Nicola Sturgeon today dismissed the prospect of any ‘meaningful’ change to lockdown this week – as Boris Johnson pushed back the timing of his exit plan by days.
The Scottish First Minister declared at a briefing in Edinburgh that the situation is so delicate the curbs cannot be significantly eased.
She also promised to set out her own proposals for how to ease the curbs tomorrow – nearly a week before the PM is expected to unveil his strategy.
The latest brazen example of Ms Sturgeon gazumping the Westminster government came amid signs the two-metre social distancing rules could be softened to help revive the economy.
The shape of the ‘road map’ has started to emerge, with a leaked draft suggesting it will recognise that keeping gaps between workers is not always possible.
Instead companies will be advised they can take other precautions such as installing screens and imposing strict hygiene procedures.
Meanwhile, offices will be told to overhaul their rotas to minimise risks by staggering arrival, break and departure times, ending hot desking and avoiding sharing equipment.
Ministers confirmed this morning that the government has started stockpiling face masks for public use.
The PM is expected to unveil the exit strategy in an address to the nation on Sunday, having delayed the announcement by three days as frantic work continues in Whitehall. The law requires that a decision on extending the lockdown measures be taken by Thursday, but ministers could have initial results from a huge surveillance project to assess the prevalence of the disease by the end of the week.
In a video posted on the Downing Street Twitter feed today, Mr Johnson warned that the ‘worst thing’ the country could do right now is ‘ease up too soon’ while there is still a threat of a ‘second peak’.
‘We will only be able to move onto the second phase of this conflict if our five tests have been met,’ he said.
The tests are: that the NHS must have sufficient critical care capacity; there must be a sustained and consistent fall in daily deaths; the infection rate must be decreasing to ‘manageable levels’; there must be enough PPE and testing supply; and any adjustments must not lead to a second peak which could overwhelm the health service.
Mr Johnson said: ‘The worst thing we could do now is ease up too soon and allow a second peak of coronavirus.’
Ministers have been under massive pressure to set out the way forward, with the draconian current curbs estimated to be costing the country £2billion a day.
The obstacles have been underlined with unions threatening to block plans to get rail services up to 85 per cent of usual levels within a fortnight. Furious Tory MPs accused the RMT of trying to exploit the situation to get more money for their members.
Downing Street stressed that current guidance was for people to maintain the two metres gap ‘where possible’.
In other developments in the coronavirus crisis
- Britain’s daily coronavirus death toll today rose by 229 – the lowest daily jump since March, as the UK’s crisis continues to slow down;
- Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced a package of support worth almost £3billion to help universities weather the coronavirus crisis;
- A smartphone app to trace the spread of coronavirus will be trialled on the Isle of Wight this week before being rolled out more widely later this month;
- A new ‘fast and accurate’ coronavirus antibody test has been developed by scientists in Edinburgh, although the company fears the NHS could miss out amid interest in Europe for the machines;
- Heathrow Airport has warned travellers could face queues a kilometre long to board flights;
- SAGE member Jeremy Farrar has dismissed claims ministers tried to influence the group, as former chief scientific adviser Sir David King assembles an ‘independent’ rival group to plot a way out of the lockdown;
- The membership of SAGE has finally been published, although a handful of participants have refused to have their identities revealed.
Boris Johnson (pictured arriving at Downing Street this morning) is expected to unveil the exit strategy in an address to the nation on Sunday, having delayed the announcement from Thursday as frantic work continues in Whitehall
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today dismissed the prospect of any ‘meaningful’ change to lockdown this week
The Tube was still busy today despite the strict lockdown rules in force – amid claims from unions that the government wants services back up to at least 85 per cent by May 18
In a video posted on the Downing Street Twitter feed today, the PM warned that the ‘worst thing’ the country could do right now is ‘ease up too soon’ while there is still a threat of a ‘second peak’
At her daily briefing in Edinburgh today, Ms Sturgeon said that, although ‘real and significant progress’ was being made, the rate of reproduction of the virus was still too high to alleviate lockdown measures.
She said it is ‘likely’ that lockdown measures will continue without any ‘meaningful’ changes.
‘Although we are making real and significant progress … the numbers still eing infected by the virus and the all-importnat R number remain too high right now to make any meaningful change without risking the virus running out of control again,’ she said.
Saying she expected to unveil her own exit plan tomorrow, Ms Sturgeon said work would be done to ensure there was alignment with the rest of the UK, but divergence in measures could still be possible.
The First Minister also outlined the Scottish Government’s test, trace, isolate (TTI) strategy, which she said would aid the easing of the lockdown measures.
Ms Sturgeon said the strategy would only work if the public adheres to it, adding it was not a ‘quick fix or magic solution’ and would need to be done alongside current hygiene guidance.
Ms Sturgeon said moves were being made to deliver a TTI strategy by the end of May, with testing capacity expected to have to rise to 15,500 per day to support the approach.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace hinted that social distancing advice will be fleshed out, telling Sky News that that protective screens and ensuring people were not close together for very long could reduce the need for strict distancing.
‘You can look at shielding, you can look at how long you stay near people. The two-metre rule reduces the possibility of infection by a certain amount of time,’ he said.
‘If you halve that it still keeps people away from being infected but for a lesser time. The probability of being infected is much less.
‘I think there are options about how we can do it. You can wear PPE, that could be a possibility if you have to be in close proximity or indeed you could find other ways of doing it.’
He pointed towards supermarket workers working behind ‘shields’.
Mr Wallace also confirmed that the government is stockpiling face masks in case it decides to change its advice – something that has already happened in Scotland. Mr Johnson has said they will be ‘useful’ in the next phase of lockdown but the Westminster guidance has not been updated,
‘It’s not the amazing thing if you wear a mask that no one’s going to get it but there is obviously this issue about human nature and interactions if you go on public transport and wear a mask will you feel able to go back to work,’ Mr Wallace said.
‘At the same time, to anticipate should different rules be made around masks we’re trying to source as many masks as possible as we speak and have been for the last few weeks.’
Sir Jeremy Farrar, a SAGE member and head of the Wellcome Trust, said there was ‘nothing magical’ about the two metre advice, and it was based on long-standing evidence about how far coughs and sneezes were likely to travel.
‘There is nothing magical about two metres,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. ‘Perhaps more importantly is the time you spend near someone else.’
The draft guidance, a version of which has been leaked to the BBC and Financial Times.
It suggested vulnerable staff – such as those aged over 70, pregnant, with underlying health conditions or pregnant – should be put in the ‘safest possible roles’.
The guidance is clear that anyone who can work from home should continue to do so – meaning many staff will be out of the office for months to come.
But the draft does not spell out what action should be taken on PPE – saying merely that more information will follow. Some businesses fear they might be open to legal action from staff if they loosen the rules without clear direction from the government.
Mr Wallace played down concerns that ‘coronaphobia’ could hamper efforts to get the economy running again, with polls showing significant numbers would be nervous about returning to work.
The Defence Secretary said: ‘I strongly believe the public aren’t stupid. They read advice, they listen to the media.
‘They took on board the Government’s advice… and I think they will be perfectly able to read the Government’s next stage when we get to it.
‘I’m totally confident when it comes to the next step we will all together be able to move forward.’
Mr Johnson will describe the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine as the ‘most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes’ later as he calls on nations to ‘pull together’ in response to the pandemic.
The Prime Minister is expected to tell an online pledging conference – co-hosted by the UK and eight other countries and organisations – that the sooner states share their expertise the faster scientists will succeed in defeating the disease.
It comes as Mr Johnson revealed he feared he would not live to see his baby son Wilfred born when he battled Covid-19 in intensive care last month.
The PM will tell the conference, which aims to bring in more than £6.6billion in funding, that the race to develop a vaccine is ‘not a competition between countries but the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes’.
‘It’s humanity against the virus – we are in this together and together we will prevail,’ he is expected to say.
Coronavirus has claimed more than 246,000 lives around the world, according to analysis by John Hopkins University.
A total of 28,446 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the government is facing fresh pressure over testing, after the daily number slumped to 76,496 – below the 100,000 target.
Cabinet minister Michael Gove told the daily Downing Street press conference last night: ‘Ultimately, unless and until we have a vaccine then I suspect that we are going to have to live with some degree of constraint because of the nature of the virus.
‘But we obviously want to, wherever possible, and consistent with the measures on public health, restore people’s lives to as close to normal as possible.’
He said the Government will pursue a ‘phased approach’ to removing lockdown restrictions rather than a sudden return to ‘the old normal’ – and that the easing had to be done in a ‘cautious fashion’.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson faces a backbench rebellion over his Government’s ‘absurd, dystopian and tyrannical’ coronavirus lockdown today.
Furious Tory MPs including 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady and ex-Brexit ministers David Davis and Steve Baker are preparing to voice anger over the extent of the enforced shut-down.
They will argue that the economic, social and health costs of the self-imposed paralysis of UK PLC is so great that it must be eased.
They will use a debate on the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations brought in in March, which gave ministers and police the greatest swathe of restrictive powers ever granted in peacetime.
As well as measures to unclog the stagnant economy there are civil liberties concerns about the new NHS contact tracing app and the way it tracks the public.
Mr Johnson is expected to announce measures to allow the lockdown to be eased in an address to the nation on Sunday, after it is officially extended for three more weeks on Thursday.
But Mr Baker, a former Brexit ‘Spartan’ who is no stranger to going contrary to his front bench, said ‘whatever the necessities, that the rule of law should have been overthrown in this period is extraordinary and deeply troubling,’ in an article for the Daily Telegraph.
‘Millions of people in our country have been plunged into idleness at public expense and unemployment, facing financial and psychological hardship on a scale never seen before,’ he added.
”Thousands of people have missed life-prolonging health appointments. Vulnerable people are isolated and domestic violence has soared. Soon will come the full economic impact on all our lives.’
He went on: ‘This is absurd, dystopian and tyrannical. The sooner it is ended, the better.’
Mr Johnson today warned that lifting lockdown restrictions too soon would be ‘the worst thing we could do’.
In a video message on Twitter, the Prime Minister said it was important to meet the five tests set by the Government before easing the lockdown.
Mr Davis, who has a long history of speaking out on civil liberties issues, is preparing to challenge the Government over its new contact tracing app, which is due to start trials on the Isle of Wight this week.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News that the two metre rule could be more flexible
Boris Johnson says the fear of never seeing his new son gave him the will to beat coronavirus
Boris Johnson has revealed that the fear of never seeing his newborn son drove him in his battle against coronavirus.
The Prime Minister, 55, spent a week in April at St Thomas’s Hospital in London fighting the virus, including three days in intensive care, and admitted yesterday that doctors had prepared to announce his death.
Now, in an interview with the Sun, he has opened up further on his fight against the virus, saying he focused on ‘positive thoughts’ about pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds and the impending birth of their child.
He said: ‘We’ve all got a lot to live for, a lot to do, and I won’t hide it from you, I was thinking about that, yes.’
His son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, was born last Wednesday, just over two weeks after the Prime Minister was released from hospital.
Mr Johnson added in the interview that he was ‘thrilled’ with the birth and also described his hospital experience in greater detail.
Boris Johnson (pictured arriving back at Downing Street after the birth of his son) has admitted he thought about his unborn child as he battled coronavirus in intensive care
The PM said he focused on ‘positive thoughts’ about pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds and the impending birth of their child (pictured is Ms Symonds with baby Wilfred)
A heart-warming caption revealed the boy’s full name as Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, with Lawrie a reference to Ms Symond’s grandfather and Nicholas a tribute to the two doctors that ‘saved Boris’ life’
He said he jumped on his hospital bed wearing only his boxer shorts to ‘clap like crazy’ for the NHS – just two hours after leaving intensive care.
He added: ‘It was a Thursday when I came out of ICU and with me I had a nurse called Becky and a nurse called, I think, Angel.
‘I was just in my boxers, nothing else. We stood up and there was this big window looking out on the Thames and we saw the Met and the Fire Brigade do this display with their boats.
‘It was just fantastic.’
He also praised the NHS staff who treated him at St Thomas’ Hospital, saying they ‘pulled my chestnuts out of the fire, no question’.
Speaking today, Donald Trump revealed that he and Mr Johnson had discussed the latter’s battle with the virus.
He told Fox News: ‘He [Mr Johnson] was a victim (of this thing). He thought it was all over.’