richard galpin, bbc news. joining me now is our health correspondent richard galpin.ave to handle these figures with care because there is a lag in when they get reported. of course, but this is a very significant moment because we know that the chief scientific officer, oi’ that the chief scientific officer, or adviser to the government, patrick vallance, had said back in march that it would be good if the uk can keep the number of deaths 20,000 or below and we now know that number has been reached, it has gone up number has been reached, it has gone up quite significantly. so it is a real moment now for this country, the fact that this is over 20000 and we would expect the number to increase because we have heard from officials that they expect high numbers of deaths, the daily number, to keep being high for certainly another ten days or so. so they could be quite a considerable increase beyond what we have had today. the government is under pressure from various quarters here in britain to restart the economy, to say when the lockdown is going to end, but they have

richard galpin, bbc news. let's speak to our political correspondent, nick eardley. a former chancellor here in britain urging the government to explain the plan for getting the economy restarted. yes, the uk government has been more reluctant than others to talk about what happens after lockdown and how those restrictions might start to be lifted. but there are increasingly conversations going on here in the conservative party about what that might look like. philip hammond, who was chancellor until about a year ago, is essentially arguing that emerging from lockdown is going to be hard, a lot harder than it was to go into it in the first place, but he believes it is crucial to restart the economy again because the longer you leave it, the more the damage will be. have a listen to what he said this morning. we have to start reopening the economy, but we have to do it living with covid—19. we can't wait until a vaccine is developed, produced in sufficient quantity and rolled out across the population. the economy won't survive that long. we are going to have to start

richard galpin, bbc news.th editor, hugh pym, explained about how the restrictions could eventually be eased. well, a professor at imperial college london is on the government committee and it is his modelling which has informed a lot of the decision—making and you heard of bit there of him saying that one way of lifting the restrictions is to do it in different areas at different times, maybe different age groups, restrictions being lifted for them. scientists think that this might well be possible because you might find in one area it is ahead of another area, london for example has been ahead in case numbers to other parts of the uk, and it could be passing there and you might want to lift the restrictions but not somewhere else. of course, there are immense practical difficulties with this. how do you stop somebody travelling from one area where maybe bars and restaurants are not open to another area where they are. it also depends on mass testing. professor ferguson said it will only really work if you ca

richard galpin reports.lly facing the biggest challenge of this outbreak so far. the peak is expected in just over a week's time on easter day, and already infections are surging, doubling every few days, leaving thousands of people in hospital. testing people for the virus is vital. key workers, including nhs staff, can find out if they are clear to go to work without the fear of spreading the infection. but the government is facing sharp criticism for failing government is facing sharp criticism forfailing to scale government is facing sharp criticism for failing to scale up the testing programme quickly enough. and yet suddenly it has now announced it is aiming to increase testing from around 10,000 people a day to 100,000 by the end of the month, raising yet more questions. but the health secretary is determined to make it happen. well, we have got to. it is a goal and i've set it for the whole system. the 10,000 a day that we reached on target was from the public health england and the nhs working toget

our health correspondent richard galpin reports. that thousands of elderly people have been dying in care homes. and finally the government is saying that all care home staff and residents can now be tested to see if they have the disease. the st cecilia's care home in scarborough has lost four of its residents to the virus. today staff have been logging on to the government's website to book tests for everyone. but it is not proving easy. we got onto the website very early this morning to see if we could actually book tests and there was no way we could see about getting tests for the residents on the website. we could see the staff portal but that was the same as it was a few days before. i got the feeling that they were inundated this morning therefore perhaps were not quite sure what they might do and offer. many of those running care homes believe that the elderly and disabled have been left very exposed in this coronavirus pandemic. we have prioritised the nhs to get those tests first and i think that is right but we are alrea

richard galpin, bbc news. let's speak to our assistant political editor norman smith.government still very much talking about more testing, the need to do more testing. how is it going to do more testing. how is it going to achieve this, norman? the hope is that it's more small independent laboratories come on board, they can help but it is a pretty dire situation with one leading medical research centre this morning comparing the situation to dunkirk. the hope of the government however seems to be less about the current test, which we are all having a great big row about, and more about the new tests coming on stream, which would test people who had coronavirus to see if they had built up coronavirus to see if they had built up antibodies to the disease and we re up antibodies to the disease and were therefore immune from the virus. the thinking is this test would enable them to know whether they could release people back into they could release people back into the community and therefore potentially could lead to millions of people being freed from the lockdown. the

richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur head of statistics, robert cuffe, is with me now.ures daily during this crisis, but these figures seem particularly stark. yes, to see just how striking and terribly sad they are, we can show the data just behind us, and what we are bringing up here in the grey and white area is what we would normally expect to see over the last five years, and you can see the peak at the start of the year during the flu season, then you come down and the red line shows 2020, and up until march we were actually below average ina numberof march we were actually below average in a number of deaths, but what reallyjumps in a number of deaths, but what really jumps out is in a number of deaths, but what reallyjumps out is that spike on the far right side and you can see the far right side and you can see the same in this week's figures, and in northern ireland and scotland with their numbers. we would expect to be 10000 and falling and we are 16000 and rising. the key thing to come out from this data, this gap, this change, it is pretty significant, even

richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur head of statistics robert cuffe is here.y tell us? maybe that the truth is even worse than the numbers that richard was describing a second ago. if we pull up all of the deaths that have happened in care homes over the last few weeks, and we look at that and compare it to the long run average which is shown by the horizontal line across the graph we can see they have really spiked over the course of the last few weeks. the red parts of the bar at the numbers that richard was talking about, the deaths that mentioned covid—19 on the death certificate but that only accou nts the death certificate but that only accounts for some of the spikes that we have seen, there is more going on and it could be deaths due to other causes, people did not seek care or get care because of the crisis but the suspicion is that a lot of it is unregistered covid—19 deaths so the figures are pretty bad and the figures are pretty bad and the figures that have come from the care quality commission today but england at least suggest that trend will ke

our correspondent richard galpin reports. the drive to get millions of key workers such as teachers, the police and staff working in the food industry began yesterday. but the numbers applying are overwhelming the system. just before ten o'clock this morning, we looked at the government website, which key workers used to book a test. many of the options were already unavailable. home kits were all booked out within 15 minutes. the only available option for a test was ata only available option for a test was at a site in scotland. this, for many, at a site in scotland. this, for er at a site in scotland. this, for many, very frustrating, and requiring a lot of persistence.” tried and it was not working. so i kept on trying throughout the evening. eventually i got back on. and, again, went through the system of trying to book a test. i booked it and this morning when i woke up i received a text to tell me that a test has been allocated for me at 2pm this afternoon. today, senior nhs officials have urged people to be patient. mo

richard galpin reports.here are 430,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes like this and more than 2000 of these homes have already had a coronavirus outbreak. now it's been revealed that those in charge of social services are accusing the government of failing this vital sector in the midst of the crisis. in a letter sent at the weekend by the association of directors of social services to the department of health and social care, it said deliveries of personal protective equipment for staff had initially been paltry and then later haphazard. it went on to say messages from the government had been contradictory and the rollout of testing for care staff and residents to find out if they were carrying the virus had not been thought through. and all this causing real frustration. we haven't been getting the ppe as easily as we wanted to and it has felt at times like the message has changed from day to day, there are lots of people in national government trying to talk to lots of people outside national

our first report is by richard galpin on the uk's response. by the royal college of physicians suggested a quarter of all nhs doctors had eitherfallen ill or had to self—isolate because of concerns about a family member showing symptoms. it was the same for many nurses. testing them for coronavirus would enable many to return to work if found to be in the clear. but the government's been slow to focus on testing in general, and in particular, for health workers. so what we are calling for is a national testing strategy, a strategy to ramp up the community testing and contact tracing, like we are seeing in other country, that is how they have been able to beat this virus or get this virus under control and suppressed. so now, nhs england is calling on hospitals to use 15% of their testing capability on staff. the government's going further, saying hospitals should use any spare laboratory capacity they have, to test as many nhs staff for the virus as possible. we wa nts the virus as possible. we wants to see more people tested, very rapidly, we

this report from our health correspondent richard galpin.s gci’oss for those living in care homes across england and wales, the figures are particularly bleak. the number of deaths, shooting up. and all this, mostly due to coronavirus. in total, the office for national statistics says in england and wales, coronavirus was involved in 1662 deaths outside hospitals, in the week ending on good friday. the vast majority of those debts, 10111, was in care homes. also, 466 people died at home, 87 in hospices. we look at the care home number, i know that's a source of real focus at the moment, last week, that was about deaths in the care home setting, now 13%, based on death registrations. in terms of numbers, lastly, we were looking at 217 deaths that had been registered up to the 3rd of april in ca re registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings, now we are seeing over 1000. there are more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes in england alone. they are amongst the most vulnerable and the virus has already spread into

richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent, leila nathoo, is in westminster.s a very striking session of the health select committee to listen to, leila. there were criticisms about a lot of issues. an extremely wide ranging session, you're right. there were also leaders of the other select committees brought in byjeremy hunt for questioning. matt hancock really under pressure of lots of issues and i think one of the main issues that came out of today's hearing was this matter of testing, matt hancock's target of 100,000 tests a day. we are almost at the end of the month when he says that is going to be achieved. currently downing street had given the latest figures within the last few minutes and we are currently at capacity for 38,000 tests per day, but yesterdayjust under 19,000 tests for nhs staff we re under 19,000 tests for nhs staff were actually carried out. it is unclear why there is this discrepancy. matt hancock said the numbers of nhs staff coming forward was lower than anticipated. it is unclear was lower than anticipated. it is u nclear exactly w

richard galpin, bbc news. from our chief political correspondent vicki young, but first charlotte gallagher is outside st. thomas' hospital where the prime minister is being treated. charlotte, just give us the latest on the condition of the prime minister. boris johnson remains in intensive care at this lunchtime. but we've had an update in the last ten minutes from downing street. they say he's in a stable condition, he is in good spirits. he is being given oxygen but crucially, he is not on a ventilator. part of the reason he was moved into intensive ca re reason he was moved into intensive care was reason he was moved into intensive ca re was so reason he was moved into intensive care was so he could be near a ventilator if he needed one. now the hospital looks a bit different as you can probably tell, there's police at every exit and entrance, security hoarding has gone up around the hospital, highlighting the dramatic and unusual situation we are in at this moment. worrying time obviously for boris johns

richard galpin reports.re homes like this and more than 2,000 of these homes have already had a coronavirus outbreak. now it's been revealed that those in charge of social services are accusing the government of failing this vital sector in the midst of the crisis. in a letter sent at the weekend by the association of directors of social services to the department of health and social care, it said deliveries of personal protective equipment for staff had initially been paltry and then later haphazard. it went on to say messages from the government had been contradictory and the roll—out of testing for care staff and residents to find out if they were carrying the virus had not been thought through. and all this causing real frustration. we haven't been getting the ppe as easily as we wanted to and it has felt at times like the message has changed from day to day, there are lots of people in national government trying to talk to lots of people outside national government. working in these care homes or visit

richard galpin, bbc news.0 people have now died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the uk. the milestone comes as the coronavirus lockdown continued into its fifth weekend. last month, the chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance told mps the hope was to keep the death toll to under 20,000. sir patrick was appearing before the commons health select committee on march 17, when the uk death toll stood at 71. if we can get this down to numbers 20,000 and below, that's a good outcome in terms of where we would hope to get to with this outbreak. but, i mean, it's still horrible. i'm joined now by professor karol sikora — an 0ncologist and professor of medicine at the university of buckingham. your response first of all to that grim milestone that we have reached of 20,000? it's not good. but if you look at the figures and smooth them overfor look at the figures and smooth them over for day—to—day variation, today it is quite high, probably because yesterday was a friday. there are all sorts

our health correspondent richard galpin reports.hat thousands of elderly people have been dying in care homes. and finally the government is saying that all care home staff and residents can now be tested to see if they have the disease. the st cecilia's care home in scarborough has lost four of its residents to the virus. today staff have been logging on to the government's website to book tests for everyone. but it is not proving easy. we got onto the website very early this morning to see if we could actually book tests and there was no way we could see about getting tests for the residents on the website. we could see the staff portal but that was the same as it was a few days before. i got the feeling that they were inundated this morning therefore perhaps were not quite sure what they might do and offer. many of those running care homes believe that the elderly and disabled have been left very exposed in this coronavirus pandemic. we have prioritised the nhs to get those tests first and i think that is right but we are already

richard galpin, bbc news.' head of statistics, robert cuffe, who put the new numbers on those non—hospital deaths into context. to see just how striking and terribly sad they are, we can show the data just behind us and what we're bringing up here is — in the gray wide area — is what we'd normally expect to see over the last five years, and we'd see a kind of peak at the start of the year during the flu season, and then you come down. the red line is showing what's happened in 2020, and up until maybe march, we were actually below average in our number of deaths, but what reallyjumps out is that spike on the far right side in this week's figures, and you'd see the same in northern ireland or in scotland with their numbers. we'd expect to be 10,000 and falling and we're 16,000 and rising, and i think the key thing that comes out from these data is that this gap, this change is pretty significant. it's even larger, in fact, when you compare back to 2015 and you look at the flu season back then, the peak we're re

richard galpin, bbc news.er i spoke to our head of statistics robert cuffe, who said the latest figures were showing a worrying trend. if you pull up all of the deaths that have happened in care homes over the last few weeks and we look at that and compare it to the long run average which is shown by the horizontal line across this graph, we can see they have really spiked over the course of the last few weeks. now, the red parts of the bar are the numbers that richard was talking about, the deaths that mention covid on the death certificate, but that only accounts for some of the spike that we have seen. there is more going on there. now, it could be that is due to other causes where people didn't seek care or gain care because of the crisis, but the suspicions are that a lot of it is unregistered covid deaths, so the picture is pretty bad and the figures that have come out from the care quality commission today from england, at least, suggest that that trend is going to keep on going. other than looking at t

richard galpin reports.this outbreak so far. the peak is expected in just over a week's time on easter day, and already infections are surging, doubling every few days, leaving thousands of people in hospital. testing people for the virus is vital. key workers — including nhs staff — can find out if they are clear to go to work without the fear of spreading the infection. but the government is facing sharp criticism for failing to scale up the testing programme quickly enough. and yet suddenly it has now announced it is aiming to increase testing from around 10,000 people a day to 100,000 by the end of the month, raising yet more questions. but the health secretary is determined to make it happen. well, we have got to. it is a goal and i've set it for the whole system. the 10,000 a day that we reached on target was from the public health england and the nhs working together incredibly hard, firstly to develop the test — we were one of the first countries in the world to do that — and then to increase the num

richard galpin, bbc news.ave just come through from the department of health in terms of the death toll in the uk as a result of coronavirus. the department telling us that the uk wide total as of five o'clock yesterday evening now stands at 2521. that's 2921 are dying in hospital after testing positive for the virus. the increase in the day before its 569. it is up by 569. those figures as of yesterday early evening. we are going to head to edinburgh. nicola sturgeon has just arrived for her daily brief thing. i would like to talk today about the figures of death we are sadly reporting. before ido so, death we are sadly reporting. before i do so, let me stress that every single death from this virus is a tragedy and my thoughts are with the families of those who have lost their lives. we know one of the most difficult parts of having a friend 01’ difficult parts of having a friend orfamily difficult parts of having a friend or family member die from difficult parts of having a friend orfamily member die from

richard galpin, bbc news. 759 new recorded uk deaths in hospitals. this is the figure for hospitals again, and in terms of testing, more than 4011 people have been tested, and about 133,500 have tested positive, but the key figure is 759 new recorded coronavirus deaths in uk hospitals. in terms of the deaths in care homes we have been focusing on so much today, we heard a little bit from the head of statistics, who had been explaining of those preliminary figures. doubling in five days is pretty scary, but actually we have to remember that that's what the virus has been doing, the number of deaths announced every day across the uk for the population as a whole was doubling every three —ish days up into the week before easter, then it slow down a bit and has flattened out since then, so doubling every three days versus doubling every five days, they are in the same ballpark, the question is what happens going forward, and the issue we have had is knowing exactly what is going on in care homes, because the daily

richard galpin, bbc news.h pym explained more about the confusion over the numbers of nhs staff being tested. testing is so important in the medium term, as restrictions are lifted, to see how far the virus might still be spreading in communities. never mind that, the short term is to get more nhs front line staff back to work. they may be self isolating because a member of their family is ill, they might have symptoms. if they can be tested, they'll know if they've got the virus or not. and, as richard was saying, there are clear shortages now because people are not able to get into work. under the government said for weeks that they're going to ramp up testing, to 10,000, then 25,000, we learned yesterday the 25,000 a day target was now going to be late april. it's still not out 10,000. it's up to 8000. you hear of the numbers, that the capacity of labs in the nhs hospital sector and public health laboratories is 12,500. yet they are only doing 8,000. so you hear that number being talked about. so, there's a

richard galpin, bbc news.litical correspondent vicki young —— charlotte gallagher, who is outside st thomas‘ hospital in central london. bring us up-to-date with what we know. boris johnson remains in intensive care this afternoon. we have heard from downing street that he is in a sta ble downing street that he is in a stable condition. he is in good spirits. he is being given oxygen, but crucially he isn‘t on a ventilator, so he doesn‘t need any mechanical assistance to breathe. as you can probably tell behind me, it is not business as usual at the hospital. there are police at every entrance and exit, they have put out security hoarding around the building, showing the seriousness of the situation and just how unusual and unprecedented is that we find ourselves here. of course, very worrying for borisjohnson‘s family and lots of people have talked about the fact that his partner is pregnant and when you‘re being treated for corona in hospital you can‘t have visitors because the virus is so infectious. incred

this report from our health correspondent richard galpin.s, the figures are very bleak, and won the figures are very bleak, and won the figures are very bleak, and won the figures are shooting up and mostly due to coronavirus. the vast majority of those deaths was in care homes. also, 466 people died at home and 87 in hospices.“ died at home and 87 in hospicesm we look at that care home number, because i know that as a source of real focus at the moment, last week that was about 5% of deaths involving covid—19 in a care home setting, nowhere looking at 13%. last week it was 217 deaths registered up to the 3rd of april in ca re registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings, now we are seeing over 1000. there are more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes in england alone. they are amongst the most vulnerable and the virus has already spread into many of these homes. we a lwa ys spread into many of these homes. we always had hoped that the figures would be less, but i think there is more and more evidence that they m

richard galpin, bbc news.dow attorney general, baroness chakra barti, has called the government's efforts to expand coronavirus testing "a failure". she's accused ministers and officials of a "insufficient clarity of strategy". and officials of a "insufficient with regard to testing and generally, we as a constructive opposition at a time of international emergency are seeking two things from the government. the first is clarity, greater clarity in government strategy, policy and communication with the public because everybody has to be taken along with this and reassured. and then the second thing we are asking for is more effective delivery of protection for people. whether that is kit, like testing kit, vital testing kits, or the ppe protective equipment at the front line, or whether it's economic protection for everyone currently in lockdown. in relation to testing, there seems to have been a failure on both fronts. insufficient clarity of strategy, and communications, and insufficient delivery of the prot

richard galpin, bbc news.ur correspondent charlotte gallagher who is out of hospital in central london where the prime minister is being treated. is there any update on the prime minister's condition? borisjohnson remains on the prime minister's condition? boris johnson remains in on the prime minister's condition? borisjohnson remains in intensive ca re borisjohnson remains in intensive care this afternoon. we had an update earlier from downing care this afternoon. we had an update earlierfrom downing street saying he is in a stable condition and in good spirits and receiving oxygen. crucially, he is not on a ventilator. that is the most important thing at this point, he is breathing unaided and does not need mechanical assistance. only the sickest patients are treated in intensive care, however, so the situation is very serious and they are monitored 20 a7. as you can see, idid not are monitored 20 a7. as you can see, i did not look like a normal hospital, security holdings have gone up around the building —

we will talk more about the lockdown in a few minutes, first this report from richard galpin. holiday has begun with beautiful weather in many areas, like in britain. but there is also trepidation. will we abide by the social distancing instructions to ensure we do not cause a surge in infections? now running, please. only walking. here on the thames footpath they are stopping runners who normally crowd this route. and on facebook today, a doctor working ina on facebook today, a doctor working in a hospitalfilled on facebook today, a doctor working in a hospital filled with coronavirus patients begs people to respect the government instructions. and those pleas would surely enforced by the prime minister, seen here before he went into hospital. he is now out of intensive care and recuperating from his battle with coronavirus. but it may be weeks before he's back in work. coronavirus. but it may be weeks before he's back in workli coronavirus. but it may be weeks before he's back in work. i don't think you could say he is out of the woods now, he has to take time. i am not acro

richard galpin, bbc news.s first minister, nicola sturgeon, has told the bbc it was her view that the government's chief medical officer, catherine calderwood, had to resign after breaching the terms of the coronavirus lockdown. dr calderwood admitted twice making non—essential journeys to visit her second home. here's our correspondent james shaw. caught on camera, visiting her holiday home in fife. scotland's chief medical, the public face on the campaign to slow the spread of the campaign to slow the spread of the virus. this is a vital update about the coronavirus. to help save lives, stay at home. it could hardly have been more embarrassingly for miss calderwood and the first minister nicola sturgeon. at first it looked as though the chief medicalfor it looked as though the chief medical for some it looked as though the chief medicalfor some might it looked as though the chief medical for some might hang it looked as though the chief medicalfor some might hang on to herjob but, then, came the realisation

this report from our health correspondent richard galpin. care homes across england and wales, the figures are particularly bleak. the number of deaths, shooting up. and all this, mostly due to coronavirus. in total, the office for national statistics says, in england and wales, coronavirus was involved in 1662 deaths outside hospitals in the week ending on good friday. the vast majority of those deaths were in care homes. also, 466 people died at home, and 87 in hospices. if we look at that care home number, i know that's a source of real focus at the moment, last week, that was about 5% of deaths involving covid were in care home settings, now 13%, based on death registrations. in terms of numbers, last week, we were looking at 217 deaths that had been registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings, now we are seeing over 1000. there are more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes in england alone. they are amongst the most vulnerable, and the virus has already spread into many of these homes. we always had hoped t

richard galpin, bbc news.deration of england and wales has warned that frontline officers are not getting the personal protective equipment they need to deal with suspects thought to have coronavirus. its operational policing lead, simon kempton, told the commons home affairs committee that something had "gone wrong" in the supply chain, which was often forcing officers to share their kit. he explained how the police need to adapt to protect the public in what he described as a ‘very different world', when the coronavirus pandemic comes to an end. because at the minute, we're in the middle of this pandemic and it's scary and it's unprecedented, but it's going to end. and when it ends, the public are going to emerge and it's going to be a different world. they'll have lost theirjobs, their businesses, and they're going to need protecting by the police at that point. and we can best protect them not just by having the right equipment, but maintaining that relationship. i'm really proud of the relationship we hav

more on that later, but first our health correspondent richard galpin reports.ow known that thousands of elderly people have been dying in care homes. and, finally, the government's saying all care home staff and residents can now be tested to see if they have the disease. the st cecilia's care home in scarborough has lost four of its residents to the virus. today, staff have been logging on to the government's website to book tests for everyone. but it's not proving easy. we got onto the website very early this morning to see if we could actually book tests and there was no way that we could see about getting tests for residents on the website. we could see the staff portal but that was the same as it was a few days before. i got the feeling they were inundated this morning, with the change in policy, and therefore weren't quite sure perhaps what they might do and offer. many of those running care homes believe the elderly and disabled have been left very exposed in this coronavirus pandemic. and experts say the high number of those dying in care homes is likel

our first report is from our health correspondent, richard galpin. plays 96—year—old barbara wells had been fit and well, living here at the stanley park care home in county durham. until she was hit by coronavirus. her funeral is tomorrow. 1a other residents have died here. across the country, there are around 20,000 care homes looking after more than half a million elderly and disabled people. and it seems they are now facing the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak here. the care home sector is clearly now the most hit area of society because these are small communities of the most vulnerable people and that is a situation we have not got to the bottom of yet in terms of adequate testing or the consistency of the ppe that we need to make sure that we are providing the right levels of care and isolation that we need to. today's figures from the office for national statistics and the care quality commission show how deaths in care homes in england and wales have shot up. by april the 10th, there were 1,043 deaths. by the following week it had almost tr

richard galpin reports.is in county durham, coronavirus is proving particularly deadly. 13 people have died here. across england and wales, more than 2,000 care homes have faced outbreaks of the virus. but deaths in these homes are not included in the official daily figures for england. somehow care homes have been left behind in this scramble for more ppe protective equipment, for the emergency admissions, ventilation, and for the testing as well. so there are a lot more people apparently dying in care homes. according to figures released today by the office for national statistics, or 0ns, 217 people died in care homes in the week ending april 3rd. 33 people also died in hospices and 136 at home. many more are thought to have died since then. here at the wren hall nursing home in the quiet nottinghamshire village of selston, they specialise in patients with dementia. over the past two weeks, nine people have died from coronavirus. it is devastating for everyone. we are feeling broken. we are feeling raw. f

richard galpin, bbc news.o our health correspondent anna collinson to break down today's latest uk figures. let's talk first about the latest daily death figures from the uk as a whole, the hospital death figures. it is still a large number. there has been a slight fall since yesterday, but a lot are losing their lives. absolutely. these figures from the department of health and social care are released every day and they look at the effects the coronavirus is having on the uk. there were 759 deaths reported yesterday in the uk. that ta kes reported yesterday in the uk. that takes the total in the uk to up to more than 18,000. we saw a jump in the figures yesterday following a lag over the weekend. yesterday there were more than 800 deaths reported. so today we have seen a slight drop in comparison, but we shouldn't read too much into one set of figures, particularly as we are seeing delays in reporting. it is of course important to remember that behind every figure is a family devastated or friends without lo

our correspondent richard galpin reports. a crucial role in this emergency. often the first port of call for people with coronavirus symptoms, and demand is increasing. but they say they are needlessly at risk as they don‘t have the right protective equipment to keep them safe. we are in my pharmacy at the moment... the owner of this south london pharmacy describes the makeshift measures they have had to put in place to reduce the risk of infection. we were initiallyjust allowing three people in at a time and we had created these clear areas for patients to stand in so they could have the social distance between each other. we are now to a one—in one—out policy to keep it safe for everybody. what they really need is the proper masks, gloves and aprons. i'm very concerned that staff are not getting access to the ppe that was promised to them a week ago and i believe that most of our staff now are seeing regular people coming into the pharmacy. they are getting up close and personal. we have some perspex screens in some of our

richard galpin, bbc news. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom.he focus away from coronavirus briefly. the vatican has welcomed a decision by australia's high court to quash the conviction of cardinal george pell for child sex abuse. cardinal pell was released from prison and made his way to a monastery in melbourne. the 78—year—old spent more than a year behind bars after he was convicted of sexually assaulting two choir boys in the 1990s. in a statement, cardinal pell said... a statement said the holy see... the holy see welcomed the decision and said it remains committed to "preventing and pursuing all cases of abuse against minors." earlier, pope francis offered his morning mass for all those who suffer from unjust sentences, which he compared to the persecution ofjesus. and then there was this tweet from the pope... i caught icaught up i caught up with our religion editor martin bashir. for the last 2.5 yea rs, every martin bashir. for the last 2.5 years, every single time i have asked the pope's official spokesman about whether pope francis

richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur health correspondent nick triggle is with me. 563, the biggest day on daygetting near the peak of this, our are we a few days or weeks off? it is hard to tell, and health officials have been careful not to put exact predictions on this, but we have been told to expect rising numbers of cases and deaths. what is important is not to ta ke deaths. what is important is not to take a single day in isolation but to look at the trend over the past few days. we know the total numbers of deaths are rising every two to three days, and we have seen other countries on similar trajectories, so countries on similar trajectories, so that is to be expected. yesterday health officials were talking about green shoots of recovery, a sign that cases were plateauing. so today's figures are very interesting. we have seen over 4000 new cases announced today, but if we look back over the last few days, it has been hovering around 2500—3000, so whilst this is a big increase today, if you take the past week as a whole, the trajectory upwards is slower than it was some weeks ago. so

have also been developments today for rolling out virus testing for all front line workers, as richard galpindrive—in testing centres are now up and running across the country. besides health workers, teachers, police, prison officers and others can now get tested for the virus. there's huge progress being made in building lab capacity. so there is a plan to deliver that level of lab capacity. we now have a number of ways of meeting demand and matching that capacity to demand. but the real aim is to secure the testing capabilities that the country needs. and i'm confident that we have that, and will be able to allow the country to respond to the testing that is required. the government's pledged to scale up the programme to 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. whether that's possible was not something the new testing coordinator would answer. today, parliament returned to work, in an unusual format. only 50 mps are now allowed to sit in the house of commons, meaning many mps will now have to contribute virtually. our uk political correspondent jessica parker was watching. today was a

this first report from richard galpin.s work of doctors and nurses across the country, coronavirus has already left more than 1a,500 people dead and the numbers continue to rise. there are concerns about the government's approach to this outbreak. welcome to this session of the house of commons... today's hearing chaired byjeremy hunt was a chance for these to be expressed by politicians, health staff and experts. there has been strong criticisms. the harsh reality, and i hope i am being constructively critical, this should be a no blame audit, where were the system errors that led us to having the highest death rates in europe. we have to face the reality that we were too slow on a number of things, but we can make sure that in the second way we are not too slow. he said this later. we can see 40,000 deaths by the time it is over. another key issue faced by the government is a supply of ppe, which health and care staff need to prevent being infected by the virus. there are warnings that some hospitals are now on the verge

richard galpin reports. biggest challenge of this outbreak so far. the peak is expected in just over a week's time on easter day, and already infections are surging, doubling every few days, leaving thousands of people in hospital. testing people for the virus is vital. key workers — including nhs staff — can find out if they are clear to go to work without the fear of spreading the infection. but the government is facing sharp criticism for failing to scale up the testing programme quickly enough. and yet suddenly it has now announced it is aiming to increase testing from around 10,000 people a day to 100,000 by the end of the month, raising yet more questions. but the health secretary is determined to make it happen. well, we have got to. it is a goal and i've set it for the whole system. the 10,000 a day that we reached on target was from the public health england and the nhs working together incredibly hard, firstly to develop the test — we were one of the first countries in the world to do that — and th

our health correspondent richard galpin reports. tireless work of doctors and nurses across the country, coronavirus has already left almost 1a,000 people dead and the numbers continue to rise. there are concerns about the government's approach to this outbreak. welcome to this session of the house of commons health and social care... so, today, the hearing chaired byjeremy hunt, former health secretary, given a chance for views to be expressed by politicians, health staff and health experts. there has been strong criticism. the harsh reality, and one of the reasons... i hope i am being constructively critical, and also i believe we should not have any blame at this stage. we should have a no blame audience. where would the system errors that led us to have probably the highest death rates in europe? and we have to face the reality of that, we were too slow with a number of things, but we can make sure that with a second wave we are not too slow. later, he said this. we could see 40,000 deaths by the time it is over. another key iss

retention or furlough scheme is to be extended until the end ofjune. 0urfirst report is from richard galpin. is one of the doctors here? despite the tireless work of doctors and nurses across the country, coronavirus has already left more than 1a,500 people dead and the numbers continue to rise. and there are concerns about the government's approach to this outbreak. welcome to this session of house of commons health and... so today's hearing, chaired by former health secretary, jeremy hunt, a chance for views to be expressed by politicians, health staff and experts and there has been strong criticism. the harsh reality and one of the reasons, and i hope i'm being constructively critical, and also i believe we should not have any blame at this stage, we should have a no—blame audit, where were the system errors that led us to have probably the highest death rates in europe? and we have to face the reality of that, we were too slow with a number of things. but we can make sure in the second wave we're not too slow. and later he said this. we could see 40,000 deaths by the time it's over. ano

more on all those developments later but first here's later, but first here's richard galpin with thest. the bank holiday has begun with beautiful weather in many areas, like here in brighton. but there is also trepidation. will we abide by the social distancing instructions to ensure we don't now cause a surge in infections? no running, please. 0nly walking. here on the thames footpath, they are stopping runners who normally crowd this route. and on facebook today, a doctor working in a hospitalfilled with coronavirus patients begs people to respect the government instructions. and those pleas would surely be re—enforced by the prime minister, seen here before he went into hospital. he's now out of intensive care and recuperating from his battle with coronavirus. but it may be weeks before he's back in work. i don't think you could say that he's out of the woods now, he has to take time. i am not across the details but i cannot believe you can walk away from this and go straight back to downing street, and pick up the reins without a period of readjustment. there's no rest, though, f