Britain’s coronavirus death toll today jumped by just 31 – the lowest on a Sunday since before lockdown in promising signs the outbreak is improving.
Department of Health bosses have yet to post the final daily toll, which is often much higher because it takes into account deaths in all settings in England.
The preliminary count — which takes the government’s death toll to 41,693 — is calculated by adding up all of the updates provided by each of the home nations.
NHS England today recorded 27 lab-confirmed Covid-19 deaths in hospitals. Wales registered three victims in all settings, followed by one in Scotland and zero in Northern Ireland.
The figure is an astonishing 59 per cent drop on last Sunday’s 77. It suggests next Sunday could be the first day to see zero fatalities since March 9.
The daily death count is always lower on a weekend due to a lag in reporting. It spikes again mid-week.
Deaths as of yesterday
In other coronavirus developments today:
- Labour’s shadow justice secretary David Lammy accused the Government of ‘burying’ recommendations that came from a report looking at the disproportionate toll Covid-19 has had on people from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background;
- Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said ministers will make the final decision on whether to relax the two-metre social distancing rule ahead of shops re-opening tomorrow;
- The editor of The Lancet blasted the government for allowing thousands of coronavirus deaths as a result of ‘appalling misjudgements’.
Labour’s shadow justice secretary David Lammy accused the Government of having ‘buried’ recommendations from a report by Public Health England looking at the disproportionate toll Covid-19 has had on people from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background.
Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Lammy said: ‘It’s horrifying that at the moment across this country it’s hard to be black or Asian and not know someone, or someone who knows someone, who has died.
‘I’ve lost an uncle. I’ve lost a classmate who died at 45 due to this terrible virus.
‘The point is it’s a scandal if one week Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock say “Black Lives Matter” and then we find out today that they buried part of the review that had the recommendations in it to do something about it.’
He added: ‘Get on it with it because people are dying every day and you said “Black Lives Matter”. It’s no wonder why people are upset.’
Ministers rather than the Government’s scientific advisers will take the final decision on whether to ease the two-metre social distancing rule, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said.
Mr Sunak confirmed that Boris Johnson has ordered a ‘comprehensive review’ of the rule in England as the Government continues its lifting of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
He said that it would look at the issue ‘in the round’, drawing on advice from economists as well as scientific and medical experts.
The move comes as non-essential shops in England prepare to open their doors to customers on Monday for the first time since the lockdown was imposed in March.
Ministers are under intense pressure from Conservative MPs who see the easing of the two-metre rule as crucial to the further reopening of the economy.
During a round of broadcast interviews, Mr Sunak acknowledged it would have a significant impact on whether the hospitality sector can reopen, which the Government has slated for early July.
‘The Prime Minister has put in place a comprehensive review of the two-metre rule. That review will involve the scientists, the economists and others so that we can look at it in the round,’ he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.
‘You are right to highlight the impact it has on business – it is the difference between maybe three-quarters and a third of pubs opening, for example, so it is important the we look at it.
‘Obviously many other countries around the world use a different rule. We have seen a couple of countries recently – Norway and Denmark – have moved from two metres to something less as well.
‘It is important that we look at it comprehensively, in the round, and that is what we will do urgently.’
Scientists advising the Government, including chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty, have previously signalled their reluctance to see any easing while the Covid-19 epidemic continues.
Mr Sunak, however, made clear that it was for elected politicians to make the final decisions.
‘Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance (the Government’s chief scientific adviser) throughout all of this have provided advice to ministers,’ he told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show.
‘Ultimately it is for ministers. We are the people who are elected to make decisions in this country. People should hold us responsible and accountable for making those decisions.
‘I think that people are comforted and have confidence in those decisions if they know that we are taking advice from our scientists.’
Mr Sunak acknowledged many people would be ‘anxious’ at the prospect of going out shopping again after almost three months in lockdown but he said measures had been put in place to ensure public safety.
‘People will see from tomorrow it is a slightly different experience. But it is a safe environment and we should all be able to go out knowing that we should be able to shop in confidence,’ he told Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
‘I know shops up and down the country are ready to welcome us all back and get our high streets springing back to life.’
The move comes amid fears of a new wave of job losses as the Government starts to wind down the furlough scheme which has seen the state pay the wages of more than eight million workers.
Mr Sunak acknowledged further redundancies were inevitable and said that it underlined the importance of getting the economy going again.
‘Primarily we need to reopen our economy safely and slowly. That is the most important thing to try and safeguard as many of those jobs as possible,’ he told The Andrew Marr Show.
‘There is going to be hardship ahead. People are going to lose their jobs.’
Meanwhile, ministers have faced fresh criticism over their failure to get more schools in England to reopen, with most pupils set to stay home until September.
The Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield said they risked undermining children’s basic right to an education.
‘It has taken 200 years of campaigning to get children into the classroom, ensuring that education was a basic right for all children,’ she told the Observer.
‘We seem for the first time to be prepared to let that start go into reverse. And I think that is a very, very dangerous place to be.’
Ministers will this week mount a fresh push to get more primary school children back into the classroom ahead of the summer break.
Currently, primary schools in England – which closed following the coronavirus lockdown in March – are opening to pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6.
However, ministers will this week reaffirm schools can take children from other year groups provided they have the capacity to do so safely.
It means limiting class sizes to just 15 while ensuring protective measures are in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
A No 10 source said Mr Johnson was ‘acutely aware’ of the impact the extended closure was having on pupils and was working with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson on a major ‘catch-up’ plan.