we'll be going live to downing street in half an hour for the latest government briefing. first, the headlines. after a 100 day absence because of coronavirus — the premier league kicks off shortly — with fans forced to watch on television at home. i'm excited and looking forward to what might happen. i shall be sitting in the lounge with a television on and a bottle of wine ready. after his successful campaign over free school meals, england striker marcus rashford tells us there's more he wants to do, to help people in need. this is only going to be successful throughout the summer period and then, you know, we've got... we've bought ourselves an extra six weeks of time to sort of plan and figure out what's next and how we keep

taking steps forward. downing street says there were no injuries when the prime minister's car was shunted by an escort vehicle — as a protester ran into the road outside parliament. the husband of a nurse who died after contracting coronavirus, says his wife shouldn't have been allowed to work while she was heavily pregnant. inflation hit its lowest level forfour years in may — with the price of fuel seeing its biggest fall on record. good afternoon. in 90 minutes‘ time, the premier league will kick off for the first time since lockdown began. it's a moment millions of fans have been waiting for — but they'll have to stay at home

to watch the rest of the season. all the games will be played behind closed doors. it is 100 days since we've had the top flight game, and players have been training for the last few weeks. it comes as the england striker marcus rashford has vowed to continue speaking up for disadvantaged families — after he won the campaign for children in england to continue receiving free school meals over the summer. in other developments the world health organisation has hailed the success of a drug trial by oxford university as a lifesaving scientific breakthrough. dexamethasone is a cheap widely available steroid which has shown to be able to save the lives of seriously ill covid—i9 patients. with a look at how football is able to make a comeback — our first report is from our sports correspondent andy swiss. ready for the big restart. matchday once again at villa park as football's 100 days of waiting is nearly over. this was the last time we saw the premier league. villa's game against

leicester on march 9th. that was before the sport went into shutdown. now it's back with plenty of flags but no fans. the only ones inside here tonight will be projected on giant screens. i started to support aston villa... it is some a0 years since anne edwards missed a game at villa park but, like everyone this evening, she'll have to watch at home. i shall be sitting in the lounge with a television on, bottle of wine ready! all the family are villa fans. so in touch with the family and friends about it all. but ijust really can't get my head round what it's going to be like. how much have you missed football over the past three months? just generally. 0h, terribly! life is so boring! while the premier league is finally back, and it is now frantically playing catch—up, the match here between aston villa and sheffield united, the first of 92 games injust six weeks. a finale to the season the like of which

football has never seen before. premier league champions! manchester city. titleholders manchester city are also back tonight, against arsenal, but after such limited training, even their manager doesn't know what to expect. in germany and spain they have had, like, five or six weeks, and in the premier league, we have only had three weeks, three and a half. of course, we know it is not enough, but it is what it is. we are tired of screaming for help. we are tired of discrimination. but football is also addressing far bigger issues. a group of players have released this new antiracism message, including raheem sterling. in training, teams have already shown their support for the black lives matter movement. it will be written on their shirts tonight, along with a badge to honour the nhs. it is really important to have black lives matter at this point, at this period of time, and what sport is doing, particularly football, around it,

but also hand—in—hand with the idea that the nhs will be promoted on the shirts as well. alan hansen, a league championship winner. 0n the pitch the focus will turn to liverpool with their 30 year wait for the league title potentially over as soon as sunday, but for the entire sport, this extraordinary season is heading for an unprecedented finish. so, after aston villa and sheffield united — manchester city versus arsenal kicks off at quarter past eight. it's football — but not as we know it. joining me is arsenalfan — gooner fanzine columnist and premier league writer rosie tudball. also i'm joined by the general secretary of the manchester city supporters club — kevin parker. good afternoon. rosie, are you excited? i'm overjoyed, i cannot wait. it is a tough game but it will

not take away the excitement. you will miss the atmosphere? absolutely, it will be strange with no fans in the ground but hopefully the team can do well without us. kevin, you look as if you are at the stadium but you are not? no, we are not allowed anywhere near at the stadium, that is just not allowed anywhere near at the stadium, that isjust my screen saver in the background. we have to watch at home which is understandable but very strange feeling knowing it is match day and i live in the city centre and the game isa i live in the city centre and the game is a mile away but we cannot get near it. we understand that but it is strange. what would you normally be doing on match day, do you have a ritual? i think most foot ball you have a ritual? i think most football fans who go to the games regularly have a ritual, they know what time they need to leave home to get to the stadium, whether you have

a lucky scarf or lucky way to get to the stadium. so that is all a bit odd. watching the home game on television for the likes of me and maybe 40,000 other people will be very strange because normally we would be at the stadium. there are occasions you do not go to the etihad, away games are slightly different of course because not many people can get tickets. it is going to be art, the club have done a fantasticjob trying to liaise with supporters getting photographs and video sending with flags orlando stadium. they've tried to make it as good as they can but i do not know what to expect. i think everyone is with you there. rosie, what have you been doing in the interim because it is 100 days precisely since top—notch football was being played, how have you fill the gap? honestly

ido how have you fill the gap? honestly i do not know, it is almost unbelievable that so many days have gone by. with thejob i do as well, i like writing about football and that has been taken away as well. so football is essentially my life and my work life site had to adapt a lot and find different things to do but really nothing comes close to football so i'm very excited for tonight. and what about the belarus premier league, they continued to play. did you dip in? i watched a bit of it, arsenal played i think last year or the year before so i was familiar with their opposition but it was not close to the premier league. tonight will be a great occasion and it willjust seem different without the fans on the ground. and only going to watch with friends who are also watching it online? i will have some friends around just a social distancing of course i'm just watching the

football, we have some opposing fans as well support manchester city so it will be fun but just as well support manchester city so it will be fun butjust not as well support manchester city so it will be fun but just not the as well support manchester city so it will be fun butjust not the same as going to the ground and meeting up as going to the ground and meeting up with my friends. but what else can we do? indeed. and kevin up until now what has this season been like for manchester city? not too bad, to be honest, we won the league cup and were still in the fa cup and champions league. the premier league has been disappointing compared to the previous two seasons but you have to give credit to liverpool who have to give credit to liverpool who have been unbelievable this season andl have been unbelievable this season and i suppose you probably would not wa nt and i suppose you probably would not want to say that about your rivals but it is fair that the premier league season should continue for them to be able to win it as they have been the best team this season. that in itself has been quite difficult, we've had this rivalry with them over the last few years which has been almost like a kind of derby feel to it. city have not had

too bad a season, no other team has w011 too bad a season, no other team has won a domestic trophy in england since the 19th of may 2018 when chelsea won the fa cup. with one everything that has been going but probably sometimes you look at the media and you would not know that. you have been generous about liverpool, good for you! thank you and do enjoy the match this evening. that's the fans' perspective. but what will it be like trying to play in these unfamiliar conditions? let's speak to former england and manchester city defender danny mills. he joins us from north yorkshire. good afternoon. it is going to be a very strange couple of games?m will be very surreal. footballers are very adaptable and used to change and sudden change in circumstances. but this is going to feel very different even for the home players, home advantage in my opinion has gone out the window

completely. obviously the fans are not there, we all know that, but thenit not there, we all know that, but then it is all those little habits and wejust then it is all those little habits and we just heard there. the route you take to the ground, the place you take to the ground, the place you sit in the dressing room and the way you go through your pre—match routine, all these idiosyncrasies that the players have will all change because of social distancing, different changing rooms, everything that has to happen to protect everyone. the atmosphere is going to be strange and i think it will take a bit of time for players to adjust but they know how important it is, to get the win, they are challenging for a trophy or fighting relegation so for a trophy or fighting relegation soi for a trophy or fighting relegation so i expect them to go out and i expect the intensity still to be there. and it they are playing. that is the most important thing, i think we all know the reason why the premier league and obviously the championship closely linked to that, it is about money and to call it off was going to be a financial disaster

for so many. i think going forward 110w for so many. i think going forward now with got to make sure that there is in the premier league and those big clubs in the championship need to make sure that they look after the teams in league1 to make sure that they look after the teams in league 1 and league to come into the national leagues and further down because the english football pyramid is the strongest throughout the world and we've got to do everything to protect that and i think that this lockdown period, covid, made us realise that there are many football clubs on the precipice, on the edge day—to—day. and more needs to be done for many to be spread on a fairer basis. and what about individual players, how will they have prepared for this, how much training has gone into today? i would say most premier league players will have home gyms and they will have their fitness regime, they could have kept their basic fitness very high throughout this. of basic fitness very high throughout this. of course they would have lacked a bit of sharpness, football fitness is not like any other. it is

may be closer to something like by may be closer to something like rugby because it is stopping, starting, changing direction, different speeds, huge variable throughout the game. then a ball co nsta ntly throughout the game. then a ball constantly moving so i expect there to bea constantly moving so i expect there to be a bit of rustiness, i expect the base levels of fitness to be high. there could be some misplaced passes and some bad touches early on as the players feel the way back into it but also there the of that that some players, we used to call them training ground players, brilliant monday to friday and then they could freeze at times in front ofa they could freeze at times in front of a crowd. with no crowd may be the players could be a bit more expressive and try things that they otherwise would not. we've often heard before that some teams are better away from home without that pressure of their home crowd. so i think it will be interesting to watch both games this evening to see how the players adapt. and i guess the players when they're on the pitch will have to observe social

distancing to a certain extent?” think that will be very difficult. we've heard about the rules of no spitting, no clearing of the nose. how far do you go, you cannot wipe sweat from your brow and brush it to the floor? i think a lot of this is about the aesthetics of it and how it looks to the wider population. the last thing you be thinking of running for a ball and being competitive, that is why you are an elite sportsman and professional footballer, you're not going to suddenly think about social does sing. and when goals are scored on motion sometimes takes over. —— social distancing. itjust motion sometimes takes over. —— social distancing. it just happens and you do not know what you're doing for the next 15 or 22nd so i think that players will be as respectful as they can and when they can do will follow all the rules. but we have got to accept i think that this is competitive sport at the highest possible level. players are going to brag what we see as

those minor rules from time to time. they will not be punished for them andi they will not be punished for them and i think we've got to accept it as part and parcel of sport. very good to talk to you, thank you so much. off the pitch, one of the premier league's biggest stars, marcus rashford, says he wants to do more to help those in need after winning a battle with the government to have a free school meal voucher scheme in england extended. at westminster, the government has been questioned about child poverty and has come under further criticism for it's coronavirus policies. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley reports. the government has a growing to—do list with questions over its handling coming thick and fast. the prime minister under pressure after being forced into a u—turn on free school meals in england. facing claims that he is out of touch with what the crisis means for people around the country. last week the government's own social mobility commission said 600,000

more children are living in poverty than in 2012. labour echoed fears from the watchdog that the current shutdown could make things even worse. they are really concerned that these projections were made, 5.2 million, before the impact of covid—19 and they go on to say which we expect to push more families into poverty. this is a serious issue. i'm sure that the prime minister would agree that an even higher child poverty rate would be an intolerable outcome from this pandemic. so, what is he going to do to prevent it? the government says its actions at the start of the crisis will help protect the vulnerable. 11 millionjobs protected by the coronavirusjob retention scheme, unlike anything done anywhere else in the world. £30 billion worth of business loans, and we intend to make sure that we minimise the impact of coronavirus on the poorest kids in this country. not for the first time,

the prime minister accused labour of being unclear when it came to the return of schools, but once again mrjohnson was pressed by opposition parties to do more. marcus rashford has shown more moral leadership in tackling poverty in a matter of days than this tory government has in the past decade of cuts. but, as he says, people are struggling all year round and more needs to be done. the snp want an extra £20 a week added to the child element of universal credit. the response from the prime minister... this is a government that has done everything we possibly can so far, to help families in need, to make sure that nobody is penalised for doing the right thing. there are significant questions facing the government in the next few weeks. how to get schools back in england, whether to relax the two—metre rule, whether the guidance for people who had been shielding for months now can be changed. none of the answers are easy. but some have raised concerns that,

after some high—profile u—turns, the governmentjust isn't on top of this crisis. the government's decisions are under more scrutiny than ever. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. 0ur political correspondent, leila nathoo, is in westminster. lots going on today but notjust politics. an incident with the prime minister's car this afternoon. politics. an incident with the prime minister's car this afternoonm happened just after 2pm, the prime minister's motorcade was coming out of parliament, emerging into parliament square, where there are regular assembly of protesters and a police presence. the prime minister's car was in front, there was a police motorbike in front of him, and behind his carwas a security detail in a range rover and a further police vehicle behind that and, as the prime minister's car emerged from the parliamentary gates, video footage showed a protester running into the road,

which caused the police motorbike and the prime minister's car to stop very abruptly, and the vehicle behind the prime minister's car, the security vehicle, actually ran into the prime minister's car, resulting ina the prime minister's car, resulting in a rather large dent. number ten are saying the prime minister was in the car but there are no injuries reported and it was clear the prime minister's car was able to drive a wave stop please have confirmed they damage only collision and say a man was arrested at the scene. we can see pictures of it. moving to aeroplanes, there is a controversy over the painting of a plane red, white and blue and its cost. custom grip this was a revelation from downing street that the plans to's official claim, which carries the prime minister on official visits around the world and are sometimes used by members of the royal family, is being repainted currently in cambridgeshire, in the colours red, white and blue, to represent the unionjack white and blue, to represent the union jack flag. downing street white and blue, to represent the unionjack flag. downing street said this was going to be at a cost of

£900,000, but defending that spending, saying that the repainting would mean that the plane can better represent the uk around the world. this has been questioned by opposition politicians, who question why this is happening now, at a time ofa why this is happening now, at a time of a global pandemic, questioning whether this really is the best use of resources at this time and what the government's priorities are, but downing street keen to emphasise they think it represents value for money. we arejust a money. we are just a few minutes from the downing street briefing. what do you expect to come up? we know we will hear from the culture media and sport secretary, 0liver dowden, he will lead the briefing on his own, we expect, without any medics or scientists today, as has been happening recently. we have got football restarted this evening, so iam sure football restarted this evening, so i am sure he will be keen to talk about that. the government has had some good news to talk about yesterday, the development of the

treatment which was revealed, dexamethasone, clearly a good news story for the government to talk about. today, iam story for the government to talk about. today, i am sure 0liver dowden will want to talk about positive news of football restarting, and we perhaps might get some updates on other sports and what is in store for cultural attractions further down the line, but i think there will still be pressure on the government on lots of outstanding issues. so decisions still need to be taken about the two metre rule. is it staying or being relaxed? we metre rule. is it staying or being relaxed ? we know metre rule. is it staying or being relaxed? we know there is a review into it at the moment. really, lots of people waiting to hear. schools, perhaps an update on the testing a tracing programme, so lots of pressure points, i think, for the government today. thank you, leila nathoo. let's hearfrom marcus rashford now. he says he wants to do more to help people in need, following his successful campaign to persuade the government to extend the free school meals scheme in england to cover the summer holidays. the manchester united and england

striker has raised more than £20 million during lockdown to help feed disadvantaged children. he's been speaking to sally nugent about what else he'd like to achieve. when you heard the news, how surprised were you? yeah, i was obviously shocked. it's a big decision for someone to make. and, you know, i'm just grateful that the prime minister did change his decision. and, you know, he understood. and, you know, i spoke to him earlier on today and just thanked him for that. and, you know, it was a nice conversation to have with him and just that we understood each other. how did that chat go? and what does it...does he phone up and say, "hi, marcus, it's boris"? no, he was just, obviously saying thank you for, you know, using what i've sort of built in a positive manner. and, you know, it sort of was just thanking each other, really, because he didn't have to do what he done and neither did i.

so, you know, he wasjust grateful that someone had basicallyjust had an opinion and shared it with people and, you know, just been that voice for people that didn't really have the platform to speak out as much as they would like to. it's a nice feeling, but i'm just more happy that, you know, people's lives and, you know, people's summers especially are going to be changed for the better. and, you know, that was the important thing that i tried to change going into it. and, you know, coming out the end of it, now, it's something that, it's obviously a proud, proud moment. your mum, obviously, we talked at length about your mum the other night. what's she said to you about the decision? yeah, she's rung me about ten times today! sally laughs. no, she's just very happy. and, you know, if someone when she was going through it, if somebody would have spoke out about it then, maybe the situation would have been different. and i think she's just happy that now people that

are going through it, you know, people are aware of that now and they're going to try and help them as much as they can. so she's just happy that, you know, we're taking steps in the right direction. and when you started this campaign, i think it was only five days ago, who were you thinking of? were you thinking of your family or was there, you know, were you just thinking of, you know, the families of fans? who was it in your mind? just, you know, obviously, the areas that i've grew up in, i know a lot of different people and a lot of families that would have still been going through it now. it's not so much about my family any more because obviously the situation‘s changed. and ijust don't want people to go through the same things. and it's just important to understand where, like, the place that i come from, my background... and then it's quite simple, really, that the reason why i would try and help people that are in that situation. you now have a really powerful voice.

you've achieved this incredible thing in such a short space of time. you have a platform, a lot of attention focused on you. what is your next focus? now you've done this, what's next? i think, obviously, this is only going to be successful throughout the summer period. and then, you know, we've bought ourselves an extra six weeks of time to sort of plan and figure out what's next and how we keep taking steps forward because i don't want this to be the end of it, you know, because there's definitely more steps that need to be taken. that was marcus rashford, speaking to bbc brea kfast‘s that was marcus rashford, speaking to bbc breakfast‘s sally nugent. earlier in the lockdown, bbc weather presenter and drummer 0wain wyn jones became a viral sensation with his rendition of the bbc news theme tune. well, he's done it again — this time with the help of our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg. ahead of today's premier league

return, they've teamed up with their version of the iconic match of the day theme tune. let's have a listen. they play match of the day theme and 0wainjoins me now. do you ever have any time to do the weather if you are doing all this drumming? my gosh, rita, it's hard to shoehorn drumming into working

from home, presenting the weather from home, presenting the weather from home, presenting the weather from home and what was once our dining room is now, as you can see, more of a drum studio, so it's been shoehorning a lot of stuff in. we can see the edge of the table but otherwise it's dominated by the drums. whose idea was this, you steve rosenberg? that video was a steep's idea. he is an amazing pianist and he's been putting videos on twitter and social media of him playing the piano. as you mentioned, when i did the bbc news video a couple of weeks ago, i was doing the same sort of thing, so steve came to me and said, this is a great song, why don't we give it a go on the piano and drums? the response has been lovely. people seem to really like it. they do! was practising together tricky? you are where you are and steve is in moscow. yeah, the distance made it impossible to practice together, so steve recorded

the track, i listened and put a click over it and then i played along to it, essentially, so there was no practising. i think we both did it in one or two takes as well, so the finished product was put together quite quickly. we'd love to hear you play the drums now but i am told that we can't because you are at home and somebody else need some peace and quiet. typical lockdown situation, my husband is upstairs doing a lecture over skype, which means i can't play the drums, so normally i'd love to play them, but i'm afraid we have to keep quiet. this is lockdown life. have you got anything else planned after these two enormous successes?” anything else planned after these two enormous successes? i put a couple of similar videos on my twitter, and i like trying new things and seeing what works with a rocked up drumbeat over it, and people don't expect a flamboyant weatherman to play the drums in that way, so watch this space. do you

think lockdown has given you a certain opportunity? absolutely. i work on north—west tonight and they have been so supportive and brilliant in allowing me to work from home, and normally i'd be doing the weather, but the opportunity to do the drums a bit as well, which was just a little idea which came out of nowhere, has led to some really interesting opportunities, and it's been very strange for me, because i did them just to bring a smile to peoples faces, puts a difficult time and it's really sad, but this has been something i know has made a lot of people smile, which has been gorgeous. there is a big smile on everyone's faces in the newsroom. thank you so much. custom grip you, take care. 0ur political correspondent, leila nathoo, is in westminster. we arejust we are just waiting for the daily downing street press conference to start. you were saying earlier that

you thought there were various issues that would be brought up, the new drug, dexamethasone, that looks promising, but also questions about potentially the u—turn that was done on the school meal vouchers over the summer in england. it isa it is a delicate moment for the government more broadly in terms of carefully releasing blocked measures but there are major decisions still outstanding. and as you say that u—turn yesterday of a free school meals in the summer and other u—turns in recent weeks have drawn questions about the government and its decision—making capacity. we know that there are still major decisions to be made about what happens to the two metres rule, what happens to the two metres rule, what happens to the two metres rule, what happens to those shielding, what are the next steps for them. how are schools in england going to fully come back over the summer, potentially september, what will change between now and then in terms of the requirements to open with

social distancing. so i think there are various different points where the government is under pressure and third needs to be decisions taken and opposition parties are questioning the judgment really of the prime minister especially after that u—turn yesterday. so i think we will hear more from oliver dowden about football restarting and the glimmers of hope with that drug we spoke about yesterday offering help for treatment but i think there are still serious questions to answer and a daily opportunity of course for the government to be asked these questions. so we have 0liver dowden today on his own, not flanked we do not expect by any medics or scientists. so i think that he is going to be fielding a more general questions as well especially i think over the two metres rule which is something that is a pressing question and businesses are saying they need certainty. those businesses happening —— are hoping to reopen in july, businesses happening —— are hoping to reopen injuly, they need

certainty. here comes 0liver dowden. good afternoon and welcome to the daily downing street press briefing. i would like to start with a daily update on the latest data on coronavirus. you will see slides coming up now so the first slide shows cases confirmed with a test. seven tests for coronavirus have now been carried out or posted out in the uk. that includes 140,359 tests carried out or posted yesterday. 299,251 people have tested positive and that is an increase of 1115 cases since yesterday. the second slide, please. the second slide show is the latest data from hospitals.

387 people admitted to hospital with coronavirus in england. wales and northern ireland on the 14th of june. that is down from around 435 a week earlier and down from a peak of 3432 on the 1st of april. 379 coronavirus patients are currently in mechanical ventilation beds in the united kingdom and that is down from 494 a week ago and that in turn is down from a peak of 3301 on the 12th of april. the third slide, please. as you can see from the third slide this show is what is happening in hospitals across the country. there are now 5308 people in hospital with coronavirus in the uk and that is down 13% from 6123 a week ago and again intend that is down from a peak of 20,698 on the

12th of april. as you see from the graphs there is some variation but most nations and regions in uk are broadly following a similar pattern. the fourth and final slight if we may have that please, that shows the daily figures for those who sadly have lost their lives after testing positive for coronavirus. across all settings, the total number of deaths now stands at 42,153 and that sadly is an increase of 184 fatalities since yesterday. when you measure that on a seven date running average the daily number of deaths now stands at 146. that is down from a peak of 943 on the 14th of april. as you will see from all those slides we are making important progress. and today marks another important

milestone, injust and today marks another important milestone, in just under one and today marks another important milestone, injust under one hour the best league in the world will be back up and running after a 100 day pause. all but five countries will be airing the games tonight underlying the global reach of football and the soft power of uk sport. the premier league is returning and the world will be watching. and of course it will be very different event to what we are used to but there is no doubt that this is a hugely symbolic moment. an important step forward in our careful journey back towards normality. players back in a place of work and a boost for the football loving nation. we've worked really ha rd loving nation. we've worked really hard with football authorities, police and medical experts to get to this point but we do need the fans to play their part. so please look after your fellow fa ns to play their part. so please look after your fellow fans and your communities by watching from home. to keep the home advantage support from home. all 92 remaining premier

leagues will be shown live on tv. and i'm delighted that i and others managed to work hard to get one third of them on free to air channels. friday will be the first free to air it with norwich against southampton and then an important day on saturday when we have the first ever premier league game on the bbc. followed by the merseyside derby, again free to air on sunday. there will be extended highlights of all of the games free to air so you will not have to miss a single goal. 0ur sportsmen and women have set some incredible examples during this pandemic using their profiles to support worthwhile causes across the united kingdom. england men and women cricket teams have donated half £1 million towards charitable causes, rugby league, cheshire west bank players have donated food

parcels to the vulnerable and elderly and of course marcus rashford has made front and back pages for the very best of reasons, highlighting the struggles facing many families during this difficult time. that is a course in addition to the fantastic work that he has been doing helping to feed millions of children through his fair share charity. and the last three months we have demonstrated the immense power of support from sport and brings us together to kindness and common humanity. i was struck by this last week when i teamed up with his royal highness the duke of cambridge and some of the biggest sports stars in the uk on mental health awareness. we chatted about the need to deliver a generational change and perceptions and develop tools for google —— for good mental health. whether you are at the top of the game, just starting out or a fan going through a difficult period. as we get sport back i think it isa period. as we get sport back i think it is a great chance for all of us to be more open about talking about

mental health. the sports recovery was never just about mental health. the sports recovery was neverjust about elite sports, i know that countless people are itching to get back to the gym, the leisure centre, five aside leagues and all the other normal fitness activities so we are working closely with the sector to get grassroots and community sport back up and running as soon as it is safe to do so. with the aim of the start of july at the very earliest. as we continue our efforts to get children back to school i want to focus on the role that sport can play in improving young people's physical and mental health. so today is an important moment in our recovery, the return of elite sport has provided a model to follow one based on close partnership working with government, sport and the medics to bring it back safely. it is a model that we also apply to other much loved and much missed parts of our economy and in particular at the performing arts. i know that they face enormous challenges particularly given the impact of

social distancing on live venues and i really am looking hard at how we can address this challenge. in the past few weeks and months i've been talking extensively and intensively with people from across the uk cultural sector to try to find a way through these issues. from some of our most creative directors and producers to those running our greatest museums, theatres and music venues. greatest museums, theatres and music venues. an important part of this is to get performances back up and running again. we've made a lot of progress through the cultural renewal task force and indeed the entertainment and events working group which sits within that. but it is clear from all this that we do need greater flexibility to overcome some of the very specific and practical obstacles to the return of live performance. so that is why in the next week we will be convening experts in a targeted weight bringing together our leading performers in theatre, choirs and orchestras with medical experts and advisers on the idea is that they

will work together in detail to develop that road map which is so badly needed to perform safely with a particular focus on badly needed to perform safely with a particularfocus on piloting innovative ideas that may permit live performances. i know how essential our theatres, music venues and the performing arts are to our wider cultural ecosystem. culture is our calling card, it is respected around the world and i'm determined to work with them and across government to support it and preserve its world leading position. the return of live football today represents a significant milestone. but i hope it is just another step towards normality to be followed by many more in the months to come. thank you. with that i'm now going to turn to the first two questions, both of which we will see on the screen and then i will respond to them. the first from laura in eastbourne and she asks, theatres

around the country are still remaining closed with no reopening date in sight. how do you expect employers to keep their staff employed and contribute to the job retention scheme if they are unable to open and have a income. i hope i addressed some of that laura in my opening remarks. the first thing we've done to support theatres is thejob retention we've done to support theatres is the job retention scheme. we've done to support theatres is thejob retention scheme. without that literally thousands of people in theatres would have lost their jobs already. because of the job retention scheme the government has spent tens of millions of pounds ensuring that those people can keep theirjobs. we've also introduced schemes like deferral of vat payments and business rate deferrals andindeed payments and business rate deferrals and indeed business rate relief. i know that for theatres in particular as we open and we set the challenging target of the 4th of july, it will be exceptionally difficult for theatres to open

consistent with social distancing. that is why i continue to have discussions across government to see what further support we can give theatres during this challenging time. so hopefully that answers the first question. we now go to the second question and this is from valerie from wetherby. she asks, what is the policy and strategy to allow visitors to relatives in care homes whose mental health has been severely impacted by lockdown whilst at the same time protecting vulnerable residents. first of all i know valerie, i do not know if you have family in care homes but i know what a difficult time this has been for people who have family in care homes not being able to see them in person. and the government really is aware of this challenge. i think it was essential that we protected people in care homes by not allowing that visiting to happen and of course i know that is something that

my colleague the health secretary is continuing to work through and as soon as it is safe to do so we will ensure that that can happen. i really do understand your desire to be able to do so. so those of the two questions we've had from the public. we are now going to turn to hugh pym from the bbc. thank you. a couple of questions if i may. first of all more than 1500 paediatricians have written to the prime minister saying that they are very concerned that many pupils are not back in school and their calling urgently for a plan to get them back. what is your response to that and secondly, there are some ministers at the beginning of the crisis who were critical of professional footballers for not taking a pay cut. has that you changed and are you now praising them from getting back from today and providing entertainment to the

fans? two very different questions andi fans? two very different questions and i will try to address each one of them. first on the plan to get schools back, it is vitally important that we get children back to school. i know that my own daughter is back at her local state school and millions of hundreds of thousands of kids, over 600,000 kids across the country are back at school. we've managed to get children back in reception and year one and indeed in year six. of course we want to go further and thatis course we want to go further and that is white from september we want to ensure that all schools are back. ido to ensure that all schools are back. i do think it is important as part of this that we really reassure pa rents of this that we really reassure parents that it is safe for their kids to go back. and i've been really heartened by the incredible ha rd really heartened by the incredible hard work that i have seen from teachers up and down the country who have worked so hard in difficult circumstances to get kids back to school. i do think it is a shame

that their unions and indeed it appears the leader of the labour party is not also providing them with that kind of backing and support. in relation to professional footballers, i think it is wonderful that we have got football back and we have got football back and we've worked really ha rd we have got football back and we've worked really hard with the professional footballers and others on this and in particular i pay tribute to professor van tam who has done so much to reassure footballers about the safety of all this. and i think it is entirely right that we should praise footballers for the role that they play in ensuring we are able to get back to normal life as before. i think the comments referred to in relation to the access to job retention schemes, on thejob retention scheme i've access to job retention schemes, on the job retention scheme i've always been clear and i think most clubs have followed this, you should only access this scheme if you cannot afford to use as means and i think that they followed that example. on

football once again, do you have any concerns about fans gathering at grounds, and do you have any message to them? what about lower leagues and the financial plight of many clu bs ? and the financial plight of many clubs? what support or assistance can you give them? those are important points. first of all, i hope that he would have heard this message at the beginning, the risk here would be if people congregate outside stadiums. it is really important to stay at home. that is an important part of saving lives in this period. we do not want people to inadvertently spread coronavirus by being outside stadiums. but i must say that the british people and,i must say that the british people and, ithink, must say that the british people and, i think, fans, must say that the british people and, ithink, fans, have must say that the british people and, i think, fans, have shown remarkable common sense. they know they shouldn't be doing this and i don't think they will. an important pa rt don't think they will. an important part has been negotiating those free to air matches, which will give

people an opportunity to watch a large number of matches live at home if they don't have subscriptions, andindeed if they don't have subscriptions, and indeed to see extended highlights for the rest. the second point, forgive me, what was your second point? about lower league clu bs. second point? about lower league clubs. throughout all of this, i think the best thing we can do for football is to get it up and running again, so of course, by getting the premiership and the championship back up and running that is releasing funds that would otherwise have been forgone, those clubs would have been forgone, those clubs would have to have made penalty payments to the broadcasters, so that gets more money into the sport, which can then be shared through the football pyramid. i hope, and the next stage in reopening, because we have had three stages. the first stage was socially distant training, the second full contact training, the third has been the return of live sport behind closed doors, the fourth stage will be international competition, and the fifth stage will then be about seeing whether it

is safe for fans to return to stadiums. just today, we have had productive discussions about this. i would really hope that, by the return of the new season, we might be in return of the new season, we might beina return of the new season, we might be in a position whereby some fans could start to return to stadiums, andi could start to return to stadiums, and i know that would be another important part of restoring the financial position of clubs. thank you for those questions. now over to robert preston from itv. secretary of state, can you tell us whether there is any chance that, within a year, we will be back in stadiums, in theatres, in entertainment venues, and if you can't, what can you do to stop the hundreds of thousands of job losses you do to stop the hundreds of thousands ofjob losses that look set to come within weeks, long before the coronavirus job retention scheme ends in october? as cameron mackintosh's announcement of redundancies today shows all too clearly. i should also give you a

follow—up to a question you asked me on your show last week. i am pleased to say that royal parks are starting to say that royal parks are starting to open their toilets. every royal park in england has at least one blew open and more will be opening up blew open and more will be opening up stop in relation to the other points, look, i really want, and i understand the need, for all of these venues to return with people in them and, indeed, eventually without social distancing, but that can only be done if the public health allows it to happen, and we see different scenarios. with stadiums, where people are outside and there is more scope for social distancing, it may well be you could do that sooner. particularly with the performing arts in theatres, when you are doing that in a confined space, there are greater risks. this is why we are giving it a lot of attention for the first ape is that we have extended the job

retention scheme through to the end of october but, of course, i am continuing to work with everyone across the industry to look at what further support we can give them. you mentioned cameron mackintosh. cameron mackintosh is just one of dozens cameron mackintosh is just one of d oze ns of cameron mackintosh is just one of dozens of people i have spoken to on a one—to—one basis, and i am familiar with the challenges that are being faced, and we are working to resolve them. any follow—ups? are being faced, and we are working to resolve them. any follow-ups? on an unrelated note, many of us have seen the picture of the security car bashing into the prime minister's car this afternoon, with a protester running out are the security implications of that?” running out are the security implications of that? i don't know about the security implications and i don't believe there are have just been updated prior to this press conference and i am happy to say the prime minister is wholly unscathed andi prime minister is wholly unscathed and i believe that everyone else escaped safely from that situation. thank you for that question. now

onto hugh woozencroft from talk sport. you have joined the premier league in urging fans to stay at home to watch and listen to premier league matches, but what specific advice have you given the police if fa ns advice have you given the police if fans do turn up outside the stadium? what if the threshold for moving matches to neutral venues if there are any issues? certainly, our listeners would love to see marcus rashford of manchester united formally recognised for some of the work he has been doing, helping to provide free school meal vouchers during the school holidays, so what do you think? is it arise, sir marcus? on the first question, before this press conference, i was speaking to the policing minister about this, and clearly we have been working across the policing authorities very closely in developing these plans. we have been clear from the

developing these plans. we have been clearfrom the beginning developing these plans. we have been clear from the beginning that this is one of the risks. of course, the police have appropriate powers and they will be able to use them as necessary , they will be able to use them as necessary, i really hope this situation will not arise, and i really do trust the good sense of football fa ns really do trust the good sense of football fans up and down the country and, indeed, the british public to know that you can watch this safely at home and there is nothing to be gained from congregating outside the stadium. all that could happen if you congregated outside the stadium is to put at risk public health. 0n marcus rashford, yes, i have been very impressed at his lobbying skills. sadly, it's not within my purview to award knighthoods or anything else, but we will see what happens on that front. any follow—ups? happens on that front. any follow-ups? yes, just on the return of listeners and football fans to stadium, what are the specific requirements that need to be required before we allow fans back into stadiums? tonight in the

premier league, the first round of matches, thank you nhs and also black lives matter will be on the premier league shirts. i wanted what your views were. on the steps to return fa ns your views were. on the steps to return fans to stadiums, it will be a similar process to what we have gone through with the return of live sport behind closed doors, so we are having intensive engagement to look at how that could be done safely. really, we will not only look at the positioning of fans at where they are in relation to each other but there are other issues about how you get in and out of stadium safely and how you have issues to dash access to conveniences and everything else. we are having these discussions, but i'm not at this stage indicating this is going to happen, but of course it is the final step in the five stage process. in respect of what premier league players have got on their shirts, i think it is up to eve ryo ne on their shirts, i think it is up to everyone how they wish to mark black

lives matter and, indeed, the nhs. they have taken that decision. that is great for them to market in the way they want. my focus as a minister is about creating opportunities so, for example, i was pleased last week to announce, in relation to artificial intelligence, which is another bit of my brief, we are creating a conversion course there and we have reserved 1000 places on that conversion course for people who don't typically access it. my focus is on creating those opportunities stop thank you for those questions. now, we are on to gordon raynerfor the daily telegraph. thank you. on the subject of theatres and cinemas, sir patrick valla nce of theatres and cinemas, sir patrick vallance was yesterday talking about the idea that the two metre rule was not set in stone and it could perhaps be flexible. he talked about people sitting side by side, wearing face masks, people being in

ventilated areas. i wondered if they are some of the things you have been talking to theatres and cinemas about and if, perhaps, you were thinking of opening them up by using facemasks or other means? we rely hugely on large numbers of people being crammed in side by side. is that one of the things you are perhaps looking at ticket theatres and cinemas reopened? just a small point, could you ask, as some culture secretary, how you feel about seeing some of our most loved public monuments being boarded up in the last few days? i think the first question has two or three parts. 0n the two metre versus one metre, we have got this review ongoing and we will look at it in the way that he described. if, and it is clearly and if, if we are in a situation where we drop to one metre, i think that

will be of more benefit to cinemas, because i think they are better able to operate at lower capacity. it will still be immensely challenging for theatres, who really do rely, not just for theatres, who really do rely, notjust in terms of the atmosphere but the profit margins, their work on wafer thin margins and they need a lot of people packed in. i have beenin a lot of people packed in. i have been in touch with andrew lloyd webber and others about what they have done in seoul in relation to one of his productions, and we are looking at that. that is why, as i announced at the beginning of this press co nfe re nce , announced at the beginning of this press conference , we announced at the beginning of this press conference, we are creating a specific group to challenge all those kind of things, but i have to say that it is going to be very challenging to be able to do that. i think that in itself will not be enough to overcome the wider challenges around social distancing. that is to say that social distancing plays a very important pa rt distancing plays a very important part in reducing the spread of the disease, so i think we may be looking at some time for theatres to

be returning to a state where they can perform extensively, which is why i have been discussing what other support we can provide them with. in relation to statues, i think statues have huge symbolic value, particularly the cenotaph, so i was value, particularly the cenotaph, so iwas in value, particularly the cenotaph, so i was in touch with english heritage on monday and i'm glad they have removed the hoarding around the cenotaph, and my office has been in touch with the mare's office around the churchill statue, which is under his purview because it sits within the gla. i am hopeful that the mayor of london will remove that. i think it is particularly important that this should happen, given that president macron will be visiting shortly to mark that famous address from google, and to have churchill covered at that point would not be a great look, i think the mayor appreciates that. any other follow—ups? appreciates that. any other follow-ups? i ought to ask you about

the admission by downing street today that the prime minister nearly £1 million having the voyager aircraft repainted to have a union flag colour theme is that honestly the best use of taxpayers money? we have always spent money on promoting the uk around the world. if you look at the great campaign, and i see this with the creative industries, and we are a super power in those, and we are a super power in those, and we are a super power in those, and we should be promoting and we have done through the great campaign, and! have done through the great campaign, and i think that the work on voyager is part of that promotion. thank you for those questions. now over to seth payne at the ft. thank you, mr dowden. at a press co nfe re nce a the ft. thank you, mr dowden. at a press conference a month ago, you said you hoped the british tourism industry would be up and running again by the beginning ofjuly. if thatis again by the beginning ofjuly. if that is the intention, when will you tell people about when they can go on holiday within the uk? most folks need a bit more than two weeks notice. it was good to hear your

news earlier about toilets within the royal parks, but i was wondering what else this government is doing to help open more public toilets. you have urged people to go back to shops and have said that people can socialise outside, but without toilets open it risks turning parks and streets into cesspits. as i announced at this press conference, or confirmed, what the prime minister said that this press conference a month ago, we have set out a road map, conference a month ago, we have set outa road map, and conference a month ago, we have set out a road map, and you saw the latest stage of delivering on that road map the beginning of this week, with the opening of nonessential retail. the next stage is the 4th of july. i very much hope that we will be able to stick to that road map and we will see tourism return to the uk. i am a huge fan of british holidays. i have holidayed everywhere from the lake district to northumbria to devon, cornwall,

dorset, norfolk, all these wonderful places, and i want to be out there making the case for people to do that, but we can only do so when it is safe to do so, so we will publish the guidance in due course. we have made a lot of progress with it, but the key thing is ensuring it is safe to do so. on toilets, i should emphasise that toilets don't full within my ministerial purview, aside from the royal parks, but i know the secretary of state for mhc lg has set clear guidance for local authorities that they should be opening those toilets, and i agree with that. any other follow—ups? earlier a couple of weeks ago this government said we should not expect to have any summer holidays abroad but now there has been reports that the government is close to securing air bridges to allow british people to go on holiday to spain or greece, due expect that site by august?m

is worth remembering how this situation has arisen festival so as we have got the case of coronavirus under control and we sought further progress today on that front, we wa nt to progress today on that front, we want to ensure that we do not import cases from other countries thereby causing numbers to rise so we put in place this quarantine regime. now that we had that place were looking at for example corridors whereby particularly in countries that have lower infection rates we could allow travel between the uk and those countries. i know the transport secretary is working intensively on this alongside the prime minister and others. and i'm hopeful that we will be able to make some progress on that. but as always we are driven by the public health in doing so so thank you for those questions and finally we go to anna riley from the hull daily mail. on monday i spoke toa hull daily mail. on monday i spoke to a mother who rushed out to the

shops as nonessential stores were open, not to buy anything but heartbreakingly to sell her games console to put food on the table for the family. she and her partner both worked in hospitality before being laid off due to lockdown and had to go on benefits for the first time in their lives. they say it is not enough money to live off and do not know how to make ends meet in the first case for the how would you respond to people struggling like that? and also this week i spoke to a grieving widow who lost her footing on wife to coronavirus within three days of being admitted to the royal infirmary. she had no underlying health conditions and died before even getting to meet her newly born grandson for the pill when it is now part of a campaign group that thinks the government delayed its response to prevent the public from catching coronavirus and in doing so failed to save thousands

of lives that have been and continue to be last to this deadly virus. she believes like professor at niall ferguson that the number of uk deaths could have been halved, around 20,000 lives saved, if lockdown had come just around 20,000 lives saved, if lockdown had comejust one around 20,000 lives saved, if lockdown had come just one week earlier. no one expects the government responds to have been perfect in handling a pandemic that the world has never seen before but please can you be honest, what has been the government's biggest mistake so far? thank you for this detailed questions. the first thing i would say is my most profound sympathies to the lady who has lost family. and of course to anyone and many people i know have lostjobs during this coronavirus, this is not something we wanted to happen but we had this unprecedented public health crisis and we've had to take very draconian measures to save lives and protect the nhs. in response to that

the chancellor has announced an unparalleled package of measures to support people and if you just take for example in hull city alone 30,000 people have benefited from thejob retention 30,000 people have benefited from the job retention scheme, 30,000 people have benefited from thejob retention scheme, 4000 businesses have benefited from the local authority grant and 6000 people have benefited from the self—employment income scheme so thatis self—employment income scheme so that is literally tens of millions of pounds of support but sadly we cannot support everyone, for example thatis cannot support everyone, for example that is white with increased universal credit. but in the long run what we've got to do as long it is safe to do so and hospitality is a good example of this, is to reopen the sectors and we are not doing this for some ideological reason but precisely for the reason you set out which is that people need to be able to get theirjobs back and get back to get theirjobs back and get back to work if it is safe to do so. and in respect of the point about when we introduced lockdown at the beginning of this crisis, ministers

clearly made the decision and we we re clearly made the decision and we were informed by scientific advice in doing so. we did so at a relatively similar stage in the progression of the disease as other countries did so. on the point about the numbers of people affected and the numbers of people affected and the lessons to be learned, it really is just too early to make those kind of comparisons. different countries have different ways of measuring it and they have different demographics. of course there will bea time demographics. of course there will be a time when we need to look at all those lessons but i hope that you and people watching will appreciate that our focus as the government and government ministers and my focus indeed has to be and what they're doing to continue to control and drive down the numbers of this disease. so thank you for those questions. any follow—up? of this disease. so thank you for those questions. any follow-up? you say the time is not right now but will it be an enquiry in the future thenis will it be an enquiry in the future then is to measures that could been put in place or lessons learned?

yes, of course there will be lessons that will need to be learned but as i say the focus at the moment still is with dealing with this crisis. driving the numbers down. and as we saw from the presentation at the beginning we are continuing to make progress and over time we will look at lessons from around the world and look at those comparisons when it can be meaningfully done and learn appropriate lessons. thank you for those questions and that concludes the press conference this afternoon. thank you very much. 0liver dowden bringing the downing street briefing toa bringing the downing street briefing to a close today. let's have a reminder of some of the main points he made. the culture, media and sport secretary started the briefing with the latest uk data. a further 184 people have died from coronavirus in uk bringing the death

toll to 42,153. the premier league is returning tonight with the first game between aston villa and sheffield united. 0liver dowden called it a very symbolic moment but he urged plans —— fans to pay their pa rt by he urged plans —— fans to pay their part by supporting them home. one third of all premier league games will be free to view on television with the first free to view them on friday when norwich play southampton he also spoke about the performing a rts he also spoke about the performing arts with the aim to get live performances back up and running. he said in the next few weeks medical experts and leading performers would work together to develop a road map to performing safely. laura scott is here, quite a strong message to the fans? the message loud and clear that fans have got to stay at home or they would put public health at risk. he said he wanted them to play their part and he appealed to the good sense to do so but he warned

that the police would have appropriate powers to disperse them if it comes to that. but as i said he really hopes it does not come to that but he did say there was a note of hope for the fans watching from home that they may be able to return in the near future. home that they may be able to return in the nearfuture. he home that they may be able to return in the near future. he said there had been productive discussions to date on the potential return of the fa ns date on the potential return of the fans and he hopes it might be possible by the start of the next football season. and what about fans being able to go back? he said that there are productive discussions today and it just there are productive discussions today and itjust is not going to be possible at the moment for the remainder of the season and clearly tonight the first two games back after 100 days, the fans will be watching from home and it will be incredibly different experience for them. there are several broadcasting enhancements put in place to try to enhancements put in place to try to enhance the experience from home. some fans beamed into the stadiums on the screens and some grounds will

use cardboard cut outs. but it will look incredibly different, it will feel different and sound different because you will be able to hear the players and managers more than before and it willjust players and managers more than before and it will just feel very empty. but as 0liver dowden said he hopes that this is a boost for people at home, he said is a hugely symbolic moment on the journey back to normality. he said that all but five countries in the world will be airing the games tonight and he said that was an example of soft power. but clearly one of the most important messages from tonight will be the players using their platform as we've seen during lockdown, they will have black lives matter written in the back of their shirts and badges for the nhs on the chest. so a big message from the players tonight. laura, many thanks.

well we had a question there about schools and hugh pym asked 0liver dowden about a letter from a big number of paediatricians asking about school policies. 0liver dowden had a bit of a deck at the labour party. a bit of political messaging there from oliver dowden saying that why has the later reader not sought to reassure pa rents why has the later reader not sought to reassure parents that it was safe for children to get back to school. —— at labour leader. some think that borisjohnson —— at labour leader. some think that boris johnson accused —— at labour leader. some think that borisjohnson accused keir starmer of repeatedly at prime minister's questions to date. but 0liver dowden obviously is the minister briefing today, the one to answer those questions on behalf of the government and he said it was vitally important and you want it all schools to go further and he didn't want to reassure parents that it was safe for children to go back. clearly a number of schools and councils across england are not reassured and that is why we are seeing this kind of peace and approach. and that is a big question

now for the government as to how they will get a plan in place by september. to get schools back open with social distancing measures. are they going to think in terms of creating more premises for example, using different facilities, how they will get more teachers on board if they need smaller class sizes and so on. so there needs to be a big plan and a big push from government if they are now accepting that not all primary school years are getting back before the summer holidays as they initially planned. so clearly still a lot of pressure on the government over schools. a couple of other things quickly, over time confirming the prime minister was unscathed in that bump on his car earlier this afternoon. in defending the spending on the official plane commit the rf voyager that is being repainted to the tune of £900,000 he said britain has always spent money promoting the uk abroad so clearly

in line with what downing street said earlier they do think that that repainting of the voyager in red white and blue represents value for money. and away from the downing street briefing there has been a bit of news about the contact tracing app that was being developed on the isle of wight. this is the app you remember at the start some time ago was billed as the centrepiece of the testing and tracing machine. it was going to be an app that people would download that would allow people to be notified if they came into contact with someone with coronavirus symptoms and it was a kind of automatic system if you like. it has been slightly downgraded to a cherry on the cake in the words of those in charge of the testing system out so clearly it is not the central focus of the government testing and tracing system which now has been up and running and is now very much a human—to—human system in terms of

reporting coronavirus symptoms and getting tested and then being reporting back to call handlers who would then ask you about your contacts and trace them. so the app has been on the back burner if you like and it is being piloted in the isle of wight but we had an appearance from lord bethell, a minister in the department for health earlier at the science and technology committee who has been saying that it is something he wants to get going by winter. so very much pushing the app being rolled out very much down the line. initially it was something that was meant to be ready months ago but we clearly now i been told by the minister in the select committee appearance that it will be something the government is not prioritising until much later in the yearand is not prioritising until much later in the year and they do not want to pushit in the year and they do not want to push it out there say until it is ready. many thanks again. i have correspondent philippa roxby is

here. the briefing started as always with the latest data. take us through what was said. we still have increasing numbers of positive cases in the uk still around 1000 and that a state fairly consistent in the past few weeks and does not seem to be coming down too much. the number of tests carried out, 140,000, we do not know exactly how many people have been tested, we have not been provided with that data now for around ten days. so that a number of tests that have been posted out and won a 24 deaths in the past 24 hours and again there is coming down but very slowly. i think we are able perhaps to see a couple of slides that might explain a little bit more. admission is two hospital, still amount to an are people being admitted to hospital with the virus every day and interestingly 379 people at the moment in hospital on

ventilators with coronavirus in the uk and these are the people who may be able to take this new drug treatment that we've heard about yesterday, dexamethasone, which has proved so promising in a recent uk trial. is a drug that already exists, it is a steroid and is extremely cheap and widely available. many of these people on ventilators and also on oxygen right now in hospital will be able to put this drug almost immediately. before chief medical officers of the uk said it would be offered with immediate effect so it will be interesting to see how these patients currently in hospital fare on the drug treatment. anything else that stood out? interesting to see paediatricians wading into the debate on whether schools should be open to all children or not and that comes open to all children or not and that co m es after open to all children or not and that comes after child psychologists in the past few days also said that children should be going back to school and should go back to university and that life should be returning to normal. they're worried

about the mental health impact on young people of prolonged lockdown and not seeing their friends, young people of prolonged lockdown and not seeing theirfriends, of young people of prolonged lockdown and not seeing their friends, of the absence of face—to—face contact and they are quite concerned about the long—term damage that could cause children and young people. so doctors are increasingly lobbying government for the schools to reopen. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, has endorsed a suggestion by a public health expert that scottish schools could open in august without strict social distancing. ms sturgeon said something nearer normality might be possible if the virus was sufficiently suppressed and other measures were in place. i agree with her in the totality of what she says, not just the bits of her analysis that suit my particular argument. i want to get schools back to normal as quickly as possible. i want to get our economy back to normal as quickly as possible. but i also know that all of that has to be safe. we cannot have memories so short

that we already forget we are dealing with a virus that is dangerous and potentially deadly. and it has not gone away. so we must continue to move forward in a careful and phased way and that's what i will continue to do because the key part of what professor sridhar, and other experts, will say is that we must suppress this virus even further if we are to have that ultimate and hopefully speedy move back to normality. so i would ask people to bear in mind the totality of her advice when, tomorrow, i stand up here and yes, announce further steps out of lockdown but continue to do that in a very careful and cautious manner. the husband of a nurse who caught coronavirus days before she died has accused a hospital of behaving irresponsibly by allowing her to continue working at the start of the pandemic, when she was heavily pregnant. mary ajjyapong, who was 28, died shortly after her daughter was born. in his first interview, mary's widower, ernest, has been speaking to our correspondent,

sima kotecha. come on, bubba. a year ago, mary encouraging her son aj to walk. yay! sometimes he will wake you up in the middle of the night and tell you, iwant mummy. and at that point in time, there is nothing i can say to him. she was just 28 and leaves behind a son and a daughter, who was delivered by emergency caesarean section just days before she died. she was very kind. she was very genuine. we know men are not perfect. everybody's not perfect. but mary was. mary was a nurse at the luton and dunstable hospital in bedfordshire. she was diagnosed with coronavirus in early april and died a week later. her husband says she shouldn't have been working at the hospital

because she was heavily pregnant. this was before the government had issued guidance for expectant mums. when mary passed, i had a call from one of the junior reps and confidently told me that, ok, you know what, i actually met mary on the ward and i told her, mary, it's not safe for you. you need to get out of here. but she said she couldn't help it. she was helpless. the nhs trust responsible for the hospital says the first patient to have tested positive for coronavirus wasn't admitted onto her ward till after mary had gone on sick leave with pregnancy related problems. while holding his newborn, ernest says he doesn't believe that was the case. we find it a bit difficult to comprehend, because even at the time mary was off sick, some of her colleagues were even self—isolating.

in a statement, the trust says, "we are extremely saddened to lose mary. we have carried out a full internal review into the circumstances surrounding her death, and we are confident that she received the best possible care and support from the trust." it also says, "we have sent our deepest condolences to mr boateng and are currently working through a number of issues he has raised." do you think that your anger that you're feeling at the moment, that you are perhaps taking that out on the trust? for me, i think mary was not treated fairly. her family has not been treated fairly. and for that matter, i believe my voice is what i have now. mary, at her son's second birthday last year, dancing with her father, who died from suspected coronavirus five days before she did. sima kotecha, bbc news.

there's more evidence of the effect the coronavirus lockdown has had on the uk economy. prices have risen at their slowest rate for four years. falling petrol prices, and cheaper clothes and footwear saw the official inflation rate drop to 0.5%. food prices have gone up though, as supermarkets were among the few shops allowed to stay open and increased demand saw some shortages of supplies. yesterday saw the highest number of daily confirmed covid—19 cases globally since the pandemic began. infections in brazil are continuing to rise dramatically. nearly 35,000 new cases were reported yesterday, a daily record for the country. and more than 45,000 people have died in brazil with the disease. 0ur correspondent katy watson in sao paulo says despite the high number of cases, major cities are starting to open up.

we are looking at, in the next few days, still putting a million cases of coronavirus. in just the last week, with the death toll, we are now looking at more than 45,000 deaths, so every few days in brazil there is a new, grim milestone reached. but the government seems to do very little. jair bolsonaro hardly talks to the public. yesterday, one of his officials said that the virus was under control. jair bolsonaro last week encouraged people to go to hospitals to see the empty beds, because of this continual playing down of the virus. but the world health organisation says that brazil is a major concern and, of course, this is a moment of crisis in brazil, and in sao paulo, in rio dejaneiro, the shops are continuing to reopen, and that's a major concern at the peak of the crisis, or even whether we have reached the peak or not, the country opening back up.

as lockdown restrictions are gradually eased across the uk, theme parks, museums and other venues are working out how they can reopen safely. but it will be a long time before some visitor attractions are back up and running again, our correspondent, david sillito, reports from blackpool. blackpool. the pleasure beach. a place that should be at this time of year, a cacophony of shouts and screams. it is a very strange atmosphere here because the only thing you can hear is birdsong. and this should be a place that is at this time of year teeming with people. they're hoping they'll soon get a chance to open the gates. but the question is, how do you do socially distanced fun? this is the first time since 1896 that this park has ever closed.

we were open throughout the wars, both wars. so this is just an extraordinary time for us. and being a family business it's particularly difficult because you've got to look after so many families as well that work here for you. and to make it work, they're even socially distancing the rollercoasters. are you going to be able to fill the train? we're not. to enable distance between people, as we'll see i think with your measuring tape. so we've got... so the one seat back there, that's only a metre. so you've got to go... so let's pull that back a bit further. and that's exactly two metres. so we'd leave this row empty. and then we would load these seats, maintaining a safe distance. so it's a very different experience, you see. you have to wear a facemask on here. there's no one behind me. there have to be two sets behind because of social distancing. everything's going to be, well, a lot slower. that is, apart from the ride itself.

and if you don't want to be terrified alone, bring someone from your own household. britain's visitor attractions and cultural venues have seen income plummet, and even when things do reopen, it's going to be gradual. london zoo, for instance, is outdoor only with strict viewing points and one way systems. research released today says our creative industries are losing more than £1 billion a week in revenue. here at the design museum, i was shown how they're adapting their forthcoming exhibition on the music industry. there's a one way flow into the main exhibition. time—limited, an hour and a half. of course, one way systems work for museums, but not other cultural venues. it's interesting that the exhibition deals with an aspect of music and live performance and club culture, because that part of the cultural landscape is really severely hit at the moment, even more than museums.

i mean, the opening trajectory for live venues of music performance and so on is a lot further down the lines. hundreds of thousands ofjobs depend on places like this, but it's going to be tough for businesses that rely on mingling crowds and people feeling comfortable being close to one another. david sillito, bbc news, blackpool. in a moment, sophie raworth will be here with the news at six. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. hello there. another summer's day. sunny spells and scattered showers, but the showers at this time of year can be very lively indeed. this was the isle of wight through this morning. the misty, low cloud is still with us in parts of northumberland and it has been plaguing the north sea coasts for much of the week. but in general, the most

noticeable weather for most is the torrential showers as they come along, lots of lightning, hail, and of course, some gusty winds. and those torrential downpours have occurred just about anywhere through the remainder of the day and they will continue rumbling on into this evening as well. i suppose they are most likely across southern and western scotland. further east, the sun's energy being taken to burn back that low cloud, so some sunshine coming through for the western side of northern ireland. they are more prevalent, those showers, further east, but they could occurjust