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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is standing in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who’s recovering after spending a week in hospital with coronavirus
Mr Raab is joined in Downing Street by Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser.
Dominic Raab has begun today’s daily coronavirus briefing by saying that he last spoke to the Prime Minister on Saturday.
The foreign secretary says that the government is “united in focus and determination” to defeat the virus.
Dominic Raab says that evidence suggests the UK could still be:
“going through the peak of this crisis”.
It’s “critically important” to keep preventing its spread, he adds.
Raab says he “doesn’t expect” any changes to be made to the UK’s lockdown this week.
Sir Patrick Vallance says social distancing is “reducing transmission within the community” and that the number of confirmed cases appears to be flattening off, but acknowledges that not all cases are being reported as many are able to stay at home rather than go to hospital.
Chris Whitty says the coronavirus death toll outside hospitals is being measured. He adds that Office for National Statistics data includes these details.
Sir Patrick Vallance says he thinks this week will be “difficult” with a further increase in deaths across the UK.
Asked if we will ever know the true extent of the deaths of coronavirus, due to deaths outside of hospital or incorrect recordings, Prof Chris Whitty says the accuracy will increase as testing is increased.
“At this point in time, most people who appear to have Covid-19 do have it, but that wouldn’t be true during flu season, for example,” he says.
“But ramping up will allow greater accuracy.”
Asked specifically about care homes if doctors cannot get in to see the patients who have died, Prof Whitty says doctors “take it very seriously and try to make sure they get as much information”.
“We’re now at a stage where you can begin to see the flattening,” says chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.
He said it would be a “complete waste of everything everyone’s done until now” if lockdown measures were to be lifted before we are beyond the peak and the curve of new cases and deaths starts heading down.
“If we let up too early, we risk a second wave,” adds Dominic Raab.
Dominic Raab refuses to offer a target for when schools might reopen, reiterating the need to “flatten the curve”.
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