Inside Politics – Coronavirus special: UK must ramp up testing, admits Michael Gove

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A mass teddy bear hunt is taking place across the globe, as parents try to distract their children during the pandemic. The stuffed animals are being put in windows to give kids something to search for on once-a-day walks. Boris Johnson’s government is on a hunt of its own, desperately trying to locate chemical reagents needed for Covid-19 testing kits. The good news? Thousands more ventilators are on their way, with some tracked down and bought from abroad. 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 on what to look out for today:

MPs insist parliament is not “shut” but in Easter recess. However, with Boris Johnson and others in self-isolation and Westminster seen as a hotspot, there is a growing sense normal business might not resume as scheduled on 21 April. The procedure committee will hold a “virtual private meeting” today to discuss how the Commons should adapt. More resources are expected to be found to boost IT capacity – raising the prospect of virtual question time sessions for Johnson and his ministers.

Daily briefing

SPEED OF LIFE: Michael Gove has admitted the UK must go “further, faster” when it comes to coronavirus testing. The Cabinet Office minister revealed that just 8,240 people were tested on Monday – days after he incorrectly claimed the 10,000-a-day milestone had been met. Gove claimed a “critical constraint” on speeding things up was a shortage in reagents: the chemicals used in amplifying DNA for testing. The government is buying more ventilators from abroad “including from EU nations”, said Gove – who also promised “thousands” of new ventilators made in the UK will roll off the production line this weekend. NHS England medical director Professor Stephen Powis said there were some “green shoots”, pointing to a “bit of a plateau” in the number of new Covid-19 cases. Yet the UK saw its biggest daily rise in the number of deaths from coronavirus: 381 were reported on Tuesday. The ONS also said some of the deaths at home or in care homes are not being counted in daily updates.

DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS: Some politicians are still finding time to nurture their obsession with China. Former Tory minister Damian Green blamed the country for allowing the outbreak to spread and suggested diplomatic relations with Beijing should mirror Cold War-era ties with Russia. He said it was “undeniable” the pandemic had been triggered by “unhygienic practices” in China’s markets. Justified or not, some MPs are wondering how awkward questions will be asked during a prolonged lockdown. More than 100 of them have signed an open letter calling for a digital parliament. The group of opposition MPs said new practices may initially be “rough and ready”, but insisted: “People up and down the country have made huge behavioural changes … we must show we are capable of it too.” It comes Johnson chaired the first ever digital cabinet on Tuesday. Jacob Rees-Mogg put on his usual pinstripe suit, while Gavin Williamson, Brandon Lewis and Alok Sharma all wore ties at home.

HOLES IN THE SAFETY NET: Ministers have been warned charities in England are in “really, really serious trouble” and some face collapse. The sector is estimated to lose £4bn in funding over the next three months. The Commons’ digital, culture, media and sport committee also heard that St John Ambulance – a charity helping the NHS’s effort against Covid-19 – will run out of money by August without a cash injection. Struggling food aid charities have told The Independent’s Help the Hungry campaign they are in desperate need of volunteers and donations to deal with overwhelming demand during the outbreak. Meanwhile, the government has been urged to create a new compensation scheme for the families of frontline workers who die while tackling the virus. A letter signed by 50 cross-party MPs, coordinated by Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, called for help similar to that offered to military families.

RAISING HELL: Donald Trump has suddenly lost his glass-half-full attitude to the coronavirus outbreak. “I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” a somber president said at his latest briefing. He warned the country of a “hell of a bad” few weeks, and outlined current White House projections showing US deaths from the virus could reach 240,000. Describing the pandemic as “a plague”, he said: “A lot of people were saying ‘think of it as the flu’, but it’s not the flu … It’s vicious.” On the scale of the challenge facing New York City, he admitted: “They’re going to be facing a war zone.” Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton claimed Americans were dying because of Trump’s “failure in public health, leadership and humanity”. She criticised his administration for not doing enough testing and contact tracing, or adequately preparing the nation’s health care workers.

LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS: The coronavirus pandemic has “no parallel in the recent past” and is the biggest challenge for the world since WWII, said the United Nations’ secretary general António Guterres. A new UN report estimates up to 25 million jobs could be lost globally. Guterres called on wealthier nations to provide financial help for less developed countries or potentially face “the nightmare of the disease spreading like wildfire”. There are now more than 800,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 around the world, and over 42,000 deaths. South Korea has been hailed as one of the countries offering hope after successfully controlling the disease. It is not completely gone there, however. Tuesday saw 101 new cases across South Korea. But its death toll of 165 has remained relatively low thanks to a comprehensive testing and tracing regime.

SAY A LITTLE PRAYER: Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison, an evangelical Christian, has reportedly committed his country to God as it responds to the coronavirus outbreak. Morrison offered a prayer starting “heavenly father we just commit our nation to you in this terrible time of great need and suffering of so many people,” in a video first published by Eternity News. In India, meanwhile, at least 140 new cases of the virus have been linked to a religious gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin neighbourhood. A huge tracing exercise is said to be under way. Elsewhere, engineers at India’s Nocca Robotics are trying to create a new kind of low-cost ventilator. Existing ventilators in the country cost around 150,000 rupees (£1,600) each, but the robotics firm said it could develop machines that could be produced for around 50,000 rupees (£535).

On the record

“Now is absolutely not the time for people to imagine that there can be any relaxation or slackening.”

Michael Gove says the lockdown is ‘making a difference’ and must continue.

From the Twitterati

“Boris Johnson just posted this screenshot of a cabinet meeting held on Zoom – along with the meeting ID.”

TechCrunch’s Zack Whittaker points out the digital cabinet meeting may not have been entirely secure...

“If anyone wants to join the next UK Cabinet meeting, Boris Johnson has helpfully included the ZOOM ID.”

…while Virgin Media’s Richard Chambers points out the PM also revealed his own ID.

Essential reading

Vince Cable, The Independent: Universal basic income is only a sticking plaster – it won’t treat the economic crisis to come

Sean O’Grady, The Independent: The coronavirus crisis has sidelined the European Union

Rafael Behr, The Guardian: The scale of the coronavirus crisis shows how pointless the Brexit cause is

Kara Swisher, The New York Times: Fox’s fake news contagion

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