UK coronavirus live: No 10 accused of trying to cover up Cummings lockdown breach – latest updates

Here is the moment Dominic Cummings told reporters he did the ‘right thing’ by travelling 260 miles from London to Durham to be near relatives during the lockdown.

Cummings is facing calls to quit over the journey, which he made when his wife had Covid-19 symptoms. Downing Street has defended Cummings’ actions (see 10.25am.).

NHS England has announced 157 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 25,545.

Of the 157 new deaths announced on Saturday:
– 30 occurred on 22 May
– 81 occurred on 21 May
– 19 occurred on 20 May

The number of deaths of patients with Covid-19 by region are as follows:

East of England 17

London 19

Midlands 30

North East & Yorkshire 36

North West 23

South East 22

South West 10

Total 157

The figures also show 24 of the new deaths took place between 1-19 May, and the remaining three deaths took place in April with the earliest new death on 22 April.

NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago. This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for post-mortem examinations to be processed and for data from the tests to be validated.

The figures published today by NHS England show 8 April continues to have the highest number for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day, with a current total of 891.

The Scottish National party has written to the prime minister and the head of the civil service calling for an investigation into Dominic Cummings’ “rule-breaking and the Tory government’s cover-up”.

In the letter to Mark Sedwill and Boris Johnson, the party’s leader in Westminster Ian Blackford said he was calling for Cummings to be sacked.

He asked for the following questions to be answered:

• When did Johnson first find out about Cummings’ trip to Durham and the police investigation into the rule-breaking incident?
• Did anyone in the UK government sanction the rule-breaking incident?
• Why was Cummings not sacked or asked to resign at the time?
• What role did Johnson play in the decision to cover up the incident by keeping the public in the dark for eight weeks until the story was broken by a newspaper?

In a statement, Blackford said:

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.

The excuses are not credible. There was absolutely nothing in the list of reasons under the law for leaving the house that allowed someone to travel the length of the country to stay with their parents, particularly not someone who was known to have the virus.

Here is video of Cummings emerging from his house earlier today (see 12.44pm). It will be for others to characterise his demeanour, but he seems fairly unrepentant and even appears to be making light of his own transgressions.

Dominic Cummings did not follow the advice which the Conservative party just posted on their Facebook account, according to the BBC’s Lewis Goodall.

And there are serious questions over whether the prime minister’s top aide sought to prevent the virus spreading from household to household, as the Guardian’s former deputy editor Paul Johnson highlights.

With demands growing for Boris Johnson to sack his chief aide, Downing Street finally went public to defend Dominic Cummings on Saturday – after seven weeks of failing to provide on-the-record explanations about his whereabouts – but the explanation provided appears to leave fundamental questions unanswered, as my colleagues report:

So, erm, was it permissible to travel for help with childcare under the lockdown rules? I had not thought so, but the government’s defence of Dominic Cummings – who is claimed to have respected the guidelines despite driving 260 miles with suspected coronavirus – raises questions that millions of people will want clarifying. Were we all mistaken? What did “stay home, save lives, protect the NHS” actually mean?

When Boris Johnson introduced the UK lockdown he gave “a very simple instruction – you must stay at home”.

The rules, announced in a speech on 23 March, stated that people would only be allowed to leave the house for limited purposes.

These were shopping for basics, one form of exercise a day, travelling to and from work, but only where absolutely necessary, and medical needs.

The government’s guidance on circumstances in which a person may leave their home stated:

• For work, where you cannot work at home.
• Going to shops that are permitted to be open – to get things like food and medicine.
• To exercise or spend time outdoors.
• Any medical need, including to donate blood, avoid illness or injury, escape risk of harm, or to provide care or help to a vulnerable person.

No mention was made of childcare in the published guidance. Reinforcing the message, Johnson said people should not meet family members who do not live with them.

The rule on meeting family was unequivocal:

You should not be visiting family members who do not live in your home. You should keep in touch with them using phone or video calls.

Only in exceptional circumstances were people allowed to attend relatives’ addresses; for example, to drop off food or medicine to their door.

However, Dr Jenny Harries said at the daily Downing Street press briefing on 24 March that a small child could be considered “vulnerable”.

Clearly if you have adults who are unable to look after a small child, that is an exceptional circumstance. And if the individuals do not have access to care support – formal care support – or to family, they will be able to work through their local authority hubs.

Even now the lockdown rules have been relaxed slightly, visiting friends or family in their own homes is still off limits. The current guidance states: “As with before, you cannot visit friends and family in their homes.”

The government guidance also said:

We are advising those who are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus (Covid-19) to be particularly stringent in following social distancing measures. This group includes those who are aged 70 or older (regardless of medical conditions).

If you are showing coronavirus symptoms, or if you or any of your household are self-isolating, you should stay at home – this is critical to staying safe and saving lives.

The government’s guidance on self-isolation stated:

If you live with others and you are the first in the household to have symptoms of coronavirus (Covid-19), then you must stay at home for at least seven days, but all other household members who remain well must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill.

Boris Johnson is facing calls, led vociferously by former Mirror editor Piers Morgan, to front the daily coronavirus briefing later today.

Whoever gives the press conference will undoubtedly face some awkward questions and it will be interesting to see whether they stick to the suggestion Cummings and his family travelling north was essential.

The health secretary Matt Hancock, who himself contracted Covid-19 and isolated for a week, is the latest cabinet minister to come out in support of parents stricken with coronavirus seeking childcare for their children.

Hancock’s intervention comes after he said earlier this month he would back the police in any action they wish to take over Prof Neil Ferguson breaking social distancing rules by having a woman visit him at his home.

Unsurprisingly, the government’s attempts to defend Cummings – and the apparent hypocrisy exhibited in doing so – are causing growing anger among cross-party politicians.

Amid calls for his resignation after he was found to have travelled 264 miles across the country days after lockdown was imposed with his wife and child while symptomatic, Dominic Cummings has been snapped outside his home gesturing to members of the media to observe social distancing guidelines. Yes, really.

Cummings has insisted, “I behaved reasonably and legally” and when asked by reporters if his trip to Durham during lockdown looked good, said:

Who cares about good looks. It’s a question of doing the right thing. It’s not about what you guys think.

The suggestion that Cummings was “doing the right thing” echoed the defences issued on Twitter from senior cabinet ministers including Michael Gove and Dominic Raab (see 11.08am.).

The justification that breaching the lockdown rules was legitimate as it was done out of care for his wife and child has infuriated members of the public. So many people, as is pointed out by the i’s Jane Merrick, the Indy’s Ashley Cowburn and others, abided by the rules “with great inconvenience, difficulty and sadness” and are now being told that if they cared for their loved ones they would have done the same.

Here is a timeline of the key events around Boris Johnson’s key adviser displaying coronavirus symptoms and journeying to County Durham during lockdown.

Downing Street’s statement on Dominic Cummings’ journey to Durham “raises more questions than it answers”, Labour has said.

In a statement, a Labour spokesman said:

The lockdown rules were very clear: if you or anyone in your household was suspected of having Covid-19 you must immediately self-isolate and not leave the house. However, the prime minister’s chief adviser appears to believe that it is one rule for him and another for the British people.

This will cause understandable anger for the millions of people who have sacrificed so much during this crisis.

Number 10’s statement also raises more questions than it answers. We are still unclear who knew about this decision and when, whether this was sanctioned by the prime minister and whether Number 10 is now questioning the validity of the statement from Durham police.

At this afternoon’s press conference, we will be expecting answers to these questions.