help should have done more to help schools deal with that, but the real anxiety now is to make sure that come september, if those restrictions are still in place, how they will get to a point where all primary school children can come back. and of course, senior schools, which have very limited return for some pupils, and in many ways it is harderfor some pupils, and in many ways it is harder for them because they have to move around lots of different classrooms. they are not taught by one teacher, so lots of people are looking for answers to those issues. as the government looks to open up the economy, workers have children and if they can't send them to school, it is hard to see how they can go back to work? yes the two have been seen as being part of the same issue, if you like, of course it is children's education first, a real anxiety about those who have been struggling with their learning. there is evidence from research to suggest even over the six week summer suggest even over the six week summer holiday, many children fall behind and it takes time to catch

that up, let alone being off since march. a lot of schools are offering stuff to do at home, but it is not the same as being in the classroom. for people with younger children, if there is nowhere for them tog for people with younger children, if there is nowhere for them to g and there is nowhere for them to g and there is no wrap around care, it is about the after school clubs and if none of that is available, that is a barrierfor none of that is available, that is a barrier for people to get back to work, just as the government is looking at and predicting a recession, so they want to get all of that moving and that two metre rule, we have heard from businesses saying that is another barrier, particularly for restaurants and cafes, if you have to keep that two metre rule, that is going to have a massive impact on their profits and for some it won't be worth opening. it is interesting that the prime minister several times and will probably say it again, has talked about the two metre rule is under

permanent review and when the time is right, then he wants to look at that changing, because in other countries f you look at world health organisation, their recommend is for one metre or 1.5 metres. we think the prime minister will announce some easing of lockdown, any idea what it might be? we have been told there will be a further announcement, not just the there will be a further announcement, notjust the one this morning and zoos and outdoor activities. there is a road map which they have set out the different phases of easing restrictions and we are in phase 2. almost everything such as nonessential retail for example, outdoor markets, all of those things have been announced. we know the next phase, phase 3, is about things like pubs and that won't be 11th july. the only thing they haven't announced in phase 2 is more social contact. i was told last week by

someone contact. i was told last week by someone working on this... i'm going to stop you. there are people coming ing to. two weeks ago i set out the progress we asa two weeks ago i set out the progress we as a country have made against our five in the match as we could introduce asa in the match as we could introduce as a result. i want to update you again on those five tests and for the changes and can i have the first slide please, thank you. the five tests are designed, as you know, to ensure that any changes to the lockdown are careful and proportionate and safe. they have assessments of how well we are placed to meet the operational challenges posed by the virus. we must do everything in your power to avoid a second peak of infection

that overwhelms the nhs, because that overwhelms the nhs, because that would lead to more lives lost, more families in mourning and more disruption to our economy and way of life. next slide, please. ourfist testis life. next slide, please. ourfist test is to protect the nhs‘s ability to cope so we are confident and are available provide sufficient specialist care across the uk. it is thanks to the efforts of those working in the nhs that we can still be confident the nhs can cope. on 7thjune, be confident the nhs can cope. on 7th june, a43 be confident the nhs can cope. on 7thjune, a43 people be confident the nhs can cope. on 7thjune, 443 people were admitted to hospital with coronavirus in england and wales and northern ireland, down from 628 two weeks earlier and down from a peak of 3,431 on 1st april. on 9th

earlier and down from a peak of 3,431 on 1st april. on 9 thjune a92 we re 3,431 on 1st april. on 9 thjune a92 were in mechanicalical beds, down from a peek in april. so we are still meeting the first test. next slide, please. oursecond test still meeting the first test. next slide, please. our second test is to see a sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rates from covid—19, so we are confident we have moved beyond the peak. and of those who have tested positive for coronavirus across all settings, i'm sad to say that 41,128 have now died. that is an increase of 245 fatalities since yesterday. as measured by a seven day average, the uk daily death rate now stands at 200, down from 300 two weeks ago and

down from a peak of 943 in april. the death rate has continued to fall and so the second test is still being met. next slide, please. our third test is to receive reliable data from sage showing the rate of infection, the number of people catching covid is decreasing to manageable levels. 290,143 people have now tested positive for coronavirus, which is an increase of 1,003 cases since yesterday. the seven day rolling average of new positive cases found through testing is now1,419, positive cases found through testing is now 1,419, down from 2,416 two weeks ago and down from a peak of

5,195 in the first week of may. in a moment, sir patrick will talk us through sage's latest assessment of the r and other evidence on infection rates. based on the various data available, the government is satisfied that the third test is being met. next slide, please. our fourth test is that we must be confident that the range of operational challenges, including on testing capacity and personal protective equipment are in hand, with supply able to meet future demand. yesterday, 170,379 tests we re demand. yesterday, 170,379 tests were carried out, or posted out across the uk, compared to around 12,000 at the start of april. the total now stands at 6 million 42,

622. the health secretary will provide an update on test, track and trace. on ppe we have secured over 150 deals with new suppliers around the world and procured 2.2 billion items of ppe to be manufactured domestically. despite the difficulties we have faced with ppe and testing in the past, this progress means we are now satisfied that the fourth test is being met. though of course, we remain vigilant. next slide, please. our 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. and i'm grateful to the chief scientific advisor and the chief medical officer for their advice on the measures that i'm

about to set out. and on this basis ican about to set out. and on this basis i can confirm that the government subjects we have met the fifth test. therefore, the government is satisfied that all five tests are met or still being met and we can proceed with the following further adjustments to the lockdown in england. a month ago, i set out our road map to recovery and that explained the steps we would take to ease the lockdown as the data and the evidence allows. the measures in contained were all conditional and conditional on continued progress in tackling the virus. we are continuing to follow our road map, while adjusting our approach as we need to, as we always said we would. although we are tackling this virus

as one united kingdom, it remains the case that the devolved administrations are responsible for lockdown in scotland, wales and northern ireland and it is right that they should move at the right pace for them according to their circumstances and so for that reason, the specific measures i'm about to set out apply in england only. first, on retail. shops. this has been the most challenging period for shops and high streets in our history. never before have all shops been ordered to shut in this way. it has been 82 days since we asked these shops to close their doors and i know the toll this has taken. which is why i am so pleased that, as the business secretary confirmed yesterday, we can now allow all shops to re—open from monday. it is vital that establishments should ensure they're meeting covid

guidelines before they re—open. that way we can keep staff and customers safe, while we get retail going. second, on social contact, i know how difficult the past months have been for people cut off from their friends and family. last monday, we relaxed the rules on meeting outdoors, so that groups of up to six could gather, provided they are socially distant. we did so in in knowledge that trands transmission of the virus is slowing outdoor. there are too many people still too many people, particularly those who live by themselves, who are lonely, and struggling with being unable to see friends and family. so from this weekend, we will allow single adult households, adults living alone or

single parents with children under 18, to form a support bubble, a support bubble, with one other household. all those in a supports bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household, meaning they can spend time together inside each other‘s homes and do not need to stay two metres apart. i wa nt to need to stay two metres apart. i want to stress that support bubbles must be exclusive, meaning you can't switch the household you are in a bubble with or connect with multiple households. and if any member of the support bubble develops symptoms, all members of pub will need to —— bubble will need to follow the normal advice on household isolation. we're making this change to support those who are particularly lonely as a result of lockdown measures. it is a targeted

intervention to limit the most harmful effects of the current social restrictions. it is not designed for people who don't qualify to start meeting inside other people's homes, because that remains against the law. unforts natalie —— unfortunately we cannot advise anyone who is shielding to form a support bubble at this stage, given their particular vulnerability to the virus. however, i want to say, i know how hard it is for those of you who are shielding and we will say more next week about the arrangements that will be in place for you beyond the ends ofjune. third on outdoor attractions, because the risk of transmission is lower outdoors, we can open up some more outdoor attractions for people to enjoy this summer. so from

monday, we will allow outdoor attractions, where people can stay in theircars, attractions, where people can stay in their cars, such as safari parks and drive in cinemas, to open. i'm grateful to the zoo industry for their co—operation and forebearance and i'm happy to confirm that they too can re—open from monday, provided visitor numbers are managed and safeguards put in place. that includes keeping indoor areas, such as reptile houses, closed and facilitating social distancing. finally, we will allow places of worship to open for individual prayer this weekend. i hope that will be of some comfort to those of faith who have been unable to go to their place of worship. as set out in our road map, the next set of stages, step 3, will not begin until the 4th july at the earliest, as stages, step 3, will not begin until the athjuly at the earliest, as the

evidence allows. i know that these changes are only incementsal and —— incremental and many of you may be hoping and waiting for more. i also know that people will again find anomalies or apparent anomalies in what people can and cannot do and as i have said before, i'm afraid that is just inevitable, when we are only able to give people a small amount of the freedoms that they usually enjoy. we will continue to remain cautious and measure the effect of the changes that we make and as i have said, we won't hesitate to apply the brakes if that is the situation requires. that has meant moving slower than we would have liked in some areas. it is because the rate of infection is not yet

quite low enough and because we are not as able to change our social distancing advice, including smaller class sizes in schools, that we are not proceeding with our ambition to bring back all primary pupils, at least for some weeks, before the summer holidays. instead, we are working with teachers to bring back as many pupils as we can within those smaller class sizes. we do intend to bring back all children back to school in september, provided the progress we are making continues, as i hope it will. that is our focus and it is consistent with the approach that has been taken by many other countries in europe. in the meantime, we must stick to our road map. i urge eve ryo ne stick to our road map. i urge everyone to continue to show restraint and respect the rules,

which are designed to keep us all safe. it is only because of the restraint you have all shown so far that we are able to move gradually out of this lockdown. so to repeat what you have heard so many times before, stay alert, maintain social distancing, keep washing your hands. help control the virus by getting tested if you have symptoms, and isolating if you are contacted by nhs test and chase. if we all do that together, we will save lives and begin to rebuild our country. i will now and over to sir patrick for the slides. thank you. just a reminder on the r number. the r number describes how many people become infected by one person infected, so if it is three, one

person infected three more and the epidemic grows very quickly. when the r is one, one person infects one other and the epidemic stays at the same size. if it is below one, the epidemic is shrinking. the way we calculate the r is different with different models. the ultimate value we get from sage is the combination and looking at 13 models went into this particular one. 13 different groups looking at the r separately, coming up with a consensus value as to where true r lights. the view is that the r in the uk at the moment is somewhere between 0.7 and 0.9. so it remains below one and it remains below one across the uk. that means the epidemic continues to decrease in size. it's worth reflecting that it is possible to do this when you amalgamate lots of different models and when you have a lot of data

across the country. it is much more difficult to come up with an accurate value of r when you get down to regional and local levels. therefore, other numbers become important. it is worth saying that on the data we do have, the r is below one in every region. but looking at growth is the other important area. is the epidemic or shrinking? and these growth rates are important to look at, suggesting that the epidemic is shrinking in every region. the third thing to look at is the number of new cases, which becomes increasingly important locally and also becomes important when one thinks about outbreaks and clusters, which are important to pick up as the overall numbers come down. that is an important part of the role of the joint bio—security centre. so we need different measures as we get to regional and local areas to get a proper assessment of what is happening.

next slide, please. this shows some of the numbers from the office for national statistics survey from england, where at the moment, over the past two weeks, from the 17th to the past two weeks, from the 17th to the 30th of may, it was estimated that 0.1% of the population had covid. that is one and 1000 people, meaning the estimated total number of people in the country with covid during that period was 53,000. that speaks to the point the prime minister has made that the numbers are not yet very low. they are coming down, but they are not very low. the second point is how many new cases there are. here, this ons survey estimates that there are 39,000 new cases every week. that means roughly 5000 or 6000 new cases per day being picked up somewhere in the uk over that period. these

numbers again are lower than they were. they are on the way down. they are not yet very low. in terms of who has already had it, one where you can detect that if through an antibody test to find out who has been exposed to the virus. here, the numbers change across the uk. in london, it may be 15% of people who have had it. across the uk as a whole, it looks like 6% or 7% of people who have had it. so if i tie those points together, the r is below one but perhaps onlyjust. the epidemic is shrinking, but not fast. numbers are coming down, but they are not yet very low. and the vast majority of the population remain susceptible to this infection. urges caution changes and urges measuring very carefully to see the impact and being prepared to reverse things

where measures have been taken that have an impact on this. and importantly, it also means looking for outbreaks locally and dealing with those fast. final slide, please. the reason, which is obvious to us all but worth restating because it is important, is that tragically, there have been many deaths from this disease. this shows the 0ns deaths from this disease. this shows the ons data on weekly death registrations over time. the top line shows the line for this year. the dotted line shows the line for the previous five years. you can see that on average, between 10000 and 15,000 deaths per week. and you can see the clear peak that started with the end of march and has now come down almost back to baseline, which is entirely due to the effect that covid has had, both direct and indirect in terms of the other

effects across society. you can see the fact that the peak is coming down. unfortunately, this has not affected everybody equally. we know the elderly have been particularly susceptible. we know that those with other diseases have been susceptible. and we know of course tragically that the bame community have been particularly affected by this. this curve reminds us why it is so important to carry on doing the basics, hand hygiene, keeping ourselves separated, not breaking the social distancing rules and to make sure we go cautiously, step—by—step, measure as we go and are prepared to reverse where necessary. thanks, patrick. let's go to questions from the public. first, ruthin to questions from the public. first, ruth in bournemouth.” to questions from the public. first, ruth in bournemouth. i am thrilled to see outlets open selling coffee,

takeaway food and ice creams. but i am concerned to see many doing so without wearing gloves and masks. with masks mandatory now in many settings, surely they are essential for those serving food and drinks to the public? how else are we protected from those serving transmitting coronavirus and the unfortunate event that they have it and are not at that point aware? thank you, ruth. as we open up shops and other places selling coffee and beverages to the public, we are setting out all sorts of guidelines about how to do it in a covid—secure way. the basic guidance on masks, as you know, or face way. the basic guidance on masks, as you know, orface coverings, is that you know, orface coverings, is that you should wear a face covering when you should wear a face covering when you are likely to be in close contact with people you don't normally meet. i think i will go to chris and patrick for a comment on whether gloves and face coverings

should be absolutely necessary in all retail contexts. but we are certainly setting out guidelines for covid—secure retail. certainly setting out guidelines for covid-secure retail. on face coverings, the sage advice is very clear was that that is that face coverings have potential benefit in situations where there are indoor spaces where people cannot socially distance, where they are potentially crowded and might come into contact with multiple people. that advice has been provided and should form the basis of risk assessment in any workplace to decide what should be done. you are right that touching and surface contact is a major form of spreading this disease and therefore, other measures including therefore, other measures including the wearing of gloves can be important in certain circumstances. this needs to be a risk by risk

assessment in different workplaces to decide what is appropriate for each place. and businesses that are serving drinks to the public that may wish to know exactly how and when to wear the face coverings or masks should get onto the website and look at the covid—secure guidelines. anything to add? patrick has guidelines. anything to add? patrick ha s cove re d guidelines. anything to add? patrick has covered face coverings clearly. the only thing to add is on gloves. if someone touches the surface repeatedly without changing gloves, thatis repeatedly without changing gloves, that is less good than someone washing their hands between every time they do it. hand washing is critical. gloves can be useful under certain circumstances. ruth, i hope thatis certain circumstances. ruth, i hope that is useful. gloves and face coverings may be important, but hand washing remains critical and can't be stressed too much. let's go to alessia in the lake district. her question is, will the government's next review of regulations include

consideration of those people who have not been able to see their partners? well, i think the answer to that is, if you have the option, alessia, of making use of the idea of a support bubble if you haven't been able to see the rest of your family for a longtime, that is plainly designed to help you. we would want to make sure that people who have been suffering from loneliness and have been unable to see their families for a long been unable to see their families fora longtime are able to do that.

just to be clear on what can be done and what can't, the idea of the bubbles is for families which have a single adult in the household. so if this applied to two families with a single adult in the household, would become by what the prime minister has talked about, this idea of bubbling. for other people, it is going to have to be around meeting outside. that is the key, outside and social distance, because the risk of transmitting is much lower. to go back to the reason why we are doing this, because everybody can see exactly why this question is important when people want to see their families and partners. important when people want to see theirfamilies and partners. it important when people want to see their families and partners. it is only by breaking the links between households where things can be transmitted that we can continue to keep the r down as we take forward these slow, steady steps forward. the reason for making the bubbling relatively specific is that that

reduces the risk that you are joining together several households. the bubbling is about single households or lone parents. and there is meeting outside for other people. i think people will also wa nt to people. i think people will also want to know, if they are in a single household, they can elect to be in single household, they can elect to beina single household, they can elect to be in a support bubble with another household. but alessia asked about staying overnight a long distance away. we don't generally want to encourage household mingling. what is your reaction to that? the suggestion about bubbling is that that will allow people who belong to a single household or lone parents to stay if necessary, but this doesn't apply except in that situation. and the reason for that is that single households will have many fewer contacts and therefore, it is linking up many fewer

households. i hope that is helpful, alessia. the answer is, we are going ahead from saturday the 13th with the support bubble is. you have heard what chris has said. this is intended for single households where there has been particular loneliness and isolation, and they have the opportunity now to form a support bubble with another household and to stay overnight when necessary. questions from journalists. the bbc. thank you prime minister. how as prime minister have you allowed a situation to arise where a child can look at lions situation to arise where a child can look at [ions at the zoo, a single relative can have sunday dinner with their family, but relative can have sunday dinner with theirfamily, but in relative can have sunday dinner with their family, but in many situations that same child may not be able to go back to school until september? and if i can ask a question to you,

neil ferguson, who was advising the government said if it had been introduced a week earlier, we would have reduced the final death toll by at least a half. is he right? laura, cani at least a half. is he right? laura, can i quickly go first to schools and, yes, of course, as i said, we would like to be in a position where we could have got those, the remainder of primary back for a couple of weeks before the summer holidays. we wanted to do that, if that was going to be possible. because of what patrick, the point patrick and chris have been making and the continued prevalence of the disease, 53,000 have it now, there are 39,000 new cases a week... clearly, we have got it right down, but it is not quite down far enough to change the social distancing measures that we have in our

schools. what we will be doing a huge amount of catch up for pupils over the summer months and the secretary of state for education will announce, he will set out a lot more about the catch up programme and what i would also point out is the bbc has helpfully provided a guide to what other european countries are doing and you can see that actually in italy, ireland, all schools remain shut until september. spain, no primary schools going back, or very few primary kids going back. france and germany only partial openings. we are very much in line or actually slightly ahead of some other european countries in what we are doing, we are taking a more cautious approach than some, but slightly ahead of others. i think that is the right place to be.

on the second question, i'm going to ask the members of sage to comment. neil ferguson was a member of sage and he went on to say now is not the time too second guess. i think the general point should we go back and look carefully at the phasing of the measures, the different groups of measures, the different groups of measures, which ones made the biggest impact, can we see which ones are the most important, that will be important for judging ones are the most important, that will be important forjudging the future should this happen again in the winter. there is time to go back and do that analysis and we should go back and look and it is very important towns and shape whatever —— to understand and shape whatever we do in the future. those are important questions to address and they haven't yet been fully addressed. i agree with patrick, we come from a trade where working back

and working out what you would have doneis and working out what you would have done is routine. on professor ferguson's point, a variety of people will come with different answers on timing. we are not going to get an identical situation to what we had then, not least, because we know more and have more information. part of the problem we had at that stage was we had very limited information about this virus. there is still we don't know. but we know more now. but what we need to look at at this point what is the best combinations of measures that have the biggest impact on reducing the virus, but have the least impact on society. there is a complicated balancing act. that is partly for allowing us to release the lockdown measures in a sense yellow, steady way, as the prime minister was laying out, but we have to take that carefully. but we have to take that carefully. but we have to accept that we could find

ourselves in one of three situations, one is where the virus, we actually have a situation where it started to escape control. the aim forgoing it started to escape control. the aim for going slowly is to prevent that p whatting. —— that happening. we think in the winter the virus will have some advantages it doesn't have at the rest of the year. it transmits transmits more indoors. so we need to know what combination of additional things we might have to introduce at that stage. finally, the nature of new epidemics is often they come in waves, circling around they come in waves, circling around the world and if we get hit by another wave, we need to understand better what the optimal mix of things we should do. there is a lot

we can do to work out optimum mixes of things. timing is important. we are learning more all the time and we will give a better answer all the time. but that doesn't help us for the future to the same extent. time. but that doesn't help us for the future to the same extentlj the future to the same extent.” wa nt to the future to the same extent.” want to repeat, i should have made it clear at the start, i hope i did, we fully intend to get all schools, all pupils back by september, if, as i say, the science and the... our battle against the disease allows it, which i very much hope they will. but i want to thank teachers very much for all they have done to keep so many schools open throughout the crisis and thank parents and pupils, it was never going to be easy to restart all primary schools in the way we have, but we have substantial numbers going back into some of these years, year 6 in particular, it is growing every day and so thank you, we will continue

to make progress on that. can ijust ask... i think we are not going to have follow ups, laura with great respect, we haven't, i haven't given follow u ps respect, we haven't, i haven't given follow ups before. are you desperate for a follow up. go on. you need to. you need to unmute. can you address that points made by professor ferguson. yes, i have nothing to add to the... views of the members of sage. i think that you know we will have to... all such judgments are i think, will need to be examined in the fullness of time. as professor ferguson was a member of sage at the time, as he readily accepts. dan hewitt of itv. firstly on schools, the tory chair of the education

select committee is asking you personally to intervene to take charge of situation with schools.” am. you have a big plan for the economy with the furlough school and a plan with the nhs and where is the plan with the children and if i may follow u p plan with the children and if i may follow up on the question regarding professor ferguson, he also said that britain missed 90% of the coronavirus cases, because we were not screening passengers at airports. there are no measures that you look back on even now that you think, yeah, we got that wrong and could have introduced that earlier. do you not think about the measures you put in place? well, dan, let me go first on schools and say that we do have a big plan to get all our pupils, all pupils back to school by september, we have started getting primary back already as you know

from the 1stjune. the numbers are climbing every day. and you know... some people who only last week were saying we were being reckless in going too fast are now saying we are going too fast are now saying we are going too fast are now saying we are going too slow. we think we are taking the right decisions at the right time to beat the virus and that point goes for your second question as well. i think that we will have to wait and see what the evidence really says. i think chris and patrick may want to come back on it, but there are a lot of questions, as patrick said, that are still unanswered. i want to come back on it clearly. it is not a matter do we look back, we always look back. that is the scientific method, you look back and say what could we have done better. we should. there is always a question of timing and a question of what do you do now, even in the middle of

something and be clear, we are not at the end of this epidemic. not by at the end of this epidemic. not by a long shot. what do we wait until all the data comes in. it is a fair question, but i want us to be clear, all of us would say absolutely necessary to learn, any emergency post emergency review is critical. everyone would accept that. that data came not from neil ferguson, but a group that we funded early to find out what was going right and wrong. we knew we wouldn't get the answer until later. but it is an important part to be be prae paired to get the tay —— prepared to get the data and say what was right and what was wrong and that is an important part of scientific method. sky. swedeners top epidemiologist

said his strategy resulted in too deaths after his persuaded his country to avoid a strict lockdown. professor ferguson said going into a lockdown a week too late cost an estimated 25,000 lives or more. so the same question, please, to all three of you, what is your biggest regret and what do you now wish you had done differently? well, beth, i can't go further than the answer that i have already given. i will ask chris and patrick to comment on that. of course, we are going to have to look back at this and learn the lessons we can, but frankly i think that a lot of these questions are still premature and there are lots of data, lots of things that we still don't know and this epidemic has a long way to go alas. notjust in this country, but around the world. the only thing i would add is

you know we need to get the information to find the answer to that question. it is an important question. will we have got everything right? no. forsure we wouldn't. there are things we would have got wrong and we need to understand what they are and learn from them and get them right next time. that is what we need to do and we shouldn't just time. that is what we need to do and we shouldn'tjust be guessing what those things are now. it is a complicated situation and we need to use that information to get the next stages as effective as they can be. there is along stages as effective as they can be. there is a long list of things which we need to look at seriously. if i was to choose one, it would probably choose looking at how we could do speed up testing very early on in the epidemic. and many of the problems that we have had came because we were unable to actually work out exactly where we were and we are trying to see our way through the fog rather than... with more

difficulty and there are many good reasons why it was tricky. if i was to play things again and this is largely based on what some other countries were able to do, the particularly germany, i think that is the one thing that we would probably have put more emphasis on at an earlier stage. there are many others, but i will highlight that one. thank you. can i have a quick follow up. yes. do you not regret going into lockdown earlier. is that not a regret knowing what you know now. i will have to go back to what chris and patrick said... you make the decisions! we made the decisions at the time on the guidance of sage, including professor ferguson that we thought were right for this country. i think the questions that are posed

are still unanswered and there is a lot of data we still frankly don't have. i know you want me to cast judgment now on everything that happened in the months that have gone by. ijust think happened in the months that have gone by. i just think that, happened in the months that have gone by. ijust think that, of course that moment will come and of course that moment will come and of course we have got to learn lessons, but i think it is at this stage premature. there is still too much we don't knowches thank you, beth. gordon rainer of the telegraph. on schools, you have said that your intention is to get all children backin intention is to get all children back in school by september. the problem at the moment as you have said is that you can only have class sizes of 15, so it seems the only way you can get those children back is to either increase the size of school estate, so you have more room, or relax the two metre rule, so which is it going to be? thank

you gordon, in primary school it is two metre rule is not the issue, it is the class sizes that are the question. but both affect the size of the school estate in question and whether you can get all the pupils back. the problem is, as i have said, that the level of the epidemic, though it is way down, the it is not down as low as we would like in order to relax the social distancing measures in school, so we are going to get all schools back in september, as i say, if we can get all schools back in september, but it is going to be a big summer of catch up and notjust a summer of catch up and notjust a summer of catch up and notjust a summer of catch up i should say, gordon, it is going to be, we are going to keep making sure that kids get the remedial help that they need for the stuff that they have missed for months and months to come, so that

they genuinely make up for loves time —— lost time. we want to have educational catch up and an economic bounce back. a quick follow-up - the two—metre rule is what is stopping lots of restaurants and other places from reopening. so do you agree that relaxing the two—metre rule is a political decision that is ultimately up to you to take, and are you prepared to go against your scientific advisers if they refuse to budge on two metres?” scientific advisers if they refuse to budge on two metres? i think there is a balance of risk to be struck. the issue for me is how far down we can get the incidence of disease. as patrick just down we can get the incidence of disease. as patrickjust said, we have got only one in 1000 people in this country now with the virus. however, there are still this country now with the virus. however, there are stil153,000 people who have it. the r is only just below one. we have 30,000 more

new cases per week. it's not down as low as i would like. and i have to be very mindful of the risk of new outbreaks. we have made colossal progress, in the sense that nhs test and trace is able to isolate local outbreaks. the joint bio—security centre is helpful in enabling us to see what is going on and we will be able to do new whack—a—mole with new outbreaks in schools or hospitals, and we already are. but myjudgment at present is that we must proceed cautiously, and i think that is shared by the majority of the public. they want us to get on, but they want us to get on in a cautious way, and that is what we are doing.

i would just add that the two—metre is not a scientific rule. it is a risk—based assessment on when risk reduces. and the risks are associated with distance. so the risk falls after two metres, time, what mitigating factors you can put in place, which include things like whether you are sitting side by side, back to back or face—to—face, whether you have got face coverings, whether you have got face coverings, whether there is ventilation and other measures, and the absolute risk, ie the number of people who have an infection at any one time. those things which make up the overall risk assessment are what need to be taken into account both in terms of policy decisions and operationalisation of this in different business environments. so it is wrong to portray this as a scientific rule that says it is two metres or nothing. that is not what the advice has been and it is not what the advice is now. it is a

series of measures planing under what conditions the distance might differ with different factors. thanks very much. pippa from the daily mirror. good afternoon. prime minister, you have said that schools are not coming back because the rate of infection is not low enough. so we re of infection is not low enough. so were the teaching unions right to express caution, and why hasn't education been more of a priority when it is so integral to what you say is your core aim of levelling up the british economy? and can i ask the british economy? and can i ask the scientists as well quickly, the prime minister has set out how the five tests have been met. but in the plan to rebuild document that you referred to one may the 11th, it said the changes to lockdown "must be warranted by the current alert level", which i think is still at four. are you both completely comfortable about the pace at which we are easing the lockdown? pippa,

schools are safe to go back to. they are safe for your children. that is an important point. but in those schools, we need to have measures which are dictated by the state of the pandemic in this country. smaller class sizes or the two—metre rule. those dictate the physical configuration of the school and make it difficult to open up all primary schools at once for all peoples. i think people get that. but we are going to go ahead in september if we can, opening up all schools from september. so you have a lot of primary coming back now. years ten and 12 are getting facetime with their teachers from monday. that will go ahead so that they can prepare for their exams next year. and a huge amount of catch up work

so that pupils get help during the summer, autumn and beyond so that they get the education they need and deserve. that is our objective. i see massive importance in this campaign not just for economic purposes and educating the next generation, but for simple social justice. after all, so many pupils who have not been getting education in school have not had quite the home schooling that perhaps others have had. it is vital that we compensate as fast and as far as we can, and that is what we are going to do. so why hasn't it been more of a priority when you compare it to the health of the economy?” respectfully reject that. i draw your attention if i may to the helpful compilation by the bbc of

what other countries are doing. you will see that there are plenty of countries in the eu which are not getting primary schools back at all, or until september. so we are going as fast as we can. we have still got as fast as we can. we have still got a pandemic to cope with. we will get all schools back in september if we can and we will have a massive catch up can and we will have a massive catch up operation over the summer and beyond, which gavin williamson will beyond, which gavin williamson will be setting out next week. to comment on the second one, there are no comfortable options. anyone who pretends there is a comfortable option has not understood the situation we are in. i think of this as every doctor or health care professional wood. it is always about balance of risk. giving a drug — there are side effects. during operation, there are side effects. you have to take a risk because that

is the best thing to do at the time. we are obviously having to balance a large amount of risk in government. all of society is having to balance a large numberof all of society is having to balance a large number of risks, but you are trying to manage those risks as best we can with the information we have to minimise the risk of a bad outcome and to maximise the possibility of a good outcome. but the idea that there is some option which is completely safe and it is all fine is clearly not true and i don't believe the prime minister thinks that is not optional. we thinks that is not optional. we think this is reasonable, provided people here what the prime minister is saying and stick to what he is saying and extend it out. and the people who are opening businesses must stick to the covid—secure rules and be reasonable in the way they do it. our view is that this is a sensible way to go at this point in time, accepting that there is always a possibility, sir patrick and the prime minister have said, that if things start to go up, we might have

to go back a couple of places. but this seems a reasonable way to go at this seems a reasonable way to go at this point in time, but not a risk—free one. there are no risk—free one. there are no risk—free options ahead of us. risk—free one. there are no risk—free options ahead of usm risk—free one. there are no risk-free options ahead of us. it is important that we get test, trace and isolate working properly. that has to be part of this. thank you. maria from the southern daily echo. thank you, prime minister. 600 people from southampton have been asked to volunteer for a coronavirus vaccine trial. what would you like to say to them? secondly, the pandemic has basically shut down the main industry in the city of the cruise industry. hundreds ofjobs are at risk and people fear for their future. what will you be doing to ensure the cruise industry is safe? thank you, maria. like all industries, the cruise industry, in

the short term at least, will have to go through a period of self reinvention to make sure it is covid—secure. and reinvention to make sure it is covid—secu re. and i reinvention to make sure it is covid—secure. and i have no doubt that it can do it. it's a great british industry and we will support it in every way we can. on the coronavirus trial with the 600 patients in southampton, i would like to thank them very much for what they are doing. i don't know which vaccine they are trialling, patrick is the expert on vaccines.

my patrick is the expert on vaccines. my message is the same, thank you very much. the way that vaccines are going to come through this is obviously through clinical trials. we have to find out what works, what doesn't, what side effects there are, which ones are tolerated and which ones are not, which once produced the big immune response. the way to do that is volunteers, and every time somebody volunteers for a trial, that is them being selfless for the rest of society, so a big thank you from me. let me just finish off the answer to that question. it is notjust vaccine trials, it is all trials. southampton has a real record of citizens taking part in trials and studies and this is the way medicine progress is notjust for coronavirus, but generally. so an enormous thank you for the whole of what people do to volunteer. thanks to southampton. a lot of questions this evening have been about what we got wrong in the past. all i can say is that at the moment, it is too early tojudge is that at the moment, it is too early to judge ourselves. we simply don't know the answer to a lot of these questions. what i can tell you is that we know a lot more now than we did injanuary or february or even much. and one thing we really

do know about tackling coronavirus is, you have to proceed with caution. that is what we are doing. we are announcing a series of what i hope you will agree our reasonable steps on shops, support bubbles, private prayer and a few other things to begin to tentatively get our society back to normal. we will continue with our road map. we will continue with our road map. we will continue to stick to our plan and in the meantime, i hope all of you will continue to stick to the advice as well. very simple advice, follow the guidance — wash your hands, stay alert, control the virus and save lives. thanks very much. studio: the prime minister, ending that briefing with some now familiar advice. let's have a recap on what we've heard in the last hour. the number of people who have died from covid—19 has risen by 245 to 41,428. the prime minister borisjohnson announced a further easing of some lockdown restrictions for some in england, including the setting up of what he called social bubbles. from this saturday, single adult households in england

can form a support bubble with one other household — of any size. they can go into each other‘s houses, stay the night and don't have to maintain social distancing. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise. it has been a cloudy day and often wet, and there is more rain tonight. we could see two inches or more of rain before that system drifts further south—west. showers to start the day on thursday, accompanied by a strengthening blustering north—east wind. there will be some sunshine as we get through the day but by the end of the afternoon, more persistent rain arrives on the east coast. that is where we will see the strongest wind gusts, in excess of 30 miles an hour. but in the sunshine, perhaps a degree or so up the sunshine, perhaps a degree or so up on today. cooler on the exposed east coast. jump forward to friday and we see some showers drifting out of northern england to scotland. a

speu of northern england to scotland. a spell of more persistent rain across channel coasts. the midlands, wales and the south—west of england are in the sunshine. we start the weekend with still a few showers lingering, but sunday looks like again a little warmer and dryer.

today at six — borisjohnson announces a further easing of the lockdown in england. so far you could only meet family and friends outdoors. from saturday, anyone living alone can enter one other household and stay the night. we are making this change to support those who are particularly lonely, as a result of lockdown measures. we'll be looking at who's likely to gain most from this change to the lockdown. also tonight. the labour leader calls for a national task force on getting schools up and running again in england. a warning about the effect of the coronavirus on the nhs — there could be ten million on waiting lists by