Coronavirus UK: Social distancing beyond Christmas?

Disruptive social distancing measures will have to remain in place for the rest of this year, the country's Chief Medical Officer has warned. Meanwhile, on another frantic day with tensions rising in the coronavirus battle: England, Scotland and Wales have announced 757 more deaths from the coronavirus today, taking Britain's total number of victims to 18,094; A further 665 people have died in England's NHS hospitals and 92 more deaths were recorded in Scotland and Wales overnight; Care Minister Helen Whately was savaged during a series of brutal interviews this morning as she struggled to provide answers to key questions on the supply of PPE, deaths of frontline workers and testing errors; Dominic Raab is said to have forced a top civil servant to drop his claim that snubbing EU procurement scheme on coronavirus PPE was 'political'; Empty 4,000-bed Nightingale hospital turns away 30 'life or death' coronavirus patients from other packed London wards because it lacks nurses and has only treated a total of 40 people; Leaked memo reveals coronavirus tests given to NHS staff to let them return to work are flawed and gave false all-clear readings; An RAF plane carrying vital PPE lands in Britain but it only has half the promised 84 tonnes of equipment Last night's bleak warning came after news that 20,000 households across Britain will be sent coronavirus testing kits to help understand the full picture of the virus. The official update from Downing Street tonight showed that traffic is back at the highest level in weeks But the official statistics showed that the number of people in hospital with coronavirus continues to fall in many parts ofthe country Downing Street's slides today showed that the UK is broadly continuing to follow the trajectory of outbreaks in France and Spain The number of people dying in hospital fell today, but the number was still higher than reported as passing away over the weekend The number of new cases was up on the previous day but is down on the weekend A slightly different way of presenting the death stats, this looks at death rates for seven day periods on a rolling day-by-day basis, with the UK among the highest but far below the United States The UK businesses reopening amid strict lockdown rules Businesses in the UK closed their doors over four weeks ago, but some are starting to re-open as an economic crash looms. The Office for National Statistics, which releases data once per week and counts deaths that happen outside of hospitals, already outstrip NHS statistics by at least 41 per cent CARE HOME DEATHS IN ENGLAND SET TO TRIPLE WHEN RECORDS CATCH UP Care home deaths in England may be three times higher than official figures show, the Government today admitted. Information from the National Records of Scotland today showed that the country's COVID-19 death toll surged by almost 80 per cent A third of all COVID-19 deaths in Scotland are happening in care homes, national records show Up to April 19, the records show, 1,616 people had died with COVID-19 in Scotland.