​

The daily government coronavirus conference was led alone by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. Today marked the re-opening of retail stores, with thousands of people flocking to non-essential stores in England as trading restrictions eased albeit with measures in place to keep people safe while splashing the cash, including limits on shop occupancy, queues, face coverings and plenty of hand sanitiser.

​

Raab says there have been 1,056 more cases of the coronavirus with 395 people in critical care. He adds there have been a further 38 deaths.

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

• Raab: We can't just pretend that coronavirus has gone away or we've eliminated the virus. There is a risk of a second spike if we're not very careful.
  
  

• Raab: We'll monitor the effect of these changes very carefully. We're sticking to our plan, we're making good progress every week.
  
  

• Raab says last Friday 430 people were admitted to hospitals in England, Wales and N Ireland with #COVID19 - down from a peak of 3,432 on 1 April. He adds that this should give a sense of the "progress we're making"
  
  

  

  ​

  

  ​

  

  ​

  

  ​

• Raab is asked about the government's review into racism in the UK - and when ministers will set out the official findings of a review into BAME communities and COVID-19. The foreign secretary says we want to "get to the bottom of it" and have commissioned more work on the subject. On the issue of race more widely, he says there have been a number of "successes" in the UK in the last decade but there is more to do.
  
  

• On two-metres, the foreign secretary says that it is something that can be "looked at" as the incidence of COVID-19 comes down.
  
  

• Raab says scientific advisers and representatives from Public Health England "will continue to come and attend these press conferences", after he is asked why they have been absent from some recent briefings.
  
  

• Dominic Raab says a decision on whether to reduce the two-metre restriction would be "underpinned" by science. The foreign secretary told the Downing Street press conference: "There's no magic to one or other particular measure, there will be different levels of risk whether it's at two metres, one-and-a-half metres or one metre.
  
  

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

​