Live: Matt Hancock leads the daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing - May 1 | ITV News

Good afternoon and welcome once again to Downing Street's

daily

coronavirus

briefing

. I'm joined by Professor John Newton, who coordinates our work on testing, and Professor Steve Powers, who is the medical director of the NHS, every day we work on our plan to protect. life and protect the nhs by slowing the spread and building capacity so that at all times the nhs has the capacity to provide the best care to all who need it in today's

briefing

after setting out the

daily

statistics i want to talk about testing, But in advance, I'd like to share some really good

news

earlier this week.

I said we can now begin the restoration of NHS services now that we have passed the peak. I can inform you about the next step: the restoration of fertility services. Families have not been affected by the amazing advances in fertility treatments over the last generation and I know how time sensitive fertility treatment can be and how important it is for affected families and I know that this treatment can change

live

s for the better forever, so when I thank everyone who is vigilant about staying at home to protect the NHS, of course I thank you on behalf of the

live

s you are saving, but I also thank you on behalf of the lives that NHS now you can help once again create because together we have protected the nhs and now we are restoring the nhs and restoring the opportunity for so many couples to start a family by turning to the numbers 177,454 people have tested positive for

coronavirus

an increase of 6,201 since yesterday fifteen thousand One hundred and eleven people are currently in hospital with coronavirus and twenty-seven thousand five hundred and ten people have sadly died across all settings, an increase of 739, as we will remember them and cherish their memories. virus that has a devastating impact on families, friends and local communities across the government.

We are working day and night to defeat him. Early last month, on this podium, I set the goal that anyone who needed a test should get one and that as a nation we should achieve one hundred thousand tests a day by the end of the month. I knew it was a bold goal, but we needed a bold goal because testing is so important for Britain to recover. I can announce that we have met our target number of tests yesterday on the last day of April 122 3347 This unprecedented expansion in British testing capacity is an incredible achievement, but it is not my achievement, it is a national achievement achieved by a huge team of people working together and I tell you this: the testing capacity we have built together will help every person in this country.

Testing is crucial to suppressing the virus. I also know from personal experience how much people with symptoms want to know if they have the disease. I know I did, it helps eliminate worry, it helps keep people safe and it will help us unlock the lockdown. So many people have died tragically and the challenge we still face is enormous, but we are making real progress. I want to take a moment to thank and pay tribute to the incredible team that did this together and who joined in one of the largest national mobilizations we have ever seen. We bring together the best officials, the best minds in the private sector, the best scientists, the best laboratory technicians. and the best of the best in the military setting ambitious goals in a crisis has a galvanizing effect on everyone involved it is a mission if we had not been so bold if we had chosen an easier and safer path I simply cannot see how we would have developed the capacity we need in a few weeks.

We have created a new test for the virus in phe. We have built a network of regional testing centers. We have put a fleet of mobile testing units on the road and created home testing kits so that if you cannot attend the test, we can deliver it to you. We have more than doubled the capacity of NHS and Public Health England laboratories and created three brand new mega laboratories to analyze results. Many people have played a role in this work. British diagnostic companies like Randox and Oxford Nanopore and Medical Wire and DNA Nudge and Samba logistics companies like Royal Mail and Yodel who were brilliant and pulled us out of a real hole this week.

Academics like Professor Derek. crook and sir john bell from oxford and professor aaron darzai from imperial deloitte and boots who have delivered our astrazeneca gsk nova site self-service centers whose laboratories will become operational next week public health england and the nhs have of course done everything the possible professor sharon peacock professor john newton and the uk biocentre and the crick who set up high tech laboratories and it wasn't just a national effort either people from around the world including thermo fisher herlogic abbott and amazon from the US .kyogen from germany and roche from switzerland and that's how we did it because everyone worked together with courage and determination to achieve a shared goal and they prospered because the team contained diversity of perspectives from backgrounds and critically a diversity of thought and when things went wrong , they did it in each of them.

Believe me, we didn't ask who we could blame, we asked how we could fix it, so to my team I want to say that you work tirelessly day and night and I am very proud of what you have achieved and of all of you at In the name of the government, in the name of everything the country, thank you as the Prime Minister said a huge increase in testing provides a way to unlock the coronavirus puzzle and testing forms the first element of our plan to roll out track and trace testing by mid-May. We will have an initial 18,000 contact tracers, work is underway as we speak and if it needs to be larger we will expand as needed.

The combination of contact tracers and new technology through our new nhs covid19 app will help inform us. where the virus is spreading and help everyone control new infections, people will be able to know if they have been in close contact with someone who is transmitting the disease and take the necessary steps for our large-scale testing track and trace model. It will reduce the infection rate and the lower the r and the lower the number of new infections, the more effective the track and trace system will be. Track and trace will allow us to go down and hold r, so it will allow us to lift the lock. measures now this disease affects us all indiscriminately we have seen that in recent weeks we have had to infringe historic freedoms to protect our nhs and our loved ones and yet our goal must be freedom, freedom from the virus, yes, and we will not lift it. measures until it is safe to do so but we also care about the restoration of social freedom and economic freedom also the right of every citizen to do what they want for now we are working together to stay at home we are affecting everyone's freedom for safety everyone with this upcoming track and trace test mission.

I am looking for a solution that allows us, as each of us participates, to target the measures that are needed with much more precision and thus reaffirm freedom to the extent possible. That's our next mission for all of us, but for now the most important thing we can all do to stay down and help us get through this is to maintain the spirit and determination that has had so much impact so far, so stay home. protect the nhs and save lives and now professor newton is going to lay out some more details about the evidence and then I will ask professor paris to come out and walk us through the slides thank you very much secretary of state um and can I also thank you on behalf of the program for those kind words of gratitude.

It has been a truly extraordinary collaboration, but thank you very much. We've reached an important milestone, but I want to explain why we need all this evidence. In March, the country moved. lockdown because the virus was circulating widely, not because we didn't have enough testing, cases were appearing with no obvious connection to other cases and the infection was entering the exponential growth phase and at that point access to unlimited testing even if we had had it. it would have made no difference the decision to go into lockdown would have been the same and taken at the same time the route out of lockdown has not been blocked by low levels of testing we can relax social distancing only when the five government tests are met and that means, in particular, reducing the infection rate.

Testing, was Secretary status mentioned, will help keep it under control once we come out of lockdown, but our testing levels have not kept us locked down another day? What about Germany? People talk a lot about Germany, but yes, Germany had a lot of testing available early on, but there was also a lot less virus in Germany when they introduced social distancing and it was circulating among younger people, as you pointed out in a previous briefing. We must rush to draw conclusions about the relationships between the number of tests available and the results in different countries. However, as he also said, we are learning from other countries and we have learned from the experience of other countries, but let's return to the here and now.

Where does all this leave us in the UK? Well, the target of one hundred thousand tests a day was set for two purposes, as the Secretary of State mentioned, it was intended to motivate the program and set the scale of our ambition and it certainly has done that, although it is more important. perhaps we knew from our calculations that we would need something like this level of testing to be ready for the next phase of the pandemic response going forward, so we now have a very substantial and flexible testing capacity in the UK. It is used to drive extensive contact tracing to monitor any new infections, help us keep patients and staff safe in hospitals and care services, and to tell us with some precision how the virus has spread across the country and how It will spread in the future if we can identify it quickly.

For those who may have been in contact with someone infected, we can prevent them from transmitting it and thus reduce transmission rates of the virus. Now the new NHS app for contact tracing is also in development and moving quickly, and the more people who sign up when the new app goes live, the better informed our responses will be and the more effective we will be in keeping the virus under control. All this progress with testing and with our design of the next phase of contact tracing and enforcement frees up ministers. and their scientific advisors to choose the future strategies that are most appropriate to keep the country safe.

I can assure you that the testing capacity we have built in recent weeks is world-leading in its scale and sophistication and gives us the flexibility we need as the pandemic evolves we will have the testing capacity to meet changing demand across the country it is now there to serve us all thank you very much john and um professor paris if you explain the slides thank you very much secretary of state and good afternoon everyone, as I and others have said on many occasions, the magnificent response of the British public to the government's request to comply with the social distancing instructions has meant that we have started to overcome this virus, we have seen the rate of transmission.

The reproduction rate falls below one and that means the number of new infections is falling within our communities and that has meant the pressure on the NHS has remained. The NHS has responded magnificently to ensure that patients have always had the treatment they need available. We require and over time this will also have an impact on the unfortunate amount of debt we have seen and as we move into the next phase of managing Covid19, I think the first thing I would like to do is remind everyone of the five tests. that the government has put in place to adjust the current lockdown, the first one that I have already referred to and that is that the NHS still has sufficient capacity to provide the critical care requirements that are needed, but also specialist treatment across the UK, Secondly, it is that sustained. and a steady drop in daily debts due to coronavirus and we are starting to see that, but we need to make sure that continues.

Third, it is reliable data that shows the infection rate is declining to manageable levels across the board and again as I have done. He said it is everyone's efforts to comply with social distancing that means infections have fallen and will continue to fall in fourth place. This has been a challenge not only in the UK but globally around operational responseto a pandemic that includes PPE, includes other things and moving forward. We need to ensure that those challenges, testing being one of them, are at hand and that we are in a good position going forward to meet future demand and, finally, and critically, that any adjustments in the future do not risk a second wave every second. spike in infections that again risks overwhelming our health systems, so those are the five key tests that have been set and the government will look to be sure they have met them before moving to the next phase of lockdown. and the measures we will need to take in the future to stay on top of this virus and ensure infection rates stay low now on the next slide, we will provide some details of exactly how the British public have delivered. and the first is an example of how people have been approaching contact, particularly with vulnerable people, over a period in mid-April, showing that 84 per cent - the vast majority of adults - have said they had not left their home or only left their home for permitted reasons and then said that seven per cent of adults avoid contact with elderly or vulnerable people, so it is a great testament to the efforts that the British public have made to ensure that we reduce infections and then to the right of this. slips uh some information on the number of people who have been working at home since social distancing measures were introduced and that means that 45 percent of employed adults say they work at home and that compares to about 12 percent percent from last year, so again there is a big increase in those who do not go out. he stays home and manages to work without having to go to his usual workplace and on the third slide we begin to see the testing information, the secretary of state said, as both secretaries of San Juan have said.

The number of tests has increased dramatically, but it's not just the fact that the numbers have increased, it's the fact that the capacity has increased so that we can use the tests for a much wider range of purposes and you have already heard some of the areas. which that's going to be critical in the future, in the coming months, on the fourth slide, we show new cases determined by positive tests, you'll see that's increased a little bit in the last few days, but that has to be seen in context. We have increased the number of tests in the round, so more testing and more testing of different groups of people will likely result in more positive tests, but overall I think the number is relatively stable and that is a good sign and it reflects the the level of infection is falling on the next slide, then we move on to people which unfortunately, again, is a mild illness for the vast majority of people, but for a proportion who have to be admitted to hospital, It can be seen that since mid-April, the number of people hospitalized with covid19 has been falling and that is particularly marked in London, which was ahead in terms of infection rate and, although, therefore, that drop has been more fast in London, it is starting to come down, perhaps to a slower level. in other regions of the UK but nevertheless overall the trend is downwards and that also translates on the next slide to people who again are a small minority but an important group who need to be treated in our intensive care facilities .

This shows the proportion of people with covid19 in critical care beds and again that is falling in all four nations and the absolute number of people in critical care beds, so not only the percentage but the absolute number is also falling and finally Unfortunately, we go to death. sad deaths that have occurred and again, we are now talking about showing debt in all settings, previously until a few days ago we were showing deaths in hospital settings, we have now expanded this, and again, you will see those numbers vary. from day to day and there is a delay in reporting over the weekend, but overall the seven-day moving average, which smooths out daily variations, shows that the number of debts is starting to trend downwards and then finally we show the usual international comparison with other countries and again this comes with the usual caveat that this kind of comparison is really important.

Now it's in the UK in all settings, but the real comparison is in all-cause mortality, so in excess deaths across countries, that's measured more. It is more consistent between countries, but it will be some time before that analysis can be done. While it is important to show this data, I think it is important to remember that it will be several months and perhaps longer before we can see the true comparison. between countries, so finally, to remind people that the difficulties that we have been going through, compliance with social distancing is working, the key is that it must continue to work, so we all must continue without thinking that this is over, this is It's really just getting started, but it's translating into benefits, pressure on the NHS and debt reduction, so it's important we all keep it up.

Thank you very much, Steve, so the first question will be from Andrew from Leeds, who joins us by video. Hello. My question is: when lockdown restrictions are lifted and schools open, will there be fines if people decide to keep their children out of school even if it is open for their age group and also how will you ensure that the public trust in that it is safe. Well, thanks Andrew. a to a really important question um, um, our goal is that when it's safe to do so, we'll make recommendations for changes like this, um, but we'll only do it when it's safe, so we won't reopen schools if it's not safe now, of course, this disease, fortunately, doesn't seem to cause as severe symptoms in children as it does in adults, so it's much, much safer for children and maybe, Professor Powers, you can add something to that, but we. will not reopen until it is safe to do so, so that is your second question on the first question, of course, you already know that when we reopen the schools, our goal is to return to the norm and the position as it was before and I am quite, I am sure that because we will only do it when it is safe, then at that point it will be completely reasonable and it will be normal again to send your children to school, yes, so I think The secretary said it is perfectly right that this virus affects children much less than the elderly and older adults, so they are much less affected by the effects of having kovid19, as we said last time we were.

There have been some very rare reports of complications in children here. We continue to look for them and try to understand if there is any link, but the general message is for children, this is a mild disease or one that produces very few symptoms. The science is still evolving in terms of transmission between children so we need to be cautious when thinking about opening schools and we will have to think carefully and advise the government on how that might happen, but the key is that this is not a serious disease for the vast majority of children and, in fact, for the youngest.

In fact, it is important to remember it. Isn't the reason we had to make the decision to close the schools was because of the impact of the schools on the population? Streaming isn't exactly dependent on children's safety and that's important to keep in mind and I hope, I hope, it reassures Andrew and the next question is from Stuart from Redditch and Stuart asks, given the huge investment that has gone into the creation of Nightingale Hospitals. its use in the future to help reduce nhs waiting lists in due course as we get through the pandemic and the answer to your question from Stuart is that we will do what it takes to reduce nhs waiting lists as we that we reopened the nhs, but the Nightingales were designed very specifically for patients who are intubated and therefore under anesthesia, so they are designed specifically for uh covert, but Steve, you were behind that project, so maybe Maybe you can establish it, yes, so segregating is quite correct.

Nightingale Hospitals have been designed with specific purposes in mind. The former Nightingale center in east London was set up to be used if we needed extra capacity for ventilated patients. Fortunately, we have used the Nightingale in London, but fortunately we have managed that surge because of the compliance that the British public has shown with social distancing, so the NHS has done a great job, but those hospitals are designed in a way particular for a particular purpose and that does not necessarily mean that they are suitable for other purposes. uh kind of nhs activity now, of course, we also need to keep them as an insurance policy in the next month or two, uh, because we need to be confident, as I said in the five tests, that we have a sustained reduction in hospital admissions um, but of course we will always keep things under review, in the future, uh, but I think the key is that the gentleman the nightingales I have shown how agile the NHS can be with the support of the military if necessary.

But I think he's given us that extra capacity that we've used but haven't had to use to the extent that we might have feared, even in early April. Thank you very much and thank you Stuart for submitting your question. Remember. you can submit a question by going to gov dot uk slash ask and um I think these questions from the public are a great addition to our daily briefings now we'll move on to the media questions and the first one is from hugh pim from the bbc thank you very much secretary of state thank you very much secretary of state as you said, there has clearly been a rapid and impressive expansion of laboratory and testing center capacity, businesses and staff have put in a huge effort and Totally deserving of praise .

I wanted to ask a little more about where we go from here. In his opinion, you mentioned it, but a little more detail: how do you plan to further develop and expand the testing network as part of the measures to combat the virus? Well, that's a really important question. I tried to expound a little, but I think there are two parts. The first is that we have increased this testing capacity to over 100,122,000 tests performed yesterday and that is for a purpose because by testing you can help treat patients better. We have always been testing patients. You can help people get back to work and there has been a huge expansion of eligibility to get tested to get back to work. and also for the surveys and very soon we should get the first results from the surveys that are being done in the field right now so that we know how many people have the disease throughout the country and we should get those results very soon, we plan to continue to expand the capacity um, like I said, there's a new lab coming online next week that astrazeneca and gsk have put together in cambridge and we'll take it from there, but the other really important question is making sure that we use this. capacity in the best possible way, for example, having a real focus on nursing homes to make sure that we can address the epidemic within nursing homes as well, John, yes, thank you, Secretary of State, um, yes, so It is an extraordinary achievement to build this crescent so quickly that an element of consolidation is required now we need to move towards a more sustainable base and we must also try to integrate the work of the new laboratories with the existing infrastructure to, for example, ensure that the results flow back. to GPs etc, all of that is happening and that will really help us use this new capacity to its maximum benefit, and then, as the Secretary of State said, there is a whole range of other opportunities to support NHS care . sector and also other sectors, such as criminal justice, by making testing available and I think the really exciting development is this launch of at-home testing, which of course would be very useful for any contact tracing, a quick way and really flexible of getting tests out to people when we're using our tracing and contact tracing app etc, so we're very pleased with what we've done so far, but it's really just the start and we need to apply what we have now to uh for the challenges of the future, thank you very much, yeah, if you have to follow up here, it was just one more.

Yes, can you ensure that health and care workers are prioritized so they can be tested when necessary? Yes, absolutely this. It's really important within the system we've built, if health and care workers need a test then they can get it as a priority, either through the NHS itself and the NHS's own laboratories or throughthe employer's route, so they can essentially go. at the front of the line um in terms of getting an appointment for one of the drive-through centers uh or and and um and that's and that's an important part of making sure that we have the right prioritization, we've always talked about prioritization starting with the patients. and then with NHS people, then with key workers generally and then with the general public, and that prioritization is built into the system just to take advantage of this point of testing for contact tracing.

Once we have large-scale contact tracing, then you want to be able to test people as soon as possible to know if there is a positive test so that people who they have been in close contact with can then be advised to act accordingly. consequently and isolate themselves so they don't pass on the disease, so it's another very important new part of the priority within the tests once we have them up and running in the middle of the month, thank you hugh sam coats from sky

matt

hancock

um, the 122,000 test is a massive increase in a short period of time how many of those are home test kits that were mailed yesterday but have not yet been returned or tested by labs because earlier in the week the number 10 it indicated that they wouldn't count the target but now it looks like they're doing it with john newton um maybe this morning we got the

news

we were waiting for that you can't get coronavirus for the second time that seems to have come out of a study in South Korea. central clinical committee for the control of emerging diseases, how much weight do you give to that apparently important study? and steve powers, i was interested that you seemed to be arguing with a public health colleague from england, dr. okarecki, who yesterday said that children do not seem to be able to transmit the disease.

Was he wrong? Well, what a party of questions I will ask you. I will hand you over to John to answer the precise numerical questions we set out in gov dot uk. Exactly how we count the different ones. types of tests for different reasons because obviously, exactly as you said in the question, the home tests are produced in a different way than the tests at the driving centers so John can explain to us the exact breakdown of the 122,347 tests yesterday. Add that in total, we now have the entire testing program since testing was invented. I've done over a million tests now, one million twenty-three thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, and that's another benchmark that we've managed to reach, John, and then I'll ask Steve to answer the question about the transmissibility of the disease between children yeah , thank you secretary of state, um nhs public health england laboratories, including laboratories in other countries, the four countries of the uk carried out 39,753 tests between them, of which there were 2,537 in Scotland, 1,090 in Wales and 1,319 in Northern Ireland and it is worth mentioning that we have a partnership with Roche and that partnership carried out 13,723 tests so that the public-private partnership benefit from the tests carried out by the new lighthouse laboratories totals 79,522 Now, of those 39,153 were made. at drive-thru centers or at uh by mobile units or actually um by research nurses who administered tests uh as part of the Office for National Statistics survey um your question uh the home kit was delivered, 27,497 were delivered. um kits and there 12,872 tests were delivered through the satellite process and then under the surveillance testing, which is different, which is the antibody testing, 3,072 tests were done and that's the breakdown of the total 122.

So your question it was about 27,000 home kits and then there was 12,000 more that were sent from satellites thank you very much steve um thank you sam uh regular on the issue of transmission in children um I will say what I think is John's position with his public health experience Will correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. I think that if a child or young person is symptomatic, then there is no reason to think that they would not transmit the virus in the way that any other symptomatic person would. I think the big question is how many children do not have symptoms but contract the virus and, in that particular case or those cases, how transmissible the virus is between them and I think that is data that we are still accumulating and evidence that we are.

I'm still learning and of course it's one of the key questions when it comes to schools and how schools open again, so I think the real answer is that evidence is still emerging about the transmissibility of the virus in children who don't. He's not showing symptoms, but John says you understand absolutely yes and if I have to answer the question about immunity, can you answer yes? So you mentioned a study where the science on immunity is still emerging and I think the general rule of thumb is that you would. never make a decision based on a single study, so we'd really like to see that result replicated in other studies before we decide that that was actually the case, but it's obviously promising, I think that's what people have said before on this .

In these briefings it would be very surprising if there was no immunity after an infection, but at the moment I think the science is still not precise about how much immunity you get and how long it lasts, but still there are results like the one you mentioned it is encouraging many thank you sam uh channel 4 secretary of state victoria macdonald can I just say I'm not too sure sam's question has been answered uh there is a report in the hsj that previously only a test would be countered once the sample was processed , but that the evidence has now changed and that it is being counted once it has been published is that the case and then secretary of state, I wanted to ask you specifically, the current figures show that you are twice as likely to die by 19 covert if you live in a disadvantaged part of the country what's your reaction to that and what political implications does that have for you yeah, I'll respond, I'll ask John to answer the hsj's point, but it's not something I recognize, um, um, the point about the deprivation uh and the point that in the more deprived parts of the country there seems to be a greater impact, this is something that we are concerned about and we are looking at and we are looking at.

This in the context of all the different ways this disease seems to have a different impact on different groups, so we knew from the beginning that it has a much more serious impact on older people. It appears to have a greater impact on men It appears to have a greater impact on people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds It appears that obese people are more severely affected by the disease and there is also this new evidence from the Office for National Statistics of the correlation with deprivation, so we're looking at all of these things, trying to understand the impact of the virus as much as possible as we get new evidence, John, yeah, so there's been no change in the way.

Tests are counted as we have developed new ways of testing. We have received advice from officials on how they should be counted, so that tests that are under the control of the program, which is the vast majority, are counted when they are performed. in our labs, but for any tests that leave the control of the program, they are counted when they leave the program, so those are the tests that are mailed to people at home and the tests that are sent by satellite, so That's the way. are counted they have always been counted and the way officials advised us to count them is all set out on gov.uk um sam lister of the express thanks health secretary um concerns have been raised about how the over 70s have been treated as a general group during this crisis, including senior figures in your party, can you reassure the over-70s that they are fit and healthy, but will be treated exactly the same as the rest of the population when lockdown measures are eased and furthermore It's become clear today that this isn't over, but now that we're past the peak, people will obviously be hopeful that they can start making plans to see family and friends again, maybe even have a vacation, or you know, get together and spend a vacation together, it's, it's late. summer, a realistic time scale for this, well Sam, the last question is very tempting to speculate, but unfortunately we don't know, it's still too early to tell and I'm very sorry to have to give that answer. but the five tests that we have set out are there in part to try to give everyone an idea of ​​when we will be able to make the next decisions that I know people are looking forward to, but we will only lift the lockdown. measures when it is safe to do so, that's why testing track and trace is so important because it will help us do that.

You don't need to have that in place but it helps enormously and it's just As of today it's too early and so the message remains: stay at home because that protects the NHS and saves lives and in your first point about those over 70, maybe, Steve, I know you have to ask this, but you know. We were always clear from the beginning that there is a very specific group that we have been in contact with, who we asked to protect, which is to ensure that they have as little contact as possible with other people for their own health reasons, and after. that the question is a degree a gradation of the advice steve yes so uh of course um we know as you know that uh uh that people over 70 can be absolutely fit and healthy and that uh you know um that um it's it's not In the case that all people over 70 have a chronic health condition or an underlying illness, as the Secretary of State said, we ask very specifically a group of people, some of whom are in that age group, but not everyone, to protect themselves and do everything they can to stay home because we knew that their underlying conditions put them at higher risk of serious complications from kovid 19.

So, that is the group that is being protected, of course, everyone is complying with social distancing measures at this time and are asked to stay. at home, whatever age you are, generally at the moment everyone is in the same boat of complying with those measures, I think as we look forward, and as I said at the beginning, the government is moving towards another combination of measures ,uh. including track and trace that will help us keep the infection under control in the future, I think it's a perfectly reasonable question to say how that would work in sort of age groups and age bands and, although we know that the complications and Unfortunately, the Debts are more common in older people, even without complications.

I think that's for consideration and that's work. I think we'll have to do that as we go, but I think your point is very well made. Thank you very much, Sam Alan Preston. from the belfast telegraph uh good afternoon and I just have two quick questions for the health secretary in Northern Ireland, the impact of coronavirus has not been as severe compared to the rest of the UK due to factors such as lower population density, Do you think there is any merit in eventually easing restrictions here at a different pace to other parts of the UK?

And my second question, given that this virus respects no borders, do you think it would be better for Stormont to work at an all-Ireland level in the fight against the pandemic? instead of following the example of the UK, well, thank you, um, the thing is that across the UK the level, you're right, the level of the virus has been different in different parts of the country and we saw that in the graph above . that in london the level has been much higher in other parts of the country lower, but the interesting thing is that the shape of the curve, the rise and then the fall of the virus, which has just begun, has been basically the same throughout the country and that means moving together, I think it was the right approach at the beginning and I can see the case that could be made and of course the decisions that have been transferred, we respect the transfer agreement but ultimately if we look at the shape of the curve lowering r and lowering the level of new cases, that has happened and the United Kingdom together, of course, the relationship with the republic is also important and we have good relations in terms of both at a political level, but also at a medical level in conversations with the republic um with the decisions they make but we have very intense discussions within the United Kingdom about the timing of changes within the country thank you very much as steve ford from the times of nursing good afternoon a nursing The survey of Times indicated that almost all nursing staff felt more stressed and anxious than usual and a third described the state of their mental health as poor during the Kobit-19 crisis, for reasons including BPE shortages, so My question is what are they going to do in the long term? deadline to protect the mental health of nurses and other staff, in addition to the helplines that have already been announced, as we have a well-documented nursing shortage.

I hope you agree that we cannot afford to lose any more in the coming months and secondly, what is your message to the black staff andof ethnic minorities who feel they may have been at greater risk given emerging evidence from mortality data? Thank you very much, Steve. I think it's the way nurses throughout the NHS. they have risen to this challenge it has been admirable the bravery and flexibility that nurses have shown across the nhs um and I think that is something that the whole country recognizes and I recognize that as health secretary um I think that um certainly The measures we have put in place to help people with this stress and more serious mental health problems as a result of work.

Those measures are important and I am very happy that they are implemented. I've been trying to implement them for some time. time and we managed to implement them very quickly when the crisis started, but the other thing is undoubtedly true when you talk to nurses on the front line than increasing the number of nurses so that there are more to do the job. what is needed is a really important part of the plan and, as you know, at the election we committed to having 50,000 more nurses by the end of parliament and we remain committed to that, in fact we have seen more nurses enter the NHS. um, about both, you know, during the autumn and then also as a direct result of the call for nurses who had left the profession to come back, so we have more nurses returning to the NHS and I want to support and appreciate every single nurse who works at the nhs because of the important work that they do and I'm sure it will be a great conversation as we restore the nhs and thank everyone for the work that they have done during uh, during the coronavirus difficulties, steve, I don't know if you want to do it, actually, yeah, no, I think your point again is very good, um and of course, it's not just the nurses, as you yourself pointed out, but the entire staff.

It has been a tremendous effort by staff across the NHS, they have been working incredibly hard, sometimes in different areas to the ones they normally work in and of course that brings its own stresses and I know that talking to chief executives and medical directorate executives. and the medical directors of many of our hospitals across the country are confident that as we begin to lift some of the services that we have had to withdraw to handle this surge of coronavirus patients, those local leaders are thinking very seriously about how to staff of support because they absolutely recognize that they have been through a number of very challenging and sometimes very stressful weeks and that that support is necessary both in the short term and over a longer period of time to ensure that we return to a normal situation.

We will not completely return to normal while we still have Covid, but we will return to normal if staff have the support they need. It is necessary, so I think the comments you have made are very much reflected in the comments I hear from our leaders throughout the health system. Maybe you could also answer Steve's second question. I'm so sorry, the second question just remind me that the second question was Steve's minority. Oh right, yeah, what's his message to the black and minority ethnic star? John may also want to answer some of this. So I think the message to black minority staff is that we absolutely recognise, as the Secretary of State said earlier, that this virus is disproportionately affecting staff and I absolutely know the concern and worry among our colleagues in those groups and indeed , I've been talking to them over the last few weeks, as I'm sure about the state of the segment and others have, so there are things we can do in terms of supporting the staff and helping them through the concerns that they have.

I think there's another part of the job that John will be able to talk about, which is understanding why. Again, the second state mentioned this a little bit earlier, why the virus appears to be disproportionately affecting members of staff and the population as a whole of particular ethnic groups, which is why public health England and I think maybe John will. I'll be able to say a little bit because of course that will also inform what we need to do in the approach we need to take in the future, John, thank you, yes, so as we know, the statistics show an increase in rates in some people with some ethnic origins, um, the effects are relatively small and we need to look at them, although they are very important, um, but we also need to look at some of the other aspects of the virus, for example, the virus is present in different races in different parts. of the country and we know that different parts of the country have very different groups of people from different backgrounds so we need to look at all these figures together to try to understand what's really going on and so there's uh there's definitely cause for concern and we're talking with NHS England about any advice that should be given based on the data, but there is also important statistical work to be done to try to understand what the real underlying risks are and I think it is sometimes true that it may be wrong to take these statistics at face value and we also know that unfortunately some different ethnic groups have different levels of underlying health problems, so for example, people of Asian origin tend to have more diabetes and So we are trying to see to what extent those factors might also be at play, but it is a very important issue, one that is being looked at by a number of people in public health England, but also at a number of universities.

The groups are also looking at this and we are passing the results on to NHS England so that staff can receive the correct advice exactly as you say, but I think it is important for us to emphasize that we do not need to wait for that data. Data and analysis are important, but we do not need to wait for them to provide additional support and, in fact, when NHS chief executive Simon Steve wrote to our healthcare organizations and hospitals this week, he made a specific comment. to ensure that local healthcare leaders pay special attention to supporting and doing what they deem necessary at the local level to support our bad colleagues, and I know from today, speaking to some of those local leaders, that they are absolutely doing that and providing that support.

Thank you very much Steve. Does that answer your question? Yes, thank you very much. In fact, to everyone who concludes this daily coronavirus briefing. Thank you.