UK coronavirus live: new rules 'would only allow 1 in 10 passengers on parts of public transport'- as it happened

• The government emphasised that any changes to lockdown measures announced by the PM tomorrow will be “extremely cautious”. Boris Johnson is expected to announce small changes to measures, which could include permitting outdoor exercise more than once a day, reopening garden centres and requiring passengers arriving from abroad into airports and ports to quarantine for 14 days. The government declined to confirm these reports today and said only that the PM will make an announcement at 7pm tomorrow.
• The coastguard recorded the highest number of incidents in one day since lockdown began as people “ignored” the government’s stay-at-home message. The Coastguard said there were 97 incidents on Friday, 54% more than the average of 63 recorded for the previous month. Going into another warm, sunny bank holiday weekend, it urged people to continue observing the stay-at-home guidance for the sake of the NHS and first responders on the frontline.
• The UK death toll rose by 346 to 31,587 across all settings.
• The government pledged a £2bn package to boost cycling and walking during what the transport secretary Grant Shapps called “a once-in-a-generation” chance to change the way people travel in the UK. The package will include measures such as widening pavements, pop-up bike lanes, cyclist-only streets and trialling the use of e-scooters.

That’s it from us today on the UK side. If you would like to continue following the Guardian’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, head over to the global live blog.

Q. While the inquiry into BAME deaths with Covid-19 is ongoing until the end of the month, in the interim, what steps are you taking to protect BAME key workers and their families?

Shapps says at the end of May [with results of PHE inquiry] the government will be in a better position to advise on this.

Van-Tam says he takes this very incredibly seriously and there is an enormous determination to get to the bottom of this with real clarity and in a proper and scientific way. That’s why he doesn’t want to offer “quick fixes”, he says.

There are multiple risk factors and it is very complicated, so there are no quick answers, he says.

I can’t tell you how urgent this is, but it’s not so urgent that we can make mistakes.

Q. Will the government consider including convenience retailers as key workers and providing them and pharmacists with PPE so they can continue to serve the nation, or will you tell them to close so they can stay alive?

This doesn’t get answered.

And that’s it, the press conference is over.

Q. As of right now and for the next 24 hours ahead of the PM’s statement, should people be staying at home?

Shapps says it is “absolutely unequivocal” that people should be staying at home and not throwing away the efforts of the last seven weeks just because it’s sunny this weekend.

Please stay at home this weekend in exactly the same way that you have been previously.

Q. For track and trace to really work, do we have to have new cases down to the hundreds and if so how long do you think that will take?

Van-Tam says test and trace will involve the NHS app and PHE in wider traditional contact tracing.

He says test and trace is part of the solution to how we continue to live with this virus after the lockdown – it’s not the total solution, he adds.

How extensive test and trace needs to be depends on the level of disease among the population, he says, but it is part of the overall measures that will give us more flexibility on social distancing.

It’s a contribution, not a total solution.

Q. Will you accept that parents won’t be able to cycle into work until schools are up and running?

Shapps says more people than ever are working from home and this is likely to continue as long as social distancing remains at the heart of the situation. The PM will say more on this tomorrow, he adds.

Q. What’s going to happen to the 1.8m shielding when the volunteers they rely on go back to work?

Van-Tam says shielding is extremely important to protecting the most vulnerable in society and is likely to have prevented many deaths.

He says these groups and how to proceed are being kept under review.

Q. Can you level with people that realistically foreign travel this summer is unlikely and recommend that people start cancelling trips?

Shapps says the Foreign Office is advising strongly against all international travel at the moment and many countries aren’t accepting foreign travellers at the moment.

We have to see how the R rate continues to proceed before we know the answer as to how things will look in the summer, he adds.

Q. Why has it been so difficult to protect people in care homes and what more needs to be done?

Van-Tam says he recognises the difficult situation in care homes and is extremely sorry for the deaths that have occurred.

The largely indoor environment in care homes means the virus spreads more easily among the largely elderly population in care homes – many of whom have a range of underlying health conditions, creating “a perfect storm”, he says.

NHS England and the CQC are looking closely at this, he adds.

Q. Are you open to negotiation on this quarantine arrangement with the airline industry or have you made up your mind?

Shapps says nothing has been announced yet.

The aviation sector has been approached to have “bespoke conversations” with himself and the chancellor, he says.

Q. The average UK commute is 9 miles - many couldn’t cycle to work if they want to. What will you do about that?

Shapps says there will be further announcements on road and rail.

They are taking questions from the media now.

Q. Will anyone flying into UK airports be quarantined for 14 days from the start of next month? Why didn’t this happen weeks ago during the peak and won’t such a move damage the aviation industry even more?

Shapps says people travelling from Wuhan, Iran and South Korea were quarantined in January and February.

It makes sense to look at the borders, he says, but the capacity to do this exists but the PM will say more on this tomorrow.

Van-Tam adds that the incubation period of this disease is understood to be between one and 14 days. This means from exposure to the virus, you remain well for one to 14 days before symptoms emerge. If people go home, they must work out that incubation period at home, and that’s the scientific basis for quarantine.

Q. Is the government’s messaging now looking more confused as you’re looking at tightening controls on the borders yet allowing people to visit garden centres?

Shapps says he feels people are capable of understanding what’s being said.

Van-Tam adds that the policy is quite consistent. Testing and tracing means contacts will be told to self-isolate, consistent with quarantining people travelling in from abroad, he says.

Tammy from Bristol asks how the government plans to implement social distancing measures in education settings.

Shapps says we must wait to hear from the prime minister tomorrow at 7pm but discussions are ongoing on this matter.

Van-Tam says that whatever the PM announces tomorrow, it will be “extremely cautious, careful and painstaking” and will take into account these factors.

It’s caution all the way, really.

They are taking questions from members of the public now.

Stephen from County Durham asks if he should follow the advice of the Scottish government or Westminster.

Shapps says the four nations have largely moved in lockstep and the next phase will involve very clear messaging, as it has so far.

Prof Van-Tam is speaking now.

Transport use remains low and “extremely impressive”, he says.

There is a gradual increase in the use of motor vehicles, which may reflect people returning to work but is difficult to interpret, he says.

Daily tests (both completed and sent out) have reached “a high plateau” with some fluctuation on a day-to-day basis, he says.

Mass swab testing by universities, research institutes and companies is complementing NHS swab testing to record several thousand new cases per day. This is reflected in the higher capacity, he says.

There is “a solid decline” in the number of people in hospital in all the different regions. We must still be “cautious and measured about what happens next”, he says.

There is “plenty of capacity” for critical care patients, the numbers of which continue to decline, he says.

There has been and continues to be a “steady and consistent fall” in the number of recorded deaths, he says.

Finally, on the global death comparison, the US is an outlier at the top and the UK is in company with France, Italy and Spain in the middle band. We won’t get the most granular picture until we start to get excess mortality data across all countries, he says.

There will be further announcements on investments in road and rail in the coming days, he says.

He has met with Google, Microsoft and Citymapper to develop data and apps to help the public view crowding across the travel network in real-time, he says.

He also announces £10m for car charging points on streets and to accelerate the filling of potholes, as the car remains the “mainstay” for many families, he says.

In this new world, pedestrians will need more space, Shapps says.

He announces a £2bn package to put cycling and walking “at the heart of the government’s transport policy”.

He will bring forward a “national cycling plan” in early June to set out how they will double cycling and increase walking by 2025.

The first stage worth £250m is a series of emergency interventions to make cycling and walking safer – including pop-up bike lanes, wider pavements and cyclist-only streets, he says.

They will also publish statutory advice for councils to accommodate for cyclists and walkers.

This will be a once-in-a-generation change to the way people travel in Britain, Shapps says.

Once of the few positives of this crisis is the fall in levels of air pollution, he says.

To try to preserve this cleaner air, he is also trialling use of e-scooters to get rental schemes up and running in cities as soon as possible.

Even with public transport reverting to a full service, once the two-metre social distancing rule is accounted for, there would only be capacity for one in 10 passengers in many parts of the network, Shapps says.

We must think very carefully about how and when we travel, if we are to get Britain moving again without overcrowding our transport network, he says.

This is an opportunity to make us healthier in the long-term through active travel, he says.

When we do get back to work, cycling and walking in a safe way should be encouraged.

Tomorrow, the prime minister will set out a “roadmap” for the next phase in the government’s strategy, Shapps says.

Moving beyond Covid will be “a gradual process, not a single leap to freedom”, he says.

When we do emerge, the world will seem quite different, at least for some time, he says.

The transport secretary is speaking now.

An update from Cobra’s data file:

96,878 tests were carried out yesterday.

215,260 have tested positive, an increase of 3,896 cases since yesterday.

11,809 people are in hospital with coronavirus in the UK, down from 12,284 yesterday and 17% down on the same day last week.

31,587 people have now died, an increase of 346 fatalities in all settings since yesterday.

The transport secretary Grant Shapps will lead the government’s daily coronavirus press conference, which is due to begin shortly.

He will be joined by the deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam.