Britain’s coronavirus lockdown will be reviewed by Ministers this week, amid fears that the daily death toll could see 1000 people die in a single 24 hour period.
It comes after the death total hit 10,000 over the weekend.
Scientists will today begin reviewing what changes millions of Brits staying at home has had on the virus spread.
Ministers are due to discuss the measures later this week – with an update expected by Thursday.
Insiders are keen to stress that while the measures are being reviewed in line with a promise from Boris Johnson to review them after three weeks, radical changes are not expected.
It comes as Mr Johnson continues his recovery from Covid-19 at Chequers in Buckinghamshire after doctors ordered the Prime Minister to rest.
(Image: Getty Images)
Ministers have said they want to be sure the UK is past the peak of the outbreak before easing the restriction.
But 10 members of the Cabinet are reportedly urging lockdown conditions to be eased amid concerns about the impact on the economy.
The Times quoted an unnamed minister as saying it was important not to do “more damage”, and measures could be eased after another three weeks.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who warned during his Budget last month that the UK risks falling into recession as a result of disruption caused by coronavirus, has injected £14 billion from the coronavirus emergency response fund into the NHS and local authorities.
But the Government continues to face pressure over shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline NHS staff, as a growing number of health workers died.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers in England, which represents hospital trusts, told BBC Breakfast the supply of gowns – imported from China – was “hand-to-mouth”.
He said the NHS ordered “a whole load of stock” weeks ago, but delays have been caused by the product sometimes failing safety tests, while other batches have been mislabelled – meaning the NHS has ended up with additional masks.
He said: “If everything had been flowing exactly as had been ordered and if all of the material had properly passed its safety test, there would not be an issue.
“This is all really hand-to-mouth in terms of gown delivery, and we need to get to a more sustainable supply.”
But he added “the vast majority” of NHS preparations had gone “extremely well” and no trusts had yet run out of gowns.
At the weekend, the Royal College of Nurses issued new guidance that nurses who could not get adequate PPE should, as a “last resort”, refuse to work.
On Sunday the Department of Health said, as of 5pm on Saturday, a total of 10,612 patients had died in UK hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus, up by 737 from 9,875 the day before.
Yesterday Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced a new NHS coronavirus app which the Government hopes will help stem the spread of the virus by helping people to self-isolate before they start showing symptoms.
He said developers of the app, which is currently being tested, were working with the world’s leading tech companies and experts in clinical safety and digital ethics “so that we can get this right”.
Making the announcement at the daily Downing Street press conference, he said: “If you become unwell with the symptoms of coronavirus you can securely tell this new NHS app and the app will then send an alert anonymously to other app users that you’ve been in significant contact with over the past few days.”
This should mean people can act even before they have symptoms.
Mr Hancock said in a commitment to transparency, the source code will be published, and he sought to reassure people that data will not be held any longer than is necessary.
He said: “All data will be handled according to the highest ethical and security standards and would only be used for NHS care and research and we won’t hold it any longer than it’s needed.”
While the use of technology in the coronavirus fight was welcomed by shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth and acting Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, both said the use of such an app must be open to proper scrutiny.
Mr Ashworth said it is “vital to have the proper safeguards and transparency when it comes to capturing or mapping people’s data.”
Sir Ed called for “transparency”, and said it bolsters the case for an emergency recall of Parliament.
