Could Britain’s car-choked cities get more liveable because of the pandemic?

Measures introduced now to make cycling and walking easier should remain after pandemic, campaigners tell The Independent‘s policy correspondent, Jon Stone.

Read his report here:
 

Dominic Raab has also been quizzed over his “new normal” comments by Andrew Marr.

The foreign secretary said: “We won’t just have this binary easing up of measures, we’ll end up moving to a ‘new normal’ and I think we will need to make sure we proceed in a sure-footed way … which protects life but also preserves our way of life.

“So we’re very focused on doing the homework on what allows us to do that. The social distancing measures, and applying them in different contexts is going to be with us for some time.”
 

He added: “I think it’s going to be different in lots of the ways we’re already seeing.” Citing precautions being taken by businesses, he gave an example of queuing two metres apart at the supermarket on Friday night as he waited to buy milk.

“If you think that those are the measures we’ve taken for essential businesses that haven’t shut down, you can see how in various different ways they could be expanded to non-essential businesses currently closed.”

Rob Merrick has more details here:
 

Lockdown exit will be ‘a new normal,’ Raab says

“We’ve set out the five tests for what the next ‘transitional phase’ would look like,” Dominic Raab said.

“It won’t be just going back, it would be a new normal if you like – with social distancing measures adapted to areas which are currently closed off.”
 

Raab brushes off calls for end to lockdown and ‘exit strategy’ openness

The government is coming under intense pressure from senior Tories to relax the strict social-distancing measures, amid concern at the damage they are doing to the economy, and now faces increasing calls from Labour to be more open about possible exit strategies.

Mr Raab – who has been deputising in the PM’s absence – rejected Sophy Ridge’s suggestion that a failure to do so was “patronising” to the public.

“If you look at the public mood, it is overwhelmingly that they are concerned that we might ease up too soon,” he said.

“If we started proposing one or other measure that subsequently, down the track, we found out we couldn’t implement you would be saying that we had jumped the gun.”

“You would be criticising us for that and the public would be getting mixed messaging.”

He added: “We are at a delicate and dangerous stage.

“We need to make sure that the next steps are sure-footed, which is why we are proceeding very cautiously and we are sticking to the scientific advice with the social-distancing measures at this time, whilst doing all the homework to make sure that we are prepared in due course for the next phase.”

Raab says daily testing capacity now running at above 50,000

Dominic Raab insists the government is “on track” to meet Matt Hancock’s Thursday target of 100,000 tests.

“Our capacity for carrying out tests is now at 51,000 per day, so we’ve passed the halfway line … and you always get the exponential increase in a project like this in the last week as the capacity comes on tap.

Just over 28,000 tests were carried out on Friday, despite 46,000 applications being made after all key workers were declared eligible.

NHS medical director Stephen Powis’ also asserted that on capacity was at 50,000 on Saturday. The figures are expected later today.

 

Two to six million people may have already had virus in UK, says Oxford contact tracing app developer

Professor Christophe Fraser, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford who is working on the government’s contact tracing app, told Andrew Marr: “There’s uncertainty around this, but I would say nationally somewhere between three and up to 10 per cent of the population will have had coronavirus by this stage.”

This would amount to between two and six million people.

Several countries are turning to the possibility of using opt-in apps to track the rate of infection, decide who within the population may have contracted the virus and identify who should self-isolate.

Prof Fraser said: “For every one to two users who use the app, you’ll prevent one infection. We found that for this intervention alone to stop resurgence of the epidemic, about 60 per cent of the population would have to use the app.”

That number could be smaller if used in alignment with social distancing, community testing and manual contact tracing, he added.

Scotland to ‘look seriously at social and economic reforms’ in post-pandemic plans

Scotland should “look seriously at social and economic reform” in its planning for recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister said the virus has fundamentally changed everyday life but has given an opportunity to shape a different kind of future.

Writing in the Herald on Sunday, she said: “When things come apart – when the kaleidoscope of our lives is shaken – there is an opportunity to see them put back together differently, and see a new way of doing things.

“And we can start to think together, and work together, to decide the kind of Scotland we want to emerge from this crisis.

“We still all face major challenges. Challenges in navigating the uncertainties that the virus has created, as well as rebuilding our economy and public services.

“But we can go further than rebuilding, and look seriously at social and economic reform.”

She added: “I am confident we can start to begin considering our futures with optimism because this crisis has taught us how we can achieve rapid results under the most demanding circumstances.”

Shop staff and transport workers must be given masks, says British Medical Association
 

Labour steps up criticism of government

Labour shadow cabinet ministers are stepping up their criticism of the government’s handling of the pandemic – with both Rosena Allin-Khan and Rachel Reeves using their appearances on Sunday morning politics shows to urge that deaths in care homes and the wider community are reflected in the daily figures.

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Reeves, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, urged ministers to “treat us like grown ups” and discuss how the UK could begin to ease lockdown measures.

Dr Allin-Khan, shadow mental health secretary, added that so many things need answering “for people to have positive mental health going forward”.

She told Sky’s Sophy Ridge: “The British public have shown incredible resolve, they can get through anything, but the government needs to make it slightly easier to ease the pressure on people’s families so that they understand what the easing of restrictions may look like – and that is what the Labour Party is calling for.”

China says all Wuhan patients have been discharged from hospital

Wuhan, where the global coronavirus pandemic began, now has no remaining cases in its hospitals, a health official told reporters on Sunday.

“The latest news is that by 26 April, the number of new coronavirus patients in Wuhan was at zero, thanks to the joint efforts of Wuhan and medical staff from around the country,” a National Health Commission spokesperson said Mi Feng said at a briefing.

The city had reported 46,452 cases, account for more than half of the national total. It saw 3,869 fatalities, or 84 per cent of China’s official total.

Wuhan was put in lockdown in the latter part of January, with roads sealed, trains and planes cancelled and residents unable to move freely for more than two months. The city is still testing residents regularly despite relaxing the restrictions.

Labour adds to calls for ‘great clarity’ to what end to lockdown could look like

‘We entered lockdown too late,’ shadow mental health minister says

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, who has been working shifts as an A&E doctor in Tooting, has questioned how many families would be grieving the loss of loved ones if lockdown had been enforced sooner.

“I understand that this is a global pandemic. It would have been impossible to save all of the lives that we’ve lost, but we did enter into lockdown too late,” she said.

“We did not deliver PPE to the front line when it was needed, we did not follow global advice on self-isolation and we haven’t rolled out mass testing and contact tracing.

“So when I find myself in the unenviable position of not being able to hug someone as they cry after they’ve said their last goodbye it makes me think how many of these grieving families could not have had to be in this position?

“And fundamentally we are going to have real mental health issues to deal with for these grieving families, but for the NHS workers who have had to hold their hands through this process,” she told Sky’s Ridge On Sunday programme.

She added: “I firmly believe that yes the Government have made grand promises of 100,000 tests by the end of April, but we have to be clear that that is delivered on and not simply a promise.”

Donald Trump cancels daily White House briefing

As the rate of newly confirmed coronavirus infections continued to rise, Donald Trump’s eccentricities continued to overshadow his public response to the crisis.

In a deepening war with the media, he cancelled his daily press briefing on Saturday, two days after causing uproar by suggesting scientists should explore whether the internal use of disinfectants such as bleach could treat Covid-19.

Government scrambling to hit Matt Hancock’s 100,000 daily tests pledge

PM back to work on Monday amid growing criticism of leadership vacuum