UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson leads final daily briefing as social distancing rules eased in England
Boris Johnson starts with the slides.
The first relates to the five tests. He says they have provided the guide to easing lockdown.
Nick Stylianou from Sky News has some press conference statistics.
Nick Stylianou (@nmsonline)
It’s the 92nd and final regularly-scheduled Downing Street #coronavirus/#COVID19 update.
Who’s appeared the most?
🥇 Matt Hancock (24 appearances) 🥈 Stephen Powis (22 appearances) 🥉 Patrick Vallance (21 appearances) 4️⃣ Chris Whitty & Jenny Harries (18) 5️⃣ Boris Johnson (16)
June 23, 2020
Boris Johnson is about to take what will now be the last of the UK government’s daily coronavirus press conferences. He will be with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser.
Scotland’s largest teaching union the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has said its still wants “an appropriate level of physical distancing between pupils and most certainly between pupils and staff” in schools, despite the Scottish government’s earlier announcement that pupils should prepare to return to school in August full time, without significant classroom distancing.
The EIS said that it still wants to see protective measures in schools “such as mandatory face coverings, protective perspex shields, proactive testing of teachers and an appropriate level of physical distancing”.
Meanwhile, GMB Scotland raised concerns that school support staff’s safety was being ignored, as Scottish education secretary John Swinney said that a “blended” system of at-home and in-school learning, to allow 2 metre distancing in classrooms, would remain a contingency plan.
GMB Scotland Organiser Helen Meldrum said: “An army of hidden, low-paid staff, and predominantly women, are being left to get on with it; like cleaners equipped with little more than a risk assessment form and a mop and bucket, or teaching assistants who don’t yet know their hours or how they can balance work and childcare.”
The National Education Union says, even with the two-metre rule abandoned in favour of a one-metre rule, it is still sceptical about pupils in England being able to return safely to school in September. This is from its joint general secretary, Mary Bousted.
The NEU is of course in favour of all children being back in school, but even with a one-metre rule that will need more teachers and more spaces.
It is not clear whether in less than three months the science will permit classes of 30. If social distancing of one metre remains in place, that will still be difficult for schools. Class sizes are already at record highs in secondary schools, but the current situation calls for groups around half that size.
The full NEU statement is here.
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has suggested that gyms could open some time next month, despite not being included in the government’s list of business that can operate from 4 July.
Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden)
GYMS
Many people keen to hit the gym & keeping Britain fit is key in Covid battle
We’ve made lots of progress & I know steps businesses have taken to make their spaces & equipment safe
Subject to public health, our aspiration is to reopen gyms & leisure facilities in mid-July
June 23, 2020
These are from Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, on her government’s decision to get pupils returning to school full time in August, instead of opting for the “blended learning” model. (See 3.50pm.)
Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon)
1/ When it looked like the virus would make it impossible for kids to return to school full time in August, we developed a contingency. The contingency is still there should we need it. But our success in suppressing virus makes it possible now to plan for full time return. t.co/qJsuTUW3wv
June 23, 2020
Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon)
2/ Achieving that aim depends on getting and keeping virus at very low levels – and that depends on all of us abiding by public health rules and taking a careful path out of lockdown. And it means following relevant advice on mitigation, surveillance and testing.
June 23, 2020
From the Welsh government
Welsh Government Health and Social Care (@WGHealthandCare)
We are funding a pilot programme which will flag early signs of the #coronavirus by monitoring sewage systems.
The pilot will last for 6 months and will eventually cover around 75% of the Welsh population.
In a candid article on our website Alex Rushmer explains why he won’t be reopening his Cambridge restaurant on 4 July – despite what the PM announced this afternoon. Here’s an extract.
A lack of clear decision-making at the start of the crisis gives me little confidence that the government will successfully negotiate our exit from it. Lockdown easing in places as diverse as Florida, Germany and Beijing hasresulted in infection spikes and increases in R rates. Covid-19 isn’t going away. With no guidance about how to reopen safely and no support network if lockdown measures need to be ratcheted up again, reopening a small independent restaurant is a gamble I cannot take.
Track and trace presents a further issue. A diner displaying symptoms of Covid-19, or who tests positive (and informs the restaurant) presents us with significant decisions – both financial and health-related – that we do not have the skills, training or information to handle correctly. It should mean a mandatory two-week shutdown (in line with the current guidance for individuals) of the restaurant to prevent any further spread. The prospect of taking reservations, stocking a kitchen, preparing a menu, calling staff back from furlough and reopening, only to have to close again at a moment’s notice, is truly terrifying.
From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh
Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh)
Away from the PM’s big unlockdown announcements today, here’s something the govt slipped out in the Lords…
📲@MattHancock‘s abandoned test and trace app has cost the taxpayer nearly £12mhttps://t.co/WyM9AOlvRf
