well we had one of the senior advisors
to the government today medical advisor
saying that he thought we were about two
to two and a half weeks away from the
peak of this crisis and then the
government's own chief medical officers
saying it was a close-run thing how the
NHS would cope with that we've also
today had more on the economic war front
as it were we're going to get news
tomorrow of what the government is going
to the package they've got ready for
self-employed people but we also heard
that the number of new applicants to
trying at universal credit is running at
seven to eight times what it normally
would be absolutely extraordinary
figures and so many big things happening
at the moment some big things can almost
pass you by Parliament has just just
before it Rose passed the contingency
fund that's the ready cash that
government are always likes to have
ready normally about 2% of the entire
previous year's spend about 10 billion
it's just passed a law there that allows
that to go up to 50% of the government's
previous spend last year about 266
billion pounds Parliament as I say has
risen Jeremy Corbyn was doing his last
Prime Minister's Questions as Labour
leader and he said to Boris Johnson is
there any way we can carry on
scrutinizing you in these extraordinary
times even while Parliament is away the
truth is we don't know really how
that'll happen we can't be utterly short
Parliament comes back the day it's meant
to on the 21st of April and in what form
it comes back just more uncertainty on
the second full day of lockdown please
checking on London commuters this
morning
down on the platform's seems like these
still worry the government but elsewhere
signs that the mock down is being
observed Trafalgar Square this morning
all this emptiness coming at great
economic cost the work impendence
secretary with her permanent secretary
adjusting for social distance her aides
told to do the same told MPs there have
been four hundred and seventy seven
thousand new universal credit claims in
the last nine days so the universal
credit system is open ready to take that
in fact in the last nine days we've
processed nearly half a million claims
we don't know if they're self employed
all different stages Jeremy Corbyn at
his last Prime Minister's question time
as Labour leader complained of universal
credit claimants finding themselves at
the back of massive queues last night
there were queues of over a hundred and
ten thousand people trying to get onto
the DWP system in order to register to
apply for universal credit will the
Prime Minister now put extra resources
and funding to boost the DWP capacity
the prime minister said there would be
help from the DWP
and he made this wider we're doing a
quite extraordinary thing which is for
the first time in our history to get
through this crisis we are putting our
arms as a country around every single
worker every single employee in this
country the Prime Minister was
repeatedly pressed on exactly when the
NHS would have sufficient testing
equipment to test NHS staff and others
who need it could the Prime Minister
give us some idea as to when we will be
able to get back to routine testing in
the community as happens in Korea and
Germany and other countries and should
we not now introduce weekly tests for
NHS staff so we can remove from them the
fear that they might be infecting their
own patients we are making huge progress
we were
whereby millions of antibody tests to
show whether or not you've had the
disease and on his on his point that
have been raised several times by how
soon can we get NHS staff and other
public sector workers tested in in
advance of to see whether they currently
have the disease yeah that is as soon as
we possibly character can the Prime
Minister tell the house in the eighty
thousand care homes around Britain what
date will they expect tests to be
carried out on the day that symptoms
emerge on the on the on the test I as I
said earlier on the answer is we want to
roll that out as soon as we possibly can
Prime Minister the frontline staff in
the National Health Service and in
working in social care couldn't be
clearer they want that test on Kovac
nineteen that tells them whether they've
got it they want it now and in the House
of Commons again and again today you
said they're gonna get it as soon as
possible people might have a little bit
more confidence about where we're going
as a country if you could answer this
question maybe how did we come to be so
woefully behind other countries that
have checked evaluated and deployed
tests in much much bigger numbers
already
we are massively ramping up our our
testing programs buying in huge numbers
of tests to see whether you've you've
had it already but also pushing forward
very fast on testing people to see
whether they currently have it why the
delays in the UK system there are
multiple components of these tests
including the chemicals and make them up
the swabs that you use and the restore
to G's along many of these supply chains
essentially because every country in the
world is simultaneously wanting this new
thing comparing different countries is
actually quite different it's quite
difficult different countries are got
different testing strategies but you're
certainly right that what we need to do
is look at those countries that have
actually got more testing than us and
work out how to do it the way they're
doing it
Prince Charles it was announced has had
the test and has got the virus this was
him avoiding handshakes two days before
he's thought to have caught it aides
said Prince Charles had mild symptoms
prompting one SNP MSP to tweet
given if symptoms are said to be mild
like many I wonder how he was tested
when many NHS and social care workers
cannot get tested the Pope and the
Archbishop of Canterbury coordinated a
reading of the Lord's Prayer at 11:00
this morning but an austere case in
Chile's the Archbishop of Canterbury
said it was to help people through a
difficult time
Majesty the Queen has signified her
royal assent to the following acts
contingencies Fund Act coronavirus Act
Parliament's last acts before closing
early for Easter cross party backing for
the contingency fund to rise from ten
point six billion pounds to two hundred
and sixty six billion on top of the
emergency laws that give even more
powers to a government already operating
in wartime mode Gary Gibbon well an
announcement that the government has
ordered millions of tests to show if
you've had coronavirus and have
antibodies was challenged by the chief
medical officer just hours later as he
warned the tests might not even work and
that if they are validated they won't go
to the general public adding it's not
something you'll suddenly get on the
internet anytime soon a Health and
Social Care correspondent Victoria
McDonald reports we've now bought three
and a half million antibody tests that
will allow people to see whether they
have had the virus and are immune to it
it was an announcement that surprised
many an antibody test is the Holy Grail
because it can show who has already had
covered 19 and then they can safely go
back to work but it's still not clear
how reliable they're so they're
currently being tested and Oxford this
is what we were told this morning
tests have been purchased for use so we
need to evaluate them in their poetry to
be clear that's because these are brand
new products and be clear that they do
work as they are claimed to do so and
once they have been tested and that will
happen this week then once the once the
both of the tests arrive that they will
be distributed into the community in
which there will be a mechanism to order
it fenced by hours by this afternoon
though there appeared to be some rowing
back we need to help make sure we can
get NHS workers tested to make sure we
can work out who is immune or most
certainly immune to this test as it to
this to this infection and who isn't and
we will basically go out in kind of a
graded way from there I do not think and
I want to be clear that this is
something will suddenly be ordering on
the internet next week so not for the
general public and not for anybody if
they don't work he said raising the
possibility that the health Secretary's
announcement might have been premature
there are significant problems to
overcome with antibody tests that they
might give a false result or give a
positive result but for a different
coronavirus there are six other strains
that affect humans there are of course
tests which tell you if you do have the
virus up until recently patients could
be referred to these drive-through
stations and there are home testing kits
like the one we revealed on Channel four
News
but the NHS test is still not available
for health and social care workers only
for patients in hospital with pneumonia
or care home clusters in the midst of
the gloom there was some hopeful news
professor Niall Ferguson recovering at
home from the virus told the common
Science and Technology Committee that
the lockdown means the NHS should be
able to cope
[Music]
we'll get very close to capacity but it
won't be he also said that the peak and
demand for intensive care should be in
about two or three weeks and should then
decline thereafter in wuhan at the
height of the China epidemic they opened
gymnasiums and conference centers for
the less critically ill patients while
this recently housed the UN climate
change conference in Madrid now it's a
field hospital in a country overwhelmed
by the virus and here as health Chiefs
look to Spain and Italy they have begun
the preparations for a nightingale
Hospital at the Excel center in East
London and the NEC in Birmingham the
details are scant but 500 patients are
expected to arrive next week and we have
seen this video from a man claiming to
be working on the preparations today I
didn't take this virus to be set very
seriously until you know I saw this this
morning come in and this is the size of
the hall
the plans are that they will scale up
when they need to and Victoria is with
me now so there has been some confusion
around testing in particular what do you
know well there is a problem with
government announcements being made and
then a few hours later poor press
officers who would be a government press
office right now having to try and clear
up some of the misunderstandings or
misinformation and that was the problem
with testing these tests have to be
validated and it doesn't look like
they're going to be validated any time
soon and boots put out a statement today
saying they didn't know anything about
these tests and yet we were told that
that's where you might be able to get
them let's go to the what I didn't
mention in my package there but let's go
to the problem of personal protective
equipment still there is an issue with
this I've been contacted by a doctor
today saying that they at a major London
Hospital with a net worth staff from
another London Hospital have now set up
their own charity they're buying their
own equipment because they just do not
think they can get enough they well they
can't get enough a GP has told us that
they've been asking schools for their
science lab goggles
now I put this problem with PPE to
public health England today and they
once again assured us that it was being
sorted I do understand the people
sometimes feel concerned that they're
not getting the right equipment and
there has as you've said been a supply
issue in some parts of the country over
previous days that's being worked on
very carefully as we speak the surprise
been ramped up the military are involved
in that my understanding is that that's
likely to be completely resolved by the
end of of the week but there's a steps
that the NHS have taken with a helpline
for any hospital or healthcare
organization to work or to make sure
they get the surprise where they need
them when they need them I want I want
him to be right but this is not what
we're hearing on the ground from the
staff who are at the front line there's
something else we're hearing as well
numerous people offering help and
solutions with tests or building
ventilators and not knowing where to go
to and government and just reaching a
brick wall even though they do they say
have these solutions it seems from the
outside to be a huge problem this is in
the middle of a crisis
and I think what people would like
particularly health care workers would
like is more clarity Victoria McDonald
thank you well joining me now is Stephen
Riley a professor at Imperial College
London and a member of the scientific
pandemic influenza group on modeling
which advises the government on the UK's
response to the corona virus a professor
we saw a clip of Professor Fergusson
giving evidence today suggesting that as
things currently look you think
intensive care units and hospitals will
be able to code what why do you now
think that I think that's from a kind of
careful analysis of the current
occupancy levels the the recent trends
and the information that the surge
capacity planning
that we've considered so I those are
probably the main factors going into
professor Ferguson's assessment so as
far as you're concerned the government
is doing all it needs to do in terms of
health service capacity I think that's I
think that's a bit simplistic I don't
really think it's just the government I
think if we really want to be sure that
we're gonna the the capacity in the NHS
is gonna is gonna be okay
it's it's down to us as much as the
government to really really adhere that
the biggest uncertainties that we have
in the modeling at the moment are the
level of adherence to these stay at home
requests so I would phrase it more that
way I think and so what do you make of
the ongoing political debate around the
extent of the stay home instruction and
whether workers who are non-essential
workers or not key workers should
continue to go to work how does that
change your predictions so in this
particular in this short period of time
when you know we've we've kind of
committed to doing some really stringent
interventions we we just need the best
possible adherence and we appreciate
that some easier for some people than it
is for others but will if we do it
really well over the next two to three
weeks we'll have a much better idea of
what we can do after that so from that
point of view right now as much as
people are able we just need them to do
it to the very best of their ability I
mean we had a intensive care doctor on
last night who was saying you know
people who were not doing essential work
have got to stay at home is that correct
or not yes if an intensive its the
intensive care doctor that's going to
have to deal with people who are very
severely ill and needs the most
resources available to him or her when
they do that so I would definitely
concur with I would agree with his
opinion so how do you see this epidemic
developing now in Britain what's going
to happen next so I'm I'm not going to
forecast beyond those those two or three
weeks and
looking around the world looking at the
nature of the instructions or the the
requests the policy that's been given if
we do this really well then we will see
it then we will see a peak in the near
future but that peat will be a result of
us all doing the interventions to the
very best of our ability now where does
testing come in when is the right time
to do mass testing on the general public
to see whether they've had the virus or
not so the we're using the current
testing capacity I believe in the in the
most efficient way that we can and I
understand that we're scaling up testing
as quickly as possible so the questions
as we scale up who are the best people
to receive those tests have become
available and I would imagine it's
likely to be healthcare workers people
within within the hospitals dealing with
the problem and then as we get more
capacity then we will be able to empower
members of the public by giving them
much better information which I'm sure
everybody would like and and it's not
something I'm working on myself but I
understand it's being scaled up as
rapidly as is possible
thank you very much indeed you are well
earlier I spoke to the community
secretary Robert Jen Rick and I asked
him first of all what these hundreds of
thousands of volunteers will actually be
doing we're in a major national
emergency and we need to work together
as a country the NHS and social care
workers are doing a frankly heroic job
and they will be doing in the days a
weeks ahead we need to support them so
we're asking anyone who's got time
available who's 18 or older who's fit
and healthy obviously who's not
symptomatic with coronavirus to put
themselves forward there's lots of tasks
available you could be helping to
deliver supplies to the frontline you
could be volunteering as a driver to
take people to the GP surgery or the
hospital or you could be helping the 1.5
million people who the NHS have
identified as having specific clinical
reasons that put them at high risk and
for these people who were we are going
to shield from the virus we need to
ensure that medicines and supplies and a
degree of human contact as well is
maintained for at least the next 12
weeks so you're asking people who are
currently moving around who may be going
to work
because you're also telling them to keep
going to work if they can't work from
home - then go into people's homes to
drive them to hospital and back are they
going to get protective equipment in
every setting we will be guided by the
medical and the scientific advice and
the individuals who are offering to
volunteer will obviously be trained and
supported to do that not all of these
volunteers will be directly involved in
the fight against coronavirus they might
be helping to relieve pressure elsewhere
in the service why are you telling
people who are not key workers or doing
essential work to keep going to work if
they can't work from home there are
builders around the corner from here who
are still working on building sites why
are they carrying on but we've always
said that we'll be guided by medical
advice and the advice that we've
received is that it is possible for the
economy to continue however if you can
work from home you must do that if
that's impossible then you need to
travel directly to the workplace you
need to follow Public Health England's
guidance when you're there and if that's
impossible if you can't follow that
guidance and that will be the case in
many workplace settings unfortunately
then those workplaces should close
temporarily there's been a lot of
attention on the housing and
construction industry public health
England have set out guidance as to how
some not all some settings can continue
it's also worth saying that there are a
number of jobs being done in those
sectors which are really important to
the economy and the country from a
public safety perspective for example we
need our buildings to be well maintained
we need critical maintenance to be done
to keep people's boilers and sanitation
and hygiene systems working and we need
if possible if it's safe to do so to
continue major programs like for example
the removal of dangerous cladding from
high-rise buildings so we do have to
weigh these things up in coming to
decisions and balance the risk well
what's happening is that people who are
currently fine who don't have symptoms
are going to work they're going to work
in other people's homes to do
maintenance to paint walls to do
plumbing to do renovations that is all
the risk which intensive care doctors
are saying is dangerous and you're
saying carry on
we're on taking these decisions on the
basis of expert opinion we're saying
that you should avoid going to work if
you can work from home if you can't then
you have to consider whether it's
possible to follow the public health
England guidance but scientists and
medics don't all agree as you know
different people have different opinions
and there are intensive care doctors out
there saying it is criminally negligent
to be telling people to still go to work
when they are not P workers and not
doing essential work well we're
following the expert advice that we're
receiving they're guiding us obviously
this is a fast-moving situation and we
don't rule any further steps out if we
need to implement further measures we
will do so to keep people safe why
aren't we testing the way South Korea
tested on mass within a week of
infection South Korea got its experts
and pharma companies working on tests
and they were producing a hundred
thousand a week while we nowhere near
that
well testing is absolutely essential
cracking this is all about testing so
we're ramping up production it's coming
from a base that's lower than we would
like it to have been last week one day
we tested 8,000 individuals but we want
to begin at so much higher levels we're
also buying millions of a new antibody
test which is a test for people who have
had the virus rather than if you have it
currently once that comes into
circulation which we hope will happen in
the next few weeks that will make a real
difference because we will all be able
to test beginning with NHS workers
whether we've had it and then we're
likely to be immune from the disease you
say we've got 12,000 ventilators how
many do we need well we need vastly more
than that it will depend on the flow of
the virus but we need to ramp up
production very significantly that's why
a week or so ago we made the call to
industry and we're now working with a
number of great British manufacturers
we're in receipt of prototypes which
we're testing and we think manufacturing
will be able to flow very swiftly and
that will ramp up production very
significantly and get those to the
frontline both in existing hospitals and
these new facilities that for example
the mo dr building just finally how can
you be sure
Parliament will come back if we're still
in the peak of a disease it would be
irresponsible with me well the motion I
believe is going to go before Parliament
will mean that it will break for the
Easter recess slightly earlier but with
a set date to return in late April as we
would have done otherwise my own view is
that we need to have Parliament here we
live in a democracy ministers like
myself for taking important decisions
every day exercising really significant
powers that are going to be granted
under the coronavirus bill it's
important that we're held to account
obviously Parliament will need to think
through how it works it's doing that in
a number of ways some of which are quite
innovative for Parliament like having
remote meetings of select committees and
so on I strongly support that Robert
generally thank you very much thank you
so as almost half a million people
rushed to apply for universal credit
over the last nine days the Department
for Work and Pensions has redeployed
thousands of staff to help go through
the claims tonight officials have told
us the system is standing up to the
challenge and that they're taking urgent
action to boost capacity but will people
making claims have to wait weeks for the
cash they desperately need our political
correspondent Liz Bates reports some
aspects of family life never change even
under the shadow of kovat 19 but like
many others Natalie's financial
situation has changed dramatically a
freelance charity worker she's also the
main breadwinner and a mother of two she
now faces no work and no income he knew
immediately that the virus hit that all
of my work would be would be canceled or
that the people who would be paying for
it wouldn't be able to pay for it
anymore she turned to universal credit
but found herself in a virtual queue
with hundreds of thousands of others at
the time when I went into the queue we
always about 86,000 on the queue I got
an email and from the queue at kind of
harpist one this morning saying that I
could I needed to get in the queue and
complete my ID so there are people
across this country were already
stressed who are already vulnerable who
are already struggling with all sorts of
stuff kids at home all of those stresses
who are having to stay up all
I just because they don't want to miss
their place in this queue if you don't
like asking how are you financially yeah
well we will be okay for the next month
but after that we don't know how we're
going to afford to live we don't know
whether we're going to be able to afford
to feed our kids we don't know how we're
gonna survive this financially but we
are we're just hoping that the
government is going to realize that the
current system is is impossible that's
just one family struggling to access the
financial support that they so
desperately need
during the coronavirus crisis and today
we found out that over the last nine
days almost half a million people have
been processed through the Universal
Credit System these are numbers that
this system simply wasn't designed for
the government has insisted that the
benefit system will get the resources it
needs over this period but is it already
at breaking point
it's really difficult within the
structure of the Universal Credit to
change the waiting times and to change
the way that it's delivered it is
designed to be delivered largely online
it's designed to have five week wait
though within it to be fair there are
ways of providing loans up from the DWP
is going to have to and I think it
already is moving large numbers of staff
to help out on this but with over a
hundred thousand people reportedly
trying to access the system just today
and possibly months of financial
uncertainty to come many more families
needing a lifeline could instead be left
hanging