UK coronavirus live: ‘stop squabbling’ over school closures, says children’s commissioner

The Department of Health has said mass high-quality testing is an “integral” part of the government’s strategy to dealing with coronavirus after the chair of the Royal College of GPs said healthcare workers were concerned about the tests’ accuracy (see 10.32am).

Prof Martin Marshall said:

We know that the distances that tests are travelling to labs and the wait time for results is undermining confidence in the process and results themselves.

Any testing strategy must therefore commit to building confidence in the process, including a commitment to improving the sensitivity and specificity of the tests.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said:

High-quality testing on a mass scale is an integral part of our strategy to stop the spread of the virus and save lives.

Thanks to the significant increases in capacity which we have built at pace, tens of millions of people are now eligible for tests and we have been able to prioritise our frontline health and care staff, essential workers and the most vulnerable, including in our care homes.

We have also doubled the capacity of NHS and PHE labs to ensure people receive their results swiftly, with 95% of tests processed in less than 48 hours.

Around three dozen people have gathered in Hyde Park to protest against the coronavirus lockdown and the principle of mandatory vaccinations, with at least one arrest so far.

Standing close together near Speaker’s Corner, several held placards and banners including slogans like “freedom over fear” as police, including some on horseback, looked on, PA reports.

David Samson, 50, who said he works in finance, said he was attending the protest because “I never thought I’d see in my generation the suppressing of civil rights” over what he falsely described as a “fake virus”.

A school pastoral support worker who was handcuffed by police has said misuse of stop and search powers has worsened during the coronavirus pandemic, my colleagues Ben Quinn and Frances Perraudin report.

Dwayne Francis, who was detained while waiting in his car for a post office to open on his way to work, said young black men’s negative experiences of police use of stop and search in London had got worse during the city’s lockdown.

The full story is here:

And the thread Francis posted on Twitter about this experience is here:

The Met carried out 30,608 stops in April, up from 20,981 in April 2019 and 23,783 in March this year. The force said one-in-five led to a “positive outcome”.

Researchers are investigating whether dogs can be trained to identify unique odours associated with coronavirus infection, my colleague Frances Perraudin reports.

Dogs are to be trained to try to sniff out the coronavirus before symptoms appear in humans, under trials launched with £500,000 of government funding.

Dogs have already been successfully trained to detect the odour of certain cancers, malaria and Parkinson’s disease, and a new study will look at whether labradors and cocker spaniels can be trained to detect Covid-19 in people.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine will carry out the first phase of a trial in collaboration with Durham University and the charity Medical Detection Dogs.

The Peak District has urged the public not to visit after its car parks filled up on the first weekend since lockdown measures were partially eased in England.

The national park said the Langsett area at the north-eastern edge of the park was “extremely busy” on Saturday morning, making physical distancing difficult.

Visitors flocked to the area despite people being asked to “think carefully” before visiting national parks and beaches (see 10.15am.).

Park bosses in the Peak District tweeted:

With the Met Office forecasting sunny conditions, members of the public are being urged to continue observing physical distancing rules and avoid potentially contributing to crowded public spaces this weekend.

Businesses in Margate have issued a “don’t visit” plea to discourage visitors on the first weekend since lockdown restrictions were eased in England, the Isle of Thanet News reports.

The Don’t Visit Margate campaign was launched on the Visit Margate website, where a letter from prominent local businesses says the area is “not ready” for visitors. It reads:

We love Margate. It’s a beautiful place, with a kind community, and we are all happiest when we can share it with visitors. But right now, we have other things we need to do. Covid-19 is real, and here on the Isle of Thanet we have one of the highest death rates in the county. Our NHS is fragile, our local council clearly struggling, and we’re not ready for visitors.

So – for all of our indies, for local people, and for your own health, please stay home. Don’t visit Margate.

The local MP, Sir Roger Gale, also urged people not to visit and called the government’s advice on limitless travel within England “premature and possibly sheer folly”. In a thread on Twitter, he said it was “irresponsible” for people to be encouraged to visit the coast this weekend. “Baby steps towards reopening” are needed, he said, not “a leap in the dark”:

Get this wrong and we could be worse than right back when we started. Get it right and we could be back in business in time for the real summer holidays.

A study has found that more than half of pregnant women who were admitted to hospital with coronavirus in the UK were from a black and minority ethnic background, my colleague Aamna Mohdin reports.

The “troubling data” has prompted experts to issue guidance for midwives to remain on high alert and lower the threshold for diagnosis by medical professionals for BAME women.

The study found that 55% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with coronavirus from 1 March to 14 April were from a BAME background. The findings show women from a BAME background were four times more likely to be hospitalised with coronavirus than white women.

The study suggests that for pregnant women, being from a BAME background is a stronger predictor of the likelihood of being hospitalised with coronavirus than age and obesity.

Test, track and trace is critical as a second wave is still a possibility, Sir Mark Walport, chief executive of UK Research and Innovation, has said.

The former government chief scientific adviser told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme:

It is a combination of people being really careful about how they behave coupled with identifying cases as early and as rigorously by testing as possible, and then working out who their contacts have been and making sure that they do isolate themselves.

As measures are taken to relax social distancing, they have got to be taken very, very cautiously indeed.

There is no question that the prospect of a second wave does exist. That is undoubtedly the case. It will continue to exist while there are a significant number of cases out there.

Meanwhile, Prof Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said the body was aware of concerns among healthcare workers about the accuracy and timing of some test results.

He said:

We know that the distances that tests are travelling to labs and the wait time for results is undermining confidence in the process and results themselves.

Any testing strategy must therefore commit to building confidence in the process, including a commitment to improving the sensitivity and specificity of the tests.

He called for GPs to be given guidance on how to help patients get tested, and asked for “transparent communication” from government.

The government needs to move away from an “arbitrary focus on numbers” to a clear testing strategy to prevent a second wave of coronavirus infections, the Royal College of GPs has said.

In a letter to the health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, the RCGP chair, Prof Martin Marshall, said there was a lack of confidence in the government’s testing strategy – including in the accuracy and timing of results. He added that while improvements have been made, a clear and comprehensive plan is needed to stop a second swell of cases.

Marshall wrote:

Whilst we recognise the work of government and a range of stakeholders, we do not believe that there is sufficient clarity on a joined-up comprehensive testing strategy to prevent a second wave of infections and to secure the overall health of the population.

As we ease lockdown over the coming weeks and months, it is essential that the profession and patients have full confidence in the approach to test, track and trace.

He said a joined-up approach is required between the NHS, social care and community care, including care homes, which he said were on the “frontlines” of the pandemic, adding:

In the absence of a clear strategy and with delays in social care planning, patients have been left vulnerable.

I am sure you will agree that now is the time to move beyond an arbitrary focus on numbers and targets and ensure that our loved ones in vulnerable settings are given particular protection.

He stressed the importance of confidence in the testing strategy from both the healthcare profession and the general public as the government moves to ease parts of the lockdown.

The government also needed to clearly inform the public about the importance of test, track and trace, and other measures that will accompany the NHS Covid-19 tracking app, he said.

People are being asked to “think twice” before visiting national parks and beaches on the first weekend since lockdown measures were partially eased in England.

With no limit on the amount of exercise allowed and how far one can travel within England for it, an estimated 15m leisure trips will be made by car in the UK this weekend, an RCA survey indicates.

And with sunny weather predicted, the County Councils Network is urging people to stay local, warning that some facilities remain closed and places may be forced to close again if overcrowding makes physical distancing impossible.

National parks including the Lake District and the Peak District have told travellers to stay away for the sake of the communities that live there and to avoid straining the emergency services. Cornwall council also warned people to think twice before going into the sea this weekend as there won’t be any lifeguards on duty.

This, from BBC Breakfast, gives the perspective of many in seaside towns.

Good morning. Ministers and teaching unions should “stop squabbling and agree a plan” for the reopening of schools in England, the children’s commissioner for England has said. Anne Longfield said schools needed to reopen “as quickly as possible” because many disadvantaged pupils were losing out as a result of schools being closed for so long.

Teachers’ leaders met the government’s scientific advisers on Friday, but no agreement was reached on how to open schools safely. And last night the British Medical Association backed the teaching unions’ opposition to phased reopening from 1 June, saying it was “absolutely right” for the unions to urge caution and prioritise testing before reopening.

The BMA council’s chair, Chaand Nagpaul, said in a letter to his NEU counterpart, Kevin Courtney:

We cannot risk a second spike or take actions which would increase the spread of this virus, particularly as we see sustained rates of infection across the UK.

Until we have got case numbers much lower, we should not consider reopening schools.

It comes after the revelation on Friday that the UK’s R number (reproduction rate) had risen in the past week to between 0.7 and 1. That is dangerously close to levels that could bring a second wave of infections. The data is subject to a several week long lag, there are are regional differences and the increase could also reflect what is happening in hospitals and care homes, but it has brought the government’s easing of lockdown measures in England into question.

Some local authorities, including Liverpool city council and Hartlepool borough council, have already challenged the government’s timetable amid fears that 1 June is too early to guarantee it will be safe.

However, the Times (paywall) reports that the heads of four primary school chains are preparing to defy the teaching unions and back the government’s plans to reopen to some pupils next month.

Schools in Wales will not be going back on 1 June and it is not expected that schools in Scotland or Northern Ireland will go back before the summer holidays begin.

I’ll be bringing you all the latest UK coronavirus news throughout the day, so please do get in touch if you would like to share a news tip, advice, comments or suggestions.

Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_