the UK has recorded its lowest number of
deaths from confirmed cases of corona
virus since the lockdown began
fatalities recorded at the weekend do
tend to be lower than during the week
because of delayed reporting but the
official figure today shows that 77
people died in the previous 24 hour
period after testing positive for
coronavirus there were no deaths
recorded in Scotland or in Northern
Ireland and that takes the overall
coronavirus death toll in the UK to
40,000 542 the health secretary Matt
Hancock denied today that the failure to
lock down sooner had cost lives as he
responded to the view of a senior
scientist who advises the government
Dominic Hughes reports as the
restrictions on daily life start to be
eased there are doubts are we coming out
of lockdown too soon but also did we go
in too late yes we should have gone into
lockdown earlier the data that we were
dealing with in the early parts of March
and are kind of situational awareness
where there was really quite poor and so
I think it was would have been very hard
to pull the trigger at that point
I wish we had think that has cost a lot
of lives unfortunately that's a judgment
made with the benefit of hindsight and
one flatly contradicted by the health
secretary know I think we took the right
decisions at the right time and there's
a broad range on Sage of scientific
opinion and we followed we were guided
by by the by the science which means
guided by the balance of that opinion
this argument matters because of fears
over the are number a measure of how the
virus is spreading overall it's thought
that infections are falling BR is below
one but one study suggests in the
northwest of England it's just above one
which could mean increasing infections
one in the southwest it's right on one
those concerns are especially acute here
in the northwest of England some local
councils have strongly advised schools
not to reopen after half-term even on a
limited basis and there are questions
too over the wisdom of allowing shops
like these to start trading again in
just over a week's time
so how to better manage different levels
of threat across the country when even
at a local level infection rates can
vary on the lockdown we don't think it
is helpful some of our council leaders
think it's simply unenforceable so it
does seem to me that a new approach is
needed if we're to make sense that's
what we're calling for with the
government today closer partnership and
from Scotland some welcome news for the
first time since mid-march no new Cova
deaths reported in the past 24 hours I
would offer a note of caution about
reading too much into today's figure we
know that fewer deaths tend to be
registered at the weekend done on other
days of the week it is still very likely
that further cuvee deaths will be
reported in the days ahead
overall the statistics across the UK do
seem to be heading in the right
direction but this is still a dangerous
moment and the future is full of risk
Dominic Hughes BBC News Manchester New
quarantine rules for passengers entering
the UK come into force tomorrow as three
Airlines begin a legal challenge to them
the system will require most people to
self isolate for 14 days while our
business correspondent Katie Austin is
here in the studio what is the basis for
the for the airlines taking the legal
action well ever since the prospect was
first raised of a quarantine on people
arriving into the UK the aviation and
travel sectors have voiced concerns that
it would put people off travelling and
would cost thousands of jobs this legal
challenge is by three airlines British
Airways easyJet and Ryanair
and they have written to the government
outlining why they think these measures
are unjustified one of the arguments
they say is that actually the quarantine
is more stringent than the guidelines
applied to people who actually have
covered 19 but this legal challenge is
at its very earliest stage at the moment
there is no way it's going to stop the
quarantine coming into force in just
under two hours now at midnight and also
there has been further criticism today
from the company which operates the
Channel Tunnel it's boss has written to
the Prime Minister
fact saying there was only limited
consultation on this process and that
the situation that's resulted is going
to put a vital supply link while it's
going to make it very inefficient he
says put that supply lick at risk now
the government has stuck to its guns and
said the quarantine is the right thing
to be doing it's backed by the science
it's necessary to prevent a second wave
but the quarantine is due to be reviewed
in three weeks time Katie thank you very
much