Coronavirus updates: Restrictions ease in some places as new cases fall

Governments
around the world are proposing contact tracing as a way of limiting the spread
of coronavirus after lockdown.

Contact tracing can be done from
memory, but smartphone apps that can automate the process have also been
developed. We explain what contact tracing is and some of the methods that
have been proposed.

The daily UK coronavirus briefing from Downing Street has become a familiar fixture since March, but now the public will now be able to submit questions.

The government says submissions will be reviewed at midday and only one question will be chosen by an independent polling organisation. The person selected can then have their question read out or can ask it themselves in a pre-recorded video.

To take part you have to be over 18 and submit your question and some personal details online.

The BBC’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg said she had received thousands of emails from the public in the past few weeks – with the most common themes being people worried about jobs and income, concerns about personal protective equipment and questions over why travellers are allowed to arrive in the UK without health checks.

Some students in Shanghai and Beijing have returned
to classes after weeks of lockdown. Chinese authorities also said there
were no new virus patients in Wuhan, where the outbreak began, and that all
Covid-19 patients had been discharged. Here’s the latest from other parts of Asia:

• New Zealand is lifting some of its nationwide lockdown measures. It says it has ended local transmissions for now
• India has also relaxed some of its lockdown rules –
  over the weekend, it allowed small local stores to reopen after more than a month
• The number of cases in Singapore continues to rise
  as more foreign workers test positive. There are over 13,000 confirmed cases,
  the vast majority of whom are workers living in dormitories
• In Australia, more than a million people downloaded a coronavirus contact tracing app within hours of it being released. Restrictions are easing in some areas

Anna Holligan

BBC News Hague correspondent

Church bells have rung out across the Netherlands to
celebrate King Willem-Alexander’s 53rd birthday – the “King’s Day” or Koningsdag holiday.

Dutch flags are hoisted outside homes and the national
anthem is playing sporadically from living rooms across The Hague and
beyond.

But today
there will be none of the traditional flea markets or street parties that
accompany this popular event. Instead, the Dutch prime minister tweeted to say the
best people could give the king this year was to stay at home.

Covid-19 has perhaps united the country in more ways than
even King’s Day could. The Dutch have mostly been diligently observing the
social distancing rules imposed to try to limit the spread of the virus.

However, last night the hashtag #endthelockdown was briefly trending – showing a
degree of frustration with the partial lockdown.

But the bars that would
normally be rammed and bedecked in orange today are offering only takeaways or
home deliveries in honour of his royal highness.

In his speech at Downing Street this morning, the prime minister said, “We did not allow our NHS to collapse.”

He also said the health service had not run out of ventilators or intensive care unit beds.

He is correct.

At the end of last week, there were 3,000 spare critical care beds available in the UK, according to the government.

The health service across the UK had 7,199 critical care beds at the end of last week, not including the several thousand made available in emergency field hospitals, such as the NHS Nightingale hospitals in London, Manchester and other cities.

The government has also said that every patient who needs a ventilator has received one, but has not yet met the goal of 18,000 ventilators pledged at the beginning of the month.

Are the UK’s targets being met?

UK MPs have been responding to the prime minister’s statement this morning.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood said he was “pleased to hear” that the prime minister planned to provide more detail in the coming days.

Ellwood said any exit strategy from social distancing measures would only come with a vaccine, and restrictions would “have to stay in place for many, many months”.

“What we need to look at is how we can learn to live with Covid-19, whilst making sure we don’t see a second spike but parts of our economy can come back to work,” he said.

Opposition Labour MP Luke Pollard said he wanted to see the publication of an exit strategy.

“All of us want to see a clear path ahead – if we don’t have
that clear path my fear is lockdown will start withering at the edges,” Pollard said.

Maddy Savage

BBC News, Stockholm

Five bars and restaurants in Stockholm have been closed by the city council after failing inspections on coronavirus safety.

The inspections took place following concerns that some venues weren’t doing enough to encourage social-distancing between customers.

More than a dozen other venues were given a warning by inspectors over the weekend. Checks were also carried out in the university city of Lund, where all venues passed their inspections.

Sweden has kept pubs, restaurants and cafes open since the start of the outbreak, but last month it asked venues to offer only table-service to stop customers from crowding around bars.

Joshua Cheetham

BBC World Online

Social distancing and lockdown restrictions appear to be helping many nations slow the spread of the coronavirus.

But as economies slump and people become fatigued with the rules, governments are weighing up how to ease lockdowns without risking a second wave of infections.

One option being touted is to allow people to slightly expand their “social bubbles” – meaning they’d be able to see a select number of friends and family.

It’s unclear how the rule would be policed, and there are concerns about the dangers of introducing the idea too soon.

It also promises a whole new sort of social problem – who do you pick? And what if the person you choose doesn’t, in turn, choose you?

Read more here.

Jessica Parker

BBC political correspondent

After weeks away, suffering with coronavirus, Boris Johnson wanted to show he was back behind the desk and taking charge.

His government has rejected any claims
that his absence created a sense of drift, but the prime minister – like or
loathe his politics – is capable of communicating in a way his cabinet colleagues
can’t.

He directly addressed concerns that have increasingly been
aired in recent days, including by his own MPs, about the effect the
lockdown was having on the economy. He also addressed evidence that some were beginning to tire of the restrictions.

The overall message was that
people needed to hold tight. “Contain your impatience,” he said. The risk of a second peak
clearly remains a key driver in the government’s thinking.

But Johnson also made it clear the government understood that this couldn’t go on forever, and he sought to reassure the public that an exit strategy was being mapped out, even if it wasn’t being spelled out.

The infectious nature of the coronavirus has meant many people have died in hospital without a member of their family or a friend by their side.

Some hospitals have been doing what they can to ensure patients are not alone.

London’s Nightingale has two chaplains, Father James Mackay and Imam Yunus Dudhwala, who have been offering prayers, hope and comfort to both patients and their families. See more in the video below.

Aleem Maqbool

BBC North America correspondent

In these times, the sight of a public gathering of hundreds of people, mostly without face masks, is an alarming one. But that is exactly what could be seen at a demonstration against the shutdown measures in Washington State.

“We believe that the state governor has gone beyond his constitutional authority in shutting down businesses and ordering people to stay at home,” organiser Tyler Miller told the BBC from the grounds of the state capitol.

In mid-March, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced an emergency proclamation mirroring many issued around the world – closing restaurants and bars and banning large gatherings.

But protesters claim the emergency order was unconstitutional.

“The fact I am protesting does not mean I think it is a good idea to have gatherings, I just believe that the government has no authority to prohibit them,” Miller said.

Read the full story here.

Watch Prime Minister Boris Johnson paying tribute to the UK for showing courage in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

One country that’s been in the news for doing more than just “flattening” the curve is New Zealand.

It says it has stopped community transmission, and with just one case reported on Sunday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the virus was “currently” eliminated.

Fewer than 1,500 people have been infected among New Zealand’s nearly five million population – and only 19 have died.

So how did New Zealand get to where it is now? Some experts point to it making an earlier start. Ardern announced strict lockdown measures in March – when only about 100 people had tested positive and no one had yet died.

The country’s geography has also played a role in its success. A relatively small country, New Zealand has more control over who can come in than a larger country with more porous borders.

But many experts have attributed its main success to the clarity of the message coming from the government. Unlike nations that declared “war on Covid-19”, the New Zealand government message was that of a country coming together. It urged people to “Unite Against Covid-19”. Ardern has repeatedly called the country “our team of five million”.

“Jacinda [Ardern] is a brilliant communicator and an empathetic leader,” Prof Michael Baker from Otago University told the BBC.

Calls to a domestic abuse hotline in the UK have risen by 49% and killings doubled in the weeks after lockdown restrictions began, a report by MPs shows.

Researchers at the Counting Dead Women Project told MPs 14 women and two children had been killed in the first three weeks of lockdown – the highest number in a three-week period for 11 years, and double the average rate, they said.

Read more about domestic abuse in lockdown here. If you or someone you know needs support for related issues these organisations may be able to help.

Johnson said the government could not yet spell out how changes to the lockdown policy would be implemented – or how quickly.

“We simply cannot spell out now how fast or slow, or even when, those changes will be made,” he said.

“Clearly the government will be saying much more about this in the coming days.

“These decisions will be taken with the maximum possible transparency.”

Johnson returned to work on Monday under significant pressure to map out an exit strategy from lockdown restrictions, and to answer questions about a shortfall in testing in the UK.

Boris Johnson has warned that the UK is at the point of “maximum risk” with regard to the coronavirus, in his first public remarks since recovering from the virus.

Johnson said he would not “throw away the sacrifice of the British people” by easing lockdown restrictions too quickly.

“I know it is tough. I want to get the economy moving as fast as I can,” he said.

“But I refuse to throw away the sacrifice of the British people … and risk a second peak.”

Boris Johnson is speaking in Downing Street, the first time we have seen him at Number 10 since he recovered from the coronavirus.

He began by thanking “the people of this country” and “everyone who has stepped up”.

“Every day I know that this virus brings new sadness,” he said.

“It is still true that this is the biggest single challenge this country has faced since the war.

“It is also true we are making progress.”

Face masks are now mandatory across Germany, and Italy
has announced plans to ease its lockdown. Here’s the latest from Europe:

• Masks are now compulsory on public transport across Germany,
  with most states also making them mandatory when shopping. Officials are
  recommending people use simple coverings and leave medical masks for health
  professionals
• Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced an easing of
  lockdown restrictions on Sunday. From 4 May, people will be allowed to visit
  relatives, hold small funerals, go to parks and travel within (but not outside)
  their own region
• Hairdressers and garden centres have reopened in Switzerland,
  and students will return to school from 11 May
• Malta, the smallest country in the EU, reported no new cases
  of the virus over the previous 24 hours on Sunday – the first time this has
  happened in more than six weeks

Junior health minister Edward Argar told the BBC he understood frustration with lockdown restrictions in the UK but “we’re not in a place where the science says we can ease them”.

He said it was “too early to speculate” on what changes might happen at the next review, scheduled for 7 May.

On who should wear face masks, he said the science was “mixed” – current advice is that they have value in a clinical setting, but not the same value for people going about their ordinary lives, though some research papers have taken a different view.