this is bbc news. i'm reeta chakrabarti. the headlines... a loss of public trust and confidence — the labour leader criticises borisjohnson over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. the pm tells keir starmer the country doesn't want politicians arguing. i really do not see the purpose of these endless attacks on public trust and confidence when what we are trying to do, and i think what the public want to hearfrom politicians across all parties, is our clear messages about how to defeat this virus. the prime minister is confusing scrutiny for attacks. i have supported the government openly — and i've taken criticism for it but, boy, he makes it difficult to support this government! defying a curfew — thousands demonstrate, mainly peacefully, across the us for an eighth night

following the death of george floyd in police custody. two weeks' quarantine — that's what the government wants all travellers to face as they come into the uk from monday. back to school for the last few weeks of the summer term. schools in wales will begin a limited return from the 29thjune. good afternoon, and welcome to this special programme from bbc news. we'll bring you all the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic, and the downing street briefing, which will be led today by the prime minister. but first, the home secretary has

confirmed that new quarantine rules for people arriving in the uk from overseas will come into force on monday — that includes uk nationals. priti patel said most people entering the uk will be told to isolate for two weeks, with only "a limited number of exemptions." they will be required to fill in a "contact locator form", with details on where they will isolate and how they can be contacted. she warned that anyone leaving isolation in england could face a fine of up to £1,000 or prosecution. she said devolved administrations would set their own rules for enforcing the quarantine. in the last hour, it's been announced that there have been 359 further deaths from coronavirus in the uk and there've been more than 171,000 tests in a 24—hour period. meanwhile, the prime minister has said he takes full responsibility for the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis after labour leader sir keir starmer told him to get a grip of the country's response to the pandemic.

in a testy prime minister's questions, sir keir said the government was losing the public‘s trust and confidence at a vital period in the fight against the virus. 0ur political correspondent helen catt reports. parliament looks and feels different these days. have you got a grip, prime minister? the prime minister heading notjust into a building that's changed, as the country starts to unlock, but to face a leader of the opposition who has changed, too. to a harder tone. the telegraph reports the prime minister has decided to take direct control of the government's response to the virus. so, an obvious question to the prime minister, who has been in direct control up to now? i take full responsibility for everything the government has been doing in tackling coronavirus, and i'm proud of our record. what the country would like to hear from him is more signs of co—operation in that endeavour. he asked for a sign of co—operation, a fair challenge. i wrote to him, as he knows,

in confidence, two weeks ago, to ask if i could help build a consensus for getting children back to school. i did it privately, because i didn't want to make a lot of it. he hasn't replied. i took the trouble to ring him up, and we had a long conversation, and i briefed the right honourable gentleman about the steps we were taking. he didn't offer any dissent, and endorsed our approach. i think he should continue to endorse it. the prime minister's confusing scrutiny for attacks. i have supported the government openly, and taken criticism for it, but, boy, he makes it difficult to support this government. the political ceasefire, it seems, is over. not least on the government's test and trace programme. two weeks ago the prime minister promised that we will have a test, track and trace operation that will be world—beating, and, yes, it will be in place by 1stjune. but it isn't.

a critical element, the ability of local authorities to respond to local spikes, is missing. i must say, i really do not see the purpose of his endless attacks on public trust and confidence, when what we are trying to do, and what the public want to hear from politicians, across all parties, is our clear messages about how to defeat this virus. test and trace is a vital tool, and contrary to what he says, actually, we did by the end of may get up to 100,000 tests a day. labour has not said what it would do differently but sent a clear signal it will hold mrjohnson personally responsible. that can only increase the pressure as he moves into the next phase of getting the country back towards normal. we can speak now to our political correspondent iain watson.

the other big store in westminster is about the home secretary's announcement about a 1k day quarantine pond not much support for her ideas in the chamber?” quarantine pond not much support for her ideas in the chamber? i think what was astonishing was the level of criticism from conservative benches rather than from the opposition. certainly the opposition raised a number of issues but conservative mps were hugely critical and it will be interesting when the prime minister is asked about this policy in about half an hour by the public and the press. off the record here at westminster, people are saying that this is a policy very much made in downing street, something the prime minister wa nted street, something the prime minister wanted and to be honest, other ministers are trying to introduce a bit of social distancing from the policies themselves! does the home secretary read to front up in the house of commons and she took a bit ofa house of commons and she took a bit of a pasting, for example the bomber transport minister paul maynard to the great ability of the policy was hanging by the thinnest thread. steve brine, representing

southampton airport employees for example, said it was the right policy at the wrong time and why wasn't it introduced when people we re wasn't it introduced when people were coming in from hotspots such as italy much earlier in march? and this is a former cabinet minister and medical doctor, liam fox, who said the government was doing mental gymnastics to try to justify the policy. i'm afraid i simply cannot get my head around the public health mental gymnastics of this policy. if such a barrier was required, why was it not introduced earlier in the outbreak? and if it is a contingency measure against a so—called second wave, why apply it to countries with a lower infection rate than we already have? surely the answer lies in the government's test and trace system rather than unnecessary economic isolation. and i know my right honourable friend is not answerable for the public health elements, so she can tell us, please, from a home office perspective, in the event of air bridges being established, how will it be possible to identify transit and, more importantly, stopover passengers who may be able to come through the bridge from higher

risk areas to the uk? a range of critical questions from doctor liam fox about the policy. criticisms which were of course reflected elsewhere on the conservative benches. the policy will be reviewed in the week debating the 28th ofjune, some pressing for an earlier review and more detail on the possible air bridges that will allow people to go on holiday. at the main attack from the labour benches was unaware that the labour benches was unaware that the scientific evidence really justify the policy being introduced at this time at all, a question which might well be put to the prime minister in less than half an hour. i expect so. many thanks, iain. the prime minister announced last week that all non—essential retailers will be able to reopen in england from june 15th as part of plans to further ease restrictions. however, the move is "contingent on progress in the fight against coronavirus" and retailers will have to adhere to new guidelines to protect shoppers and workers.

but what has the impact been on the industry and how can retail move forward post—lockdown? let's get more on this from entrepreneur and former dragons' den investor theo paphitis. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. festival, that question, what has been the impact on the retail sector of lockdown —— first of all. the physical impact has been devastating, shopkeepers at the shot all our shops and all our staff had to go home and they have not been in the stores since. actually getting it all switched back on again now is an incredible task that a task we have to do. there is no question in our mind that i turnover will be substantially down when we reopen but we have to show people we are open so they can safely come back out and shop again. and what about online retailers? online has been growing through this virus and

impact our own online business has grown tremendously in time. the biggest change to our retailing nation, because we are a nation of shopkeepers, is the fact that our customers have been in lockdown for such a long time that their habits will have changed, some of them for ever. and they mightjust decide that online shopping, is it for them? that is so interesting to. you think it could have a lasting impact? what would that mean for the high street? there is no question it will have a lasting impact. we cannot ignore it or pretend it has not happened because it has. i cannot see our not happened because it has. i cannot see oui’ sales not happened because it has. i cannot see our sales going anywhere near previous years whilst we are up and running. the next few weeks will be very tough but when we are all up and running. because people have changed their habits and they have got used to online retailing and secondly, people are still concerned that until there is a vaccine, about

going out or do we have to make sure we have a safe environment for our customers but it is important to save our high streets and stores by getting costs down. there are two metal key costs in retailing, rent and rates. of those things will have to change —— two key costs put the rent i can be done because we are negotiating with landlord they are realistic and they understand that less footfall on the high street, less footfall on the high street, less money, less money for rent. the keep will be if the chancellor changes the unfair rating system for business rates for retail. without that, we will see the demise of the high street. this is a chancellor who has forked out billions and billions of pounds in order to shore up billions of pounds in order to shore up businesses as well as other large sectors of the economy. where is all this money going to come from? you cannot blame the chancellor on this because he has gone... i'm not blaming him, but this is his dilemma? he has gone all in and he

needs money, the exchequer it needs money. even more so now needs money, the exchequer it needs money. even more so now than before. he has to collect money. the business rates system has been an unfair tax because you just tax physical retail, that is shops, and you don't tax digital, the online internet business, which is absolutely unfair. there has to be a new way of taxation that is fair for all and gives the exchequer at the money it needs to keep our national health service going, the police and all the other things that we so rely on. i will ask you to look toward three years down the line. are you optimistic, confident? pessimistic? retail will be... optimistic, confident? pessimistic? retail will be. .. 0h optimistic, confident? pessimistic? retailwill be... oh no! it will be very different and very quickly but the next 12 months you are going to see a marked difference in the way people shop. i think we got your

point ultimately put a thank you so much and nice to talk to you, theo paphitis. the health and social care committee has been taking evidence on covid—19 ‘test and trace' strategy. during the session, the committee chair, jeremy hunt, asked baroness dido harding, chair of the coronavirus test and trace programme, what proportion of tests are coming back within 2a hours. let's have a listen. as we stand at the moment, over 90% of all tests come back to the individual within 48 hours. we know that one, yes. and if you look at the different channels, so if you go to one of our drive—through centres, our regional test sites, or if you are tested... we know the majority of those are within 24 hours. what no—one wants to tell us is the overall proportion of tests that come back within 24 hours. which i don't have yet. you must know that, that just can't be right. you're saying that you don't

actually know how many tests come back within 24 hours and you're in charge in charge of nhs test and trace? no, i have not had the data validated by... so you've got data, but it's not been validated? i have not had the data validated by the authority who has expressed concern over previous testing data not having been validated. ok, so will you write to us? will you write to us within a week with the validated data as to what proportion of tests come back within 24 hours? incredibly... and because the government's... you're very willing to tell us that 90% of tests are within 48 hours, but no one wants to tell us how many are within 24 hours, which is what — we've just heard from professor fraser — is so important, so will you write to us and tell us? again, i'm sorry to be boring, provided that the quality of the data is good enough. what i don't want to do with a service that is only six days old is launch with data that then people lose faith in. but we're saying within a week. provided that the quality of the data is good enough,

that is all i'm saying. i fully expect to be able to do that, but ijust don't want to give you false assurance. 0ur health correspondent nick triggle is here. a difficult exchange between dido harding and jeremy hunt and this comes off the back of the prime minister saying there will be test result in 24 hours by the end of the month but that is now the end of the month. yes, we saw her pressed very ha rd month. yes, we saw her pressed very hard on trying to apply figures. two things, how quickly the tests are being done, and the prime minister made the pledge about the tests being turned around in 24 hours by the end of the month. we think that applies to formal units, the drive throws and hospitals. we know 84% are turned round and 24 hours. 95% in 48 hours but it may be the postal tests sent out to peoples homes are exempt from that. there are about

40-50,000 exempt from that. there are about 40-50 , 000 tests exempt from that. there are about 40—50 , 000 tests of exempt from that. there are about 40—50,000 tests of those announced. that is significant. then we have the test and trace system which baroness dido harding is in charge of. she talked about the need to build trust and i think that's why she was reluctant to get the numbers of how many people have been contacted and asked to isolate. she says that it is only six days old, this service, and needs to be given time to bed in. there's a wider concern here about the amount of people, the amount of people coming forward for testing. surveys suggest there are 8000 new infections a day but the actual testing system is picking up less than 2000 and clearly if people aren't coming through the testing, their contacts can be traced and it will be very ha rd to can be traced and it will be very hard to contain local outbreaks. 0k, lots issues there. nick triggle there. the welsh education minister, kirsty williams, announced today that all schools in wales will reopen on the 29thjune. she said that schools will be open

to pupils from all year groups but for limited periods during the week, with restrictions on pupil numbers. in each school, there will be a phased approach. year groups will be split into cohorts with staggered starts, lessons and breaks, meaning at the most, the very most, a third of pupils will be present at any one time. we will see much smaller classes, providing secure, dedicated time with teachers and classmates, and this time will also include online and personalised classroom experiences, which will prepare children and their teachers for a similar experience in september. next week, we will publish operational guidance to support schools and further and higher education, and this will include information on managing their facilities, including buildings, resources, cleaning and transport. that was the welsh education

minister. but teaching unions in wales have condemned the plans. david evans from the national education union cymru says there's not enough scientific evidence to prove it's safe. we think it's too much and it's too soon. we've been in discussions with the welsh government ever since lockdown started and schools actually closed and we've been dealing with them in a very positive manner. we have had some discussions with regard to the reopening of schools, but we certainly didn't envisage the minister announcing today that there will be a reopening of classes for all pupils with effect from june 29th. the logistical problems and the concerns with regard to health and safety are massive in this regard. 0bviously, what we want to see is the scientific and medical advice that relates to this. i have, in fact, seen a report that was published today by the technical advisory cell, which is the welsh arm of sage, and that certainly doesn't suggest that we're ready to reopen schools

to all pupils at this time. all coronavirus tests are to be turned around within 24 hours by the end ofjune, the prime minister has said. boris johnson hit back at sir keir starmer‘s criticism of his handling of the outbreak, saying the government had met its targets for testing and driven down the death rate. he accused the labour leader of undermining public confidence with his attacks. we can speak to professor sian griffiths, who chaired the inquiry into the hong kong government's response to the sars outbreak. professor, hello, good afternoon to you. i think you have been watching the health select committee this afternoon and the evidence being given by dido harding, who is overseeing the test and trace programme. what did you make of it? it was a very interesting session. dido harding was at pains to stress that this is a new system, it is six

days old. it's building on a lot of activity that has been going on and there is a big amount of coordination that is needed. you played earlier her very robust defence of not giving inaccurate figures to the committee and her commitment to making sure that testing would be done as quickly as possible. but she also made a very interesting point that capacity is there but people are not coming forward. unless people come forward forward. unless people come forward for the tests, then we won't be able to interrupt the train of transmission of the disease. she wa nted transmission of the disease. she wanted to really emphasise that the test that any adult who has the symptoms can have the test and should come forward for the test. she was also a great pains to emphasise the need for local community engagement and response and not just through community engagement and response and notjust through the app or through the electronic tracing system, but through the people, through the contact tracers. through

the local directors of public health and the plans and with the engagement of public health england, who are the experts in this area. so she really has got an idea of the system that needs to be in place to really get on top of this test and trace programme, which does need to be done quickly. we do need the results back within 24 hours if it is going to make a difference. 0k, results back within 24 hours if it is going to make a difference. ok, i wa nt to is going to make a difference. ok, i want to ask you a couple of things. what do you make of the fact, then, that apparently a great number of people are not coming forward in order to ask for a test? do you think they are worried they will then have to self—isolate and don't wa nt then have to self—isolate and don't want to? there could be an element of worry but also just a level of people not realising they were now included in those who could come forward for a test. for a long time, testing was only for those who were in care homes or in hospital situations, health care workers or those at risk. and that has changed.

sometimes it takes awhile to get that message through, that the capacity is there. you can phone up if you have symptoms, book a test and go to have that test. so the capacity is there. is about public that knowledge, information, communication, as well as the fear. there was a discussion, she did talk to one of the members of the committee about the need to ensure the fact that people know that they should not be asked, someone said they were asked to take a holiday rather than sick leave or get support from the government. you can have support from the government and she took that question away again. she's going to come back with things in writing to the select committee to deal with many of the issues that we re to deal with many of the issues that were professor griffiths, i want to ask you briefly, a commitment from the prime minister at today that results will be returned within 20 borrowers, only those done publicly but that won't happen until the end

ofjune. what do you think of that? it take some time to set up a system. as more tests are done, you need to have the labs, the reagents getting better. we have, as she said, much more capacity, we have the tests, but the system needs fine tuning. dido harding was very clear it isa tuning. dido harding was very clear it is a very complicated system and that there is a lot more fine tuning that there is a lot more fine tuning thatis that there is a lot more fine tuning that is needed but hopefully it will get there by the end of the month. i think she gave a very robust defence of what she was trying to do and was very cognizant of all the issues that people have been raising. you know, such as lack of connect between the central and the local, which is now being addressed, more emphasis on local. more emphasis on community. more emphasis on appropriateness of response. there was also a question around the black and ethnic minority community and how where there needs are being taken into consideration. all these are aspects that need to be

fine—tuned to get the system up and running but i think public health england have been working really ha rd england have been working really hard at recruitment, at get in contact tracers into place and local directors of public health working with their teams in the local government area to make sure the systems a re government area to make sure the systems are in place. thank you very much, professor sian griffiths, thank you. thousands of people have been gathering to protest the death of george floyd, following weeks of demonstrations in many american cities. and this is the scene as you see it now in parliament square. the gathering started in hyde park in central london and has progressed to just outside the palace of westminster. it looked like quite a gathering. it's always difficult to

tell from the aerial pictures, isn't it? at certain points, it didn't look like people were able to socially distance. apparently, people were told when they were standing ina people were told when they were standing in a group to hold out their arms at either side so that they would know what distance they had to keep from other people. anyway, as we can see it now, clearly the crowds have thinned out a little bit. but they were quite substantial earlier. let's get more reaction now to the home secretary, priti patel, confirming that new quarantine rules for people arriving in the uk from overseas will come into force on monday. most people entering the uk will be told to isolate for two weeks and will be required to fill in a "contact locator form", with details on where they will isolate and how they can be contacted. i'm joined now via webcam by tony smith, a former director of border force uk. good afternoon, tony. this new system, what level of greater work

is this going to mean for people who are looking after the boarders?” was pleased to see commendations coming in from all sides of the house on the work of the border. they are front line and have been working 24—7, 365 days a year, including all of this. i know they have been very fragile in making preparations for this. the key that may be people don't understand is we have a largely electronic border now. we are able to work with the airlines. a lot of the bureaucracy that we used to the arrivals halls when i worked on the front line is now transferred to the airline reservation systems. i'm pleased to see they have been talking to the international civil aviation organisation to make sure these forms a part of the booking process and will be completed prior to travel and then board a false will be able to use existing systems to

identify those who may be not compliant and those who are not able to comply with the regulations won't be arriving in the country in the first place. i think a lot of the effort will be expended in that direction. tony, do you think that border force members will be given protective equipment? and is it an issue? as i understand it, it is available now. border. lots of different things. we open boxes, we board the vessel is. i think there isa board the vessel is. i think there is a risk assessment done regularly by the home office. in terms of the front line border. i think they will keep it under review. it's possible you may see border force officers making masks, that's what you see in other countries. that is a method the home office would need to take forward with the officers themselves, to ensure they are safe and well. that is a possibility, yes. 0k, we have to leave it there. thank you so much. tony smith, a former director of border force uk.

as we've been hearing, the health and social care committee has been taking evidence on the covid—19 test and trace strategy in england. we can speak to the former health secretary and now chair of the health select committee, jeremy hunt. what did you think of the evidence you heard from dido harding and particularly about the test and trace system ? particularly about the test and trace system? i think we discovered one very important piece of information, which was actually from the person on before dido harding, the person on before dido harding, the professor from oxford university. he said there is a 48—hour window from when someone has symptoms to wend their contacts will start spreading the disease. what that means is you have to do the test within 24 hours and then ended next 24—hour is, you can then contact next 24—hour is, you can then co nta ct a ll next 24—hour is, you can then contact all their close contacts and tell them to self—isolate. that is the way you stop the disease in its tracks that is what happens in taiwan and korea. what was

frustrating as the government and dido harding are not prepared to tell us how many tests are done within 24 hours. they say it won't help public confidence in the new system if they give us that data. but it is so important, so they have promised they will get back to us with that data. but i think the effectiveness of the system, the prime minister said today that he would undertake to hit that

this is assessed she set up from scratch in four weeks —— this is a system would that the most important think this is the right strategy, this is what taiwan and korea and singapore have done and they have been the most successful at tackling the virus. we are doing the right thing, there are clearly some teething problems put the speed of testing turnaround is now the critical think we need to address and that's a work in progress. you said earlier that you wondered whether the government was being a little cagey about this because of fears about public confidence. do

well with the present situation is under my own... i'm sorry, i can't get you to answer because here is the prime minister. good evening and welcome to the latest downing street press co nfe re nce . welcome to the latest downing street press conference. let me first run you through the latest data on our coronavirus response. 4,786,219 tests for coronavirus have been carried out or posted out in the uk including 171,829 tests yesterday. 18717 case since yesterday. 7485 people are in hospital with covid—19, down 16% from 8,921 this time last week. and sadly of those who tested

positive for coronavirus across all settings, 39 ,728 have now died. that is an increase of 359 fatalities since yesterday, and once again, we are with their families in mourning. now that the rate of transmission in the uk has fallen significantly from its peak, we need to take steps to manage the flare ups and stop the virus from re—emerging. i want to update you on the progress we are making on three months, to prevent a second wave of infections that could overwhelm the nhs. first, we have set up nhs test and trace, in order to identify, contain and control the virus in the uk, there by reducing its spread. as we move to the next stage of our fight, against coronavirus, we will be able to

replace national lockdowns with individual isolation and if necessary , individual isolation and if necessary, local action where there are outbreaks. nhs test and trace will be vital to controlling the spread of the virus. it is how we will be able to protect our friends and family, from infection, and protect our nhs. and it does this, by identifying anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, asking them to isolate for 14 days in order to avoid unknowingly infecting other, and the system clearly relies on eve ryo ne and the system clearly relies on everyone playing their part. so, i wa nt to everyone playing their part. so, i want to stress again today, we need you to get a test, if you have coronavirus symptoms, a high temperature, a new continuous cough ora temperature, a new continuous cough or a loss of taste or smell. there is plenty of capacity, and everyone with symptoms is eligible. everyone

with symptoms is eligible. everyone with symptoms, so please order a test from the website when you develop symptoms. we need you to isolate yourself, if a contact tracer tells you that you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive. nhs test and trace started operating a week ago and thousands of people are isolating, who wouldn't have been doing so before this service was introduced. they are there will be protecting others and reducing the spread of the virus. so while we are going to all these effo rts so while we are going to all these efforts here in the uk, to control the virus, we must also ensure we don't reimport the virus from abroad. so, the second action i want to update you on is the public health measures at the border. today the home secretary has brought forward the legislation needed to

establish the new regime from monday. i want to explain the reasons for introducing these measures now. when coronavirus started to spread round the world, first from wuhan and then from northern italy and other areas we introduced enhanced monitoring at the border in an attempt to stop the virus from getting a foot hold in the uk. these measures applied at various different times to arrivals from china, japan, various different times to arrivals from china,japan, iran, various different times to arrivals from china, japan, iran, and italy, and required people with symptoms travelling from those countries to self—isolate for 14 days. however, once community transmission was widespread within the uk, cases from abroad made up a tiny proportion of the total. at the same time international travel plummeted as countries round the world went into lockdown, so as a result, measures at the border were halted, because they made little difference at time

in ourfight against they made little difference at time in our fight against the virus. no we are getting the virus under control in the uk, there is a risk that cases from abroad begin once again to make up a greater proportion of overall cases. with therefore need to take steps now, to manage that risk of these imported cases triggering a second peak. so, just as we are asking people already in the uk to isolate for 14 days, when contacted by nhs test and trace, we are also asking those arriving from abroad, to isolate so that they don't unknowingly spread the virus. there will be some exceptions, for a limited number of people, who need to cross the border, such as those engaged directly in the fight against coronavirus, or who provide essential service, and we will review how the policy is working after three week, and of course we

will explore the possibility of international travel corridors with countries that have low riese rates of infection, but only when the evidence shows that it is safe to do so. evidence shows that it is safe to do so. the third point i want to make today, is we need effective international action, to reduce the impact of the virus across the globe. this is the moment, really for humanity to unite, in the fight against the disease. health experts have warned that if coronavirus is left to spread, in developing country, that could lead to future ways of infection coming back and reaching the uk. while our amazing nhs's been there for everyone in this country who needs it, many developing countries have health ca re systems developing countries have health care systems which are il—prepared to manage this pandemic. so, to ensure that the world's poorest

countries have the support they need toe slow the spread of the virus, tomorrow, i will open the global vaccine summit. hosted by the uk. and we will bring together more than 50 countries and leading figure like bill gates to raise at east $7.4 billion, over the next five years with the uk's support as biggest ghoern this vaccine alliance aims to immunisea ghoern this vaccine alliance aims to immunise a further 300 million children in the poorest countries against deadly diseases like polio, typhoid and measle, again saving millions of lives. this support for routine immunisations will shore up poorer countries's health care systems to deal with coronavirus and so systems to deal with coronavirus and so help to stop the global spread and as! so help to stop the global spread and as i say prevent a second wave of the virus reaching the uk. this virus has shown how connected we are, we are fighting an invisible

enemy, and no—one is safe, frankly, until we are all safe. and again, of course, this is all contingent upon each of us continuing to do our bit, and as! each of us continuing to do our bit, and as i never tire of telling you, let us not forget the basic, wash your hands, regularly. and for 20 seconds. wash your hands. do not gather in groups of more than six outside. always observer social distancing, keeping two metres apart from anyone outside your household, andi from anyone outside your household, and i want to stress one final point, which may be relevant today, is as the weather threatens to take a turn for the worse, some of you may be tempted to move the gatherings you have been enjoying outdoors, indoors, out of the rain. i really urge you, don't do that. we relaxed the rules on meeting outside for a very specific reason, because the evidence shows that the risks of

transmission are much lower outdoors. much lower outdoor, and the risks of passing on the virus is significantly higher indoors which is why gatherings inside other people's homes are still prohibited. breaking the rules now, could undermine and reverse all the progress that we have made together. i have no doubt that won't happen, i have no doubt that won't happen. i think the british public will continue to show the same resolve in fighting the virus as they have throughout this outbreak. we will get through this, if we stay alert, control the virus and in doing so, save control the virus and in doing so, save lives. with that i will now hand over to patrick. can i have the first slide, please ? hand over to patrick. can i have the first slide, please? this is the slide of new cases, and as you can see, there is a steady downward detection of new cases through

testing. so as of today, 1871 today. it is worth noting though, that as i have said before, this is picking up those who are tested, and what we estimate from the office for national statistics, household survey, is the true number will be higher than this. and it could be somewhere round 8,000 a day. so this reinforces the point we heed to make sure we are picking up more people through testing, to get closer to that number. the second thing to say, is that because the r stays relatively close to one, that means that this is not coming down fast. and so we have relatively large numbers still not coming down fast, andl numbers still not coming down fast, and i will reiterate what i said la st and i will reiterate what i said last thursday, that gives relatively little room for manoeuvre, it means we have to tread cautiously as we go forward but new cases are coming down. next slide please.

as we have seen previously, that is reflected in admissions to hospital, also decreasing, the slide for england there. and, of course, the numberof england there. and, of course, the number of people on mechanical ventilators in beds in hospital, coming down across the four nations, but, as you will see, some variability with ups and downs along the way. but everything moving in the way. but everything moving in the right direction, slowly, but with a long tail, and as i said, the numberof with a long tail, and as i said, the number of cases remains relatively high, not coming down fast and they are quite close to one. will carry on for a little while longer but the cases are coming down. as you would expect... next slide, please. the number of deaths

follows that pattern with again, and this is good to see, a decrease coming day on day, but this also has this long tail. it is not coming out as fast as we would like it to. it is likely to carry on for a bit longer. and it is worth reflecting that the people most affected by this have been the elderly, but also those from black, asian and minority ethnic groups as piloted in the public health england report and those with other risk factors in occluding other diseases —— including other diseases such as diabetes —— as highlighted in the report but we need to be vigilant, things are getting better and the numbers are coming down, but we have to stick with the rules of distancing, we all have to do it and when we all do it, we have a chance of getting this down for that which is what we need to do, especially over the summer, before we then reach another period in the winter,

entering the winter with the lowest numbers we can possibly get and that would be the best thing to do. thank you very much, patrick. we will go straight to questions from the public and then from the media. first, amy from brighton. spain recorded no new tests over the last two days despite a wide range of freedom across the country over the last three weeks. new cases continue to fall. however, there has been no evidence of a second wave. given this evidence, why is their concern over a second wave in the uk and how closely art the uk government liaising with the spanish government? really excellent question and obviously we are learning everything we can from governments around the world. i think probably i should defer to patrick and chris for comment on epidemiology in spain. is a great question and fantastic news that numbers are coming down across

europe. and they have come down to low levels in spain. it is also the case that if you look at other countries, they are beginning to see outbreaks, as measures are relaxed. that is true, we have seen them reported in south korea, outbreaks reported in south korea, outbreaks reported in south korea, outbreaks reported in parts of germany as measures have relaxed. so what has happened is that the first peak has been suppressed. and as the measures are released, there was a danger that comes back. there is also a risk that there is a second peak that comes as a wave goes across the world. we are not out of this yet. it is good news that, as measures have been relaxed, people are generally seek numbers continuing to go down and that is obviously what we would hope for here, that as the steps that have been taken cautiously and we are measuring them, we continue to see numbers going down. that's exactly it. an important

point, that there could be a second wave a cross point, that there could be a second wave across the world. as though the pandemic has its own kinetic force in itself. it's possible they could just be a second pulse of this disease? that is possible. it's quite common, with new epidemics you get more than one wave before they have completed doing their bad work. all the more reason to keep going with the measures we have. can we go to tony from manchester? tony from manchester asks, myself and my husband are going back to work... all i can say, i do understand how you feel. it must be very frustrating that you are not in the group that are able to send your children back first. everyone knows

it is early years, reception, year one and year six. we hope to get more primary school children back. as you know, year ten and 12 will get some contact with their teachers. the best we can do right now for you is to keep supporting you through the furlough scheme and coronavirus job retention scheme, through all the ways we have been trying to help families. when it comes to specific childcare options and what may be available, i think you really need to look at our coronavirus website and see what we're doing to support specifically with childcare. what we are doing is a huge amount to support families, in terms of their income, their basic inability to go back to work. asi basic inability to go back to work. as i said several times, obviously employers have to be reasonable. if someone employers have to be reasonable. if someone can't get childcare, then thatis

someone can't get childcare, then that is clearly a reason for them not to be able to go back to work. we wa nt not to be able to go back to work. we want to do everything we can to help you with childcare, if we can. anyway, we will try and get more schools back in due course but it is, i'm afraid, all conditional on making progress in fighting that virus. now to questions from journalists. tom burridge from the bbc. thank you very much, prime minister. should anyone be booking a holiday anywhere in europe right now? what is your assessment, our holidays abroad this summer going to happen? and what you say to someone who has paid the deposit on their holiday now has to decide whether to pay the full amount or cancel? two questions to the scientists, please. can you honestly look the british public in the eye and tell them that if a

quarantine like this had have been put in place weeks ago, it would not have helped saved lives? also, did sage recommend introducing these measures right now? right, tom, first of all, i'm not going to give advice on individuals' travel arrangements. you know what the foreign office guidance is. guidance is everybody the moment should avoid nonessential travel. everybody should avoid nonessential travel. we have to knock this virus on the head. in terms of the quarantine rules that we are bringing in, the reason for doing that as i said just now, we want to stop the possibility of reinfection from abroad. that is a vital consideration as we get the disease down.

the sage advice from the experts in this area is that the measures like this area is that the measures like this area is that the measures like this are most effective when the incidents, the number of cases in this country is very low and they are most effective when applied to countries with higher rates. that was the advice that was given from sage and the advice that would have been true a few weeks ago, when the levels were not very low here and the transmission within the community was the highest source of infection. so the recommendation that came from the science was that this measure of control is most effective at those times. chris, anything to add? thank you, now beth rigby from sky news. thank you, prime minister. thousands have gathered in central london, many outside number 10 downing st, gathered in central london, many outside numberio downing st, deeply upset by the brutal killing of george floyd. they don't have the chance to speak to the president of the united states but you do. what

is your message to president trump on their behalf? a question to be scientists, please. i have the coronavirus alert system right here. it says at level four transmission is high on social distancing continues. it says when we moved to level three, there is a gradual easing of restrictions. sol level three, there is a gradual easing of restrictions. so i am a bit confused. we are at level four, in terms of the alert level, but the relaxation of restrictions has already started. is that not a cause for concern? first of all, let me answer your question about george floyd. we mourned george floyd and i was appalled and sickened to see what happened to him. my message to president trump, to everybody in the united states from the uk is i don't think racism, and i'm sure it's an opinion shared by the majority of people around the world, racist

violence has no place in our society. you mentioned the demonstrations, beth. alli society. you mentioned the demonstrations, beth. all i would say is i do think people have a right to protest, to make their feelings known about injustices such as what happened to george floyd. i would urge people to protest peacefully and in accordance with the rules on social distancing. everybody‘s lives matter, black lives matter but we must fight this virus as well. shall i take the second one? there were two separate things that i think people are getting conflated together. there is the alert level, which is set independently, on the instruction of ministers independently by the joint bya ministers independently by the joint by a security centre advising the four chief medical officers. independently of that, this was the thing linked to changes, with the

five tests ministers set that had to be met before changes could be made. those included things like making sure the nhs could be protected and seeing sustained downward movement in deaths. there were five of those. the alert levels were for a different purpose. the purpose of the joint by a security centre is very much to try and help us map out, in some detail across the uk, overtime, and out, in some detail across the uk, over time, and it's onlyjust beginning, the hotspots in the areas of the uk where things are moving at a higher level than elsewhere stop to go back to sir patrick's earlier point, as we move into a lower incidence across the country, we will increasingly move from a situation where there is a lot of coronavirus everywhere in the country to a medium amount. we are trending downwards and the alert level is a clear four but with the travel down, that was the unanimous view of the four chief medical

office rs view of the four chief medical officers along with the joint by security centre. trending down. but we are going to move to a situation where we have a lower level, provided we all stick to the social distancing rules. it is absolutely critical we do. we take things very, very slowly, for the reasons sir patrick said at the beginning. we have to take it slowly. we will get toa have to take it slowly. we will get to a point where there will be a much lower level everywhere but we will start to get flare ups and outbreaks in different parts of the country. really, what the jdbc will primarily help us with is to identify early those areas of increased transmission, the hotspots, so we can go in and try and find out how we can get on top of those before they spread more widely. this is very much something we have learned from the first few months of this coronavirus. this is one of the critical things we need to do. thank you very much, chris. robert peston from itv. good afternoon, gentlemen. a

question for the prime minister first: your predecessor theresa may yesterday said she was deeply concerned by the way the quarantine is being imposed on travellers to the uk. in herwords, closing britain from the rest of the world. she wants you to take the lead in developing an international aviation health screening standard that would make it unnecessary to have those kinds of quarantines. are you going to take your predecessoradvice and lead talks on devising such a scheme to get aviation going again, travelling going again? to the chief scientific adviser and chief medical officer, just picking up on what beth said. professor whitty, what you said the point of the threat

levels was to basically advise, for example, on when we can have a local lockdowns to tackle outbreaks at the local level. one of the things we know from dido harding, for example, in charge of the test and trace process, we won't have that data for another month, which makes many people concerned that the easing off of lockdown has happened a month too early. could you just reassure or comment on that? festival, thank you. on your point about what we can do to make sure that in as far as possible we allow people to fly safely. i mentioned earlier on the idea of safe corridors, safe travel between the uk and other countries with low or similar levels of infection and we will be developing that as we go forward. one of the difficulties about testing is, as you know, the risk of the risk of

false negatives, at airports. on the other matter, patrick? chris. iwill give a long answer because i think it's a critical question people are asking. the thing to understand, this is, this infection with which we are going to have to live alongside for many months and probably longer than that, we've basically got to have a multilayered defence against it. at any given point, we can maybe raise some things and lower others but we will have to go incredibly cautiously as sir patrick said earlier on. i'm going to run through all the things we have to do because i think it's important to understand every changing context. there are a group of things we need to do to isolate those people who have the virus or might have the virus. one of the

problems with this virus is it can be transmitted by people before they get symptoms. so, the first and most important thing is people who do have symptoms must self—isolate straightaway i must get a test, as the prime minister was saying. secondly, the people they are most likely to pass it onto and could have the virus without symptoms are their own household. therefore the household must isolate with them. that has been the case right from the beginning of this epidemic. the new thing that has been brought in and is definitely, as you imply, in the early stages of its development but it is there and is working that will work better over time, is the new element of test and trace. the third group of people who are likely to get this are people who have actually got a high amount or a high chance of having the virus because they come into close contact with someone they come into close contact with someone with the virus. the test and trace, nhs test and trace model is to allow us to identify the people

with cases, identify their contacts and ask them to self—isolate because they might have this without symptoms and pass it on. then there isa group symptoms and pass it on. then there is a group of things we need... that is a group of things we need... that isa is a group of things we need... that is a first group of things. then there is a group that things we need to do to reduce transmission and individual level. these include washing hands, as the prime minister repeatedly and rightly said. critical because you can pass it to yourself and other people. if you are coughing, to make sure you actually did cough etiquette, where you use a tissue and dispose of it properly. the two metre rule, which is about trying to ensure that if you do cough or do other things that cause droplets coming out, you don't pass on. and something we brought in relatively recently, the idea that if you cannot socially distance at two metres prolonged periods, a moderately prolonged period, you

should use face clots, and that is one of the things that is a new thing. those are going to carry on for as long as this epidemic continues. then we have a group of things that are around trying to break the link between households. because that is wailed most of the social distancing comes in and those are the thing is absolutely essential. trying to reduce peoples social contacts, enclosing close friends and family because very often those are the people who you will catch this prom. all the things which bring people together, the things we all enjoy is like clubs, pubs, restaurants and so on. these are things we needed to close down. shop were closed down, asa close down. shop were closed down, as a way of ensuring that you came into co nta ct as a way of ensuring that you came into contact with as few as people from different households and, of course, the initial large but not com plete course, the initial large but not complete closure of schools. in this group of things, we have made very, very small changes, with the exception of the schools, which has

been a small additional group to the people already in schools, the children of essential workers. almost all the other things to do with people meting out doors and asked to be socially distant. that is because the risk of people being outdoors is very considerably reduced. but these are really modest and slow steps. the final two things we have to do is shielding, making sure that the people who are at greatest risk are away from the greatest risk are away from the greatest risk are away from the greatest risk of meeting others with the virus. we made a very small adjustment to that, which is again because for many people this is incredibly difficult to maintain. to say if you adjust with a member of your existing household, you can go outdoors or you can meet someone but ata outdoors or you can meet someone but at a distance, only one person outdoors only. these changes in risk are outdoors only. these changes in risk a re really outdoors only. these changes in risk are really very small. and the final one which is important because it will how we get out of this in the

long run is research, finding new drugs and vaccines. the reason i have listed all of those is we are making small adjustments to some of these things but it is a multi layered defence and all of us have parts to play in almost all of these. it is absolutely critical we all do this and so we should not ta ke all do this and so we should not take the back that a small adjustment are being made now to imply this is certainly lockdown over. what this is is a slight reversal of some of the most only with things on people, mainly outdoors, at eight socially safe distance, the two metre distance. i know that is a long answer but i think it's important to put things in context rather than to see them as one—off events. in context rather than to see them as one-off events. thank you very much. tom newton dunn from the son. thank you, try minister put a question to the cmo and csa if they could both answer this possibly. we know test and trace is up and running but could you say at what

capacity it is currently at? 20%, 50%, 100%? capacity it is currently at? 20%, 50%,100%? and when to capacity it is currently at? 20%, 50%, 100%? and when to expect it to be running at full operating capacity? and before it gets to that stage, since it had been made clear that having a fully operating system is crucial to unlocking the lockdown, are you comfortable for more measures to be released, such as the opening of shops or pubs or restaurants? and a question to the prime minister, it is my last question to you as the political editor of the sun. it's now clear that the nation will lose a whole load ofjobs, that the nation will lose a whole load of jobs, many that the nation will lose a whole load ofjobs, many millions may be lost by the autumn and by christmas, and many will be readers of the sun, maybe hundreds of thousands. are you able to guarantee to these people, none of whom have lost theirjobs through any fault of their own, either newjobs to all of them or if not, help or training to all of them to be able to get newjobs again?

yes, sorry, why don't you answer the first one? on the testing capacity, ina sense, first one? on the testing capacity, in a sense, what we have done is play leapfrog to some extent. of the capacity goes up and we run to catch up. there are very many more things we could do with testing two more capacity and the key thing is to do it systematically pulled that we started with people with severe disease, went out byte stages to key workers, testing them if they had symptoms so they could go back to work in the nhs, social care and other areas and we are now at a situation where we can test people with symptoms in the general public and it allows us to run the test and trace system, which was not possible when we had left testing capacity. but the more capacity we have come at the more different users we can use for testing for people with the virus now and that allows us to do screening, for example, in care homes and in hospitals, and other

things which allow us to find the hotspots we have in terms of infection and deal with them. you are absolutely right, we are not yet at cruising altitude for this put the number of tests will carry on going up and our ability to use the test we have got will carry on going up test we have got will carry on going up and this will carry on for quite some time before we get the point i think where we are all satisfied we have got the point we need. there is the additional point, i won't go into details of unless you want to ina into details of unless you want to in a follow—up, antibody testing which is an additional capacity we have and this can save reliably if someone have and this can save reliably if someone has had the infection several weeks ago, but we don't know if it tells us anything useful about immunity or anything of that sort. that is the other form of testing and we are increasing the ability to do both of those across the uk. just to add to that, what angela said was that an effective system was an important part of going forward and releasing measures and as chris said, it is being built up but i

wa nt said, it is being built up but i want to stress it is not the single answer. the idea that somehow having answer. the idea that somehow having a test and trace system absolves us of the other things we need to do is incorrect. we need to make sure that we carry on with the distancing and some of the other measures in place in orderto some of the other measures in place in order to control this. the lower the numberof in order to control this. the lower the number of cases in the country, the number of cases in the country, the more effective and the higher burden overload as it were be carried by test and trace and making sure people isolate. but on its own, it's not the answer. it has to be pa rt of it's not the answer. it has to be part of the whole system. and on your incredibly important point about what is going to happen as the months go by and the effect of this recession starts to bite and lets be in no doubt, of course i'm afraid tragically there will be many, many job losses, and that is just inevitable because of the effect of this virus on the economy and because of the shutdown that has

taken place. because of the shutdown that has ta ken place. all because of the shutdown that has taken place. all i can say is that in dealing with that, that fallout from coronavirus, we will be as activist and interventionist as we have been throughout the lockdown put it there is no other country in the world i think that has done as much, orfew others the world i think that has done as much, or few others that have done as much as the uk in terms of putting our arms around workers with the furlough scheme, looking up the companies that have run into difficulties, helping in any way we can. we will be just as interventionist in the next phase, investing in the uk economy, investing in the uk economy, investing in the uk economy, investing in infrastructure, taking our country forward so we bounced back as sharply and as decisively as we can put up that will be our approach and one thing i want to say that young people in particular, for whom the risk is i think the highest of losing jobs and then being out of work for a long time, it is vital we guarantee apprenticeships for young people and i think we must have a

huge... we have to look after people across the board but young people in particular i believe should be guaranteed an apprenticeship. i didn't let anybody else but, i will be accused of favouritism but everybody will wish you well on your nextjob everybody will wish you well on your next job after your everybody will wish you well on your nextjob after your historic innings as political editor of the sun. steve swi nford of as political editor of the sun. steve swinford of the times. prime minister, china's role in this pandemic has been heavily criticised and you personally raised concerns on our pages this morning about the impact of security laws in hong kong. do think we can ever return to business as normal with china and, as has been reported, are you looking to remove huawei from britain's 5g that would entirely from 2023? and come back from what tom said, there was previously advised on the impact of quarantine measures. did sage provide specific advice on implementing those

measures on june eight, advice on implementing those measures onjune eight, as is being planned, and if that would make a significant difference to the spread of coronavirus? if it didn't, do you personally have a view on that? first of all, in hong kong, i have said what i have said and you are absolutely right, steve, i do think that what is happening now is potentially going to be an infringement of the agreement of 1987 which protects civil freedoms in hong kong. that looks like it could be very badly eroded by what is being proposed. what we are saying is that we want to hold out our hand, the hand of friendship, and support and loyalty to the people of hong kong and i think that's the right thing to do. on high risk offenders in our critical national infrastructure, well, you know my views. i think we have to make sure we have solutions for the

uk that protect uk security and that is what this government is going to achieve but i want to stress one thing. i think china is an incredible country and an extra ordinary civilisation and i deeply disapprove of anti—chinese xenophobia, attacks on people of chinese appearance that we have seen in recent months. we must stamp out such xenophobia. and icy absolutely no contradiction with what i have said earlier about hong kong and at high risk offenders in critical national infrastructure and wanting a good, friendly, clear eyed working relationship with china, and that is what this country will have. again, i will reiterate the advice which

the experts from sage gave, which is that the measures at the board are most effective when the incident is very low in this country and when applied to countries which have high incidence. thejudgment applied to countries which have high incidence. the judgment at that time of course is not something for us, it is something for politicians to make, and they make the policy and the thymic decisions but that is the advice we gave in terms of the science of this —— timing decisions. thank you very much. now tojosh leighton from the coventry tie evening telegraph. coronavirus has already ta ken evening telegraph. coronavirus has already taken a bigger toll on the uk than anywhere else in europe. what specific reassurances can you give workers in coventry, especially in the common factoring sector which you have been so keen to champion, that they will not suffer the worst economic fallout as well? and to professor chris whitty and sir patrick, many parents here are telling us they are refusing to send their children back to school at the moment put it with anything we have heard about the alert level and the

prospect of local lockdowns, does this cautious approach prove them right? first of all, on your question about what doing to support coventry and the west midlands, the huge numbers of businesses have received grant payments, about 42 million in coventry alone but that we are supporting businesses in industry and enterprise in the west midlands and i think 85% of eligible businesses in coventry and the west midlands have received funding. you mention the car sector, one thing we really wa nt mention the car sector, one thing we really want to drive forward as we come out of the epidemic, as we bounced back, iwant come out of the epidemic, as we bounced back, i want to see a lot more going into green technology, green batteries, green motor vehicles, low—carbon motor vehicles of all kinds. for instance, have just put 108 million in the uk

battery industrialisation centre which is due to open later this year. and the west midlands was the home of the original automotive revolution, that is where it all began, the internal combustion engine, and already in the west midlands you can see an incredible profusion a brilliant low carbon technology, low carbon vehicles and thatis technology, low carbon vehicles and that is what we want to champion that is what we want to champion thatis that is what we want to champion that is the future. on children, sorry come on parents not wanting to send children to school, which i think anyone can understand why pa rents a re think anyone can understand why parents are thinking about this very hard, i will give an answer in the weight you would as a doctor which is to say that if you are starting a drug, recommending an operation, doing anything about sort, you say there are things that are benefits and things that are risks and you have to understand these and understand when is the right time where the risks and benefits have some form of balancing out. of course, and this is not my area of

expertise, i'm making a general point, children not having their school education is a huge disadvantage to them potentially for the rest of their lives, i think eve ryo ne the rest of their lives, i think everyone would broadly accept that. set against that are the downsides of going to school in an epidemic. i think i will list out four. the first of which is the risk to children. i think that one of the things that is one of the few reassu ra nces we things that is one of the few reassurances we can give in this disease is that overall it looks as if children are much less likely than adults to get soviet disease and probably less likely to get clinical disease meaning symptoms of any sort —— severe disease. there are tragically a very small number of deaths in children are most likely budget number with severe disease but compared to adult this is not a dangerous disease in the way that many other infections pick out children. this disease does not.

it is not a disease that is primarily of risk to children. the second thing is that parents particularly of primary school children are generally not in the age group which is at high risk of getting severe problems with coronavirus. of course there are people who have particular high risk medical conditions who are shielded at the moment and in that situation, there is a different set of concerns in very specific guidance for those pa rents. in very specific guidance for those parents. but this is not an area in primary school, a very small proportion of parents a primary school children are in the age group where there is high mortality or severe problems. clearly there is a very complicated balancing act for society in terms of the possibility of increasing the transmission and depriving children of the education. and this is a very hard balancing act but this is where we are trying

to, asa act but this is where we are trying to, as a society, walk between two risks, a risk to education and a risks, a risk to education and a risk to health. and the rates of transmission are now much lower than they were at the point when the schools were closed. and the final thing that people think about grandparents and others who are potentially at risk and obviously there is an issue that which we to think through in certain cases and thatis think through in certain cases and that is about people taking sensible decisions. ifully that is about people taking sensible decisions. i fully understand, that is about people taking sensible decisions. ifully understand, as eve ryo ne decisions. ifully understand, as everyone fully understands, people wanting to think this through the point i want to go back to at the beginning is that the biggest concern for people is going to be the health of their children and this is a disease which can affect children but is very unlikely to compared to adults. thank you very much. thank you, now marco. thank you, now marco. thank you, now marco. thank you, and thank you on behalf of the foreign press association,

which advocated for a while access to these daily briefings and here we are. thank you, prime minister. my questions about the quarantine because it's notjust a matter of summer because it's notjust a matter of summer holidays. hundreds of thousands of european workers left the country because of the lockdown, because of shops, shopping centres, restaurants and pizzerias were all close, so no work any more. now they are ready to come back. ijust wonder, they are not workers in the nhs but they are quite essential. can you think of a different way like a health certificate? and the home secretary mentioned air corridors. does that mean the british government has ongoing bilateral negotiations with the single european countries and in which case, which ones? marco, thank you very much. on the

air corridors, i don't want to go into the negotiations we are having but clearly we are discussing with our partners around the whole of europe about what could be done. continuously, just as we've been negotiating the whole time about movements across borders. it's one of the most difficult things to get right. what i would say to our italian friends, italians who have been living and working in the uk who now want to come back. i say, come back! come back to... london or to the uk, but you have to quarantine. i don't believe that that is... everybody has been in lockdown for a long time. i know it's an imposition but we really have to defeat this virus. but we

wa nt have to defeat this virus. but we want you back. thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. i wa nt to thank you. thank you very much. i want to wrap up by repeating the key point of this press conference. we are seeing continuous falling numbers in the disease, in deaths, in incidents that is why we have been able to take the very cautious steps that we have. we want to take more steps to unlock our society and try to get back to as normal as possible. eventually, iwould try to get back to as normal as possible. eventually, i would like to do such things as reducing the two metre rule, for instance. but all those changes, all that future progress depends entirely on our ability to keep reducing the incidence and driving down that disease and that depends on us following the basic rules: washing your hands, wash our hands, self—isolate if you have symptoms, ta ke self—isolate if you have symptoms, take a test and, of course, observe

social distancing. thank you all are very much. we are beating this disease and we will beat it together if everybody works on it together. thank you. studio: the prime minister holding out the prospect of a further easing of restrictions in due course. but he says that will only happen so long as the rate of the virus in the community remains low. let's go back over some of the main points to come out of that press conference. many questions about journalists many questions aboutjournalists on the test and tray system and when it will be operating at full capacity. professor whitty said they are not yet at cruising altitude. with a spell of wet weather expected, he urged people not not to move outdoor gatherings indoors. another 359 people in the uk

who have tested positive for coronavirus have died, taking the cumulative total under that measurement to 39,728. the chief scientific advisor sir patrick vallance said the infection rate "is not coming down fast", which means the uk has to "tread very carefully". the prime minister defended the 14 day quarantine plan saying safe air corridors will be considered between countries with low transmission rates. he said he is hosting a vaccine summit tomorrow with representatives from over 50 countries aiming to raise £6 billion. our health correspondent nick triggle is here. he was watching all of that, of course. an interesting question to the prime ministerfrom one of the journalists asking if we have eased lockdown too soon? yes, what i thought was interesting was professor chris whitty, the chief medical adviser, also helped answer that question. there has been some talk in recent days, has the easing been a political decision, against the wishes of government advisers?

he traded carefully around that but he did say that what is happening in terms of easing restrictions are quite modest and slow steps and then he went over what he said were the key thing is, in terms of keeping the virus at bay. they are isolating at home if you have symptoms, getting your household members to isolate. those two measures can halve the rate of transmission. tracing close contacts can reduce infections by 15% and of course, washing hands. those basic things that have been talked about for months now are still the most important, he said. lots of talk this afternoon also about to stand trace. did we learn anything? there has been a lot of talk about this. the test and trace system was only launched a week ago. people have been asking questions about how many people have been identified, how many close contacts are now isolating. we haven't been given figures for that but what is interesting is if we look at the numbers of people who are testing

positive, hopefully we can see a chart. under 2000 people a day are testing positive in recent days. yesterday, it was 1800, the day before 1600, and it's a cross community, hospitals and care homes. what is interesting survey suggest there are 8000 new infections in the community. that is why the prime minister and the chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, urged people to come forward for testing. because if people don't come forward for testing, we cannot trace their contacts and can't help contain these local outbreaks. are there any theories as to why people are coming forward ? theories as to why people are coming forward? there obviously are suggestions, there is a degree of asymptomatic cases, people who have the infection that are not showing symptoms. therefore, they wouldn't know to come forward for a test. but we know a lot of people have very mild symptoms. they may hardly notice them. i think the thing that

they were saying there is a must look out for those symptoms and you must come forward because he may have mild systems but the person you pass the infection on to might not. many thanks, nick triggle there. we can speak to our political correspondent ian watson at westminster for us. the other main question was about quarantine, the 14 day quarantine our government just announced. yes, a lot of criticism from conservative and labour benches this afternoon in the commons. the prime minister doubling down on it saying it had to be done to stop the importation of the virus. it will be introduced in a blanket fashion next week. he did hold out the prospect of discussions on the so—called air corridors or bridges further down the line but stressing he would only do this when safe to do so. some of the questions that came up in the conference this afternoon was on what scientific basis it is quarantine being introduced now? ithought basis it is quarantine being introduced now? i thought the chief scientific adviser's answers were quite interesting, perhaps quite

illuminating. he said the most effective way to quarantine policy is when rates of infection here were low and when in other countries they we re low and when in other countries they were higher. as we know, at the moment, many european countries have lower rates of infection than the uk. so in a sense, that stands the advice on its head. he stressed very much that the timing of the quarantine policy was a political decision. i think effectively a little bit of social distancing between the chief scientific adviser and the prime minister on this. rates are falling in this country and the prime minister would say thatis and the prime minister would say that is why it is better now to get on top of the virus and it was impossible to introduce these measures when in fact community transmission were so great, it would have made very little difference. but that argument didn't cut much ice with some conservative mps this afternoon. liam fox saying he would have to do mental gymnastics to justify it. a lot of pressure to get this policy reviewed even sooner

than the end of this month. ok, many thanks. now time for a look at the weather. let's go to louise leah. good afternoon. change of month and a change of the weather. what a difference a day makes. let's take a look at tuesday's satellite picture. yes, there was some cloud in scotland but for the majority of us, blue sky, sunshine and heat again the dominant feature. but today, that cloud has pushed steadily south, some brighter skies behind but gusty winds and underneath the majority of the cloud, we have had some rain. welcome rain, you may be shouting at me, but it is pushing its way steadily south and east and unfortunately it will weaken. with a change of wind direction and the cloud and rain around, temperatures are a good 10 degrees down on where they were yesterday. you really will notice the difference with the feel of the weather in the coming days. rain will push into east anglia and the south—east, bringing a little bit of light rain to quench the thirst of the gardens but nowhere near enough and behind it we keep a fair amount of cloud through the night.

temperatures will hold up, sitting at around 6—12d. we start tomorrow on a grey note but going through the day, the cloud should break and allow some sunny spells to come through and a scattering of showers. slightly lighter winds, still coming from a northerly direction so a cooler source and temperatures are struggling in comparison too of late with highest values by the afternoon perhaps peaking at around 9—18d. as we move out of thursday into friday, showers will pep up again and if anything, they will be more heavy, widespread, merging together, perhaps for longer spells of rain. almost anywhere could catch a shower, perhaps drier spots in wales and south—west england. but we will see some heavier, persistent rain arriving into the north—east later on and temperatures still subdued in comparison to of late. you also have to factor in the wind strength which will pick up through the day on friday, particularly in the far north—west and as we go through friday night and into the start of the weekend,

across the north—west half of the uk we could see gales, gusts perhaps of around 60 mph and with trees in full leaf now, that could have an impact. low pressure with us for the weekend, a real contrast to last weekend. it will stay blustery at times, with plenty of sharp showers and a noticeable difference to the feel of the weather. all due to the direction of the wind. that's it, take care.

from monday, anyone arriving in the uk must self—isolate for two weeks, says the government, as it's forced to defend its controversial plans. everyone arriving from overseas will have to give an address where they'll stay in quarantine. breaking the rules risks a £1,000 fine — even prosecution. now that we are getting the virus under control in the uk, there is a risk that cases from abroad begin once again to make up a greater proportion of overall cases. if these measures are necessary from the 8th ofjune, why have they not be necessary in recent weeks or from when they were first announced by the home secretary on the 22nd of may? the quarantine policy will be reviewed every three weeks. we'll be asking if it's workable.