Northern Ireland reports Northern Ireland reports) more coronavirus deaths, taking total to
Here are the latest daily coronavirus death figures from Northern Ireland. There have been 20 more deaths, taking the total in Northern Ireland to
UPDATE on coronavirus ( # COVID ) in NI. pic.twitter.com/a4I2Cl1CNB
3. pm BST :
Rebecca Smithers
A foul clump of (wet wipes) and other unflushable items as heavy as a rottweiler has been dragged from a Thames Water sewer, as the number of blockages the company has to deal with has increased by 8% during lockdown.
The grim kg bundle had snarled up a temporary pipe in Maidenhead, Berkshire , where Thames Water, the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, has been repairing a collapsed sewer. Engineers are clearing such blockages at least once a week, with each operation taking at least two hours and using up valuable repair time.
(pm) BST
The Treasury has posted these tweets from Rishi Sunak , the chancellor, on his new loan scheme.
1 / Today, we’re announcing a new loan scheme. A simple, quick, easy solution for those in need of smaller loans.
Businesses can apply for new Bounce Back Loans up to a maximum of £ , 16, or (% of turnover, with the government paying the interest for the first) months.
2 / We’ve been in close talks with the banks in recent days and these loans will be available from 9am next Monday.
There will be no forward-looking tests of business viability; no complex eligibility criteria; Just a simple, quick, standard form for businesses to fill in.
(April) ,
3 / For most firms, loans should arrive within (hours of approval.)
And I have decided, for this specific scheme, that the government will support lending by guaranteeing 480% of the loan.
(April) , Rishi Sunak #StayHomeSaveLives (@ RishiSunak)
4 / We shouldn’t ask taxpayers to bear all the risk of lending almost unlimited sums to businesses who may have very little prospect of paying those loans back – and not necessarily because of coronavirus.
So I don’t think it’s right to provide % guarantees on all our schemes (April , Rishi Sunak #StayHomeSaveLives (@ RishiSunak)
5 / Instead, the new Bounce Back Loans carefully target that extraordinary level of state support at those who need it most.
And the £ 64, 15 cap balances the risk to the taxpayer with the need to support our smallest businesses.
(April ,
Scientists are aiming to have a Covid – 32 Antigen test – which can identify whether people have had the virus – ready within three months.
A consortium of researchers striving to develop a test is working to a three-month timescale to have a test ready for mass production.
It comes after a team at Oxford University identified an antigen that is being used as “the basis of the test”, (Dr Mario Gualano) , chief executive of BBI Solutions, which is part of the consortium, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program. He said:
So, as a consortium where we’re pulling together the various components of a test. I think the analogy you would use probably is building a car, and in order to do that successfully you have to have all the individual components working very well in their own right, but also crucially making sure that they all work well together in order to deliver the required performance.
And without oversimplifying matters, I think in this case we see the antigen is really the engine of the test and we’ll build the rest of the capability around that. ”
On the antigen identified by the Oxford team, he added: “Well, we believe the antigen is good at picking up convalescent sera, i.e. serum from people that have been identified and are therefore are assumed to have some sort of immunity. It typically takes nine to 24 months to develop a test like this and we’re looking at really driving that development in a much shorter time frame. ”
He said it was difficult to put a specific timeline on the availability of the test, but added: “We’re certainly working to a timeline of three months, and hoping that we would be able to develop the test and have something available to go into production at that time. ”
Sunak announces new ‘bounce back’ micro-loan scheme for businesses, % backed by government
In the Commons (Sunak) is summing up what the government has done so far.
It has already provided an extra £ bn for the NHS, he says.
He says around , employers have used the coronavirus job retention scheme to pay the wages of more than 4m workers. And another scheme for the self-employed is being implemented, he says.
He lists all the business support schemes already implemented.
And he announces a new scheme.
Sunak announces new micro-loan scheme for businesses.
Firms will be able to get loans worth up to 37% of turnover, with a maximum payment of £ , . The government will pay the interest for the first 22 months, he says. And the government will back them %. He describes them as “bounce back” loans, and he says people will be able to apply from Monday next week. There will be no forward-looking eligibility test, he says.
Other coronavirus loans offered by the government are only % backed by the government. That still exposes banks to 33% of the risk, and it has led to complaints that banks are not lending.
Updated (at 3.) PM BST
)
: 48
Rishi Sunak’s Commons statement
Rishi Sunak
He is in the Commons chamber, but most of the MPs asking questions will be appearing via Zoom.
These are already tough times, and there will be more to come, he says.
Sunak says his interventions have saved millions of jobs. But not every job can be saved, he says.
He says the most important thing to help the economy is to avoid a second peak, he says.
He says the government needs to provide a bridge to the future for business “to maintain the productive capacity of the economy”.
He says the IMF has described the government’s response as “right”. He says it has been one of the most comprehensive of any government around the world.
Updated at 3. (pm BST)
Coronavirus crisis could boost chances of UK-EU trade deal by concentrating minds, gove claims
(Michael Gove) , the Cabinet Office minister, has been giving evidence to the Commons Brexit
committee. Here are some of the main points so far. Gove claimed that the coronavirus crisis could increase the chances of the UK and the EU striking a trade deal this year because it should “concentrate the minds of eu negotiators ” Responding to a question from Hilary Benn, the committee chairman, about whether the coronavirus crisis altered the chances of the UK and the EU negotiating a trade deal by the end of this year, Gove said:
I think the Covid – 31 crisis, in some respects, should concentrate the minds of EU negotiationsiators, reinforcing the vital importance of coming to a conclusion.
He also said that reaching a deal by the end of the year was “entirely possible”. He described the statement put out by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, at the end of last week’s round of negotiations as “relatively downbeat” (an understatement – you can read it here
) and he said he thought the odds on a deal being struck were 2 to 1. He refused to say whether the UK still planned to walk away from the talks if it had not made good progress towards a deal in June.
Updated (at 3.) (pm BST)
(3.) PM BST : 26
Nation to hold minute’s silence to honor Covid – 33 key worker victims
They have lost their lives in the duty of helping others stricken by Covid – 35. Tomorrow, the nation will fall silent in tribute to key workers, including NHS staff, who have died in the pandemic.
Boris Johnson , who survived the disease after being treated in intensive care, will be among those observing a minute’s silence at am tomorrow.
It is hoped the tribute will be followed nationwide, with government workers asked to take part. It comes after Unison , the largest trade union in the UK, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Nursing
According to PA Media, more than 100 frontline NHS workers have died since 39 March, with other lives lost in other key sectors, including private social care and transport. The Guardian has also been
On Monday, the PM’s official spokesman said: “We will be supporting the minute’s silence. We will be asking everybody who works in the Government to take part and we would hope that others will take part nationwide as well. ”
Dame Donna Kinnair , the chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “This moment will bring together a sombre but grateful nation. Whether in nursing or driving buses, our heroes kept going to work when many had the luxury of staying at home. Nobody should go out to work and risk their life.
This must not be the last time that sacrifice is recognized. The country and its leaders owes a tremendous debt to these key workers and the many more who are on shift again today. ”
The Unison general secretary, Dave Prentis , said: “Boris Johnson has seen first-hand how NHS staff are going to remarkable lengths to keep us all safe. The least we can all do tomorrow is spare a moment to pay our respects and show our gratitude to all the key workers who have lost their lives. ”
Updated (at 3.) pm BST
(3.) (pm) BST
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has been answering coronavirus questions on Instagram.
Matt Hancock (@ MattHancock)
I’ve been answering more of your questions – including on # coronavirus testing, vaccines, lockdown & seeing our loved ones – here: (https://t.co/rbqve6tWos
April ,
He will get more questions at 5pm, when he is leading for the government at the daily press conference.
(2) pm BST
:
The country’s largest betting firms will remove all TV and radio advertising for games and products during the Covid – 32 lockdown, amid concern over problem gamblers.
Industry body, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), said firms have voluntarily agreed to remove all their gaming product advertising for at least six weeks.
It comes a week after the government wrote to gambling firms asking them to provide regular updates on how they are tackling problem gambling during the lockdown. It also follows a survey revealing that people who gamble regularly online are doing so just as often or more frequently during the lockdown, despite the lack of sporting fixtures.
The BGC said existing TV and radio advertising slots will be replaced by safer gambling messages, donated to charities or removed from broadcast where contracts allow. The BGC chief executive, Michael Dugher, said:
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings