The total death toll as a result of Coronavirus now stands at 27,510, an increase of 739.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, announced that the government had met their target, set in the beginning of April, of reaching 100,000 tests per day by the end of April. According to the Health Secretary 122,347 were administered on 30th April.
The total deaths as a result of Coronavirus now stands at 26,711, an increase of 674 as of today.
The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, gave the daily briefing for the first time since being admitted to hospital for Coronavirus earlier this month. Johnson announced that we have now passed the peak of the spread of the virus and that the rate of infection is below one across the country, meaning that one person with the virus on average infects less than one person.
The total Coronavirus death toll, including deaths in care homes, hospitals and the wider community, now stands at 26,097. The increase of 3,811 from yesterday’s figure is a result of the government’s decision to add deaths outside of hospitals to the total. The figure of 3,811 includes deaths spread over the period between 2 March to 28 April. The total deaths increased today by 769.
The government has stood by their commitment, made early this month, to have 100,000 tests a day. In the daily briefing Raab stated that the government was still working on increasing capacity for tests.
The total death toll as a result of Coronavirus now stands at 18,738, an increase of 616.
In his daily briefing Matt Hancock, the Health secretary, stood by the government’s commitment to keep the lockdown restrictions in place. He also stated that it was the government’s aim to continue to increase testing up to the 100,000 per day figure given early this month. As of today, capacity for test, as opposed to actual tests administered, has increased to 50,000 a day.
Employers of essential workers will be able to get a Coronavirus test for their workers and essential workers will be also be able to get a test through the new Coronavirus website set up by the government. These tests will not only be available to key workers from tomorrow but to their families as well.
UK Universities have reported losses of more than £2bn and have asked the government for a bailout. The government has yet to respond with a proposal.
The daily recorded death toll increased to 18,100, an increase of 763.
The government continues to receive criticism for the inadequate supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Today the European Commission stated that the government had been given an opportunity to bulk buy PPE with EU countries but refused to do. The call for joint European wide procurement of PPE was, according to the Commission, announced on 31 January.
Prime Minister’s Questions resumed today with Dominic Raab, standing in for Boris Johnson, facing up against the newly elected head of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer.
Alongside the first Secretary Dominc Raab, General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff, gave the daily briefing. Both Raab and Carter drew attention to the role that the armed forces have played in supporting the NHS during the pandemic.
778 Coronavirus related deaths were record by the NHS today. This brings the total of recorded deaths to 12,107. One in four recorded deaths are now linked to Coronavirus.
The Office for Budgetary Responsibility reported that the UK economy faces a 35 per cent plunge in output in the second quarter of 2020 if a lockdown to fight the spread of coronavirus remains in place for three months. The Chancellor Rishi Sunak started his evening briefing by acknowledging the findings of the report but insisted that the government had made the right decision to impose a lockdown.
The Labour Party has been beset by a scandal after their submission to the ECHR enquiry on anti-Semitism within the party revealed that factionalism prevented Labour from dealing with the problem.
The Prime Minister was hospitalised over the weekend due to Coronavirus. Politicians across the political spectrum wished the Prime Minister a speedy recovery. His office has given no indication of when he should expect to be discharged. Despite his illness Boris Johnson continues to run the government from hospital.
The death toll increased by 441 today, the lowest daily increasing for almost a week, bringing the death toll to 5,373.
In the daily press briefing the Secretary of State Dominic Raab stood in place of the Prime Minister. In his briefing he stood by the government’s commitment to increase testing and pointed out that over 208,000 tests had currently taken place. The government’s target is 100,000 tests per day by the end of April.
The new leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer unveiled his shadow cabinet. The selections, which saw the ex-Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband return to the shadow cabinet as Shadow Business Secretary, has been viewed as a move towards the centre-left.
Ok, so as fun and rewarding as your job may be you can’t, and you shouldn’t, spend all of your time busy with work. Trying to avoid work can be especially hard when you’re spending so much time at home. But, have no fear, W4MP comes to you with a solution! Below are a list of fun activities to keep you busy, keep you thinking, and keep you sane.
Here are some activities that we think will help you stay busy during the lockdown.
Today saw the opening of the new 4,000 bed hospital in the ExCel centre in London, the first of the government’s emergency field hospitals built to treat Coronavirus in the City. The hospital was opened in nine days and has so far been fitted with 500 beds.
The death toll increased again today up to 684 in the past 24 hours. The Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who continues to give the daily briefing in place of the Prime Minister, stood by the government’s commitment to increase testing to 100,000 by the end of this month. The government was again challenged on the lack of widespread and affective antibody tests, after promising 2.4 million working tests within days on 25th March. In his briefing the Health Secretary stated that the government is still looking for an effective antibody test.
It was Jeremy Corbyn last day as leader of the Labour Party today, in his email to Party members he described his time as leader as having been an “honour”.
The death toll in the UK increased once again to 569, setting another record. There have now been 2,921 deaths as a result of Covid-19.
Concerns remain around the government’s lack of testing for NHS staff. However, the government has stood by their commitment to increase testing throughout the population, promising to have 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.
The Health Secretary Matt Hancock took to the podium to give the daily Coronavirus update after self-isolating since the 27th March.
Further support was also promised to the NHS in the form of a £13.4 billion write-off of NHS debt. In addition to this debt relief additional support was also given to the health sector in the form of a £300 million made available to community pharmacies to support their business.
In party political news, the Labour leadership elections came to an end today. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancreas, is largely expected to win.