Dominic Raab leads today’s daily coronavirus press briefing
The Foreign Secretary starts today’s press conference by laying out the UK’s latest coronavirus figures:
- 1,534,533 tests, with carried out 86,583 yesterday
- 206,715 positive tests for the virus
- 30,615 dead after testing positive for COVID-19
Raab says the UK is now in a position to begin to think about the next phase of its COVID-19 response, he says the PM will set out next steps in his address to the nation on Sunday. He says even the “smallest” of changes will be the point of “maximum risk”, and that the restrictions will be tightened again if the infection rate goes up.
“Any changes in the short term will be modest, small, incremental and very carefully monitored,” the foreign secretary told the daily COVID-19 briefing.
“If we find in the future the R level goes back up or that people aren’t following the rules, we must have the ability then to put back measures in place.”
Mr Raab said the existing rules would still apply over the bank holiday weekend.
“For the moment it is really important, particularly as people look towards a warm bank holiday weekend, that we continue to follow the guidance in place at this time,” he said.
Dominic Raab says the infection rate is between 0.5 and 0.9., but he adds that: “The virus is not beaten yet. It remains infectious and deadly.”
Testing
There have now been 1,534,533 tests carried out, of which 206,715 have tested positive, with 86,583 tests carried out yesterday. In the week since the deadline, tests have hit the target of at least 100,000 tests daily just twice.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer says there was a technical issue with testing over the weekend that has now been resolved.
Protecting BAME frontline workers
Public Health England (PHE) is looking at what “interventions can sensibly be made” to protect frontline workers from BAME backgrounds, Dominic Raab has said.
The foreign secretary told the Downing Street press conference: “We’re very concerned about, it’s something we take very seriously.
“Once we’ve got the advice back from them (PHE), we will know what interventions can sensibly be made.”
