An RAF aircraft has departed from the UK for Turkey to pick up a delayed consignment of personal protective equipment for the NHS.

The A400 transport aircraft left RAF Brize Norton at around 17:00 BST and is expected to arrive in Istanbul later this evening to be loaded.

The gowns, to protect those treating coronavirus patients, had been expected to arrive from Turkey on Sunday.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, told the BBC earlier there was "relatively low confidence" the delivery of 400,000 protective gowns would arrive on Monday.

The row over a shortage of protective gear for the NHS has intensified over the last few days.

At today's Downing St coronavirus briefing in the last hour, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said procuring the equipment was turning out to be an "international challenge".

Image source, Getty Images

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

It was interesting that the UK chancellor decided to start today’s press conference by tackling the issue of PPE. The government is facing a lot of pressure and has been for days.

I’m not sure we got that much more clarity on how things will be sorted – but ministers are adamant they are doing everything they can to make more at home and source more from abroad.

The most concrete thing from today’s briefing was confirmation of the massive extent of state intervention we are going to see in the economy. Despite it only opening this morning, 140,000 businesses have applied for the job retention scheme, covering more than a million employees. That’s a huge amount which will rise in the coming days.

Obviously it's first and foremost a sign of the economic impact for so many people across the country. But it will also mean a huge bill for the Treasury.

Italian authorities say the number of people officially identified as infected with coronavirus has fallen for the first time since the country's outbreak began.

"For the first time, we have seen a new positive development: the number of currently positive has declined," civil protection agency chief Angelo Borrelli told reporters.

As of Monday, there were 108,237 people either being treated in hospital or recovering at home after testing positive, 20 fewer than the previous day - a small but symbolic drop.

On Sunday, the increase of active positive cases was 486.

Italy has the third-highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world after Spain and the US. However, as people who die at home or in care facilities are not included in its figures, many doctors believe its actual death and infection rates may be higher than the official tallies.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak started the press conference by addressing ongoing concerns about protective equipment for health workers, saying the UK is not the only country that's been finding it difficult - it has been an "international challenge".

This was an issue picked up in the questions and Prof Yvonne Doyle from Public Health England also acknowledged it was a difficult issue.

He also updated us on some of the economic policies being implemented, saying 140,000 business had applied for the government's wage scheme on its launch day today - with a million employees between them.

He added that thousands of innovative firms had received loans and grants to help them keep creating economic growth. When asked about the likelihood of recession, he said these schemes were designed to help an economic recovery.

Deputy chief scientific officer Angela McLean had some good news for us: the number of new cases seems to be "flattening out" - as both new confirmed infections and new hospital admissions have stopped rising.

But there was renewed concern that the death rate was being underestimated, as the numbers only include deaths in hospitals. Prof Doyle said she could not say how many had died outside hospital, but estimated hospital settings probably accounted for nine in every 10 deaths.

Asked about the risk of small businesses going to the wall, Mr Sunak says he’s “not persuaded” that it would be right for the government to move to a 100% guarantee for emergency business loans.

In total, the chancellor says the UK government’s package of support is “more significant in scope and scale” than those in other countries.

He says that 12,000 loans have now gone out to small businesses with around 35,000 applications made, at an 80 – 90% acceptance rate.

The panel at the UK briefing is asked whether the government has any behavioural modelling for when the country's lockdown is eventually relaxed.

The deputy chief scientific officer, Angela McLean says: "We certainly spend a lot of time speaking to behavioural scientists and everything we do we talk to them very carefully about what they expect to happen.

"If they were here now they would say these are unprecedented times, which makes it difficult to predict how people would behave in future."

She says it is a "very hard thing to predict".

The daily briefing has now drawn to a close, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak saying: "There is light at end of the tunnel, but we are not there yet."

These updated charts help plot the UK's coronavirus outbreak so far.

Latest figures show 16,509 people with Covid-19 have now died in hospitals - an increase of 449 over 24 hours.

The UK's figures do not include deaths in the community, in places such as care homes and hospices.

New figures on deaths away from hospitals are expected later this week, Public Health England's Prof Yvonne Doyle said.

Tests for the virus are currently only being carried out on hospital patients, NHS staff and their families - although plans have been announced to roll out testing to other workers, including police, fire and prison staff.

So far 386,044 people have been tested, of whom 124,743 tested positive.

But testing figures are still well short of the government's target of 100,000 a day.

Fewer than 20,000 tests were carried out on Sunday, according to the government's own figures.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

Further good news on the numbers of patients in hospital with coronavirus – a small drop, the seventh day in a row it has come down.

Now around 18,000 patients are in hospital, with plenty of space to treat more if numbers did go up.

There are more than 15,000 beds free, while one in five intensive care beds is available.

It now seems clear the health service will not be overwhelmed in the way it was in Italy.

Image source, PA Media

Chancellor Rishi Sunak rejects claims that the government was too slow to cancel mass sporting events and was wrong to allow the Cheltenham Festival and Liverpool's Champions League match with Atletico Madrid in the second week of March to go ahead.

He says ministers have been guided by the scientific advice and taken the "right decisions at the right time".

Dr MacLean says she is sorry to hear that cases of the virus and deaths in Liverpool have been blamed on the football match, which was attended by 40,000 people.

She says there needs to be research into how much of a difference holding the match made and the level of infection among Spanish fans who travelled to the UK for the match.

Also asked about reports that some councils are on the brink of financial collapse, Mr Sunak says the government has provided £3bn in extra support to local authorities since the crisis began.

He says this should show the government is prepared to "stand shoulder-to-shoulder" with front-line workers.

Rishi Sunak is asked by the Guardian's Richard Partington whether the UK is heading for a deep and prolonged recession if the lockdown lasts much longer and whether he agrees with ex-PM Tony Blair that the economic damage could be "terrifying".

The chancellor says the immediate outlook is challenging and he can't guarantee that every single job and business will be saved.

He says the key thing is to prevent another resurgence of the virus later this year as this would be "very bad" for the economy as well as public health and the five tests to lift the lockdown "have not been met".

While he is planning for a range of scenarios, he says the job retention scheme and other interventions are designed to ensure that the economic recovery, when it happens, will be as "strong as possible".

ITV's Robert Peston asks whether Boris Johnson has signalled the lockdown is going to remain pretty much in place for a much longer period.

Sunak says ministers have been "crystal clear" that the UK is not near a point where the current restrictions can be relaxed and that speculation to the contrary is "wrong".

Peston also asks whether deaths in care homes could have been under-estimated by up to 40%.

On this Dr Doyle says there is a discrepancy between the daily tally of hospital deaths and overall fatalities, adding that the latter total will be updated by the Office for National Statistics later in the week.

She concedes the overall figure will be higher than that currently recorded - but says she does not know by how much.

Our health editor Hugh Pym presses Rishi Sunak again about PPE, after repeated complaints from NHS workers that they don't have access to the right protection.

Mr Sunak says "a billion pieces of PPE" have been delivered in the UK but the government is still improving its sourcing of it domestically and internationally.

"People on the front line can rest assured that we are doing everything we can," he says.

We look here at whether the NHS has got enough protective equipment.

Hugh Pym also raises the question of small businesses who are finding it difficult to access loans, asking whether the government would consider extending the scheme.

Sunak replies that 12,000 loans have now gone out to small businesses, and that this is a "sign of progress".

Mr Sunak has also been talking about the latest UK coronavirus figures.

He says the UK has now carried out 501,379 tests for coronavirus, with 19,316 tests carried out yesterday.

He says 124,743 people have tested positive for the virus, 17,971 people are in hospital with coronavirus in the UK and sadly 16,509 who were in hospital with coronavirus have died.

The UK government has promised it will dramatically increase coronavirus testing to 100,000 a day by the end of the month.

We look here at whether capacity can be increased to reach that target.

The deputy chief scientific adviser Angela McLean has been talking through key statistical data in a series of slides.

She says the public has “responded” to the government’s call for social distancing, with overall travel 80% of what it was in February and rail and Tube journeys down by 95% since February.

While there was a rise in road, rail and bus trips over the Easter weekend, travel patterns quickly returned to pre-Easter lockdown levels afterwards and have been maintained since then.

She moves on to talk about trends in new infections. Monday’s figure of 4,676 was the lowest for four days and some way below the peak so far, on 5 April.

She says the figures are “flattening out” and are stable – which she describes as a “relief”.

On hospital admissions, she says the number of people in hospital who have tested positive “remains stable”. While well ahead of the rest of the country, the number of patients in London has fallen for seven consecutive days and she hopes that this will be “replicated” across the UK.

She finishes by talking about the number of deaths in the UK compared with other countries, acknowledging there is a lag for stats of fatalities in hospitals and those in “all settings”, including care homes.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

The number of new deaths announced – 449 – is the lowest for two weeks.

Last week the figures were hovering between 700 and 900, before dropping below 600 on Sunday.

That is, of course, good news. Although the figures for the past two days should be treated with caution.

They cover the weekend, and we know reporting and recording delays can mean figures drop before rising again.

But the falls are big enough to suggest we may soon start seeing the number of new deaths coming down.

The numbers in hospital with coronavirus have already started dropping gradually, so the signs are there that we are beginning to turn the corner.

More than 140,000 firms have applied for grants from the UK government's job retention scheme opened today, Rishi Sunak says.

The grants they receive will help pay the wages of more than a million people, he promises, as the government aims to keep as many people as possible in their existing jobs.

HMRC chief executive Jim Harra earlier told the BBC's Today programme that employers had made 67,000 job claims in the first 30 minutes.

The UK's Chancellor Rishi Sunak says he wants to address the issue of PPE - which the government has been criticised on in recent days.

He says it is an “international challenge” for all countries.

The government is working hard to get the PPE NHS staff need, he says, and is receiving shipments of PPE regularly.

He also says the government is "working to resolve the Turkish shipment following unexpected delays" - more on that here.

And today the UK has "unloaded 140,000 gowns from Myanmar".

He says they are continuing to pursue “every possible option” for procurement.

The daily government press conference has started.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is making his opening statement.

Stay with us for all the updates you need.

Image source, Getty Images

We should be hearing from the UK government in the next few minutes.

But that gives you time to read more about the concern from NHS workers over Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

NHS staff in hospitals and the community need it to be able to do their jobs safely.

The government says it's working "around the clock" to provide PPE.

It's a subject that's likely to come up in the briefing.

Read more here

We will be hearing from the UK government shortly with its daily briefing on coronavirus.

But, while we wait, since we are well into pollen season in the UK, here is something on the symptoms of hay fever and coronavirus and how you can tell the difference between them.