Alesha Dixon is about to kick off the latest season of Britain’s Got Talent this Saturday night. It was not a forgone conclusion that the show would go ahead, however. In an interview with The Sun, fellow judge Simon Cowell revealed that he and Alesha both had to get tested for coronavirus.
What are the current social distancing measures?
In the daily press conference today, foreign secretary Dominic Raab urged the public to stay indoors.
The policy is aimed at reducing the rate of transmission while easing pressure off the public healthcare system.
This comes after Professor Karol Sikora, a former Government advisor and World Health Organisation executive, predicted that the NHS will face its worst weekend so far.
Speaking to Sky News, she said: “The good news is we are plateauing off and we heard from the medical director of NHS England that she agrees we are plateauing in terms of the number of infections.”
Prof Sikora continued: “Unfortunately, we’re heading for the worst weekend in the history of the NHS since 1948.
“Never before have we seen so many people seriously ill come as a surge to the NHS. That’s why we’ve got to have these social distancing arrangements, including over the weekend.
“As we come off the plateau of the number of patients, then we see a decrease in hospitalisation, there’s a little hint that’s already happened, the number of hospital admissions are already falling now, and then we will see the death rate fall, probably not for a week or two.
“The Government, I think, has to talk about options for the dates. They must have options for when we can be released because people will go mad if we carry on like this.”
She added: “I think it’s good to talk about it, we can all argue about it, but we have to come to some hopeful conclusion.”
What is the latest?
As of 9am on April 9, 298,169 tests have concluded across the UK, with 16,095 tests carried out on April 8.
243,421 people have been tested, of whom 65,077 tested positive.
As of 5pm on April 8, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 7,978 have died.
