Project Restart was given a Government boost when Boris Johnson’s number two said it would ‘lift the spirits of the nation’.
The controversial plan to play again next month has come under fire from some quarters but Dominic Raab gave a positive response when we asked him if the Premier League was being realistic.
“I think it would lift the spirits of the nation,” said the Foreign Secretary, who stood in for Johnson during the Prime Minister’s illness.
“I think people would like to see us get back not just to work and get to a stage where children can safely return to school but also enjoy pastimes, sporting in particular.”
The Premier League has been suspended for almost two months (Image: REUTERS)
Raab did confirm that it will be a long time before crowds will be seen at football matches and other professional sporting events but it is clear the Government see the resumption of the Premier League as something which will raise the country’s morale.
“I know the Government has had constructive meetings with sports bodies to plan for athletes to resume training when it’s safe to do so,” Raab went on.
“I can tell you the Culture Secretary (Oliver Dowden) has also been working on a plan to get sports played behind closed doors when we move to the second phase - that’s something I can tell you we are looking at.”
Mirror's Andy Dunn puts questions to Dominic Raab
Liverpool and Watford are among the teams who still have plenty riding on the campaign (Image: ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/REX)
Answering Mirror Sport’s questions at Number Ten’s daily coronavirus briefing, Raab suggested football’s return behind closed doors is ‘under active consideration’, which contrasts with the policies in France and Holland where professional sport has been suspended until September at the earliest.
While there has been growing opposition to Project Restart and while ministers repeat the need for caution, it is clear the Government does see sport as a key step in the way out of a lockdown.
Games are set to be played without fans (Image: Action Images via Reuters)
Ahead of Raab’s comments, Health Secretary Matt Hancock responded to another question about the possibility of the Premier League’s return by saying: “Well, I’m absolutely open to that and horse racing too.
“And I know that both the Premier League and racing are working on how that might be doable in a safe way.”
But experts say that it could be months before full global comparisons can be made.
Both Italy and the UK record the deaths of people who have tested positive for coronavirus, BBC head of statistics Robert Cuffe said, but Britain has reached this figure "faster" in its epidemic than Italy.
He said there are caveats in making such a comparison, including the UK population being about 10% larger than Italy's, while Britain's largest city is three times bigger than Italy's.
Each country also has different testing regimes with Italy conducting more tests than the UK to date.
In the last 24 hours, the UK government has recorded another 693 deaths.
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Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing, Mr Raab said the 29,427 lives lost was "a massive tragedy" the country has "never seen before... on this scale, in this way".
But he would not be drawn on international comparisons, saying: "I don't think we will get a real verdict on how well countries have done until the pandemic is over, and particularly until we get comprehensive international data on all cause mortality."
This is a sobering moment. Italy was the first part of Europe to see cases rise rapidly and the scenes of hospitals being overwhelmed was met with shock and disbelief.
But we should be careful how we interpret the figures.
On the face of it both countries now count deaths in a similar way, including both in hospitals and the community.
But there are other factors to consider.
First the UK has a slightly larger population. If you count cases per head of population, Italy still comes out worse - although only just.
Cases are confirmed by tests - and the amount of testing carried out varies.
The geographical spread looks quite different too - half of the deaths in Italy have happened in Lombardy.
In the UK, by comparison, they have been much more spread out. Less than a fifth have happened in London, which has a similar population to Lombardy.
Then, how do you factor in the indirect impact from things such as people not getting care for other conditions?
The fairest way to judge the impact in terms of fatalities is to look at excess mortality - the numbers dying above what would normally happen.
You need to do this over time. It will be months, perhaps even years, before we can really say who has the highest death toll.
Keith Dunnington, 54, a nurse for more than 30 years, died at his parents home in South Shields on 19 April. His mother Lillian, 81, died on 1 May and her husband Maurice, 85, died days later.
Meanwhile, Momudou Dibba, a house-keeper at Watford Hospital who went "above and beyond" in his job, died with the virus on 29 April.
In a statement, West Hertfordshire NHS Trust said Mr Dibba, known as Mo, was "kind, caring and considerate".
Health Secretary Matt Hancock set the target at the beginning of April and the government announced on Friday and Saturday that it had hit the 100,000-plus mark.
Death certificates
New data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), shows that by 24 April there were 27,300 deaths where coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate.
Including deaths reported to the ONS since 24 April, it brings the total number to more than 32,000.
These figures can also include cases where a doctor suspects the individual was infected, but a test was not carried out. The daily government figures rely on confirmed cases.
The ONS data goes up to 24 April - delays in reporting and completing death certificates means it lags behind the daily figures.
In other developments:
Fewer than 300 people arriving in the UK from overseas were quarantined as the virus spread around the globe at the start of the year, Home Office figures have revealed
Cyber-security agencies in the UK and US have issued a joint warning to healthcare and medical research staff, urging them to improve their password security, after cyber-criminals have been targeting healthcare bodies, particularly those involved in coronavirus response
A further 366 people with coronavirus died in English hospitals, a further 44 patients have died with coronavirus in Scotland and 26 more people have died in Wales
The prime minister continued to shake hands even as some scientists advising the government on its coronavirus response were calling for the practice to be halted, it has emerged.
Scientists were calling for an end to hugging and handshakes in early March, newly-released papers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) shows.
On 3 March, the SPI-B group of behavioural scientists said the directive would have sent an important signal about the need for good hand hygiene in stopping the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Image:England captain Owen Farrell shakes hands with Boris Johnson after the England v Wales Six Nations match at Twickenham on 7 March
That same day, Boris Johnson told a Downing Street news conference that he was continuing to shake the hands of people he met.
Later that week, the PM made a point of shaking hands with This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield, even though the presenter kept his hands to his sides when he interviewed Mr Johnson for the ITV show.
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Mr Johnson was also pictured shaking hands with England rugby captain Owen Farrell at Twickenham.
He was then photographed shaking hands with boxer Anthony Joshua on 9 March, during the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.
More from Boris Johnson
Asked about the contents of the paper, the PM's spokesman said that Mr Johnson would not have been aware at the time of the document, which did not at that point represent the considered view of SAGE.
"The PM wouldn't have seen that advice," the spokesman said.
"The PM was very clear at the time, he was taking a number of precautionary steps including frequently washing his hands.
"Once the social distancing advice was changed, the prime minister's approach changed."
The SPI-B paper said: "There was agreement that government should advise against greetings such as shaking hands and hugging, given existing evidence about the importance of hand hygiene.
"A public message against shaking hands has additional value as a signal about the importance of hand hygiene.
"Promoting a replacement greeting or encouraging others to politely decline a proffered hand-shake may have benefit."
The same day, Mr Johnson told reporters at a Downing Street briefing: "I am shaking hands.
"I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were coronavirus patients and I was shaking hands with everybody, you will be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands.
"People must make up their own minds but I think the scientific evidence is ... our judgment is that washing your hands is the crucial thing."
A woman in a face mask walks past Tower Bridge in LondonCredit: EPA
The daily death toll is more than double the 288 recorded yesterday - although there is often a drop on Mondays due to a lag in reporting over the weekend.
Today's figure is the lowest death figures for a Tuesday since March 31, when 382 deaths were recorded across the UK.
Coronavirus was recorded on 29,648 death certificates in England and Wales up to April 24, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed today.
That is 33.7% higher than the 22,173 coronavirus deaths the Department for Health revealed at the time.
As of yesterday, the Department for Health has only announced 28,734 coronavirus deaths across the entire UK.
If that figure is under-reported by the same level, it could mean more than 36,000 have died of the bug in Britain already.
It comes as...
Speaking at the Downing Street press briefing today, Boris Johnson's deputy Dominic Raab said: "Our hearts go out to everyone who has lost a loved one."
Across the UK, another 4,406 new cases were recorded bringing the total to 190,990.
England's death toll now sits at 21,750 while Scotland today confirmed 44 more deaths to bring their total to 1,620.
Meanwhile in Wales, another 26 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths to 1,023.
Northern Ireland today recorded another 17 deaths - with the total there hitting 404.
According to NHS England statistics released today, the youngest patient killed by the deadly bug was just 29-years-old, with a 49-year-old with no underlying health conditions among the latest fatalities that brought the toll to 29,100.
Screens between desks, staff sitting back-to-back and a ban on hot desking and sharing of equipment are among moves employers must introduce when lockdown is lifted.
The new measures — proposed in draft documents on a return to workplaces — also require staggered shift times to avoid crowding on public transport.
Handwashing kit must be at entry and exit points, with regular cleaning of worktops. Yellow and black tape will tell people where to stand in lifts.
8
The global death toll shows the UK tracking above countries including Italy and Spain
Chancellor Rishi Sunak's furlough scheme to pay 80 per cent of wages up to £2,500 a month cost an eyewatering £8billion in the first month - just shy of the NHS monthly budget of £11billion.
It means a staggering 27million adults are now dependent on the state for at least part of their income.
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Yesterday's figures showed another 250,000 out-of-work Brits have made claims for Jobseeker's Allowance as the economy is ravaged by the Covid-19 lockdown.
The jaw-dropping numbers come on top of 1.2million people who were already unemployed, 5.4million public sector workers and 12.6million people who receive a state pension.
It means more than 27 million people from an adult population of just over 52million - or around 53 per cent of the country - is now state-funded.
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