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Saturday 23 May 2020 18:14
Boris Johnson has given his “full support” to Dominic Cummings after it emerged he flouted lockdown rules by travelling more than 260 miles from London to his parent’s home in County Durham.
The prime minister is facing mounting pressure to sack his chief adviser as Labour demanded that the head of the civil service launch an urgent investigation.
It came as the UK death toll rose by 282 in a day to 36,675 and nearly 3,000 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed, according to the latest government figures.
Meanwhile Donald Trump has headed to the golf course as a large study into anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which the US president says he has been taking and has urged others to use, suggested it is linked to an increased risk of death in hospitalised Covid-19 patients.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo advised people to exercise good judgement and social distancing following the loosening of restrictions of gatherings late on Friday.
“You can have a safe gathering of 10 people or you can have a wholly unsafe gathering of 10 people,” said Cuomo. “If you don’t have to be with a group of ten people don’t be with a group of ten people.”
In his daily briefing on Saturday, he said New York recorded 84 coronavirus deaths on 22 May compared with 109 the day before, continuing a downward trend in the state’s toll from the pandemic.
A further 48 deaths and 361 new cases have been reported in Spain, as far-right protesters called for an end to the left-wing government’s lockdown restrictions.
Several thousand followers of the Vox party gathered in their cars and on motorbikes in the centre of Madrid and other cities for a “Caravan for Spain and Liberty”.
The party accuses the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of lying about the impact of the health crisis and of violating Spaniards’ rights by confining people to their homes and closing businesses.
“We will never forget what they have done,” Vox leader Santiago Abascal said from the open-top bus leading the caravan as it inched down a Madrid boulevard.
“Do not doubt that we will make them face justice. They know it and fear our freedom. That is why they try to intimidate us.”
“When Cummings acts, the sheer power of his intellect changes the rules around him, even the ones that he made himself,” writes political sketch writer Tom Peck.
“Stay Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives. Drive 260 miles up the A1 with a car full of coronavirus….”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has called on the head of the civil service to investigate the “rule-breaking and the Tory Government’s cover-up” of Dominic Cummings’ lockdown journey to Durham.
Mr Blackford said: “I have written to Sir Mark Sedwill seeking an immediate investigation into the rule-breaking and the Tory Government’s cover-up – and to call for Dominic Cummings to resign or be sacked.
“Boris Johnson must answer serious questions about his role in this incident and the cover-up – including when he found out, when he heard about the police action, why Mr Cummings wasn’t sacked immediately, and why he kept the public in the dark for eight weeks until a newspaper broke the story.
“Dominic Cummings’ position is completely untenable.
“This is a matter of leadership and judgment for the Prime Minister who must prevent lasting damage to his Government and his own reputation.
“Millions of us have made huge sacrifices over the months to obey the rules, while Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser was breaking them.
“There cannot be one rule for the Tory Government and another for the rest of us.”
“I behaved reasonably and legally,” the prime minister’s chief aide told reporters outside his house this evening.
Asked if he would consider his position, he said: “Obviously not.”
He added: “You guys are probably all about as right about that as you were about Brexit: do you remember how right you all were about that?”
Donald Trump has visited a golf course for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck – a day after a top physician said at White House briefing anyone playing should observe social distancing rules.
As coronavirus infections in the country reached 1.6m and the number of deaths passed 96,000, the president made his way to the Trump National Golf Club, at Sterling, Virginia.
The transport secretary has insisted the government’s chief advisor Dominic Cummings did not break the lockdown rules when he made a 500-mile round trip to his family in Durham.
Giving the government’s daily press conference on coronavirus, Grant Shapps said Mr Cummings had “stayed put” after he developed symptoms of coronavirus.
Labour have called for an urgent inquiry after the prime minister’s chief adviser apparently flouted lockdown rules.
The party has written to the head of the civil service, Sir Mark Sedwill, to ask him to investigate a 260-mile trip taken by Dominic Cummings.
Italy has reported 119 new deaths from coronavirus, bringing the official total to 32,735.
There were 669 new cases, bringing the total to 229,327, according to the Civil Protection Agency.
The decline in the number of people in intensive care continued to decline, with 572 people on Saturday, down from 595 on Friday.
Labour has written to Sir Mark Sedwill, the head of the civil service, to call for an “urgent inquiry” into Dominic Cummings’ actions.
It comes after the SNP wrote to Sir Mark earlier today to call for an investigation into the matter.
The Department of Health has said it is unable to provide figures for the number of people tested for coronavirus both overall and in the 24-hour period up to 9am
on Saturday due to “technical difficulties”.
The total number of confirmed cases in Italy has risen by 669 to a total of more than 229,000.
New York governor Andrew Cumono has reported 84 new coronavirus deaths on Friday, compared to 109 fatalities a day earlier.
Wrapping up the daily briefing, Mr Shapps asked everyone to look after each other and “stay alert” over the bank holiday weekend.
He also said the government had changed the rules to make sure people can have rights to stay if a member of their family was working, particularly in the NHS, and then sadly through coronavirus.
“That means a residence for those individuals,” he said.
Mr Shapps replied: “I don’t know exactly the answer to when the PM knew, but I know the PM knew he was unwell and locked down.
“I can tell you the PM provides Mr Cummings with his full support.”
Asked what the risks are surrounding travelling while symptomatic, Dr Harries replied: “Clearly in travel advice if you are in a private car actually transmission within a vehicle because it’s within a closed space is probably a higher one, but within a household group then your exposures are usually the same.”
“We say if you are travelling then drive in your own car,” she added.
Mr Shapps says “people should of course follow the guidance” and that it is “up to an individual” to make the decision.
Dr Harries said all of the guidance has a “common sense element to it”, which includes safeguarding around adults or children.
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