Coronavirus: Government briefing
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is leading the briefing.

I’ll start with an update on the progress we are making to beat the virus before moving to update on schools.

The first slide shows the latest covid alert level, the covid-19 alert level across the United Kingdom has moved down from level 4 to level 3 as recommended by The Joint Biosecurity Center. The chief medical officers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have reviewed the evidence and agree with this recommendation. In all four nations, there’s been a continuing steady decrease in cases, but this doesn’t mean that the pandemic is over, the virus is still in general circulation, and localised outbreaks are likely to occur.

The second slide shows cases confirmed with the test. 7, 433,114 test for Coronavirus have now been carried out or posted out in the United Kingdom. This includes a 169,600 tests carried out or posted out yesterday. 301, 815 people have tested positive, an increase of 1,346 cases since yesterday. SAGE has confirmed today that their estimate for the R rate for the United Kingdom is unchanged on last week at 0.7 to 0.9. We want to keep the R number below 1. R is the average number of additional people infected by each infected person.

The third slide shows the latest data from hospitals, 494 people were admitted to hospital with coronavirus in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on the 16th of June, down from 534 a week earlier, and down from a peak of 3,432 on the 1st of April. 354 coronavirus patients are currently in mechanical ventilation at in the United Kingdom. Down from 392 a week ago and down from a peak of 3,301 on the 12th of April.

The fourth slide shows what is happening in hospitals right across the country. There are now 5,030 people in hospital with coronavirus in the UK, down 10% from 5,608 a week ago and down from a peak of 20,699 on the 12th of April. As the graph show, while there is some variation, most Nations and regions of United Kingdom of broadly following a similar pattern.

The fifth slide shows the daily figures of those who sadly lost their lives after testing positive for Coronavirus. Across all settings, the total number of deaths now stands at 42,461. That’s an increase of 173 fatalities since yesterday.

When measured on a seven-day rolling average, the daily number of deaths currently stands at 140, down from a peak of 943 on the 14th of April.