george eustice said there we re testing. george eustice said there were 29,058 tests yesterday.arget they have to hit, what, by next thursday? yes, the government set themselves this bold, ambitious target, and they are doing everything they can to really increase the capacity of testing. i think putting aside the government targets it is really important to remember that testing is vital. individual people need to know whether or not they have the virus, so of course they can then protect themselves from spreading it on to other people in their home and workplace. and, overall, the government and the scientists need to know what the spread of the virus is, what it is doing in the uk as a whole. that is why testing is so important. there are these measures. if you are an essential worker and you have symptoms of coronavirus, you have symptoms of coronavirus, you can go on to the government website. but as we saw on friday those tests and those lots for them get picked up very quickly and that continues today. and we know there will be mobile testing labs moving around the countr

the environment secretary, george eustice said lockdown measures would be reviewed in a couple of weeks was very important not to act too soon. mr eustice also said that more staff were back at supermarkets as absence from illness and self—isolation has more than halved. more european countries have begun easing their restrictions. in spain, millions of children have emerged from weeks of lockdown, as the number of deaths and infections continues to fall. meanwhile the italian prime minister has announced measures to ease the lockdown from next month. it comes after the country's lowest daily death toll for more than a month. we'll have more and all these stories in the next half hour. first, this report from our science editor david shukman. in towns and cities, usually busy streets remain empty, a scenario set to continue, as scientists warn that any relaxation of the lockdown could risk killing tens of thousands more people. the government insists on moving very carefully. we'll end up moving to a new normal, and i think we will need to make sure that we can proceed in a sure—footed

the environment secretary, george eustice said lockdown measures would be reviewed in a couple of weekst was very important not to act too soon. mr eustice also said that more staff were back at supermarkets as absence from illness and self—isolation has more than halved. more european countries have begun easing their restrictions. in spain, millions of children have emerged from weeks of lockdown, as the number of deaths and infections continues to fall. meanwhile the italian prime minister has announced measures to ease the lockdown from next month — it comes after the country's lowest daily death toll for more than a month. we'll have more and all these stories in the next half hour. first this report from our science editor david shukman. in towns and cities, usually busy streets remain empty, a scenario set to continue as scientists warn that any relaxation of the lockdown could risk killing tens of thousands more people. the government insists on moving very carefully. we'll end up moving to a new normal and i think we will need to make sure we can proceed in a sure—footed way, w

them they're concerned that food and french but end up just brushing away in the fields so george eustice who is britain's environment minister is the latest politician to suggest that those workers who've been furloughed in other words they've been laid off because of this crisis should think about becoming seasonal workers. we estimate that probably only about a 3rd of the migrant labor that would normally come to the u.k. is here and was probably here before lock down and we are working with industry to identify an approach that will encourage those millions of furloughed workers in some cases to consider taking a 2nd job helping get the harvesting in june. so how has that gone down well already there are mass recruitment campaigns across countries like the u.k. germany france and spain with some of them offering those workers that they were a single that keep their unemployment benefits if they work in the fields now look at germany relies on around about $300000.00 seasonal workers every year in normal times many of them come from remain ia and poland and some farmers have told me th

the environment secretary, george eustice said lockdown measures will be reviewed in a couple of weeksrtant not to act too soon. there is a question of delay before debts can be validated, and also the question of establishing the actual cause of death, particularly if the doctor hasn't been able to visit the ca re doctor hasn't been able to visit the care home and sign the death certificate. now, the downing street briefing, the environment secretary, george eustis, said measures will be reviewed in a couple of weeks, that was scheduled, but it was very important not to act too soon. he also said that more staff are back at supermarkets after absences from illness or from self isolation has more than halved. more european countries have begun easing their restrictions. in spain, six million children have emerged from weeks of lockdown, as the number of deaths and infections continues to fall. while in germany, medical wholesalers have almost run out of masks, their use in shops and on public transport becomes compulsory from monday. the medical director of the nhs in england, professo

from the uk government in an hour's time, which will be led by the environment secretary, george eusticerst, for the latest developements, here's our health correspondent jane dreaper. once busy streets now deserted. when will there be an end to the new lockdown quietness? the government says the coronavirus pandemic is still at a delicate and dangerous stage, and the restrictions on our way of life won't be lifted quickly. we'll end up moving to a new normal, and i think we will need to make sure that we can proceed in a sure—footed way, which is why — i know the temptation to start announcing proposals now — but actually until you've got the evidence that's not responsible, it risks you ending up misleading... we need to take a sure—footed way forward which protects life and preserves our way of life. but the scottish government has again signalled it might take a different route out of lockdown. that would mean if, and it is an if — i'm not saying we are likely to get into this territory, and if the uk government took decisions that i thought were premature in terms of coming out of t

past these targets amount to reaching 100000 tests a day now while the environment secretary george eustice released the latest figures for testing in the press briefing yesterday just under 30000 were tested on saturday that are significantly below the $100000.00 tests a day the government had set for themselves $700000.00 only have been tested in total with $150000.00 testing positive for the virus now that $700000.00 in context generally do just a little bit under that every single week at number 10 say they don't know when they will reach that target further research suggests that the government's at the currently testing around 53000 people a day again around half of their own target which they'd set for themselves to be met by id and of april so will they meet that targets will they miss it remains to be seen but the government promising they are doing everything they can to round those up he said thank you very much indeed for that update well to discuss all of this further i'm not joined by a consultant in genetic pathology dr he and framing in very good of you to join us today it's

we're joined now from cornwall by the environment secretary, george eustice.his hasn't been done before now? we have been trying to expand tests over the past few weeks. we help capacity around 75,000 a day and that is close to the 100,000 target and we will get to that by the end of the week. it takes time to expand their capacity, we have opened drive—through centres so people do not have to travel too far. more opening later this week. a lot has been done to do this. initially tests were prioritised in the nhs where you have people in direct contact with patients. wejudged it was critical we did that first. we are rolling these tests out right across key sector as including in ca re across key sector as including in care homes and including two important sectors like the food sector to help people get back to work. can i ask about access to these tests, slots are filling up very quickly on the online portal and people having to travel a long way to get to testing centres. how easy will it be for people who need those tests to get them. we are trying to get