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Day 23: Key points from today's conference

Posted on April 2020 By Jamie Southwell

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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is continuing to host these daily press conference's for the time being, alongside him was Sir Patrick Vallance the UK's Chief Scientific Adviser, and Prof Chris Whitty the UK Government's Chief Medical Adviser.

No new measures were introduced tonight, as it seems we're waiting for the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to make a recovery after being taken into ICU at St Thomas' Hospital during the night. Dominic Raab kicked off the press conference by giving us an update on the PM's condition stating he is in "excellent" care and his progress will continue to be monitored with further updates to follow.

Key points to take away from today's speech are:

  • The UK appears to be doing things right as Sir Patrick Vallance announces the use of public transport and cars have been falling "dramatically", and in keeping this up will result in a "substantial" decrease in number of coronavirus cases. Shown below is the % of types of transport being used.

  • After he was asked whether there would be enough critical care beds for the duration of this crisis, Sir Patrick Vallance responded with uncertainty saying he "cannot guarantee" they'll hit the exact amount, however they are currently on the path to meeting it thanks to the incredible efforts from the NHS.

  • All new decisions are now under the responsibility of the principle cabinet, as Boris Johnson remains in intensive care.

  • We're told further progress has been made on hitting the 100,000 daily tests, goal involving antibody blood and swab testing, set out last week by the Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

The overall amount of cases in the UK has now risen to 55,242, with that being 3,634 new cases since yesterday. Total number of deaths is now at 6,159.

To read a brief summary of last night's points and important measures click here.

Here's the full conference, courtesy of The Sun: