Michael Gove: "People must, at every stage, respect these guidelines"

 

A five-year-old child with underlying health conditions is among those with coronavirus whose deaths were reported in the past day, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has said.

The latest figures show 4,313 people with the virus have now died in the UK - up by 708 on Friday's figure.

Mr Gove said hundreds of ventilators were being manufactured every day and more had been sourced from abroad.

People have been warned to stay at home despite the warm weather this weekend.

Speaking alongside Mr Gove at the government's daily briefing, NHS England medical director Stephen Powis said: "The sun might be out, but that does not mean you should be out." 

He said there is some evidence that social distancing measures are reducing transmission, and that the latest figures suggested new cases had begun to "stabilise".

However, he stressed that there was "no room for complacency".

During the briefing, Mr Gove paid tribute to one of the youngest victims of the outbreak.

"Our thoughts today are also with the family of the five-year-old with underlying health conditions who has tragically died," he said.

Analysis

By Robert Cuffe, BBC News Head of Statistics

The recent trends in deaths (doubling roughly every 3.5 days) would have predicted about 800 deaths today.

Remember that doubling every few days means that we should expect to see record new highs regularly.

Scientists remind us to look for evidence that the growth is slowing down - the first step on the journey to falling numbers of deaths.

So, compared to that projection, there is a potential silver lining to these figures - if the pattern continues.

But one day of below-trend growth is far too soon to know for sure.

It takes over three weeks from infection to death to being reported in these figures.

So while we can hope to see the effects of pre-lockdown social distancing soon, it will take longer for the effect of the lockdown, announced on 23 March, to become apparent.

There are now 41,903 confirmed cases in the UK, the Department of Health said.

The latest deaths in the UK include a further 46 people in Scotland, 13 people in Wales and eight more in Northern Ireland. There were 212 deaths in the Midlands, more than in London, where there were 127.

Mr Gove said seven healthcare professionals have now died.

Prof Powis said people were adhering to social distancing measures, and that public transport use remains "extremely low".

School attendance was down as low as 2%, Mr Gove added.

However, Prof Powis added that people must "resist the temptation" to go out in the warm weather. Brighton and Hove City Council tweeted on Saturday that too many people were meeting up with friends on the seafront, making social distancing "impossible".

Also in the briefing, Mr Gove said that ventilators - in addition to those being made in the UK - had been sourced from abroad, including 300 that arrived from China on Saturday.

He branded conspiracy theories spread on social media blaming new 5G masts for the spread of Covid-19 "dangerous nonsense".

In other developments:

  • Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who remains in self-isolation in Downing Street after testing positive for coronavirus, has written to opposition party leaders inviting them to a briefing next week
  • They include Sir Keir Starmer, who has been elected as the new leader of the Labour Party, with members learning the outcome via e-mail after a specially planned conference was cancelled
  • Up to 4,000 prisoners in England and Wales could be released from jails in England and Wales early because of the coronavirus, the prison service said
  • Thirteen residents at a Glasgow care home have died in one week following a suspected outbreak of coronavirus
  • Mobile phone masts in Birmingham and Merseyside have been set on fire over false claims linking coronavirus to 5G
  • Aldi has said it will lift purchase restrictions on almost all of its products from Monday - with the exception of hand wash, shower gel and UHT milk
  • An NHS trust has been told it will have to pay almost £10,000 a month to provide families with free phone callsduring the pandemic
  • An increasing number of councils are instructing dog owners to ensure their pets are always on a lead in parks and open spaces
  • Official data on testing in hospitals suggests that England is lagging behind Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
  • The British Embassy in Manila has announced a plan to repatriate about 600 UK nationals stuck in the Philippines, after thousands of Britons became stranded around the globe amid the pandemic
  • The Queen is due to make a rare special address to the nation on TV, radio and social media at 20:00 BST on Sunday

BBC