Inside Politics – Coronavirus special: Matt Hancock reveals mass testing strategy

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Applause rang out across the country again last night in tribute to the NHS staff on the frontline of the pandemic. Hoping to keep our spirits up, the BBC is going to air the London 2012 Olympics’ opening ceremony in full in this spring – complete with Danny Boyle’s wonderful tribute to the health service. Paying his own tribute to the NHS, health secretary Matt Hancock is promising the spring will see mass testing for the virus – unveiling the government’s “five-pillar” plan for getting us there. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing during the coronavirus crisis.

Inside the bubble

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick on what to look out for today:

The new NHS Nightingale Hospital is expected to be officially opened later, marking an incredible two-week transformation of London’s Excel centre by military planners and health service managers. We could see Boris Johnson return to No 10 today – seven days after being diagnosed with coronavirus. But recent videos, in which it appeared to look poorly, suggests he will stay put in his flat above No 11.

Daily briefing

HANCOCK’S FULL HOUR: Matt Hancock appears to have made a full recovery from coronavirus – leading a sure-footed Downing Street briefing and setting out the aim of getting 100,000 tests a day done by the end of April. “That is the goal and I’m determined we’ll get there,” said the health secretary. His “five-pillar strategy” includes partners such as universities, Amazon and Boots doing more diagnostic swab testing, as well as increasing the swabs at labs run by Public Health England. The government also wants to introduce antibody blood tests to check whether people have had the virus. Nine companies have offered, said Hancock – but he suggested some of the blood tests may not been entirely effective. They must be shown to work before getting rolled out, he insisted. The government will write off £13.4bn of NHS debt, allowing the service to focus on its response. It came as Thursday’s figures showed a further 569 patients died from Covid-19.

DEVIL IN THE DETAILS: Labour figures were not particularly impressed by Hancock’s strategy briefing. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth suggested the plan was lacking in clarity and details – asking what proportion of the 100,000 tests would be antibody blood tests, and how increased testing might fit in to an “exit strategy” to ease the lockdown. Labour MP Yvette Cooper later told Question Time that a “centralised” approach, with Public Health England in charge of tests, was “just not enough”. Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, used a valedictory interview with Sky News to attack the “ludicrous” lack of testing for NHS and care sector staff. “We have got to get on top of testing,” he said. We’re now only one day away from finding out who will succeed Corbyn as Labour leader. Favourite Keir Starmer posted a video on Twitter after the ballot closed thanking his rivals for staying civil. “We’ve kept it positive, we’ve demonstrated unity”.

LITTLE BIT LONGER: It looks like Boris Johnson will stay in self-isolation longer than he hoped, after he didn’t appear too well in a video message from his flat. The PM was due to go back to his office on Friday – seven days after testing positive – but still “has symptoms”, No 10 acknowledged. Asked if he would come out of isolation today, his spokesman repeatedly refused to give a guarantee, saying only: “We will follow the guidelines... you can rest assured on that.” How popular is the PM at the moment? A new survey published by pollsters Ipsos MORI shows a majority of the public – 56 per cent – believe social distancing measures were imposed too late. Yet the British public appear to be understanding about the scale of the challenge Johnson and his team face. A separate YouGov poll showed that the government has positive approval ratings for the first time in almost a decade.

GRIM MILESTONE: It had been expected of course, but more than a million cases of the coronavirus have now been registered worldwide. According to Johns Hopkins University figures, the landmark number was reached after a doubling in global cases in the past week alone. More than 50,000 people have died for the disease, while more than 200,000 have recovered. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is calling on countries in the Middle East to take more action to contain the disease, after cases in the region rose to 60,000. The World Bank, meanwhile, is giving $1bn (around £800m) to India to help prevent its spread in a nation of 1.4bn people. It is hoped the emergency funding would allow for more personal protective equipment, more isolation wards, and more testing and contact tracing.

A CURIOUS MAN: US governors and health experts have expressed fears about the country’s shortage of coronavirus tests. It hasn’t stopped Donald Trump from repeated personal testing. The president said he took a third test “out of curiosity”, and the results came back negative again. Trump told reporters he had wanted to see if it was more comfortable than the more invasive test kit he took last month. “I think I took it really out of curiosity to see how quickly it worked and fast it worked,” he said. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wrote to the White House urging the president to put a military official in charge of distributing medical supplies across the nation. Trump replied to the senior Democrat by accusing him of playing politics. “Thank you for your Democrat public relations letter and incorrect sound bites, which are wrong in every way,” he wrote.

STABILISING IN SPAIN: Some bad news, and cause for hope, from Spain. The Spanish government reported 950 deaths on Thursday, the highest recorded there in a single day. However, the number of confirmed cases rose from just over 102,000 to 110,000 – an 8 per cent rise, which has given the authorities reason to believe the virus is now peaking and could soon decline. Maria Jose Sierra, from the health ministry, said the increase was now steady and lower than in previous periods, which indicated “a stabilisation in the data that we’re registering”. The latest data also shows almost 900,000 people in Spain have lost their jobs since the start of the lockdown. Labour minister Yolanda Diaz said 2.3 million people were now receiving unemployment benefits.

On the record

“I think the first thing Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution; take a pay cut and play their part.”

Matt Hancock suggests top-flight footballers take a pay cut.

From the Twitterati

“The PL players are more than likely working on a proposal to help clubs, communities and The NHS. It takes longer than 2 weeks to put together. Matt Hancock calling them out when he can’t get tests in place for NHS staff is a f@@@@@g cheek!”

Gary Neville didn’​t appreciate the health secretary’​s call...

“Will Mr Hancock & his cabinet colleagues also be taking a pay cut.”

…while Piers Morgan wonders whether ministers will lead by example.

Essential reading

Tom Peck, The Independent: NHS staff who have lost their lives deserve better than old cliches reserved for wartime

Mary Dejevsky, The Independent: The coronavirus crisis has made a poisonous generational divide worse

Katy Balls, The Guardian: Is Keir Starmer failing to call out the government over the coronavirus?

Melissa Godin, TIME: Italy appears to be flattening the curve. What did it do right?

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