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The death toll from the UK coronavirus rose by 413 today, the lowest on record this month, as NHS chiefs said the social distancing is ‘paying off’, but cautioned that breaking the rules now could lead to a second peak of fatal disease.
Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, said the latest government statistics showed that there had been a “slight increase” in the number of people using their cars and going out in recent days.
He said at the daily Downing Street coronavirus press conference that the nation needed to “remind us that these have been a really tough four weeks and that we don’t want to lose the benefits” that have resulted from people staying home.
Powis said that no one could be “absolutely sure” that the UK is now firmly on a downward trajectory, as he urged the British to continue to adhere to the draconian blockade measures.
The 413 new deaths represent a significant drop in yesterday’s numbers in the UK, and are also lower than on previous Sundays, which generally have a lower toll than on weekdays.
But the government is still rejecting calls to publish a roadmap out of the shutdown, with Dominic Raab this morning admonishing Labor and conservative figures demanding an exit strategy.
Environment Secretary George Eustice remained tight-lipped during this afternoon’s briefing, where he confirmed that the death toll has reached 20,732.
The cabinet minister also said cases rose by 4,463 to 153,840 after 29,058 tests were conducted yesterday, a figure that will set off alarms in Whitehall after Matt Hancock promised to reach 100,000 tests by the end of April.
The latest Downing Street data showed that there has been a slight increase in the number of people going abroad in recent days.
Transportation usage overall remains relatively flat, but the number of vehicles in nations has increased slightly, scaring the government health expert.
In the past few days there have been increasing signs that some Britons may have been concerned about the blockade status.
Official data shows that more people are using the nation’s roads, while photographs suggest more people venturing outside to use UK green spaces.
But Powis said this afternoon that everyone should stay home as long as possible, or risk a second increase in coronavirus cases.
He said: ‘In recent weeks, of course, we have seen why those measures of social distancing have been met and those restrictions have begun to change and, as I showed you a few minutes ago, we are now beginning to see declines, particularly in London and Yes, deaths are now stagnant across the country or beginning to decline.
“But I must emphasize that those benefits have only come about not by luck, but because people have followed the instructions that everyone has given us and have followed science.” The science of this is fairly straightforward.
As he imagined the British sunbathing in the parks in warm weather:
- It was revealed that everyone entering Britain will now face a mandatory two-week quarantine under plans being developed by the Government;
- Ministers have ordered up to 50 million new immunity tests to be produced in the fight against Covid-19;
- Boris Johnson prepared to return to work on Downing Street tomorrow, after telling attendees that he was “eager to leave”;
- Dominic Raab admitted that a coronavirus vaccine is “unlikely to arrive this year” despite human trials beginning this week;
- The Foreign Secretary also criticized “irresponsible” donors Tory, MPs and Keir Starmer for demanding that the UK government publish an exit closure strategy;
- A follow-up application shows that the coronavirus was spreading in Britain weeks before the first case was discovered, and says that we already passed the peak of the error on April 1;
- The imprisoned Britons prepared to receive more bad news, as the country will be affected by the weeks of rain starting today when the heat wave ends;
- Epidemiologist Prof Neil Ferguson, who is part of the Sage advisory group, warned that 100,000 people could die of coronavirus if the blockade were lifted and the elderly were ‘protected’;
- People flocked to DIY stores despite rules that prohibited all non-essential exits.
Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, said the latest government statistics showed that there was a “slight increase” in the number of people who use their cars and go outside in recent days.
The number of people in the hospital with coronavirus continues to decline in many parts of the country, and in others there is a constant plateau
The UK coronavirus death rate continues to hover at approximately the same level as its European neighbors in France, Spain and Italy.
Downing Street data showed that the number of new daily cases has been broadly stable in recent days, but this has been affected by increased evidence
Shoppers are shown lining up outside the Range in Derby as the coronavirus crisis continues and the government still urges people to stay home as much as possible.
Pictured: People queue outside a B&Q store in Watford as social distancing continues across the UK
Government adviser says gradual reduction of confinement could bring death toll to 100,000
Prof Ferguson speaking on the UnHerd podcast
The number of coronavirus deaths could reach 100,000 in the UK by the end of this year if a phased blockade is implemented with only the elderly protected, Professor Neil Ferguson warned yesterday.
The Imperial College epidemiologist said it was impossible to send the healthy young back to work while keeping the vulnerable locked up without seeing a huge increase in deaths.
The academic, whose previous predictions of fatalities caused the prime minister to block Britain, warned that no country has successfully protected those most exposed to the virus while allowing the least vulnerable to continue as normal.
Professor Ferguson said that some degree of social isolation will be required until a vaccine against the killer bug is released, which Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said today is unlikely to occur until 2021.
He was asked if the youth could get out of the confinement if the severe measures have suppressed the infection rate enough and the Government has increased the capacity of the NHS to a sufficient degree.
Professor Ferguson told UnHerd: ‘In practical terms, a very high level of effective protection would be required for that to be a viable strategy.
“ If you only achieve 80% protection, and an 80% reduction in the risk of infection in those groups, we still project that you will get more than 100,000 deaths this year with that kind of strategy.
“The most vulnerable people are also the people who need the most care and the most interaction with the health system and are less capable of being truly isolated.”
Powis said the UK’s efforts “however tough they are, have begun to pay off.”
But he warned that Britain cannot yet be totally sure of its downward trajectory and added: “ But of course the other point to note is that it will only continue to bear fruit if we continue to maintain social distancing and continue to deliver on those messages.
‘Because of course my fear, as is the fear of all of us, is that those curves will not continue in a downward trend, but will start to go in an upward trend and we are not at the point that neither you can be absolutely sure that this will not be the case.
“We want to avoid a second spike, we want to avoid an increase, and therefore I cannot emphasize enough that this is not the time to say that we have actually done a good job, we need to stop complying with the instructions for social distancing and government guidance.
“This is exactly the time to keep it up and that is why when I showed you the graphs and transport curves earlier, that slight increase in motor vehicles, that slight increase in the use of Apple Maps, we must keep a close eye on that .
“We all have to remind ourselves that it’s been a really tough four weeks and we don’t want to lose the benefits that have come from this.” We have to move on.
The government has been under increasing pressure to establish its closure exit strategy, with Tory donors, MPs and even cabinet ministers urging Boris Johnson to detail how the restrictions could be lifted.
But Foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who remains deputy to the prime minister until he returns to work tomorrow, slapped critics of the government today as he said the focus should continue to be curbing the spread of the disease.
Raab said Britain is still in a “delicate and dangerous” stage of the outbreak and that while ministers are doing their “homework”, now is not the time to detail the findings in public.
He said that “ Frankly, it is not responsible to start speculating on individual measures, ” a direct rebuke to Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer who has demanded that the government publish an action plan and Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has established his own plan how you begin to regain normal life.
Raab also insisted today that the UK is “on the way” to conduct 100,000 daily coronavirus tests in late April.
Meanwhile, epidemiologist Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, whose predictions of previous deaths led the government to impose the blockade, warned that the number of deaths could reach 100,000 by the end of this year if a gradual reduction of the blockade is implemented with only the elders who are still protected.
Current figures for England, Scotland, and Wales include those who die in hospital, but don’t care about deaths at home, believed to be a significant part of the actual numbers.
NHS England publishes daily figures showing the dates of each coronavirus-related death in England’s hospitals, and will often include previously unrecounted deaths that occurred several days or even weeks ago.
This is due to the time it takes for deaths to confirm as positive for Covid-19, along with post-mortem examination processing and test data to be validated.
Northern Ireland figures for today have yet to be revealed, nor are official statistics from the Department of Health.
Today, a long queue formed in Clapham as people waited for ice cream to be served at an ice cream parlor on Northcote Road
Richmond Park in the west of the capital was also busy with walkers and cyclists today, when temperatures reached 21 ° C.
There were also many cyclists in central London today. The photo is the shopping center with Buckingham Palace in the background
Police spoke to bathers while patrolling Greenwich Park in South London today.
Dominic Raab insisted today that the UK is “on the way” to conduct 100,000 daily coronavirus tests in late April.
Today’s figures show that another 336 people who tested positive for the virus died in England, bringing the total number of confirmed hospital deaths in the country to 18,420.
A total of 1,249 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for Covid-19, an increase of 18 from 1,231 on Saturday, the Scottish government confirmed.
The number of people who tested positive for the virus north of the border is 10,324, 273 more than Saturday’s figure of 10,051.
Figures published on the Scottish Government website confirmed that 1,735 patients are in the hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, 13 fewer than 1,748 the previous day. Of these, 133 were in intensive care, a drop of seven.
Another 14 people died after testing positive for a coronavirus in Wales, bringing the total number of deaths to 788, health officials said.
And Public Health Wales said another 178 people had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 9,078.
A couple view the empty beach at Broadstairs, Kent today as the UK continues to be locked up to help curb the spread of the coronavirus
NHS England publishes daily figures showing the dates of each coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, and will often include previously unrecounted deaths that occurred several days or even weeks ago.
Why are deaths and infections taking so long to decrease? New cases decrease only a third in three weeks
It has taken the UK three weeks to reduce daily coronavirus cases by about a third in a slow “disappointing” decline that may be due to “inadequate access to personal protective equipment”.
The daily number of infections has dropped from 5,903 at its peak on April 5 to 4,913 yesterday.
This rate of decline lags behind other countries in Europe, including Germany and Spain and Italy, compared to three weeks after each nation’s peak of infections.
Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia said one reason could be due to increased access to personal protective equipment abroad.
It occurs when top British scientists poured cold water in hopes of ending the blockade, warning that the number of cases must first be in the hundreds, not thousands.
The UK yesterday passed the milestone of 20,000 deaths in the outbreak as another 813 deaths brought the official total to 20,319, while cases reached 148,377.
Professor Hunter, from the Norwich School of Medicine at UEA, told MailOnline: “ If you look at most other countries, not all of them, but certainly most show a much steeper decline than we do.
“We are definitely seeing a slower impact than most of our European neighbors.”
The academic said it was not immediately clear why the falls in other countries were more pronounced than ours, but said he had some theories.
He said, “I suspect some of this is related to potentially PPE-related problems unsuitable for health service and care workers.”
He added: “I would not be surprised if part of this number of deaths was largely due to the spread, not necessarily in the general population, but in the elderly and vulnerable, and that would be related to inadequate prevention of infections.”
Germany, which has been hailed as a mainstay on how to deal with the virus, had a case number similar to that of Britain at its peak on April 5 at 5,936.
But the number has plummeted in the same three-week period, with 2,055 cases as of yesterday.
Germany has also seen a comparatively low daily death toll during the crisis, with 179 new deaths yesterday as a fraction of the UK’s 813.
Foreign Minister Andreas Michaelis said his government’s decision to maintain overcapacity in ICUs has been one of the main reasons for the low death rate.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, he said the country had 40,000 intensive care beds, 30,000 of which can be used with ventilators.
‘This is really an inheritance from our health system: it is almost the central factor of our health system.
“Many experts criticized us for having too much capacity, too much spending. I think the people of Germany can now say that it is additional capacity that they are very happy to have financed in the past.”
But the figures revealed so far indicate a possible new low in deaths in the country.
Dr. Giri Shankar of Public Health Wales said: “ Based on the new case numbers, there is emerging evidence suggesting a leveling off in the number of new Covid-19 cases in Wales, which may be an indication of the effectiveness of the blocking measures.
However, it is still too early to know for sure, and it is too early to end the current rules of social distancing.
‘Public Health Wales fully supports the Prime Minister’s announcement on the revision of the rules on home stay.
‘The changes complement the existing rules, but respond to some challenges they face in some parts of the country and families across Wales.
‘The message has not changed: anyone can get coronavirus, anyone can spread it. Stay home, protect the NHS and save lives. ‘
It came as Raab insisted today that the UK government is “on track” to meet Matt Hancock’s 100,000 daily coronavirus testing target by the end of the month despite the number of checks continuing well below capacity.
Hancock set the target in early April, and ministers now have just four days to reach the six-digit test number.
The latest published statistics show that the daily capacity for testing is approximately 51,000, but the number being carried out is actually still below 30,000, leaving the government with a massive task if it is to meet the Secretary’s goal of Health.
But Raab said this morning that he expected there would be a “big surge” in testing this week as the additional capacity is “tapped into.”
His comments came when key workers again had trouble securing a test kit at home after the government website declared it was “not available” just twenty minutes after the last batch of checks was released today. .
The test site launched on Friday in an effort to get key workers they are isolating verified to get them back to work.
But so far it has struggled with high demand, and testing is running out in minutes.
Hancock has promised that 5,000 tests per day would be made available to key workers through the online portal, in an effort to “get Britain back on its feet.” Key workers can also reserve slot machines at test drive centers across the country.
Hancock is under great political pressure to meet the target and said Friday that he believes 100,000 tests will be performed every day later this month “but nothing is guaranteed in life.”
That pressure has only grown after England’s medical director Professor Chris Whitty told parliamentarians that the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) had not signed the number.
Raab was told during an appearance on Sky News this morning that only 28,700 tests were performed in 24 hours according to the latest available data.
When asked if he believes the government will hit 100,000 by the end of the month, he said, “He’s right about that in terms of the latest figures from the tests done, although he’s a bit old now because we’ve been through the weekend. . , we have new data.
‘Our testing capacity is now 51,000 per day, so we have passed the middle line to our goal.
“There are two things in the last week that really matter and you always get an exponential increase in a project like this in the last week as capacity is leveraged.”
He continued: “ First, with the NHS portal we are making sure that people can access the tests through home kits, through any of the 31 access centers and increasingly with laboratories of Mobile tests and the military are helping to spread them. the country.
‘The second thing is that we focused initially on NHS workers, then on care workers, now we have included it to include all essential workers.
“So I think we will see a huge increase in the last week and we are on track to reach that goal.”
On the first day of the reservation website’s operation, some 46,000 people attempted to secure a test with available house checks and driving spaces that disappeared in a matter of minutes.
The beach in Margate, Kent today, as the UK continues to be locked up to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
What confinement? People flock to DIY stores despite rules prohibiting all nonessential exits, as new data shows driving increased 4% and walked 5% the week before
- Shoppers were seen buying products at B&Q in Swansea, York and Edinburgh
- They were seen with carts full of products including rolls of carpet
- Friday’s data shows driving has increased 4 percent and walking has increased 5 percent.
Shoppers ignored repeated warnings to stay home as part of continued efforts to suppress the coronavirus by heading to DIY stores.
People were seen heading to stores in parts of the country such as Edinburgh, Swansea and York on Sunday, as the latest figures showed Brits increasingly leaving home amid hopes that closure restrictions could be lifted. .
Apple Maps data showed that driving has increased 4% and walking has increased 5% among Brits compared to last week.
Shoppers on Sunday took advantage of the hot, dry conditions that have brought the sun around the country this weekend, although wet weather is on the way.
Shoppers ignored repeated warnings to stay home as part of ongoing efforts to suppress the coronavirus by heading to DIY stores
Shoppers were photographed loading items like flower pots, buckets, and even a lawn mower at a B&Q store in York
People looking for home improvements were seen waiting in long lines outside B&Q in Swansea and York.
Some pushed carts full of rolls of carpet while others were seen loading huge products into their cars.
And at Derby at The Range, which sells essentials like food and toilet paper, as well as DIY items like paint and furniture, shoppers took advantage of the lack of crowds.
Apple Maps data also showed that traffic congestion has increased since the beginning of the month and since the blockade was announced.
Walking in London has increased dramatically in the past three days alone, according to the latest data from ‘Apple Map Covid-19 Mobility Trends’.
Dozens of others were seen in long queues while holding cars as they waited to go to a B&Q store in Swansea
Some pushed carts full of rolls of carpet while others were seen loading huge products into their cars. In the photo: a buyer at B&Q in York
There appears to have been a sharp increase in human trafficking as the number of people walking through the country increased by about 8 percentage points on April 23 since last Saturday.
The number of people walking, driving and using public transport networks in the UK plummeted in early March, as concern over the spread of the coronavirus outside of China, believed to be the country of origin, it intensified and took over the nation. It collapsed on March 24, the day after Boris Johnson declared an order to “stay home.”
But recently released figures available on Apple Maps indicated that the British public is becoming increasingly restless due to the blockade as many more take to the roads and streets.
B&Q buyers have not noticed politicians liking them to stay home.
They were seen in snake tails at B&Q in Edinburgh, pictured above
Every weekend in April, between 4 and 18, the number of people walking, driving, and ‘traveling’ steadily increased, even as police forces across the country became tougher on breaking the rules.
Data from satellite navigation makers TomTom and AA suggest that there has been an increase in car travel in the UK this month.
According to TomTom, there are more motorists in London, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Manchester and Reading this weekend than last week.
B&Q follows the steps taken by supermarkets by limiting the number of customers in its stores at any time.
He also installed displays on the boxes and placed markers in the workshops to help with social distancing.
Ten people from London who traveled 245 miles to walk in North Wales were sent home and reported by police for violating the closing rules.
The group, who were traveling in two separate vehicles, had traveled the five-hour trip from the capital on Sunday, but were stopped by police near their destination on the A5 in Bethesda.
Officers were told they intended to walk in Snowdonia, the mountainous National Park in North Wales.
Instead, North Wales Police officers, who tweeted brief details of the incident, denounced them for violating blockade laws.
Then they were ordered to go home immediately, the police escorting their cars to Highway A south to begin the 10-hour round trip home.
In a second police incident, hotel staff challenged a Cumbrian man seen returning to his car after walking on Mount Snowdon.
He was abusive when challenged, claiming that the regulations did not apply to him.
A joint armed police unit from Cheshire and North Wales tracked his car and stopped him on the A55, where he was denounced for also violating the closing rules.
Meanwhile, in Bridgend, officers responded to reports of a party at the house in Coity. Police said five of the six occupants were found not to be part of the family, and three were from Berkshire.
Officers at Merthyr Tydfil found a couple who had traveled nearly 150 miles from Leicester to collect a carpet.
At the Brecon Beacons, people who had driven from Birmingham and Hereford were arrested by police, and two Bristol hikers attempting to walk Pen Y Fan received notices of fixed penalties from police.
In Pembrokeshire, a driver on a 60-mile round trip to buy tomato plants was reported for non-essential travel.
While another driver was arrested in Begelly and issued a ticket as they were “looking to have a coffee”. Police said this was not the first time this motorist had been informed.
In Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, police found an open Airbnb with a Slough couple who stayed there and a working hand-wash.
Two people who had traveled from Birmingham for a “day” to Broadway Tower in the Cotswolds received notices of fixed penalties.
While at nearby Bibury, officers issued nine tickets to people visiting from Leicester and London.
The shopping scenes come after the Home Secretary Priti Patel warned the British that it was “imperative” that they follow the closing rules.
He warned that the country “is not yet out of danger,” as he thanked the people for their “spirit of national unity.”
Police have already issued thousands of fines to people who have breached the closing rules, and the penalties could be increased after Ms. Patel spoke on Friday to the Council of the Chief of the National Police.
Shoppers filled carts with various DIY items. A man in the photo above pushed dozens of planks of wood into his car.
Shoppers had to keep their distance from each other while queuing to get into B&Q in Edinburgh.
On Sunday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab criticized the “irresponsible” critics for demanding that the UK government establish how it will facilitate the blockade of the nation’s coronavirus.
Conservative donors, cabinet ministers and Sir Keir Starmer have told Boris Johnson that he must publish his strategy to relax the restrictions as the Prime Minister prepares to return to work tomorrow.
But Raab rejected those calls this morning, saying Britain is still in a “delicate and dangerous” stage of the outbreak and that the focus should remain on slowing the spread of the disease and reducing the number of deaths.
However, the Foreign Secretary, who has been replacing Johnson, insisted that the ministers are carrying out their “task” on how to lift the rules in the future, but emphasized “frankly, it is not responsible to start speculating on individual measurements. ” .
Johnson has been recovering at Checkers since he was released from the hospital on April 12 after his own intensive care battle with the coronavirus, but he has told his allies that he is now “eager to leave.”
The government has issued new laws directing people to stay home and only leave to exercise, buy food, or go to work if they cannot work from home. In the photo: a buyer in York
Product Basket: Buyers pushed huge carts to place their DIY products
The prime minister will formally return to the front line amid mounting hostility over the government’s repeated refusal to publicly discuss how the restrictions will be lifted.
Numerous Tory donors, including billionaires Peter Hargreaves and Michael Spencer, have today broken coverage to tell the prime minister that the draconian measures should be released as soon as possible due to growing fears of lasting damage to the UK economy.
Three cabinet ministers have reported their own concern to some concerned that the British public has already had enough restrictions and cannot “bear much more of this.”
Shoppers left their homes to take advantage of less busy stores amid the coronavirus blockade. Photo: shoppers in Edinburgh
Some people wore protective clothing, including a couple wearing blue rubber gloves while pulling out a cart with various DIY items, as well as a potted plant
Meanwhile, Sir Keir, the Labor leader, has warned the prime minister that the UK runs the risk of “falling behind the rest of the world” in terms of establishing how life will become normal again.
Economists have also warned that failure to get out of the lockup could soon result in Britain being the western nation most affected by the virus.
The series of major interventions came after the UK death toll from coronavirus reached 20,000.
