we have protected the nhs.e all working to answer is this, until an effective treatment or vaccine comes through, how can we get back to doing more of the things that make life worth living without risking safety or putting lives at risk? nhs test and trace is a big heart, not the only part, but a big part of the a nswer to the only part, but a big part of the answer to that question. nhs test and trace means we can start you replace the national lockdown with individual isolation for those who have been in contact with the virus and local action where necessary to respond to a flare—up. the concept is simple, first through testing we hunted down the virus, finding out who is infected right now. and i use we very deliberately, because we all have our party to play. this is a national effort, we all have a role. if you have symptoms, you must isolate immediately and get yourself a test. yesterday, 2013 people tested positive and the next step is that, through contact tracing, like detectives, the nhs clinician f

yes, so nhs charities work alongside the nhs from the outset of the nhs, so the charities were thereave been working hand in hand, to ensure that patients benefit from nhs charity funds, and that they can enhance the services that they can enhance the services that government funding for the nhs and charity funding together, can do so much more. now you, of course, represent nhs charities together, but do you worry at all that the masses of very understandable support for nhs charities make it difficult for other sector, other bits of the charity sector?|j difficult for other sector, other bits of the charity sector? i think it is really important that we understand that nves charities are pa rt understand that nves charities are part of that sector, some are very small themselves, —— nhs, and the next stage within our granting is actually about community care and partnerships, so, that those smaller charities that support the nhs are actually benefitting from this support as well, so, it is, the, it is incredible the support that the nhs is having, and it is incredible for other cha

that enough that the nhs is not overwhelmed ? that is enough that the nhs is not overwhelmed?question. the answer is that test, trace and trace will help us that test, trace and trace will help us to get the number of new cases down and to keep it down but not on its own. it is prime war —— primarily the social distancing measures that we had to suffer that flatten the curve and now we can see the kite is going down from the presentation the professorjust gave. the goal is to keep the number of the infection is going down and bringing the test track and trace to ata bringing the test track and trace to at a point where we can, from tomorrow in the isle of wight and then to the rest of the country that we will get those numbers down, the test, track and trace becomes more effective than lower the number and then we want to keep the number going down by keeping the r below the rate of infection so it is, our goal is not simply to flatten the curve but it is to get the occurrence of covid—19 infections to very low levels, to be absolutely clear whether your question is that thati

tonight on panorama: has the government failed to protect the nhs... we've been put on the front line, to use government terminology, but without front—line protection. ..and left staff on the covid wards frightened for their lives? this is what you'd expect a dinner lady to wear. it's like a pinny. it's plastic. so, there you go. it does nothing. we reveal the mistakes that have put workers in danger... there's no excuse for not having adequate stockpiles to support the country when it faces a desperate crisis like this. ..and how the government downgraded protection standards, as the virus swept the country. i feel incredibly passionate that no more people should suffer, that no more health workers should come to harm. felix khor has been an nhs nurse for 30 years. now he's fighting for his life. he loved nursing and he loved people. he'd use the skill and the knowledge and his own personality to... make other people's lives better. and he was always so happy when he felt he'd done a good job. felix was on the covid front line. he worked in a&e. the

itself and the nhs's own labs.rive—through centres. and that is an important part of making sure we have the right prioritisation. we have always talked about the prioritisation starting with patients and then people in the nhs, and why did you work as, then the general public, and that prioritisation is built into the system —— and wider workers. with contact tracing, once we have contact tracing in large scale, you want to be able to test people as soon as possible so that you know if there is a positive test so that then the people they have beenin so that then the people they have been in close contact with can be advised to act accordingly and isolate, so they don't pass on the disease. so that is a very important other new part of the priority within testing, once we get that up and running by the middle of the month. some coats, from sky. matt hancock, 120,000 5 is some coats, from sky. matt hancock, 120,000 sis a massive increase in a short period of time, how many of those are home testing kits that we re

a very small number live in nhs settings. home so you are not looking at the whole cohort of people and don't understand the impact it can have on people and their life expectancy. every day, leo chats to her son, stephen. he has learning disabilities and autism and lives independently with constant support. cheeky monkey! leo is so concerned about a lack of ppe for the staff that support her son, she has been making her own. it is a great fear. it almost paralysed me, to think about your disabled child dying of this horrible disease, because you can't be there. he will say, mummy, come and get me home, go home mummy, and it's breaking my heart. the care quality commission has started looking into the numbers of people who have died outside the hospital setting, so there will eventually be a clearer picture, something many families and campaigners believe should already be available so that people with learning disabilities are not forgotten in death as they so are not forgotten in death as they so often are in life. nikki fo

from the nhs surcharge as soon as possible.y times during this crisis about the enormous contribution that people from overseas make to the nhs and to social care. the prime minister... yesterday the prime minister said he'd thought about the issue a great deal. hospitalised with coronavirus, care workers had recently saved his life, but... we must look at the realities. this is a great national service, it's a national institution, it needs funding. the surcharge, that's on top of normal taxation, is currently paid by non—eu workers from abroad. it will rise to more than £600 a year in october. but for social care workers, health workers and nhs staff including porters, cleaners, a burden now lifted. this family say they are set to save nearly £2500 a year. we have to collect a certain amount of money and keep it aside just for nhs surcharge and we have to pay in advance, so it is a huge relief for us now. labour said that you can't clap for carers one day and then charge them extra to use the nhs the next. he's been challenge

you up or contact that when the nhs finds you up or co nta ct you that when the nhs finds you up orare confident that people will. of course, we could also mandate that, but in the first instance, we are not going to. we wa nt instance, we are not going to. we want people to feel safe. to tell nhs test and trace as soon as they have symptoms. to feel confident and safe in telling nhs test and trace who hit they have been with so we can isolate people who might be infectious as fast as possible and i have great faith in the british public that we all want to be able to get our lives back to normal and that we are committed to doing that together. thanks very much. professor va n together. thanks very much. professor van tam. i willjust come backin professor van tam. i willjust come back in here and remind people that with this virus, the natural r is a roundabout three. that means, left unchecked, one case infects three more. so it is going to grow out of control very quickly. the extent to which we can keep control of it very much defends upon the extent to which people across our e

nhs and care workers? >> this is a government that values a mentally everybody that works in our national health service, in our care service, and across the whole community, reasonell him that the to have immigration, the kind that we are is not to keep people out that can help nhs, we have an immigration system that works for the people of this country. i think what the people of this country want to see is immigration system where we control it and understand it and we are able to direct it according to the needs of our nhs or the needs of our economy. that is what we are putting in place. reality -- harsh reality is that the prime minister does not even pay care staff from -- pay care staff a living wage. the home secretary and the prime minister seem hell-bent on implement a truly ideological immigration policy with no basis in fairness or economics. this government has talked about giving back to our nhs and care staff but it is time for the prime minister to deliver. people migrate into these nation

stay at home, protect the nhs, save lives.r, if you live on the isle of wight, stay at home, install the app, protect the nhs, and save lives. i will now turn to professor va n and save lives. i will now turn to professor van tam to take us through the day's charts. thank you, secretary of state. let's begin again with the five tests that we have in place for deciding if we are going to adjust the lockdown. the first is around the nhs capacity, and we are in a good position on that one. the second one is about a sustained and consistent fall in daily deaths from coronavirus, and it is now very clear in the data that we are past the peak. the next one is solid information that the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels right across the board. this is an indicator that we need to keep a close eye on over the next few days and weeks. the fourth one is around operational challenges, around testing and ppe, and being able to meet future demand. there are continuing challenges on ppe. it is an absolute priority to cont

that is new nhs data.red with the same month a year ago, falling to the lowest figure on record. perhaps not surprising, but still quite a stark number two here. well, we're also expecting figures this morning on how cancer diagnosis and treatment has been affected by the way the covid—19 pandemic has absorbed so much nhs time and resources. with me is professor karol sikora, chief medical officer at rutherford cancer centre. steven mcintosh, director of policy, campaigns & influencing at macmillan cancer support. i'm also joined by mary huckle who is living with treatable but incurable breast cancer and has had her treatment paused due to suspected coronavirus. mary, i will begin with you. thank you all forjoining us. mary, tell us more about how your treatment has been impacted by this pandemic.- the beginning of lockdown i had coronavirus symptoms, which started off with the usual temperature and then a headache and then a few days after that more symptoms started to surface. so the fact that it was act

she spoke of the fantastic care given by the nhs staff.she spoke of the incredible support that she and her family received from the same nhs workers. will my right honorable friend join me in congratulating nhs staff anomaly for caring for those who are ill but also the wonderful support they give to their loved ones. >> secretary? >> i think my honorable friend, i passed my deepest condolences to the widow, and other ministers have task of reading out the total death toll, what this must mean for individual families up and down, he is right to pay tribute to the nhs, doing an amazing job and all of us across the house pay tribute to them and care workers but i think he is absolutely right, whether it is coronavirus or otherwise, providers of emotional support for patients and their families and something that is easy to overlook as we come through this crisis. >> mister speaker, the uk opted out of the eu ventilators and medical equipment. whether there is a political or commercial decision, take this opportunity to say we will take any

to use the nhs.and prepares to start easing lockdown restrictions from next week. people will be allowed to do more outside. schools could reopen in mid—august. desperate families queuing forfood banks in new york's affluent commuter belt, as more and more people lose theirjobs. people have gone now without four, five, six, seven paycheques, and it's starting to catch up. and from live programmes to nail—biting drama — how do you keep the tv cameras rolling in a time of social distancing? and coming up on bbc news... ioc president thomas bach says the resheculed olympic games could be cancelled if they don't go ahead next year. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. nhs workers, carers, hosptial patients and care home residents will be among the first to be tested for coronavirus antibodies from next week. the government has agreed a deal with the swiss pharmaceutical company roche and abott labs to buy the tests which will show if someone has already had the virus. the health secretary mat

we did that ina number of capacity within the nhs.s, because it means the public have complied with the social distancing measures, they have started to flatten the curve and we have seen fewer admissions and ultimately fewer admissions and ultimately fewer deaths we might have seen if this virus had just been left to spread unchecked in the very early worst—case scenarios, as i said, no country has let play out, it would have meant many, many, many deaths and a lot of pressure on health services. i think you would be 1000 times more critical if the nhs had not put in that extra capacity and had become overwhelmed. you would be quite rightly asking us why we had not gone every mile we could possibly go to put in that extra capacity. so the nightingale hospitals were not built in error. we may still need them, we are not through this yet. although government policy and the scientific advice is to try and ensure the virus does not start to spread widely again, we can never absolutely be certain. therefore, for the months ahead we need t

he wants to raise money for the nhs.lous service from the national health service, particularly the nurses, they looked after me when i borke my hip. the service and from all the staff and the patience and the kindness that i got from all of them from top to bottom, was absolutely amazing. it was just an ordinary family day, in factjust here, as you can see, having a barbecue, tom was walking and it was the first weekend he'd walked in the summer when the nice weather, the weekend before the bank holiday and it was the first time he'd really been out. before that he was on his treadmill, trying to keep fit and agile through the winter months and it was the first time we saw him strolling. and that was it, between us it was a familial, fun conversation, we said, "oh, if you walk 100 times, your 100th birthday's coming up, we'll pay you a pound for every length that you do," and i think i said, "let's raise some money for charity." and he said, "well, let's raise it for covid—19, for the nhs." you're doing a good job, carr

boris johnson forced into a u—turn on nhs charge forforeign johnson forced into a u—turn on nhs chargeeign health workers, thatis charge for foreign health workers, that is the headline in the eye newspaper. it says number ten backed down 24 hours after the pm had defended that surcharge. in prime minister's questions with keir starmer. it follows pressure from the labour leader and also tory backbenchers. the international edition of the international type —— the financial times focuses on hong kong says china risks reigniting protest by imposing security law. the paper also has a story, in fact a headline on coronavirus, securing millions of doses of an imprisoned vaccine. the mail asks could this be the biggest virus hope we have had pondering if the antibody test, together with a 20 minute swab test, could get the nation back to work. the mirror is taking on the roll—out of the antibody test, says it could bea game of the antibody test, says it could be a game changer in the fight against the virus. the times says the so—called immunity certificates to free people from social dista

first we must continue to boost nhs capacities of the nhs cannot be overwhelmed. second, we need to see a sustained consistent fall in the number of deaths. thirdly we must see further reductions in the rate of infection to manageable levels across all different settings and areas. fourth, we must be confident that the nhs will be able to cope with future demands. including as a result any changes that we made to existing measures or indeed any new measures that we went to the neck may wish to take. and fifth and above all, we need to be confident that any adjustments to the current boat risk a second peak of infections that could overwhelm the nhs. later on this week the pm will update the country on the measures and the decisions that we will need to ta ke and the decisions that we will need to take to protect the nhs to safeguard the economy and to avoid the risk of a second peak that will be damaging for both public health and also for jobs be damaging for both public health and also forjobs in the wider economy. as we consider the decisions that we will take

that they cannot go to nhs. non-emergencymal, services are switched on and it was uncivil way, where we can do it in a phased way, to ensure that the delay is minimized and prioritize those that are most urgent, first. thought from my public-health colleagues is going into how to get the phasing back on again. >> you are asking an incredibly important, -- important question. decline in covid cases, particularly in intensive an unnaturalseeing displacement? are people scared to go to hospital? it is important if people need treatment. they should go to the hospital. urgent cancerto care, people will get the treatment that they need. we absolutely care about that. can we go to francis elliott from the times? made the r rate the star policy. there is a bride range of uncertainty there. what is a manageable rate going forward? what i manageable numbers? you also talked about giving guidance to workplaces next week. can we expect some clarity on face masks? >> thank you. , i will give my layman's account of the. want

the chief executive of the nhs confederation, there.th neal from the university of nottingham, who's been a contact tracer for 30 years and will be leading one of the teams of tack and tracers. do stay with us for that. the head of the world health organization has warned there's still a long way to go before the coronavirus pandemic is over. he made the remarks as the un agency reported more than 100,000 new infections, the biggest rise in a single day. two drugs used to prevent malaria are being trialled at hospitals in brighton and oxford, to see whether they could be used to counter coronavirus. hydroxychloroquine, along with chloroquine, will be given to more than 40,000 health care workers from around the world who have been in contact with covid—19 patients. earlier this week, president trump drew criticism from doctors after announcing he was taking the drug as a preventative measure, despite public health officials warning it may be unsafe. cyclone amphan has hit parts of bangladesh and eastern india, killing 22 people and forc

we must ensure that we can continue to protect the nhs. number two, we must see a sustained fall in deaths. we must assure that the infection rate is falling. we must overcome the operational and logistical challenges on testing and ppe. fifth, this is the most important. we must all make sure that the measures that we take do not risk a second spike that would overwhelm the nhs. we have come through the peak or under what could have been a vast peak. we can now see the sunlight of the pasture ahead of us. it is vital that we do not lose control and runflat into a second and your mountain. to avoid that disaster, our faith and final test is that nothing should lift the production rate of that disease back above one. before i hand over to patrick, i am going to ask for a short explanatory clip. before we come to that, let me emphasize. it will be absolutely vital to our recovery. keeping the reproduction rate of the disease done. we can only do it by collective discipline and working together. i know that we can do it. we have shown that we

and the pressure on the nhs. vehicles and heavy goods vehicles. you can see there has been a slow increase in vehicle movements, probably recently reflecting the desire for people who can return to work who can't work from home returning. but on public transport, national rail, transport for london and bus outside of london, you can see that the levels of usage are still very low and very much down on what they were before social distancing measures we re before social distancing measures were introduced. again, evidence that the british public has responded to and complied with the instructions that we have all been given. 0n the next slide, we start to look at testing and a number of new cases that are test positive. as you had from the secretary of state, there has been an increase in recent weeks, both in the capacity of testing and a number of people who are being tested. you can see that in the graph at the start. we are now nearly up to 3 million tests that have been performed in total. in the lower graph,

the final issue i want to talk about today relates to the nhs in scotland.ay published a framework for nhs mobilisation. it sets out the core principles that underpin how we will safely and gradually resume some of our services in the community and the hospital setting which have been paused at the outset of the covid—19 crisis. the mobilisation plan makes clear that we will start with the resumption of those services whose absence is clearly having a detrimental impact on people's lives. but as we do that, we must make sure that we keep sufficient capacity to deal with any surge in covid—19 cases. and we will build on some of the improvements that have been made as a result of responding to the virus, particularly in primary care, through for example increased use of digital consultations. mental health support, something which is arguably more important now than ever, will be made more widely available, and the care offered at emergency dental hubs will expand as dentists prepare to open. in hospitals, we will start some elective surgery that is urgent and

he wants to raise money for the nhs. had such marvellous service from the national health service, particularly the nurses, they looked after me when i borke my hip. the service and from all the staff and the patience and the kindness that i got from all of them from top to bottom, was absolutely amazing. it was just an ordinary family day, in factjust here, as you can see, having a barbecue, tom was walking and it was the first weekend he'd walked in the summer when the nice weather, the weekend before the bank holiday and it was the first time he'd really been out. before that he was on his treadmill, trying to keep fit and agile through the winter months and it was the first time we saw him strolling. and that was it, between us it was a familial, fun conversation, we said, "oh, if you walk 100 times, your 100th birthday's coming up, we'll pay you a pound for every length that you do," and i think i said, "let's raise some money for charity." and he said, "well, let's raise it for covid—19, for the nhs." you're doing

we will be working with the nh collects all the time. that's nhs college. nhs to make sure that the beds are kept as free as possible in the nhs hospitals. and do you worry that the call by the health secretary for people to follow their civic duty and self—isolate if they are contacted by co nta ct self—isolate if they are contacted by contact traces, do you worry that is undermined by the dominic cummings affair coachella i think people would do the civic duty. cummings affair coachella i think people would do the civic dutylj think people would do the civic duty.|j think people understand what should happen. if they are told to go into self isolation. across the country, over the last nine weeks, people have been doing just that. it is important we continue to do it and we have to break the chain of this virus. and that is really important, so virus. and that is really important, so if somebody is contacted, there will be explained thoroughly why they are being contacted and when they are being contacted and when the context may have been made, so people

iam of infections that overwhelm the nhs.to the chief scientific adviser and medical officerfor scientific adviser and medical officer for their assessments of the measures i'm about to send out on schools, retail, and social contact. although all parts of the uk are moving in the same direction, it is important to note that health is devolved and different parts of the uk are quite properly moving at different speeds. this package has been carefully designed so that we can ease the burdens of the lockdown while expecting to keep that are below one. i cannot and will not throw away all the gains we have made together and so the changes we are making are limited and cautious. it's thanks to the consciousness shown so far that all —— consciousness. all five tests are being met. that's not my achievement of the governments achievement, it is your achievement. it's only possible thanks to your resolve and dedication to our national purpose to ove rco m e dedication to our national purpose to overcome this virus. the result is we

nhs england we re today. now, talk radio.ations cancelled in march 2020. that data release has itself been cancelled andl release has itself been cancelled and i am quoting from the guv dot co dot uk website. it said the statistics will not be collected and published for the period due to the coronavirus illness and due to the need for capacity to release capacity across the nhs. so can we be absolutely clear here, does the government know how many urgent operations were cancelled in march 2020? thank you, charlotte. the simple answer, i don't know the answer to that. it is the case that in all the situations we are trying to get data out as much as possible, both as a government, we have found that to be a useful process to put data out there so people can analyse it but also people like the office of national statistics and the nhs who have a very big statistics function. i guess from your description, it's the first i've heard about it, but i guess from your description it's just a prioritisation issue. actually, with your

the harmonies of nhs workers in north wales.el‘s famous bridge over troubled water. sings in welsh these medical professionals have been working out of venue cymru, a theatre hall in llandudno, which has been converted into field hospital ysbyty enfys, translated as "rainbow hospital". if it helps bring any awareness, i'm just glad of the opportunity to do a little something to help. their rendition has been an internet hit, with the song's composer, paul simon, sharing it on social media. and one of venue cymru's usual stars was all applause for this welsh performance. ijust thought it was such a positive response to such an awful situation, because we normally go there and play when everybody is enjoying themselves. now nobody can go and play anywhere, so to turn this into something like this is really wonderful, i think it's really great, what they've done. from paramedics to doctors, porters and nurses, those working on the front line tackling coronavirus are still staying strong and able to bring a smile to our faces in the

you ought nhs inform doctor scotlandlj ought nhs inform doctor scotland.” now go tojournals ought nhssk questions. donna mccaskill, the chief executive of scottish care has express care that home care workers and having to travel long distances to be tested, men of them don't have cars, is there something you are aware of and what will be scottish government be doing to address that? i have read the comments from donald mccaskill earlier today, we work very closely with scottish care. they health secretary is not with us today, but she has said for that she talks to donald on a regular basis so we look to pick up these issues i addressed them as we go along. on testing in particular, home care workers are employed by the nhs and social care services, therefore, they should be tasted within the that health boards have not required to travel long distances. we consider looking to travel long distances. we consider it look into making sure that particular issues raised are addressed. when we will book a test, which key workers can do through the online portal, are then directed to one of

there are still concerns about a lack of testing for nhs staff, as well as how the nhs will be involvedand trace app being trialled in the isle of wight. nhs providers, which represents nhs trusts and healthcare staff, have said there is still no clear idea of how staff will be involved in the new test, track and trace approach and that the government urgently needs to update their guidance on testing frontline staff. i'm joined now by chris hopson who is ceo of nhs providers. thanks forjoining. thanks for joining. firstly, thanks forjoining. firstly, explain your problems with testing. we know the most important group of people the most important group of people the government want to test at the moment and the government recognise this our patients and staff showing symptoms. the problem is if you just focus on the number of tests being done on a particular day, april 30th,100,000, done on a particular day, april 30th, 100,000, the reality is what you potentially ignore as there are lots of places and we know this is the case where health and care staff and patients can't actually get

nhs we are doing our part in the nhs labs as part of that testing programme.sting all patients who present to our hospitals with an emergency, whether or not they have symptoms of covid—19, so we can absolutely ensure that we have picked up all people who are infected and coming into hospital. we have recently issued guidance in the last week around elective admissions, so people who will be coming into hospital not as an emergency but for planned procedures and how we can ensure together with testing that they can come in three of covid—19, and safely. we have been testing staff and all other key workers but particularly staff in the nhs who are symptomatic with covid—19 symptoms, but we've also asked our hospitals as capacity increases to increasingly test after you have no symptoms or who have very mild symptoms, to ensure we are picking up symptoms, to ensure we are picking up as many potential cases as possible, so that is how in the nhs we have been able to use our testing capacity to increase our testing and our understanding of how this virus is transm

the harmonies of nhs workers in north wales.ield hospital ysbyty enfys, translated as " rainbow hospital". if it helps bring any awareness, i'm just glad of the opportunity to do a little something to help. their rendition has been an internet hit, with the song's composer, paul simon, sharing it on social media. and one of venue cymru's usual stars was all applause for this welsh performance. ijust thought it was such a positive response to such an awful situation, because we normally go there and play when everybody is enjoying themselves. now nobody can go and play anywhere, so to turn this into something like this is really wonderful, i think it's really great, what they've done. from paramedics to doctors, porters and nurses, those working on the front line tackling coronavirus are still staying strong and able to bring a smile to our faces in these most testing times. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. after the chilly start temperatures have crept up helped by sunshine. thick is in scotland, especia

the support is there in the nhs for all nhs staff.of all, what level of new daily infections do we need to be down to before contact tracing will happen for all new infections? secondly, how many daily tests will attest and trace system need? and thirdly, if we‘re going to introduce weekly testing for all nhs and care home front line staff, when will our testing capacity be sufficient to deliver that on top of test entrees? thank you, mr speaker. with 21,000 contact tracers now employed, we think that that capacity is for the current level of new cases that has been demonstrated by the ons survey although i‘m perfectly prepared to hire more to make sure we have spare capacity within contact tracing. on the number of tests needed daily to service the test entrees, of course it depends exactly how many again and it depends on the relationship between the symptoms and the number of positive cases and there are many more people with the symptoms than there are positive coronavirus cases but the number is falling because we are moving away

the nhs is thriving for now.possible covid—19 patients, but what about cancer screening or heart disease? many who are sick in the community had stayed away, worried they might catch the virus. hello, sir. good morning. intensive care co nsulta nt sir. good morning. intensive care consultant nick bunker wants them back. all of the people who would normally have presented here with ailments, where are they?” normally have presented here with ailments, where are they? i suspect some of them have died, some of them are at home. for cancer, we have not been doing a lot of diagnostics, so if you are not doing a diagnostic you don't pick up the cancer with the few symptoms that people have early on, so perhaps we are notjust detecting. it's still out there. the fervent hope as the lockdown eases is that people will drift back to the nhs for whatever hurts them, and the nhs for whatever hurts them, and the service will be able to help eve ryo ne the service will be able to help everyone if we help ourselves. there are f

and social care, for doing so the nhs and social care, for doing so much.e past the peak, there are still many in the hospital with coronavirus in the uk this * 98 nhs colleagues in hospital with coronavirus, including some who we re with coronavirus, including some who were seriously ill. we must maintain oui’ were seriously ill. we must maintain our focus and there are two areas relative provide an update on today. both incredibly important for the future of tackling this disease. ppe and treatments first, we have been working hard to build a supply of personal protective equipment. i know how important this is, especially to colleagues in the front line. we all heard in the early weeks of the crisis, the calls from the front line for more and better ppe and we all saw the global scramble to acquire it. i have been com pletely scramble to acquire it. i have been completely open about the scale and the difficulties of this challenge, building a new supply chain from scratch and, the operational challenge of delivering. general nick carter said himself that

tonight at ten — nhs bosses express alarm at the number of people staying away from hospital during theoronavirus pandemic. in england a&e visits have fallen by more than half since the outbreak started, to the lowest level since records began. many other patients needing urgent operations and life saving treatments have been severely affected, like shaun, who has terminal cancer. covid—19 totally messes things up for most of us, you know. it's wreaked havoc with our treatments, with our surgeries, with our futures, with our hope. a test that can tell whether you've had the virus in the past has been approved in england. front—line workers will be the first to get it. teachers‘ unions will meet the government's chief scientific advisers tomorrow to seek reassurance about plans to partially reopen some of england's schools. born to surrogate mothers in ukraine — the 35 babies left stranded in kyiv — their biological parents from around the world can't fly in to collect them. empty theatres — how social distancing has left actors and directors struggling for survival. and applauding the n

first, we must continue to boost nhs capacity so that the nhs cannot be overwhelmed.ond, we need to see a sustained and consistent fall in the numberof a sustained and consistent fall in the number of deaths. thirdly, we must see further reductions in the rate of infection, to manageable levels across all different settings and areas. fourth, we must be confident that the nhs will be able to cope with future demands, including as a result of any changes that we make to existing measures or, indeed, any new measures we may wish to take. fifth, and above all, we need to be confident that any adjustments to the current measures will not risk a second peak of infections that could then overwhelm the nhs. later on this week, the pm will update the country on the measures and decisions we will need to take to protect the nhs, to safeguard the economy and to avoid the risk of a second peak that would be damaging both for public health, but also forjobs on the wider economy. as we consider the decisions we will take next to protect life, but also to protect our way of life, i

and what happens is nhs england are very specific about who is able to talk on behalf of the nhs andhey go through the appropriate channels. are you absolutely clear if doctors are raising concerns which they think affect either the health and safety of them and their colleagues or patients, they should not be in any circumstances, threatened with losing theirjobs? of course they shouldn't be and there is very, very clear guidance and actually a process that's set up inside the nhs called freedom to speak up guardians which enables people to raise concerns but let me give you an example of an incident covered quite extensively in the media about two or three weeks ago. a member of agency staff felt they were not given the personal protection equipment they needed but when we spoke to the trust concerned, what they said was that individual member of agency staff was demanding a higher level of protection than the guidance and every other member of staff was actually being provided with. they had sought to have a dialogue with a member of staff and move them to alternative duties but t

so our principal aim, as always, was to protect the nhs.ere a number of changes the lord chancellor made to the prison system to increase capacity, including cavorting within particular prisons and the restriction on the transfer of prisoners. but the ability in specific circumstances to release on prisoners early. a set of tests were applied, it needed to be the index offence was of a particular kind so they didn't pose a problem to the public. and it needed to be close to a time they would be released anyway. the prisoners at the front of the queue of pregnant women who found themselves in prison. i know there were at least 33 people who had been released, i think the number is higher than that now. but after this press conference, i will talk to the ministry ofjustice and make sure you have the accurate figures. but as i say, i think it was around 33 he had been released this time last week. i think those we re this time last week. i think those were the confirmed figures. on prison health in general, i absolutely believe we should alway

overnight, he's turned his attention to the nhs. to show his appreciation, he's created a new picture and is showing it at the university hospital southampton. our arts editor, will gompertz, has more. could this be a rare sighting of the elusive street artist, banksy? undercover, making a special delivery to university hospital southhampton. wow. it's certainly his handiwork. it was hung late last night and unveiled this morning. it depicts a young boy kneeling down, wearing dungarees and a white t—shirt. the wastepaper basket in front of him has two discarded old superheroes. instead, he's playing with his new model figure, a new superhero, an nhs nurse with a flying cape and arm pointing forwards, like superman. she is on a mission. the idea of the hospital's management and banksy was to thank the staff of the nhs generally for everything they are doing. so, did it go down well? just the proudness of it. the actual realising that we are thought of and respected. for years now, we've not been, now, with everything going on in this

a very small number live in nhs settings.can have on people and their life expectancy. every day, leo chats to her son, stephen. ican i can see that she can smile! —— cheeky smile! he has learning disabilities and autism and lives independently with constant support. cheeky monkey! leo is so concerned about a lack of ppe for the staff that support her son, she has been making her own. it is a great fear. it almost paralyses me, to think about your disabled child dying of this horrible disease, because you can't be there. he will say, "mummy, come and get me home, go home, mummy," and it's breaking my heart... the care quality commission has started looking into the numbers of people who have died outside the hospital setting, so there will eventually be a clearer picture, something many families and campaigners believe should already be available so that people with learning disabilities are not forgotten in death — as they so often are in life. nikki fox, bbc news. the first cases of coronavirus have reached the world's larg

but you must know that your nhs is still here for you. if you need advice or support over the coming weeks and months. thank you. thank you, i think we all want to reiterate your comments thanks to gp and everybody working in primary care across the country. yvonne who's going to provide today's size. thank you. just to remind us all of the five tests for adjusting to lockdown here we can see that they relate to capacity and to mortality, to deaths and also that we are actually controlling the epidemic itself and the transmission of the epidemic. looking at the first graph, we can see again that this is about transport, it's a regular slide, see again that this is about transport, it's a regularslide, it shows that overall transport is down a good use by 50%. but less motivated calls and that has been slowly increasing over recent weeks. this is up to the 4th of may and it's for the uk. the important message and all of that of course, is that we must still respect the track that this virus does transmit and to stay at home. and not to int

we have strengthened nhs support available to colleagues and social care.t nikki is here to talk about today. throughout, the nhs has been supporting care homes with infection—control training, and advice and support on, for instance, ppe usage. we are putting in place a name to clinical lead for every care home in england. these leads are already connected, and we'll check in regularly to assess residence and support care home staff with clinical advice. this is the most intense support and scrutiny that care homes have ever received. in some cases, for residents who need to see a gp, a video consultation may be safer and just as effective. so, the nhs is also supporting care homes to introduce the right technology. this same technology can, and is, being used to be able to help residents stay connected to their loved ones, something that i know it is important, both for their well—being and four ours. third, we are making sure that local authorities play their part. we are now requiring councils to conduct daily reviews of the situation on the ground in l

no migraine should be paying twice to be using the nhs stop —— no migrant.e who reside in the uk, not for people who reside in the uk, not for people with a particular colour passport. everybody should access to health in this country, it is one of the most basic rights. thoughts from giles, what do you make on this? they said it was not his finest hour, he got the figures wrong about what it was going to cost the nhs. yes, i mean, look, good government, good leaders, it is all about admitting when url and changing your mind and rectifying that and i think it's come to the right conclusion. i think that should be applauded, the worst thing is when we think that politicians should be right all the time, did government is about realising when you have got things wrong and he has done that and recognise that. i think it should be applauded for it. rachel, do you think this is something that keir starmer will carry on running with for the next pmqs as well, as you say, about how this affects other people as well? well, i think it is a pressure point, isn't it? t

instead, he's playing with his new model figure, a new superhero, an nhs nurse with a flying cape andg forwards like superman. she is on a mission. the idea of the hospital's management and banksy was to thank the staff of the nhs generally for everything they are doing. so, did it go down well? just the proudness of it. the actual realising that we are thought of and respected. for years now, we've not, but now, with everything that's going on in this current climate, people are seeing us where we should be. we're superheroes. it's such a nice reward for all the staff that have been working really hard throughout this. we've had members of staff be unwell themselves, and obviously all our patients, and we've just pulled together and got on with our work. why then did the hospital want to work with banksy? he's really captured the emotion behind the way that the country's recognising the nhs at the moment. certainly since we've been talking about it this morning, people recognise him, they understand where he's coming from, and they're really appreciative that he's made southampton th

the nhs was founded as pa rt military.ntry part of the reconstruction of our cou ntry after part of the reconstruction of our country after the second world war, and since it has grown into the most trusted organisation in the country. along with our armed forces and other public service organisations, the nhs is a rock for people in times of uncertainty. and as we have all found our way through this global pandemic, i'm proud of the partnership that the nhs and our armed forces have forged to give people the help that they need. in constructing the nightingales, rx gift pack capacity to boost our existing care services, the army and the nhs has worked hand—in—hand and achieve something quite extraordinary. 0ur colleagues working on the front line of the nhs have been extremely gave dumb grateful for all the help offered have been extremely gave dumb gratefulfor all the help offered by the military and government in the distribution of protective equipment. today as we celebrate the service and dedication of our armed forc

we want to protect the nhs.int actually that there are economic, social and health consequences of staying in lockdown. so what we're trying to do, what the government is trying to do is work out how to ease lockdown in a way that meets all of those objectives. there is, i think, a word picture to have in your mind at this point, which is that of a faulty tap and what i'm saying about easing lockdown is that what you'd ideally want is a tap which you could open, and then you could see what the for example, the amount of virus spread is. and then you'd want to be able to close it off very quickly if you thought it was getting too great. but the problem with the tap is it's not a perfect tap. what you can do is you can open it up. you don't really know what's going to happen. and the problem is, is that if you open it up too quickly when you try and turn it off, actually there's probably a lag between turning it off and the number of cases of virus spread occurring. so we just need to recognise that in may if that

the nhs app let you know... the nhs app let you know...y to explain how the new app works, it logs people close to each other and if someone develops coronavirus symptoms the app can alert those people to self—isolate. this is a real opportunity for the island to lead in the development of this app and to follow on from that, the nation will come behind us and the nation will come behind us and the whole country can use it. i think it's a good extra tool. nhs staff are receiving the app today which will give them a link to download the app via an e—mail. around 3000 nhs staff will be offered the app over the next 48 hours and then the rest of the population here on thursday, that's about 80,000 households, and what the government wants is for about at least half of those to take up the for us, start using it, to give this experiment credibility. local people here seemed mostly willing to download and use the new app. it would be so nice to have a little bit of security, to know that we are not carrying the virus. there are some including g

from tomorrow, nhs fife, nhs lanarkshire and nhs highland will test the contact tracing technology that existing tried and tested technology and is designed to support staff to collect and record information and to trace more contacts more quickly. together with the growing number of contact tracers, the technology allows us to carry out contact tracing on a much larger scale that will be needed. the software, which is being tested next week will be used in all health boards by the end of may and will continue to improve during june. it will play a valuable role in improving the speed and effectiveness of our work to test, trace, isolate and support. the final issue i want to update you on is the appointment of an additional chief medical officer. the first minister has appointed professor marion bain to the role of deputy chief medical officer on an interim basis. professor bain is the scottish government's former senior medical adviser for public health reform and most recently she has been working as a director of infection prevention and control in nhs greater glasgow and clyde. she