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Day 24: Key points from today's conference

Posted on April 2020 By Jamie Southwell

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Tonight's Downing Street press conference was run by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, and he was joined by NHS England’s Medical Director Prof Stephen Powis, and the Ministry of Defence’s Chief Scientific Adviser Prof Angela McLean.

Rishi Sunak gave us a new update regarding the Prime Minister's condition, who as it stands still remains in Intensive Care. Tonight we were informed his health is 'improving' and he's engaging positively with the clinical team, but Mr Sunak also wanted to use this as a reminder to everyone that this virus is indiscriminate of things such as status and position.

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

  • New £750 million cash pot put in place for frontline charities throughout the UK. This will be split between smaller and more local charities who were deemed the "unsung heroes" of their communities, and bigger essential charities providing hospices and shelter for victims of domestic abuse.

  • Angela McLean shows us the number of people passing through stations during March dropped a whole 94% by the end of the month, and correlates this to the number of cases remaining at a steady pace.

  • This is an "important" week for the government to determine their decision on whether they'll continue the national lockdown says Angela McLean, after being asked if the UK will follow suite in extending their lockdown period like Wales.

  • Prof Stephent Powis specifies "it is important that all countries learn from each other" and that nobody has the perfect solution right now.

The overall amount of cases in the UK has now risen to 60,733, with that being 5,491 new cases since yesterday. Total number of deaths is now at 7,097.

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

Here's the full conference, courtesy of HuffPost UK: