Inside Politics – Coronavirus special: Volunteers answer call to help NHS

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There will lots of heroes to champion when this is finally all over. For now, there’s a chance to show NHS staff how much you appreciate the work they’re doing by opening your front door, balcony or window at 8pm on Thursday and joining the nation in mass applause. Matt Hancock knows doctors and nurses need all the help they can get right now. The health secretary wants a quarter of million volunteers to support the service in the very, very difficult days ahead. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing during the coronavirus crisis.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice what to look out for at Westminster today:

Jeremy Corbyn is due to make his final appearance as Labour leader at PMQs. Although he welcomed Boris Johnson’s “stay at home” order, the 70-year-old is not implementing it on a personal level. Some of his MPs had hoped Corbyn would lead by example and avoid Westminster. Although he has largely maintained bipartisan support, Corbyn will likely accuse the PM of breaking his promise to protect 20 million renters from eviction, and demand help for the five million self-employed.

Daily briefing

YOUR NHS NEEDS YOU: The health service is “rallying the troops” for the battle against the coronavirus, and you don’t have to be a medical professional to help. Matt Hancock used Tuesday’s Downing Street press conference to call for 250,000 people to aide the NHS with delivery of medicines and shopping “to support those who are shielded”. More than 170,000 have already signed up, the group coordinating the response announced this morning. The health secretary also confirmed plans to turn London’s Excel Centre into an emergency hospital (to be known as the NHS Nightingale Hospital), and said 3.5m antibody tests had been bought to “allow people to see whether they have had the virus”. Hancock asked the public for “forbearance” in the curbs on movement. But the lockdown is remarkably popular. A YouGov poll shows 93 per cent of people support the plan unveiled by Boris Johnson on Monday night, with just four per cent opposed.

WISHING AND HOPING: Rishi Sunak isn’t ready, just yet, to come up with more economic support. The chancellor has told airline companies the government would only offer bailouts as “a last resort”. Under pressure to provide more for the self-employed, Sunak said the government hoped to have “further announcements”, but also warned there were “genuine practical and principled reasons why it is incredibly complicated”. The chancellor rejected the idea of a universal basic income, saying the government was “not in favour” of handing out an unconditional sum of money. As group of 170 MPs have urged Sunak to think again, with some Tories are warming to the concept. Meanwhile Labour has accused the government of breaking a promise to ban evictions. Landlords will only be barred from beginning court proceedings for at least three months – but can still inform their tenants of an intention to kick them out. Shadow housing secretary John Healey it only gives them “some extra time to pack their bags”.

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO: Couples who don’t live together should either stay apart or “test the strength of their relationship” by moving in with each other, deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries has said. Her comments cleared up confusion over whether couples risk a £30 fine if they venture out to meet one another during the lockdown. Elsewhere, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove apologised for incorrectly claiming separated couples cannot move children between homes during an interview on GMB. He later told the BBC that if children have to move “that is allowed.” Gove tweeted: “I wasn’t clear enough earlier, apologies.” Hancock, meanwhile, rowed with Sadiq Khan by saying the London underground should be running “in full” so carriages aren’t so crowded. The London mayor argued that construction workers should not be going to work, claiming he had been over-ruled on that by the PM.

CALLING ON NATO: The news from Spain is very bad, with the government forced to ask Nato for humanitarian assistance in the form of surgical masks, gloves, respirators and other equipment. Figures show 514 people died from coronavirus in a single day on Tuesday, taking the death toll in Spain to 2,696. Madrid is using a major ice rink as a temporary mortuary until funeral homes can collect the bodies. And an investigation has been launched after elderly people were found abandoned and dead in their care home beds. Much better news from China – a travel ban in the Hubei province will be lifted today, as the authorities appear to have got on top on the outbreak. Restrictions won’t be eased in the capital Wuhan until 8 April. Only a single new case of the virus was reported in the city on Tuesday.

INDIA SHUTS DOWN: Around 1.4 billion people begin a three-week “total lockdown” today after Tuesday evening’s big announcement by India’s prime minister Narendra Modi sparked late-night panic buying across the nation. Modi told Indians to “forget what it feels like to leave your homes”. But he also told the public “there is absolutely no need to panic”, promising “essential commodities [and] medicines would be available”. People will be allowed to go out to food outlets and pharmacies. India has 519 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 10 reported deaths, but with a large spike in cases expected, Modi said his government would commit around £1.7bn to strengthen health facilities.

EASTER EASE-OFF: US senators and Trump administration officials have reached an agreement on a $2trn (around £1.7trn) stimulus package aimed at easing the economic impact of the virus. But many Americans are alarmed about how keen their president is for everyone to get back to normal. “I’m also hopeful to have Americans working again, by that beautiful Easter day,” said Donald Trump at his latest press conference. He said he wanted to “ease the guidelines and open things up to very large sections of our country as we near the end of our historic battle with the invisible enemy”. Meanwhile New York state governor Andrew Cuomo is still pleading with the federal government for more medical supplies, warning that the coronavirus was spreading faster than “a bullet train”. New York state remains the worst-affected area in the US, with over 25,000 confirmed cases – more than half of all cases in the country.

On the record

“You are the front line in this war against this virus and we all pay tribute to you.”

Matt Hancock salutes NHS staff.

From the Twitterati

“The US is almost certainly going to have the worst outbreak in the world pretty soon.”

MSNBC host Chris Hayes is worried about the acceleration of cases across America…

“Please do not take medical advice from a man who looked directly at a solar eclipse.”

…as Hillary Clinton suggests it’s best not to listen to Trump.

Essential reading

Vince Cable, The Independent: I’m grateful for the protection, but the idea all older people like me are frail while the young are invincible is dangerous

Rosena Allin-Khan, The Independent: Sports Direct has shown exactly what not to do during this pandemic. If we’re going to beat coronavirus, we have to be selfless

Mahlet Mesfin, Foreign Affairs: It takes a world to end a pandemic

Jordan Weissmann, Slate: Sending people back to work now will not save the US economy. It will doom it

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