All UK schools will close immediately to staff and most pupils from Friday afternoon until further notice. Wales was first to announce the measure, followed closely by Scotland and Northern Ireland, before the Prime Minister confirmed the move would be nationwide. Johnson said nurseries and private schools would also be asked to close, and exams would not take place in May and June.
The death toll in the UK rose to 104, after NHS England confirmed a further 32 people had lost their lives after testing positive for Covid-19. The patients were aged between 59 and 94 years old and had underlying health conditions. Their deaths raised the total number in England to 99.
The number of people to test positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 9am on Wednesday was 2,626, up from 1,950 - a rise of 676.
The government announced it would introduce emergency legislation to bring in a complete ban on new evictions for three months as part of measures to help protect renters in social and private rented accommodation.
Major annual events including Glastonbury Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest were cancelled in line with government guidance on social distancing. Cultural spaces across the country, from Shakespeare’s Globe to National Trust buildings, also closed their doors.
Supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi and Morrison’s introduced measures to limit customer purchasing. As they struggle to cope with high demand arising from “panic buying” and stockpiling, moves included restricted customers to buying a maximum of three products per line.
The BBC and ITV have also altered their scheduling as filming of BBC dramas like EastEnders and Casualty were suspended and transmission of soaps including Coronation Street and Emmerdale have been altered to keep programmes on air as long as possible.
A prisoner in HMP Manchester became the first in the UK to test positive for the coronavirus. The inmate is currently being treated in hospital.
That’s all from this blog for tonight.
But the global coverage will continue over on our general coronavirus live blog. You can follow all the latest developments here:
The Scottish education secretary will be announcing details of any delays to Scottish Higher exams on Thursday, but officials say they are trying to be mindful of senior students completing their coursework.
Johnson said that schools in England would close for most pupils from Friday. And he refused to say how long the closures could last. (Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has said schools in Scotland might not reopen before the summer holidays.) He said there would be exceptions for the children of “critical workers” and for vulnerable children, but he gave very little detail of who will qualify. He also said that pupils who missed out on this summer’s GCSEs and A levels (also cancelled) would get the qualifications they needed for university, but he was not able to say how this would happen. Here is his opening statement on this.
I can announce today and Gavin Williamson making statement now in House of Commons that after schools shut their gates from Friday afternoon, they will remain closed for most pupils – for the vast majority of pupils- until further notice. I will explain what I mean by the vast majority of pupils.
The objective is to slow the spread of the virus and we judge it is the right moment to do that.
But of course, as I’ve always said, we also need to keep the NHS going and to treat the number of rising cases. So we need health workers who are also parents to continue to go to work. And we need other critical workers with children to keep doing their jobs too – from police officers who are keeping us safe to the supermarket delivery drivers, social care workers who look after the elderly and who are so vital. We will be setting out more details shortly about who we mean in these groups.
So we therefore need schools to make provision for the children of these key workers who would otherwise be forced to stay home. And they will also need to look after the most vulnerable children.
This will mean there will of course be are far fewer children in schools and that will help us to slow the spread of the disease. And these measures are crucial to make sure the critical parts of the economy keep functioning and public services keep functioning.
So we are simultaneously asking nurseries and private schools to do the same, and we are providing financial support where it is needed. We are making provisions to supply meals and vouchers for children eligible for free school meals. And where some schools are already doing this, I want to make it clear we will reimburse the cost.
Johnson refused to rule out introducing tighter self-isolation rules for London. There have been reports claiming a virtual lock-down in the capital is planned for the weekend.Johnson did nothing to play down these suggestions, and instead he repeatedly stressed his willingness to go “further and faster”. In response to one question on this, he said:
We’ve always said that we are going to do the right measures at the right time.
Actually I think a lot of people are taking a real heroic effort to comply with the advice we’ve given but as I’ve said tonight, and in the past few days, we keep everything under continuous review and we will not hesitate in bringing forward further and faster measures where we think that is necessary.
He implied that people ignoring the government advice given on Monday to limit social contact were putting lives at risk. He declined an invitation to call these people immoral. But, in response to the question, he used probably his strongest language to date on this theme. He said:
Of course people must make their own decisions, I’m a believer as I say in freedom.
But let’s be absolutely in no doubt that these are very, very important choices that we are now making in our daily lives and the more closely and the more strictly, more ruthlessly, we can enforce upon ourselves, our families the advice we are getting, then the better we will be able to protect our NHS, the fewer deaths we will have and the less suffering there will be in the UK population.
He said he had “no intention” of changing the law that rules out an extension of the Brexit transition. (See 5.47pm.) That is not the same as saying an extension will never happen, and his language will not dispel the widespread suspicions that an extension will now be inevitable.
He hinted that the government is planning bail-outs for struggling companies. (See 5.42pm.)
Boris Johnson gestures during a news conference regarding the coronavirus, in Downing Street. Photograph: Eddie Mulholland/AP
The government will introduce emergency legislation to ban evictions for three months to help protect renters, Sky News reports.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick says the Government will introduce emergency legislation to suspend new evictions from social or private rented accommodation "during this national emergency" amid the COVID-19 outbreak
Education secretary Gavin Williamson told the Commons:
After schools shut their gates on Friday afternoon they will remain closed until further notice this will be for all children, except to those of key workers and where children who are most vulnerable.
The scientific advice shows that the settings are safe for this small number of children to continue attending. But asking others to stay away will go towards helping us slow the spread of this virus.
Some examples of these key workers include NHS staff, police and delivery drivers who need to be able to go to work. vulnerable children including those who have a social worker and those with educational health and care plans. Looking after these children will enable schools to support the country through this incredibly and extremely challenging time.
On exams, he said they were cancelled:
I can confirm that we will not go ahead with assessments or exams, and that we will not be publishing performance tables for this academic year. We will work with a sector and have to ensure children get the qualifications that they need.
My department is working closely with local authorities, representatives of early years schools and head teachers, regional schools, commissioners and bodies such as Ofqual about how to deliver this change as effectively as possible.
On children eligible for free school meals, he said a national voucher system would be introduced:
We will give schools the flexibility to provide meals or vouchers to children who are eligible for free school meals. Some schools already doing this and we will make sure that those costs are reimbursed as soon as possible.
We will put in place a national voucher system for every child who is eligible for free school meals.
Q: Do you think people who ignore social distancing advice are immoral?
Johnson says he is a believer in freedom. People must make their own choices.
But the more ruthlessly we follow this advice, which is good advice, then the more we will be able to protect people, and the fewer deaths we will have.
This is “very strong advice”, he says.
And he repeats the point about not ruling out taking “further and faster” measures.
Vallance says the modelling allows for the fact that some people will not follow the social distancing advice. But people how ignore it are putting the NHS at risk. It is not soft advice, he says.
Q: Will the school closures be mandatory? And will schools that have already closed have to reopen to take key workers?
Johnson says the government has the power to do this. He thinks the power covers private schools too. As for provision for the children of key workers, he wants to ensure that schools that have closed do provide this cover.
He says there may be some pooling (ie, children of key workers all going to the same local school, instead of several different local ones).
He says details of who key workers are will be set out later.
Q: Are you ruling out extending the Brexit transition?
Johnson jokes that Brexit is a subject that has been banished. “It has been done,” he says.
Legislation is in place which I have no intention of changing.
Johnson says he has “no intention” of changing the law that rules out an extension of the Brexit transition.
Q: What will you do for renters at risk of eviction?
Johnson says he will legislate to address this. He says it would not be right for people to be penalised as a direct result of following government advice.
Q: Is it right that the emergency legislation coming tomorrow will lift the cap that can be invested in struggling industries?
Johnson says there is already a big package in place to support businesses. He says the point is a good one. The government will continue to look at the support that might be needed to help companies in difficulties through no fault of their own.
Johnson suggests the government is planning bail-outs for struggling companies.
Q: If you ramp up testing, where do those take place?
Vallance says he does not want everyone coming to hospital for those tests.
Harries says, as the government goes forward, it wants to have some form of home-based testing. She says she knows that health workers want to understand their health status.
Q: Students will be preparing for GCSEs and A levels. What will you do about those? Students college places will depend on those results.
Johnson says he totally understands the frustration of these pupils. He will ensure their progress is not impeded. The government will make sure that in time they get the qualifications they need. That will be done fairly, he says.
Johnson refuses to say how long school closures might continue
Q: How long might these closures last? The Scottish government says it could be until the public holidays?
Johnson says he hopes he can keep it to an absolute minimum. But he judges that now is the right time to place more downward pressure on the upward trajectory of the virus.
He says he wishes he could say how long this would last.
Johnson refuses to say how long the school closures might continue.
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