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Good Morning. This should be the first day of the post-Cummings relaunch # 10 – they sent out a press release last night saying Boris johnson would make “a series of critical announcements over the next two weeks that will be a clear sign of his ongoing ambitions for the UK”, but of course it was announced last night that he now has to isolate himself, after a meeting with Conservative MPs, one of which it tested positive.
He posted a video about this on Twitter this morning.
Boris johnson
(@BorisJohnson)Hello friends, our NHS Test & Trace program has instructed me to isolate myself for two weeks, after having been in contact with someone with Covid-19.
I am in good health and have no symptoms, and will continue to lead our response to the virus and our plans to #BuildBackBetter pic.twitter.com/yNgIme8lOz
And this is our story.
Last week we were told that Johnson planned to hold a press conference every Monday. But it won’t show up this afternoon, and instead Matt Hancock, the secretary of health will be at the lectern in Downing Street.
Hancock has been doing the round of media interviews this morning, primarily to promote the news that two megalabs will open early next year, eventually adding an additional 600,000 a day to the government’s testing capacity. That would more than double the UK’s testing capacity.
In an interview with BBC Breakfast, Hancock also said he wanted to extend the use of the tests to family members of people in nursing homes in England so that at Christmas all residents can receive a visit from a loved one. He said:
Our goal is to make sure that we have the tests available in all nursing homes before Christmas, to make sure that people can take a test and therefore see their loved ones safely, that is the goal.
We work closely with the social care industry to try to make that happen.
We have implemented it in a small number of parts of the country, Devon and Cornwall in the first instance, and then our goal is to have this by Christmas so people can see and be close to their loved ones.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.30 am: The UK Major Ports Group and the British Ports Association testify before a committee of Lords on preparations for the end of the post-Brexit transition.
11am: Supreme court begins hearing appeal on coronavirus-related business insurance claims
12:15 pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s Prime Minister, is expected to hold a briefing on the coronavirus.
12:15 pm: The Welsh government is expected to hold a briefing on the coronavirus.
12.30 pm: Downing Street conducts its daily briefing in the lobby.
17:00 h: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is giving a press conference at number 10.
And in Brussels, trade talks between the UK and the EU resume.
Politics Live is now doubling down as the UK’s coronavirus live blog and given the way the Covid crisis overshadows everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we will also cover political stories that do not belong to Covid, and when they seem more important or more interesting, they will take precedence.
Here’s our global coronavirus live blog.
I try to monitor comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read all of them. If you have a direct question, put “Andrew” somewhere and you’re more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they are of general interest I will post the question and answer it above the line (ATL), although I cannot promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to get my attention quickly, it’s probably best to use Twitter. I’m in @ AndrewGorrión.
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