UK coronavirus live: government insists it met 100,000 daily test target

This is from ITV’s Daniel Hewitt.

He previously reported that hospices were set to run out of PPE “within days” because providers of end of life care were being denied access to government supplies.

My colleague Aamna Mohdin has written about how coronavirus has hit the borough of Newham – one of the country’s most deprived areas – harder than anywhere else. The east London borough has recorded the worst mortality rate in England and Wales.

The borough’s rate – 144.3 deaths per 100,000 people – is closely followed by Brent in north London (141.5), and Newham’s neighbour Hackney (127.4), according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics. The data confirms what had already been suspected: people living in the poorest parts of the country are dying from Covid-19 at a much higher rate than those in the richest.

Newham resident Kamul Islam, a 40-year-old cab driver, said 22 people had died aftering contracting the virus on his road and neighbouring street alone. He said:

Every day I get a message from someone in my community telling me of people who have died. They are young and old. It’s been really tough.

Many high-street law firms could face closure this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Law Society survey.

The results showed 71% of small law firms believe they may have to close their doors within the next six months because of physical distancing hindering face-to-face transactions, court hearings and the wider economy.

The Law Society defines high-street law firms as those with four partners or fewer, and the survey results were based on answers from 774 firms.

Its president, Simon Davis, said the shock to the legal system has been “sudden and severe” and firms face “a dramatic plunge in income”. He said:

Although a firm may be open for business, this does not mean it is business as usual.

Residential property transactions have ground to a halt. Reduction in court hearings has massively impacted on the amount of work available – while social distancing and the lack of face-to-face meetings is causing difficulty delivering in other areas, such as the execution of wills.

Elsewhere, small firms have suffered from the decline in overall activity – particularly from service industries such as retail, leisure and hospitality.

The fate of the high-street firm is thus intrinsically bound to that of other small businesses.

He said firms are struggling because although the government provides some relief, they are specifically excluded from support for small businesses, and are expected to continue paying business rates while their buildings are empty. There is therefore a growing fear that “many businesses will fall through the crack”, he added.

Davis also said individual solicitors are also at risk, because some are not eligible for support for the self-employed, and those who are paid via dividends are in need of a support package.

A nurse who died after contracting coronavirus will be remembered for her “lovely smile”, hospice bosses have said.

Gill Oakes, a senior clinical support nurse at Bolton hospice, died on 30 April at Royal Bolton hospital with Covid-19, the hospice said.

Chief executive Leigh Vallance said:

She was a dedicated and compassionate member of our team, caring for patients at Bolton hospice for nearly 24 years. She will be dearly missed by us all.

Gill was the sort of person who always offered to help others – nothing was ever too much trouble for her.

She was a brilliant nurse who often helped new members of the team settle into their role at the hospice.

We will always remember her kindness and her lovely smile.

We’d like to thank our colleagues at Royal Bolton hospital for taking care of Gill, and our thoughts are with her family at this impossibly sad time.

More than 70% of coronavirus patients admitted to critical care in England, ,Wales and Northern Ireland are men, according to new data from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC).

The figures were based on a sample of 7,542 critically ill patients confirmed as having Covid-19. Researchers found that 5,389 of the patients were men, compared with 2,149 women.

The report, published on Friday, also found that men were more likely to die in critical care, with 51% dying in care compared with around 43% of women. In total about 49% of the 5,139 patients admitted to critical care who had recorded care outcomes had died, it found.

The report analysed data on patients with confirmed Covid-19 from 286 NHS critical care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland taking part in the ICNARC programme up to 4pm on Thursday.

Prof Calum Semple, from the University of Liverpool and a consultant respiratory paediatrician at Alder Hey children’s hospital, said the data showed that coronavirus was just as fatal as Ebola for hospital patients.

Research by Semple and his team, which was published on Wednesday, found that of the total number of patients, 17% required admission to high dependency or intensive care units and of these, 31% were discharged alive, 45% died and 24% continued to be treated in hospital. He said:

Some people persist in believing that Covid-19 is no worse than a bad dose of flu. They are gravely mistaken.

Despite the best supportive care that we can provide, the crude case fatality rate for people who are admitted to hospital – that is, the proportion of people ill enough to need hospital treatment who then die – with severe Covid-19 is 35% to 40%, which is similar to that for people admitted to hospital with Ebola.

It’s a really nasty disease.

My colleague Amy Walker has spoken to the relatives of care home residents who have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic. She writes:

Before they were care home residents, they were our factory workers, teachers, engineers and administrative workers.

Some were singers, and some were boxers. Some were parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. Now they have died after contracting coronavirus in their homes.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that between 10 and 24 April, there were 4,343 recorded deaths from Covid-19 in residential care homes. Meanwhile, frustration among operators, staff and relatives that the government has underestimated the seriousness of the spread of the virus in care continues to grow.

Here are the stories of some of those who have died.

The National Trust could lose up to £200m this year due to the coronavirus crisis, the charity has said as it appeals to the government for “urgent, practical” support after having to halt a number of projects amid the pandemic.

The conservation charity’s director general, Hilary McGrady, said “a sharp drop in income” is threatening the future of nature sites and staff across the country.

She told BBC Breakfast, the trust “lost about 50% of our annual income literally overnight” when it closed earlier this year.

Writing in the Telegraph (paywall), McGrady urged ministers to step in and “address nature, wildlife and environmental organisations with an immediate offer of support”, given that they had thanked a number of manufacturing businesses, and called for “a green recovery after lockdown”.