I'm joined today by God to Jenny Harris, the deputy chief medical officer.

Professor Stephen Paris, the medical director of any dressing.

I like First Dick Jewel on the facts about the spread of Corbett 19 on the steps that were then taking in the battle against this fights.

143,186 people have not been tested for the virus.

Off those 25,150 have tested positive and sadly, yesterday we recorded the highest single increase in the number of deaths as a result, called Monte 381 people don't meaning that of those hospitalized in the UK, the number who have passed away now totals 1789.

Every death is the loss of a loved, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who are grieving.

Overall, 10,767 people in England have been admitted to hospital with carpet 19 symptoms.

The largest number of those isn't long, with 3915 people in hospital care while in the Midlands.

The number of those hospitalized is now 1918 and accelerating upwards.

These numbers reinforce the vital importance of following the government's social distancing.

The more we respect contact, the more we slow the spread off the infection.

The more we can help the any chest, all the capacity needed to care for those most in need and that capacity is increasing.

Maur Any chest staff are returning to the front line on more testing is taking place to help those self I sleeping come back and to protect those working so hard in our hospitals and in social care.

But what the rate of testing is increasing, we must go further faster.

A critical constrict on the ability to rapidly increased testing capacity is the availability off the chemical re agents which unnecessary in the testing.

The prime minister and the houses are working the companies worldwide to ensure that we get the material.

We need to increase tests off all kinds, and that's what was increasing the number of stuff on the front line and the tests which protect we must also increase the capacity to provide oxygen to those worst affected by the disease.

We have just over 8000 ventilators deployed in any chest hospitals.

This number has increased since the epidemic.

Thanks to the hard work off any chest professionals, we need more.

That's why we have buying or ventilators from abroad, including from E U nations.

It's also why we're developing new sources of supply before the epidemic struck.

We have very little domestic manufacturer of ventilation.

But now back to the dedication of existing medical supply companies on the ingenuity of our manufacturing base.

We have existing models being produced in significantly greater numbers on new models coming on ST Orders of being placed with consortium led by forward Airbus, the Formula One racing teams including McClaren, Jiggy and Aerospace and Rolls Royce on Dyson's and I cannot.

This weekend, the first thousands of new ventilator devices will roll off the production on be delivered to the N.

H s next week.

From there they will be rapidly distributed to the front line and as I was increasing the capacity for ventilation which helps support those patients worst affected were also increasing the capacity to provide oxygen to affected patients.

As an hour there stage in the process off the disease, helping to avert.

We hope the deterioration off that condition.

A team led by UCL working with Mercedes Benz, will produce 10,000 new CPAP devices to support affected patients.

And a team from Oxford University are also developing related to technology and in our determination to prevent as many patients as possible seeing their condition worse, we're conducting rapid clinical trials on those drugs, including anti malaria's, which may be able to reduce the impact of covered 19 on Lucifer.

But even as we seek to explore every avenue, to slow the spread of the disease, to reduce its impact and to save lives unconscious of the sacrifices that so many comic, that's for my chances, economic packages and thanks to support people through a difficult time.

It's also why we're working so closely with the police in the devolved administrations to coordinate our response across the United Kingdom.

Great as I am to the thousands of dedicated public sector workers, cleaners and social workers, president, police officers, those in the royal mail and in our schools, a little.

Also, the leaders of the trade unions who represent in this united national effort.

We're also delivering food and prescription drugs dropped 1.5 million off the most vulnerable yourself are selecting for three months and we will do more to help working with the 3/4 of a 1,000,000 people who volunteered to help it this time.

Many are already heavily involved in local community support schemes.

We want to work two to ensure that we support not just the 1.5 most vulnerable to disease, but a ll those who need our help through this crisis.

Those without exception support those in tough economic circumstances.

Those who need the visible hand off French but the challenge.

That's why my Cabinet colleague George Eustice on the food and final minister Victoria Prentiss, will be leading work with food supplies, retailers, local authorities and voluntary groups to support our neighbors in need.

I also want to thank the men and women off the military.

You've stepped up their work.

It's part of the ongoing response to Corona virus.

Three aria Puma helicopters on ice station at Kinloss Barracks and modern.

These Pumas are working closely with Eunuch and a world that helicopter base that aria leaning in North Yorkshire drink requests for assistance from any chessboards trusts across Scotland.

That's no other name.

A second helicopter facility covers the Midlands and Southern, working out of the Aviation Task Force headquarters at Aria Benson and Oxygen Junik and well kept helicopters, normally based ari of sodium on R N A S Yokota respectively, supports the southern areas, and these helicopter facilities have been set up to support medical transport across Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Tops Force is also available for generals such as moving equipment and personnel to where they're needed across the United Kingdom on the Kimmel Spaceport full of us.

The use of the R A F A 400 m transport aircraft working with a Scottish ambulance service to evacuate a critically ill patient from the Shetland Islands to Aberdeen to receive intensive care.

I'm deeply grateful for everyone in the all forces and in the public sector.

We're doing so much to help us in the fight against Kuroda virus and of course, ALS can continue to play our part in supporting them and the health service by staying at home, supporting the N hs and saving lives.

Now I want to ask Steven to run through the latest date from our Cabinet office Corona virus Fact fall Steve, Thank you.

So are incredible.

Staff in the N.

H s are working round the clock pulling out a ll the stops to prepare for the expected surge in patients with covert 19.

I saw that myself at the end a chest nightingale hospital in east London this morning on was completely bowled over by the work that's being done there from a standing start a week ago to a new hospital that will be ready to take patients later this week.

But as we have repeatedly said, and as you have just heard, N.

H s staff cannot do this on their own.

Yes, we can increase capacity, but we also need every body in the country every one of you to help by reducing the transmission of the virus.

Because it is by doing that that we will reduce the number of deaths on.

We will take the pressure off our hospital's on our health system.

On the charts that I'm about to show you will show you why that is so important.

So all the interventions a ll the instructions that the government had given based on the best possible scientific advice on dhe, similar to the approach being taken in.

Many countries around the world are designed to reduce social contact.

In other words, to reduce the chance that a virus, the virus, is passed from one person to another.

And by doing that, the spread of the virus reduces on dhe.

The number of infections reduces.

I'm pleased to say that the great British public are paying attention to that message on.

We see in many ways that that amount of social contact is now reducing.

So this first chart shows you an example of that transport.

And as you can see, the number of people using our transplant service is has reduced dramatically over the last few weeks.

So, for example, you can see in the light blue line that transport in London on the tube has decreased dramatically, which demonstrates that people are paying attention and understand the message we are giving.

And there are many other examples that show that that contact is being reduced as an ex chart shows that plays into an impact on the number of infections, so that's less social contact.

The less The chance is that the virus can move from one person to another, and that will, over time, reduce the number off infections that we are seeing.

The number of people testing positive and you can see here that we have had a rise in the number of U K cases.

But recently there is a little bit of a plateau now.

I think it's really important not to read too much into this, because it's early days.

We're not out of the woods were very much in the woods, and it's really important that we keep complying with those instructions.

But as you can see, the number of infections is not rising as rapidly as it waas.

So green shoots but only green shoots, and we must not be complacent, and we must not take off it off the pedal.

Now.

If inspections fall, as the next chart shows, that will also translate into fewer hospital admissions.

Horsemen admissions typically occur a week or two after an infection.

And remember, for the vast majority of people, Cove it 19 is a mild flu like illness, a heavy cold.

But for a small percentage of people, hospitalization is required now you can see here that the rate of hospitalization has been increasing on.

We would expect that at this stage in the epidemic.

But if those infections start to drop, then in the next few weeks, our hope is that the number of hospitalizations will also start to reduce.

Now, the good news here is that that line is not going up very steeply, but it is still rising.

We're not out of the woods.

We need to keep our foot on the pedal.

And as you can see, they're around 1/3 of the hospital Admissions are in London because, as we have said, and as we know, the infection is spreading more rapidly.

London on London is a bit ahead of the rest of the country.

In terms of this epidemic, now is the next chart shows, Um, hospitalization.

Unfortunately, some people hospitalized.

Dude, I every death is tragic, and we absolutely need to avoid many days.

It's possible by A ll playing our part s.

So what we want to see over time is a reduction in the number of deaths.

And you can see here a comparison of deaths in different countries and you can see maybe in the very light line in the middle that China over time was flattened at that particular line.

In other words, a number of deaths have reduced.

And so if we reduce the number of infections we will reduce the number of hospitalizations on, we will reduce the number of deaths, maybe some green shoots.

But the last thing I would want is a message to anybody that this is a time to take our foot off the pedal to not comply with the instructions, because this is not a short all.

As we said, this is going to take time, and it's important that we all stick with it.

Everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Stephen will now go to our colleagues in the media to ask a series of questions.

On first we turn to you him off the BBC.

You Thank you.

Many N h s staff are saying that testing for them is not obviously available in their places of work.

No or somewhere accessible.

Even after pledges made by officials and ministers in recent weeks, it was a priority.

What do you say to them?

Well, we want to increase the number of tests.

We are increasing the number of tests I mentioned earlier that one of the constraints on our capacity to increased testing overall is supply of the specific re agents that specific chemicals that are needed in order to make sure that tests are reliable.

It's also the case, as I'm sure you're aware, but we've been working with the private sector on with academics on boots, for example, have increased the number off drive in centers for any chest in front line workers to be tested.

But I'll handle Steven first of all, so you're absolutely right here.

It's absolutely crucial that N.

H staffer testing.

As I've said before, That's for two reasons.

One, because those are who are self isolating because they have symptoms or are in household quarantine.

Because one of the household has symptoms, they may not have this virus.

It's still possible that they have another cold like illness.

And if we know that they taste negative or the relative test negative, then we can bring them back to work.

That's important, obviously, at a time when the duchess is under pressure and then secondly, if they have had the virus, then it is likely that once they get over wth e infection, they will be immune.

And that's really important to know is they come back to work.

So I'm really pleased to say that I was tasting ramps up.

It is producing the capacity to increase our tasting off staff.

We wrote to start a ll N HS trusts on Sunday to ask them to start to produce lists off the staff that are most key on that they would want to test first or the households that they would want to test and they are already doing that.

We are beginning to ramp up the testing off staff exactly as Simon Stevens promised on Friday when he was here.

Thank you.

Just to add to those comments, I think you will know that we've seen Stephen said ramping at the capacity within the N hs.

And we're heading towards 25,000 on that, I think we're up to about 12,700 so that's a steady increase over the last few days.

So that represents additional capacity.

There is we just mentioned, but there is off course and other elements of this, which is, if you are an old member of staff.

You do not want to be going into your hospital to be tested.

We want you to stay away on the really positive development there would be to ensure that our postal testing system is operational, because that will be much easier both to the staff that we would like to offer that Thio and in due course to other frontline workers on then potentially onto the public on that testing is ongoing.

A bit like the re agent thing, you have to make sure that the the time period of the postal sample doesn't allow for the virus to degrade.

As it goes through, we'll end up within an accurate test.

But there is a lot of testing going on for that at the moment.

And that will be, I think, a really helpful practical mechanism for him.

It's his staff to use, thank you very much.

I'll turn now to Robert Peston from ITV.

Roger, good afternoon, Good afternoon, three weeks off a week ago when the prime minister introduced those restrictions on our freedom of movement, he said it would take three weeks for us to know whether those restrictions would allow the N HS to cope.

Even hers talk today about green shoots.