[Applause]
showing his appreciation for NHS staff
last night we now know the Prime
Minister was already having symptoms of
coronavirus and this morning it was
confirmed hi folks I want to bring you
up to speed with something that's
happening today which is that I've
developed mild symptoms of the corona
virus that's to say a temperature and a
persistent cough and on the advice of
the chief medical officer I've taken a
test that has come out positive so I am
working from home I'm self isolating and
that's entirely the right thing to do
but be in a diet that I can continue
thanks to the wizardry of modern
technology to communicate with all my
top team to lead the national fight back
against corona virus and he wasn't the
only one the health secretary matt
hancock seen here just two days ago at
Prime Minister's Questions has also
tested positive I've been working from
home over the last couple of days
because everybody who can work from home
should work from home I've also had some
mild symptoms of corona virus and upon
medical advice I was tested and that
test has been positive so I'll be self
isolating here until next Thursday also
with symptoms the chief medical officer
Chris witty he hasn't been tested but is
self isolating but if the message from
Downing Street was to keep calm and
carry on
once senior figure Dominic Cummings
didn't help the prime minister spokesman
later refused to say what exactly had
prompted the hasty exit the Prime
Minister though absent from today's
press conference was the subject of it
specifically why he in the health
secretary have been tested for the virus
when many including key NHS workers
still haven't firstly that you must have
clinical symptoms the default position
with that that is you would not be
tested and then the only other criteria
would be the centrality of your role to
the kovat 19 response and in in this
particular case I'm sure
your viewers will understand that the
Prime Minister plays a very critical
role in that and that's the basis for
our testing and after days of questions
over the availability of testing for
those on the front line
finally some movement we will be rolling
out staff testing across the NHS
beginning next week starting with the
critical care nurses other staff and
intensive care emergency departments
ambulance services GPS and as the
testing volumes continue to increase we
want to expand that to a wider range of
essential public service workers
including our social care services as
well as of course continuing with the
patient testing which is so vital one
cabinet minister still not so isolating
used the moment to appeal yet again for
caution I think that many people were
effect on the fact that the Prime
Minister succumbing to the virus is
reminder of how seriously we all need to
take the advice that the NHS has been
giving us as if we needed any more proof
that the corona virus doesn't
discriminate the latest victim the Prime
Minister is self isolating here in
Downing Street not at number 10 but
behind me in number 11 where he lives
the Chancellor who would usually be
working here has lent him his office the
door between the two properties has been
sealed and food will be left on the
doorstep for him so that he can work
here for the next seven days but
although this one high-profile case will
undoubtedly dominate headlines the
business of steering the country through
this crisis has continued the government
has strengthened protections for renters
instructing courts to suspend any
evictions for 90 days the housing market
has also effectively been frozen with
buyers and renters urged to delay moving
and to protect the homeless
local authorities have been told to
house everyone sleeping rough in hostels
and shelters by this weekend coronavirus
has taken hold in Westminster and across
the country concern is growing as well
and so are the numbers with confirmed
cases now at 14000 579 and the death
toll at 705
Denine up by a hundred and eighty-one in
one day all of this puts pressure on the
government to show that the action they
have taken is working and as the person
ultimately responsible it could be a
lonely few days for virus Johnson
well we're joined now by Jonathan Powell
who was Downing Street chief of staff
under Tony Blair and you can tell as
perhaps I mean how much this is likely
to affect the functioning of government
with the Prime Minister and the health
secretary and the chief medical advisors
are all isolating well it is a problem
Danny Street is a very small place so of
course lots of people who have been
affected by this and may well be
infected by it and it's quite hard to
self isolate yourself in a small
building like that but if the Prime
Minister is not seriously ill it is
possible to continue a business and he
can carry on handling it if he needs to
I mean the general scientific
predictions if you like are that
nationally this is going to keep growing
and so one must assume it will also grow
within the government in Whitehall how
resilient is the system it's pretty
resilient because we're not a
presidential system so unlike the u.s.
we don't have to have a vice president
who takes over if the president is shot
and then a Speaker of the House who
takes a graph to that we have a much
more flexible system so if the Prime
Minister can't do it it usually goes to
the next person in line so in our case
it was John Prescott who was Deputy
Prime Minister now it's Dominic grabbers
first secretary of state after that they
turned that move along the normal order
of precedence and they could also within
ministries move to Union ministers and
move people around it's not like people
have to be elected to the post like a
president you get it because you have a
majority in the House of Commons well
what about the ministries themselves and
the the officials I mean presumably they
are also suffering the same source of
absenteeism as everybody else there will
be but unlike doctors and nurses it
matters a little bit less because
they're not frontline staff in terms of
going into hospital and potentially
giving it to other people so they can
again be replaced of a permanent
secretary get sick as deputy can take
over if a head of department get sick
her deputy can take over so again
there's quite a lot of resilience in our
system because it's a parliamentary
system because we have a permanent civil
service with very large numbers of
people in it's obviously be a strain but
perfectly possible to manage what have
you made of the way decisions have been
made over the last couple of months well
I think it's very difficult to criticize
the government in these circumstances
they're trying to do their best and very
very difficult circumstances I think
when we look back at it when the inquiry
happens people may say it was a bit late
to move because usually my experience in
government was you have to move quickly
if you have a crisis like this with
something like foot mat unless you move
quickly
you can't cut it off at the pass and
maybe that's something you'll be said
after the event but it's easy to
criticize after the events and now
everyone has to concentrate on getting
this fixed we're in very different times
internationally to the banking crisis
for example or 9/11 if I try to look at
sort of big comparable events you know
do you think there needs to be more
international coordination or does it
does the evidence suggest countries are
reacting to their own individual
circumstances and that's right well they
are reacting to their own circumstances
but that's not wise this is a global
pandemic it's not a UK pandemic or a
French pandemic or a u.s. pandemic and
it is a shame that we weren't better
prepared for it everyone knew a pandemic
was coming we'd be better if there had
been a better global preparation and
those better international cooperation
and the EU for example there was a
committee work done to prepare for
pandemics but then it fell apart when
everyone went there each way nationally
and that's one of the things after the
event we're going to need to look at how
do we actually cooperate internationally
and think about it for a bit because if
we're in this difficulty as the UK or
the developed health system really good
National Health Service how's it going
to be in Mozambique or in Afghanistan in
countries that are at war where people
who are hungry where their immune
systems are down is going to be a whole
lot more serious in those countries that
is with us I've been how do you think
the current situation differs I mean
what would you have normally expected in
terms of world leadership would you be
looking to the Americans normally what
you would normally want the u.s. to be
that the main leader on this but on g2
or on the global economic crisis Gordon
Brown immediately started working with
the Americans on an answer then expanded
it to the g20 and brought everyone in
together so you need a one aid group of
people for example in South Asia this
arc the organized
together India and Pakistan Afghanistan
or these other countries they've been
working together both at leader level
the level of Presidents and Prime
Minister's but also the level of
officials and health experts that's the
kind of cooperation that you wanted you
could possibly get it I mean we saw
Gordon Brown calling for that to happen
again I mean it doesn't particularly
seem to be happening in light of that is
there anything else that should be done
or is the government doing pretty much
all the candy I think again it's very
difficult to criticize the government in
the middle of a crisis the thing to do
is to try and support them but I think
when we look back at it when there is an
inquiry I look at I think the main thing
as I say will be moving fast if you can
cut these things off early you know I
remember back in foot-and-mouth if we
had moved a week earlier we might have
been able to have the elections when
we'd hope to have the elections instead
we had to put them off because we hadn't
moved fast enough so I think that issue
of speed and being taken seriously and
most of all having very clear messages
having messages that people can clearly
understand clearly cooperated you have
mixed messages it gets very very very
messy indeed I guess while issues to
markets are very well indeed because
he's actually been out there with a very
clear message and with some empathy and
reassurance because what you don't want
to do is give people fear the leadership
has to demonstrate that they've got this
under control that they have a plan that
it can be thought Jonathan Powell thank
you very much
well Downing Street has insisted the
government is doing everything it can to
secure new ventilators for the NHS in
the coming weeks although there are no
details on whether manufacturers have
yet been able to switch production
guidelines for health workers across
England are also due to change in
Stratham them to wear protective
equipment that if enough suppliers are
made available Paul McNamara reports
full face visors masks full gowns and
gloves the essentials of the intensive
care unit looking after coronavirus
patients but for all others in the
healthcare system two things remain
unclear just what personal protective
equipment they should be wearing
and when a new surprise arriving one
junior doctor tired of asking those
questions himself took to Twitter dr.
Samir wrassle wrote this is what we call
PPE I might as well go outside in like a
bus window sort it out Matt Hancock one
accident emergency doctor we spoke to
said that he and his colleagues were
quote rolling the dice every time
they're in the same room as someone who
potentially had coronavirus and up and
down the country doctors and health care
staff are saying that its shortage of
kit and a lack of clarity over what
should be worn when and where it could
potentially cost them their lives and
that fear has seeped through every level
of the stretch system and the moment the
equipment is a standard mask and apron
and gloves we think that the mask and
the gloves are fine the apron at the
moment doesn't cover arms and doesn't
cover neck so that is an infection risk
potentially and we don't have most
practices don't have equipment no word
though about PPE in today's daily press
conference instead an update on the
number of beds freed up for this fight
the equivalent of 50 hospitals worth
today across England we have
reconfigured hospital services so that
33,000 hospital beds are available to
treat
further coronavirus patients it's also
why we are taking the extraordinary
action to build new hospitals in very
short order starting with the NHS
Nightingale hospital in East London and
today because this is a problem of
course not just confined to London but
across the whole country I have given
the go-ahead to the building of to
further of these NHS Nightingale
hospitals beginning at the Birmingham
National Exhibition Centre and the
Manchester central Convention Centre
with further such hospitals to follow
nightingale Hospital sounds more
charming than the Rihanna
see government is preparing for and this
is that reality a picture from inside
London's Excel Centre coronavirus
patient care stretching a kilometer long
so the number of beds may have increased
but ventilators for the worst-affected
patients are still in dangerously short
supply one way to boost numbers would
have been to join a panty you effort to
bulk buy them only the government has
said that due to a communications mix-up
they did not receive emails or missed
the deadline today the EU said it was
discussed several times in the meetings
of the Health Security Committee where
the UK participated member states in the
UK had the opportunity to signal their
interests to participate in any joint
procurements today the government said
the 8000 ventilators we currently have
will soon be matched by another 8000 but
the time frame is still uncertain and
time frames are something disease has no
respect for well earlier before news of
the Prime Minister's diagnosis broke I
spoke to the Business Secretary Alex
Shona and I asked him if it is safe for
people to assume that if the coronavirus
crisis goes on for longer than three
months then so will the financial
support yes I think it is safe to say
that we will continue to provide support
for people through this unprecedented
time the chance to set out an
unprecedented set of measures to support
businesses to support employees and
indeed the self-employed as well as you
saw yesterday and has been very clear
that we will do whatever it takes to
support our businesses support our
people and ultimately this is about
keeping them safe as well so we're now
in a position where self-employed trades
people who are currently feeling they
have to go to work could effectively
stop or massively cut down and reduce
the spread of the infection is that what
they should be doing well right from the
start Kristian we have followed the
medical advice that we've been getting
in the scientific advice that we've been
getting and that is an approach that the
government will continue to have but we
have said that we want people to work
from home where that is absolutely
possible and there are very many people
across our country are responding to
that but there will be circumstances
where people cannot work from home
either have to go into a workplace or as
you say that are self-employed and of
course then what we say to people is
observed the public health England
guidelines so the painter and decorator
who at the moment was feeling look I
have to go to work tomorrow to make some
money to put food on the table he can
now claim this support now if he stays
at home he is making Britain a safer
place that's what I'm trying to work out
should he now stay at home well as I
said ultimately this does come down to
where people's workplaces we've made
that we have sure and and we have also
set out the guidance in terms of how
they ought to conduct themselves if
that's what they choose to do but at the
end of the day your apps you write this
is about keeping people safe and making
sure that we protect people's
livelihoods and that's what should you
stay at home
well now that he can as I said the
advice is very clear we want people to
say he should stay at home or he should
go to work which is well what I'm saying
is that we've provided the the support
and as you yourself acknowledge it is
unprecedented in terms of the level of
that support but where people choose to
work of course they need to do that in a
way that keeps them safe and those that
they work around safe as well what have
you learned about you know the human
mistakes that take place when you're
trying to deal with a crisis like this
well look you learn through through
every single situation like this I mean
you know I was Housing Minister
appointed within a couple of days and we
had the tragedy at Grenville we have
learned lessons from that we will
continue to learn lessons but when you
talk about PPE
I would say to you that in the last
three days we have made sure there are
an extra 25 million more face masks
which have gone to the frontline fifth
sorry 15 million more face masks 25
million more sets of gloves 1.9 million
eye protections and every last a few
days sure but what we've what we've
ensured is that absolutely every doctor
surgery every pharmacy every dentist has
had supplies into them and we will
continue to make sure that those
supplies are made available because we
want to keep our NHS safe we want to
keep
the brilliant people are working in the
NHS safe so that they can keep us safe
when it comes to the European buying
mechanism for respirators I mean was
that it's not just a cock-up
well I think as I understand it there
was a miscommunication the tendering
process had already started what we've
said is that if there are future shows
such schemes we will look at them but of
course as the EU itself has said that
every single country is looking to see
what it can do by itself that is what we
are doing we've got 8,000 ventilators on
the front line another 8,000 coming
through our normal supply it happened
because I mean it was publicly announced
I mean it's not it's not like we didn't
know nobody knew this was happening well
it's quite alarming that that happens as
well as as I said I mean I think there
was a miscommunication on that occasion
and that's that's what the the situation
was rather than anything else and if
there are further further such schemes
we would look at them but we also in the
UK have launched the ventilator
challenge and it's amazing we had over
3000 British companies that have come
forward have responded to this we're
working with those companies looking at
designs and ultimately of course those
designs need to pass a regulatory test
so they need to be safe I hope within a
matter of weeks we will get some
prototypes up before we move to a bigger
supply coming through as they the money
man for the government you are going to
have to work out how this is repaid all
this money I mean do you have any idea I
mean are we effectively going to print
money to pay for it or are we gonna have
to pay for it in our taxes well your
viewers watching this their first
concern will be to make sure that their
livelihoods are secured that their
businesses secured and that's what we
have done with the unprecedented
packages that we put out which by any
international comparison are incredibly
favorable of course there will be an
impact on short-term borrowing but the
fact that we are protecting jobs and
businesses now means that when we come
out of the other side those businesses
will be able to operate normally and
therefore provide a boost to our economy
but is your principle to try and
minimize the pain on the other end of
this when the bills come in or or are we
looking at you know years of repaying
this
what way we did after the banking cross
yes I mean our principle right now is to
make sure we provide support for
business and individuals and that's what
we're doing after the announcement
yesterday evening that the Chancellor
made I spoke to both the TU C as well as
the Federation of small businesses both
have welcomed the measures that the
Chancellor has been setting out there
will be an impact on short-term
borrowing we will have to deal with that
the other side of this this particular
situation but we want to make sure that
our businesses are able to be resilient
and able to deliver when we get to the
other side