app being run by king's college london, higherthan the official 2300 a day. it sounds like a lot but given they are part—time, i wonder do they have the capacity to trace contacts of those people? and the question for the csa and cmo. considering contacts would be asked to look out for symptoms why is the uk only listing three the symptoms tracker has 17 and in the us they have 11, it strikes me we might be missing a lot of potential spread by not listing more?” thought we were listing more. sorry,

patrick, there are 25,000 trackers, as far as patrick, there are 25,000 trackers, as farasi patrick, there are 25,000 trackers, as far as i know, not 2500, patrick? i will comment on the numbers in my presentation, if you look at the ons survey, the number of new cases is closer to 8,000 or so, or as the kings app said 9,000 a day, it has always been the case, i have been very clear when i presented the slides of the numbers testing positive. that is not the whole number. there are people you are not picking up, that is what that discrepancy tells you, so the challenge is to make sure that gap closes and you end up picking up more and more of the cases that are out there, and quickly, isolate the contacts out there, and quickly, isolate the co nta cts of out there, and quickly, isolate the contacts of those cases, so that we have an effective system, and making sure that that system is effective, and that it does identify the cases quickly, and the contacts go into isolation quickly, and that means ideally within 48—hours that is the way we get an effective system. you

are right, the system is under much more pressure the higher the numbers so more pressure the higher the numbers so it is much easier to run that syste m so it is much easier to run that system when you have very low incidents in a country than when you have higher numbers, so it is going to be more difficult at the beginning, and as numbers come down, it becomes easier. shall i add on the other one, the list of symptom, so i think the thing to understand with this, is that the point of having the symptoms that people can remember, the key thing is the fever, the new cough, and the loss or change of smell or taste, those ones that we really wa nt smell or taste, those ones that we really want to emphasise to the general public, is, there are many other symptoms, that you can get with coronavirus, it is a virus that can affect very many parts of the body, but, if for example, allthe people who have one of the other symptoms always, also have fever, there is no advantage to adding that

to the list of things we are talking about. what we did, and very able colleagues of mine clinical public health and science colleagues did, they looked at the early cases of this virus in the uk, also looked at the international literature and looked at all the symptoms that were there and asked the question, are there and asked the question, are the people who if they didn't, who had none of, initially the two symptom, fever and cough, and subsequently, none of the other symptoms? and what we found is all the other symptoms tended to have one of or more than one of those three symptoms, so therefore, the sensitivity of this is good. the reason for this is you look at a symptom cluster that predicts with a high degree of sensitivity and a low degree of specifically what they are, you accept that for a doctor asking history, there is a much longer list of symptoms to talk

about, but for the great, great majority, probably over 95% of people who have got coronavirus with symptoms will have one of those three. and it is an all and not and, you get any one of them and then you get tested. thanks very much, adam, sam mcbride from newsletter. can i ask sir patrick and professor chris whitty, we have been told in northern ireland the r number has been increasing and it is buried beneath one now, should people be necessarily alarmed by that, or could that be down to an increase in testing or some other change to the methodology and how that figure is being calculated? methodology and how that figure is being calculated ? to methodology and how that figure is being calculated? to the prime minister, we know you are not going to sack dominic cummings, we are no —— we know he is not going to take what many of your party colleagues believe will be the honourable course of resigning, but given lives are at stake if the public health advice here becomes bastardised by

the actions of mr cummings, can you even at any words of criticism of how he has acted given the gravity of the implications of how he has acted here? does anyone want to begin with the r in northern ireland? the r remains below one everywhere but you are right, it is very close to one in some places and there may be, both in terms of nations, but also in terms of places within those nations, there may be areas where the r is very close to one. that is why, as i laid out, we have got to be very cautious. this is not a time to say everything is 0k, we are releasing measures, everything is going to be rosy. it isa time everything is going to be rosy. it is a time to go very cautiously with changes as they take place, monitored very carefully, being prepared that there will be local outbreaks, because there will be, and being prepared that therefore,

recommendations would come to reimpose measures. and i think that is the world we are in. as i have just described, the numbers of cases remain high, it is not a low number. so if the r is low, those numbers stay at that high level. whereas of course, stay at that high level. whereas of course , we stay at that high level. whereas of course, we have got to get them down. so we need to keep concentrating on r below one. that means making sure the measures that are in place, they are adhered to and we'll stick to them to make sure the right thing is done and the numbers come down. and we end up in a position where we can get the numbers down and the r down a bit. but we are at a fragile state. yes, i want to echo that point entirely and just say that the crucial message that i want to give to you is that the british people have made heroic sacrifices, everybody has

taken heroic sacrifices, everybody has ta ke n ste ps heroic sacrifices, everybody has ta ken steps to heroic sacrifices, everybody has taken steps to make sure that we get this r down and drive down the number of infections. and no, i don't think people will respond differently, i think people will listen very carefully to what the m essa g es listen very carefully to what the messages are. i think you have heard very clearly tonight from sir patrick and chris about the way forward that we are taking. everybody can see that we are taking some small, tentative steps forward in education, in business and a little bit to allow people to meet theirfamilies little bit to allow people to meet their families and their friends again. but all of that is conditional progress and it is conditional progress and it is conditional on r —— our continued determination to work to stay alert, to control the virus and to save lives. thank you very much, thank you. and the prime minister boris johnson bringing the briefing to a close today, with the chief

scientific adviser sir patrick valla nce scientific adviser sir patrick vallance and the chief medical officer chris whitty. a conference in two halves, prime minister making it clear there would be, in certain areas, an easing of the lockdown. but the scientific advisers and the chief medical officer making clear the situation was still fragile. let's recap on some of the major announcements made today at the briefing. and the prime minister said that a further 377 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in the uk, that is in all settings in the past 24—hour period. the overall uk death toll from the virus has risen to 37,837. borisjohnson went on to say he was confident the government because met five tests for easing the lockdown restrictions were being met, these included a sustained fall in daily hospital admissions, a sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate and the rate of infection

decreasing to manageable levels. the prime minister said that england was now at the stage to start easing lockdown restrictions in a limited way. some retail outlets like car showrooms and outdoor markets will be able to open onjune1st. under the nonessential retail outlets such as clothes shops are to open from june the 15th. the prime minister said people in england can travel to see loved ones in private gardens and parks, up to six people will be allowed to gather as long as they are social distancing. jonathan blake, our political correspondent, is at westminster. what a few people expected, but good news for many, at least you can gather in your garden with a few friends. a significant change, yes, that guidance for england only changing now too, as you say, allow up to six people from different households to meet outside, whether that is in a park ora outside, whether that is in a park or a private garden as well. as long as social distancing is maintained. up

as social distancing is maintained. up until now of course, it has only been that two people can meet individually face—to—face, maintaining social distancing. so thatis maintaining social distancing. so that is a shift and the prime minister outlined the government has decided its five key tests have been met, including a consistent full in the number of deaths and the rate of infection as well. and that this will not endanger the risk of a second peak in coronavirus cases. there are a few things he clarified around that guidance, that you will be allowed to walk through somebody‘s house to get to the garden if that is where you are meeting, you will be able to pop inside to use the toilet, but crucially, he and the scientists stressed that social distancing still needs to be observed, so it to metre distance between people from different households and of course taking usual precautions like washing your hands as well. just to remind you, that is england only. in scotland, the guidance is a little bit different. the first minister

set out earlier today that groups of up set out earlier today that groups of up to eight from two different households can meet outside and there is no change yet in wales and northern ireland. the scientific adviser and the chief medical officer urging caution, however. the risk has not gone away, said chris whitty. sir patrick vallance said the time has to be taken cautiously. because that very important r rate is still quite close to one and that is still quite close to one and that is when perhaps we need to very much start worrying again. yes, there was a different tone, i thought, between what the prime minister said and what the prime minister said and what the prime minister said and what the chief scientific adviser and the chief medical officer were saying. the prime minister stressing the five tests had been met and thanks to everybody‘s hard work and dedication and sacrifice, sticking to the rules, he could now take this step, or those saying it was a cautious and measured step and it would be kept under review —— although saying. but the chief

scientific adviser sir patrick valla nce scientific adviser sir patrick vallance said the r rate was between 0.7 and 0.9, it remains close to one and the number of infections, the number of cases, 8,000 new cases per day, he said, was not a low number. soi day, he said, was not a low number. so i did detect not necessarily a nervousness, but a willingness from the chief scientific adviser and the chief medical officer to stress that this is not necessarily a permanent change and it is one that the government has decided to take cautiously. but the risk is still very much there of the virus spreading and people should be still vigilant. and good news for those who need a dentist. yes. the announcement will clear up something that people have been worried about recently, and that is access to dental treatment, which has been sidelined, alongside other non—urgent medical care as well. and

it was also interesting to see the prime minister's response to the questions on the actions of his chief adviser dominic cummings, taking an extraordinary move of stepping in and stuffing the chief scientific adviser and the chief medical officer from answering questions on that —— stopping. he argued he was protecting them from getting embroiled in a political controversy, but i suspect others might argue that in doing that, the prime minister was perhaps restricting their independence. all right, jonathan, thank you, from westminster. george will be hit with the news at six, but now it is time for a look at the weather news and it has been pretty good around the country so far and it probably will continue. darren bett. hello there. another warm, sunny day today and, for most of us, completely dry again. now, this was a weather—watcher picture taken earlier on in the south—east of england. and it's across the south—east, just one part of the country that's expected to have the driest

may on record. in general, about four millimetres of rain has fallen in south—east england. that's only 7% of average. by contrast, if we look towards highland scotland, the weather has certainly been improving today, but this is one part of the country that's had above—average rainfall — about 150% of expected rainfall. most of that actually fell about a week ago. but we have had some rain earlier on in northern scotland. that has pushed away out into the north sea, and sunny skies pretty much across the board, and that's the way it's going to stay over the next few days. things will even out a bit in the highlands and the south—east of england, with lots of sunshine and temperatures around 23 degrees or so. now, the reason it's been so dry all month, persistent areas of high pressure, and we've got one of those dominating the weather at the moment. around the top of that area of high pressure, there's still more cloud this evening and overnight. up towards the northern isles, some of that cloud pushing down across the north sea, heading into some eastern parts of england later on as well. otherwise, clear skies. probably the lowest temperatures around east anglia, around seven degrees or so, but many of those temperatures remain in double figures.

so, into friday, and it's more of the same, really. we'll probably get a bit more sunshine pushing its way into the northern isles. any cloud across eastern england will soon fade away, and there'll be blue skies across the board again. probably quite a breeze noticeable — it's an easterly, or perhaps south—easterly, breeze. you get that on—shore, and some coastal areas will be a little bit cooler. but there's still plenty of heat around, and that heat is pushing its way northwards. so, temperatures will be rising in scotland, even into the mid—20s or so here. moving into the weekend, that area of high pressure is still in charge. it's going to be centred over scandinavia. we keep those weather fronts at bay, and we draw in the warmth from continental europe. and more importantly, it is going to stay dry. so, this really sums it up for the weekend. it's sunny and it's warm, and there's no sign of any rain. and also, the uv levels will be high — perhaps even very high — in some areas. so, these are the city forecasts for the weekend. there'll be a bit of patchy cloud here and there, but plenty of sunshine around. those temperatures peaking at 26 or 27.

today at six — another step in easing the lockdown. new rules on how many people you can meet and where. from online chats with family and friends to outdoor gatherings, we can come together — six people in england, eight in scotland. these changes mean that friends and family can start to meet their loved ones, perhaps seeing both parents at once, or both grandparents at once. and i know that for many people, this will be a long—awaited and joyful moment. we'll have reaction from around the country. also tonight... durham police say dominic cummings may have broken the rules when he went to barnard castle —

they call it a minor breach.