TheTimes8April2020

Staff at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, sent a message of support yesterday to Boris Johnson. The coronavirus death toll climbed by a record 786

Britain’s battle against coronavirus

“could be moving in the right direction”

but ministers will not even consider

lifting the lockdown until at least next

week, it was reported yesterday.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scien-

tific adviser, said there were signs that

the number of new cases was starting to

level off but that he could not be certain

of the trend for another week.

Boris Johnson remained in intensive

care as Downing Street was cautiously

optimistic about his recovery and he

continued to breathe without assist-

ance. Dominic Raab, standing in for the

prime minister, said he was confident

that he would “pull through” because

he was a “fighter”.

Mr Johnson’s condition was de-

scribed as stable and he was in good

spirits, according to an update from

St Thomas’ Hospital at 7pm. The Times

also understands that his persistently

high temperature has fallen.

Britain’s coronavirus death toll rose

by a daily record of 786 yesterday,

putting the total at 6,159.

Sir Patrick said there were signs that

the number of new cases “could be

moving in the right direction”.

“It’s possible that we’re beginning to

see the beginning of change in terms of

the curve flattening a little bit. We won’t

know that for sure for a week or so,” he

said. The demand for intensive care

beds should not now exceed the capa-

city of the NHS, he added.

Mr Raab emphasised that the gov-

ernment could not consider easing

lockdown restrictions until it was clear

that the epidemic’s peak had passed

and it could be “responsibly done”. He

said: “The critical thing is to take evi-

dence-based decisions and we’ve said

that we will take any review once we’ve

got the evidence that the measures are

working. We’re not at that stage yet.”

Underlining the caution, Chris

Whitty, the chief medical officer for

England, said: “It’s really important

that we get to the point that we’re all

confident that we’re beyond the peak

and then at that point start making it

clear what combination of things and

little public pressure for easing the re-

strictions as the crisis nears its peak. It

also fears that the public will not accept

restrictions being lifted from different

parts of Britain or for different sectors

of the economy. Nevertheless some

cabinet ministers believe that there is a

growing case for reopening schools in a

fortnight, after the Easter holidays.

A study by University College

London found that school closures had

a relatively small impact on the spread

of coronavirus and should be weighed

against the economic and social costs.

“We need to be led by the science, of

course. But if we can reopen schools

after the Easter holidays things could

begin to get back to normal. It could

kick-start the economy,” a senior minis-

ter said. Downing Street did not re-

spond directly to questions about the

study and instead said that it would be

“guided by the science”.

Mr Gove, 52, has gone into isolation

after a family member showed mild

symptoms. He said yesterday that he

was healthy and working as normal.

News and analysis, pages 4-

Leading article, page 27

Help us find

new antibody

test, ministers

tell industry

Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor

Alex Ralph Business Correspondent

Ministers are preparing to issue a rally-

ing cry to British industry to build a

home antibody test that would help exit

the lockdown, The Times has learnt.

Biotech companies will be asked to

work together to produce a finger-prick

testing kit accurate enough to be sent to

millions of homes in an echo of the

effort by manufacturing companies to

build more ventilators.

Antibody tests that identify people

who have recovered from coronavirus

are regarded as a key long-term route

out of the restrictions. The Times re-

vealed this week that none of the prod-

ucts ordered and evaluated by the gov-

ernment had proven good enough to

use in mass testing.

As part of a “national effort”, Matt

Hancock, the health secretary, is ex-

pected to ask companies to work with

government scientists to improve the

performance of antibody tests to create

an effective British product.

While the UK bought off-the-shelf

tests from China and elsewhere, the

government would prefer to work with

scientists to create a home-grown test.

Countries around the world are en-

couraging their biotech industries to

give priority to domestic needs, and

ministers believe that the same ap-

proach makes sense for Britain.

A government source said: “We have

some of the finest scientific minds in

the world working in different areas

and we want to bring people together to

deliver these tests.”

Chris Whitty, the chief medical offi-

cer for England, made the first official

acknowledgement yesterday that Brit-

ain’s inability to increase the scale of the

antigen test, which identifies people

showing symptoms, had cost lives.

Asked why deaths were rising more

slowly in Germany than in other Euro-

pean countries, he told a Downing

Street press conference: “We all know

that Germany got ahead in terms of its

ability to do testing for the virus. There’s

a lot to learn from that and we’ve been

trying to learn the lessons.”

Mr Hancock has promised 100,

daily tests by the end of the month so

that all NHS staff who are self-isolating

can be checked for the virus. On

Monday, 14,006 tests were carried out

and Dominic Raab, the foreign secre-

tary, who is deputising for Boris John-

son, appeared to distance himself from

the commitment yesterday. “The

health secretary is very clear on the

target,” he said, adding there was

“clearly more work to do”.

Industry has welcomed the plan to

develop an antibody test, saying that a

national focus also makes sense at a

Continued on page 2, col 3

Francis Elliott Political Editor

Steven Swinford Deputy Political Editor

Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor

6 Raab ‘confident’ PM will pull through his illness 6 Virus cases ‘could be moving in right direction’

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britain’s most trusted national newspaper

Wednesday April 8 2020 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73128

over what period of time seems a sens-

ible combination to take us through.”

Last night it was reported that Mr

Johnson would still be in charge of big

decisions as long as he was able to

express his wishes. It is understood that

the Cabinet Office has guidance on

what should happen if a prime minister

is incapacitated but it is “classified”.

Doubts arose over whether critical de-

cisions on the lockdown could be lifted

without Mr Johnson’s input. Mr Raab

struggled to answer questions over

whether he had the authority.

Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office

minister, said that the decision would

be taken collectively. Options include

enhanced shielding of the most vulner-

able groups and reopening schools.

Downing Street believes that there is

The prime minister

is breathing

without the aid

of a ventilator

Britain sends message of

hope to battling Johnson

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