UK coronavirus: death toll in hospitals, care homes and community at 26,097 – as it happened

• A total of 26,097 patients had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Tuesday, Public Health England said. It was the first time the daily death toll figures took into account deaths in care homes and the community as well as those in hospitals between 2 March and 28 April. It marked an increase of 3,811 on the previous figure.
• Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds announced the birth of a healthy baby boy at a London hospital on Wednesday morning. With offers of congratulations coming in from across the political spectrum and from world leaders, Downing Street confirmed the PM will take paternity leave later in the year, rather than now. He spoke with the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer about the coronavirus response this afternoon. No 10 declined to say whether the baby was born prematurely nor to disclose any further details about the birth.
• The UK will fall behind other countries if it doesn’t publish an exit plan soon, Sir Keir Starmer told Dominic Raab during PMQs. Starmer pointed to countries including France, Germany, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales, which deal with issues including reopening schools and some businesses. Starmer said that “delay risks not only falling behind other countries, but also the successful four-nation approach so far”.
  
• Schools are expected to reopen “in a phased manner”, Gavin Williamson said. The education secretary said he could not give a date but told MPs that Sage is looking at how a phased reopening of schools could work in line with the scientific advice.
• More migrant health and care workers on the frontline will be automatically granted free visa extensions, the Home Office confirmed. As well as doctors, nurses and paramedics, the extension will now apply to midwives, radiographers, social workers and pharmacists. Family members and dependents of healthcare workers who die as a result of contracting the virus will also be offered immediate indefinite leave to remain.
• Air passenger numbers are down 99% compared with a year ago, the home secretary said. Priti Patel told MPs that testing was not taking place at the border, a decision based on advice from Sage, which maintained such measures would have “a negligible impact”.
• And the government insisted it was still aiming to achieve 100,000 tests per day by the end of Thursday (tomorrow). The PM’s spokesman told the lobby briefing that 43,563 coronavirus tests were provided in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday and that there was capacity for 73,400 tests to be carried out.

As ever, thank you to everybody who got in touch throughout the day with a stories and suggestions, and to all of you reading along.

If you would like to continue to follow the Guardian’s coverage of the pandemic, head over to the global live blog for the worldwide picture.

29 Apr 202013.34 EDT

Dominic Raab's press conference - Summary

Andrew Sparrow

Here are the main points from Dominic Raab’s press conference.

• Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, announced that the new system being used to produce headline coronavirus death figures for the UK showed an increase of 3,811 on the previous figure. That is because the government previously only announced figures for people who had died in hospital having tested positive for coronavirus. Now the figures include people who have died in any setting having tested positive for coronavirus. Today’s figure is 26,097. The government dashboard, with the details, is here. But there are still good grounds for thinking that this figure massively understates the true extent of coronavirus deaths, because so many people are dying without being tested. (See 6.02pm.) Announcing the figures Raab said:

From today, we are moving to an improved daily reporting system for deaths so that deaths in all settings are included wherever the individual has tested positive for Covid-19, rather than just those in hospitals.

Those figures show that up to yesterday on the new measure we have recorded an additional 3,811 deaths in total and I think it is just important to say that those additional deaths were spread over the period for March 2 to April 28 so they don’t represent a sudden surge in the number of deaths.

Commenting on the new figures, Prof Yvonne Doyle, medical director at NHS England said the new overall figure was 20% higher than the previous headline total. She said it was “good news” that a more comprehensive picture was now available.

• Doyle said traffic levels on UK roads are now at their highest level since the coronavirus lockdown was introduced. The number of vehicles was 56% lower than in early February, but up three percentage points compared with the previous Monday. Presenting a slide with the data, Doyle said:

There has been an uptick in motor vehicles, and the message here really is that we are still passing through this peak. This use of motor vehicles is the highest working day use since March 23.

We really have to be vigilant. Most people are making huge efforts to stay at home and save lives. This is slightly worrying, so please do stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives. Go out for the necessities.

View image in fullscreen

• Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, played down the prospect of social distancing measures being relaxed for outdoor activities like park runs, going to the beach or drinking in a beer garden. He said the virus was less likely to spreak outdoors. But he went on:

These are complex and, at various different points, they might involve a congregation of individuals and one has to be very painstaking and very careful about thinking through some of these before we make the wrong move to relax measures.

We have to be extremely sure-footed and extremely painstaking about this. This virus will absolutely come back.

This is with us for quite some time, potentially for as long as until we get a vaccine, so from that perspective we have to be really careful and really sure-footed and I’m not going to suggest for a moment that any of this should be rushed.

• Van-Tam said the government would have to be “very careful indeed” about relaxing social distancing measures for schools. Asked if it would be possible to ensure pupils stay two metres apart, he said:

I think that would be very difficult in a classroom of four or five-year-olds - I think that would be very tricky. I think we have to think through all those measures and how they might work.

• Raab said the government was considering the case for using Nightingale hospitals, which are mostly empty, to house care home residents who might be at risk because of coronavirus outbreaks in their homes. When a member of the public (one of two using the new slots available for non-journalistic questions) asked if this was an option, Raab replied:

It is something that has been under constant discussion.It is certainly something that remains under review.

View image in fullscreen

Responding to the latest figures showing that more than 26,000 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community across the UK after testing positive for Covid-19, Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty UK, said:

These harrowing figures raise serious concerns over the failure of our government to effectively tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

These figures are coming out far too late - it is three months since the first confirmed coronavirus case in the UK and public trust in the way the government has handled the provision of PPE remains low with the government’s transparency still coming into question.

We need to see an urgent escalation in protective equipment, testing and training for those on the frontline of this crisis. Any delay will only cost more lives.

In addition, a poll of 2,000 people conducted by Opinium for Amnesty between 24-27 April found that:

• Two in three people in the UK believe the government has performed poorly in providing PPE for healthcare workers (60%) and for key workers (62%).
• And 78% felt that the government had not been fully transparent in its communication with the public so far with over a third (36%) saying the government has tended not to be or never been transparent in relation to its handling of the pandemic.

Amnesty has been campaigning for the UK government to ensure the most vulnerable are adequately protected during the coronavirus pandemic – a petition to the UK government has now reached over 20,000 signatures.

Wetherspoon’s is starting to plan for a reopening of its pubs and hotels “in or around June”, the company has claimed, despite the UK remaining in government-mandated lockdown and no go-ahead as yet for easing physical distancing measures.

In a statement, the business said:

The company is likely to make some changes to its operating model, assuming increased social distancing, and anticipates a gradual recovery in customer numbers.

Wetherspoon pubs are substantially larger than average, and most have outside facilities. The company believes these factors are likely to assist if social distancing measures apply.

The pub chain’s boss Tim Martin was forced to close all 900 pubs and furlough 40,000 workers before Britain went on lockdown on 23 March.

But he sparked controversy and prompted calls for a boycott of the chain when he claimed closing pubs was “over the top” and that supermarkets posed a bigger risk of spreading coronavirus than bars.

He later refused to pay workers until he received the appropriate government bailout and sparked further anger and accusations of hypocrisy when he told his workers to get jobs at Tesco instead.

The founder said on Wednesday he will take a 50% voluntary pay cut, along with chief executive John Hutson, other directors have agreed to similar cuts.

Here is the government’s new dashboard, with the latest UK coronavirus death figures. Today it gives the total death toll as 26,097.

However, it is important to stress that this count only includes deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus. There will be many people who have died from coronavirus without having had a positive test.

Yesterday one analysis, based on excess death figures, put the likely number of people to have died either directly or indirectly as a result of coronavirus at more than 45,000.

Q: [From Bob] As there seems to be space in the Nightingale hospitals, why can’t you put people from care homes there to keep them safe?

Raab says the Nightingale hospitals are not just there for current cases. They need to be available for the future.

He says their use is being kept under review.

Doyle says the Nightingale hospitals are adaptable. They can be used in different ways. This would be one option.

But you would have to consider whether this was a suitable option for frail hospitals.

And that’s it. The press conference is over.

Raab now takes two questions from members of the public.

He reads out the first: Why has the government not introduced quarantine for people arriving in the UK?

Raab says the government has looked at this, but the scientific evidence so far has been that this would make very little difference.

But it is being kept under review, he says.

Doyle says this is being looked at as the situation changes.

Q: How will social distancing work in a school setting? Will home education have to continue into next year?

Van-Tam says he has two sons at home, aged 11 and 12. He knows the stress this is causing. But he is clear the closing schools was the right thing to do.

There are multiple combinations about what you might do next.

But he says he won’t go into it, because the science is not settled yet.

Q: Is it possible for groups of young people to stay two metres apart?

Van-Tams says he thinks that would be very difficult.

Q: There are still Britons stuck in India, particularly from the West Midlands. Will you increase the number of repatriation flights?

Raab says the government has already chartered 58 flights, returning more than 12,000 people. More are planned, to get another 7,000 Britons home, he says.

Q: Will the government consider pausing NRPF (no recourse to public funds) status for those migrants to whom it applies during the crisis?

Raab says Priti Patel, the home secretary, is looking at this carefully.

Q: If there had been more testing earlier, could some of these deaths have been avoided?

Raab says there are always things to learn in a situation like this. But the government has acted on the basis of the best medical advice, he says.

Doyle says there have always been interventions where there have been outbreaks in care homes.

This disease predominantly affects the over-75s, she says.

She says some older people might have died before they could even be tested.

She says they are now looking at how the virus moves in a home. Genomics is providing good insights, she says.

She says it is impossible to say if testing would have made a huge difference.

Q: [From the Daily Mail] How helpful are private initiatives like the Daily Mail’s Mail Force airlift?

Raab says this has been fantastic.

Q: How much evidence is there that the summer weather helps combat the virus?

Van-Tam says being outdoors helps. He says the virus spreads less outside.

In the summer people leave the doors and windows open, he says.

Q: So is there some hope for garden centres, park runs, going to the beach and even pub gardens being allowed?

Van-Tam says Sage is keeping all this evidence under review.

He says these are complex decisions. These events could involve people congregating. They have to be extremely sure-footed, he says. This virus will be with us for quite some time. He says he does not want to suggest any of these decisions should be rushed.

Q: How many of the five tests are you passing?

Raab says he is going to wait until he gets advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on this in early May.

There are some encouraging signs, he says. But he will wait for the Sage evidence.

Q: But the NHS has not been overwhelmed. Can’t you at least say you pass test one?

Raab says the NHS has not been overrun. But he says they need to be sure that, going ahead, that will remain the case.

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, says the new death figures out today are an improvement.

But ultimately the government will be able to look at excess death figures, which show all the excess deaths about average. There is a standardised European way of doing this, he says.

(That might be a reference to the work done by EuroMOMO.)

He says these figures will show, not just Covid-19 deaths, but deaths that might have occurred as a consequence of the crisis.

I’ve found the global deaths per head of population chart now, and I’ve added it to the post at 5.27pm. You may need to refresh the page to get it to show up.